And I'm back, everyone. Most of my essays are done and turned in and all that's left is just to study until finals. Even then, studying will be a breeze.

Also, Grisaia no Meikyuu and no Rakuen started recently and so far, both are pretty damn interesting/sad, especially since the former is more of a thing to introduce backstory that'll set up Rakuen at the same time, being an OVA and all. So with Meikyuu now done, I'm curious to see how Rakuen will play out.

That aside, time for the new chapter.

P.S. From now on, I'll be trying to make my chapters a bit longer than usual. So don't be too surprised if you find a page or two of extra content per chapter compared to before.

Chapter 20

It's been four days since Surma attacked Beacon Academy and since then things have, from a purely superficial standpoint, had returned to normal. As Glynda had been injured along with Peter, Oobleck, and a number of students, it had been up to Naruto to undo all the damage Surma had done to the academy, an easy enough task with his Da Capo Zero. As far as outsiders were concerned, Beacon Academy looked as majestic as always.

But once again, that was only from a superficial point of view.

For the incident had caused a veritable shit storm amongst the populace of the academy. With so many students injured, classes were canceled for an entire week and would possibly be put off for an additional week depending on how things went. Even with Ozpin asking Naruto to go around undoing the damage the injured had taken with Da Capo Zero as discreetly as possible, there were still a number of people that needed to rest up from the pain Surma had caused them in addition to the trauma such an attack had brought about.

And that right there was the main cause for this week off: trauma. Teens aspiring to become hunters and huntresses came to Beacon Academy to achieve such goals. However, they were also reassured that at the academy, they'd be safe from outside attacks whilst they go about their daily lives, slowly yet surely building up their strength and honing their skill. But Surma's all but effortless break-in and subsequent assault upon many of them had shattered their faith in the safety the academy was supposed to provide for them. This was something made all the more impossible to ignore when they all considered the sheer power the beast had possessed, which had been far beyond that of any Grimm they'd ever seen.

And as Naruto, Miki, and Hanako stalked quietly through the halls of the infirmary to see some students trying to rest to no avail, it took all the three of them had to keep from gritting their teeth.

"I can't believe it…" Hanako spoke first, the usually bubbly girl's face marred with an expression of shock and anger. "The Holy Knights actually attacked the academy. And not just the academy itself, but…" She looked to the students trying to rest and could only shake her head.

"Those son of bitches." This time, it was her master, Naruto, that spoke. The blond magus, dressed no longer in his 'professor disguise' amongst the students, had to make a conscious effort to keep his hands from balling up into fists. The control he usually exuded in regards to his own mana was also skirting a dangerous line right now, his mana threatening to spill out and crush everything around him. He held back out of concern for the student's current safety, of course.

As for Miki, the brunette took her husband's left hand into her right one and squeezed it firmly, more to try and calm herself than him. Out of the three, she felt the angriest and with reason; when she and the others had returned from the conference to discover what had happened and what had caused all the damage, she had immediately recognized Surma as the beast that had tried to attack her back at the village a while back. Glynda's explanation and description of the beast had been more than enough for her to recognize it.

On that particular note, the ancient magus couldn't help but play the 'what-if' game, namely what would've happened if she had been able to strike down Surma back then. Logically speaking, she knew she couldn't have foreseen the creature attacking the academy, but such a 'what-if' scenario simply ate away at her anyway.

One thing was for sure though; if or when she ever came across it again, she was going to kill the damn thing.

Elsewhere in the academy, Ozpin walked alongside Ryuichi and Mari as he patrolled through the hallways. The headmaster was uncharacteristically silent and wasn't carrying around his trademark coffee mug anymore, a sure sign that he was bothered by what had happened.

Ryuichi and Mari could hardly blame him as they felt the same way. But there was more weighing heavily upon their minds than just this attack.

Not long following their return from the conference and trying to deal with the aftermath of this attack, Takehiko had called them up to inform of them of some tragic news:

Katsu was now dead.

Killed, to be more precise. Takehiko, having sensed his fading mana, had rushed to find Katsu lying in an alleyway near his club, bleeding profusely from cuts that radiated an unknown mana. Takehiko had tried to use King's Scripture to heal the wounds or at least staunch the bleeding long enough to get Katsu some medical attention or even better get Naruto to use Da Capo Zero, but it hadn't worked. Whatever had been done to inflict such fatal wounds upon Katsu had some strange effect that prevented King's Scripture from doing anything about the damage.

