The Soul Knight of Remnant

by YuuriEs

A warrior of mankind that gave everything to protect the world and those he loved, but at the dusk of a war met an untimely end. A gentle goddess who made him an offer impossible to turn down. A world of Hunters and a world of Huntsmen, both willing to sacrifice anything to protect it all. This is the story of the man who came to be known as the Soul Knight of Remnant.

6. Chapter 6: Ambers and Rubies

I do not own RWBY in any shape or form, all rights belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, may his soul rest in peace.

A huge thanks to Lugia Moon for editing and being the beta for this chapter.

---

Chapter 6: Ambers and Rubies

Her name was Weiss Schnee and in some way or another, this had been her fault.

In a better world, she would have rushed over to the shrine, found an ideal partner who could properly stand at her level, and successfully passed the test the principal had laid out for them with flying colors. It would've been easy, really, but for all her grace and elegance, the girl of snow had forgotten one simple detail.

Her luck was hideous when it came to things going her way.

Presently, she stood in a defensive position, the brat laying head down behind her, and a rather angry and hungry bear-like abomination in front of her. She clicked her tongue, briefly cursing at her luck once more before cycling the dust on her Myrtenaster.

The girl charged forward, or rather, she leapt forward, using the gravity dust inside her weapon's chamber to create a series of glyphs she used to bounce from tree to tree, trying her damndest to both distract the Grimm in front of her as well as to not leave the red girl fully unguarded.

"Grahhhh!" The Ursa, in turn, decided to also charge at the girl, unsuccessfully attempting time and time again to snatch the Schnee out of the air, standing on its hind legs and utilizing the reach of its arms to try and catch Weiss as she dashed around. Unfortunately for it, the heiress had developed a certain patience when dealing with foes above her weight class, so for each swing the Ursa took, several thrusts, Dust projectiles of the highest of qualities, and even the occasional kick would find their way to its tough fur.

And it was starting to work. Weiss was not a fighter who relied on her own strength too much. Unlike her sister Winter, she did not possess abnormal amounts of Aura to spare, nor was she experienced enough in their family Semblance to properly utilize her glyphs to their maximum potential, but what she did have was money to spend on B and A grade Dust, and also the guts to stand back up every time she was knocked down.

"Fall already, you brute!" Weiss cycled the dust on her rapier once more, switching to Ice Dust, she purposely fainted the Ursa into overextending one of its strikes. Before the bear Grimm could realize it, its hind legs were frozen solid to the ground. The heiress heaved a sigh of relief, straightening herself and gracefully landing on the forest soil.

"I see you bleed." She said to the Grimm in a rather cold voice, the Grimm continuing to struggle from its icy bindings. Weiss shook her head from side to side in disappointment. "Not even worthy of my best. Allow me to put you out of your misery." The Schnee cycled her rapier for the last time, going for a fiery finale, her arrogance slowly making her more and more careless. The air around started to heat up as she aimed at the Grimm's head, she would cleanly take off its neck.

In all her self glory basking, she didn't notice the ice holding the Grimm in place starting to melt, a testament to the efficiency of her grade B+ Fire Dust. Caught by surprise, Weiss' eyes could only widen as the Grimm savagely charged at her one last time.

She panicked, her vision unfocused, her heartbeat quickly accelerating.

She fired, her hands a sweaty, trembling mess.

She missed, her life was now forfeit.

"Wha…!" In less than the time it took her to blink, the Ursa had closed the distance between them. Grimm were not animals, that was a fact common to most people in the world of Remnant, but even so, they shared plenty of the animalistic behaviors of animals. And nothing, no beast, no creature is more dangerous than one which is cornered.

Weiss Schnee's life would be the testament to this.

In another world, perhaps a better or a worse one, depending on which people you asked, the heiress would have been the victim to a brutal and gruesome death, savaged at the claws of the vicious Grimm in front of her, her Aura not being nearly enough to protect her from the monster after prolonged use of her glyphs, her legacy on the world forever remaining no more important than a simple footnote. A constant disappointment. To her mother, to her siblings, to her grandpapa Nicholas, to the kind Klein, to herself, to her father.

However, fate works in odd ways, and what Weiss considered to initially be misfortune, turned out to be the thing which saved her life.

