SentinalSlice: read the extra story at the end of the chapter.

Infinity Ninja1000: If RBWY and Fate are religions, all FanFic are blasphemy and all crossovers are heresy.

kratsbroth: I hope you enjoy the rest of the story, thank you for your interest.

Kahoku-chan: It's a pairing, not a wedding!

truthful one: This story is alive, the author (me) presently work on writing the next chapter.

For the better: The question is not who is stronger between Shirou and Pyrrha. The role of a Master is to provide Od to his Servant, play a support role in combat (for example by healing the wounds of the Servant), and plan the battles by providing clear objectives to the Servants and by defining a tactic to fulfill these objectives.

That's the role of a Master and Shirou is unable to fulfill any of these prerequisites.

And the role of the Master is absolutely not to take part in combat between Heroic Spirits thirty to fifty times stronger than a mortal.

To make a comparison (rather silly, I admit) if the Holy Grail War was a do-it-yourself competition, the toolbox of Saber-Shirou team would have two hammers but not a single screwdriver.

My characters are not omniscient. Pyrrha did not watch Fate/ Stay Night like you. She ignores everything of Shirou's abilities and personality. She noted Kiritsugu's reluctance to teach her Magecraft, and that she has partially overcome his reluctance. But her explication is only her own hypothesis. However, I explained the real reason in the appendix. Pyrrha was not a schoolboy with the 8th-grade syndrome. And that was the reason why Kiritsugu had taught Pyrrha more than Shirou in the original game/ anime. As I said before, what (relatively) sane individual would give the equivalent of an assault rifle to a teenager who thinks he's a superhero?

Exactly, in the F/SN game introduction, its say: "Three years after the death of his foster father (...)".So Kiritsugu dies when Shirou was fourteen. Kiritsugu had held on to life longer in the original F/SN TimeLine because he had a father-son relationship with Shirou. Spirit plays a very important role in the development of a disease. You die when you give-up. In the game and anime, the "wish to the full moon" on the night of Kiritsugu's death shows that Shirou's adoptive father lets himself die when he understands that his son will pursue his dream. He died reassured.

Except here, Pyrrha and Kiritsugu don't have the same relationship. I also mention in the first chapter the remorse of Pyrrha... because, in retrospect, she is well aware that Kiritsugu did not receive much support from her.

Mystic codes are devised by type and level of power, the more powerful (like Supreme Mystic Code or Conceptual Weapons) are almost equivalent of Noble Phantasm. In fact, if they acquire enough legend, the Conceptual Weapons become Noble Phantasms. However, the weaker Mystic Codes are just simple tools that amplify the capabilities of a Magus or can generate a specific effect. A good example is Rin Tohsaka's Azoth Dagger. It is a magic wand in the shape of a dagger that is capable of storing prana. This kind of Mystic Code is given by a Magus to his student when he completes his training. They are rather common objects (at least among the Magi) and not some sort of powerful balance breaker. Rin herself admits that her dagger is less powerful than her jewels.

As for the relationship between the Aura (RWBY) and the Od (Fate), I don't feel connected to what the other FanFic authors have written.

In Fate Stay Night (the game, the manga Heaven's Feel, and the first film of Heaven's Feel trilogy), Sakura is sent by Zouken to spy on Shirou on the pretext of helping the redhead after he injured himself in archery. For once, I followed step by step the normal course of F/SN. After all, Zouken is still a manipulative monster who sees Sakura just as a tool for fulfilling is ambition and he still wants to find out what Shirou/Pyrrha learned from Kiritsugu.

I considered that with a glutton like Taiga at home Sakura had enough motivation to learn to cook by herself. Besides, you'll notice that Taiga complains about not having a second cook at home. Like she knew Sakura wasn't as good as she should be...

I give more explanation with Kyudo training in this chapter. To sum up, Taiga pushed (read: forced) Pyrrha to come into the sports group of which she was the teacher in charge. In the same manner, in the original F/SN TimeLine, Taiga pushes Shirou to practice sumotori. Very Taiga-like, no?