And so it had been with his last few moments of life that Katsu, having remained conscious the whole time when this had happened, to inform Takehiko of what had happened. Of the Holy Knights' attack on him, of how the one named Apophis had done such damage to him with his so-called Relic, the Devouring Blade. To the best of his ability, Katsu had told his longtime friend of all that had occurred and of what he's learned from his encounter before ultimately expiring, passing away in Takehiko's arms.

In turn, Takehiko, in a quivering voice from rage and grief, had told them all of what Katsu had passed onto him.

Needless to say, they were taking Katsu's death about as well as Takehiko clearly was, which was to say not very well at all. Ryuichi and Mari knew that their friends – Naruto, Miki, and Hanako – were trying to direct their attention to getting all the injured students back on their feet for now, trying to take their minds off of Katsu's death, but that'd only work for so long.

As for the two of them, the couple could only walk around looking as conflicted as Ozpin did over all of this. In just the span of less than a day, the Holy Knights had hit them hard. And as if to add insult to injury, the Holy Knights had done so without so much as leaving a single thing that could trace them back to wherever they're holed up in, meaning they're all stuck dealing with the fallout until they could think of something to do.

Despite having been alive for many centuries, despite all of their experiences, the loss of a dear friend struck them hard and it showed on Ryuichi's and Mari's faces as they patrolled with Ozpin in silence, trying to take their minds off of things, but to no effect.

"How're teams RWBY and JNPR?" Ozpin suddenly spoke, taking Ryuichi and Mari aback a little.

"…They're fine, at least physically," Ryuichi replied softly. "Just resting in their dorms for now, trying to wrap their heads around all of this. Just like we're trying to do."

Ozpin nodded absentmindedly. "I see." A poignant pause. "I promised people that this academy would be a safe haven for students… that they'd only encounter dangers when out on missions or out in the forest… not here when they're supposed to be safe…"

"But… that's not the case anymore, Ozpin," Mari said in a quiet voice. She let out a longstanding sigh. "We may not know why that thing came here, but it's pretty clear the Holy Knights know where we're mainly at and how to get to us…" She didn't mean to sound like a downer, but it was the truth.

"Even then, for them to attack so boldly wasn't something we've could've anticipated," Ozpin replied.

Ryuichi nearly froze as their words, brief as they were, triggered something within him. A flash of insight, if one could call it that, or perhaps of instincts. He recalled talking briefly with team RWBY back when they – 'they' being he and the others – had returned from the conference and were trying to sort things out. He recalled asking them briefly about what had happened and now those words came back to him as Ozpin and Mari had spoken.

"We need to talk to Ruby and the girls," Ryuichi suddenly said in a clear voice.

Said statement made his wife and Ozpin stop walking. "Ryuichi…?" Mari spoke her husband's name. "What do you-?"

"Ruby told me that when they first saw this thing, it wasn't looking to attack them at all. It had simply been trying to sneak across the room via the ceiling," Ryuichi explained, remembering what the young leader had told him. "If it had been going to attack the students from the get-go, it could've done that at any time. There was no point to try and sneak around the place." Then he paused as something else also occurred to him. And from a quick glance to his wife and Ozpin, he could see that they've noticed the same thing he did. "And they had no reason to look up. So how did they-?"

"-Know the beast was there in the first place?" Mari finished for him. Her red eyes all but burned with energy now, her previously dismal state forgotten for now. She suddenly moved forward and kissed her husband deeply before he could even do anything else. "Ryuichi, you're a genius!"

From the sidelines, Ozpin allowed himself a small smirk. "How about we chat a bit with team RWBY?" he suggested.

Meanwhile, with the captain of the Holy Knights, the man wasn't quite having a good time right now.

Sitting within his own room, he was currently in the middle of a conversation with his friend. And said friend wasn't in that good a mood.

"You fucked up."

"How so?" the captain replied, once again without his mask on. He knew what his friend was going to say before he said it.

"By not checking to make sure Sif was gonna be there, Surma got spotted, you fucknut. Now if it turns out the damned Relic left a trace, the magi will-."