"Hahhh!" Ruby Rose shot from behind, sniper's barrel roaring, her arms weakly holding Crescent Rose as she allowed the momentum from the weapon's recoil to propel her forward. The Ursa, in its desperate state, could have never reacted, and even if the attack was sloppy at best, the mastercraft of the red girl's blade was more than enough to cleanly behead the beast. As it fell, so did Ruby a few feet away, still getting carried by momentum, exhausted and panting on the ground, trying to roll to decelerate, but failing miserably. Weiss also fell back on her butt, sweating cold from being moments away from death.

She had almost died, and that fact made her furious, he face reddening from indignation as she mentally kicked herself for allowing this to happen, for allowing herself to show weakness and being forced into a situation where she, Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, had to be saved by someone she considered a mere child.

"This was supposed to be the other way around." The girl bit her nails for a second before standing up and shaking the dust off her skirt. Her sight finally landed on the girl who would be her partner for the next four years, be it for better or worse. Weiss slowly approached her, not noticing any signs of permanent damage, it seemed like the girl's Aura had saved her from the worst of whatever that Ursa did to her.

"H-Hey…" Ruby tried her best to greet her. "Thanks for the save, seriously… Umm, I'm Ruby Rose." She said, rather shyly. Weiss saw her trying to stand up, using her Scythe as support, but ultimately failing and falling flat on the ground again. At that point the heiress decided to intervene and stop this pathetic display.

"Here." She offered her hand to the girl, Silver met a very pale Sapphire. Ruby blinked a couple of times before grabbing the girl's hand and properly standing up. She realized how dirty her outfit was now and couldn't help but sigh in defeat. "My name is Weiss, and as a Schnee I cannot let a debt go unpaid, however, it looks like we are now at par. I will let you know I expect much from you in the future, lending a hand was nothing more than a calculated risk I took." The heiress tried her best to appear cool, but the small tone of red still plastered on her cheeks showed the opposite.

Ruby Rose seemed confused for a second, before a small snicker escaped her lips. "Can't really complain, I hope I can meet your expectations." Both of their gazes landed on the fading Ursa. "That was a blunder… If my uncle saw me right now he'd be laughing his ass off, and also probably also getting ready to scold me for almost dying, I guess."

"It matters not, for the time being." Weiss squeezed Ruby's hand, which made the girl shoot a confused look over at her, before immediately feeling a sense of relief running all over her body. Weiss didn't often practice Aura transferring, more out the fact she never really needed to more than anything, but she knew the basics, her sister insisting it was something she would require as a Huntress.

Weiss hated how right Winter was most of the time.

"That should do it for now." She let go of Ruby's hand, almost wincing when she noticed the dry blood now covering her own. The Schnee quickly cleaned it with a small handkerchief she always carried and handed it to Ruby. "For now focus on cleaning yourself up, it'd be a disgrace if I show up with a partner in your dressing conditions." She sighed and began to walk.

"Also." She noticed Ruby was about to speak up, but she quickly raised a finger to shush her. "I will be guiding us." The girl said with a cocky smile as she took out a simple compass. "Learn from this, Ruby Rose, a real Huntress is always prepared for anything." The heiress turned around and started walking north, a rather elegant rhythm to her step.

Ruby stood there for a second, before silently sighing in resignation and following her new partner.

"This is gonna be hard… But she isn't as bad as I originally thought." Was all she could think to herself, a weak, wry smile plastered on her lips.

---

Things had escalated.

It had only been around half a second before the Elder Death Stalker began to move again. Miles and Pyrrha, alongside the bully and his own partner, found themselves in what could potentially be the largest confrontation of the exam so far. After a series of attempts to stun the beast again, both the Wielder of Soulcalibur and the Pride of Argus came to the realization that each time they blasted the creature with lightning Dust, it only became less and less effective.

At this point, both pairs had been sprinting for a good ten minutes, and as much as they'd like to assume they had at least gotten some distance between them and the Grimm who so viciously wished to turn them into paste for invading its home, the sounds of trees being obliterated in the creature's wake just behind them was more than enough of an indication that the second they stopped running, they would become scorpion food.

"Miles!" He heard Pyrrha running next to him, the girl seemingly untired by this whole situation. "Switch to Ice Dust, I have a plan." If he had to go by her gaze, she seemed sure it would buy them at least a couple of valuable seconds. Nodding at her order, his hand swiftly moved towards his Dust belt and he grabbed ahold of one of the icy blue crystals.

