Good morning everybody. Coming with another chapter for you guys. I hope you all like this one. I know its been over a month since the last update, and I apologize for that. I'll save you all the excuses as I'm sure most of you are aware, life happens.

Believe it or not, even though it takes me a while to update, I do still read all your reviews and they still warm my heart. I appreciate all the critics and compliments I've gotten! Thank you all!

Getting into the end of Volume 7 now! WooooooHooooo!

Ironwood's announcement might've helped the civilians of Mantle understand, but it didn't make their job much easier with the Grimm. The people were still terrified…honestly likely even more than they were before.

And Ruby was starting to get tired.

The Grimm seemed to never end. She had been paired off with Harriet, much to her chagrin, and the two had mostly focused on keeping citizens safe rather than eliminating Grimm. Their speed made them perfect for the job.

It was exhausting though. Naruto made it clear to her that she shouldn't take off her haori unless in a serious fight, or in a life-or-death situation. While there was plenty of the latter around, she hasn't been too slow yet, so she had refrained from losing the haori.

Another reason might have been that she didn't want to leave it somewhere that it might get damaged, and Naruto hadn't taught her how to release the seals…She really liked the haori.

With her quickly dwindling energy though, she might be forced to lose it. She wouldn't risk a civilian's life for something so trivial in comparison.

"Red!" Harriet called out after getting off her scroll. "More Goliath's and Sabyr's spotted. A group north of here, and another south. Rapidly closing in on civies. We are the closest, so we will have to split up. You go south, I got north. Call for help if you need it."

Ruby nodded, and immediately headed in the direction of the ping Harriet sent to her scroll. She was tearing through the streets at a speed she would have previously thought impossible for her. Her training was paying off better than she could have ever thought possible.

'I don't like this,' Kurama growled in her mind. 'So much negative energy...'

'They're Grimm,' Ruby rolled her eyes half-heartedly as she rocketed off the side of a building around a curve. 'They practically are negative energy.'

Kurama huffed, 'It's more than that! I feel…something is hunting. It is more than the Grimm. There is too much in the air to know for sure, but somebody…or something, is planning something.'

'You worry too much,' Ruby responded as her eyes locked on to a group of civilians three blocks away with but only two Atlesian soldiers to defend them against the group of six sabyr's closing in on them. No sooner had she spotted them, did a sabyr lunge at one of the guards who was shooting at another Grimm. Having been caught by surprise, the man went down while the sabyr…did what it does best.

Ruby dashed forward as another sabyr snuck up behind the last soldier. She closed the distance in seconds and threw Crescent Rose at the remaining soldier. The soldier, having been facing her, immediately ducked, allowing the whirlwind of metal to sail over his head and slice through the sabyr that had been sneaking up on him.

Ruby didn't pay it another second of thought, however, as she was already launching herself at the sabyr currently mauling the first soldier. She landed a solid kick across the side of the sabyr's snout, separating the grimm from its victim.

She wasted no time in leaping at the sabyr once more, evading the cat's dazed swipes and wrapping her legs around its neck. With a grunt, and a surprising amount of effort, Ruby tightened her thighs and twisted, allowing gravity to help her. She felt the resistance finally give with a loud snap.

Ruby released the sabyr as it began disintegrating, and righted herself to stare down the last four Sabyrs. Getting Crescent Rose back would remove her from in between the civilians and the remaining Sabyrs. It wasn't too much of an issue…she was hoping for the chance to try something anyway.

'You're not very good with them,' Kurama scoffed as if he read her mind…which, he probably had.

Ruby reached under her haori and towards the back of her belt. She felt her forefingers hook around increasingly familiar loops.

'If you're fast enough…' Ruby responded snarkily as she whipped her hands forward, twirling two black and blood red curved daggers in each hand. She gripped the daggers in tight reverse grips, and settled into a low stance. 'You can make anything look good!'

Ruby disappeared, leaving only a trail of fluttering rose petals in her wake as she dashed directly towards the remaining Grimm.

She made quick work of them, weaving around paws and fangs, and sinking her daggers in between ribs and cutting throats.

It was over in five seconds, after which Ruby sheathed her knives and jogged over to the remaining soldier, who was kneeling over his fallen partner. The man was obviously distraught, telling Ruby everything she needed to know.

Ruby swallowed heavily, before moving her gaze over to the six civilians huddled against the wall of the closest building.

"Is everybody alright?"

"Ruby?" A girl asked, stepping out of a middle-aged woman's arms.

Ruby focused on the girl, realizing just how familiar she was, "Persinette?"

The girl nodded, "Thank goodness you showed up…We thought…"

When Persinette trailed off, Ruby's eyes flickered down to the fallen soldier next to her, 'Not fast enough…'

'Can't save them all, little rose.'