"Ah, but that didn't happen," the captain said, cutting the man off. "Surma returned to Kalma and she in turn returned here without a problem. And even if it turns out Surma left a trail, I doubt the magi will be noticing it anytime soon; they'll be too busy dealing with the aftermath of Surma's… visit." Although he sounded confident, the captain had to grudgingly admit that his friend did raise a bit of a point. In hindsight, it would've done him a bit of good to double check where the magi were all at. Not that he'd admit aloud, though that too wouldn't make much of a difference; for he could tell right away that his longtime comrade knew of these deeper thoughts of his.

"Yeah, for now, you mean." A pause. "Can't believe you could've done something this stupid, Seiji."

"Don't call me by that name anymore…" the captain spoke with a noticeably colder tone of voice. "I cast off my old name long ago. I go by Vidar now just as you now go by the codename of Surtur."

The one codenamed Surtur snorted. "Whatever, Vidar. I swear, ever since we first embarked on this journey long ago, you've taken to this usage of codenames so damn much."

"As should you… these are our new names now. Just as is now the case with our Holy Knights," the captain, Vidar, retorted.

"Holy Knights… still find it hard to believe how nice a damn title that sounds for people like us. Considering Heracles and Apophis were once mercenaries…" Surtur commented dryly.

And it was the truth; for just a little more than thirty years ago was when Vidar had first come into contact with the two men who would eventually cast off their old names and accept their new names as Heracles and Apophis. The two had once been a part of a mercenary unit that made a considerable profit from dealing with Grimm and even humans on occasion. The two of them had been noticeably disillusioned by the world around them until having spoken with Vidar, who had promised them to give them the power to help change the world into one that he himself has long since envisioned. And from there, they had been the first people to have undergone Vidar's experiment, becoming the very first Holy Knights.

And on that note, Vidar couldn't help but think on the process that created the Holy Knights in the first place. It was, in a sense, almost simple. Combining a part of his own magical weapon – which he had long since modified – with machinery and infusing it with a portion of his own mana, the equipment and machinery he now possessed would maintain and even generate the mana he had long since put into it and infuse it within anyone he chose to use it on. From there, once the mana was implanted within a person and bonded with them on a biological and even conceptual level, Vidar would then forcibly awaken the mana within the person, thereby transforming them into a sort of pseudo-magus, resulting in enhanced abilities. This is the process by which all of his Holy Knights, along with Roman and now his four new minions, had undergone to attain the power they all have now.

But that wasn't it, at least in regards to the Holy Knights. No, for them, Vidar had spent many years searching all over the world for mythological objects of both great fame and power. Upon having found them long ago, he had used these items – Relics – as a conduit for the mana before it was actually implanted in the Holy Knights. This resulted in said people having noticeably greater physical abilities than those who'd undergo such a process without a Relic involved in addition to the Holy Knights gaining an almost symbiotic bond with their Relics, much like how magi have a close bond with their magical weapons. This in turn granted the Holy Knights certain abilities that they would've otherwise lacked without a Relic to serve as a conduit.

"There you go again. Tooting your own damn horn. Honestly, you're predictable," Surtur said in annoyance. "And you can hardly say all the Holy Knights have great physical ability; that Morgan girl and Kalma aren't exactly frontline fighters."

Once again, it was a good point on his part. Morgan, despite being the third seat and therefore quite powerful, was more a mid to long range type fighter than close range. As a result, her physical might was rather lacking when compared to the others. The same could be said for Kalma, although her lack of physical strength was more due to her having been sickly and abused as a child rather than anything else.

"I will admit that you do raise another point. Not to mention I had to craft Apophis' Relic since we couldn't actually find one for him long ago…" Vidar sighed. That had been most troublesome for him. Even when he had used Heracles' Relic to study it and try and replicate something similar, it had taken a long time to actually create. But alas, it had been well worth the effort given how dangerous Apophis is during battle.

"Exactly. Things have never gone – nor will they continue go – as you and I want," Surtur said, almost fiercely. "So you need to seriously learn to start using some fucking caution! If this whole thing comes back to bite us hard in the ass, it's on you, you know?"