Moreover, Pyrrha would certainly not have joined the kendo group... because kendo is not a real fighting art. I speak from experience my older sister is a Kendo teacher.

Sacrificial lambs

To save a village, sacrifice a man.
To save a city, sacrifice a village.
To save a nation, sacrifice a city.
To save a soul, sacrifice the world.

The Mahābhārata

Homurara Academy was the local Highschool. These were several buildings surrounded by a wall. The most important of these was a three-storey building that housed classrooms.
Like every morning, Pyrrha came to the south gate, which was used by most of the students.
And as usual, there was a crowd.

Students packed to the entrance wearing the brown uniform that characterized the school. The girls wore a skirt, vest, and red ribbon around the neck. Some stylish girl wore a red jacket rather than the standard brow none. As for the boys, they were obviously wearing pants.

However...
The flow of students had to pass between police officers to enter and the crowd of teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 was unusually silent.

Catching sight of Issei Ryuudou at the entrance gate, Pyrrha went towards him:

"President? What's going on?

The president of the student council readjusted his glasses with a mechanical gesture:

"Ah... Emiya san."

The tone was cold, in fact, the son of the head priest of Ryuudou Temple did not appreciate Pyrrha because she was a foreigner... necessarily disrespectful of the Buddhist religion. At least, that was his opinion of Pyrrha and he did not seem ready to change it. In fact, as a learning monk, he seemed uncomfortable with women with strong personalities.

"President?"
As Pyrrha insisted, he passed a hand in is hair with a confused look:

"Didn't you listen to the news this morning?"

"No, President"

She was late and had only time to shower and dress before breakfast.

Issei sighed:

"There's been a murder."

Pyrrha's eyes grew surprisingly:

"A murder?"

"Yes, Emiya... Hiroki Endo, a class 1A student. You may have known him, he was at the archery club."

"I left the club after my injury last year. If he's... was a freshman, he went in after I left."

In fact, the injury was just a pretext. Pyrrha had only joined the archery club to stop Taiga's harassment who wanted her to join the club she supervised. Pyrrha shook her head, surprised to think of nothing but banalities at a time like this:

"Yet Japan is such a peaceful place..."

No White Fang or Grimms, even Raiga Fujimura's yakuza group was infinitely more peaceful than Roman Torchwick and Neo.

Issei Ryuudou replied:

"Even in Japan, there are murders."

Then he closed his eyes in prayer, murmuring a mantra:

"On abokya beiroshanō makabodara mani handoma jimbara harabaritaya un, may Buddha dispel all the veils of illusion that hinder the mind."

Bowing with a nod of the head, Pyrrha passed between the policemen and stopped after only a few steps.
Yellow barriers closed a large square of the inner courtyard behind the dojo. The ground had been turned over. Members of the police's forensic unit were taking photos of the damage.

Pyrrha instantly froze...

Her trained Huntress eyes made her see a whole fight. Here, these two holes in the ground were the imprint of the heels of a fighter who had thrown himself in a powerful forward impulse. There, the bitumen raised in an arc of a circle... it was the impact of a weapon... a long weapon with a thin blade, perhaps a katana or a spear.

It was the traces of the confrontation between two Huntsmen! No ordinary human could be strong enough or fast enough to leave such traces!

Except...
Except there were no Huntsmen in Japan!

Pyrrha was so upset by what she had just discovered that she did not realize that another student was lingering at the scene of the fight.

Rin Tohsaka was a 17 years-old teenager with aqua eyes and long wavy brown hair styled into twin-tails tied with black ribbons, while the majority of the hair hangs loose.

The young woman was pale and seemed tired. It did not surprise anyone, she had been absent the day before because of illness.

For all the students of Homurara Academy, Tohsaka was known as "Miss Perfect". With her notes, her good look, and her always courteous attitude, she was like a sort of Idol admired by all boys and girls.
Nevertheless, Tohsaka hid a secret.

