As the sun rose slowly, Manslayer sat on the ruined rooftop and stared at the mountain to the south of Mountain Glenn.

Manslayer's greatest failure mocked him. He'd been too weak, too slow, and in the end, unable to overcome his adversary. Someone else now paid the price forever. The mountain was naught by a tomb, a grave that mocked Manslayer for his weakness.

Better not to dwell on the past.

Rising to his feet, Manslayer leapt down to the ground. Dawn would likely be awake by now, and he had plans for the day. The ten foot tall Grimm ducked as he walked inside the ruined grocery store. Making his way through the aisles, Manslayer found Dawn asleep on a crude nest, fashioned from various cloths and other materials from the store.

With a sigh, Manslayer prodded the little Nevermore. "Wake up Dawn."

Dawn's eyes shot open with a squawk. "Bwah! What- Oh, Manslayer! Sorry."

Manslayer couldn't help but smile a bit. Dawn, for all her flaws, was still a lovable and loyal follower.

Rising to her feet, Dawn shook herself off. "What's up?"

"While we wait for Sheer to arrive, I wanted to gain some more information on this group we find ourselves up against. Do you know where they've set up base for their operations?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, kinda. They use the subway tunnels to get into this underground area. There's like an entire other city down there! The furthest I got was this doorway that the bowler hat guy came in and out of."

Manslayer thought for a moment. While he'd known of the Glenn, and Merlot's operations there, the second underground city was news to him. What could be the purpose of such a thing?

"I see. Anything else?"

"No, that's all I know besides the dust gathering."

Interesting. Manslayer could deduce that the group was likely using Mountain Glenn in its derelict state as a hideout in order to stockpile their ill gotten dust. What they needed so much dust for, Manslayer had no idea, but he doubted it was anything good.

"Very well then. Dawn, could you bring me to one of these subway tunnels? I'd like to get a look at the situation for myself."

Dawn tilted her head. "Are you sure about that? They'll probably be on high alert after the whole thing in Vale."

Manslayer moved a hand to dismiss the notion. "I simply wish to see this second city. It will not be a move on this doorway you speak of."

Dawn reluctantly agreed. "Okay, I'll show you the way, but be careful okay?"

Manslayer laughed. "That's a bit rich coming from you, isn't it?"

The little Nevermore hissed indignantly. "Ah, stop it! Before I change my mind!"

A flock of crows flew overhead as Dawn and Manslayer exited the ruined grocery store. Dawn looked up as the comparatively tiny birds flew off out of sight.

"Awh, those little guys were cute! Like baby Nevermore!"

Once again, Manslayer laughed. "You know, humans used to think we were the wrathful incarnations of animal spirits, like those crows. The resemblance is quite uncanny, after all."

Dawn thought for a moment. "Wait, but aren't Grimm also supposed to be soulless? How could we even be wrathful animal spirits?"

Manslayer shrugged. "Humans are strange creatures. They call us soulless due to the lack of an aura, as they see it as a 'projection of the soul.' Aura, Semblances… it's not quite what they think it is. More an imperfect recreation of something long lost then something as frivolous as soul power."

The pair of Grimm walked on. Dawn lead Manslayer through the twisted streets, passing by several packs of wild Grimm as they did. Manslayer wanted to unchain them from their bloody shackles, but it would be pointless at the moment. Better to deal with the whole Glenn once this was taken care of than waste time in a disorganized effort.

After a short time, the two reached a subway tunnel. Manslayer gazed into the partially collapsed structure curiously.

"This is it boss. This is the place they went into the first time."

Manslayer nodded. "I'll be quick, it should only take a few minutes. Wait here."

Dawn watched as Manslayer departed, disappearing into the inky darkness of the tunnel. The little Nevermore let out a sigh as she flew up to the roof of the tunnel to perch. Manslayer had said a few minutes, but she had little doubt that he'd take longer. After all, there was an entire city to scope out. That's not something you do in a few minutes.

The little Nevermore began to preen her feathers, but something caught her attention in the corner of her eye. One of the crows from before was also perched on the subway tunnel, the little bird looking at her curiously.

Dawn smiled. "Hi little birdy!"

The crow cawed, still eyeing Dawn.

