Ascendancy

by Titanmaster 117

War never changes, merely the adversaries. Jaune Arc's dream was to be a hero, not a soldier. But now, as the Grimm rise up under a new master, he finds that he has little choice in the matter. Darkness will flood over Remnant as the Second Great War begins, and not everyone will live to see the light at the end of the tunnel... (Dark RWBY fic. Minor and major character deaths)

66. War of Atlas part 12: The Break of Dawn

Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Arc Theme: Legends Never Die by Against The Current
Theme: Star Wars: Imperial March | EPIC SAMURAI VERSION (Ghost of Tsushima Style) by Samuel Kim Music

---

This is not the end. Just a new beginning.

Together, we all await the New Dawn.

Haiku made in the aftermath of the Battle of Mantle

---

The fires around Ransel continued to rage as he woke up, his armour battered, his fabrics torn and burnt, his technicians, helms, and officers around him lying dead on the ground, in various pieces and parts, all of them engulfed in the growing flames as the consoles and work stations laid in pieces as well, sparking and broken as wires laid strewn on the ground, the viewports to the world outside cracked and broken as red strings of light from the Grimmships in the distance continued to spray at them, hammering away at the Aslyo and breaking away the metal and hull of the kataktitís-class dreadnaught.

Ransel was the only one left alive on the bridge. The only one left alive...

As he once feared that it would. It was that fear- One of many fears- That he had always been running away from...

…

…

…

…

But he would not run away.

Not anymore.

Now, he would fight to his last.

Retching himself up onto his feet- Pushing away a piece of hot metal rubble that had fallen onto him- And patting away a spit of fire that had formed on his shoulder as he quickly marched to one of the only intact console pits in the bridge- Despite the fact that a long shard of metal had embedded itself into his foot, coughing up blood every time that he moved his leg- And gently lifted up and placed the body leaning on it onto the floor. Then, he pressed down onto one of the buttons, and activated the intercom.

"All hands, this is Ransel Torban. I'm assuming manual control of all functions from the bridge. Get to your ships and escape pods, and abandon ship. I don't want anymore else onboard this thing when the end comes."

He let out a tired, pained sigh.

"I will be staying onboard. Get to your escape ships, now."

He called many of the ships in his house's air force, and ordered as many of them as he could to return to the Aslyo to help evacuate the people onboard, despite the harsh battles that they were in, before pausing, and then keying both ship-to-ship radios and Aslyo intercoms to hear his next words.

"You've made me proud, all of you. All of you brave warriors have proven yourselves to be a hundred times the warriors that I could only hope to be, and I can only pray to Azama, Ishtar and Inanna that I may stand alongside you all when our time comes to pass on.

"When you head out there into the battlefield, hold fast, hold strong, and hold the line. Show these Grimm bastards the true power of our house, of the Faunus, and of our people! You are Mandarins, the finest warriors on Remnant! It is time to prove that, to the Grimm, to the people of Remnant, and yourselves!

"Save yourselves, save Solitas, save the world, and through you, the Mandarins shall stand strong forever!

"Ransel out."

The intercom went silent, and Ransel moved to reposition the Aslyo in the path of the flotilla of Grimmships fast approaching his ship.

He would not run anymore.

And if he had to give his life so that the others didn't have to...

Then so be it.

---

On the ground below, the situation was growing worse and worse.

"No retreat! No surrender!" one enthusiastic Mandarin cried out as he jumped from the trenches, jetpack flaring behind him as he flew up into the air and sprayed yellow rounds from his rifle into the Grimm below, only for a Long-Shot to get a lucky blast on his jetpack-

{BOOM}

-And destroy it, sending his flaming body down to the ground below so that it could be torn apart by a pair of Ascendant Beowolves.

Those same Ascendant Beowolves then turned themselves to face the trenches and craters in the ground, and jumped right into them, catching many a resistance fighter in their claws and jaws and ripping them to wet bloody shreds, staining the soot below a glistening red as bone and gore caught itself in between the teeth and around the claws of the beasts, before the pair were finally put down by a group of horrified fighters, riddling their bodies with bullet holes before one panicking fighter threw a grenade into the trench and turned the Grimm corpses to blackened paste, covering the grounds with obsidian rot.

However, seconds later an entire swarm of Ascendant Beowolves charged forwards against a sea of incoming fire and breached the lines, tearing apart dozens more fighters and ripping them limb from limb, spraying blood over their fellows and forcing them to run for their lives as multiple pockets of Grimm continued to suppress the rest of the fighters surrounding the vast crowd of millions behind them, colouring the world in a mixture of azure and crimson.

Barons and Disciples sent lines of fire into the crowds, cutting down dozens.

Overhead, Carriers, Vetols, and Raiders continued to cut off friendly air support and flush out fighters from their cover and positions.

Robyn Hill and Sienna Khan were dragged from their wrecks, and dragged away by friendly units to the back of the lines to join the rest of the wounded.

And in the distance, the vast army of the Ascendant Court marched closer, and closer still...

---

"You want... To talk... Our sides are at war right now... And you want to talk?"

"Don't pretend that you're not interested in what I have to say."

"I'm not."

"Liar."

The battle around them continued to roar as lines of fire and explosions filled the air, burning carcasses of fighters and airships dropping down to the ground below, flinging shrapnel and broken limbs of warships, all of them wracked with flames, down below and crushing anything beneath them as they detonated on the ground below. Resistance and Court fighters continued to dogfight in the skies above them, and the burning Aslyo- The warship of the House of the Winter Shores- Moved to burn a path towards a flotilla of Grimmships that had separated from the rest of the surviving Grimm fleet in the distance. Down below, the ground was riddled with amber flickers and flares, and coloured a deep, uneven mixture of violet, throbbing and shifting like an ocean in the winds, rippling with every second as the violent tide rippled back and forth, cracking lines open before they quickly sealed themselves, though with each passing moment the circle began to grow smaller and smaller still.

Jaune picked himself up from the ground as the old scars in his side continued to throb with pain, and looked out to the battleground beyond the floating damaged fortress. If there was a hell out there, then surely this was it. This madness that seemed to swallow Solitas whole- Crushed between the cold tundra of Solitas' plains, and the heat of the war that threatened to consume the world- Was what the depths of that pitch black well of evil truly felt like.

Nearby, a droid SDC freighter was torn in half under concentrated bombing runs from squadrons of Vetols and plummeted to the ground, just as an Accumulator assault ship rammed and destroyed a trio of smaller Collector frigates, shattering them into fading pieces, whilst a pair of robotic Liberator-class capital ships crashed into each other, mangling themselves into a burning mess and tumbling down down down, smashing into and bringing down a Saviour-class fleet/fighter carrier along the way.

The night sky was coloured a mixture of amber, crimson, violet, and azure, flashing violently against each other as the distant sun remained hidden from them behind the mountains.

Jaune groaned once more as he held his hand to his side, and then looked to the smiling Daughter, who simply stared back at him.

"...Well?" Jaune said, not having as much patience as the Daughter did, "You wanted to talk, then... So talk."

The Daughter tilted her head to the side, and then looked outwards to the battle around them, the obsidian sky above them flashing with a rainbow of violent light as the sides of the Second Great War continued to wage their conflict against each other.

"You've been busy."

"...Yeah."

"Uniting all of the disparate factions of Mantle together into a single army- A single people, to boot... Turning the tide of war to your favour... Quite an event."

She sighed happily.

"I knew you had it in you."

Jaune narrowed his eyes at her, but then looked down to her waist, to see a gold and blue object attached to her belt, the blue giving off a azure shine against the shimmering night sky around them.

Was that... Was that the Relic of Creation?

"Why are you so please?" Jaune said to distract her as she continued to look away, whilst he in turn began to inch closer and closer to her, slowly reaching his hand down to the shortened staff at her hip.

There was no way he was going to let her have the thing that was presumably holding Atlas up, and do god knows what with it.

"Why wouldn't I be? Did I not say, back in the processing facility a week ago, that I wanted to bring mankind together through this war? And here you are- Here you go- Accomplishing that for me. How can I not be please?"

He inched closer to her, and his arm got closer to the staff at the Daughter's side,

"I figured you'd be sad that your forces are loosing."

"Should I? Hm, I suppose I should. Yes, I am sad that I am loosing, but it is all a necessary sacrifice in the end."

"I don't think your guys will feel the same in the end."

"Not all of them, yes... But enough of them."

The Daughter turned her head to Jaune, and he stopped in place, quickly throwing his arm down. If she noticed that he was closer to her, she didn't give any sort of indication.

"Do you know what happened when I came into contact with the Grimm, two years ago? When I enraptured them with my gentle spell? I showed them my vision of the world, and I showed them my love for it, and..." she laughed, and turned away from Jaune, back to gaze upon the warzone beyond them, "You could say that I... Infected them, with myself. I gave them the ability to think like we do, and as such the ability to process emotions that they never knew before, like pain, desire... Guilt."

A bitter smile spread across her face.

"They went quite mad, you know. From their new emotions, and their capacity to feel emotions. We fell into civil war only a year later, between Salem and the old guard of Grimm, and my new army. All of my Grimm of the new guard, capable of feeling emotion, capable of feeling emotion, capable of being driven to insanity by it?"

Jaune began to inch closer to her once more, extending his hand back out of the staff at her hip.

"Can you imagine it, Jaune? To be driven mad by your own emotions... Your own ability to feel. The stench of humanity washing over them... What makes us muddying them, bloodying them, defiling their purity, showing them for the monsters that they are... A few, like Hephaestus," she grounded that last word out, "Have accepted this of themselves, but the rest of them... It is why the Grimm under my command are so willing to throw their lives away for me."

She turned back to him, and he froze at the look in her eyes.

"They hate their own existence... And are more than willing to die for my cause."

…

What?

The Grimm of the Ascendant Court... Were...

"They're... Suicidal?"

The Daughter blinked as she looked at him, "...I don't believe so. Suicidal people believe that the world is better off without them. My Grimm are willing to fight for my cause, even if it kills them... Even if it kills me."

Okay, so there was a difference after all, but even still... For them to be so willing to die for the Daughter and her cause... It definitely explained...

He spared a moment to look out to the battle in the distance, and the Grimm that were throwing themselves into the frontlines of the war around them... How uncaring to their own lives they were about it.

It definitely explained why many of them were so willing to throw their lives away for a fight that the Daughter had no problem with loosing...

But still...

"That's not going to stop dissidents," Jaune couldn't help but say to the Daughter as she turned back to the battle raging beyond Amity, "I mean, Templar was able to gain a following from your guys. So was Tock. Probably because of that lack of regard for their own lives, and Hephaestus... Well, he's not exactly ready to throw his own life away, is he?"

"...No, I suppose not. Probably time for some housekeeping. Get my affairs in order before the rest of our plans go into place," the Daughter said as Jaune began to inch closer to her once more, "Good suggestion."

Jaune didn't like the idea of a genocidal warlord giving him praise, no matter what her intentions may be.

But he pushed the thought away as he reached his hand down and almost grazed over the Relic and-

Without looking, the Daughter grabbed his wrist and retched it upwards.

"Clever," the Daughter said as she turned to him, her hand like a vice as Jaune let out a pained breath from the tightening grip around his waist, "Trying to distract me with conversation, trying to take the Relic of Creation from me. Very-"

Jaune retched his other hand down to grab at the Relic of Creation (So it was the relic from under Atlas that Cinder had stolen, and what the Daughter had taken from her when she died. Good to know), Only for the Daughter to grab him by that hand as well and-

{SLAM}

-Judo throw him to the ground, pouncing onto him as she flipped him onto his stomach and straddled him, twisting his hands to his back and using her strength to force him to stay on the ground.

"-Clever indeed."

Jaune tried to force himself back up onto his feet, but the Daughter merely kept him pressed down to the cold metal beneath him.

"Ah ah ah, none of that," the Daughter smiled as she spoke to him, "Don't try and-"

Jaune tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but the Daughter simply pressed her arms more against his armour.

"-Struggle so much, my dear. It won't do your injuries any good at all."

"Stop it!" Jaune said as he continued to thrash around in her grip, "How are you-"

"So good at this? So good at keeping you pinned down? You believe that you're the first Huntsman I've fought before? You think I haven't had experience with this before?" she laughed, "I've faced much stronger opponents before, Jaune. Stronger than either of us, in both physically and- Heh, and in capacity for ruthlessness, and sin."

"How does that-"

"Relate to what I was saying before? It relates a lot to it," a pause from her, "Let me ask you something, Jaune: Do you think that Pyrrha is the first morally handicapped character to bear the title of Hunter? What about Harriet? Or Carmine and Bertilak? Or Clover? Or Templar? Or even Cardin Winchester (Ooh, there's a name you haven't hurt in a while, huh?). There's an entire world of disaffected and disenfranchised Hunters out there, lurking away in the shadows, their sins covering their souls and polluting this world with their filth..."

She laughed without any mirth in her voice.

"Let me tell you something, Jaune: As evil as I am- As evil as you think I am... There are monsters out there that can and will do so much more than I ever could."

Jaune continued to struggle under her grip, but found it within himself to ground out, "You going to do something about that, then?"

"I will try, but... But destiny may not allow it..."

Her grip loosened. Not enough for Jaune to break free from her grasp, but enough that the pain in his arms lessened just a tad.

"Destiny prevented me from stopping Hephaestus from escaping with the spoof-key... But destiny also brought the Relic of Creation into my lap like I knew it would... But destiny broke me to pieces, so many times... But destiny delivered to me the keys to make a better world... Destiny preordained so much that I love and hate, but for the things that I desire in the end... I might just have to stomach the things that I hate."

"...Does that mean that you won't?"

"Can't, more like," was the Daughter's reply, "I will try- I know I try, but... But I know that I will have you in the end... I know that I will have you in the end... Destiny has proclaimed it to be so..."

"Daughter-"

"Worse monsters that me out there," she cut him off with, "Worse monsters that will make you suffer like I have suffered... And I don't want that for you."

"What does-"

"You wanted to know why I brought you up here? Why I wanted to talk to you? This is it."

The Daughter flipped him around onto his face, his face and stomach pointing upwards, and his hands still behind his back. With a single swipe, the Daughter grabbed at his helmet and pulled it off, revealing the blond hair and blue eyes underneath to her, the both of them making eye contact as the Daughter leant down to him, leaning so closely forwards that their noses were almost touching, so much so that he could feel her cold breath over his face.

"Jaune... Destiny has proclaimed me to win this war... To rule over all of Remnant... But destiny has also proclaimed you to suffer much like I have, and I don't want that for you."

She reached one of her clawed, armoured hands up, and stroked his cheek.

"I want you to be there, by my side, as we build our perfect new world together."

She leaned closer and closer still to him, their breaths touching on each other as Jaune tried to wriggle his head away, only for the Daughter to clutch onto his head, and-

"I love you, Jaune, my King of Kings... And I want you to to join me. Surrender to me. Surrender to my will. Allow the great change to pass over mankind, allow my empire to rise... And I will insure that you will rule it, as its king. The new mankind that we make will be built on the love that we share, and together, we will usher in a new, perfect world- A bona vide Eden for Rebirth, and we will stand atop it, you, as my king, and I as your queen.

"Come with me... And all of my empire- All that I have, and all that I am- Can be yours.

"You did it, Jaune.

"You won."

She smiled, and nuzzled herself close to him, their breaths touching, her lips hovering above his, the air around her cold like ice, yet somehow also uncomfortably hot, like standing next to a house as it burnt to the ground.

For anyone else, it might seem like a romantic image- A seductive sight, in fact, with him pinned under her- But for Jaune, it was horrifying.

The Daughter was a genocidal maniac. She might sprout as many reasons and justifications that she may have for doing what she did, but that didn't change the fact that she had let the armies of the Ascendant Court into Vale, and had murdered hundreds people, some of them even in front of his eyes.

He had watched her lead the Ascendant Court into the Valerian Plains and the Grimm Tidings, and watched her forces butcher his peers.

He had watched her stab Nora in the gut, and stab Pyrrha with a dozen leaf-blades.

He had watched her murder Boombox and a dozen other initiates all by herself.