"You two, help if you can- Oh, motherfuckers." To his dismay, when he turned to look at bully and his partner for potential help, he could only see the former's grin for a brief second, as they used what he recognized was a Semblance to hop from tree to tree with an incredible deal of agility. They had taken the very brief opening Miles and Pyrrha had created using their Dust in order to escape. And whilst the van Astrea wanted to admire the opportunistic nature of the duo, he couldn't help but feel slightly irritated at the fact that he and his partner now had to deal with the Grimm all on their own.

For a second he almost could hear some words coming out of the mouth of the mohawk student before the bigger student shushed him, but at this point he couldn't care less.

"I'm ready, where do I aim?!" He was holding the crystal, ready to do as prompted as soon as his partner gave the order. Miles slowly noticed the feeling of adrenaline slowly starting to course through his veins, his heart beating faster as the realization of how dangerous the situation truly was became clear to him. This wasn't a game anymore, nor was it a challenge he could easily take on, they were fleeing and fighting for their lives, just like he had done a great deal of times back in his own world.

The emerald eyed girl stood silent for a second, the direction of her sprint changing, Miles noticed how she started heading towards a natural rock formation in one of the forest's clearings, and whilst he could not help but wonder when or how his partner had become aware of the place, he started getting the gist of her plan, It would be a very tight window from his experience, but he was confident she would make it.

"Hold it! Hold it!" She said as she turned towards the giant Grimm. "Hold it." With a determined look, Pyrrha jumped, holding her shield in front of her and bracing for an incoming strike, but for some reason leaving her spear deeply dug on the ground. Miles winced, the creature's stinger was up and ready, it would catch the girl, he wasn't sure if she would be able to dodge in midair. He couldn't help but ready himself, he would Point Warp towards her if push came to shove-

Right then and there, almost as if pulled towards the ground by an invincible force, Pyrrha descended just before the Grimm managed to make contact, the creature couldn't stop itself from burying into the formation, the momentum generated by the attack, paired with the sheer force of its weight, simply made it impossible.

A simple glance from the girl was all it took for him to react, he tossed the crystal with as much precision as he could, aiming creature's tail, but in an incredible blunder he would definitely admonish himself later for, Miles forgot to imbue the Dust with his Anima, thus rendering inactive.

"Pyrrha, detonate it!" A of Soulcalibur would not make it time, their only option was for her to detonate with her rifle spear- "Shit." A grim reminder flashed through his mind, she had left the spear on the ground, even falling at the speed she was, there was no way she could make it time before the Grimm freed itself.

But then he saw it again. No, it was more accurate to say he felt it, an odd, pulse like energy flared from the Invincible Girl, the spear which had once been lodged into the ground shot up with incredible speed, but what was even more impressive was seeing how his partner managed to catch it, swiftly shift the spear into its repeating rifle form and not only hit the crystal dead-on, but also recuperate her bearings in mid air and heroically land safely away from the Grimm, who now found itself stuck in place by a layer of rock and ice.

Yup, he was damn impressed by this. But there was no time to waste.

Pyrrha quickly began capitalizing on the opportunity, this may very well be the only chance they had of damaging the scorpion, she began to pierce, slash, and shoot at the Grimm's legs and although he could note they were very much fortified thanks to their outer exoskeleton, he could also notice various cracks forming on the appendages. Miles, however, would use the chance to do something else, something that perhaps he should have done much earlier. Seeing Pyrrha distracted by the monster, the wielder of Soulcalibur got ready to throw his sword, but not at the monster, no. Rather….

"Point: Warp." He concentrated on the skill in question and tossed Soulcalibur up and over the trees, with his hand held out, him warping took less than instant. Miles was now above the treetops, and even if gravity would soon claim him back to the ground below, he would at the very least have a couple of seconds to observe their surroundings.

"There!" Just before he started to fall once more, he spotted it. A structure, white in color. It was very brief, but now he had a sense of where to go. As he softened his fall using the branches of various trees as silent cushions, he couldn't help but be almost stunned by the-

BOOM!

"And now!" Both his mouth and Pyrrha's could only hang in disbelief as they saw pink thunder literally impact the Grimm from above. Their gazes followed the origin of the scream, and the only thing they could see was… "Nora joins the party, baby!" A small sized pink girl, with a huge sized pink hammer, he wasn't even surprised anymore.

"She stunned it, for real this time." Pyrrha said as she could only admire the sight in front of her. "One single blow was all it took." The redhead herself seemed genuinely stunned, but before she could keep standing around considering whether or not to finish the Grimm off then and there, a voice interrupted her.