"Alright," Ruby shook herself out of her thoughts. "We need to get you guys to the nearest shelter. There are a lot of Grimm nearby, so I'll be going with you until we meet some oth—"

'MOVE!'

Ruby didn't know what was going on, but she trusted Kurama enough to not have to. She leaned backwards into a cartwheel just as a blade passed right where her neck had been.

She quickly flipped away, before dashing in a wide circle around her assailant in order to keep herself between him and the civilians. The soldier, who had still been kneeling beside his fallen comrade next to Ruby, whipped his gun up towards the attacker, only for the gun to be torn out of his hands and have his neck wrapped up by a metal tail.

"Tyrian!" Ruby yelled out as soon as she recognized who had attacked her. "Let him go!"

"Oh, but why should I do that, when I can just snap his pretty neck and be done with it?" The crazed faunus cackled. "Without him and these pests, I can get on with the assignment my queen has so graciously bestowed upon me!"

Ruby's mind began working overtime. She needed to get the civilians out first and foremost, and then she needed to save the soldier currently struggling against Tyrian's mechanical tail. Then…then she could deal with Tyrian.

'This isn't a fight you need to be taking part in,' Kurama muttered. 'Call for help.'

Ruby reached for her phone and pressed the a panic button, only for it to beep angrily at her.

"Oh, we won't be having any of that," Tyrian grinned evilly as he fished out a small, flat device out of his pocket. "Arthur is good for a few things, I suppose. You won't be contacting anybody today."

'Must be some kind of jammer,' Ruby flexed her jaw angrily, "What do you want Tyrian?"

"Your eyes," Tyrian's grin dropped, leaving nothing but a determined glare leveled directly at Ruby.

"Let them go," Ruby gulped. "Let them go, and then you and me can handle this here."

Tyrian chuckled darkly, "Not even going to pretend to surrender? I guess I can respect that. Unfortunately…"

As soon as Ruby saw Tyrian's arms move towards the soldier, she launched herself forward, pulling a dagger and stabbing at his chest. He blocked almost effortlessly, and Ruby immediately twirled around with her second knife aimed at his thigh while still keeping pressure on the first knife. When he blocked with this second bladed hand, Ruby saw her opportunity.

She leapt at Tyrian, tackling him to the ground and dragging his tail with him. The soldier was initially dragged along for the ride, but Tyrian quickly let him go to stab at Ruby's back.

Ruby felt the stinger sink into her back, but paid it no mind. Instead, she raised a knife, and stabbed down at his face.

Tyrian tilted his head to the side, allowing the blade to gouge out the ground below him. The scorpion faunus growled before spinning and throwing the girl off of him.

"Run!" Ruby yelled as she skid to a stop. She didn't bother waiting for the civilians or soldier to do as she said. She immediately ran for Crescent Rose, which was embedded in the ground nearby.

"You bitch!" Tyrian snarled as he tried running after the escaping civilians. A swarm of rose petals swirled around Tyrian, stopping him in his tracks.

The scorpion growled as he blocked strike after strike from the red clad huntress. After a few annoying moments of this, Tyrian jumped clear of the small petal storm that Ruby created with her semblance.

"It's only a matter of time now," Tyrian cackled as he grinded the wrist blades together. "My poison is already in your blood. You won't last long."

Ruby twirled Crescent Rose around before planting the tip of the blade in the concrete, the barrel pointing towards Tyrian.

"I don't need to last forever. Just longer than you."

"Oooh," Tyrian cooed as he crouched down to the ground. "I appreciate the confidence, but wasn't it just a few months ago that I sent you and your entire group of gremlins running?"

"I thought you were the one that ran," Ruby cocked her head curiously. "Well…at least most of you anyway. I think you left a little something behind."

Tyrian snarled, before dashing to the side, his machine guns rapidly firing at Ruby. With a quick tug, Crescent Rose was out of the ground and spinning around in a flurry of flashing metal as Ruby expertly began deflecting and dodging bullets. It was obvious that this was just a diversion so that Tyrian could get close enough to Ruby to make her scythe harder to work with.

Ruby had no intention of letting that happen.

Tyrian quickly closed the gap between them, his machine guns still spitting out bullet after bullet. Seeing an opportunity while Crescent Rose was mid spin, Tyrian slashed low at Ruby's forward leg.

The girl quickly kicked out with the leg, successfully dodging the strike and simultaneously nailing Tyrian in the face.

"Arg!" Tyrian grunted, but quickly recovered as Ruby pressed forward, utilizing her scythe to its maximum potential. Ruby was twirling and slashing at Tyrian with an amount of skill and finesse that could only come with years of practice. None save Qrow himself could match Ruby as long as she managed take the offensive while also keeping her opponent at a workable distance.

'Keep them close enough to cut them, but far enough that your scythe doesn't get in your own way.'

