Hello everyone! I have arrived with another chapter to add to my upload streak. Thid COVID-19 lockdown has given me enough time to complete chaps like never before! But enough about me, I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

I own nothing except my Ocs. Logan belongs to my beta Spartan-626.

The entire room remained uncomfortably silent as Yen Sid finished recounting the events that led to the creation of the Heartless. The two Spartans sat impassive among the other visibly anxious humans until Samantha broke the silence. "I'm afraid I don't understand. If the Master Builder was not the mastermind of this betrayal, then who was?"

Yen Sid nodded at this, understanding her confusion. "Many years after those events, when the Flood were finally exterminated down to the last spore, we discovered the identity of the traitor to be Ansem's apprentice Xehanort. He sought to utilize the Heartless in order to conquer the universe and reforge it in his image."

Logan narrowed his eyes at this last statement as he scoffed. "So it's a classic 'trying to play God' scenario. Typical. And I suppose the Master Builder was little more than a scapegoat?"

"That is correct Logan Fenris. The Master Builder was a decoy meant to lead us on a pointless chase while Xehanort built up his forces. A deception that worked perfectly for him."

Eternal Vigilace then hovered to Yen Sid's left and spoke as the central hologram reverted back to the galactic map. The orange of the Forerunners and blue of the humans were familiar to the group, but in between the two sections, an area of purple began rapidly expanding and encompassing the map. "About one hundred years after the discovery of the Heartless, the Flood were finally exterminated after having at the time mysteriously and rapidly declining in numbers. Though little did we know, we merely traded one enemy for another. For during that time, the Heartless were consuming the Flood to build up there own numbers until that day when Xehanort unleashed them on the galaxy. Within the first twenty years, the outer colonies of both empires were overrun and incursions into the inner colonies were already being made."

Yen Sid then took over telling the tale once more. "And although we were effectively cut off from one another on the galactic scale, we were able to keep in contact through risky and time consuming slipspace jumps along the edge of dark-space. This allowed us to pool our resource together to develop a new weapon. The Keyblade."

The hologram changed into the form of a giant key with a yellow handle and a gun-metal gray body, which the group did not find impressive until Yen Sid continued speaking. "These blades granted their wielders enhanced abilities beyond any thing ever imagined, including cntrol over magical energy."

This last statement caused Lubbock to scoff in disbelief. "Oh please, there's no such thing as magic."

Yen Sid merely smirked at this as he stretched out his hand. "Aeroga."

This caused a huge gust of wind to shoot out of his hand, tossing the cocky ODST into the air and dropping him in an undignified heap, before Yen Sid continued speaking. "As I was saying, these Keyblade Masters were capable of wielding element based magical spells. These ranged from offensive, including fire, lightning, and ice, to more defensive/supportive, like Aero and Cure. And later on, these abilities were discovered in other individuals like myself. These abilities, along with the Keyblades devastating effectiveness against the Heartless, helped the Masters stem the tide long enough for our forces to rally. Unfortunately, the Heartless' sheer numbers and overwhelming variety of foes forced the conflict to a stalemate, which granted valuable time to develop a countermeasure."

Najenda lit a cigar from which she took a deep puff before adding her input. "Something tells me that didn't last long."

"Again, you are correct."

The hologram then changed to show a monitor similar to Eternal Vigilance, but instead of one lens, it possessed three red lenses in a triangular formation. Eternal Vigilance then took over speaking. "Xehanort managed to corrupt the programming of a Forerunner AI known as Mendicant Bias. As he was in charge of multiple major systems within the Forerunner Empire, this proved disastrous for us as he turned against us along with numerous other AI."

The hologram then reverted back to the star map, where the area in purple began rapidly expanding once more as Vigilance continued. "This in turn broke the stalemate in Xehanort's favor once more along the Forerunner Empire. The Human Empire soon followed as the corruption affected their AI as well."

The imaging then changed to a series of seven rings as Yen Sid then spoke. "With all other options exhausted, the best and brightest of both Human and Forerunner went towards the galaxy's edge to create the Halo array. A last ditch weapon designed to wipe out all life in the galaxy, and the Heartless along with them."