He had watched as she boarded his and the others Dropship, almost killed Coco's team and the others, and almost stole him away.

And he had- And it had been him who the Daughter had stabbed and almost disembowelled via ripping out his side with her sword, and almost killed by her.

He had almost died because of her, and so many others had actually died as well.

And on top of that, it had been her who began the Second Great War, and lead the Ascendant Court to attack all the kingdoms around the world, invade and occupy Atlas, murder hundreds of thousands- Perhaps even millions- Of people, and stole away millions more to be turned into her Chimera.

There were limits to what one could consider redeemable in terms of actions, and no matter what reasons she had- No matter how right she might think she was- The Daughter had crossed them a long time ago.

And then... There were the more personal reasons for him as well.

"Ah, you know Jaune," the Daughter said as she leaned in closer to him, so close that their noses were almost touching, "I can be whatever you want to be- I can be- I already am- The type of girl that you like- The type of girl that you love. You like confident girls, don't you? Domineering women, like Melanie, like Nora and Neon? You like women like that, don't you? Well, I can be like that as well. I can be any girl that you want me to be. I can be anything that you want me to be.

"All you have to do is submit to me. Worship me. Desire me, just as I desire you.

"Together, we will take Rebirth, we shall kill the gods, and we shall remake this entire world into its perfect form, where there will be no suffering, no war, no death, no famine or plague. It will be peace, eternally, forever and ever."

She looked him dead in the eye.

"I love you, Jaune. I always have, and I always will. You are the exception to the rule- The truly pure light in this world of darkness- And I wish to save you from all of the suffering and nightmares that will befall you without me. I want to make a perfect world, in which you will never have to fight and suffer ever again.

"Don't you see? I'm doing this not just for mankind, but for you.

"I'm building a new world, all for you."

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

What?

So it really was...

He had suspected that... After the Initiation Massacre, and what the Daughter had said to him, he had known that the Daughter had a... Thing, for him, in the loosest sense of the world, but...

All of the death, the suffering, the bloodying grounds beneath them as thousands screamed and died around him...

Was it...

Was it really all his fault?

He had suspected as such after the Initiation Massacre and what he had heard there, but... But just to hear it be confirmed like that...

It was nightmarish, and still almost impossible to believe.

It really was...

It really was all his fault.

"Just love me, Jaune, my King of Kings. Love me, as much as I love you, and together, we can make this world into that which it was always going to be. A paradise, eternal, unending, forever."

…

Jaune had never met the Daughter before her invasion of his first home, two years ago, and hardly after that.

And yet, this woman, who had started a war that brought about the deaths of countless innocents, all to turn countless more into monsters...

She was saying that she loved him?

Why?

Why did she- Someone who had never been with him before, unless it was in blood and fire- Love him so much?

Was it even love?

It couldn't be. It couldn't be at all. It just didn't make sense. It didn't make sense at all.

He tried to think back. Think back to a time that he had met her when he- They- Were younger. A time where he had met someone. A time where- Where he had to have met her, or at least been in the presence of her. But he couldn't think of anything. He couldn't. He just couldn't think of a time where he had met her, or anyone like her. Hell, the only women that he had talked to before coming to Beacon- The only girls that he had any sort of meaningful connection to- Had been his relatives, Reese, and the few people from the House of the Golden Sun that he had talked to, and he had a hard time putting the Daughter's face to those names.

His relatives...

His sisters, his grandparents, his mother, his...

His father.

…

It had been over two years ago, when he had to have first met the Daughter.

Two years ago, when his home, the first Arcadia had burnt to the ground...

And his father...

His father...

---

She stood over him with a dripping wet blade, soaked from its tip to end in blood, dripping down each of its spikes as she stood over a boy and a corpse.

The corpse of his father, still alive and breathing, his mother at his side, crying to him as he whispered something to her, and then...

He fell still, and the blood from the wound in the middle of his chest continued to pour down down down, puddling onto the chipped and cracked floor beneath him.

His father was dead.

But that didn't concern the stranger with red dots for eyes hidden behind a dark cloak as she stepped over the corpse on the ground, the fires of his home burning around him as the walls crumbled and the paint on them flaked and peeled, the pictures and ornaments on the walls falling and breaking to pieces, cracking and spilling flames from between them as the roof caved in and spilt debris and metal onto the ground below.

Yet, the stranger with his father's blood splattered and staining her robes and cloak seemed to be untouched by the carnage around them, mesmerised not by the carnage around her, but the boy beneath her as she walked away from the corpse and ran both flat ends of her sword against her arm sleeve, wiping away the smeared blood on them and tearing at the fabric with her blade's jagged ends, somehow stitching themselves back together like worms under the skin, fleshy lines of fabric and wool wriggling like bugs before coiling around each other and stitching close like a wound.

Behind her, the walls of the boy's family home were pulled open, and a massive pair of hulking, humanoid monsters in chitinous, rocky, jagged armour patterned in luminous purple lines, with three long points jutting out of their heads, salivating jaws with bladed teeth, and a long glowing purple slit in the middle of their faces. One was coloured with black bony armour and wielded a cleaver-like axe in its hand, the other a chilled white and holding a massive sword, and the both of them were laughing ugly laughs as beams of light shot from their eyes and burnt everything around them as their weapons dripped red with the blood of the farm animals that they had slaughtered.

Overhead, a flock of massive blackened birds with bony white heads and piercing red eyes swarmed around them as on the ground, a horde of... Monsters approached them, looking like humans and Faunus, but... Mutated. Different. Turned into monsters. They moved like puppets without their strings, luminescent purple boils covering their naked bodies as blackened tendrils wormed and wriggled under their skin, pulsating and undulating as their veins were dyed a deep black and their skin a chalk white, their bones broken and poking out of their skins, their eyes a blood red and leaking black and red blood. One monster's skull was cracked open and inky black tendrils were leaking out, another as a black and purple tendril wrapped around one of their arms and cracked it backwards, bending it onto itself and jutting the bone out of their skin. Another's had those inky tendrils poking out of their eye sockets and dislocating the eyes, whilst they were still attached by the cords, and another had a stretched, bloated stomach that seemed to glow red and pulsate, illuminating the many writhing tendrils pressing against the skin that threatened to cut open the thin flesh and spill out onto the ground.

They were monsters. Mutants. Hybrids gone wrong.

Some kind of... Chimera.

The six out of seven sisters of the boy's who had been in the house that night with him either crowded behind him or moved to defend him, the eldest of the group, Viola, picking up a broken staff to use against the stranger, only for the woman to-

{KICK}

-Plant her foot into her head and launch her down into the ground, knocking her out instantly.

Viola landed on the floor with a soft thud, and the strange woman with the army of monsters turned back to the boy...

And Jaune could somehow tell that underneath all of the robes and fabric... The stranger was smiling at him.

"Hello there, Jaune. It's been a while."

---

"...Get off me."

"Huh?"

"Get off!"

The Daughter's grip on him loosened as she flinched from his sudden outburst, and Jaune took that opportunity to wriggle his feet to her stomach, and-

{SHOVE}

-Throw her off him, launching her down into the rounded ground beneath them with a hard-

{THUD}

-As her organic armour slammed into the metal beneath them, before she picked herself back up to see Jaune pulling himself up as well and quickly grabbing at his helmet and shoving it back onto his head, shaking himself off as he got back onto his feet and looked back towards the Daughter.

"Jaune, what are you-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jaune didn't wait for an answer, "Like, seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?! Two years ago- The first time we met!- You murdered my father right in front of me! You killed him, and burnt my home down to the ground! Then, you declare war on the entire world and- Patch!" he remembered what he had heard about the island of Patch back in Beacon, "The Patch Massacre, when Grimm invaded Patch and slaughtered almost everyone there. They killed Ruby's father and burnt her home to the ground. Was that you?"

"I... That is one of my... Biggest regrets."

"So it was you! You- And then you attack us in the Emerald Forest, slaughter a thousand of us, and then slaughter hundreds more around the Grimm Tidings! You tore my side out, and stabbed Nora and Pyrrha! Your forces murdered so many people- I watched you murder Boombox with my own eyes!- And then you mutilated and almost killed Coco's team and everyone else in our Dropship out of the Emerald Forest!"

"I-"

"And then- And then!- You declare war against the entire world-"

"The world declared war against me!"

"-You still started it by trying to kill us all in Vale! You started a war against the entire world and killed hundreds of innocents in the first week alone, and then thousand more afterwards! Then you get captured, and just- Just fucking sit around and do nothing- Because I know that you could've escaped at any time because of what you said to Cinder back in the processing facility last week!- Whilst Cinder enslaves millions of people and tortured thousands of innocent children- Which you had the gall to feel guilty about instead of trying to stop it, because if you actually cared, then you would've stopped it from happening in the first place!- And then, once you're free, your goons invade Atlas and Mantle, attack all the other kingdoms, cull thousands- Millions!- Of people across the world, and try to enslave millions more in order to turn them into more of you Chimeras- The things that you brought to attack my first home!"

"The process wasn't-"

"And now- Now!- You come to me, and say that you love me!? When you have done nothing but ravage entire kingdoms, murder hundreds- Thousands- Millions!- Of people around us-"

"It was Cinder who killed millions in Solitas!"

"But you didn't stop her! You helped build on that kill count! You've killed millions across the world! You've murdered so many people, and have tried and are trying to steal away millions more to be turned into monsters, and you say that you love me!? Seriously!? Suddenly I'm supposed so somehow- Somehow! Find it in my heart to return your... Your... Twisted obsession!?

"It's not-"

"How dare you?! How dare you say that I am somehow supposed to love you because of some destiny bullcrap! I don't believe in destiny, and I especially don't believe in yours! I don't owe you anything! Not obedience, not fealty, not love! You! Have! Killed! So! Many! People! In what world- In what universe?!- Do you think that I would ever give a murderer like you any kind of love?! Because if you truly knew me- If you truly love me like you say that you do- Then you know that this is not how you gain my affections! Not wanton murder, not war and mayhem, nothing like this! But if you truly thought that this was how you could gain me as a lover- That I would somehow be attracted to you despite the blood of millions on your hands- Then you clearly don't know me at all!"

"I-"

"For god's sake, Daughter, the first time I met you was two years ago, when you burnt my home to the ground and murdered my father, and we never talked to each other until we were around the Grimm Tidings, and you ripped my side out..."

"Jaune... You just... You just don't see the connection we have."

"What connection? There's nothing there!"

"Yes there is! There is! You just don't see it! You can't see it!"

"See what? See that in this world of yours, you're going to turn everyone into Grimm monsters? See that you're trying to wipe away everything that makes a person a person?"

"Man has too much evil in it's heart! Gluttony, lust, pride, sloth, greed, wrath, envy, there is too much sin in their hearts for them to be left to their own devices! Left on their own, man will always turn to war to settle their differences!"

"Like you've done? It sounds to me like you don't have faith in them to be great. It sounds to me that you've just given up on people. I haven't. You can say that we'll always settle our differences with war, but that's not true at all! You can quote as many terrible people as you can- Templar, Cinder, and the like- But I can quote just as many people who have done nothing short of amazing over my short time of knowing them! Ruby, Melanie, Nora, Ren, Neon, Skipjack, Pyrrha, Lavender and so on. Do you know what they've done since the war began? They've fought against impossible odds and not only survived, but won! They braved the Initiation Massacre and helped me fight off Roman Torchwick's gang! They battled the Choir of Silver in the Sleeping City and faced off against the worst of both the Imperium and the Ascendant Court in Solitas! They- We!- Built a home for the refugees of Vale- Built an entire city within a city for them- And I know for a fact that right now, they're all busy fighting against your goons, and are winning! Now, if you really are asking me to join you, then you're asking me if I've lost faith in the people that I, as a Huntsman, am meant to protect, and you're asking if I'm unable, and unwilling, to protect them all with everything that I am, and you're asking if I don't think that they'll be able to bounce back from this stronger than ever! And the simple- The simplest- Answer to all of these question, is this:

"No."

There was a long silence between them, the noiseless void deafening, blinding, hurting, as nothingness swirled around them. Even the sounds of distant battle were muted to silence, quietened and blocked out as all Jaune and the Daughter did, for the longest time, was simply stare at each other.

Until, finally, one of them spoke.

"You really believe in them, don't you?" the Daughter asked.

Jaune nodded, "Humanity's flawed as hell, but that doesn't mean it's not worth fighting for- Not worth dying for."

"You will die if you continue down this path."

"It's in the job description."

The Daughter couldn't help but chuckle, "As it is with mine, being the villain of this war, and all."

"You keep calling yourself that," Jaune began as he gestured to her, "A villain. You know that what you're doing is monstrous, yet your still doing it. If you have that much self-awareness, why haven't you stopped it already?"

"You already know my reasons."

"If you really believe that your Grimm can change the world for the better, then why didn't you present yourself and the Grimmlands as its own sovereign state to the kingdoms and force them into negotiation? If you controlled one of the biggest landmasses in Remnant-"

"Rebirth."

"-Then that would've given you so much leverage over them at the negotiating table."

The Daughter laughed mirthlessly, "I can only imagine how that would end..."

"There's that lack of faith in mankind that I was talking about."

"I haven't lost faith in everything, you know," the Daughter tilted her head to him, "You were that faith. You're that which I have put my faith in. The rest of mankind, I told them there would be no surrender, but there's an exception to every rule, and you were- Are- Mine," she looked at him with a sad expression on her face, "I'm giving you a chance here."

"...So am I."

"...Huh?"

Jaune looked at him, "Daughter... You keep calling yourself a villain, yet you also claim to love me and mankind. You admit to being a monster, yet you gave Sara, Reza, and Brawler a home. You claim to adhere to destiny, yet you also seek to change yours and mine as well... Do you see the contradictions here?"

"..."

"But that means that you're not completely unreasonable."

"..."

"Stop this, please. Call off your armies, and this can end now. No more war, no more bloodshed. Surrender now, tell your men to stand down, and this can all end. This Second Great War, and everything else."

"..."

"For god's sake, this conflict is tearing Remnant apart! By the time that this ends, there'll be nothing left of Remnant for anyone! Just a desolate rock and piles of ashes! Nothing good has come from this war, and nothing good ever will! You keep calling yourself a villain, but you know how wrong this is! You know that there's nothing but suffering in store for everyone if this continues! If you surrender now, we can stop this, and we can make something better from this all! For the kingdoms, and for the people in them."

"The kingdoms are broken," the Daughter quietly, and finally, said to him, "Flawed. They will not work."

"Then I'll make them work! We can make them work!"

"From within a prison cell?"

"Better than leading a slaughter! For god's sake- For the people's sake!- There will be no winner in this war! If you keep doing this- If we keep doing this!- Then there will be nothing but blood left in the world!"

"..."

"Please... Stop this... Please..."

"...Stop?"

The Daughter shook her head sadly.

"Oh Jaune... This is too important to stop... Too important for either of us to stop..."

Jaune narrowed his eyes underneath his helmet, but then just tilted his head down and sighed sadly.

With a sullen movement, he pulled his sword from its sheath, and formed his shield around his arm.

"If that's the case... Then we both know how this ends."

The Daughter sighed, and formed her helmet around her head.

"Yes... I suspect that we do."

In a single strike, the Daughter pulled her sword from her sheath, formed her shield...

And charged.

---

"C'mon, you fuckin' piece of shit! Work, dammit!"

"Lan-"

"Pietro, stop it! I ain't in the fuckin' mood!" Cammie roared out as she continued to type away at the emergency generator console, trying to reroute some of the leftover energy within Amity to the engines to at least keep the thing afloat for a little bit longer, or at least straighten it out a bit, whilst trying to reserve enough power to keep the platforms that were giving Arc's team in the centre the advantage over the Ascendant Court's goons, as well as trying to see if she could get power to the remaining guns that had been hooked into Amity, "Ah, it's fuckin' useless! Nothing's workin'! This shithole's runnin' on fumes as it is!"

"Can't we reroute power from the platforms in the central arena to the engines?" Pietro asked as he stayed strapped into his seat, his mangled legs still beneath him and swaying to the side as the room continued to tilt to the side, as did the rest of Amity. The controls in front of him were broken and useless, and Pietro couldn't help but feel the same as he stayed still in his seat, a shard of metal falling past his face and clanging into the far wall, his arms clinging to his lap as he tried to come up with solutions to their current situation.