Qrow's words echoed in her mind as she faced off against Tyrian. He had preached these words to her when teaching her at Signal, but she had no interest in fighting people at the time, so she had largely disregarded them. Only now did she realize that was a mistake.

Really, Ruby knew this was her first chance to prove herself, even if she was the only one with doubts in herself. Her first real fight since starting Naruto and Kurama's training. In front of her was the man that went toe to toe with her uncle, who she had thought was the best hunter around! Tyrian was no slouch, and while Ruby knew he was insane, she wasn't quite naïve enough to think him stupid.

No, he would constantly be looking for a way to confuse, trick, or outwit her. Now that she was putting him on the backfoot, he would be taking her seriously.

Ruby casually tilted her head as Tyrian's metal stinger whistled by. His rather annoying ability to use all five limbs almost fluidly was honestly the only reason he hadn't fallen to Ruby's masterful blade work yet. His ability to attack from five different angles was hard to keep up with only one long weapon and more recently, her legs.

She would be the first to make a mistake, and that was unacceptable.

'Well,' Ruby thought as an idea popped into her head. 'That might be interesting.'

'Now is not the time to be trying to have fun and try new things,' Kurama growled. 'It's disrespectful to play with your food.'

Ruby mentally shrugged as Tyrian left enough of an opening for her to kick out at his knee, 'I blame you for making me a show off.'

With an exaggerated movement, Ruby twirled Crescent Rose over her head, before flicking it towards Tyrian and freeing her hands.

The scorpion faunus blocked the spinning blade with both of his wrist blades as Ruby ducked. She quickly unsheathed one of her knives, and activated her semblance.

A small burst of rose petals flew out from Ruby's body in all directions as the girl quickly spun around mid-crouch and slashed at Tyrian's exposed stomach, forcing his aura to block the strike directly. The faunus only had enough time to recoil as Ruby popped back up in a split second and plucked Crescent Rose out of the air as it spun.

Ruby slashed widely with her scythe, causing Tyrian to jump back. He snarled at her, to which Ruby only smirked in response. She quickly threw the dagger in her hand at Tyrian's head, which he fairly easily blocked. He was only mildly surprised at the second dagger, which he also blocked.

Immediately after blocking the second dagger, he looked back at where Ruby was standing, only to see a few rose petals gently floating to the ground, where her haori sat in a crumpled heap.

He brought his tail up behind him, barely blocking Crescent Rose' blade. He started turning his head towards her, only for rose petals to flutter past his eyes. He barely saw the second dagger he blocked being plucked out of the air as Ruby appeared in front of him, a fierce look on her face as she double fisted the pommel of the dagger and thrust it towards his chest.

Tyrian leaned as far to the right as he could, causing the dagger to scrape the aura on the side of his ribcage. Using a speed far greater than Tyrian remembered from his last encounter with the girl, Ruby gently tossed the dagger into the air and reached for Crescent Rose, which was still falling to the ground from when Tyrian blocked it using his tail.

Determined to use her speed to her advantage, and to put herself on the same level as Tyrian, Ruby slashed at him again with her scythe. When he stepped back to dodge, Ruby didn't bother changing the scythes momentum, and let the blade burrow itself into the ground.

She caught the knife she had thrown into the air, and picked the other up from the ground. She lunged over Crescent Rose, slashing at Tyrian a few times as he backtracked further. Ruby let go of her daggers, reached behind her and yanked her scythe out of the ground. Once again, she threw Crescent Rose at Tyrian much like an axe throw, before grabbing her daggers out of the air before they hit the ground and pressing onwards.

And so, the flurry of attacks began. The first exchange had only taken a few seconds, and it was only a few more seconds of Ruby dancing around him, juggling her three weapons and kicking at Tyrian's exposed limbs before he'd had enough.

With an enraged scream, Tyrian twirled around, using his tail, legs, and arms as pivot points as well as knocking Crescent Rose and one of her daggers away. Without giving Ruby an opportunity to separate herself and retrieve her weapons, Tyrian reached out and grabbed onto one of her sleeves.

"Huh?" Ruby gasped when she found herself unable to dash away.

Tyrian cackled, "I'm getting a little bit tired of this slippery game of yours."

Ruby ducked under a slash from his free hand, but didn't see his stinger preparing to bury itself into her stomach until the last second. She knew that the fine point of the stinger, as well as the poison that was likely crafted from Salem herself would take an entirely too large chunk of her aura, so she decided to go for a far less taxing option, although she really hadn't wanted to reveal it this soon.

Tyrian sighed in pleasure as his stinger sank into Ruby's stomach. The gasp of surprise from her was music to his ears.

"I don't know how you lasted this long with my queen's poison in your blood, but all was well in the end I suppose. You have definitely improved since last we met. Abnormally so, actually. It's too bad her majesty is going to snuff that talent out."

With a disappointed tut, Tyrian made to withdraw his stinger, only to find it was stuck on something.

