Reviews:
Dovashinn270: That sounds like an interesting OC, when I make my Mars story I will see if I can add him in. It will be in the far future because I got a great idea for a Lucius story.
Cheshire1999: Glad you found that line ironic, most of the powerful leaders on Remnant still view the Adeptus Mechanicus weaker or equal in strength compared to Atlas. Magos Dominus Pugnus plans to change that with help from Baron Siezant. Thanks for the review!
Chapter Master Sinclair: Good to know that you loved the death of Roman Torchwick. And to be fair, some of the Vanguard did think he looked like a bitch.
KlockB: He was going to start a monologue and the Adeptus Mechanicus do not stop fighting to talk with the enemy. Neo will grieve and seek revenge for Roman's death, but she can do that if she died alongside him. I would have her yell out curses to the Ad Mech, but you know why that can't happen.
Speech Syntaxes:
-Speech- Lingua-Technis
"Speech" Low Gothic/English
Notes: Made a typo in the afterword last chapter, this will be longer than the previous one. Also found a few typos in the earlier chapters but they are along the lines of adding a second 'L' to Metalica. To be honest, I am surprised that the servitors count as Elites in the Codex and not Troops while the Kataphrons are Troops. Since I do not see use of smoke or stun grenades with in the huntsmen in RWBY, I am going to assume most do not recognize what they do at first glance. Aura colors are as follows. Green: 100%-51%. Yellow: 50%-26. Red: 25%-0%
Chapter Eleven: Judgement
Magos Dominus Pugnus was sitting in his quarters while on a call with a news reporter from the local planet, the call as easy enough to set up due to the Talpa Code that inhabited everything connected to the CCTS system. Once the reporter realized what was happening she started asking questions, "What do you have to say about the recent death of Roman Torchwick?"
His mechanical voice calmly responded, "I am disappointed at his demise yesterday, I expected that my forces had the capability to take him in alive. With him dead, the task of finding all of the stolen dust will be longer and more complicated. Also there is now a power gap in the criminal underworld. To anyone who seeks to take the title that Mr. Torchwick once held, you will meet a worse fate than him. But now the citizens of Vale can sleep peacefully knowing that the streets at night as now safer. Now, I have important matters to conduct on my flagship." The tech-priest quickly cut off the call and started to head back to the jury room.
The twelve tech-priest joined together in the jury room for what they hopped was the final time. A metallic voice spoke over the vox at the center of the table, "I sure hope this is working." Pugnus was confused why the human creator was talking in a robotic voice. The voice continued, "I am the creator of Penny, and I am currently using a voice changer at the order of General Ironwood. The android herself is an upgrade of the new Atlesian Knight-200. The thing that sets her apart is that she can generate aura artificially, and she was a program that can mimic human gestures, phrases, and emotions. All of her code is stored in the android itself unlike the AK-200 server of code. If any of this breaks your laws than you cannot blame us for that because we did not know your laws exist, and we only follow our own laws."
Dominus Ferrum had to acknowledge the flesh bags ability to openly defy the Adeptus Mechanicus, even if he used a voice changer to try to hide himself from them. By the way he phrased it, Penny was a simple android with complex programs. Since all of her programs were stored in her model, the Talpa Code could not be used to check the authenticity of his statements. The Magos Dominus stood up and announced, -Whatever we judge Penny to be. Her fate will not change, she will not be destroyed! If we find that she is an Abominable Intelligence we will carefully watch her and punish Atlas is they attempt to build more like her. If we find that she is an Automata, like how her creator describes her, then nothing will happen.-
The eleven other tech-priest nodded in agreement with the plan. Pugnus continued, -This might be the final vote. All in favor of deeming Penny Polendina as a Automata raise a mechadendrite. - The Magos Dominus raised his right hand, and the four other supports of the Automata sentence followed suit. Slowly the other seven tech-priest copied suit and soon the jury had reached a decision. Rubrum ordered, -It has been decided. The android known as Penny Polendina shall be left unharmed by the Adeptus Mechanicus unless the Automata seeks hostiles first.-
Dominus Ferrum, Dominus Decium, Enginseer Eights, and Enginseer Precision loaded unto the first Vulture heading to the surface. A few of the other tech-priest hinted at their want to inspect the planet from the surface, the most adamant was Magos Biologis Nova. The ride to the surface would take anywhere from two to four hours, hopefully the Cybernetica Datasmith could handle the forces there for a few more hours.