Cammie was very much the same as she continued to hammer away at the console in front of her, "Even if I did that, there wouldn't be enough power to jet us in any bloody direction! This tub's fallin' ta pieces, and there ain't enough power to activate any other systems! We'd need someone with a bloody semblance to-"

"E-Excuse me..."

Cammie and Pietro swerved their heads to the side, to see a bloody, wounded young boy that they hadn't seen before, with tattered clothes and a wobbling ankle, stumbling into the control room, holding himself against the door and then climbing into the room, keeping his feet level against the slanted floor as he approached them, sporting the same hair, eyes, and clothes colours of the Schnees.

Whitely Schnee. It had to be.

Cammie moved away from the backup generator console, almost climbing up the slanted floor as she joined Pietro as the wounded and dull-eyed Schnee boy walked up to them, his arms listlessly swinging beneath him, his body cut and bruised, dried blood having leaked from his nose and dyed his chin a deep red, carved into sections by the tears that ran down his face and reddened his cheeks and eyes.

"You're... You're Whitley Schnee, right?" Pietro asked as the boy listlessly approached them, his eyes looking down, and then moving up to spot both the elderly, disabled scientist and his Faunus assistant, "What happened to you, son?"

"..."

There was a long silence from the tired, bedraggled looking boy, before his eyes welled up with tears once more, and his face scrunched up with a mixture of bloodied sadness and repressed guilt.

"My... My mother... Just died."

Cammie and Pietro's eyes widened at the revelation, before a sad look of their own overcame them, and Pietro pulled him into a hug, rubbing his hand across his back, right before Cammie joined them as well, and Whitely began to cry for the family that he had lost.

Klein.

Jacques.

And his mother, Willow, all.

---

{CLANG}

{CLASH}

{CHOOM}

The sounds of battle continued to consume the arena around them as Pyrrha- Her empty eye socket still leaking blood- Jumped from one floating biome platform down onto another, the clear silvered metal floor clanging beneath her as she used her hardlight shield to-

{CRASH}

-Block a clashing blow from Reza's Morningstar, and send a pair of rounds from her hand cannons, Indominable and Indestructible, at the maid-dressed woman, though she quickly leapt up onto a rising biome platform and used it to escape from her, only for Pyrrha to use her semblance- With the aura that she hadn't been funnelling into her hollow, bleeding eye socket- To latch onto the platform and lift herself up to it, before running up the sloped platform and-

"RAUGH!"

-Throwing herself at Reza, smashing them both into the ground, and aiming both her weapons at her head, only for Reza to-

{SMACK}

-Headbutt her- Her helmet destroyed and unable to provide protection for her- Disorientating the Mandarin woman before Reza kicked her off and pulled the grenade launcher from off her back, aiming it at Pyrrha, and-

{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}

-Releasing a salvo of tracking missiles at her, all of them curling in the air before flying down towards the bloodied girl.

Despite the blood streaming from her hollowed eye, and the pain that came with it (Because if she allowed herself to be deterred by the pain then she would be a failure for it) Pyrrha quickly ran to the side and used her semblance to latch onto another platform and land hard on it, almost knocking herself out as she hit the metal ground, but rolling herself back onto her feet- Leaving a wet smear of blood on the ground as she left it- And used her semblance to pull herself towards another rising platform- In the shape of a rectangular, upwards column- In an elongated jump-

{SLAM}

"AUGH!"

-Though she misjudged the distance thanks to her missing eye, and thereby the lack of depth perception, and smashed herself into the side of the rising column, though she was quickly able to adapt and use her semblance to roll herself around to the other side of the column and-

{BOOM BOOM}

-Use it to block the explosive blast of two of the tracking missiles, the both of them exploding against the back of the column and tearing it in half, forcing Pyrrha to jump down onto the floating platform beneath them as it angled itself rightwards against the tilting floating coliseum beneath them, only for her to once again misjudge the distance and-

{CRASH}

-Slam into the platform, her legs angled sideways as she tried to regain a footing and collapsed onto the ground.

Even the best warriors out there made mistakes. This was obvious, even if Pyrrha didn't like this. Mistakes led to failure and failure led to beatings-

Stop it. Catch yourself. Don't let your weaknesses rule over you. Not again.

Pyrrha rolled herself onto her back and raised both Indominable and Indestructible, remembering how sometimes, when she looked down the scope of her old Miló in its rifle form, she would close one of her eyes to focus her vision, and decided that the same applied here, just on a more permanent level. With that decided, she levelled her hand cannons at the missiles flying towards her hand-

{BANG BANG BANG}

-Send three shots into three missiles-

{BOOM BOOM}

-Destroying two of them before Pyrrha realised that her lack of depth perfection had allowed one of the missiles to move too close to her, and could do nothing as the bullet impacted with the rocket-

{BOOM}

-And the explosive force sent her flying across the arena, her armour superheating from the heat and glowing a burning red before cooling off and smoking, burning her skin underneath and forcing her to let out a scream as she slammed into another rising platform and forced all of her aura away from her eye and into the rest of her body, filling in the cracks in her bones and patching over the broken and bloodied skin as the last missile screeched towards her-

{CHOOM}

{BOOM}

-And was shot in mid-air by a wide azure cannon blast, flinging smoke and burning shrapnel across her part of the arena.

Pyrrha's eyes- Eye- Widened, and she looked to the side to see Nora, smoking cannons on her back, sparing a quick glance at her, before her opponent, Brawler, sent a trio of open-palm strikes into her waist, and unleashed a cannon blast into her chest, sending her skidding back as smoke bellowed from her slagging and fragmented armour.

And here Pyrrha was under the recent impression that Nora hated her.

But she didn't have much time to think as Reza finished climbing over the platforms around them and launched herself at Pyrrha, throwing her Morningstar down at her, only for Pyrrha to use her semblance to grab hold of the Morningstar and fling it to the side, intending for Reza to be thrown away alongside it, only for the the blue-haired girl to let go of the Morningstar and land on her feet, charging at Pyrrha as she herself jumped up onto her feet, and throwing a pair of hard punches into the disorientated warrior's head.

Pyrrha seethed as she was thrown back, her mauled eye socket still leaking blood. She was tired, her head was pounding, and she felt like her legs were going to collapse beneath her at any possible moment.

But she didn't let that stop her, though, as she quickly retaliated with her own assault, wrapping her semblance around the metal covering Reza and pulling her forwards towards her. It took her a few seconds to recalculate the distances between them and take into account her new lack of depth perception, and experimentally launched a punch into Reza's unprotected face. Direct hit. A tooth dislodged itself from her jaw and bounced onto the floor. Fresh blood dribbled from Reza's mouth.

That didn't stop Reza, however, as she continued to throw punches at Pyrrha, moving close enough to the Mandarin that it was impractical for both of them to fire their weapons, the both of them locked in a violent duel as up ahead, aboard the articulating and turning platforms that continued to level themselves out in the air and swing from side to side, Ren and Nora continued their own battles against their opponents from the Ascendant Court.

Ren was locked in battle with Rui Sara, now in her Canaan personality, though it was a battle that he did not desire, as he continuously attempted to reach Nora, who was doing her best to fend off the relentless Brawler. However, Canaan just continued to cut him off and slash her arm blades at him, slicing through fabric and cloth and the skin underneath as Ren duelled against her and pulled his dagger from its sheath, their weapons clashing against each other and kicking off a spray of sparks each and every time, breaking steel against each other like metal whetstones, clanging sounds ringing out as sharpened shining metal scraping against the ground with each swinging swipe, some going for the joints, other for the neck or eyes.

But they weren't serious strikes, in their lethality. Not really. Ren had no intention of killing a child- Because despite her allegiance to the Ascendant Court and whatever Nora said, this still was a child- And Canaan... Sara...

Ren could almost sense the hesitation flowing from her. The fresh reluctance.

Something was different from before. Originally, back in the city of Mantle below- Back before he went up to Atlas and lost his mind to Cinder and her machine- Canaan (Or Sara, in fact) Was unrepentant in her murder of others. (Though to be fair, they were Imperium soldiers, though to be fair again, they were brainwashed and doing it all against their will.

It was a complicated area of thought, when one looked to the morality of killing those who were brainwashed in self-defence. Did they deserve to die? No, definitely not. But when they are trying to kill you, willingly or not, you would be in the right to defend yourself against them.

The morality comes into play when the question of killing someone who is trying to kill you, when they were brainwashed into doing so. Was it the right thing to do, especially when they give you no choice but to do so?

Ren had been brainwashed. He had been on the receiving end of that argument, and he hadn't had a choice when forced to attack his own teammates, and before that, he had fought against Cinder's brainwashed army for a week beforehand, so he had a good grasp of both sides of the argument, but that didn't mean that he had an answer to it either. On the one hand, he knew that the Imperium soldiers had never given them a chance, but on the other, he knew that they were just swimming in their minds, lost to the control of the Mindbender as it moved their bodies like marionettes against them.

It was just going around in circles.

Ultimately, Ren didn't have an answer to the question, and he doubted that he ever would, but right now, he couldn't let that thought distract him.

Not when he had an opponent to face.)

Ren ducked back, and used his micro-thrusters to jump back onto another rising platform. Canaan quickly followed, leaping from one rising metal slab to the other, a thin column floating right above them, forcing Ren to duck, though Canaan was able to use her shorter size to move freely beneath the column and slash at him, slicing through his fabrics and cutting at his aura, not enough to pierce the skin.

Not enough to actually harm him.

Canaan was holding back. Something- Maybe Sara inside of her- Was making her hesitate.

Ren didn't know what, but for some reason, a certain blond-haired boy came to mind.

However, nearby, Brawler had no such hesitation.

"I must say, I do enjoy our little spars," Brawler went as he launched a punch into Nora's armoured gut, bending the fraying and blackened metal and forcing spittle from Nora's mouth as lightning continued to crackle around her, "But as fun of an opponent as you are, I'm afraid that we will have to cut this fight short."

"Yeah," Nora said as lightning and wind formed around her, a quiver in her voice before she yelled out, "So do I!" and sent a violent, barely controlled gust of wind and lightning towards Brawler, only for the Techion to roll out of the way of the blast and watch it crash into the walls behind them, flinging shrapnel and fire into the air in a chaotic explosion.

"Ah yes, you have the Winter Maiden powers now, don't you?" Brawler began as he aimed his remaining back cannon down at her and let out a stream of violet light towards her, forcing Nora to dodge as it flew past her and sliced through a rising column of metal behind them, sending both pieces crashing into the smoking, burnt ground below as the violet blast crashed into the wall and exploded into an orange and purple flash of light. Brawler continued on, "You have no control over it though, do you? You only just got it. It's like a baby trying to learn how to walk, or a man trying to walk with a tail behind them. You've got no idea how to control it. Cinder? She cheated with it. She leeched the Fall Maiden powers from the Daughter like a parasite, and with the research that she had done into the Maiden powers beforehand-"

"Raugh!"

{FWOOSH}

Another wild throw of wind shot towards him, but he quickly dodged it and let it crashing into a lowering platform behind him, crumpling into a sparking mess as Brawler continued on as if nothing happened, "-That gave her the experience and forehand knowledge needed to properly use them. But you? You're a new-born. You have no idea how to control the powers given to you."

"Shut up!" Nora yelled as she raised her hammer and slammed it down at him, missing him but sending a massive charge of electricity into the ground around them, shocking Brawler and disorientating him long enough for Nora to swing her Mjolnir hammer at him, and-

{THWACK}

-Send him flying across the platform, scraping the metal and almost tossing him off the platform, "Just shut up and fight me!"

{KICK}

"GAUGH!"

"Gladly."

Suddenly, Brawler had got up, shot towards her, and planted his foot into Nora's bad leg, the blood-covered armour crumpling as Nora let out a scream, the aching pain almost overtaking her before she summoned a well of violent power from within herself-

{FWOOSH}

-And unleashed a storm of fire, ice, wind, and lightning all around her, throwing Brawler back and impaling the platform beneath her with spears of ice, forcing her to evacuate the platform beneath her as it began to fall, and-

She couldn't move. Her foot- The one on her good leg- Was trapped in the ice that she had made.

With a growl, she smashed her Mjolnir into the ice trapping her foot, and with her leg freed, she leapt upwards, using her new powers to boost her up, and-

{FWOOSH}

"WOAH!"

-Launched herself high into the air like a rocket, flailing wildly in the air as she spun to the side and-

"Fearless leader?!"

-Saw Jaune battling against the Daughter on the edge of Amity's walls, the wind bellowing around her as she saw them clashing their swords together as Nora tried to summon another well of power from within herself, and-

{CHOOM}

{SLAM}

"AUGH!"

-A violet string of light slammed into her back, and sent her plummeting back down to the ground below, hitting the ground with a loud-

{CRASH}

Everything hurt.

Her armour was torn and dented, her bad leg was raw and aching, her head was rattling, she was pretty sure that a few of her ribs were broken, and her skin was bubbled and burnt underneath her smoking armour.

And still, the power of the Winter Maiden inside her churned uncomfortably.

Today was just not her day.

However, she had Ren back with her. That, in her opinion, was well worth the pain.

Nearby, Brawler let out a chuckle, and underneath her dented helmet, Nora glared at him, pink flames flowing from her visor. Brawler waved a hand at her, as if waving her off, "Sorry, my dear, but I just- I find it just a tiny bit funny, is all. You're an atheist, are you not? You don't believe in any gods, yet here you are with the powers of one. I just- You're looking at me like I'm mocking you. I'm not. I just- I just find it funny, in an ironic sense."

Nora glared at him.

"What? Don't you find it funny? I find it funny. At least a little bit."

"I don't," Nora went as she picked herself up with a grunt, "Not in the slightest... Not today, at least."

"You're in a bad mood, I see. Rightfully so, I suppose."

"Yeah, rightfully so," she righted herself upwards, and cracked her neck from side to side, "I've had a long few weeks. I've been stabbed, shot at, blown up, mangled, blown out of the sky twice, betrayed by someone I considered a friend, had the person I love the most turned against me, and to top it all off, it isn't even the end of the semester!"

Nora couldn't help it. She laughed. She could do nothing but let out a pained laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"I just- It's so amazing, isn't it? So stressful as well. It's just- It's mad. It's so, so mad."

"Er... Yeah, it-"

{THWACK}

"Stop talking."

Within a split second, Nora had planted her hammer into Brawler's waist, and sent him flying across the arena, slamming him into the burnt and flaking metal down below.

"Better," Nora said as she then turned her head to the side, and focused on the duel between Reza and Pyrrha.

Well, it was less of a duel, and more of a one-sided beatdown.

Pyrrha looked tired. She looked exhausted. She was doing her best against Reza, but it was clear who was more energised and fit for battle as the both of them continued to engage in close quarters combat, Reza slamming her fists into Pyrrha's head and drawing out more and more trails of blood with each hit, before planting a knee into Pyrrha's chest, and kicking her back across the platform.

Nora growled. As much as she didn't like Pyrrha, she was still her teammate.

Even if she didn't act like it.

(Not that Nora had any right to complain...)

So, with that in mind- And after sparing a quick moment to see how Ren was doing in his fight (He seemed to be doing well at the moment, but it still made her feel a little better as she sent a violent gust of wind towards them, forcing them apart and giving Ren some breathing room)- Nora leapt down onto the platform below, summoned a well of the Winter Maiden's power from within her, and-

{FWOOSH}

-Sent both Pyrrha and Reza flying.

Woops.

In a panicked flash, Nora leapt once more to the side and grabbed Pyrrha as she flailed in the air, and landed her feet hard on another platform as it moved from one side of the arena to the other, it's side crumpled and frayed by fire, wires spilling out as Nora held Pyrrha bridal style, and then-

"RAUGH!"