She belonged to a prominent Magi family. In fact, despite his young age, Rin was the Second Owner, the head of the Magi Association in Fuyuki. Because her family watched over the local Leys Lines... one of her ancestors had even channeled this formidable power during the development of a ritual intended to invoke the Holy Grail.

With the help of two other families, the Makiri and the Einzbern, they had created the whole system: Command Marks, the ritual of invocation of Heroics Spirits, the class creations. All this for a kind of Battle Royal, seven Magi called "Masters" had to fight through the intermediary of Heroes of the past, the "Servants". The latter were invoked in seven classes with different abilities: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Rider, Caster, and Assassin. They had to fight each other until there was only one Servant left. The winning duo received two wishes from the Grail, one for the Servant and one for the Master.
Tokiomi Tohsaka, her father, had been a Master in the Fourth Grail War, ten years earlier.
He had died during this conflict between Magi. Worse still, his failure had tarnished the reputation of the Tohsaka family. A Magus lived by and for his reputation.

As the only survivor of her family, Rin had prepared to be the victor of the next war. A war that had just begun. Her yesterday's "illness" was simply a day of absence to show Fuyuki to the Archer-class Servant whom she had invoked the day before.

Nevertheless, while Rin and her Servant were visiting Homurara Academy after the end of classes, they had been attacked by the Lancer-class Servant of this Grail War.

Archer was very capable. The enigmatic hero dressed in a red coat was amnesiac, but he knew how to use the two Chinese swords he wielded with incredible dexterity. He had fought Lancer on an equal footing. However...

Rin shook her head, repressing a desire to cry.

It was all her fault! She should have checked that no student lingered after classes.

A student had seen them. And the first rule of the Grail War was to prevent witnesses from speaking. Some Masters used hypnosis to erase the memories of people who surprised a Servant at work. Lancer's Master must have been much more bloodthirsty... his Servant had no hesitation to pierce Hiroki Endo's heart.

Rin mechanically squeezed the heart-shaped ruby which she wore as a pendant under her shirt. She could have sacrificed her greatest asset, sacrificed her father's legacy, and saved this unknown student. But the young Magus had preferred to keep it for future use. Rin now had one more reason to win this war and restore his family's reputation. Otherwise, she would have sacrificed that boy for no reason...

Archer was standing two steps behind his Master.

No one saw him because if he could materialize at will, he was the spirit of a dead man. For now, he was in astralized form.

Archer was a tall man, brown skin, gray eyes, and white hair. He was dressed in black armor of a kevlar-like material under his signature Red Plain Mystic Code, actually, two separate sleeves connected by a metal plate and a separate red open skirt.

The Servant was very attentive to his environment, he was particularly interested in the male students who continued to cross the portal. And as the flow of the teenagers dried up, Archer became more and more nervous.

He was looking for a particular face, a 17-year-old boy with red hair and amber eyes. A face he hated and, above all, the sacrifice necessary for his liberation.

Of course, his younger version could have arrived before them and already be in a classroom.

However, Archer had a skill called Eyes of the Mind (true). Normally, this skill allowed him to avoid a lethal blow. But sometimes it would also warn him when something was wrong... and he felt it was related to the red teenage girl with the ponytail hair who was right next to them.

He focused on his mental connection with Rin Tohsaka:

[Master, who is this girl?]

The Magus jolted, suddenly awakened from her self-inflicted penance:

[Oh, an ordinary civilian, she's no big deal. You don't have to worry about her. Her name is Pyrrha Emiya. ]

As the classes were about to begin, Rin set out for the entrance to the building where the classrooms were. But Archer stood back as struck by lightning, staring at Pyrrha with a sort of horrified stupor.

His plan to kill his younger version to create a temporal paradox that would free him from the eternal slavery of Alaya had fallen apart before it even gets started.

Archer had been invoked in a TimeLine where Kiritsugu had adopted this... Pyrrha instead of his younger version!

The dog of Alaya was split between three contradictory desires:

Laughing at the newest bad prank of his E Rank (bad) Luck...

Cursing the whole universe...