"I know where the shrine is!" The swordsman was the one who finally knocked them out of the stupor. "This way. There's no need to waste time killing that thing, let's focus on getting our relics and getting out of the forest as soon as possible." Both girls took a second to consider his words, but ultimately nodded, the one who called herself Nora seeming a little more disappointed than anyone should have been.

Pyrrha instead seemed to wonder as to how he got that information, but it wasn't a pressing concern at the moment. It didn't matter how much time this little stunt had gained them, it would be valuable nonetheless.

And so, now three of them, started sprinting once more.

---

Slowly but surely, the prospective students of Beacon started to arrive at the shrine. Some utilized various means to locate themselves within the forest, others simply got lucky enough and stumbled there one way or another. Suffice it to say, the man watching from above was very satisfied with the current lineup, although something told him the best was still to come.

"Cardin, man, I still don't know how I feel about leaving those two back there." Russell Thrush had never been much of a winner in life. He wasn't particularly well-looking, never had much in the way of friends, and was not very talented in many areas. To be frank, he had applied for a Huntsman academy not out of the dream of protecting mankind and whatnot, but more out of the fact he had his Aura awakened as well as a Semblance, both thanks to the one former pastime he was genuinely decent at. "I mean, sure, tough luck on them for sleeping on the opening, but damn, they could be dead."

"Tch." Cardin was a different case. Born into the renowned Huntsman and Armorer family of the Winchester, he had always had a torrent of expectations showered upon him. The way his parents decided to raise him didn't help much, either. The young man had never been pampered, per say, more so he had been sheltered, trained and educated every day in order to prepare him for whatever bright future his family envisioned and crafted for him.

All of this had shaped him into the perfect example of a tactless jackass. "It was their fault for waiting near the cave, ready to get all the glory in case we found something. Honestly, people like that don't deserve to be Huntsmen." He seemed to genuinely believe what he said.

As the pair arrived at the shrine, Cardin could not help but scoff. "Chess pieces? What a bore." The burly young man walked towards the center of the shrine, gazing at the pieces laid out for them, only a few remained, but his gaze was fixated on one in particular. "Heh, I guess the strongest piece goes to the strongest applicant."

"The Queen?" Russell tilted his head to the side. "Isn't like, the King supposed to be the strongest piece?" It was the king after all, he thought. Unfortunately, he got laughed at and smacked right on the side of the face, his face contorting in pain and indignation. "What was that for, dumbass?!"

"Hey." Cardin's voice turned cold, Russell took a step back. "First off, watch that fucking mouth of yours, dumbass. And also no, the King is not that powerful. Useless on the attack and you have to defend it throughout the whole match, unless you're bad and don't score a win quickly." He picked up the Queen piece. "But this one, this one is the true juggernaut of chess. Truly the most valuable piece." He grinned, playing with the white piece.

"Damn…" Russell was rubbing his head, Cardin hit hella hard. "Didn't know you played chess, but whatever. Just grab it and let's go, my Aura is low so I can't use my Semblance for much longer. You know, maybe if you transferred some- Ow!" He got hit again.

"Bah, you can do it, don't think I made you my partner out of charity. Make yourself useful and let's get the hell out of this stupid forest. Your Semblance is the only good thing you're at, yeah? Leave the fighting to me. Though, if we get out fast I won't have to lift a finger. Hahahaha!"

Russell shot a dirty look over at Cardin, but even a harsher one at the ground. As much shit as his partner talked, he was right. Right now, he was weak and weak people were meant to be led by the strong. So fuck it, for now he would ride this train and see where it goes. If he was lucky, he might eventually go independent and make some money as a pro Huntsman. He sighed as he got ready for another dash.

If only he'd stuck to ballet. Ah, whatever.

---

"Are we there yet?" Said a rather bored Yang. Man, all this walking was starting to piss her off. After dealing with the shit-eating grin monster Blake called the Wendigo, both girls had settled to rest until Yang recovered from her Aura Stasis. After that they started walking and walking, nothing interesting happening along the way, oh, and Blake also just silently guided her wherever she thought North was.

Yang didn't mind, however. She was more the kicking ass type and less of the scouting, survivalist or whatever Blake was looking out to be. And sure, her close call with almost being turned into minced meat had been exciting, but with no other Grimm attacking afterwards, the blonde bombshell was starting to grow more and more irritable.