One Beacon Campus the Cybernetica Datasmith was currently wondering if a volley from the Grim Shepherds would silence the multiple students asking him questions on almost every topic. Ranging from what is the broadcast on frequency 904.7 doing, why is Torchwick dead, and how do your weapons work. He fired his gamma pistol into the sky to silence the crowd, "My duty is to direct the wrath of the Kastelan Robots, you can redirect your questions to the higher ranking tech-priests who will be arriving in a couple hours!" Most of them dispersed except for a few stubborn and curios students, team RWBY was the only ones he was concerned about. Three of their members were on the list the Magos Dominus has of students to be careful around.
"What did the broadcast on frequency 904.7 mean? It was just a bunch of names!" demanded Blake as she stepped forward a single step.
Cyber believed it would be harmless to answer that question, "It was a list of every identified casualty inflicted upon the White Fang is the recent attack on their local outpost. I thought the host should have explained that before he started reading off the names."
The student's amber eyes went ablaze with fury, "Why would you kill so many Faunus?!'
"I have killed no one while on this planet," countered the Datasmith.
Blake spat out, "You know what I mean."
Cyber remarked as he turned to clean his robots, "You fail to recognize that I am the one receiving orders and not giving them. But nonetheless, the terrorist group known as the White Fang is a steadfast enemy of mankind. The Adeptus Mechanicus has sworn to protect mankind, to you see where the two ideals conflict."
"They are a collections of misguided Faunus!" yelled the hidden Faunus. The Cybernetica Datasmith slowly turned around and stared silently at the student, it almost felt like he was inspecting her. It creeped her out more than is should have.
-That is why you are on the list abhuman, - remarked Cyber to himself. He questioned her, "Do you believe that Faunus should have equal rights as humans?" The student nodded her head as he continued, "Then why do you not take pride in who you are? You claim to want to help Faunus but you hide the fact you are one and leave the other Faunus alone and without support. You run from responsibility for your own personal gains while pushing the punishment onto others." Her teammates were surprised at his accusations of her being a Faunus, maybe they did not know this or they cannot conceive how he figure out her secret. To be honest, the bow only hides the ears from the front and the twitching does not help either.
Blake stepped back in shock, how he knew she asked herself as she started to run away. Yang decided to follow her partner thru the school, while the Datasmith commented, "That only proves my point."
"Why did all of the tech-priest leave?" asked Weiss.
"You are talking to one right now," corrected Cyber.
The heiress was trying to connect the dots in his statement and what she observed, "You have a lot less robes than the other tech-priest, and why you are always standing behind these robots?"
Cyber carefully explained, "Cybernetica Datasmiths, which is my rank, are a specialist rank of Tech-Priest in the Legio Cybernetica." This only appear to have caused more questions, Omnissiah be damned!
"What is the Legio Cybernetica?" asked the heiress.
"The Legio Cybernetica is one of the most ancient sub-branches of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which specializes in deploying fully autonomous battle-automata for combat and support tasks. In your feudal tongue fully autonomous battle-automata means combat designed robots that can think for themselves," translated Cyber.
Weiss deadpanned, "Like the Atlesian Knights."
The Datasmith corrected the student, "No because the Atlesian Knights are all connected to a central server, and the Legio Cybernetica is superior in quality and quantity." The truth appeared to upset the Schnee, he felt barely pleased at her discomfort which was strange. For the longest time he believed his augmentations prevented him from having emotions, it turns out that his assumptions were based on falsehoods. The heiress muttered to herself as she went after Yang and Blake, only leaving on bastard student left to get rid of. Ruby Rose, he would need divine intervention from the Omnissiah to complete this task.