-Was forced to jump to the side as Reza leapt from one platform above them to the other, and then used them as a bouncing board to launch herself downwards, flinging her weapon behind herself, and then threw it down at Nora and Pyrrha as she slammed into their platform and sent her Morningstar flying, almost hitting Nora before throwing herself back and swapping the chained weapon for Nora's modified Magnhild (That she had stolen from the dead Malcom), Aimed it at Nora, and-

{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}

-Launched an entire salvo of tracking rockets at them both, only for Nora to raise her arm and-

{FWOOSH}

-Unleash a violent wave of wind, throwing the rockets off wildly and scattering them across the arena- Two of them crashing into each other, three of them into the rising and falling platforms, and one into the empty stands above- As well as flinging Reza and half of their platform across the arena, tearing apart metal and throwing Reza down onto another platform as it lowered itself back into the fractured, punctured ground beneath them, metal shards embedding themselves into her armour and scrapping over her aura, cutting into it and leaving her groaning on the lowering floor as the other half of their platform flung itself down into the blackened chasm beneath them, just as Nora leapt downwards to another platform, placed Pyrrha down on the ground, and then leapt back into the air to catch the other half of the platform as it spun through the air, pushed all of her aura into her semblance, supercharging her muscles, and then-

"HYAH!"

{TOSS}

-Threw it at Reza, the flinging halved platform smashing into Reza's and throwing her into yet another rising platform like a ragdoll, the metal shards and slabs falling to the dead chasm below and exploding in a ball of frayed shards and flashing lights, smoke rising up into the air and clouding the world around them as Reza began to pick herself up from the ground on shaky legs, blood and spittle leaking out of her mouth as her arm swung dislocated from her shoulder, before she grabbed it with her other arm and-

{CRACK}

"AUGH!"

-Retched it back into place.

Nearby, Brawler had picked himself up from the ground, and began to leap from platform to platform, back up to the fight above.

Nora growled at Reza's continued persistence as the blue-haired woman glared at her from her platform, "To hell with this," and threw her back cannons down-

Brawler soon found himself on the same platform as Reza, and with very little time to react.

(CHOOM}

-Fired twin streams of azure light at Reza-

"NO!"

-Only for Brawler to throw Reza out of the way-

{BOOM}

-And take the blow himself.

His armour was mottled and torn apart, green metal and purple lights burnt and smelted to slag, and flinging shards to steel and frayed wires across the platform and into the opened arena below, Brawler's insides spilling outwards- Guts and wires, blood and Black Ether all- As the azure light died and was replaced with fire and bellowing smoke from his chest to his waist, the metal torn open and cut apart like a gaping maw, its teeth the chipped steel beams and bones that made up his exoskeleton, peeled to reveal the beating heart, lungs, and organic organs within, as the metal vents in Brawler's head began to leak smoke and sparks. Metal began to wrap itself around his remaining organic organs, just as the lights covering his body flickered, and turned off.

"Good... Hit..." the Techion muttered through a staticky, muffled voice modulator, before his legs, flooding out oily smoke, gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

The world fell silent around the arena as the fighters of JNPER and the Ascendant Court stopped, and stared at the fallen body of Brawler, still whispering smoke in gentle, fading streams, the glowing red metal cooling in the mixed air and turning a burnt black colour, the green paint covering his body peeling and bubbled, left to collect on the ground and flutter away in the wind like doves chasing the breeze.

"...Brawler?" Reza was the one to break the silence, her voice suddenly quiet, and disbelieving. Her face was quivering, and her eyes were beginning to water.

…

"Brawler... Are you... Can you..."

…

"...B-Brawler...?"

…

No sound came from him.

…

…

…

…

"You..."

Reza looked away from the prone body of Brawler to Nora, with eyes were wet, red, and full of rage.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

In a single second- As if all of the fatigue and aching pain in her body had suddenly left her- Reza dashed forwards, over the platforms, and into Nora and-

{SMASH}

-Slamming her Morningstar repeatedly into her. There was no logic behind her attacks- No tactical reasoning or movements- Just tearful, mournful rage.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

{SLAM}

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

{SLAM}

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Nora found herself assailed by attack after attack, each one more unpredictable and wild after the next, caving in metal and taking out entire chunks of what little aura that she had left, until she was left with no aura at all, and the only thing that was protecting her from the wild woman was the bruised and discoloured armour that she was wearing. On her back, her cannons were carved in and broken to pieces, rendering them useless, and her hammer was knocked out of her hands, clattering onto the platform beneath them.

Behind Nora, Pyrrha tried to pick herself back up and join the fight, but found herself unable to do so each time, her legs giving out as she tried to stand tall, her eye socket cold and wet and still bleeding. The fatigue and blood loss finally getting to her.

Nearby, Ren was still battling Canaan, growing more and more tired and exhausted with each strike as his guns finally ran out of ammunition and he discarded them, whilst the smaller girl with the multiple personalities within her more hesitant and conflicted than ever.

And all that Ren could think of, as he dodged another cutting blow from the girl, was:

Where are you, Jaune?

---

The Aslyo was going up in flames.

Major and minor systems had gone offline as the engines and reactors of the warship began to overheat, the lights overhead and on the consoles flashing yellow and red as fire spread out across the control room and the ship itself. Holes were being punched into the metal and leaking smoke and flame as it sailed through the air. Red and violet beams of light continued to cut away at the metal as the flotilla of Grimm ships continued to assail the Aslyo with blast after blast.

Ransel stayed calm in the control room, though. He was the calmest that he had ever been.

It was a strange feeling. He remembered the first days of the Atlesian Civil War, when he had lead the people of his house into exodus from their first home as it was raised to the ground. He remembered the fear that he had felt on that day, and every other day afterwards. That fear of loosing everything- Of loosing himself- To the gripping, gnawing jaws of death, crushing him in their tight embrace as everything fell apart around him.

That fear of death, chasing him endlessly, nonstop, at his very heels.

And yet now, when he came face to face with his own mortality, he felt no fear. He felt no anger, no rage, no reluctance, no hesitation. Not anymore.

A wave of calmness had washed over him, uplifting him from his fears, and bringing him into the light of bravery.

He would die here. He knew this now. He accepted this now.

He just needed to make sure that it wasn't in vain.

The Aslyo surged forwards, trailing fire and destruction behind itself as the guns of the Grimmships before them continued to pour fire into the burning carcass of a ship, ripping apart gun turrets and missile batteries. It didn't matter if they were destroyed. All of the power lines to the weapons had been cut off.

The two Missionaries had move themselves into broadside positions, shelling the Aslyo with cannon round after round and providing cover for the trio of Destroyers between them.

The cannons of his ship were gone.

But the Aslyo was now done. It might not have any weapons... But it was itself a weapon.

Ransel pushed all remaining power into the engines, and swung the ship to the side to get a better angle.

Today was the day for ramming, it would seem.

The Aslyo swerved to the side and began to turn in a crescent, trailing smoke and flickers of flame behind it as the guns of the Ascendant Court's ships continued to track the burning warship. The underside fin of the Kataktitís-class dreadnaught had broken off from the fire and smashed into the snowy ground below in a torrent of wreckage and flame, and one of the engine blocks at the back of the ship had imploded in a flash of azure and amber light, and left the massive ship tilting to its port side, its insides churning with heat and flame as its reactors continued to overload from all of the suddenly unstable energy within them.

Regardless, Ransel kept the ship moving forwards, swinging it around and putting it on a collision course for both Missionaries and the Destroyers between them. Damn ship that he was in was a dreadnaught, yet it moved like a cruiser. Even after all these years in the ground, it still had that speed and manoeuvrability that made the class of warships famous in the first place.

kataktitís-class dreadnaught were the most important ships in the Winter Shore's Great War fleet for a reason. The powerful engines and manoeuvring thrusters built into the ship had made it unnaturally fast for its massive size, informing the general strategy of the Winter Shore's fleet to be based on superior speed and movement over any opponent.

Unfortunately, this superior form of movement also had a habit of overtaxing their generators, leaving them unstable and rather, well, explosive if their shielding failed.

A flickering screen on one of the consoles around Ransel informed him that the shielding around this ship's generators and reactors had just been breached.

Too bad for the Grimm.

Ransel repositioned the ship, ignoring the fire that had begun to build on his arm as he continued to tap away at the switches, dials, and holographic settings around him, and pushed all remaining power to the ship's last engines, sending the flaking warship on a collision course straight for the Grimmships ahead of them. He could imagine the Grimm in those warships realising what was about to happen and panicking, flailing their arms about and running to their evacuation ships in fear. Or maybe there was no Grimm on that ship. Maybe it was the Grimm in question. Maybe it was just one single slab of mass instead of an interconnected series of tunnels and corridors sheathed beneath a thin layer of metal and framework, just like all the other airships that had seen action across the thousands of years of Remnant's history.

He could see the smaller thrusters and retrorockets scattered across the hulls of the Missionaries bursting with sudden azure light as the massive warships attempted to move out of the way of the incoming dreadnaught, whilst the three Destroyers tried to hide behind them- Shield themselves behind the larger ships- As the smaller frigates and corvettes wedged between their formations moved to scatter.

It wouldn't save them.

Ransel made one last check of the ship-wide bioscans. Just as he suspected, he was the only living thing left on this ship.

Good. He didn't want anyone else to get caught in the blast. No more people on his side needed to pay for his sins with their lives.

Underneath his battered and dented helmet, its visor cracked and loosing its amber shine, Ransel couldn't help but smile. Over the last days, weeks, months, and even years, he had been a coward. Useless. Week. Too scared to look down the face of death...

And he had made his people sacrifice themselves for him.

Now, it was time to be the leader that he was supposed to be. The one that he should've been from the beginning.

This was a good way to make up for it.

He only hoped that his death wouldn't be in vain, and that his people would carry on without him.

He hoped that they could do what they did best, and held fast, held strong, and held the line.

It was all that they needed to do, and Ransel was proud of them for it.

He hoped that his sacrifice could honour them all.

{SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH}

The Aslyo surged forwards and crashed into the first Missionary, and Ransel was incinerated by the fires.

The massive warship made of Mandarin iron cut through the first Missionary, smashing it backwards and splitting it in two, forcing both sides into the trio of Destroyers behind them. All three ships were smashed into pieces, breaking apart in fiery explosions of amber, crimson, and violet light as the massive pieces of smoking waste metal and ship parts slammed and cut themselves into the second Missionary, digging into the organic metal and ripping into the steel flesh underneath. Systems overloaded and entire bunks of Grimm were wiped out in seconds as hanger bays collapsed into themselves and decimated everything within them, just as the engines of the Aslyo reached the zenith of their overload...

And detonated.

{KA-BOOM}

The blast consumed not just the Aslyo, but the remnants of the Missionary and the Destroyers that it had rammed into, as well as the Grimm frigates and corvettes that were trying to flee from the carnage. The second Missionary- The last ship of the flotilla- Was cut in half as well, all of the remains of the ships above, burning and fading, crashing down into the ground below in pillars of flame and smoke, fading away into nothingness.

None knew if anyone survived the blast, but what they did know was that it signalled the beginning of the end of the Battle for Mantle.

---

Jaune could tell that the Battle of Mantle was reaching its end.

He suspected that the Daughter knew as well.

And yet, even as her blade slashed and clashed against his atop the broken fortress of Amity, he could tell that she was not going to give up this fight. Not now, at least, Not at this moment, and not while she still had a reason to stay, whatever that reason was.

Another parry and his blade was almost forced out of his hand as he was kicked back. Jaune didn't let that stop him though, as he lunged forwards towards the Daughter, his hand reaching out for the Relic at her waist, and-

{SLAM}

"ACK!"

The Daughter had planted her knee into his side, the sudden force and vibrations transmitting through his armour and into his aching old scars and wounds, the pain in them increasing tenfold as the Daughter pressed her hand into his battered chest, and-

{FWOOSH}

-Sent a concentrated blast of air into his chest, knocking him back across the side of Amity's top and almost causing him to slide off the floating stadium entirely, forcing him to pick himself back up with a loud groan of pain, and throw himself back onto his shaking feet, twisting pain in his gut as he held Crocea Mors tightly in his hands, and threw himself back towards the Daughter, aiming for the relic at her hip once more, only for the Daughter to catch his blade with her own and parry it back, before attempting to deliver a riposte into Jaune's chest, though he was quick enough to lift up his shield to tank the incoming blow, pushing all of his aura into the faded slab of metal in order to stop one blow, two, three, then a fourth as well, before dropping it to take a swing at the Daughter, only for her to raise her own jagged smoking shield to block his attack and throw him back with an upwards-swipe from her sword.

Jaune threw himself back into the fight, and his blade clashed against the Daughter's once more.

And once more, just like in the Emerald Forest, the Daughter played and toyed with him, dancing around him and twirling her sword at him as if to egg him on- As if not to mock him, but to encourage him. Jaune found it to be a bit vexing, but tried not to let it distract him as he ran forwards and threw his sword back down at her.

{CLASH}

{CLANG}

{CLASH}

Their sword strikes began to sing to a tune- A song of fire and war and death. Each crash of the blade was a lyric, each direct hit a musical note, each punch and kick the bass of a drum, writing to a symphony of destruction that echoed across the once hallowed grounds of Amity Coliseum, now tarnished by war and suffering. The engines on the giant floating fortress were slowly flickering off, worsening Amity's slow deathly descent to the ground below, but that didn't seem to concern the two fighters at all- In fact, Jaune had almost forgotten completely about it- As they continued their deadly duel, both of them smeared with the blood of others as they stepped through the fading smoke and around each other. sword against sword as they clashed with each other, amber light giving off sparks with each impact of steel.

The Daughter leapt forwards. One strike of her sword against Jaune's, two, three, four. five and six in quick succession, seven, eight and nine quickly following up against his shield, slicing into the metal and leaving two long scrapes running along the metal. Next was an upwards swing from her sword, knocking him off kilter before she slammed the hilt of her sword into his helmet and forced him back, taking a moment to spin her sword in her hand before twirling herself around and building up momentum for another swing, only for Jaune to raise up his sword to block the Daughter's attack, the blow throwing him back another step before he raised his sword to take a swipe at her, only for the Daughter to parry his blow and knock him back once more.

Of course, that didn't stop Jaune as he ran forwards once more, and sent three wild strikes in quick succession to the Daughter, only for her to parry each one before he sent a downwards strike, and then an upwards one, his opponent dodging each one before he sent a sideways strike at her and his blade hit the side of her jagged shield, only for her to use the catches of her shield to twist his blade around and use his brief disorientation to plant her foot into his waist and-

{KICK}

-Force him back once more, knocking him off kilter and forcing him to take a moment to orientate himself and try to focus.

He was running on fumes and felt like the walking dead. His body, bones and skin and all, was aching and probably fractured in multiple places, his armour was shredded and broken, he was gasping for air underneath his helmet, he was stressed out of his mind, he hadn't slept at all in ages, or eaten, or taken any painkillers to treat the worsening pain in his body, and the only thing that was keeping his body going was the well of aura- That for some godforsaken reason hadn't run out yet, despite all of the crap that he had gone through today- Still clinging to him like a sheet and keeping his bones at least somewhat intact as he moved.

So yeah, running on fumes.

But despite that, he was still pushing himself to stay in the fight, charging forwards once more to swing his sword at her as he launched a downwards swipe at her, followed by a wild trio of pointed strikes at the Daughter's chest, though she was quickly able to block the blows as she quickly readjusted herself and-

{STAB}

Jaune got a lucky shot in and stabbed her in the chest.

Was this it? Had he got lucky with his strike? Had he stabbed her? Stopped her? Ended this war right here and there?

He hadn't. The sword had been stopped by the Daughter's living armour, and with a single laugh from her- "Heh"- She twisted herself around and pulled the blade out of her chest, throwing him back once more and tossing herself forwards, slicing across his chest with her blade and smashing the hilt of it into his head-

{SLAM}

-And suddenly he was back in the Initiation Massacre once more, holding the dying Emerald in his arms, carrying Miltia across the forest and watching her die in front of him, waking up next to the dead Flashback next to him, walking through the forests smothered in blood, forced to watch hundreds of initiates die around him, having his side ripped out by the Daughter, watching Cardin try to kill him before he was killed by Ruby, being stuffed into a Dropship before it was brought down by the Daughter, lying almost dead in a coma for an entire week as the world burnt around him, all the while he was plagued with dreams and flashes of dead people tormenting him suffocating him killing him over and over again because people had died because of him and he had been covered in their blood and all of them were screaming at him asking him why did he let them die-

He screamed out a wordless roar of anger and threw himself forwards once more.