"No." Was the only answer her partner provided. Frankly, part of the reason Yang was also starting to get bored was because of Blake's awfully cold responses. Shit, weren't they supposed to be like, partners or something? She felt as if being paired with her was like trying to mix oil and water. Sunflower oil, to be precise, she liked sunflowers.

"Aight, look. I know I don't seem like the smartest cookie in the jar, but can you at least try to say more than a monosy-... monosy…."

"Monosyllables." Said Blake, with the same uninstered tone. This very much ticked Yang off.

"Hey, come on! Don't gimme that sh-" A finger was raised in front of her. She had to blink a couple of times out of surprise.

"We're here…" The monochrome girl ducked, prompting Yang to half-assedly follow. "But we're not alone…" Blake scanned her surroundings. "That's…" Her eyes narrowed dangerously, her words filling up with a certain venom. "The Schnee". Even Yang noticed, her gaze following Blake's.

"Oh, it's Rubes!" Her sister was seemingly following the white snow girl, both seem to be bickering with one another, but she couldn't exactly make out what they were saying. "Hey, Ruby!" She sprung out of the bushes they were hiding. Blake didn't share her enthusiasm, but at least stood up and shook off the branches and leaves that got stuck on her clothes.

"Yang?" The girl turned to her sister, a bright smile setting itself upon her features. "Yang! You're okay!" Ruby practically jumped into the blonde's arms. "I was so freaking worried! The woods here are soooo not like Patch's! We kinda fought, well, more like Weiss fought an Ursa, and, and-!" Yang couldn't help but smile.

As much as she tried to pretend she wished for Ruby to be less reliant on her, she couldn't help but hug her little sis in her arms tightly. Of course she'd worry about her, even if their pops had asked her to not pamper the girl so much when they finally got into Beacon. A small frown did form on her features, seeing as her little sis seemed to have been roughened up by something. Eh, she supposed getting into fights ran in the family after all.

"Ah, what a lovely family reunion…" Weiss seemed delighted for a second, before her expression morphed into an angry frown. "Is what I would say if we weren't wasting so much time! Hmph, come on Ruby Rose, let's get moving, less you get thrown around by another Grimm and we waste even more time-" The Schnee, however, was broken out of her fit as she noticed a gaze placed squarely on her.

"Hmm?" She loudly said as her gaze met Blake's. "Do you have a problem with me? Control your partner already! Unless you wish to purposely lessen your evaluation score?" Indignant accusations kept coming and coming.

"You talk too much." Said another voice, a serene male who was losing his patience. Blake's reaction to him was perhaps more noticeable than the rest.

"I couldn't detect you…?" Her gaze was now upon the pink eyed young man, she analyzed him suspiciously, it should be impossible for someone to sneak up on her. Was she getting sloppy? No, her senses wouldn't betray her, there had to be something else.

"That might be my Semblance." Lie Ren halted the flow of Aura to it, and so the ability's effect disappeared. "It would be pointless to keep it active at the moment, there is much noise already." The Mistralian sighed as he went into the shrine, going in before anyone else.

"H-Hey!" The Schnee heiress protested. "We got here first!" She said, as Ruby was grabbed from the hood of her cape and dragged towards the shrine. After her little sister was removed from her arms, Yang looked at Blake, whose gaze was still following the boy with a tinge of weariness.

"C'mon. Let's go in, too." She offered her hand to her partner, the girl in question staring at it with mild confusion before politely turning her down, but nodding and silently walking inside the shrine.

"Sheesh. Tough girl." Yang thought to herself with a small grin as she also stepped in. What she saw was not particularly interesting, just a bunch of figurines she assumed were chess pieces placed upon small pedestals. There weren't many left, only a set of black pieces with a round head and a set of white pieces with what looked like a crown.

"Hm." Weiss was the first to walk to one of the crowned figurines, taking it from the pedestal in question and examining it. "The King… Hah, I suppose it makes sense." The girl showed off the figurine, seemingly content with her choice. Meanwhile, the only male applicant present walked over to the round piece and took it, putting it inside his jacket for safekeeping.

"Well, which are we getting?" She looked over at Blake, who didn't seem to particularly care. Although she was eyeing the black figurine. Yang was about to go over and take it, but just when she had the thought, a massive burst of wind shook the entire shrine. No, hell no, it made the entire cliff they were on tremble.

"What's… that…? Ruby awed, her right hand instinctively reaching out for Crimson Rose, a knot forming on her throat as the awe of the situation invaded it.