Before Eights left for the fleet he had warned Cyber, 'If you talk to Ruby Rose you need to be careful with what you say. She has potential to be the first tech-priest from this world! One second thought, do not say anything to her at all.' Well that plan went out the window when she was asked, "Could I see some of the robots in the Ledgeo Siburnetica?" Her pronunciations of his organization made him crack a smirk under all of his augmentations, with it a tingle of pride filled his cogitators when he was presented the ability to boast about the power of the blameless machines.
"It is fine that you mispronounced it, but yes you can see the battle-automata of the Legio Cybernetica. I will even show you the unit called the Grim Shepherds who ironically hold the honor of slaying the first Grimm on this planet," stated the Datasmith as he lead the student to his most prized robots. He quoted from his past, "O, to stride with giants into the crucible of war! Blessed is he who guides the blame less machine, trusted is he who carries the sacred wafer, its holy writ brings salvation and destruction, the word of the Omnissiah that brings all dooms. That is the Cant-Mantra of the Datasmith Prioris, my dear friend. And now stands before you are the Grim Shepherds, a unit of six Kastelan Class Battle-Automata armed with three heavy phosphor blasters."
"What caliber round do they shot?" questioned the crimson student.
Cyber boasted, "Their ammo is not counted in caliber, but in volume of superheated phosphex. Each salvo have different amounts of fuel used, but the results are all the same. The target is burned alive even if they are behind cover. They stand at 4.2 meters tall, or 13 feet and 9 inches in your feudal units, and their height allows them to conduct suppressive fire orders or eliminations volleys on hostile targets. All of which I orchestrate with my special augmentations." The young feudal's eyes were filled with wonder and curiosity, the Datasmith realized what Eights saw in her. He continued explaining, "I notice that you have a lot of interest in their weapons, sadly I do not know how they are made. But you can ask on of the Enginseers when they return from the fleet today." Ruby nodded in understanding as she left the Adeptus Mechanicus camp on Beacon Academy grounds to join back with the rest of her team.
The classes for the students were going normally, that was until the tech-priest got back to the surface. Ira and Quin headed for combat class, while the two Enginseers slowly marched to the school's forge. Professor Goodwitch was surprised to see the two tech-priest enter her classroom unannounced, thankfully there were not students in the room at the time. The male Dominus introduced himself, "I am Tech-Priest Dominus Quin Decium, the leader of the second wave of reinforcements sent by Magos Dominus Pugnus. My colleague and I have devised a test for your students that will run parallel with what you are going to teach them today."
The professor asked, "What is that test?"
Ira stepped forward and explained, "How to spot the weakness in your enemy and how to exploit it. Before the match I will ask each student to state their weakness and their opponent's. Then they will have to explain how they plan to cover their weakness and use their enemy's flaw against them. We will also be stating flaws if the students miss any, we will be blunt with our statements and hopefully your students can handle them." Their plan sounded good on paper. It did not interfere with her teaching, but the blunt statements could be a problem. The bell rang signaling that the students would soon be arriving.
Team JNPR and RWBY entered Professor Goodwitch's class and were greeted with two of the tech-priests. The teacher stepped forward and explained, "Today in class, Dominus Ferrum and Dominus Decium have volunteered to help teach you about finding weaknesses in your enemy. Does anyone want to volunteer to fight first?" Ruby and a random male student raised their hands first, both left the stands and went to their lockers. Five minutes later Ruby was in the ring with her baby Crescent Rose and the other student held a longsword with both of his hands.
Before the bell rang Dominus Ferrum questioned the boy, "What are the flaw that you spot in your enemy?"
"Her weapon had a longer reach than mine in melee and with the sniper rifle built into it she has ranged superiority," responded the student looking toward the tech-priest who slowly shook his head.