His sword clashed wildly with the Daughter, throwing strike after strike at her as she was forced to step back and back with each hit on her armour, shield, and blade. Each rabid strike was without strategy or tactic, just a blinding cocktail of panic and rage as the flashes of bloody memory continued to assault his mind. Now he was flashing back to Vale, when he had failed to stop Harriet Bree from murdering so many people, to the Sleeping City when he and Melanie had almost died to Tock and had almost lost Ruby, to being shot down over Solitas, to being unable to save so many people from the Imperium, to watching the children of Solitas die by Cinder's hands, to being forced to abandon Ren and Whitely to the Imperium as Atlas was invaded, to being forced to leave Pyrrha behind, to being abandoned by Nora, to hearing Sara's story, to being unable to stop the two fighting civilians in Atlas, to having to drop Atlas on the Grimm dreadnaught and forcing Nora's leg back in place, to being smashed into Amity's side and allowing Hephaestus to escape, and now here, with Pyrrha missing an eye and the others unaccounted for, and he was fighting the Daughter once more and-

{KICK}

The Daughter planted her foot into his side once more and forced out a pained cry from him, knocking him back as he raised his sword once more and-

{BANG}

The Daughter had pulled out the ML-17 pistol that she had swiped from him back in Atlas a week ago from her waist, and shot Crocea Mors out of his hand. His sword bounced onto the ground, clattering against the metal, before rolling down the curbed side of the top of Amity, leaving scrapes and soft cuts in the metal. Jaune, in a panic, reached out to try and grab it, but it was too late.

Crocea Mors bounced off the metal, and fell down to the faraway surface below.

"...No."

"How do you... Irrelevant," the Daughter muttered to herself before turning to him, "I'm sure that you'll have it again... Soon enough, at least."

Jaune tightened his hands into fists, and looked up to the Daughter, glaring at her through his helmet.

Crocea Mors was a priceless piece of heritage. The most valuable weapon within the Arc family, filled with memory and history of ages and generations and many minds and lives, endless in its scope and the lives that it had saved and ended.

And now, it was gone.

Gone.

Lost to the world below.

A roar of anger left his lips, and he charged at her, arms raised into fists and-

{STOMP}

The Daughter stomped her foot into the ground, and a wave of ice flowed across the ground and smothered Jaune's feet.

Jaune growled as he began to bash his shield into the ice, only for the Daughter to use her Fall Maiden powers to cover his shield in ice, leaving it trapped and forcing him to abandon it as he looked up to see the Daughter tilting her helmeted head towards him.

"You've grown stronger."

Jaune sent her a narrowed look through his helmet, "So you're making fun of me now?"

"Oh, quite the opposite, actually. I'm congratulating you. You've grown better- Stronger, tougher, and so on," he could tell that she was smiling underneath her helmet, "That proves it."

"Proves what?"

"That I'm right. That this war is right," she stopped him before he could get a point in, "I did say that conflict is the greatest crucible of mankind, and you are my proof of that. You started this war- Apologies for offending you if I do- You started this war as a weakling, but not you are so much stronger. You actually put me on the defensive."

"You were still holding back! Toying with me!" Jaune couldn't help but angrily growl out.

"And you are still alive. Why are you to complaining about that?"

Jaune said nothing.

"War is a place, Jaune, where weakness goes to die. In conflict, our weaknesses are beaten from us- Torn out of our chests and left to die. Exiled. Banished. Sent away to nothingness. In war, we must let go of these weaknesses, or die with them."

She sighed, and then lazily waved the ML-17 in her hand- In her shield arm, the organic slab of metal clinging to her sleeve as her sword was held tightly in her grasp- At him.

"But you... I'm afraid that despite how strong you have become... You are still riddled with weakness. Infested with them. They cling to you like maggots to rotting fruit. I was born in the crucible of war, Jaune- Partly by your hand-"

What?

By his hand?

By my hand?

What does that mean? He didn't know how many times that he had to say this, but he had never met her before the destruction of his first home. How many times he did need to repeat this in order for this woman to understand that he had zero emotional connection to her other than hate for starting this war?

"-And to survive, I had to surrender my own weaknesses- My hesitance to fight, to do harm, to seek or have mercy for my enemies. Weakness makes you soft, vulnerable... Beatable. You need proof of this?" she tilted her head to the other side, "Look at where you are now."

Jaune was about to spit out a retort, but was then stopped as his attention was drawn to the battle waging in the distance, a grand flash of amber light consuming what looked like an entire flotilla of Grimmships, sending them all plummeting to the ground in burning clusters of fading metal, as in the middle of it, the briefly familiar husk of a ship collapsed to the ground below and crumpled into burning pieces, bellowing smoke from its exposed insides.

The Aslyo, Jaune thought to himself as he briefly looked away from the flash of light, before risking a peek to it through squinted eyes, Did... Did Ransel and his people make it out in time?

He wasn't sure, but he wasn't sure what he would do if they hadn't. He'd lost way too many people already in this war. He couldn't stand to lose anymore.

But from the looks of it, he wasn't the only one loosing things today.

"I think you need to rethink your statement," Jaune began as he gestured to the maddening battle around them, missiles and cannon blasts flying through the air as the flotilla of Grimmships disintegrated on impact with the ground, and the majority of the remaining Grimmships continued to group together to the side of the ruins of Atlas, under continuous fire from the Resistance ships around them, "Because it looks like your guys are itching to run."

"As were my orders," the Daughter said to him, shutting down Jaune's retort in an instant, "Our time in Solitas is coming to an end. We shall be departing soon, and you shall be coming with me."

Jaune frowned underneath his helmet, "I would rather not."

"You don't have a choice. Not anymore."

"I never had a choice to begin with."

"True," the Daughter admitted as she began to reach for him, "You never did."

Despite his feet and shield being frozen in ice, Jaune was able to lean away from her, "Kill me here or take me away, and it doesn't end here. You think I'm this special person, more unique and important than anyone else? You're wrong. You're terribly wrong. There's millions of other people out there- Millions of other people that are so much better than me in every single way imaginable!- Who will take my place in whatever part of this world that I live in. Better leaders, better fighters, better people. This won't end with me. They'll carry on without me, stronger than ever. You think taking me away will change anything for you? You couldn't be more-"

"Wrong?"

The Daughter laughed.

"That is your mistake, Jaune."

She reached for him.

"That is your greatest-"

[BLEEP BLEEP BLEEEEEEEEEEP]

"-Mistake?"

Something clamped hard onto Jaune's back and around his shoulders. He jumped, and looked behind himself to see-

"Eri?!"

-The little drone, battered and beaten, but somehow still alive despite the condition that he had seen her in earlier, her dented fan blades spinning wildly as her three working arms wrapped themselves around him and quickly-

{SMASH}

{VWOOSH}

"AUGH!"

-Pulled him out of the ice and into the air, his feet and shield- Still clamped to his arm- Covered in flaking layers of frost and ice as he was pulled up into the sky, floating up further and further away from the falling Coliseum beneath them.

Jaune gasped at the realisation that Eri was still alive- Or online, to be more technical, but considering how many times she had helped them and saved his butt over the last few months, he preferred to say that she was alive- And then blinked as one of her arms poked him between his armour, forcing him to look down through the harsh winds around them, and saw her holding a dull-silver blade connected to a gold hilt.

Crocea Mors. The weapon that he had only recently lost.

"My sword?" Jaune went as he quickly took it into his own hand, and looked back to the battered backpack that Eri had partially formed herself into, "You saved my sword?"

In his helmet's HUD, a quick message popped up.

\( ^0^ )/

Jaune couldn't help it. He laughed. He let out a hearty guffaw, "Oh wow! Gods, I- Thank you, Eri! Thank you so much!"

He meant it. He really did. Crocea Mors was a timeless relic of his family's history, from the grand campaigns of the First Great Wars, to the days of the old Faunus empires, to even the fabled times of Azul Primus and his White Fang, so to have it back in his hands once more, much like it had been given to him after the Initiation Massacre... It was an incredibly welcoming experience.

He laughed warmly again. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about losing yet another-

"JAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

-Weapon.

Eri swung Jaune to the side, out of the way of a wild blast of focused wind as below them, the Daughter used her Fall Maiden powers to blast away from the top of Amity and soar towards them, shooting past them as she swung her sword at them- Which Jaune was quickly able to dodge, thanks to Eri- And then hovering above them, pushing her aura into her ML-17 and-

{BAM BAM BAM}

-Firing supercharged azure rounds at Jaune and Eri, the little droid on his back swerving him from side to side in the air to avoid them.

On his HUD, Eri pinged him a simple: ?

"Forget about-" Jaune heaved in his helmet at all the sudden motion. He felt like he was going to puke at any given moment, but swallowed it down as he picked up where he left off, "Forget about the Daughter! There are two children that the Ascendant Court have hold of! If we can't get the relic from her, then we can at least save the kids!"

It took Eri a moment to register his order, before she shot back with a, o(￣▽￣)ｄ, and in a split second she swerved both him and herself back down to Amity below, the Daughter following close behind them.

It was... It was liberating, actually.

Flying through the air.

The feeling of winds rushing against and around him. The cotton candy clouds mixing with the dark sky that was slowly being washed over by a golden, pink, and blue light as the sun began to chase the peaks of the mountains in the distance, leaving him awash with a gentle, yet growing, golden hue as he chased the shadows on the faraway ground below. The rushing noises of the howling winds seemed to not exist at all as he was mesmerised by the feeling of flowing with the world in the sky, as if he was one of the dragons of old and new.

He wondered if this was what Nora felt as she flew through the skies as a child. This feeling of liberation and freedom, so unlike the panicking flight that he had been forced into when he was fleeing from Atlas a week ago. This was... Something else entirely.

If it wasn't for the fact that he felt like he was going to chuck up his guts at any given moment, he would've been enjoying this.

Also the Daughter was shooting at them, so that was a negative as well.

Azure blasts and hadean balls of flame shot past and after him as Eri flew him back towards the tilted floating fortress, the armoured boy directing her to the lower sections of the dilapidated coliseum as it continued to fall apart, pieces of steel and concrete cracking from their foundations and rushing down to the ground below in showers of fragments and dust, just as-

"Going somewhere?"

-The Daughter caught up to them and swiped her sword at Jaune, the boy having to swing himself around to face her in order to shield Eri, pulling out his sword and-

{CLANG}

-Clashing their swords together once more as they flew through the air and towards the bottom of Amity, flying past the deactivated cannons and glass windows as they continued to duel in the air, right before the Daughter-

{CRASH}

"Oof!"

-Slammed herself into Jaune-

{SHATTER}

-And sent them both crashing through one of the glass plains in Amity, the both of them clattering against the walls and leaving cracks in the foundations as they both rattled onto the floor and let out groans of pain. Their bones ached and bellowed in pain, but still they picked themselves back up as the Daughter pounced at him, only for Eri to boost him away from her and fly them both away from her, bursting down the corridor of Amity and leaving emerald contrails behind them as the Daughter sped after them, azure rounds and fiery balls of light slamming into the walls around them, right before Eri-

!

"What does that- WOAH!"

-Swerved both herself and Jaune to the side and-

{SHATTER}

-Out of another window, sending them both out of Amity and into the bellowing winds of the sky once more, his belt cape bellowing in the winds as Eri planted him down onto another plain of glass-

{SHATTER}

-Only for the Daughter to leap out of the one that they had just vacated from and run along the glass window of the tilting coliseum beneath them, cracks and boot prints left in her wake as she sprinted along the glass, before leaping up and throwing her sword down at him in a jabbing motion, almost striking him in his chest if Eri didn't quickly pull him back with a-

{VWOOSH}

-And allowed him to regain his footing, using his sword to block two incoming swipes from the Daughter and then parry a third, right before the Daughter, with a growl, swiped her sword down and-

{SMASH}

-Shattered the glass beneath them, almost dropping both of them back into the corridor if not for Eri's ability to fly, lifting Jaune back up into the air and allowing him to move out of the way of a pair of azure blasts shot up from the Daughter, and then a fireball so hot that it glowed a violent blue, forcing Eri to swerve to the side to dodge the fireball, the flaming projectile exploding behind them with a mighty {KA-BOOM} before she and Jaune regained themselves, and then flying back towards Amity as the coliseum began to tear itself apart, the Daughter hot on their trial once more, though that changed as Jaune held one of his hands out and-

{CATCH}

-Caught a dangling cable and used that to swing both himself and Eri upwards, using the momentum to spin around in the air and swing around to behind the Daughter, throwing his feet out and-

{SLAM}

"AUGH!"

-Planting them right into the back of the Daughter, throwing her off momentum and causing her to tumble and flail down to the far ground below.

That won't stop her, though. Not for long.

But, it would give Jaune enough time to think about his next move as he used both Eri and the momentum that he had built up with the cable to fly upwards and then fall down onto a thick cable that held together the different sections of Amity together.

From what he knew about Amity Coliseum (Or Colosseum or whatever it was called) From what he had gathered from the various Vytal Festivals of the past, was that it was constructed in the years after the Rights Revolution as the ultimate expression of culture and creativity, as well as the greatest technological marvel on the planet, and was divided into four different sections stacked on top of each other. Each section was representative of one of the four kingdoms, being Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, and Vale in that order, with Atlas being the top section, and Vale the bottom.

It was meant to be a symbol of unity, or peace between the kingdoms, and the ultimate expression of what the Vytal Festival- A festival celebrating the unity of the kingdoms- Was all about.

Now, though, now it had bastardised into a symbol of war.

But Jaune didn't have time to ponder all of this, however, as on his HUD, Eri pinged him another message.

＼（〇_ｏ）／ (っ °Д °;)っ ! ? !

"Down below, in the hangers! That's where the kids have to be-"

{SLAM}

The Daughter had quickly recovered and caught up with them, and had planted her gauntleted fist into Jaune's abdomen, bending the armour once more and winding him as he was launched backwards, his feet skidding against the ground before the Daughter swung her sword as him once more.

{CLASH}

{CLANG}

{CRASH}

The blades slashed against each other with a ferocity unmatched by anyone, but Jaune knew that he couldn't stay here as they both balanced on the cable like it was a tightrope, thin and easily breakable. Jaune had to go, he knew this. And yet he still had to deal with the Daughter's continuous attacks against him as he raised his shield and sword to block each blow being through at him, right up until he was about to tell Eri to get them both away from here, and the Daughter sent-

{FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH}

-Three concentrated blasts of air into him, and whilst he was disorientated, smashed her fist into his chest once more, and, with another, much stronger blast of wind-

{FWOOSH}

"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

[BWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP}

-Sent them both rocketing up high into the sky, right above the central arena of Amity. Eri screamed behind him as he flailed in the sky-

{SLAM}

"AUGH!"

-And then felt the wind rush out of him as the Daughter flew up right next to them, and slammed her foot into his waist, sending them both flying down into Amity below.

Jaune panicked and brought his shield forwards, as well as pushed all of his aura to his front to protect both himself and Eri, the little droid also doing her best to soften the incoming blow as she pushed all of her remaining power into her turbines, slowing them both down as they continued to fall and fall, so much so that their projected impact would only be half as powerful as it would originally be. But even still, with all of that additional protection, and all of that work into slowly down their momentum...

They still landed hard.

{SMASH}

Jaune's shield hit first, bending and breaking under the stress of both his aura and the sudden impact of the ground below, as even with his seemingly limitless supply of aura, when Jaune hit the ground next-

{CRACK}

-His right arm broke in several different places.

His foot hit the ground next, the floating platform (Amity had floating platforms now? The heck?) Swaying and bouncing underneath the sudden impact, and his ankle shattered, leaving his foot to flop uselessly on the floor as it too broke into pieces. Some of his ribs broke, and all of his bones were left with cracks, bruises, and fractures. When his head hit the ground, his helmet shattered and his brain was left rattling in his skull. Blood flowed down the side of his face like a waterfall, and his eyes were clouded with red. His armour had cracked open and shattered at points, metal stabbing through the leather armour underneath and piercing through his skin, drawing more blood as pain consumed his entire being, forcing out a scream as his motion sickness finally caught up to him, and his bloodied head tilted itself to the side against the wind, giving him the chance to violently vomit the entire contents of his stomach, and even the acid in it.