Vidar's eyebrow twitched. "Noted. Now leave me be. I have things to attend to."

Surtur made one final snarl of frustration before his voice ceased to be heard. And as soon as this happened, Vidar leaned back in his seat and let out a sigh he had been holding back for a while. Talking to Surtur was always so draining and for more than just the reason that he liked to annoy him. "That buffoon…" he muttered. "Is he really so worried that he'll end up at death's door again?"

Vidar tried to sympathize with his friend, he really tried. But alas, he could only wonder if maybe his friend was finally beginning to become a bit too paranoid about things. Then again, it's not quite as if the man gets to move around all that often now…

The captain of the Holy Knights put his mask back on and stood up. He had to go check up on his four new recruits, see how they were. After all, he supposed it was high time he did start to be a bit more cautious about things after all. Starting first with the four's current state of physical health following the procedure.

Whilst he was about to do that, Morgan Le Fay was in her own room not too far away, deep within her own thoughts.

For the time being, she wasn't wearing her usual dress and was instead in a simple pair of jeans and a blouse. Her lipstick was gone as well and this simple thing made her looking much more like her age – that of a 25 year old woman.

"Jaune…" Morgan whispered. Just the other day, she and her family had received the official word of Jaune's injuries during Surma's attack at Beacon. Naturally, they all had been horrified by the news, though Morgan had had a day or two's notice thanks to Kalma. Still, it had certainly been easy to act the part over the phone and while her parents were too busy and thus unable to visit Jaune who had been one of the many students in the infirmary, she and the rest of her six sisters had had an easy enough time to drop what they were doing to pay their dear brother a visit.

The eldest daughter of the Arc family, Morgan's real name was Celine Arc. Aside from Cinder, she was the only Holy Knight to not fully cast off her 'old' name in favor of her 'new' one: Morgan Le Fay. This was because, as her family was still very much alive, her name still served a purpose of sorts both in regards to said family and of course, every day life when required.

She and her other sisters – with the second eldest being 21, a set of twins being 19, and triplets that were 15 – loved Jaune very much, with Celine and the other sisters older than Jaune pampering the boy while the younger sisters looked up to him a lot. The love the sisters had for him was to the point where many would jokingly and not so jokingly call them brocons, something that Celine was unable to actually deny. But alas, that wasn't something that had ever concerned her; she loved her brother very much and that was that.

What concerned her, however, was that because of how much she and the other girls dotted on Jaune growing up, he was kept from doing anything that she would deem dangerous. So although the only male child of the Arc family did his best to be in shape, his abilities were still more than a little underdeveloped for someone that wished to be a hunter. When he had managed to lie his way into Beacon Academy, Celine, even when she acted as Morgan more often, could only worry for him.

And now here it looked as if her fears had been realized and in the worst possible way. When she and her sisters had gone to see him the other day, the state Jaune had been in frightened them all and worried them just as much. Celine had been incredibly tempted to try and heal him herself with her Relic, but had held back. For Fenrir and Brynhildr had been there and it wouldn't do to bring attention to herself, especially since Fenrir was the most powerful of the ancient magi while his wife Brynhildr was definitely no slouch herself. That said, while she couldn't bring herself to heal Jaune herself, Celine had felt it best to instead try and prompt Fenrir to heal him up instead, but had also held back on that, for very much the same reason she restrained herself from using her Book of Spells. For one thing, the fact that she'd suggest to him of all people to heal Jaune would definitely be suspicious and for another, it was clear that Fenrir was keeping his own abilities hidden from virtually every student at Beacon; no doubt the only reason he hadn't used his Da Capo Zero on Jaune sooner was because she and her sisters had been there.

As a result, she had acted the part of the cool older sister that was worried greatly for her dear brother and had also acted as the metaphorical rock for her fellow sisters to lean on once they all had proceeded to let out their emotions for good following leaving Jaune to get some more rest. Something that they had all done very reluctantly, Celine would note.

And now here she was, back at base after managing to get away from her family yesterday, having come up with the excuse that she had to get back to work against her will. Such was the busy life of a secretary for the head of a relatively unknown civil movement. Or so was the lie that she's been telling her family and quite convincingly too for years now.