"You are only looking at her weapon, a warrior is not defined by that. What flaws do you see in her," corrected Ira, to which the boy only gave her a confused glance. She explained, "She is the youngest in the room currently, female, and is lacking strong muscles in her arms and legs. This means that she is physically weaker than you. Yet she is strong enough to properly wield her weapon. She is also a team leader while you are not, she is mentally more tactical than you. Her eyes are the next flaw, they are filled with the naivety of a child. She will not go for dirty moves or underhanded tactics." The robed cultist turned to face the crimson teen, "How will you stop him from exploiting your many flaws?"
"With Crescent Rose!" yelled the student in response. Dominus Ferrum had to deactivate the servo joints in her hand to stop from face palming.
She countered, "The hilt of his longsword can be used to smash your knuckles, forcing you to drop you scythe. What will you do then?"
Ruby gripped her weapon tighter, "That will never happen!"
"With that mentality you will get someone killed in the future. The only question left would be if that person is you, a comrade, or a civilian," warned Ira. The teen found interest in her feet for some reason. The tech-priest continued, "Now Ruby, what flaws do you see in your enemy?"
The crimson student perked up at the question, "His weapon of choice is a longsword that he holds with both of his hands, it shows no signs of mech shifting so that means he has no ranged weapons without switching weapons. His stance hint that he will use either feints or bashing moves to break open my guard. He is older and stronger than me, which means that he can overpower me if I try to block and hold his sword."
"You forgot his legs, they are stronger than his arms which hints at his reliance on fast speeds. His eyes are squinted while he is smirking, he has no qualms on using underhanded and dirty tactics to win this fight," added the female tech-priest. Ira turned to face the male student, "How will you stop her from exploiting your many flaws?"
He replied, "Preventing her from using her range advantage by cornering her against the ring wall."
Dominus Decium decided to interrupt the questioning, "A battle is like a journey, you go from point A to point B. The two of you are currently at point A, what you just said was your point B. To master war you must find the fastest way to point B from point A without abandoning your morals. Point A and point B are always the same, therefore they do not matter. What counts is how you get to the end result. That is enough questioning for now Dominus Ferrum." The female tech-priest walked out of the ring to Quin's side and watched at the start bell was rung.
Following the advice given to her by the adepts, she planted the tip of Crescent Rose into the ground and started taking pot shots at the other student. He on the other hand was running in a zigzag pattern to mess with her aiming, but a few bullets found their mark. The male student reached into melee range he brought the sword down in an overhead strike with his entire momentum into the attack. The crimson teen ripped her scythe out of the floor and leaped to her left to avoid the strike. Once Ruby's feet hit the ground she had a split second to block a slash across her stomach with the staff of Crescent Rose. With a flick of his wrist, his blade slid down the pole of the weapon and smacked against her knuckles.
While aura can protect against attacks the user must concentrate to activate it, Ruby was not prepared for the disarming strike. Her hand let go of Crescent Rose while her other hand gripped tighter on the weapon to not lose it. Ruby's opponent ignored disarming her and took advantage of breaking her guard with a shoulder bash. The crimson reaper fell ungracefully to the ground and her weapon fell out of her hand due to the sudden stop of momentum. On instinct Ruby rolled over Crescent Rose and grabbed the weapon mid roll, while the ground where she was cracked under the might of the longsword. The female student quickly got up on her own two feet, but the male student did not halt his pursuit. But thanks to her semblance Ruby was able to get to the other side of the ring before he could attack her.
The male student glanced up at the screen, she was at 94% while he sat at 90%. Ruby readied her sniper for him to charge, but instead he pulled out a canister from one of his large pockets. She hesitated as he pulled a pin out of the can and tossed it in between the two of them. Within seconds the arena was filled with smoke, preventing both of the students to see the other. The crimson started to fire randomly into the cloud with not audible or visual results. That was until the longsword reached out of the darkness and sliced at her right arm, she had no time to block the attack but she could use her aura to soften the blow. As soon at the attack hit the crimson reaper the weapon disappeared into the smoke, she retaliated with unloading a clip from where the longsword came from.