He could already feel his aura going immediately into overdrive, swarming around his heart, lungs, brain, and spine, patching over the wounds and sealing up the cuts covering his internal organs. The rattling in his brain had stopped, at least (That probably meant that he didn't at least have to worry about brain damage), And the ringing in his ears thankfully stopped as his aura quickly healed his ruptured eardrums, though that meant that he had to listen to the sickening cracks and crunches as his aura set his bones back into place, his jaw and teeth fractured and hanging loose until it finally snapped back into place, allowing him the chance to let out a pained, gurgled scream before he was forced to throw his head once more to the side and let out another violent stream of vomit.

Oh, at least he could move his head. Now he just had to wait for his spine to heal up, and allow him to move the rest of his body.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, his spine healed up enough for him to move his legs and his working arm, and he- As quick as he could- Painfully retched himself upwards with another gurgled scream of pain, and onto his feet. Well, foot. One of his ankles was still broken, and that left his equally broken foot positioned at the side of the end of his leg, slumped like a useless sack, forcing him to push all of his weight onto his other leg as he tried not to scratch at the metal shards that had embedded themselves in his cheek.

On his back, Eri was using what remained of her power to keep him upright through her one remaining turbine, Half of her entire body had been destroyed in the crash, leaving half of her crumpled and broken and spilling wires and oil down her back, and her single cerulean optic was cracked and flickering, and yet still she remained clung to his back, helping him along.

He tilted his head from side to side, and saw, through his murky crimson vision, his teammates- Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha- In tired, sorry states much like his own. Nora had been trying to defend a prone Pyrrha from a violent Reza, Brawler was lying on the floor, a puddled mixture of blood and Black Ether beneath him (Was he dead? Maybe), And Ren had been defending himself from Sara, now in her Canaan personality. However, all of them had frozen in place upon seeing Jaune and Eri crashed into the ground, taking the chance to split up from each other as Nora tended to Pyrrha near to Jaune, Ren joining them, whilst Reza jumped from one of the floating platform to the other before landing on Brawlers, using her impressive strength to begin to drag the unresponsive Techion away from the arena, whilst Canaan helped her along.

"E-Eri..." he muffled. Part of his jaw was still unresponsive, and his tongue was sealing itself up as he tried to speak. He could practically feel the individual tendons in his mouth moving about under his skin like worms, reaching out and knotting around each other, melting themselves together into sealed muscles as he slowly regained the ability to talk, "Help... The others."

Eri stayed clung to his back.

"They need you... More than... Me!"

And yet still she disobeyed, staying clung to him and keeping him upright.

Mutiny, it was. Downright mutiny.

But a part of him was thankful for it, at least.

He owed her so much that he could never repay it, but dammit if he wasn't going to try.

"You look worse for wear, my dear. I think I should rather hold back on that kiss that I want from you."

Jaune looked up, and let out a gurgled growl.

"Still though, you have improved, I see. Conflict breeds strength, and soon you shall be the strongest of them all."

The Daughter, with fiery jet streams flowing from her feet, gracefully glided down to the floating platform that Jaune was on, standing before him and in front of Reza, Brawler, and Canaan, as if she was shielding them. Whatever pain she had been feeling before upon crashing through Amity's window and into a wall had just seemed to have vanished entirely.

"But for now though... Those weaknesses of yours still cling to you, but don't worry... You'll be rid of them in time."

Jaune bared his shattered, broken teeth, and then, with what little strength remained in him as his aura continued to heal his broken body, he attempted to raise the sword that he had just picked up from off the ground, but was stopped as the Daughter pulled the Relic of Creation from off her hip, extended it outwards to a staff with a puff of blue smoke, and then, as a quick shine flowed from it-

{VWOMP}

-Created a blue spherical hardlight shield that covered both herself and her allies, Reza, Brawler, and Canaan, leaving them safe from harm.

The Daughter laughed quietly as her helmet disassembled around her. Her voice inside the bubble shield sounded tinny and distant, "It took me three hours of talking with Ambrosius to make this bubble shield. Three. Hours. That man is a real stickler for specifics, right down to the millimetres..."

Jaune wanted to ask, through his gurgled, impaired voice, just what the hell she was talking about now, but the Daughter stopped him by tapping the staff against the bubble shield and shooting him a sly grin.

"I could just take you now, you know? You have no means of stopping me, and you're too bloodied and broken to even put up any sort of a fight..."

Jaune's eyes widened at the thought, but then the Daughter stopped him with another soft laugh.

"But I won't... Because I don't need to. Destiny will deliver you into my hands soon enough."

She began to back away in the hardlight bubble, towards Reza, Brawler, and Canaan.

"As of now, however... I believe we have already overstayed our welcome, and we have what we came for. It's high time that we were leaving."

"I won't... Let you," Jaune wheezed out through bloody teeth.

"You won't have a choice," the Daughter grinned to him, "Because if you're busy with me, and all of my fighter wings in the battle around us are keeping your fleet distracted... Then who will save the people of Mantle?"

"...What?"

The Daughter's smile left her face, and was replaced by a blank, yet demanding, expression, "Let us leave now, without any trouble at all... Or my forces will destroy the people of Mantle below."

Jaune wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of her demand, but he didn't. He was just too tired to do so, "What forces? Your dreadnaught... Is destroyed, your ships... Are in retreat, and your ground forces... Are in disarray. You have... No cards left to play."

The Daughter raised a playful eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

"...What does... What are you planning?"

"Perhaps it would be better if I showed you?"

Suddenly, the bubble shield around the Daughter and her allies flickered away in a puff of azure smoke, and was replaced by a cloudy screened, hovering flat screen on gravity dust projectors, coloured black with a silver outline.

The Daughter laughed again, "Bubble shield cost me three hours? With a hovering giant flat screen television, as well as the satellite needed to capture and project the image down below? Cost me three days."

Jaune narrowed his eyes, "What image? What's going on down below? Tell me!"

"Why don't I show you, instead?"

She tapped the side of the hovering flat screen with the golden and blue staff in her hand, and the screen flickered to life.

"Now then... Let me show you my last card on the deck."

The screen changed from a vast wash of static, to a flickering display of muted colour and violence. The surface of Solitas down below was visible, as was the massive circle of civilians that filled the centre of the screen. Every single side of them was filled with a thin line of Grimm, bombarding their defenders with mortar rounds and missile strikes, turning the snowy surface below into a moonscape of craters and potholes as fighters strafed the ground and infantry moved between the lanes and into the trenches...

And towards the remains of Atlas, where the once mighty dreadnaught of the Grimm had been cut in twain and had now almost completely dissolved, allowing for the remains of Atlas to completely fall to the ground and crumble to pieces, a massive army of Grimm- Numbering in the thousands- Had formed, and were almost on top of the defenders of the circle.

Jaune's eyes widened in horrified realisation, as did those of his teammates behind him.

The Daughter just smiled, "I have an army of Grimm, assailing the people down below, slaughtering another dozen with every second that passes. Very shortly, they will be on top of the defenders themselves, and will kill them all, to the last, including the people that they are trying to defend."

"...You're a monster."

"And I embrace it," the Daughter's grin spoke for itself, "Now then, Jaune, it's time for you to be the hero, isn't it? Let us leave, or all of those that once lived in Mantle will be destroyed."

Next to her, Canaan flickered back to Sara, and she looked up to the Daughter in anguish, but said nothing.

"...No, no, I can't- AUGH!" Jaune threw his working hand to his face, and then pointed his sword at her, "You're the leader of the Ascendant Court- The one behind this all! I could kill you now and end this once and for all!"

He was trying to weight it all in his head. The people of Mantle down below were going to die if he and his teammates didn't do anything about it, but on the other hand, this was the leader of the Ascendant Court- The architect of the Second Great War, and all of the death and suffering that had been spawned from its awakening- And right now, she held within her hands one of the most powerful relics in all of Remnant's history, and one of the keys that could bring about the destruction of all that lived on this world.

Should he save the people of Mantle, thereby letting the Daughter and the Ascendant Court get away with their prize?

Or should he kill the Daughter, and let millions of people die, if only to save millions more.

What the hell was the right option here?

The Daughter's grin just widened, and suddenly-

{VWOOSH}

-She was right in front of him, her hands clasping around the sharpened sword of the boy who was too tired and wounded to even fight back, staring straight into his ocean-blue eyes as her own red and purple seemed to swim and swirl with the darkness behind them.

She was daring him to kill her.

"Then do it," the Daughter crowed as she leaned in close to him, so close that their breaths were touching, and all that Jaune could see was the face of this madwoman consuming his entire vision, "Kill me now, ravage the Ascendant Court, and end the Second Great War... But my forces will murder everyone below!

"Mantle will die, screaming!"

"...Yeah, but I let you go... You'll be stronger than ever..."

Jaune looked down to the relic in her hands. So close that he could grab it, but did he- Or anyone on his team- Even have the strength anymore to fight them for it?

"...A new empire, for the Grimm."

The Daughter sensed his internal conflict, and leaned in even closer.

"Then choose, Jaune: Destroy the Ascendant Court, or save Mantle!"

"..."

"Choose, Jaune!"

"..."

"Choose!"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"...Get... Get to the control room."

Jaune's teammates didn't even have any remaining energy to argue or protest his order. Not anymore. Pyrrha was missing an eye, Ren was covered in cuts and slashes and out of ammo, and Nora's cannons were smashed and her Winter Maiden powers still unstable and practically unusable. They just quietly obeyed as the platform they were standing on automatically lowered to what remained of the fragmented ground, and hopped off to run to the exit at the end of the arena (Nora picking up her hammer whilst Ren carried Pyrrha as they left).

Jaune just narrowed his eyes at the Daughter.

"This isn't over... Not by a long shot.

The Daughter's smile turned sly.

"You best hurry, my dear King of Kings... You've got lives to save."

…

Jaune turned himself around, and began to run after his teammates, Eri helping him along, to wherever the control room might be, leaving behind the retreating members of the Ascendant Court.

---

"Because it was the right thing to do."

The words continued to ring in Sara's ears, even as she and the rest of the Ascendant Court ran down to the bottom of the falling Amity, towards the opened hanger bay where the Primeval Thrice were waiting for them, her fellow children, these ones known as Jax and Gillian Asturias, in their hands, with a friendly Carrier parked in the middle of the bay as its tilted wall was slowly being filled with wreckage and scrap metal, or falling off the edge in the distance to oblivion.

"Because it was the right thing to do."

"I don't- I don't believe it!" Reza laughed happily as she looked to the nice lady, "Brawler's still alive! His internal security systems shielded his organs from any major damage! He's going to live!"

"Thank goodness for that. I'm sorry about leaving you down there with them, I thought that you and him- And Sara- Could handle them."

"Yeah, well you and I are going to be having words about that."

"I look forwards to the experience."

"Because it was the right thing to do."

'Because it was the right thing to do'?

What did that even mean?

The nice boy saved her life back then. He did! He saved the life of someone that he knew to be an enemy spy. Why? There was no gain to be had from it. No real benefit to his side... So why? Was it because she was younger than most? Was it something to do with her past? She remembered telling him about it, and the hugging and crying that had come after it, so why? Why would he do that?

Why?

"Because it was the right thing to do."

That didn't even make sense...

"Axis, Oxus, Nexus, tell our forces down below to keep the people of Mantle suppressed, and continue their advance forwards. Once they've broken through the lines, tell them to kill everyone. No quarter. It shall give our friends upstairs further incentive, no?"

"Of course, Ma'am."

"By your hand."

"Your will is done."

And then there was this...

The slaughter of millions.

The nice lady had told Sara that the war they were going to wage was one of necessity, and that some would need to die to ensure that others could live, and she had wholeheartedly agreed with it. Sometimes, people needed to die to ensure that so many more could live. As a child assassin trained by the worst of the worst that Remnant had to offer in the Acolytes of the Ascended, both she and the voice known as Canaan in her head knew this better than anyone.

But the murder of millions, just to serve as incentive? Just to prove a point?

Where was the necessity in that?

Maybe it really was to serve as a distraction, but really, there were a million better ways to create an appropriate distraction for them, and was there even any need for them to do so? The nice boy and his team were already beaten. Not dead, but close enough to it. They were too wounded to even attempt to stop them, so what was the point of it?

What was the point of it?

Was there even a point at all?

Or was it another attempt by the Daughter to prop up the nice boy as some sort of divine saviour?

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Was it even in Sara's place to question it?

The nice lady and her friends... They had given her a home, and a family... And no matter what, family should stick together...

Right?

They were her family, but now they were doing so many terrible things, but she understood why they were doing it, except sometimes she didn't, and it just left her even more confused than ever.

But surely it didn't matter.

They loved her. They were her family.

They had to be.

And the nice lady had promised that she'd find her a real family of her own...

And yet she was no ordering the deaths of millions of innocent people for a reason that neither Sara or Canaan in her head could understand.

What was she... What was she even supposed to do?

"Canaan... Sara... We've both seen what the Ascendant Court are doing. What the Daughter is doing... Occupying entire kingdoms, turning them into monsters, and silencing anyone who gets in their way... You know that it's not right."

…Nice boy still just didn't see the bigger picture... He never could. This was bigger than them... Bigger than any single one of them.

And even still, the nice lady had given her a home and a family of her own, and even the promise of a new one.

She owed everything to her.

"...I'm not appealing to your loyalty to the Daughter. I'm not appealing to anything but your conscience. Both yours and Sara's."

…

"Please... Millions of people are going to die if we don't do anything."

…

For better or worse... Saving the lives of millions has to be a better cause than this."

…

Sara didn't even know what to do anymore.

"Sara."

The small girl jumped in place, and looked up to see the nice lady staring down at her, red and purple eyes boring into her.

"You haven't moved at all in the last minute... Are you well?"

"...Are we doing the right thing?"

The nice lady tilted her head to the side. Sara wasn't sure if she was meant to be threatened by it or not.

"I... I mean... I know that nice lady has good reasons for war, but... Is it the best reasons? To hurt people like this?"

"...Sometimes such things are necessary, Sara."

"I know, but... But nice lady ordered monster people to kill good people without reason. I've met these people. They're good. Good people. Don't deserve to die like that. Not as mere distraction. Needless deaths."

"..."

"...Does nice lady not understand? This isn't good thing. Not the best thing. Not necessary. They're going to die just so we can get away, but there are other ways of making sure we're not tracked."

"..."

Sara looked down at her feet. Suddenly, in the oppressive silence, everything seemed so much colder. So much darker.

"Don't want... Don't want them to die."

What she just said was the true fact of the matter: She didn't want those people- Those good, innocent people- To die. Not at all. She had been around them for weeks on end, and had gotten to know so many of them, from the school teachers to the nurses, the shop keepers to the accountants, and the cleaners to the- To the mothers and fathers...

Former mothers and fathers.

She had been around them- Mingled and talked and been spoiled by them- For weeks, and she had come to know them all as ordinary people. Not the selfish, ignorant, and blatantly evil people that she had previously led herself to believe them to be, but just...

People.

Flawed, yet good, people.

People who were willing to stand up and fight for what they believed in.

The fact that all of them, despite the odds stacked so heavily against them, had chosen to stand up and fight against those who would oppress them, even in the face of Atlas, even in the face of the Imperium, even in the face of the Ascendant Court... They had cast away their fears in the Epos Mountains and Treiben Basin, and now... Now they were fighting against the Ascendant Court, and willingly giving their lives for the causes that they believed in...

But the hammer girl had never liked her, and had tried to kill her because she didn't trust her.

But of course she didn't trust her, because she was a spy for the Ascendant Court.

But the Ascendant Court was going to bring peace to the whole world.

"Yeah... Built atop the bodies of millions."

That was the nice boy's voice, not hers...

…

"Sara."

Sara looked up again, and saw the nice lady kneeling down to eye-level to look at her, a kind expression on her face.