"Eh?" Tyrian looked down to stare at the stinger. While he wasn't surprised to find it covered in red…it didn't quite look right. Blood didn't cling to things like this. And it most definitely didn't flow up surfaces.

'Are those…rose petals?' Tyrian thought in confusion.

Ruby suddenly grabbed onto the front of his shirt, and tugged him down to her eye level.

"I don't think I ever had the chance to show you how much hurting my uncle…pissed…me…off!"

At the last word, Ruby shot a leg up, clipping Tyrian in the chin, before releasing her semblance's hold on his tail, hopping on to Tyrian's shoulders, and locking her legs around his neck in a chokehold. She quickly dropped her elbow into the top of his head a few times, trying her best to disorient him as best she could.

Ruby felt the whoosh of air behind her, and quickly activated the second level of her semblance, allowing the molecular makeup of her body to shift into that of rose petals at the point of impact of Tyrian's stinger. What started as an accidental discovery when starting her training with Naruto had turned into a quite awesome blend of Obito and Konan's abilities if she did say so herself.

The insane man wildly stabbed at her exposed back a few times while trying to pry her legs from around his neck with his hands.

With the pressure Ruby was applying to his neck, both of them knew that it was only a matter of time before Tyrian would be unconscious, aura or not. In a fit of desperation, Tyrian slashed at Ruby's legs with a purple aura covered hand, shortly followed by a wrist blade.

Ruby attempted to focus her semblance on her leg, only to find that it wouldn't obey her after the original swipe of his aura covered hand.

"Ah!" Ruby screamed in pain as a large gash was cut into her thigh. She quickly kicked off of Tyrian before he could cut her again, and landed roughly on the ground a decent distance away from him.

Ruby stumbled into a half-crouched position as she studied the damage to her thigh. Whatever he'd done had taken a major chunk out of her aura, almost half…leaving her with just about a quarter. She still had enough aura to maintain a shield, yet it refused to reach her thigh, almost as if something was stopping it from flowing near the skin where Tyrian had cut her…almost like a poison.

"Hehehe," Tyrian cackled hoarsely as he rubbed his neck. "Very clever red…very clever. I guess I can't play too much longer. Just like the other one with roses…You just can't go quietly!"

Ruby's eyes widened slightly, "What did you just say?"

"Oh yes," Tyrian smiled as his long tongue glided over one of his wrist blades, cleaning it of Ruby's blood. Ruby shuttered slightly at the display, but tried her best not to overtly react.

"Wonderful!" Tyrian said in delight at the taste. "Yes…I've been in my Queen's service for over fifteen glorious years! I'm her longest serving and most dedicated agent. Oh, I remember one of my first assignments! To the long since abandoned settlement of Carrs, to help her children in bringing in a group of some rather troublesome infidels…"

Ruby's jaw slackened as she stared at Tyrian. "T-That…"

"Mmmm," Tyrian's eyes fluttered closed as if he was recalling a delicious meal from the night before. "You must have known of Carrs? Yes, I suppose it could only have been your mother! Those eyes, those roses…she must have been. Oh, she was a challenge I had to handle personally! No Grimm could seem to get close to her! It was a good thing her aura was already gone! She was a tough match. I'm sure I would have failed my queen otherwise. She caught me by surprise many times."

Ruby said nothing, only staring at Tyrian in shock, not at all having been prepared for this.

"Had I known she had a daughter, I would have prepared better!" Tyrian clapped giddily. "She was a tough one, indeed! She defied even my queen for days, though I knew that wouldn't last long."

Tyrian flexed his hands as if imagining his hands wrapped around somebody's throat. After a moment, he grated his wrist blades against each other.

"I suppose I can't play with you anymore. Can't have somebody interrupt us. I still have a task to complete after all."

"A little late for that," A voice said above them. Tyrian whipped his head in the direction of the voice, and found Naruto as well as the rest of Team RWBY and Team TRQ on the roof of a nearby building. All of whom were glaring at him hatefully.

"I was going to let her finish you off, but then you went and pissed off basically everybody that was watching." Naruto said disappointedly with a shake of his head.

"Oh, don't worry," Ruby growled, any surprise gone from her face. Rather, now, it was overcome in pure rage. She slowly passed her hand over the cut on her thigh, leaving the wound packed and covered in rose petals. "He's still mine!"

Ruby zipped forward, her single dagger firmly grasped in her hand and hatred fueling her semblance. Tyrian suddenly found himself in the middle of a storm of rose petals once again. He tried his best to defend against the girl, but he was constantly feeling a drain on his aura. A nick here, a scratch there…there was no defending against the sheer speed she was exerting, even for somebody of his dexterity and skill.

He slashed down, happy to find his wrist blade meet resistance, only for that happiness to fade as he drew a line of rose petals down Ruby's chest that quickly knit itself back together. A quick stab from the girl had him stumbling backwards a step as she pressed forward. His aura flickered as it reached dangerously low levels.