Cower on the floor to cry...

Fate suck!

Do you already have the impression that a minute lasted like an hour and an hour lasted like a day? It's always when you're in a hurry to see the day come to an end that this sort of thing happens.

Pyrrha had spent endless hours worrying, expecting almost every moment that one of the previous day's fighters would appear and ravage the academy. Fortunately, none of this had happened.

Finally, as the sun set behind the mountains, Homurara Academy found itself bathed in the red light of the dying day. The students dispersed in silence, passing in front of the policemen who were always watching at the doors. All the clubs had been canceled and just before the end of the classes, the speakers had broadcast a message from the principal asking the students to go straight home and not to go out after nightfall.

Returning to the Emiya residence, the magnificent traditional house that Kiritsugu had bequeathed to his adopted daughter, Pyrrha passed through Mount Miyama, the shopping district of Miyama city. She had to go shopping for dinner. Indeed, it was embarrassing enough that Sakura came every morning and every night to cook, so Pyrrha could at least pay for the food.

The truth was that Kiritsugu had left a bank account well-stocked to his adopted daughter. Until he was twenty-one years old, Raiga the grandfather of Taiga... and incidentally the oyabun (1) of the Fujimura Group... managed it. Unlike many young people her age, Pyrrha didn't need to work to get pocket money. Raiga gave her some money every week and paid all the bills. As the Kiritsugu bank account continued to be funded by all the investments made by the deceased Magus, Pyrrha would probably never lack money.

The former Huntress went shopping at various shops for fruits, vegetables, and fish before stopping in front of a newsagent. The window displayed the headlines of the city newspaper: "New missing children in Fuyuki."

Concerned, Pyrrha bought a copy of the newspaper and stopped at a small park between Mount Miyama and the Emiya residence.

In winter, especially after the sun disappeared behind the horizon, the swings and other children's games were deserted. Only a few streetlights illuminated the abandoned park. In the cold of February, the place seemed sad, almost sinister.

Pyrrha sat on a bench and read the article on the front page. In fact, there was not much more than in the newspaper ad. Several children had disappeared in Fuyuki and its surroundings. The scenario was always the same. The children were from a poor family. The parents were absent and their children were no longer at home when they returned. No sign of forced entry, no clue, nothing.

While the former Huntress was about to fold up the paper and throw it in a trash can, a snippet at the end of the article made her sit down. This was a recall of a previous missing children's case.

Ten years earlier... a few days before the fire that had devastated Fuyuki... children had also disappeared. Initially, the investigation had stalled. Until an individual named Ryuunosuke Uryuu was shot by a sniper on the bridge over the Mion River. The investigation of this assassination soon made it possible to discover that the young man was responsible for the abductions. This Serial Killer had tortured and killed dozens of children. His death was still unexplained. The reporter speculated, however, that the parents of one of the children may have used a hitman to eliminate Ryuunosuke Uryuu. What was most disturbing was that the bodies of some children - not all of them - had been found burned in the sewers. The bodies showed signs of what the journalist modestly called "abuse"... which Pyrrha immediately translated as "torture". There were also strange inscriptions and circles covered with unknown signs. The journalist concluded that Ryuunosuke Uryuu was a deranged man who had practiced satanic rituals.

Satanic rites or ... Magecraft?

Pyrrha suspected that the Fuyuki fire was the result of a Magecraft ritual that had gone wrong. The abductions of children a few days before were also to be linked to all this.

All living beings produced Od, the vital energy which is the foundation of all other inner energy. However, the magical energy used by the Magi was produced by Magic Circuits some sort of artificial nervous system that transformed the Od into refined magical energy.

Artificial, these Magic Circuits were implanted nearly three thousand years ago to Magi who were looking for an alternative to the rarefaction of the surrounding Mana following the end of the Age of the Gods. Their descendants had inherited it. Moreover, the current Magi families continued to marry their children and adopt individuals to increase the number and quality of Magic Circuits of their descendants.