The humans in the room looked on in grim understanding, for they to faced desperate measures during the Human-Covenant War, but they remained silent as Yen Sid continued. "The plan was that once the rings were fired, the galaxy would be reseed with life and those of us that survived would rebuild with a clean slate. But Xehanort quickly caught wind of these plans, and as the rings were put into position, he launched an assault on the control center known as the Ark, and fired them prematurely."

With that, the projector shut down and the lights were restored as Yen Sid gazed somberly at the ground. "Having been on this world when it happened, I...was the only one to survive. Although the reseeding proceeded as planned, I can confirm that not only has Xehanort survived and changed his name to Xemnas, he has amassed a following that call themselves Organization XIII. And they have renewed their attacks on the galaxy."

The young ODST known as Tatsumi suddenly bolted up and proclaimed with confidence. "Then we'll just have to beat them back to whatever rock they came from!"

The rest of the squad gave a resounding 'Ooh-Rah!' at that statement as Samantha gave her opinion on it. "Settle down there kid, we have no idea what we're up against. And even if we did, where do we even start?"

"I believe that's where we come in."

Everyone turned to the source of this new voice to find two men long thought dead. On one side, clad in the garb of a UNSC Army Officer was General Victor Hoffman. And on the other, clad in the uniform of a naval officer was Vice Admiral Preston Cole.

The Spartans were the first to overcome their shock as they quickly stood up and saluted the two officers, the rest of them quickly following suit. General Hoffman gave a dismissive wave as he spoke. "At ease people, we're here to speak with the Spartans, the rest of you can head to the mess hall ten floors down and get some grub."

Not needing to be told twice, the ODSTs and Marines quickly vacated the room, leaving the Spartans alone as Samantha voiced a question. "What is it you wish to speak about sir?"

"We just need to finalize a few things like your new deployments before all head on out."

Before they could do so, however, Eternal Vigilance hovered in between the two Spartans. "Before you leave, I must inquire. Are these augmentations that you possess standard for Spartans?"

Logan was the one to answer. "Yes, they are standard amongst all generations of Spartans."

"Oh good. I merely asked because I had discovered through passive scans that the two of you possess the genetic coding required to harness magical energy, most likely due to the augmentations. Although the genome will have to be awoken manually so Samantha will have to follow me to the medical chambers. As for you Logan, obtaining the Keyblade may have already awoken it for you, but I am not entirely certain. Try casting a low-tier spell like Fire."

Complying with this request, Logan stretched out his hand, and after a few moments of intense concentration, a ball of fire formed in his palm, much to Vigilance's approval. "Wonderful! This means you can head directly to the training simulator. You re-fitted armor will be waiting for you there."

The Vice Admiral, who was now alone after the General departed, then called to the Spartan. "Come along then son, we'll over things along the way."

With that, the two Spartans bid each other farewell before going their separate ways, one following the monitor, while the other joined the Vice Admiral as they began the trek.

Cole was quick to begin speaking. "So before anything else, I need to know, how's the war with the Covenant going?"

"Well sir, the war's been over for the past four years and the Covenant as a whole, are broken."

"Well shit, that's the best damn news I've heard in my life. At least humanity won't have to worry about two factions of self-righteous bastards knocking down our front door."

"But we'll still have the one."

"I always look at the bright side son, you should start doing the same. Regardless, we can't just sit around and let them come to us, which is where you'll come in."

"What would you have me do sir?"

"You'll be put in command of a mobile expeditionary force created to put pressure on the enemy and counter them anytime and anywhere. You'll be granted full operational independence with your only order being to give them hell. To finalize this, I hereby promote you to the rank of Commander. Congrats son."

This caught Logan completely by surprise as he took a few moments to process this development before voicing his opinion on the matter. "With all due respect sir, there's got to be others far more qualified than me."

Preston Cole sighed at this statement before he spoke. "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't hand this promotion out to someone I know next to nothing about. But Yen Sid has given his approval for this, and he has more experience in these matters than I do, so I trust his judgment. Besides, my gut tells me that you're a good choice for this regardless, and it's never been wrong before."

"I understand sir. But what will you do if you don't mind me asking, sir?"

"Myself and General Hoffman will be taking the bulk of the fleet we now have here and returning to UNSC-controlled space. We'll be warning them of the impending threat while we still can. Teh good General has already gone down to finalize preparations."