"Did you lose your flock?"

The bird cawed again, tilting its head at Dawn.

"I don't speak crow! I'm sorry!"

Suddenly, the crow took to the skies in a rush, flying away. Dawn watched it fly away, a bit saddened. Sure, it wasn't like she could hold a conversation with the bird, but having some company never hurt.

Dawn sighed. "Well, I guess-"

The little Nevermore shrieked as a barrage of bullets sunk into her back.

"Ohohoho! Surprise!"

…

Manslayer made his way through the gloomy tunnels, white eyes glowing in the darkness.

Unlike humans, Grimm could see in the dark fairly well. It helped them creep up on their prey, or lay in wait in conditions that a human would struggle in. After all, what would have been the point in a creature of darkness that is useless in the dark?

The subway tunnel itself was rather worn from lack of maintenance. Water or concrete dust would occasionally fall from the ceiling, showing off just how poor of a condition it was in. It made Manslayer feel rather bittersweet. On one hand, the fall of Mountain Glenn had been horrendous. Thousands had died, and Vale had been forced to abandon it completely.

On the other hand, however, it served as an important lesson to the humans about overextending. Sure, Manslayer was omitting two other factors that had caused the fall of the Glenn, but if the humans hadn't grown so bold as to build a settlement of this size in such a poor position, none of this would have had to happen.

So, while Manslayer pitied those who had fallen in the event, he did not pity those that had doomed the Glenn to fall from its conception.

As he made his way through the tunnel further, Manslayer thought about this apparent "Undercity." As far as he had been aware, Mountain Glenn had fallen all at once when the Grimm overran it, and no such secondary underground settlement was constructed. It intrigued Manslayer, and he planned to revisit it sometime in the future if it held any sort of value.

The tunnel began to open up. Manslayer squinted as his eyes adjusted to the more well lit area. Beams of sunlight tricked down from cracks and holes in the ceiling, as well as a host of artificial lights. Almost immediately, Manslayer was able to see masked Faunus, just as Dawn had described, milling around between the underground skyscrapers.

Suddenly, Manslayer felt a disturbance. Dawn was in distress, once again. What could possibly have happened in such a short time?

Manslayer turned to run down the tunnel, when a spray of bullets shot his way. The masked Faunus had spotted him, and were advancing rapidly. Grimacing, Manslayer knew that he couldn't get to Dawn if he was filled with bullets from behind. However, he didn't have time to take care of however many of these masked menaces that there were.

Making his way back into the tunnel, Manslayer cocked his arm backwards and punched the wall with all his might. The worn concrete buckled under the sheer force of the blow and collapsed, as the ceiling began to crumble above him. Now running from the tunnel itself filling in, Manslayer sprinted as fast as he could towards the subway entrance.

…

Dawn scrambled out of the way as the crazed man slashed at her.

"Ahaha! Run, run little birdie!"

This guy was something else, yellow eyes filled with demented delight. Dawn wanted nothing more than to fly away as far as possible, but his surprise attack had damaged her wings too much to get off the ground.

Dawn was getting sick of people doing that.

The assassin let out a giggle as he lunged forwards again, blades raised. Dawn ducked and responded in kind with a kick that propelled the man away. Not staying down for long, Dawn's attacker leapt to his feet with bravado.

"This birdie's got bite! Ehehehe!"

Both fighters clashed through the Glenn, leaping and slicing at each other. Dawn was able to keep pace with her mysterious attacker, but only barely. Having her wings damaged hampered her agility, and this human was definitely a combat veteran.

Dawn managed to grab both of the cackling man's blades with one of her feet, stopping him from attacking. The assassin tried to pull his arms back, but found them to be held fast. However, to Dawn's surprise, he merely grinned wildly.

"You've fallen right into my trap!"

A scorpion tail erupted from the laughing man's cloak. Dawn wasn't able to move away fast enough as the stinger buried itself into her neck. The little Nevermore shrieked in pain and pushed back with a double pronged kick before running in the opposite direction, attempting to gain distance.

Thankfully, Grimm weren't threatened by poisons and venoms. However, being stabbed in the neck still wasn't healthy. Dawn began to feel woozy as black smoke oozed from the hole, signaling her weakened state. The newly unveiled scorpion Faunus trailed close behind Dawn, sending off wave after wave of bullet fire.