Tyrian was getting desperate by now. He had no way of escaping. He recalled enough about what Emerald said of Naruto to know who he was. A man that could defeat a maiden, let alone two, was not somebody he could face, much less with his current aura levels. That wasn't even taking into account the others here.

'I won't fail my lady again!' Tyrian thought to himself. He would likely be brought in today, but perhaps….perhaps he could still somewhat accomplish his mission.

He lunged forward, slashing with one hand covered in his sickly purple aura, and the other his wrist blades. Ruby, still having forward momentum from her last stab into his chest, was unable to evade the attack completely.

The aura covered hand scratched her side, instantly shattering the rest of her aura. By some bit of luck, she ducked out of the way of his wrist blade aimed for her head, gaining only a scratch on her cheek.

Tyrian wasted no time in lunging his tail forward. Now there were a decent amount of people who could use their semblance with low aura, even if they were a little limited in the amount they could use. Ruby was one of those people, but unfortunately, that didn't extend to the second level of her semblance. She was forced to block his strike with her dagger, although the strength of the strike almost sent her crashing to the ground.

Luckily, she managed to only drop to one knee. Unfortunately, that gave Tyrian the perfect opening to slash at her with his claws again.

Ruby immediately dropped into a roll, getting away as fast as she could. Suddenly, she was at a disadvantage being the one out of aura.

'I need to get back to Crescent Rose,' Ruby thought, her eyes searching out her precious weapon. Tyrian was almost completely between her and her scythe.

'Or…,' Kurama drawled. 'You're pulling out a little more than you intended…but it would be good to test it in actual combat.'

Ruby sighed unhappily, but a burning pain from her thigh reminded her that she wasn't going to be out speeding Tyrian by much at the moment. She knew that Naruto wouldn't let anything too bad happen to her, but she was determined to do this on her own. She owed it to her mother.

'Fine…'

Ruby burst into motion, stumbling a few steps to close the distance to Tyrian while bringing her ringed hand to the blade of her dagger. A bright flash of light filled the street as Tyrian whipped his tail towards the silver eyed girl.

The flash of light quickly subsided, revealing Ruby just past Tyrian, who was looking at the ground in front of him in confusion.

A burst of purple fluid came from the middle of Tyrian's tail as it fell to the ground. A few wisps of purple aura told Tyrian that his aura was also gone.

"That's…that's impossible," Tyrian muttered as he stared at the clean cut through the metal tail. "It was made by her majesty. There should be nothing in this world…she said that nothing could cut…"

He turned to look at Ruby at the same time she turned her body around to face him. Rather than the black and red that the blade of her dagger had been, it was now a brilliant white. The gem on her ring was also glowing the same bright white rather than the blood red ruby it typically was.

It was obvious that the pain in her leg was catching up to Ruby, even if she had stopped the bleeding. They were both on their last legs now.

"You bitch!" Tyrian spat in her direction.

Ruby shrugged tiredly, "Nothing new? You said that last time."

"Grrah!" Tyrian screamed in anger as he slashed at her with one of his wrist blades. Ruby brought her dagger up to block it, shattering his mounted blade. She quickly grabbed his other hand before he could attack with it, and kicked out his knee, bringing him down to the ground.

"It's over," Ruby said, putting her dagger against his neck as the light on the blade slowly faded away. "You're done."

Tyrian stared at her in disbelief, while Ruby just shook her head. She knew it would sound cocky, but she wanted to make one final dig at a man that was largely responsible for her mother's disappearance.

"You were right. It's a good thing my mother's aura was gone. You're no real match for a Rose."

Maybe it was the history she'd learned about her name, or maybe it was seeing how easily Sasuke had pissed people off when he said it…or maybe it was a combination of both. Regardless, she felt like saying it was the perfect way to piss Tyrian off.

Tyrian let his head roll forward, ignoring the blade of the dagger and allowing it to dig into his neck slightly. Ruby just let go of the beaten man, and stumbled back a little bit. She caressed her injured thigh slightly, and turned around to look up at her father, uncle, and everybody else. Regardless of what Tyrian had revealed, she was still proud of her accomplishment.

Tyrian was known for assassinating Huntsmen due to his ability to overwhelm his opponents. The fact that she had bested him, even if it had taken every trick she had, was something she had worried she wouldn't be able to do.

She gave her friends and family a smile, which each of them echoed bar Raven.

'Don't look away from him you silly girl!'

Ruby heard a shift of movement behind her, and saw everybody's smile immediately drop. She whipped her head around, along with her dagger, hoping she would be able to block Tyrian's desperate attack.