"Hard to believe," Celine/Morgan thought aloud. "That it's already been a decade since I first met the captain…" She could only chuckle a bit as she now tried to move her thoughts away from Jaune. Surely by now, Fenrir would've healed her brother with his Da Capo Zero, yes?

But alas, while her heart went out to her brother and his recovery, Celine's mind was recalling the first time she had actually met the captain. And how her life was changed in the process…

(Flashback Start)

Celine Arc. 15 years old and still very much in the middle of school life. The young girl just seemed to have it all: beauty, brains, and to some extent even power.

She was quite tall for not just her age, but for any age, man or woman. It was to the point that her height, which surpassed 6 feet at that point in time, was something unlike anything her family, the Arcs, had ever seen with the young girl even being an inch or so taller than her father, who was a tall man himself.

Normally, such a height would seem off-putting to herself and to others, but she never once worried over such a trivial thing nor did her surprising height keep her fellow teens, boys and girls alike, from admiring her. If anything, her height added to her beauty and natural charisma, which allowed her to always be in the spotlight as she worked hard in school to be the best there is.

And her efforts showed. She had the highest GPA in the entire school and while her physical abilities weren't enough to ever make her be mistaken for a huntress-in-training, they were still considerable enough for her to become an excellent athlete.

She had the admiration, respect, and support of not just her fellow students, but even the school faculty as well. Indeed, everyone around her, from her family to others, expected great things of her as she always worked so hard to do what she could.

But despite how much she accomplished in school, Celine herself felt like something was seriously lacking in her life.

So what if she had good grades? So what if she was good at sports? So what if she had the ability to get pretty much any job she wanted outside of being a huntress? To her, it all meant nothing. Because to her, all of these things wouldn't help her accomplish what she most wanted to do.

She wanted to change the world.

She wanted to make it a better place for everyone. Not just humans, nor just the Faunus, but everyone on the planet. She wanted to do away with the blatant racism and hatred that still existed. She wanted peace to reign in the world. But most importantly, she wanted to try and help the world as a whole advance.

But as a 15 year old, she simply didn't have the kind of power to achieve such a goal. She doubted anyone really did.

And so it was as she walked home from another day at school that she sulked over this fact, albeit doing so inwardly.

"Just what can I do about it?" she thought as she walked past a number of stores, putting on a fake smile and waving to the people that greeted her. "I'm just one person."

And this frustrated her. She's tried to talk to others about this, tried to get their opinions on the matter and perhaps even their help… but she was always met with disappointment. More often than not, people would be amazed at her goals and how much thought she'd given them, but nothing beyond that. It simply infuriated her.

Celine sighed as she tried to rid herself of these past memories. School had been rather tiring and she'd much prefer not to make herself feel more annoyed by bringing up past 'conversations.'

"I should probably cool off for a while…" she thought.

As if by coincidence, she soon was about to walk past the local bookstore and looking to it, the young girl paused. She enjoyed books and could be found reading a number of books during her free time. She especially preferred the more fantastical kind of novels, the ones where there knights and princesses and the like in it. She loved such stories for how the heroes were always able to bring about peace to either their kingdom or world or what have you and often times in record time. It was what she herself would like to achieve.

Wondering if perhaps there were any new books in stock, she decided to enter the bookstore. Bidding a subdued hello to the store manager up near the front of the store, Celine quickly maneuvered her way pass all of the other bustling customers and towards the fantasy section of the store. She couldn't help but smile a bit as she did so; the fantasy section wasn't all too popular with the store's usual customers and as such it was the perfect place for her to sit down in a nearby chair there and read.

But to her surprise, the fantasy section wasn't quite as empty as she'd thought.

Near the shelf where the new novels were always placed stood a man, just a little over six feet in height and of a slim yet physically fit build. Dressed in simple pants and a long sleeve dress shirt, Celine couldn't make out any other features of the man other than that he was fair-skinned and currently had his back to her.

But as she approached to look at the novels, the man suddenly turned and she found herself nearly stopping in place as she got a good look at him. A slight blush crept across her face. While she was a serious and often ambitious girl, she was still very much a teen and was therefore susceptible to the hormones that came with being a teen. And she reasoned inwardly that her reaction was an acceptable one; the man looked to be in his mid-twenties, perhaps even his early-twenties at the youngest, with sharp and attractive facial features. With piercing light grey eyes and smooth black hair that went to just barely past his chin, Celine couldn't help but find him to be handsome.