"There comes a time in everyone's life where they must make a decision on who they are, and who they wish to be... I believe now, that time has come for you."

She raised both of her hands to each side.

"Now then, as far as I see, you have two choices. You can leave, and go with Jaune and the others, help save the people of Mantle, and become a hero for all mankind," her head tilted to one side, "You can be raised in a healthy environment, with people that care about you. Don't worry: You've worked long enough with Jaune that I'm sure he will trust you if you say that your defection is genuine. He will find you a welcoming family that loves you- That accepts you for who you are and who you want to be."

Sara's eyes widened at her words.

Was the nice lady... Was she presenting her with an out?

The proposal that she made... It was so tempting to just... Just take it. Run away, help the nice boy save all of those people, and...

And...

And she hesitated.

"I can't just... Can't just run away... I... You've given me so much... I can't..."

"Then stay," the nice lady proposed once more, gesturing with her other hand and tilting her head to that side, "Stay with us, and help us usher in the new world that we so desperately want to build. Help us bring forth a new age for mankind, and I promise you that together, we will build the family that you desire so much, with our own hands."

"I... I..."

Sara had no idea what to say to that.

The nice lady did, however, "There comes a time in our lives where we must make a decision about who we are and who we want to be, but there also comes a time where we come to a single realisation."

She stood up, tall, and looked down at Sara.

"A side must always be taken... Even if it's the wrong side."

Her eyes turned resolute.

"It's time for you to decide who's side you're on."

…

He spoke about that.

The nice boy.

He spoke about sides.

He spoke about how he hated them, how they got in the way of progress, of freedom, of being able to accomplish anything at all.

But at the same time...

He singlehandedly brought all of those different sides together.

…

Maybe there was a better way. after all.

Sara closed her eyes...

And made her decision.

The nice lady turned herself around to walk to the Carrier ahead of them-

{CUT}

{CARVE}

{SLICE}

-And stopped and looked back, to see the imposing Barons that made up the Primeval Thrice falling dead to the ground, three blue balls of light fleeing from their fading corpses and flying out into the world beyond Amity. Their throats had been slit, and both Jax and Gillian were no longer in their hands.

The little twelve year old girl known as Sara was pulling her fellow children away, towards the entrance of the hanger bay, before stopping, and sparing one last look at the nice lady.

The Relic of Creation was still in the nice lady's hand.

She could've taken it. She could've.

But she didn't.

It was a gift. A 'Thank you for everything that you've done for me' present.

Because the nice lady had done so much for her over the last two years.

She had rescued her... Saved her... Given her a home... Shown her more love than she could ever remember...

Letting her keep the relic... It was her way of showing her appreciation.

Sara sent her one last smile, and the nice lady gave her a soft, welcoming wave.

"Goodbye, Sara."

"...Goodbye, my saviour."

Sara turned herself around, and, with the emaciated, barely conscious Jax and Gillian in tow, ran out of the hanger bay, and down the corridors.

And the nice lady, with Reza and the prone Brawler in tow, simply boarded the Carrier, and left Amity, their prize safely in their possession.

---

"Fuckin' hell, you lot look like shite! The fuck happened to you?!"

"Nothing... Everything," Jaune muttered as he limped his way into the control room, his teammates opening the doorway for him as his right arm swung uselessly to the side, and his weight was balanced against his good leg, meaning that he was practically hopping through the corridors of Amity as they followed the signs to the control room, "Had the fight of my life, and... Whitley?"

On the other side of the control room, buckled into one of the fixed chairs around the deadened consoles, sat Whitley Schnee, covered in dried blood, cuts, and bruises, and smeared with reddened tear tracks from his reddened eyes to his wet cheeks. He looked so broken and wounded, but that paled in comparison to the expression on his face.

It was... Broken. Tired. Mournful.

But... If he's here, then what happened to... Oh... Oh.

Jaune understood immediately.

Willow Schnee... Was no longer with them.

Whitley looked up, and though he looked to be riddled with sadness, a glimmer of... Something, maybe hope, filled his eyes, "M-Mister Ren?"

"He's fine now," he heard Nora say as she stood next to Ren, the both of them leaning against one of the consoles, "He's free, now. He's free," next to her, Ren gave him a curt, yet soft, nod.

Jaune turned to Ren. It seemed like over the last week, something of a form of trust had formed between the two. That was good. That meant that he might listen to him, and that made getting Whitley out of this alive easier.

Mourning those that they had lost- Willow included- Would have to come later, unfortunately. Right now, they had a job to do.

Jaune motioned his good hand to Ren, "I'll go help him," Ren said to him, and Jaune sent him another nod, to which Ren ran up to Whitley and began to look at his wounds.

Jaune, meanwhile, took hold of Pyrrha and buckled her down into another seat (He assumed that the buckles, or seatbelts or whatever, were there for the crew of Amity when the floating coliseum either took off or landed, or even, in this special case, when it was going to crash), And pressing a hand against her shoulder, allowing his aura to seep into her and begin to heal her wounds (His could come later. Not when his teammates needed it more than himself), And allowing Nora to finally pry Eri off his back and turn to look between Pietro and Cammie at their stations, asking, "I'm assuming that nothing in this room is working?"

"Nothin' at all," Cammie admitted to him as she returned to the console that she was fiddling with, its screen barely flickering with life.

"All of the main power generators are destroyed, and the backup systems are failing," Pietro said to them in his seat as next to him, Nora planted the broken Eri on the console and did her bet to tinker and try to repair the damages, "I would like to help, but I'm afraid that Cammie has kept me locked up in this seat ever since we arrived."

"Your legs are buggered, mate," Cammie said reactively to him with an admonishing glare, her rabbit ears twitching atop her head as she continued, "And even if they weren't, you wouldn't've been able to anymore than me," she then turned to Jaune, "Thing is, main power's buggered, the backups are the only thing keepin' this tub as afloat as it is, and even though I've just rediverted power from the platforms outside back into the engines-"

Outside, in the arena, the floating platforms wobbled in the air, before tumbling down into the opened chasm that bellowed smoke below.

"-Those backups are still loosin' power themselves!"

"I don't suppose you have backups for the backups, by any chance?"

"Ha! Good bloody joke, but no!"

"...What about steering?" Jaune asked, more seriously this time, "Is that still working, because right now there's an army of Grimm attacking our people, and I need to know if we can use Amity against them."

"Well, yeah I suppose, but without any generators, you..." Cammie's eyes widened, as did everyone else's in the room, "Oh, I see. I fuckin' well see what you mean..."

Jaune nodded to her. Hey, if it worked once, it'll work again.

"But we'd still need generators for that ta work," Cammie quickly picked herself up with as she looked him dead in his bloodied eyes, "Or at least some other kind of power source. Without it, we'd be buggered either way."

"What's going on?" Nora asked as she took a moment to stop tinkering with Eri to look up at them, "Fearless Leader, what's all of this-"

Jaune looked over to her, and gestured to one of the consoles, before raising his good hand from Pyrrha and amplifying the aura in it, letting several white wisps of what looked like fire dance on his fingers.

"-About... Oh."

Nora's helmet dissembled, and she shot him a grin-

"I get it. Same plan at Atlas.

Jaune nodded.

"I love it."

-Before quickly moving away from the console that she was leaning against, and handing Eri over to Pietro.

"Hold onto her, and don't let her go."

Pietro nodded in his seat, and Nora moved away from him towards Jaune and the console that he was next to, leaning down and ripping out a metal panel, before shoving her hands into the machine and grabbing hold of multiple wires.

Nearby, Ren looked away from Whitley, and asked, "Nora, what are you doing?"

"Something stupid," Nora went, "Just like in the Sleeping City. Something incredibly cool, yet also incredibly stupid that might get me killed, so no different than what I usually do, really," Jaune remembered that she had had multiple training sessions with Voltage in the past when she wasn't with Ren, and he remembered the wounds that she had acquired after the Sleeping City. Nora looked up to him, "This is potentially really dangerous, you know."

"No more dangerous than what we've already done," Jaune couldn't help but shrug with his good arm. He felt strangely calm about this. Probably a concussion doing that. He probably had a concussion.

"I know but- But I've only just got these new Maiden powers. We might both die from this."

"You won't die," Jaune went as he fell to his knees and placed his hand on Nora's shoulder, "I won't let that happen."

"And you?"

"You ready?"

Nora bit the inside of her cheek, and turned back to the innards of the console, "Ready."

"Right," Jaune turned away from her to look at everyone in the control room, "Everyone, get on a console, and get ready."

He steeled himself, and pulled his aura into his hand.

"Light up your powers... Now!"

He pushed all of his aura into Nora, and a split second later, her powers came to life.

Compared to the lashes of electricity that covered her body and travelled around her muscles like before, the lightning that travelled up and down her body and lashed and slashed at the console before her was enormous in volume and immense in power. Smoke and the smell of oxidising metal began to flood out of the console as around them, the various screens and lights of Amity began to flicker to life once more.

Nora, helped by both the Winter Maiden powers and Jaune's aura, had just become Amity's newest generator.

"I don't fuckin' believe this..." Cammie let out an incredulous laugh as she looked between Jaune and Nora, and then to the consoles that were now awash with blue and pink light, "Systems are comin' back online!"

Jaune gave her a quick nod, and as he noted everyone else- Including even a dizzy Pyrrha and Pietro, after holding Eri down onto a console to let her few remaining arms tap at the buttons and displayers- Tapping away at the computers around them, he ordered, "Everyone, plot a course to the ground below."

He poked his head upwards, and looked through the viewports to the violent clash below.

"We're going to ram this thing right into the heart of that army down below."

---

Up in the air, Amity lurched.

Flickering violently with life, its engines began to glow with blue and purple colour and life, and the floating fortress, ravaged by missing chunks and holes in its body, as well as leaking fire and smoke from its frame, began to readjust its course.

Amity was heading down to the battle below.

---

"Right, we're on course. Just need to-"

{BOOM}

"-Fuck's sake!" Cammie swore as she looked up and saw a pair of panels from the wall above explode outwards and clatter onto the floor below, leaving two pairs of dangling wires to hang out carelessly, sparking wildly as they flailed in the air. Something began to beep on her console, and she looked down to the screen and swore once more, "Oh you've got to be shittin' me! That cable connected to the fuckin' navigational systems! Without them, we're just a flying chunk o' rock pissin' off into the distance!"

"Can we fix it?" Pietro asked from his seat.

"Unless someone here's got a bloody springboard to get all the way up to the wall up there, we ain't fixing shite!"

"Can we still steer without it?" Jaune asked as he continued to pump aura into Nora, making sure that her powers kept Amity afloat.

"Not without the navigational systems, we bloody well can't!"

"There has to be something that we can-"

The door to the control room behind them burst open, and Sara (Her eyes were blue, not red), With the two children known as Jax and Gillian in tow, charged in.

"Sara!?" Jaune almost lost his concentration on pumping aura into Nora as he looked back at her with a frantic look on his bloodied face, "Why are you here?!"

"Her!?" Nora growled, "That little Ascendant Court traitor? What does she-"

Sara didn't break her stride at all as she ran into the control room, arm blades flickering in the light as she threw Jax and Gillian towards Pyrrha, allowing her to catch them both, before running towards Jaune with her arms raised-

Jaune quickly flinched away.

-Before leaping up onto one of the consoles next to him and using it as a springboard to leap up into the air and onto the wall, digging her arm blades deep into the metal and using them to climb up the wall, before finding herself at the two dangling cables at the top of the wall, and digging her feet into the exposed wall, and using the newly made rung and her now free hands to grab hold of both ends of the sparking cable-

{SPARK}

"AUGH!"

-And force them both together, pink and blue electricity dancing up and down her arms and burning the rag dress that she wore around her.

The rapid beeping from Cammie's console turned to a loudening whirl as she looked from Sara to the screen, and then went, "I don't- Why're you- Navigation's back online! We can steer this thing now! How is- Why is she..."

"You're... Helping us?" Jaune finished for Cammie as he looked up to Sara above them, the smaller girl looking down at him in turn as nearby, even in her dazed state, Pyrrha held both Jax and Gillian tightly in her arms, "Why?"

Sara just shot him a gentle, childlike look.

"It's like the nice boy said... It's the right thing to do."

Jaune blinked at her words... Or rather, his words said by her.

Had she... Had she really done it?

Had Sara really changed sides?

"We have a course set," Pietro broke through his thoughts with, "Dead straight to the Grimm army below."

"Engines are at- At full burn, and the navigational controls are set," Whitley's voice was quiet, but from the sounds of it, he was pushing through his despair like it was nothing as Ren shielded him in a monochrome glow, "As long as the steering doesn't give out again, we should be able to adjust for any last minute changes."

Up above them, Sara motioned her thumb to give them a thumbs up, despite the electrical burns she was suffering.

Pyrrha just held Jax and Gillian close to her.

"Right then," Jaune went as he steeled himself once more, and focused all of his aura into Nora, and watched as Amity Coliseum rocked around them, and sped up their descent to the ground below, "Everyone, when the last possible second hits, gather on me and hold for dear life."

"What?" someone- He couldn't tell who- Asked, "Why?"

"Because if I'm right, it's the only possible way that we'll get out of this any less unscathed than we already are. Now brace yourselves."

The first cannon blasts from the ground below slammed into them.

"We're coming in hot."

---

On the ground, the Battle of Mantle had reached its worse-case scenario.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

"Collapse the lines! Go, go, go go go!"

The Grimm had breached their defensives.

The first and second line of trenches surrounding the circle of civilians had collapsed, filled to the brim with the dead and the dying. Any straggling resistance fighters still trapped in those lines were picked off one by one, either brought down by the Ascendant Court's guns or mauled to death by their packs of Ascendant Beowolves, torn to shreds and dying the snow beneath them a deep shade of red. What was left of the fighters surrounding the circle of former prisoners had retreated into the last few swales, as well as the connecting craters and pathways between them, forming the last line of defence against them.

Though the line of Grimm assaulting them was thin at most points, they were confident in their victory, as well as the fact that most of their defenders had been redeployed- Either by themselves or their commanders- To defend against the biggest threat to the civilians that they were defending.

The massive army of Grimm that was about to overrun their position.

Artillery cannons shelled the defenders at every possible turn, and anti-infantry guns peppered the survivors, either killing them or suppressing them long enough for their Beowolf and Puma packs, followed by individual Disciple squads, to make their way into the trenches and picking off anyone who remained.

Almost all of the resistance's armoured support was gone, their Ghosts, MRWs, artillery walkers, and so on reduced to flaming wreckage and ruins. The rest had been forced into fixed positions, firing wildly into the lines of Grimm, only for them to be destroyed by artillery barrages one after the other. In the air, what was left of the Grimm's main fighter divisions were keeping the resistance's fleet too busy to engage with the Vetols and Raiders strafing the ground below, cutting into both the defenders and their charges, killing dozens by the second.

And still, the massive army of Grimm marched upon them, just about the reach their positions.

For a moment, it looked like this would be the end. The end of the resistance, and the end of the people that they were trying to defend.

But then, something happened.

The cannons of the Ascendant Court's vehicles swung upwards, and began to fire up into the sky, towards the left of the fallen kingdom of Atlas.

In confusion, the people of Mantle, and their defenders, looked up to the sky, to see what they were all shooting at.

Their eyes widened, as they saw the wrecked and ruined corpse of Amity Coliseum speeding down to the ground below.

Fire and smoke belched from its ruined frame as violet and crimson blasts poured themselves into the falling fortress, explosions ripping through its body and tearing away at the metal and stone, carving out section after section. But not even the sustained bombardment of the Ascendant Court's forces below could stop the massive floating chunk of iron and rock, or even stray it from its path.

It was dead set on carving into the Grimm below.

The first chunks of Amity- The stray engines and gravity pods and hunks of steel and stone that had been torn from its carcass- Crashed into the ground like meteorites. Explosions rippled through the Ascendant Court's lines, as if they were being struck by missiles and rockets, sending Grimm after Grimm flying in parts and pieces, and destroying support vehicle after support vehicle. Debris and shrapnel scattered all over the battlefield, many of them landing in the crowds of civilians, but even this was unable to stop the savaging of the Grimm lines.