Dawn knew she couldn't run forever. Maybe if she was in peak conditions she could have run until this gleeful killer was out of stamina, but there was no doubt he'd outlast her with these wounds. Cursing her bad luck, Dawn kept up the running and dodging as best she could.

There wasn't anything she could do at this point but pray.

…

Manslayer rushed out of the tunnel in the direction of Dawn.

Whoever had done this had followed them and waiting for the right moment to strike, no doubt. Manslayer hadn't expected anyone to be bold enough to try anything in the short window if time Dawn would be waiting, though. Was it a suicidal hunter? One of the masked Faunus? Or one of Salem's agents?

Movement caught Manslayer's eye. In the distance, he saw Dawn fleeing from an unknown figure, scorpion tail lashing from their behind. The white eyed Grimm rushed into the fray, yelling out a challenge to divert the attacker's attention away from Dawn. The scorpion tailed assassin looked towards Manslayer and smiled sadistically, before abandoning the hunt on Dawn and heading for Manslayer instead.

The two met as Manslayer threw a devastating punch, and the Faunus brought down his two blades. A shockwave emanated from their meeting, whipping up dust and debris nearby.

Once again, the killer grinned with childlike glee. "Ohohoho! Her grace will be most pleased when I bring her news of your demise!"

An agent of Salem then.

Manslayer would feel much less guilty about beating him to an inch of his life.

As the scorpion tail darted in to stab Manslayer's face, the Grimm ducked and did a sweeping kick, knocking the Faunus off his feet. He followed it up with an uppercut that catapulted the assassin away, bouncing and rolling as he hit the ground. However, the man seemed merely incovinced, getting to his feet and spitting out some blood with the same, annoying grin.

The Faunus rushed in again, moving in a zigzag as he unleashed a torrent of bullets. Manslayer raised his arms to block the incoming fire, preparing a nasty surprise. Once the smiling man was closer, Manslayer suddenly dropped his guard and vomited a stream of black, tar like liquid from his mouth. The scorpion Faunus gasped in surprise and leapt to dodge, but some of the gunk still managed to find its way onto his legs, hardening rapidly.

Now it was Manslayer's turn to rush in. With Dawn's gleeful attacker slowed from the gunk that latched onto him, Manslayer was easily able to catch up now. One of Manslayer's trademark punches collided with the Faunus's face, causing his features to contort with agony. Before the knock back of the blow could move him out of range, Manslayer grabbed the man's tail.

Manslayer grinned. The fight was over.

Using the tail as a handle of sorts, Manslayer bashed the man into the ground, pavement cracking from the force of the strikes. The Faunus's aura held strong for a short time, but eventually it buckled, shattering with a purple flash. Manslayer slammed the assassin into the ground once more for good measure before flipping him onto his back and pressing his foot into the man's chest.

Even in a beaten and bruised state, the failed killer still smiled at up at Manslayer, a playful light dancing in his eyes.

Manslayer frowned and pressed his foot a bit harder. "You. Salem sent you, didn't she?"

The defeated assassin let out a mix of a cough and a laugh. "Her grace knows many things, Grimm. Killing me won't stop her! Haha!"

Manslayer's eyes turned to slits. "I'm not killing you. In fact, I'll be sending you right back to her, with a message. Tell 'her grace' that she can send as many assassins as she wants, as many Grimm as she needs, I'll be ready for them. Understand?"

The scorpion Faunus hissed. "I will not-"

Angered, Manslayer pressed his foot even harder into the man's chest, making him wheeze. "Understand?"

Point driven home, the Faunus nodded once. Manslayer lifted his foot, and the beaten killer leapt up and fled, tail trailing limply behind him. Once he was out of sight, Manslayer let out a long sigh. He'd nearly forgotten how problematic Salem could with the right information. Sure, the fight had been quick, but Manslayer had surprised his enemy with an unknown attack once again. Eventually, he'd run out of tricks, and Manslayer didn't want to think about what Salem and the hunters would do once he did.

Not wasting time thinking about it, Manslayer began to look for Dawn. The little Nevermore had run off during the fight, and he couldn't see her anywhere. Following her distress, Manslayer made his way through the twisted streets quickly towards Dawn.