As soon as she finished turning, she realized Naruto was already in front of her, his outstretched hand ready to blast Tyrian away. The scorpion faunus never made it to him though. Just before Naruto repelled the man, he lurched forward and slid to a stop, though his head continued forward, rolling between Naruto's legs and stopping in front of Ruby's feet.

She stared into the eyes of Tyrian Callows as the life faded from them.

"You didn't need to kill him," Naruto frowned, dropping his hand. Ruby looked back towards him, only then noticing the portal that had opened next to them. Raven shook her head as she wiped her blade on a handkerchief.

"Perhaps not," Raven sheathed her blade and turned to look at Naruto with cold eyes. "But I wanted to."

"I was going to read him," Naruto scowled. "He could have led us to Summer."

Raven shrugged, "Maybe, but something tells me that is a secret Salem held close to her chest."

Naruto didn't respond to her, and just turned to face Ruby. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Ruby said tiredly, trying her best not to look down at Tyrian's severed head. She was already tired and in pain. She didn't want to fight to keep her lunch too.

"You're not fine," Naruto grabbed her shoulder to steady her. "You were amazing, but you're hurt. Let's get you back to Atlas."

"There's still so much to do!" Ruby argued. "How did you even know that Tyrian was here?"

Naruto smiled gently, "Persinette called me. As soon as her scroll started working again, she made sure to let me know what you were up against. As soon as I finished with Winter, I sent out clones to help clear the Grimm and reinforce the wall and brought everybody else with me. Everything is being taken care of, I promise."

Ruby nodded weakly, before falling backwards suddenly when Naruto let go of her shoulder. She landed against something quite comforting standing behind her.

"Ya did good sis," Yang whispered in her ear. "You did mom proud."

"Hell yeah you did," Taiyang said to her other side. "Good job, little rose."

Ruby nodded, before dozing off in Yang's arms, who didn't hesitate to pick her up and hand her to Tai.

"Start feeding her a little aura," Naruto said. "I'm sure Tyrian's semblance isn't going to work anymore with him dead. When Jaune is free, we can have him look at her leg."

Yang and Tai nodded. Yang placed a hand on Tai's shoulder, knowing that Naruto was looking to send them back to Atlas. As soon as they made contact, they disappeared, and Naruto looked to the rest.

"Now that I don't have to skirt around Ironwood, I can have Mantle secure within the hour. If you guys wouldn't mind making sure all civilians get to safe zones, my clones will take care of the rest. Then we can all head back up to Atlas and regroup. The Goliaths are going to be the hardest to clear, but I think I can manage without wasting too much chakra. Pyrrha is with the rest of her team, but Oscar is currently guarding the Lamp."

"I just hope James figured out how to deal with Watts," Qrow crossed his arms as he lightly kicked the head of Tyrian, much to Weiss and Blake's displeasure.

Naruto cocked his head slightly, "He just about finished up. I'm going to have Jaune head back up to Atlas to look at him. He didn't give my clones enough time to intervene and got himself hurt."

"Tch," Qrow rolled his eyes. "Sounds about right."

"Alright," Raven rolled her shoulders, flames bursting to life around her eyes. "Let's get this done, then we can chat."

Qrow, Weiss, and Blake all nodded, before running off in different directions. Naruto looked down at the body of Tyrian Callows in distaste. He felt the intent shift in the man the second he'd arrive with everybody else. Naruto was prepared to jump in at a moment's notice to save Ruby if he had to. She still wasn't talking to him, but that didn't change the fact that he still cared deeply for her.

Truthfully, the fact that she was mad at him was the only reason he didn't jump in as soon Persinette told him what was happening. He didn't want her to have any more reasons to be mad at him, and treating her like she couldn't handle things on her own was bound to do that.

When he'd sent clones to the wall and informed team TRQ and the rest of RWBY what was going on, they'd immediately demanded to be brought over there. It hadn't taken long, and Naruto considered himself lucky that the transfer was already done by the time Persinette called him. Had he not been here, he was sure Tyrian would have made Ruby kill him herself. Naruto didn't think that Ruby would hesitate, but he also didn't think she needed that on her conscience.

With a sigh, Naruto prepared himself for the disturbing task of burning Tyrian's body.

It was going to be a long night.

]-xxxXXXxxx-[

Almost an hour later, Naruto received a text from Ironwood.

'I wonder why he wants us to come to his office…' Naruto thought to himself. All of the Ace Ops, TRQ, RWBY, and Winter were to report to Ironwood's office. The man had been treated by Jaune and Pietro, and had just returned to his office moments before sending the text. Team JNPR, including Pyrrha, were on their way to their dorm to pick up Oscar and the lamp. Ironwood wanted them grouped up for some reason.

A reason Naruto was soon to find out, he was sure. Ironwood had become rather forthcoming recently.

While Naruto could feel a bond forming through his Ikigai with Ironwood, it wasn't quite there yet. There seemed to be a shift in the man's personality after everything was explained to him. Everybody had a breaking point, and Naruto felt as though Ironwood had been approaching his. He was happy that the pressure on the general had been highly alleviated, and it only reinforced his belief that they had made the right decision.