The once massive army of the Ascendant Court began to break formation and scatter, now suddenly aware of where the falling Amity was going to land.

But it would be too late for any of them.

("That's it! There's no stopping Amity now!" Jaune said as he pulled his good hand away from Nora, and gestured for everyone to get closer to him as he pulled himself towards Pietro, "Everyone, huddle up!"

Pyrrha quickly pulled herself out of her seat and, with Jax and Gillian in her arms, moved closer to him and Pietro, followed by Cammie and Nora, then Whitley and Ren. Pietro pulled Eri off the console and passed her over to Nora.

"What do you intend to do?" Nora asked him as Amity fell closer and closer to the ground.

"Something which I did a while ago."

Amity reached to seconds to impact, and Jaune shut his eyes-

"Brace yourselves!"

-And for the first time ever, he consciously reached his aura outwards.)

{KA-BOOM}

Amity crashed violently into the ground, right into the side of the Ascendant Court army's lines. Dozens of tons of rock and snow and dirt were kicked up and uprooted as Amity began to skid across the ground, swallowing up every single Grimm in its wake. Disciples, Barons, Life-Givers, and so on were all killed by the crashing coliseum, their walkers and tanks torn to pieces and reduced to fading nothingness as explosions and fire ripped through anyone who had survived. A few of the Grimm's aerial craft were either caught in the blast or smashed by flying debris, and were sent spinning violently to the ground to be consumed by fiery flashes of red and orange.

More and more rubble was kicked up as Amity skidded to the side, and soon, the entirety of the Ascendant Court's most powerful remaining army had been completely shattered, smashed into pieces by the fallen coliseum as it finally came to a halt with a fiery-

{BOOM}

Upon seeing what had been their best chance of victory crushed and destroyed before their very eyes, the remaining Grimm that had surrounded the millions of former prisoners began to panic, breaking formation and becoming a chaotic sprawl of a retreat, their remaining aerial support scattering as well, most in the direction of the Grimmlands, and the rest in every other direction as what was left of the resistance's fleet, newly motivated by the destruction of the Grimm army below, rallied together and moved to hunt them down.

And in the distance, a massive, swirling blue portal formed and swallowed what was left of the Ascendant Court's Black Fleet, signalling the end of the Grimm occupation of Solitas.

---

"Well, I must say, this has been a day for accomplishments, no?"

"..."

"I mean, look at what has been done in a single day! Humanity, rallied together under one man's banner. The Grimm, beaten back on all fronts. Atlas, reduced to ash and rubble. A common enemy, delivered to our foes. And a relic, delivered into our hands."

"..."

"Can you just imagine that, though? In just over two years, I've got hold of two of the relics- The Relic of Choice, and the Relic of Creation- Something that you have been unable to do for thousands of years. I would be rude and say that it says something about your way of approaching things, but I don't like rudeness. Not when the other does not deserve it."

"..."

"Then again, you do deserve it, don't you? You helped to keep all of Remnant locked in this mindless samsara. You helped to keep the world trapped in a pointless war over your suicidal ambitions. Really what I have done to you now? It is the least of what you deserve."

"..."

"But, still, I shouldn't put a dampener on the mood. Today is a day of celebration after all. We have accomplished all that we desired to do, didn't we? Well, no, actually. Not everything... Haah, Hephaestus got away, and Jaune... He is due much suffering in the future..."

"..."

"But, it is not all for nought. Destiny proclaimed him to be in our hands, and with us securing control over the Elsewhere and the Impossible Moon, our shared destiny, his and mine... It will soon be fulfilled, and we shall finally be together, in a new world of peace and happiness, eternal, forever."

"..."

"...is there something you would like to say?"

"...Kill... Me..."

The Daughter smiled as she stepped up onto her tiptoes, and stroked her hand over Salem's cheek, black blood running down her almost-lifeless body. The former queen of the Grimm had been stripped naked and nailed to a cross, spikes jutting out of her hands and feet, and covered in dried black blood as spiked chains were wrapped around her body, digging into her flesh and drawing blood, dying her once pale white skin a deep black. Her red eyes were lifeless and had lost their fire, and the only indication that she was still alive was the steady rising and falling of her chest.

The Daughter just smiled some more as she reached down and tugged at the chain connected of the collar around her former master's throat.

"In due time, my dear Mother Eternal... In due time. For now, we still have much work to do."

She stepped away from Salem- Ignoring the pitiful whine of pain that left the woman's throat, and gestured for the Royal Disciples with the black pearly object in their arms to step forwards. Reza would've normally done this, but she hadn't stepped away from Brawler's side for a single moment when they were brought back to the Crimson Keep in the heart of the Land of Darkness, and the Daughter owed them the time that they were sharing together. Plus, her other members of the Ascendant Court (Minus Sara, of course, bless her soul she hoped she found a better life in her absence) Were healing, so there was no point of getting them to do it.

Raising the Relic of Creation in her hand, she tapped her finger against the glowing blue crystal at its top and called out, "Ambrosius, dear. I need to have a word."

Suddenly, all time and motion surrounding the Daughter and her two Royal Disciples came to a standstill, and the glowing projection of a blue man with pointed ears, wrapped in chains and emitting blue smoke, was willed into life before them, a curious look on his face.

"Oh?" Ambrosius asked her with a finger to his chin, "What is it now? Would you like to get into another week long debate about a gigantic portal?" before looking to the side and pointing to the crucified Salem, "And what happened to her?"

The Daughter just laughed and ignored the second question, "Oh no no no. Nothing of the sort. This is much simpler, in fact."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really?"

The Daughter tiled her head to the side.

"I want you to make me a weapon that can kill the gods."

…

…

…

…

Ambrosius began to laugh.

Hysterically.

"Hahahahahahahah! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..." he looked down at the expression on the Daughter's face, "Oh? You were serious? Hang on a second, let me laugh even harder. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Ambrosius looked down at the Daughter and poked a finger towards her, an amused expression on his face.

"Okay, lady, I have to say, that was probably the funniest thing that I have ever heard of! Making you a weapon that can kill the gods? The same gods that made me? And all of Remnant by extension? Even if I, for some reason unbeknownst to me, decided to somehow ignore all of the rules and traps set by those same gods that prevent me from doing so, I would never..."

He paused, and then gestured to the two Royal Disciples besides the Daughter.

"What are those two doing here?"

Suddenly, the black crystal that the pair of Grimm were holding in their arms opened itself up like a mouth, revealing itself to be another Grimm, armed with barbed tendrils for tongues and rows and rows of bladed teeth within a pulsating mouth.

And in the centre of its mouth was the Relic of Choice, the glow in its blue crystal lost, the colour of its golden frame vanished and replaced with a lifeless monochrome as a dozen tendrils and red veins leeched into the metal like parasites.

For the first time in what the Daughter presumed to be all of his life, Ambrosius looked afraid, "What... What is that-"

The tendrils from the crystal Grimm leapt out and snatched away the Relic of Creation, digging its bladed ends into the metal and draining the colour and life from them, before closing its jaw and swallowing it whole.

Ambrosius dropped to the ground and fell to his knees, and the Daughter just smiled at him as his power began to fade, and

"Oh, don't worry, Ambrosius. I can be quite persuasive when I want to be."

Crimson cracks of light began to spread around his body, interrupting the blue with pulsating veins of red.

"I'm sure that we can come to an arrangement that benefits us both."

Ambrosius, the guardian spirit of the Relic of Creation, screamed in pain, and the Daughter just grinned at the sight.

---

The people of Mantle were beginning to recover as they approached the ruins of Amity.

Smoke bellowed out from the remains as the fires began to cool in the freezing air, but even so, it was still too dangerous for them to directly approach, so several overhead Bullheads hand begun to drop snow that had been shovelled into their holds onto the broken remains of the coliseum, trying their best to put out the blazes.

But then, in the middle of the remains, a hand, cracked and covered in broken metal armour, punched through the rubble, and a collection of survivors pulled themselves out, and stood tall to the people below, as the likes of Robyn Hill and Sienna Khan, having barely survived the battle that had only just come before, looked up alongside the people of Solitas to see their saviours.

Rui Sara, Cameron 'Cammie' MacCloud, Pietro Polendina, Jax and Gillian Asturias, Whitley Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and the little droid named Eri stood tall, and helped their fellow wounded and broken to stand even taller.

And in their centre, battered, and broken, but still standing and covering the others in a luminous white glow, stood him.

Jaune Arc.

He raised his onw working arm, sword in hand, the metal glistening and shining in the early morning sun.

And down below, the people of Mantle raised their arms and cheered.

The Battle of Mantle was over.

And as the sun crested over the hills, the New Dawn had risen.

---

PHASE ONE: THE SECOND GREAT WAR

COMPLETE

---

Soundtrack:

Jaune and Daughter:
What Could Have Been by Sting
Broken Crown by Mumford & Sons
Bang by Ryan Caraveo

The New Dawn:
Rise Up by Solence
Take It by The Siege

JNPER:
Problem Kids by Konrad OldMoney feat. Taelor Yung and Young Kenny
Dream Team by Omega Sparx and SWATS
I'm Ready by Jaden

Jaune Arc:
Go To The Light by Murder By Death
Providence by Poor Man's Poison
King of the World by WAR*HALL
Who I Am by The Score

Eri:
Loyal by ODESZA
Geronimo by Sheppard

Nora Valkyrie:
Riot by Hollywood Undead
Muerto Trash by Konrad OldMoney feat. Blackheart NC and FKxU

Lie Ren:
Agepe by Bear's Den
HYPNOTIZED by AViVA

Pyrrha Nikos:
Boss B*tch by Doja Cat

Sienna Khan:
Arise by The Seige

Robyn Hill:
The Resistance by Skillet

Ransel Torban:
I Am by Jorja Smith

The Ascendant Court:
Dynasties & Dystopia by Denzel Curry, Gizzle, and Bren Joy
Metamorphosis by Yugen Blakrok and Gorgon Madonna
the night will always win by elbow

The Daughter:
The Wolf by SIAMÉS
Hellbent by DEELYLE
The Bad Guy by Omega Sparx and SWATS
Hero by Jeff Williams feat. Caleb Hyles

Rui Sara:
Divided Loyalties by Teen Daze

Reza Capri:
White Rabbit by Egypt Central

Brawler:
Compliment by Collective Soul

The Imperium:
Tyranny by Dessa
Failed State by David Rovics

Cinder Ella:
Snakes by Miyavi and PVRIS

Malcom Croft:
All Eyes On You by Smash Into Pieces

Choir of Silver:
Rebellion by Linkin Park feat. Daron Malakian

Hephaestus:
Take It All by Valley of Wolves

Jacques Schnee:
Dear Dad by B-Mike

Willow Schnee:
What I Know Now by THEY feat. Wiz Khalifa
Redemption Song by Bob Marley and The Wailers
Better Than I Used To Be by Sammy Kershaw

Whitely Schnee:
Legacy by Lost Stars

---

Reviewer response time:

bosterflaming: Thanks for the review! I love all your points! And yeah, sometimes I do wish that this story had art as well, but I am nowhere near talented enough to draw any art for this thing. Or at least, I can draw, but it wouldn't look good.

Togbeard: Yo, ngl, I would probably read that if someone made that kind of story. Anyways, now we've reached the end of this arc! Wow, I really was at the edge of burnout, but thankfully I was able to power right through it, so thanks mate!

Rean: G, bro. G.

Rean (Again): Yeah, he really wasn't in the mood for it, was he?

MilitiaMasker: Thanks for the review, and good luck with Pokemon!

VV: Yeah, ol' Tinker boy's going to be one hell of an antagonist in the future! Probably second most important after the Daughter, now! And what does that mean by 'When is Jaune going to grow up'? I'm not sure what that means?

SentinalSlice: Welp, Jaune tried to get the staff, and... Well, at least he tried. And Nora's got the Winter Maiden powers now, yes, but there's no way she's going to be able to do all of that just yet. She's a complete newbie at it. It'll take months, and maybe even years of training for her to be able to properly control her powers to get to the same skillset as, let's say, the Daughter. So no supersonic projectiles just yet, unfortunately.

Guest: You noticed how I added a point about Jaune liking dominating women, yes? Thank you for the inspiration.

Guest (again): …Thank you for the inspiration once again!

EmperorCookies: Got to say, I was confused when I saw this review, as I didn't think that I had made a mistake like that in the chapter-

EmperorCookies (Again): -But then I saw this review pop up, and I was like, "Oh, that makes sense."

EmperorCookies (Again again): It was Nora.

EmperorCookies (Again again again): Thank you very much. I really do feel like the short stories carry a lot of weight in terms of context for this story. I feel like there's so much in this story that wouldn't work without these little stories.

EmperorCookies (Again again again again): This is a valid criticism to make. I do feel like I stretched out that plotline with JNPER much longer than I should've, and I'll try to take this lesson to heart when I'm writing in the future. I'll try to sort out the dynamic between them in the next arc, at smoothly as possible, but I can't say that the wounds between them will be healed, if not completely.

EmperorCookies (Again again again again again): Ah, foreshadowing! Everyone's favourite plot device!

---

And here we finally are! The end of not just the War of Atlas arc, but the entirety of phase one of this story!

I blame university work for me getting this chapter out so late, as well as just blatant burnout. Seriously, there were some days where I could only get a few hundred words down before loosing my motivations. Probably not helped at all by the recent anxieties that I've been going through.

I've been on YouTube too much for my own good.

But, anyways, continuing on, I've decided, upon popular demand from everyone participating in the poll that I had set up (All eleven people!), To keep Ascendancy stuck together as one continuous story, instead of splitting it up into smaller chunks.

Hopefully that will make everyone happy.

But anyways, I've got nothing else left to say, so, with all of that said and done, let's leave it here. As always, please leave a review, follow and favourite, stay safe, stay healthy, and I shall see you all next time!

Titanmaster 117 out!

---

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…

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…

…

…

"Is everything in place?"

"The King of Kings has survived this battle, and he will be there to face the trials that are to come... Though Hephaestus was able to escape... Along with the Daughter and her court."

"Unfortunate."

"It is as Destiny proclaims."

"Also unfortunate, but it will not be this way for long."

"...I must confess, I do not feel well partaking in this task."

"Neither do I, but it must be done. Creation and Choice have already been compromised, as Destiny orders of its subjects, and if it has its way, then all of mankind will fall."

"And yet we must resort to the same tactics as Ozma and Salem? Skulking about in the shadows and sacrificing others for our own ends?"

"I am aware of the hypocrisy, and I am sickened by it as well, but we must continue down this path. The Daughter and the Ascendant Court already have full control over both the Elsewhere and the Impossible Moon within it. If we do not make the moves that we need to, then she, in accordance with destiny, will see all of mankind come undone."

"The mankind you were created to assist."

"Funny how loopholes work like that."

"Ozma will not like this."

"You act like you care."

"I don't. I'm merely stating the point."

"The old man is done, as if the old woman. They're both irrelevant on the board now. The old man just doesn't know it yet."

"This is a new war."

"One where soon, we will be forced to play our hand."

"I still do not feel well with leaving him like this. There is much suffering to come for him, and the people that he holds closest."

"There is nothing we can do for them at this time. The chains of Destiny are too strong."

"But when will they be breakable?"

"When they arrive at Mount Glenn."

"You have seen what happens in that awful place."

"I have, and we cannot help the others, so much as we wish to try, but we can help break his chains."

"And free him."

"Make him one of the most powerful creatures in all of creation."

"I fear he will be lost to us."

"He will not. Not to you. He will listen to you."

"He thinks me dead."

"You are."

"Then what do I say to him? How do I get him to listen to me?"

"Tell him the truth. That will be enough."

"How do you know?"

"Do you forget who I am?"

"Not even you know of the future we wish to make. Only the one in which Destiny designs."

"Then all we can do is hope for the best."

"...I see."

"Do not fear. We will save him, and it will be by your hand in which he is saved. Together, we shall write our own destiny in defiance of the gods, and keep this world alive."

"A flawed world."

"As is every world, but that does not make them any less worth fighting for, does it?"

"No, it does not."

"We will win this, Miltia. You have my word."

"Your word is more than enough, Jinn."