Except, in spite of the eugenic practices of their most direct descendants, the blood of the ancient Magi and ordinary humans had bonded countless times over the ages. Even today, children born in families totally ignorant of Magecraft had dormant Magic Circuits. Nevertheless, these Circuits lost much of their effectiveness after years of inaction. Kind of like a muscle we wouldn't use.

This is why some particularly amoral Magi did not hesitate to abduct young children and use them as "batteries". When the survival instinct suppressed unconscious limitations, the Magic Circuits could deliver a greater charge than normal. Of course, this could damage the user's Magic Circuits. But does what matter if it were "disposable batteries" ones?!

Torturing young children was a simple and effective method for a Magus to get a lot of magical energy for a ritual... the only prerequisite was a total lack of humanity!

Pyrrha's complexion had turned green. With her eyes wide open, her hand on her mouth, she struggled with the urge to vomit.

She hoped that her imagination went wild, that she was wrong... she hoped...

What was going on in this city? What abominable ritual was under way?!

Still groggy after these speculations without proofs, Pyrrha returned to her home without really paying attention to her environment. Night had fallen quickly and in the residential area where the Emiya residence was, the streets were already empty.

An instinct raised her head.

In front of her was a little girl who came in the opposite direction. Like a fairy, she has crimson eyes and long white hair. The girl wears a long winter purple coat with a light purple scarf, a cap to match, and a long white skirt and purple boots.

With a friendly smile, the strange little girl laughs softly:

"You should hurry to summon your Servant, ane (2).

As the little winter fairy passed Pyrrha, the former huntress turned around:

"Wait, are you... Illyasviel?"

The little girl stopped:

"Oh? Have you heard of me? Kiritsugu mentioned my name? How nice of him to think of me... and mention the name of the girl he abandoned to her replacement!"

The tone of Illyasviel's voice was colder than the winter wind and a chill that owed nothing to the night of February descended into Pyrrha's neck. The dry mouth, the Spartan Girl felt a violent hostility directed at her. This wild animosity did not emanate from the Winter Fairy but a place behind the little girl's shoulder... an empty space...

Illyasviel turned around. Her smile was no longer childish, as for her eyes reduced to a thin slit, they burned with anger. Pyrrha felt that the next words she would pronounce might be the last:

"Illyasviel... I don't know what you're talking about... I don't know what happened... please explain!"

The little girl began to shout vehemently, about to cry:

"What is there to explain? Dad left and never came back. Grandfather Acht said he betrayed the Einzbern and would never return to the castle because he had found himself a new little girl who was better than me!"

There was immense violence in the words of the orphan girl, anger fed on years of loneliness, detestation for this "traitor" of Kiritsugu to the measure of the love that she had carried to her father. And also... jealousy.

Aware that the hostile and invisible force that stood behind the Winter Fairy waited only for one word to crush her, Pyrrha hastened to speak:

"No... you're wrong... Kiritsugu tried to meet you!"

"That's not true, you're lying!"

"Listen to me, please!"

Illyasviel von Einzbern glanced at Pyrrha, but she remained silent. The Former huntress anxiously licked her lip and began to tell her story (omitting all that had to do with her previous life on Remnant). Kiritsugu must have been partially responsible for the fire that had devastated Fuyuki ten years earlier and he adopted her as a way to repay his fault. However, Kiritsugu disappeared two to three times a year for a few weeks. During this time, Pyrrha remained alone apart from the neighbors (Taiga and Raiga) who took care of her.

Of course, Pyrrha had sought to understand why her foster father abandoned her so often. Finally, by harassing him, Pyrrha had obtained an explanation. Kiritsugu told her that he had a little girl who lived in a large castle in Germany. But the castle was surrounded by a Bonded Field, a sort of impenetrable magical barrier. For years he had sent out familiars and letters to convince the head of the Einzbern family to let him see his daughter. But he never received an answer. Finally, Kiritsugu tried to break into the castle to recover Illyasviel, but the barrier resisted all his attempts.
Plagued by illness, Kiritsugu had returned to Japan to die.