Then the ring was quiet, Ruby stood there with her baby in the sniper form ready to fire at the slightest sound. A loud clang came from the other side of the ring, to which she fired three tightly grouped bullets. As she was recovering from the recoil from the third shot, the sword came out of the black clouds and smashed against her aura. She responded with a quickly aimed shot that did force him to let out a grunt. He disappeared into the smoke again, but Ruby was ready for him this time for she shifted her weapon to the scythe variant and waited for him to strike again. But it did not come, instead as the smoke started to fade a canister rolled up to her feet. It was similar to the smoke grenade, but it had holes in the canister in three rows with four columns.
A bright flash with a loud noise dazed the crimson reaper as the male student took the chance to rip across her torso that was protected by aura. Once Ruby could see again, her opponent was standing in front of her and recovering from a strong swing that she felt. She slammed Crescent Rose into his chest with the added speed from the recoil from a sniper round. The force of the attack made the male student stumble backwards as he put his longsword into a defensive stance. Instead of continuing with the pursuit, Ruby turned her weapon back to the sniper form and fired three dust infused bullets into his chest.
She took the time while her enemy was recovering to glance at their aura levels. She was at 73% while he stood on the edge of yellow at 65%. Ruby looked back at her opponent to see that he was starting to charge her again, a few rounds did stunt his mad dash but it failed to stop him. Instead of striking her shoulder bashed her to the ground and followed up with the flat side of the blade smashing against her knee. The reaper raised Crescent Rose to block the second strike to her head. The male student instead of overpowering her kicked her in the chest, winding her in the process. The longsword fell upon Ruby as she gasped for air, she did not have the ability to block the attack.
The crimson student had a clever idea and swept her opponent's feet from under him. Once he hit the ground she quickly got up and swiped at his legs with her scythe, knocking off one of his shoes by accident. While he was slowly getting up Ruby took the time to get to the other side of the arena. He was without any helping items left in his pockets, but he still had his wits. Sadly he was also without a shoe with made his run tainted with a slight hobble. The female student did not hesitate this time and peppered him with bullets until the bell rang. She looked up to the screen to see his aura in the red while she was at the start of the yellow.
Professor Goodwitch stepped forward and glared at the male student as she stated, "I highly advise against using live grenades in my class. Other than that, having no way method to kill Grimm other than melee can be dangerous. I would advise to look into a ranged mecha-shift."
Dominus Decium added on, "While I do not know if grenades work on the creatures you call Grimm, but they work efficiently on any human or Faunus enemies you face. Having only a melee weapon does not hinder your ability, the Sicarian Ruststalkers are a prime example of this. They use their speed to get into melee range before serious ranged damage can be inflicted upon them. That is what you lack. You need to work on your speed and ability once you are in melee range to stay there. After you have that down, then you can worry about actually swinging your sword properly." The student nodded at the tech-priest assessment of his combat skill.
"Ruby, you fell for both of the grenades which your opponent used to land a few strikes on you. Always be prepared for the unknown. Other than that you are improving" commented Glynda. Dominus Ferrum slowly shook her head.
"On the contrary professor, multiple moments during the sparring match Ruby hesitated in firing at her enemy. In the field that could lead to a death that could be easily prevented. When the smoke was deployed you tried twice to shot him thru the veil, both times you failed. The third time you understood how to counter his trick. Any huntsmen in training should have figured out the counter the second, and a team leader should have done it right the first time. If you cannot see your enemy you cannot shoot them," berated Ira. Ruby hid her face in her red hood as the female tech-priest continued, "Yet, I have to acknowledge that your idea to trip you enemy, remove his footwear to make him slightly off balance, and ability to shoot accurately when unobstructed is excellent but still can be improved upon. For no one can be perfect except the machine."
Afterword: How did I do on the combat scene, the aura made it drawn out longer than I felt is should have. But I am using it to test out the waters of combat scene before the bigger battles role around.