"That…" For the first time the group could detect a slight bit of emotion on the young man's face. Well, it might have been modest to call it a slight bit, he seemed to be on the verge of panic. "That is a Nevermore."

"Wh-why is there a Nevermore here…?!" Said Blake, also showing a great deal of concern.

"Shit if I know." She wasn't originally frightened but everyone's attitude had started to influence her own. Yang wasn't really thinking when she hastily grabbed the white piece. "We need to run?"

"No." The boy said solemnly. "If that thing as much as spots us, we'll be-"

"Help us, PLEASE!" The five of them looked outside the shrine, there was a group of students. All of them held the same chess piece, they were attracting the Grimm's attention as various others ran past them. A brunette faunus girl with a lion tail, wielding what looked like a pocket rocket launcher was firing desperately. Another, a boy sporting a head of green hair, holding a slingshot, fired crystal after crystal at the monster, almost none finding their mark, and those which did barely scratched the Nevermore's iron like feathers.

The last two, what looked like twins sporting red and blue hair, were trying to call for the other pair's attention to help them, but it was futile. They were the only ones doing anything to potentially fell or weaken the nightmarish creature, they were alone.

Ruby spoke up, her voice shaken but nonetheless resolved. "Y-Yang… We need to…" But then they saw red.

It all happened in an instant. The firing ceased, the cries for help also. There was an impact, dozens of feathers raining down like concentrated death upon the small group of four. One instant they were there, and the next they weren't.

The man watching from above could only grimace. Seeing the loss of life was never easy, even for one of his nature who had seen so much death. Humanity was like a torch, its embers the youthful hearts who would sacrifice everything for the world they knew. Who would fight, fight, fight, and fight. Was it futile, in the end? Their education, their relationships, their love, their color?

No. No, it was not.

Ozpin had long since grown gray. His color fading with each life that passed, his soul a mere cinder of the flame which once burned within. The flame of magic, the flame of color.

In the end, those who died, often died with their color intact. That was the mercy they were given, the mercy granted when they decided to participate in this deadly game of chess.

---

Time came to a halt. Or rather, their bodies wouldn't move.

The group of five found themselves paralyzed, confused and in awe of the massacre they had just witnessed. The reality of the situation they were in slowly creeping down their backs, the possibility of not making it out alive from this trial. In front of them was their final challenge, but none had the courage to act first.

None but the lonely Rose.

"Yang!" All eyes turned to her. "We have to stall it! I don't know a lot about Nevermores, but if we let it run wild, more people will… More people will die!" If Ruby was honest with herself, she wasn't entirely sure she and her current group would be able to defeat or even just distract the Grimm for the rest to escape safely. But for the people who died trying, they had to.

"A-Are you daft, Ruby Rose?! We have to run like the rest, we can't take on that thing! It's not like a Beowolf or an Ursa, it's a Nevermore, we will die." It was her partner who attempted to dissuade her, Hadn't they done enough already? This was not a part of the evaluation, they had to take the chance and run, try to survive, for crying out loud.

"Tch." A frustrated groan came from an unexpected source. Lie Ren rapidly unholstered his handguns and took in a deep breath. "It's not going to be easy, but there is a way. Nevermores have a weakness, if we can exploit it, we may be able to bring it down."

Yang finally came to her senses, slapping both her cheeks to try and focus. "Right. The least we can do for those guys is fucking that thing up!" Ember Celica shifted, Yang took a combat position, she was ready for whatever came next.

Blake seemed the most unsteady out of all of them, even so, she got into position. Frankly, she had never in her life been one to directly take the initiative when it came to these types of situations, but she was very good at following plans, she would do as told to the utmost of her abilities.

"I-I…" Weiss looked down to her feet, frustrated. Without realizing it, the girl started to bite on her nails again, a million thoughts running through her mind. There was simply no way she could do this. It normally took multiple teams of professional Huntsmen to take down a single Nevermore, and they were just students, for crying out loud! Ruby was a literal child, what could she or any of them do? It was idiotic, it was unreasonable and irrational…

It was something a brave Huntress would do. It was something her grandpapa would have done. But her? The heiress of the Schnee Dust Company? As much as her rational mind screamed against it, her pride and heart knew it was something she had to do.

"Kh! Fine!" Her Myrtenaster cycled in the strongest of her fire Dust, a special A-rated crystal she had reserved for emergencies, Dust so valuable even she had a difficult time getting a hold of it. She would not miss this time.