As Pyrrha spoke, the emotions had followed one another on the face of the little girl, while the hostility of the invisible creature had given way to a sort of trouble. Finally, Illyasviel began to weep:

"That's not true! You're lying! Grandpa Acht couldn't lie to me all these years... he didn't dare cheat on me like that... everything I went through... no, which would be too cruel!"

But even if she blamed Pyrrha by her words, the horror in her eyes was directed at someone else.
Suddenly, Illyasviel began to run while rubbing her eyes with her sleeve. With her legs fluttering, Pyrrha leaned against the wall. Her heart was beating so fast that it seemed ready to break her ribcage to fly away like a bird. Even as she faced Cinder, she had never been so afraid... The Spartan Girl had felt it deep in her bones, her new "little sister" would have killed her if she had the misfortune of not being convincing.

It would have been difficult to describe Illya's state of mind in words. Even as she fled Pyrrha, her mind was the battleground of violent and contradictory emotions.

She recalled some scenes of her childhood, her father and mother, memories that she had pushed back in a corner of her soul because they hurt her more than the bite of the wolves.

But these fragments of memory came back crystal clear and each fragment screamed that her father and mother had loved little Illya.

Then one day, Jubstacheit von Einzbern appeared in the apartments of Illya. The ancient golem known as Old Man Acht, which Illya called grandfather, had removed all the furniture and left her alone in utter destitution to punish her for being her father's daughter.

Subsequently, the golem had conducted "experiments" to increase her magical power, experiments that any sane individual would only call a "torture session".

Old Man Acht always spoke to Illya in a paternalistic tone, telling her that he loved her and that he was only acting for her own good. Illya, an orphan girl, had been greedy for this "affection" and devoted herself to doing everything her grandfather said. (3)

But Pyrrha's words had shaken this fanatical devotion.

Deep down, Illya knew that no loving Grandfather would send hungry wolves after his grandchild to "help" her strengthen her ties with her Servant.

Old Man Acht had never liked Illya. He only manipulated her... she was a mere tool... no, a sacrificial lamb for Heaven's Feel ritual.

Father... Mother...

Her parents had loved her and everything Oldman Acht had said was a lie.

A raucous voice suddenly sounded, bringing Illyasviel von Einzbern back to the present:

"Well, Oujou-sama, where are you running like that? A little girl from a good family should already be in bed at this hour!"

Illya stopped and turned to the roof of a house lining the street.

Casually sitting down, a blue-haired, red-eyed man looked at the little girl. His smile was that of a predator. If a hound having cornered a trembling rabbit could smile, no doubt the hungry animal would have had the same smile. The man wore a rather ridiculous blue spandex covered with Runic protections, grey metallic pauldrons, and a metal plate over his lowest abdominal section. He wears his hair in a rattail that reaches his mid-back. He also wears a pair of silver earrings.

"You don't answer? Not very well educated... tsss... and I had the courtesy to appear before attacking. That's not very nice!"

"Who are you?" asked Illya.

The man straightened himself and reached out his hand, a spear appeared. The weapon was cut from a sort of red bone and engraved with runes (4). From its tip, he pointed to the void next to Illya:

"Someone like your invisible friend, don't you introduce me?"

"Lancer!"
The Servant bowed with an ironic smile:

"To serve you, Oujou-sama!"

But Illiya had overcome her surprise and Lancer was very timely. She was furious and needed to direct her anger on something:

"Berserker, crush him!"

You know the saying: " We are not trapped with you. You are trapped with us."

... poor Lancer...

Pyrrha heard a howl that shook the air with incredible violence.

It was a challenge.

The call from one warrior to another.

A gauntlet flung down that had to be picked up.

But the eyes of the former Huntress spread in fear... no human throat could have pushed such a howl. It reflected an inhumane fury, a bestial desire to crush things, and unleashed violence for the sake of violence.

An incarnation of the most somber aspect of the human psyche...

Like a Grimm!

Extra Story

Remnant, a few weeks after the fall of Beacon...

