Author's note:I am so sorry, I totally forgot to upload this sooner. My body just periodically shut down almost completely, and I was wrestling for consciousness quite a bit, so time just flew right past me. Anyway, have this late chapter.

And now, we get to see one of the more dangerous abilities of the Rakshasa. Enjoy.


About an hour after the Rakshasa had attacked him, Abital woke up again, and found himself in a hospital bed in Atlas. He looked around and saw that his vital signs were where they should be, and after a quick talk with a nurse, he was released, but was called in by military scientists, to give a testament on what it felt like to be merged with a Grimm. He put on his blue jeans and white shirt, and headed to the laboratories, and as he entered the room, he saw a huntress standing around, as well as some doctors. His eyes immediately fell on a phial with the other Rakshasa in it, which was standing on a counter.

"Hello, I'm Maria Calavera," Maria said when she approached Abital, pulling him out of his thoughts, "I'm here in case anything happens."

"Hello Maria, I'm Abital Dew," Abital said and asked, "Is that the Rakshasa?"

"Yes, it is," Dr. Oak said, walking up to the duo, "Anyway, we'd like you to give a report on what it felt like being controlled by that thing. Maybe we can find a way to break the bond in the future."

"I see. Hello doctor," Abital said, "It felt… weird, somehow. I… can't really describe it." He looked over to the phial again.

"That is definitely unexpected," Dr. Oak said, "If there is anything else you notice, please let us know."

"Of course, doctor," Abital said. He suddenly clutched his head and stumbled backwards, supporting himself on the counter to keep standing.

"What's wrong?" Maria asked and got ready to draw her weapons.

"I'm fine, really," Abital answered, "I'm just… a little weak, I think."

"Alright," Maria said and relaxed again. She turned to Dr. Oak, who took some notes. As soon as he had the chance, Abital knocked down the phial, breaking it and releasing the Rakshasa. It immediately latched onto him and dashed towards where the tundra bear was kept, grabbed the massive predator, and ran away. The staff looked out the hole the Rakshasa had left in the wall, and realized they shouldn't have left a Grimm in a breakable container without protection.

~o~

Weiss sat in her team's dorm room, taking deep and controlled breaths. She had a glyph hold an ice spike in front of her, and while maintaining the glyph, tried to use Deathzone on it as well. As she tried to use the semblance, the glyph disappeared, and the ice spike joined the dozens of ice splinters on the ground. She sighed and materialized another ice-dust crystal, then tried again. As she visualized the ice crystal she wanted to make, she tried imagining the Deathzone effect as another sense, such as sound, and to her surprise, she actually managed to do it for a moment, until her concentration broke again. But at least she now knew what she had to do.

~o~

Vine and Jaune were sparring again, and while Vine used his vines like whips to try and break Jaune's defense, Jaune stood strong and held against his attacks. As soon as he saw an opening, Jaune swung his sword and hit Vine with an aura arc, knocking the man back quite a bit.

"Are you alright?" Jaune asked, sensing he put a bit too much strength into the swing in the heat of the moment.

"Yes, I'm fine," Vine answered and got back up, "I just wish I could do those as well, but with my semblance, a big weapon like that wouldn't work as well." Jaune collapsed his shield and sheathed his sword.

"Why not use your vines, then?" Jaune asked.

"What do you mean?" Vine asked.

"Your vines are aura already," Jaune answered, "If you move one like a whip, you could fling a portion of it at the enemy for a ranged attack. Like so." He pulled up a video on his scroll, showing the movement of a whip in slow motion.

"I think I get it," Vine said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Jaune said, "Now, let's give it a try." Vine focused on a point on the wall and created a vine from his right hand, and swung it like a whip. However, it didn't look anything like the video, so the two spent a while studying tutorials from the academy's digital library, which were mostly meant for students who wanted to learn to use whips. After a while, they decided to ask Ivory for help.

~o~

About week after arresting Ochieng, during which she got a lot of rest, Ruby, Zwei and Taiyang were walking through the forests of Patch, looking for Grimm so Ruby could demonstrate her silver eyes. She had already used Mentor to help Zwei and Taiyang to enter their soul cores, and she knew exactly where to find Grimm.

"And you can really tell where they are?" Taiyang asked.

"Yep," Ruby answered, "The light inside me responds to the darkness they're made of, allowing me to kind of see them with my inner eye, like a shadow cast upon the world. Anyway, we're here." She walked through a bush, and the trio found themselves on a clearing. Shortly after them, a pack of Beowolves, and several Alpha Beowolves, came onto the clearing. Taiyang and Zwei got ready to fight, but Ruby held out her left arm and walked towards the Grimm. The first few Beowolves began backing away from her. She unleashed the light of her silver eyes using Maria's method, turning almost all the Grimm to stone, safe for one Alpha Beowolf.