Little did she know at this time, this man was certainly older than he looked and would remain so youthful for many years to come in the future.

"Hello there," the man said with a smile.

"Ah… Hello," Celine greeted in return, fighting down her blush fiercely.

The man moved a bit towards his right, allowing Celine enough room to move forward and look for herself at the new novels out. "Looking for something in particular?" he asked.

Stepping forward towards the space he left for her, Celine hummed a bit in agreement, having now regained her composure. "Not really," she began, engaging in the small talk that the man had initiated. "I decided to stop by to see if anything new was out." She paused for a minute as she looked through the shelf. "How about you? Any new fantasy novel you're looking for?"

"Not in particular…" the man muttered as he seemed to look forward, his eyes roaming across the shelves. But Celine, watching him peripherally, idly noted that he didn't seem to actually focus upon the books.

"Do you enjoy fantasy novels, Mr….?" Celine asked.

"You can call me… Vidar," the man replied. He looked to Celine, who stood at more or less the same height as himself with a bit of an amused smirk. "And to an extent I do enjoy fantasy novels."

Celine quirked an eyebrow. Vidar certainly was a unique sounding name. "To an extent, you say. What is it that you enjoy about fantasy novels then, Mr. Vidar?"

Vidar chuckled a little. "Mainly what the heroes always accomplish. The peace they bring to the land, how lives are ultimately improved…" He trailed off, his expression becoming a bit more serious. "I always do wish I could do something similar. A little childish of me, though."

At those words, Celine paused in looking at the novels. Her eyes widened slightly upon fully digesting what Vidar had said. For his own words more or less exactly mirrored what she had thought countless times. "R-Really now?" she asked, trying to keep herself from sounding too interested. "Do you really wish that?"

Vidar's reply was immediate and it pierced Celine almost like a dagger. "Yes," he replied. Then, he slowly turned to look at Celine, his grey eyes seeming to bear down on her, though not in a predatory manner, but rather in a more understanding way. "And how about you? How do you feel about fantasy novels?"

Celine started to feel just a little light-headed. She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps this was too good to be true. A person who thought along the same lines she did? A person that seemed to want to change the world into a better place? She simply had to know… "I… feel the same," she began. "I… I want to change the world myself, just like the characters in these books do. To try and make it into something better for everyone…" She paused and almost shyly fidgeted as she said the words. "Do you… think that's childish of me."

Vidar chuckled. "Not at all. If anything, it's comforting to know that others feel the same way I do about all of this…" He now fully faced her, his attention no longer on the books at all. "So tell me, Ms. Have you tried to do just that? Tried to make a difference in the world?"

Celine grimaced. "No. I definitely do, but I'm just a teen… so what can I possibly do."

At that, Vidar smirked. "Well, I'm trying to do just that. To be honest, I've even gone as far as to try and form a group with the sole purpose of achieving such a goal."

If her interest wasn't sorely piqued a moment ago, Celine's interest certainly was now. "A group?" she asked. "Something akin to an activist group?"

Vidar nodded, albeit a little slowly. "Something like that. It's still a very small group though; only two or so other members aside from myself. But as it is, we're still very much in the process of preparing things…" He paused. "But you can most certainly expect us to make a move in due time. It's simply a matter of growing in both size and power before we actually strike."

Celine could hardly believe what she was hearing. If anyone else were to say these words, she'd might be more suspicious. And yet this man, Vidar, spoke with a sincerity and conviction that was simply impossible to be faked nor considered delirious. "If it's alright with you," she spoke. "I'd like to hear more about this group of yours."

"Ha, I don't mind," Vidar spoke, but held up a finger, wanting to make something clear. "But let me first say this: this group of mine isn't one I'd like the public to know of just yet. Nor will the path we walk be free of some pain and sacrifice."

Celine looked him dead in the eyes. Somehow, she'd expected as much. And it didn't bother her one bit. The protests the Faunus raised against discrimination were hardly free of pain and sacrifice, physical or otherwise, whenever humans decided to try and put a stop to the protests. She understood that very well. And besides, didn't the heroes in her novels also have to make sacrifices to achieve their goals? Surely if they could do it and bring peace, then she could do so as well.