And there he found her. Dawn had made it quite some distance away before falling, laying exhausted under the shadow of a weathered skyscraper. Black smoke emanated from a gash on her neck, and an array of holes in her wings and back.

Manslayer crouched down next to his fallen companion. "Dawn? Are you okay?"

Dawn weakly opened a pair of her eyes. "Darkfeather… I don't wanna go to school today… I'm sick…"

That bastard… Manslayer could tell that Dawn wasn't doing very well. The large amount of smoke coming from her wounds spoke to that. If nothing was done, Manslayer wasn't sure if Dawn would pull through.

Concern spreading across his face, Manslayer picked up the little Nevermore and help her between his arms.

"Don't worry, I'll get help."

…

Sheer trudged through the red trees, leaves raining down on him as he went.

After making landfall, the large Deathstalker had split off from Tai and Ju. The serpent twins had wanted to go a longer route that avoided the Forever Fall and Emerald Forest, but Sheer didn't see the point. Sure, they might dodge a hunter or two, but taking the fastest way to Manslayer was more important.

The journey through the Emerald Forest had been largely uneventful. Sheer hadn't encountered so much as a whiff of negativity during the entire walk through the lush green forest, and the Grimm population there was quite sparse after the events Dawn had reported. It almost bored Sheer, but he was also grateful there had been nothing to slow him down.

The Forever Fall, so far, was also fairly tame. The only thing of interest Sheer had found on his way trough was an abandoned train. Or, at least, half of one anyways. It appeared as if the front half had been decoupled from the back, leaving the later to rot in the wilderness. Rust had already been to creep its way onto the abandoned thing, along with wear from weathering.

Sheer soldiered onwards, making his way through the somewhat dense tree cover of Forever Fall. He did his best to bulldoze as few of the trees as possible, as their sticky sap clung to his body and made him smell awful, but thanks to his size there wasn't much of a choice.

The Deathstalker grumbled as he pushed over another tree, sap covering his legs. "The things I do for the lord…"

Once Sheer was out of this damnable forest, he was going to take a nice bath in the nearest lake or river to the Glenn. Presenting himself to Manslayer in such a state would only make him look weak and foolish, and besides, the sap was really starting to bother him.

As he traveled forwards, Sheer began to pick up the scent of something in the distance. Grimm could "smell" negativity in a similar fashion to humans, along with using scent in the same way. However, the smell that caught Sheer's attention wasn't sap, or negativity. It was pure, light, and airy. Like a freshly plucked flower on a sunny day. Sheer retched, not because the scent was unpleasant in of itself, but for a much more important reason.

It was familiar.

Very, very, familiar. A scent Sheer would never forget for his whole life.

Diverting off course, Sheer made a beeline towards the intrusive scent. Every fiber of his being pulled against it, fearing what was coming, but Sheer fought against it. His legs moved forwards with enraged fervor, now making no attempt to avoid pushing down the trees that got in his way.

Revenge. Sweet revenge.

…

Ruby took in the wonders of the Forever Fall as she and the rest of team RWBY made their way through a path in the trees.

Professor Peach had sent them on a mission to collect sap for her class, with Miss Goodwitch supervising the endeavor. Each of the teams had split up once they reached the heart of the forest, with instructions to meet back once they'd collected a jar of sap for every member of their team.

Simple enough, right?

Ruby couldn't help but look at the trees as they walked. The pretty red leaves twirled and dances as they fell to the ground, creating quite the beautiful scene. Apparently the trees shed leaves year round, slowly replacing the oldest ones as they did. Since it never snowed like in Atlas, the trees never needed to lose them all at once.

The silver eyed huntress let out a groan as Yang ruffled her hair. "Pretty, isn't it sis?"

"Oh, yeah! The red leaves are super cool! Apparently, all the trees in the forest are red because-"

Weiss grimaced and placed a hand on her forehead. "Please, keep it down a little? I still have a headache."

Ruby frowned, more out of worry then annoyance. Weiss was still recovering from the fight at the docks, and as a result a seemingly omnipresent headache plagued the heiress to the SDC.

"Ah, sorry Weiss."