Ruby looked back, valiant confidence showing on her features. "You!" She gestured at the young man. "You'll tell us how to take it down once we've caught its attention and secured a place where we can hold a proper position. This shrine is too exposed." In a swift, practiced motion, the red girl shifted her Crescent Rose into its sniper form, no time was wasted as she adjusted the weapon's scope to a higher magnitude and began to scout the area.

There was a look of surprise amongst the other four applicants, but none dared to challenge the young girl's disposition.

"There!" The girl said to the group, she had managed to find the ruins of what looked like a temple, not far away from the cliff they currently stood on, it was likely to be the best possible location they could take shelter in once the Grimm started to shoot its deadly feathers at them. "For now we'll only fire to catch the Nevermore's attention, once we know we have it, we gotta make a sprint towards those ruins over there. They should hold enough for him to tell us how to beat that thing and also distract it enough so everyone else can escape." A steely gaze permeated her features. It took only a second for the rest of the group to nod and ready themselves.

"Ready." Ruby gulped as she raised a hand and aimed in preparation. "Set". Everyone else gulped, weapons shifting into place ready to follow the final order." "Fire!" And thus, all hell broke loose.

---

"Do you hear that?" Miles saw his partner quickly taking a knee, he followed almost instinctively, whilst Nora, the girl they had come upon, decided to happily sit down on the forest soil like an excited little child. Her body swaying from side to side, not even attempting to focus and try listening to whatever Pyrrha told them about, this elicited a small sigh from the young man,

He had to admit, though, it was thanks to this excited little child they had managed to finally put some distance between themselves and the Deathstalker chasing them. The swordsman knew that if Grimm were even half as vindictive as Shadows were, the creature would now chase them until either it or they died. Even so, he still believed fleeing momentarily had been the best choice, if things came to where they had no option but slaying the creature, it would always be better to face such an opponent in a spacious environment, the Emerald Forest was less than ideal in that regard.

"Gunfire". He said. Pyrrha nodded at his response. "We shouldn't be that far away from the Shrine now, either means there's some idiots fighting over one of the relics or something big is up ahead." Faced with a situation like this, he honestly didn't know which he'd prefer.

"Right when we were about to shake the Deathstalker off." Pyrrha sighed, quickly glancing down at her dust belt. "I'm starting to run low on Lighting and Ice Dust, whatever that thing is we have to pray it's not a mobile target, I'm not sure we could manage another round of stalling and running- Gh!" Without warning, all three of them were almost flung backwards from the force of a terrifyingly strong wind current coming from out of the woods.

Several trees were ripped straight from their roots, crashing close to them and sending chunks of wood everywhere. One would've potentially smashed against the trio, had it not been for Nora Valkyrie kicking it away midar like a football. They all instinctively stood up and took defensive positions, a ferocious roar emerged from beyond the forest.

"Looks like it's option two." A quick look at his Dust belt made him realize his own Lighting and Ice Dust reserves were as low as Pyrrha's if not lower. "We need to move. Best case scenario we can help take out the unknown Grimm before the Deathstalker reaches us." And if the ones fighting it aren't like the damn bully, then they could help take out the scorpion monster in turn.

Both Pyrrha and Nora looked back at him and nodded. The pink girl seemed to be eager to get into a good scrapping, he and his partner were far more reserved, their stamina had been pushed to its limits several times in the past half-hour, they could only hope whatever the thing outside of the Forest was, it wasn't worse than the Grimm following them.

The three of them began moving towards the shrine once again, hoping for the best.

But alas, there was no rest for the wicked.

"What in the…" Miles blinked a couple of times, staring in amazement at the creature that was practically carpet blasting the ground beneath the shrine with feathers that looked straight out of one of those kaiju shows, only raised to the tenth power. Glancing at his side, he was not surprised to notice both his companions staring at the creature the same way as he was. Even Nora seemed to visibly gulp at the sight of the Grimm.

Sure, it wasn't the largest creature he had ever seen, that title was very much reserved to the Titan Shadows back in his world, but whilst those creatures were amorphous in nature and hard to describe physically, this thing looked like an oversized bird of prey. An ungodly combination between a crow, a vulture, and whatever other frightening winged creatures one could think of. One that seemed to be made out of flesh and bone, just like them.

It was frightening, but even more so was the pressing concern of the other oversized animal Grimm that was following them close behind. For the first time since he arrived on Remnant, Miles felt concerned and unsure whether the full scope of his abilities would be enough to take both creatures down whilst protecting his two companions and whoever else was fighting the gigantic bird aberration. If push came to shove, he would have to go into his final phase of Awakening or even go as far as to use his very unstable trump card.