"So tell, Mr… just what more do I need to know?" Celine asked boldly, ignoring what were no doubt his words of warning.

Vidar could only smile. He and the young Celine would now have much to speak of.

(Flashback End)

Celine could only snort a bit at the memory. She, the captain, and the rest of the Holy Knights had certainly come a long way since then. Back when she was younger, she never would've imagined ever knowing the things that she knew now, but alas, things change over time.

The ancient magi, the sort of abilities they had at their disposal, and more… Vidar had told her of all of this all those years ago when she had opted to hear him out fully. He had told her of his Holy Knights, which had only consisted of Heracles and Apophis at the time and of his future plans.

At the time, she'd been more than a little shocked by all that she'd been told, but even then she'd joined them with little more than a second thought. She wanted to change the world and to this day, that still is her goal. And no other group in the world seemed to be willing to try and do just that at the time or today.

Even when taking into consideration everything that's been done and will be done by her captain and comrades thus far, Celine's faith in the cause has never once wavered. Just as she thought back then that sacrifices, both on her part and on the parts of others, must be made, she still held to that belief even now.

However.

Never once had she actually expected Jaune to get involved, albeit unwittingly. He and her family were the only people that she'd truly and sincerely care for outside of her own ambition. And now here her dear little brother was, a stone that lied on the road between her and her dream. For the first time ever, her faith wavered as she now considered the situation: Jaune most definitely wouldn't give up and step aside. Her brother, as weak as he is in the face of herself and her fellow Holy Knights, would undoubtedly see what she was doing as evil and would fight against her and the others. That meant just one thing: she'd have to make a choice between either family or her lifelong dream.

Intellectually, she'd known this for a long time. If or when the actions of the Holy Knights ever became public knowledge, her family would definitely not agree with what she was doing. That was just how they were and she loved that sense of right and wrong of theirs.

But now, this was no longer just a matter of intellectually knowing something. No, this matter was so much more real to her now that it hurt.

Her family or her dream. One way or another, she'd have to choose and one way or another it was going to hurt her a lot.

For the first time ever, Celine couldn't help but feel conflicted over this.

Now she could only pray that she'd have the strength to carry on, no matter what her choice would be.

Back at Beacon Academy, Ozpin, Ryuichi, and Mari had finally met up with team RWBY and had wasted no time in questioning them about how they noticed the sentient Relic.

"Could you please repeat that again, Ms. Belladonna," Ozpin requested of Blake. The cat Faunus had been the one to mainly answer their past several questions, mainly due to her being able to better word an appropriate answer. Most likely because of all the books she reads, the headmaster reasoned.

"It… well…" Blake began again. Evidently, even she seemed to struggle to put into words what she wanted to say, however. Understandable, as she and her teammates/friends had been asked how they noticed Surma, a somewhat difficult question to answer, though she certainly tried to do so. "I'm not quite sure how to put it myself, headmaster… but the best I can tell you is that we seemed to just 'feel' that thing's presence."

Currently in team RWBY's dorm and seated on the lower beds of their makeshift bunkbeds, the other girls nodded in agreement.

Ozpin, Ryuichi, and Mari, who all remained standing near the door, could only glance to one another. Mari then stepped forward. "So in other words… you sensed this thing's presence. Not with any of your actual senses… but something more like a sixth sense?" she asked, hoping her words would help the girls better describe things.

"We guess," Ruby now spoke, the leader shrugging almost comically. Clearly, she was just as frustrated over this confusion as the adults were. Then she shivered. "And that thing sure felt creepy too! I mean, it felt really dark! And… I dunno… deathly."

From beside her, Weiss sighed, nodding along with Ruby's words. "It felt very unworldly… unnatural, even. That's really the best way we can describe it."

At that, Ryuichi's and Mari's eyes widened slightly. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Ozpin or the girls. "What is it?" Ozpin asked.

"Ozpin…" Mari then said. "Think about it: they just described the creature's 'traits,' for lack of a better word. But that can only be done if they were able to sense its mana…"

At that, Ozpin's eyes widened marginally as things slowly seemed to click into place. "But how could that be? They aren't…"

Mari shrugged.