Weiss's grimace morphed into a simple frown as she continued to walk forwards, still massaging her forehead. The team moved onwards in silence, until eventually they reached a group of trees that were oozing the thick, purple sap they were looking for.

Ruby dug the sap bottles out of the pack she was carrying. "Alright team, time to collect some sap! Weiss, you can stand watch. The rest of us will fill the bottles."

Blake and Yang each took a jar, while Weiss drew Myrtenaster and held it at the ready as she stared off into the red forest. Ruby knelt down by one of the sap trees and held a jar out to the sticky purple flow. Slowly, it began to fill.

While the three filled their jars of sap, Weiss kept a watchful eye on their surroundings, scanning every direction. Something in particular caught her eye, however. In the distance, flocks of birds had begun to fly up into the air for no apparent reason, scattering into the sky.

Weiss frowned. That probably wasn't a good sign, seeing as the birds were scattering closer and closer to their position. The heiress to the SDC nudged Ruby with the tip of her blade, getting her attention.

"What is it Weiss?"

Weiss pointed at the flocks of flying birds. "Something's coming this way."

Ruby frowned, setting aside the half filled sap jar and rising to her feet. "Oh… what do you think it is?"

"Probably a Grimm. Don't think anything else would rile up the birds that much."

As if on cue, the sound of trees snapping and bending in the path of something became audible. Yang and Blake both rose to their feet at the sound, weapons ready. Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose, the large scythe gleaming in preparation. The sound of trees snapping grew louder and louder as the thing moved closer. Team RWBY moved together, weapons pointed forwards defensively.

Just as the sound of trees snapping drew close, it abruptly stopped. RWBY remained in their defensive circle, ready for anything. However, nothing came. The forest was eerily silent as the team began to relax slightly. Then, a shadow passed over RWBY. Ruby looked up with a gasp, seeing the massive body of a Grimm hurtling down at them.

"Move!"

Everyone scrambled out of the way as the large Grimm slammed into the ground with earth shaking force. Ruby looked upon the creature with a gasp of horror. It was a Deathstalker, and a very big one at that. The Grimm was oddly discolored, sporting white flesh and black plated armor instead of the usual, and a red stinger that glowed hatefully. The Deathstalker was coated in scars, various marked painted across its body, and three of it's ten eyes had been destroyed, leaving empty holes.

The eyes that remained, though, burned white.

With a bone chilling screech, the Deathstalker set upon Ruby without hesitation, tail slamming down and pinches extending. The silver eyed huntress darted out of the way only thanks to her semblance, narrowly avoiding being impaled or crushed.

The rest of team RWBY set up the Deathstalker, blasting it from all angles. The Grimm seemed almost confused by the attacks from the other three, looking upon them with annoyance. With unnatural speed and flexibility, it's tail swept Yang and Blake off their feet, while Weiss was knocked aside by a strike from it's pinchers.

Ruby leapt into action, jumping into the air and slashing at the Deathstalker's sting. With calculated precision, the Deathstalker swung its tail to the side to avoid the attempt at removing it's deadliest weapon, and then swung back as Ruby passed by. The bulbous body of the stinger slammed into Ruby, smacking her to the ground nearby.

Before the silver eyed huntress could rise to her feet, a pincer stabbed into the ground above her, pinning Ruby. She tried to swing Crescent Rose at the Deathstalker's arm, but the Grimm closed it's pincher around Ruby's midsection, knocking the breath out of her.

Seven white eyes blazed downwards at Ruby.

"I've waited so long for this moment… to have the silver eyed scum squirming in my grip… I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart."

I'd spend time making excuses for why this took so long, but there really isn't a good one. Writers block, laziness, and working on other things all ganged up on my and slowed this down a lot. I'm sorry, hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to make.

Anyways, back to the story itself, things are going down! Salem has sent Tyrian after Manslayer and Dawn, and something tells me this won't be the last time we hear from them! Meanwhile, Sheer and Ruby throw down in the Forever Fall. Let's just hope our favorite silver eyed huntress manages to get out of that with life and limb intact...

Thank you all for enjoying this chapter of "The Manslayer!" Make sure to leave your reviews, and I'll cya'll next time! Bye!