As against the idea as Naruto was to tell Ironwood, there had been too many factors working against them to not have Atlas firmly on their side. It was a huge risk, but not one Naruto could get around taking. He almost wished he hadn't convinced Ruby and the others to not tell him a month ago.

Now, Naruto felt Ruby, Yang, and Tai walking to Ironwood's office. With a thought, Naruto grabbed hold of his bond to Qrow, Raven, Weiss, and Blake, and transported them all to the familial group.

They arrived in Ironwood's office, and found the man sitting in his chair, a new purple bag sitting atop his desk.

"There's bad news," Ironwood said, wasting no time. "Neo and Emerald are in Atlas."

Naruto's eye narrowed, "How can you be sure?"

"After you left, all the guards assigned to Fria's room were killed," Ironwood sighed. "Fria is also dead. They likely thought she still had the maiden's powers."

"No!" Weiss gasped, her hand covering her mouth.

"I'm afraid so," Ironwood nodded. "That's why I've had Winter return. As much as I would love for her powers to be on the field, we can't risk it knowing that two other maidens are looking for her."

"Agreed," Naruto said. "Now all we have to do is figure out exactly what kind of force Salem is sending. I'm sure I will be able to handle it fairly easily with the help of the fleet, but the confirmation of Neo and Emerald being here is worrying to be sure."

"It does," Ironwood said with a frown. He stood, and revealed to everybody that his arm was wrapped in bandages. "Even more so, is that I'm unable to check our proximity towers due to Watt's meddling."

Ironwood slammed his good hand on the desk, startling everybody there, "I can't stand the waiting!"

Naruto stepped forward, "It's going to be alright. We can handle whatever she throws at us. I'll make sure of—"

Naruto stopped, his one visible eye snapping towards the purple bag.

"What is that?"

"What?" Ironwood asked, his previous frustration still in his voice.

"What do you have in that bag?" Naruto asked a little more urgently. "It's foul! It feels just like a Grimm."

Ironwood's eyes widened, and he quickly whipped out a pistol. As soon as he pointed the gun at the bag, it burst open, revealing a large Grimm looking jelly fish.

"Hello General," A silky smooth voice echoed through the office.

Ironwood's eyes widened, and Naruto stepped forward, prepared to fight whatever this Grimm was. It seemed like he wouldn't have too, however, as the jelly fish quickly began writhing in pain. Its tentacles twisted into knots, and the bright red orb that was its head dulled. It suddenly dropped to the ground, cracking and spilling out more smoke than should have reasonably been inside.

From the smoke, rose an apparition of Salem herself, who looked upon them all with disdain.

"General Ironwood," Salem spoke, her voice booming through the power of whatever magic she placed on the Grimm. "Another of Ozpin's pawns, feebly fighting to survive after his own failures left you oh so vulnerable. How desperate that must make a man…"

"You will find nothing here but defeat, Salem!" Ironwood said bravely even though Naruto felt fear rolling off the man so strongly that he was sure Salem must have felt it too.

Salem frowned as if Ironwood were a child that didn't answer a question correctly, "As blindly confident as him as well, I see. No matter, I come only to offer a one-time deal. Provide me with the lamp and staff, and nobody else shall be harmed."

"That will never happen," Ironwood's eyes narrowed, and Naruto felt his fear being replaced by a far stronger emotion of protectiveness. Mettle was doing its job, quickly tossing aside the feeling of fear in favor of more productive emotions.

"Unfortunate," Salem sighed. "But all the more fun for me when I take them from your cooling body, I suppose."

"What?" Ironwood asked, with wide eyes.

"Oh yes," Salem smiled. "Arthur was never meant to win on his own. He was merely to set the stage…for me."

Everybody's eyes widened in shock. So it wasn't just an attack. It was Salem herself coming to destroy Atlas and Mantle with everything she had.

"Good," Naruto spoke up, drawing Salem's attention to him. "It'll be a lot easier to beat you here rather than that hellhole you call a home."

"Ah, yes," Salem said unimpressed. "You're the boy that killed Cinder. Impressive to be sure, but I think you underestimate the difference in our power."

"We've seen what you're capable of," Ruby said, stepping up beside Naruto. "And we've seen what he is capable of. The lamp showed us both. Trust me when we say you don't scare us anymore. We will beat you."

"And there's very little I underestimate," Naruto smirked. "I'm just hoping you give me a challenge before I finish you off for good."

"Well, optimism in the face of me is refreshing, I suppose," Salem said, still unimpressed. "Still, I'll be making you suffer for the loss of such a useful underling. When my pets drag you to my feet, I'll make sure you realize why you should have never crossed me."