Just then, Ryuichi stepped forward and took a few seconds to look over each of the girls. "Alright, I want you four to do something: try and tell me what my 'presence' feels like to you."

The members of team RWBY looked confused. But nonetheless, they all tried to recall how they felt when they first noticed Surma's presence and focused on Ryuichi.

"Feels… staticky," Yang spoke first. The blonde brawler tilted her head. "Like electricity or lighting or something."

"Hot… heavy," Blake then added, feeling a sort of heat radiating off of Ryuichi, the kind of heat that usually accompanies a lightning strike. What's more is how heavy Ryuichi's presence seemed to feel to her. Little did she or the others know, but Ryuichi was willingly letting out a bit of his mana for them to feel.

"Yes, I'm feeling the same thing," Weiss commented, her eyes closed as she focused.

"Feels kinda like… like you're holding back though…" Ruby added last.

But as little as the girls actually spoke, their words had a big impact on the trio of adults. "They really can sense mana…" Mari muttered in genuine shock.

"W-We can?" Ruby asked as she and her friends ceased to concentrate, Ryuichi stopping the flaring of his own mana now. "But how?"

"The 'how' can wait for now," Ozpin spoke seriously. He folded his arms across his chest, his right hand gripping his cane tightly as he thought. "Just when exactly did you feel as if you can sense the properties of mana?" he asked of them.

The members of team RWBY shared a glance with another before looking away, unsure of what to really say. But ultimately, it was Weiss that spoke. "Since about the time that machine…" She trailed off, her eyes widening in shock at hearing her own words. "Since that machine blew up in our faces," she finished.

"B-But how?!" Ruby asked her partner. "We went to go get looked at by the doctors here! Shouldn't they've noticed if that thingy did something to us?"

"That's not entirely true, Ms. Rose; the doctors at our infirmary had only looked to see if you were physically fine," Ozpin said. "And while they did scan your bodies to see if any internal damage had been dealt by the explosion, they didn't actually check to see if there may have been some other effect…"

Everyone fell silent as they took in what the headmaster was saying. That machine may have very well done something to the four girls, though what that 'something' was is clearly an unknown.

"Hold up," Mari said as she walked right pass her husband and went up to both Ruby and Weiss. Before anyone could say anything, she placed her hands atop their chests, garnering squeaks of embarrassed surprise out of the two while Mari remained silent. She closed her eyes and seemed to focus for half a minute before stopping. The magus then went on to do the same thing to Blake and Yang, who took to the physical contact without squeaking about it.

Finally, Mari moved away from the girls and went back to her husband's side. Ryuichi looked to his now shocked wife with slight worry. "Mari? Was is it? What's wrong?"

With a bit of a chuckle, Mari turned to face Ryuichi and Ozpin. "You're not going to believe this… but the girls now have mana within them."

"What?!" Although he didn't yell it out, this one word was still said sharply enough for everyone to hear his astonishment.

But Mari wasn't done just yet. "And there's more too; the mana feels artificial too. Just like the Holy Knights and like Torchwick based off what Yuko told us after fighting him."

"Mari… are you telling us that…?" Ozpin slowly began.

Mari sighed slowly, trying to wrap her mind around it too. She turned to look at the stupefied girls as she replied to Ozpin. "What I'm saying," she began. "Is that – somehow, someway because of that machine – these girls are now more or less like the Holy Knights and Torchwick. Unlike them, however, these girls' artificial mana has yet to truly manifest… so it'd probably be better to say that they're like artificial magi that have yet to actually awaken as magi."

Everyone there could only look at Mari, her words having struck them all silent. Said magus could only smile helplessly. "Yeah, you all look just how I feel right now."

It would seem that this entire situation has become much more complicated than any of them had originally expected.

And that's that.

Hmm, roughly 7,200 words excluding the AN at the beginning and this one too. That's roughly 1,000 more words than the more action packed chapters of this fic thus… oh yeah, looks like I may very well be writing longer chapters after all.

A lot of bombshells were dropped in this chapter, but you can bet that I'm only getting started. In fact, I still have plenty of surprises in store for you guys and for the characters themselves. So brace yourselves, because sure enough things are really going to heat up.

Until next time, everyone. Take care.