Wearing an orange tank top and sweatpants, Yang Xiao Long lay on her bed. It was almost noon and she had still not left her room. Her golden hair, normally the object of all her care, was dull and tangled. For weeks the girl usually so cheerful and energetic looked like the shadow of herself. She passed her left hand over her face... the only hand she had left.

Turning to the side, the young woman looked at the object that was placed on a table.
It looked like a metal gauntlet with well-articulated fingers. The metal was silver grey. A bionic limb! The object had the tranquil beauty of what was skillfully conceived by a genius at the top of his art.
Yet...
However Yang could not look at this cybernetic limb without feeling an empty space in the pit of the stomach... a brutal urge to get up and start running... to run away... until exhaustion!

Yang bit her lip and closed her eyes worn out by nightly nightmares. To immediately reopen the eyelids, the heart beating to pieces.

She had seen him under her eyelids... the one who haunted her dreams and made her cry in the middle of the night.

Adam Taurus...

Day and night, he never left her alone.

The scene from her nightmare had struck her with the violence of a punch.

Blake was on the ground... vulnerable...

And she rushes without thinking to protect her partner... her friend.

And then...

The pain.

The left hand of Yang touched her right arm or rather the stump which was all that remained of it.
She had left half her arm facing Adam. But even worse, Yang had lost a fragment of her soul. Fear had filled this void. Yang Xiao Long had always been one of the best fighters among the Huntsman apprentices. It was rare that she lost.

Her tactic, or rather her lack of tactic, was simply to attack the enemy and strike with all her strength. If the enemy retaliated her Semblance would transmit the energy of the blows to make her stronger. And Yang continued to strike until the enemy fell.

There was no opponent who could resist her...

At least that's what she thought. And Adam had not only defeated her, he had given the impression that it was easy... In a matter of fact, the Faunus had crushed her as if she were just a fragile insect. The confrontation lasted for a blink of an eye. All it took was a simple movement of Adam's katana and Yang lost an arm, her pride, her self-confidence... everything that made her a Huntress.

Yang raised her last remaining hand.

The fingers were shaking in an uncontrollable manner.

The robotic legions of Atlas had been so easily turned against those they had to protect. Even the best Huntsmen gathered to participate in the Vale Festival could do nothing to oppose the fall of Beacon. Pyrrha, Penny, and Ozpin were dead, the RWBY team was disbanded. The humans of Remnant were utterly vanquished. The enemy was too strong. There was no hope left...

"Yang!"
The voice of Tai, her father, sounded in the room as he knocked on the door. As Yang did not move, he opened:

"Yang, Qrow has arrived. Come and say hello."

The volcanic blonde would have asked her father to leave her alone, but Yang knew he would insist until she got up. Fathers were sometimes like that. The sooner she would accept to greet her uncle, the sooner her father would leave her in peace.

"I'm on my way"

In the main room, Qrow was sitting at a table. Surprisingly, he was accompanied by an eight-year-old boy. The child turned towards Yang with orange-amber eyes, he had red hair.

She stared at her uncle with an interrogative air. Qrow Branwen always looked like an old plucked crow, dirty, not shaved, smelling like alcohol. As usual, his old black cape floated around him like a ragged rag. Qrow shrugged his shoulders:

"I found him on a ruined street in Vale. I couldn't leave him there."

Yang turned to the silent child:

"What is your name?"

"Shirou... that means 'white' ".

In the color spectrum, white is the sum of all colors. It is also the opposite of black... the color of despair.

(1) The equivalent of the "godfather" of the mafia among the yakuza.

(2) "my big sister", a much more possessive term than "oneesan", which simply means "big sister".
(3) This bastard Acht manipulated Illya in a particularly perverse way. The poor girl suffers from a form of Stockholm syndrome, a condition in which hostages develop a psychological alliance with their captors during captivity.

(4) And yes, Gae Bolg was carved by Scáthach in a bone of a mythical creature called the Coinchenn. I do not point out without reason that this weapon is a non-metallic one, it will have its importance later in history.