"That… that's incredible," Taiyang said, looking around in awe.

"Thanks," Ruby said, "Anyway, I'll take this one home." She held her left hand toward the petrified Grimm, middle- and ring finger touching their base and the rest spread, and turned the stone into a steel chain and collar for the Alpha Beowolf.

"Wait, what?" Taiyang asked.

"Ruby, I don't think that is a good idea," Zwei said.

"Don't worry, you two," Ruby said and gave the Grimm an angry look, "He knows how to behave." The Alpha Beowolf shrunk a bit out of fear, and the trio returned home, with the new pet in tow. Taiyang and Zwei kept their eyes on it, just in case, and Ruby used alchemy to fuse the steel chain to a large rock behind the house so the Grimm couldn't run away.

~o~

Weiss sat on her bed and took deep and controlled breaths. Instead of using different semblances at once, she now tried using one of her semblances in a new way. She created a small summoning Glyph in front of her, and pushed her flat hand against it, then through it as she summoned the Arma Gigas' arm. The armored gauntlet fit over her hand like a glove, albeit a rather tight one, but she could still keep going. Just as she pushed her whole hand through the glyph, her aura broke from the strain, and she let out an exhausted sigh.

~o~

Yang and Nora faced each other in a training room, their weapons drawn and semblances active. Yang delivered a flurry of blows using lightning-dust shells, and after charging up, Nora slammed her into a wall with one swing of her hammer. Yang got up and focused all the built-up energy into her fist, and punched the air. A ball of fire erupted in front of her fist, flying a few meters before dissipating.

~o~

Ruby sat on the couch in her home, with Taiyang keeping an eye on the Grimm pretending to sleep near where it was chained, and Zwei sleeping on the couch next to her. She focused on a Glyph in front of her, trying to summon something.

"Ruby, you've been practicing that semblance for four days now," Taiyang said, "You should probably take it slow."

"Don't worry, I am taking it slow," Ruby said, "But I also have to learn how to summon, so I can contact my friends in Atlas and tell them I'm fine." She focused on her Glyph again and tried to summon the Seer again, trying to get it right before it was too late.

~o~

In a village in Mistral, the guests ran out of a bar as Sirena fought Azrael, a human assassin wearing light brown shoes, white pants and shirt, and golden shoulder armor, as well as a golden cross necklace. She kicked him out through a wall and rushed him, delivering a series of jabs with her trident. The weapon bounced off of him on the second hit, allowing the man to get a hit in himself. He kicked Sirena in the stomach and hit her with the pommel of his short sword, followed by three bullets from the gun in the hilt. He sent several aura arcs towards her, knocking her back with each hit while she tried to comprehend what was happening. Another attack hit her and knocked her against a tree, breaking her aura.

"This is for my friends in Argus," Azrael said and aimed his pistol at her head after she fell to the ground.

"Sirena, you're back," Cinder said when Sirena appeared in her soul core, exhausted from the past few days.

"Hurry, you have to save us," Sirena said.

"W- what?" Cinder asked.

"Go," Sirena answered and pushed Cinder, sending her to the forefront of her consciousness and putting her in control of the body. Azrael fired a bullet and Cinder drew her swords. She jumped up and sliced the bullet in two, coating the pieces in a red energy. As the bullet disintegrated into embers, Cinder stood straight up, holding her swords to either side like wings, the embers dancing around them like ethereal feathers.

"Wait, what?" Azrael asked, taking a step back.

"Sins once committed can never be undone," Cinder said, her eyes closed, "The flames of hell will consume my soul for eternity once I leave this world. But until then, those flames will sear all who would dare harm the one who gave me my freedom!" Orange swirls lit up on her lower arms and legs, and she raised her heels as if she wore high heels. The edges of her swords began to glow, and she opened her orange eyes. Azrael attacked her, but she blocked the sword strike with her own weapons. When Azrael tried to kick her in the stomach, she turned and let him fly past her, hitting him with both swords simultaneously and coating him in a similar orange energy.

"Simultaneous attacks," Azrael thought, "Did she find a way to exploit my semblance? And what is that glow? She also put all her weight into that strike. I can't underestimate her."

"I'm not used to fighting in this body," Cinder thought, "That hit shouldn't have sent him flying like that, and I hit him with both swords at once. I need to do better." As soon as Azrael stopped glowing, Cinder attacked again, landing another hit. Azrael blocked it with his sword, but her new semblance coated him in energy again and she disengaged before he could strike back. Azrael rushed her and she dodged, trying to figure out how his semblance worked. She hit him as he passed her, and kept her distance.