"Your Grimm don't scare me," Naruto narrowed his eye. "Just prepare for your end. It's only a matter of time now."

"Oh, you misunderstand me boy," Salem chuckled. "It isn't just my Grimm that I've brought with me. When I say my pets, I mean some things a little more…exciting. I would hurry though. It would be a shame for them to reach Mantle before you stop them. You want a challenge boy? Try seven of them!"

With that, Salem dissipated into nothingness, leaving everybody else free to breathe.

"That was Salem?" Harriet cried out in alarm.

Marrow looked at Ironwood in panic, "She's coming here?"

"Not just her," Naruto said before closing his eyes and muttering to himself. "Seven...Surely not…"

Naruto gasped after a moment, "They're so powerful, and there are seven of them! They are heading right for Mantle!"

"Not the seven that the God of Darkness told us about?" Ruby asked worriedly.

Naruto rushed towards the window, looking out over Mantle and at the cloud of black smoke rapidly approaching the city miles away.

"They have to be," Naruto said. "It's the only thing that makes sense."

"What do you need me to do?" Ironwood asked, looking increasingly worried.

"I…" Naruto started to answer, but refocused on the cloud of smoke that had suddenly stopped approaching. "What are they…No…"

"What is—" Yang started to ask, when suddenly, Naruto's hands flung up.

Three truth seeker orbs appeared in a triangle pattern at Naruto's back. They immediately shot forward around his arms and head, and directly through the glass. The glass shattered on impact, while the orbs continued forward at an alarming speed. They soon cleared the edge of Atlas, where they combined and expanded to impossible sizes, forming a protective shield across almost half of Atlas just as a beam of light impacted it from the direction of whatever seven creatures Salem had sent their way.

The entirety of Atlas shook as the beam impacted Naruto's shield. Even with the shields size, the light from the blast was easily seen from the edges.

"What the hell was that?" Ironwood shouted after the shaking stopped

"They sensed me," Naruto muttered in shock. "They sensed me! From all the way out there, and all I did was activate my sage mode!"

Ironwood began tapping at his scroll, "I'll get the fleet to—"

"No," Naruto cut him off. He levelled a serious look at the General. "Have your fleet reinforce the walls of mantle and the skies of Atlas. I have to face them alone, and I can't guarantee that I'll be able to keep the clones in Mantle."

"You can't be serious?" Ironwood asked. "There are seven of them Naruto! If they really are what the God of Darkness said—"

"They aren't," Naruto shook his head. "They're too small. Whatever they are, Salem created them. That means they are going to be too strong for your guys, and probably too fast for your fleet to get a good shot. I need to take care of them before they hurt people. Defend the Kingdom…I'll handle them."

Ironwood looked conflicted for a moment, but Naruto didn't wait on his reply. He just looked back at Team TRQ and RWBY, gave them a smile, and shot through the broken window at breakneck speeds. The black shield in the sky quickly collapsed, the orbs returning to Naruto as he passed them in the sky.

They clearly saw as Naruto continued flying towards the cloud of smoke that was growing ever closer to Mantle's walls, formed two Rasenshuriken mid-flight, and launched them at the cloud. A bright explosion formed, and before it even had time to properly dissipate, Naruto rocketed into the middle of it and disappeared into the smoke.

Yang decided something had to be said about their situation. "Ruby, if you don't hurry up with that, me and Blake are taking him."

"Excuse me?" Said cat faunus looked at Yang with an offended expression.

"I said what I said…I'll share! That's why I said we are taking him." Yang reasoned with exaggerated hand gestures.

"…Deal."

"I hate you guys." Ruby muttered, though the worried look on her face never faded as she stared into the distance, where Naruto was sure to be starting his fight soon.

And there you have it. Believe it or not, Ruby's fighting style and growth has been something I couldn't get my mind off of ever since I started the story. Writing this chapter was gratifying in ways that I can't really describe. And the best part? I'm not even done yet!

So that's the result of Ruby's training so far. Of course I want to put out there that Ruby had about three quarters of her aura left when Tryian used his semblance on her. When he SURPRISED her. I just gotta point out that Ruby definitely had the skill to take Tyrian by a long shot, but was simply taken by surprise by his semblance. This also serves as a point that skill and strength in and of itself aren't the sole factors in a fight. Element of surprise, numbers, size, mental state...they all serve as their own factors in fights. Nothing is ever just cut and dry. Pyrrha Nikos at the end of season 3 could wipe the floor with Tyrian in a straight up fight...but one surprising use of his semblance would have finished that fight much faster than Cinder ever did.

Now I only put in that little mini rant to dissuade complaints/explain to the people that might think Ruby had too many problems with Tyrian for how many skills she has obtained in such a short amount of time, i.e. increase of speed, improved melee combat, evolved semblance, and increased control with her light abilities.

I hope you all enjoyed, and truly have an amazing day!