As the Vice Admiral finished speaking, the two arrived at a massive door that opened up to reveal a large cavern lit by white lights that lined the walls in symmetrical patterns. Blue luminescent lights stretched side by side, illuminating a path outwards towards the jungles they originally landed in. And standing in the center of the room were Logan's and Samatha's MJOLNIR armor suits, glistening as if unblemished by battle.

"It appears we have arrived. Take care of yourself son." With that, the Vice Admiral offered a handshake which the Spartan accepted. He then took his leave, leaving Logan alone as he went to examine his armor. A gentle hand brushed against the golden visor of his armor as he admired the shine, but he was grateful that the runes he inscribed remained untouched. After all, you don't fuck with a Scandinavian man's lineage. His admiration was soon interrupted as the door opened once more to reveal Samantha making her way towards her own navy-blue armor, Eternal Vigilance soon following. "Ah, good. You made it. Now that everything is in order, you can equip yourselves and we can begin. Just stand on the designated platforms for armor assembly."

Two sections of the floor were then highlighted in blue, where the Spartans then stood and soon found themselves hovering above the ground as their armor suddenly dissassbled and latched onto their bodies. When their helmets were secured with a pressurized hiss, they were finally lowered to the ground as their HUDs came to life. They remained unchanged save for a single purple bar that now rested underneath the blue shield gauge. "Are their any questions before we begin?"

Logan was the one to make an inquiry. "I got one. What's with the runway? Are we flying out of here?"

"As a matter of fact, yew. Each of your suits now have built-in flight systems that connect to their reactors, granting you indefinite flight capabilities. But first, you two should get a weapon for this trial run."

At this, a rack of UNSC weapons suddenly rose from the floor, from which Samantha obtained a BR33 battle rifle, while Logan retrieved a MA5C-ICWS assault rifle.

Once they were in position once more, their weapons attached to the mag strips on their backs, their suits thrusters engaged, the exhaust from the ports on their backs propelling them forward and out into the open air. The air that rushed against their helmets filled the Spartans with exhilaration as they soared over the rainforest canopy that zoomed by like a carpet of green, though it was not long before Vigilance patched through. "Flight systems are working well, let's work on combat systems. Some repurposed security sentinels should be sufficient targets."

Without warning, a section of the mountain the castle rested on opened up and from it, multiple drones of blocky shape and silver color with golden lenses began coming out. A trio of them fired golden lances of pure energy that arced through the air and hit their air-born targets as they turned back around to face them, draining their shields by half. As their shields recharged, the two Spartans drew their long ranged weapons and returned fire, downing two sentinels in a hail of bullets before Vigilance patched in once more. "Remember, you can utilize your magical abilities when in combat which can be kept track of through the purple gauge on your HUD. I'm also sending you data on magic types since it slipped my mind before. I apologize for that."

After rolling her eyes in annoyance and quickly skimming through the data, she summoned a Thundaga against a handful of sentinels, causing a massive barrage of lightning to come from the sky and destroy them with a resounding boom. "Niesamowity! I could get used to this."

Logan soon responded. "Keep your head in the game, Samantha."

With that, he gunned for the nearest sentinel and drew his axe, pouring Thunder magic into the blade as he closed the distance. Then, with a mighty roar, he swung the axe into the unfortunate sentinel, the lightning short-circuiting its systems before the blade cleaved it in two. Then, as the two halves exploded behind him, he loaded another clip into the rifle and poured gravity magic into the round. When he opened fire, the added mass let the hail of bullets tear through the remaining sentinels like tissue paper.

Meanwhile, Samantha took to a similar approach, synthesizing her battle rifle's rounds wire fire magic. Then, with each round she fired, they impacted sentinel after sentinel with the destructive force of artillery shells. This continued for but mere moments as the last of the sentinels were destroyed. When all was said and done the two Spartans hovered in place, taking a few minutes to breath and admire their handiwork as Vigilance patched in once more. "A marvelous demonstration I must say. Weapons Synthesis is a skill that normally takes at least weeks to master, yet you have done so in mere minutes. If you two are representative of Spartans, then I look forward to working with any and all you might bring in. The trial run is complete, you may return to the castle."

Not needing to be told twice, the two Spartans began to fly back to the building in question, intent on getting some food before the ODSTs eat it all.

And there we have it, we'll get to the action come next chapter.

In regards to the next chapters of Doom of the Ring and RWBY 40k: Space Marine, they are currently undergoing Beta reviews and will soon be done.

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