"I guess I'll have to turn it off," Azrael thought as he sensed his aura drop continuously, and deactivated his semblance, making his necklace disappear. He shifted into a more aggressive stance and launched a series of aura arcs at Cinder. Cinder focused and dodged all of them, quickly closing the distance. She augmented her new semblance, Phoenix Touch, with air-goo and landed a hit, coating Azrael in a green aura, then kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying like he had no air friction until he slammed into a boulder. She switched to fire-goo and sent a flurry of aura arcs at him, searing the boulder and depleting his aura. She raised both swords and crossed them in her last swing, sending two powerful waves of bright red energy into Azrael, sending him through the rock and breaking his aura. She held her swords beside her as she walked up to the man lying behind the glowing rock fragments.

"It is over," Cinder said, "Tell whoever sent you to not waste their money again, and hire an actual assassin next time." Azrael looked up and she kicked him in the face, knocking him out. She sheathed her swords and walked away, not sure where to go, but happy to be free for once.

~o~

Taking a break from trying to fuse with her summon, Weiss went to a training room and created two Glyphs. She tried to shoot air from one, and fire from the other. After a little focusing, it actually worked, but the resulting fireball was stronger than what she had expected.

"Ok, note to self, be careful," Weiss said to herself, and tried combining water and air next. A powerful gale shot forth from the left glyph, sucking in the water torrent, and turning it to snow. After that was fire and earth, followed by lightning and fire, which was immediately followed by her regret mixing with the school's fire suppression system.

~o~

Harriet ran past Maria, trying to hit her, while Maria dodged the attack, helping both of them boost their respective semblances. After Harriet landed a hit, the two took a break, when the fire alarm turned on. They hurried to where the alarm was coming from, meeting up with some others on the way, and the whole group, minus Weiss, arrived in front of a training room. The doors opened and cold air blew out, accompanied by snow, and Weiss, who was soaked, covered in snow, and clearly upset. Everyone stared at her, not knowing what to say, and Weiss turned off the fire alarm.

"I didn't even know Atlas had fire suppression," Yang finally said, breaking the silence.

"There are actually multiple systems," Penny explained, "In case of a regular fire, the room is chilled to negative ten degrees Celsius, before powdered water-dust is released as an aerosol, triggering on contact with fire, dousing the flames and eventually freezing. In case of an electrical or oil fire, an earth-dust aerosol is instead used, triggering from the sparks and covering the exposed lines. And in case of a chemical fire, drones are dispatched to spray an oxygen-absorbing foam onto any areas above fifty degrees Celsius, ensuring that no chemical combustion can occur."

"I'm more concerned that Bumblebee couldn't set it off," Yang said.

"And I'm cold," Weiss said and walked past the group to dry off and change into fresh clothes. A cleanup crew arrived to remove the snow and ice, and collect all the dust that wasn't triggered, and within half an hour, the room was as good as new, safe for a large hole in the wall that looked like something incredibly hot had struck the metal. A repair team arrived shortly after to replace the reinforced steel beam, which had partly been evaporated from the intense heat. The men and women inspected the steel beam with small scanners, and gave each other confused looks.

"Can we help?" Yang asked and approached the people.

"Thanks, but I don't think so," one of the repairmen answered, "These beams are reinforced to withstand anything an average huntsman can throw at them. We'll need special equipment to remove this section, and getting the permission to use that will take a while."

"Really, it's that tough?" Nora asked, ready to test the durability herself.

"Yep, it is," the repairman answered, "Nothing gets through those beams so easily." He slapped the beam, and just as his hand made contact, it started glowing yellow and sliced right through the metal. The hunk of steel slammed into the ground with a loud clank, and everyone looked at what had just happened.

"Well, guess you don't have to wait any more," Blake said.

"It's rather costly, though," Yang said, "That was a 3% aura drop."

"This is pretty interesting," the man said, "It feels really natural." He cut off another section of the beam, clearing the way to the new piece to be added.

~o~

The Rakshasa with the human host oversaw his ursine companion and a swarm of Scavengers dig a tunnel towards Mantle's sewer system. It would still take a few days, but it was worth it. All those people, harming the animals of the world, would soon pay. Outside the tunnel, which connected to several mine shafts, the workers were still unaware of the impending retribution. But help was coming.


Author's note: The Rakshasa can corrupt its host's morality, inching them closer and closer to Chaotic Evil the longer they're merged. It's not direct mind control, and doesn't even guarantee they will obey Salem, but it's definitely a nasty trick.

Weiss tries to learn new skills. And let's be real, we all want to see her summon her Arma Gigas as armor for herself.

Azrael is an assassin, and his semblance, Cross Necklace, is based on the item of the same name from Terraria, which extends invincibility after taking a hit. In his case, it gives him 3 seconds of complete invulnerability to attacks after every hit he takes, rendering rushdown tactics useless. However, Cinder's Phoenix Touch deals damage over time, circumventing his invulnerability.

Funnily enough, the best way to beat Sirena, whose semblance lets her control the flow of battle, is to have a similar ability.