If he had to do so to safeguard the lives of those involved, he wouldn't mind one bit of course, but the questioning he would undoubtedly receive afterwards was something he did not exactly feel like dealing with. One thing was to try and explain why he had more than one apparent Semblance, the other was justifying his most powerful abilities being shown in full display. A part of him knew he would one day have to reveal them, but he did not want to until he had established a bit more credibility for himself.

Miles soon felt the hilt of Soulcalibur finding its way to his hand, the sword almost humming in his grip, calming his emotions and allowing him to think more clearly.

"For now…" He broke the silence between the three of them. "Let's get our relic from the shrine." Miles glanced at said edification, only to see it was on the border of collapse, several feathers embedded themselves on the structure. Slowly but surely dematerializing as they lost proximity to their source, but having caused enough destruction to leave visible cracks and craters on the ground, as well as having destroyed two walls.

"Y-Yes." Pyrrha shook her head a couple of times and closed her eyes, reciting a brief mantra Miles couldn't exactly hear over the sounds of the battle raging beneath the cliff they stood on. "I'll maintain a defensive position, you two go retrieve it." The Invincible Girl tried her hardest to steel her features, yet a small tinge of fear still permeated her features.

Nora decided to take the rational approach and bonked her head against a tree in order to break herself from the stupor. Seeing as the innocent tree had now been split in half and she raised a finger to the both of them, he assumed the girl was okay.

It didn't take them long to move inside what was left of the shrine and find a still intact black figurine on the ground. Miles' eyes lit up with recognition as he picked the "relic" up.

"Chess, huh? Is that how you see this, Ozpin?" He silently thought as he examined the piece and confirmed his suspicion. It was wicked, Miles almost felt his respect for the headmaster disappear completely, but as much as he wished to question this farce of a game the man watching from above was trying to play, he was someone who had his priorities straight. Also, he understood it was unfair to judge a man who could not defend himself. The piece was secured inside of his combat uniform's jacket. Miles didn't even have time to appreciate the irony of being given the pawn piece. The final team of the initiation had been formed.

The thought would be interrupted by Pyrrha's scream.

"The Deathstalker, it's here!"

"Fuck". Three minds thought simultaneously.

---

"Fuck". Five minds thought simultaneously.

After their first barrage of fire, the group of four girls - plus Ren - had been put completely on the defensive. The strategy for the time being consisted of one of them peaking out for a second, firing a couple of shots at the Nevermore and then they would all brace for the barrage of death that would come their way.

"You were saying?!" Asked a rather agitated Weiss at Ren, who had already introduced himself.

"Err…" The Mistralian took a second to gather his thoughts, his Semblance in full action, attempting to calm him down further. "Nevermores are incredibly powerful Grimm-" The rocky ceiling above them shook from the force of the Grimm's feathers crashing into it, by their estimate, the structure wouldn't last much longer so they had to hurry up.

"Maybe cut to the chase? We can get a lecture when we're out of here. How do we kill that thing?!" Yang stressed, she grimaced as Ruby fired a series of shots towards the creature, they all braced for impact and sure enough, their heads were showered by sand and dust. Yang almost wished she would get impaled already.

"Apologies." Ren dipped his head and continued speaking. "Nevermore have two major weaknesses, both attributed to their physiology. First, they are heavy. Not only their bodies, but their wings weigh them down immensely, their mass concentration is so big that, well, if they fall to the ground, it should be enough to at least cripple them permanently, gravity is their biggest weakness."

"And how do you propose we shoot the thing out of the air? Not even the Schnee's Dust could do enough damage." Blake ignored Weiss' snarl directed her way.

"That is where the second weakness comes to the picture. All birds, no matter if they're rice eating sparrows, brave eagles, or tiny hummingbirds, have one thing in common." For perhaps the last time, the ruins they hid on trembled, it didn't take a genius to know they would collapse after the next barrage. "With the exception of Atlesian penguins, they all have hollow bones. This is necessary for them to fly, as well as transport oxygen through their bodies without any strain in their hearts."

"So." Ruby blinked a couple of times, trying to figure it all out. "You're saying Nevermore do, too?" Ren nodded, Ruby frowned in contemplation. "That doesn't make shooting it out of the air less complicated, but… If what you're saying is true, breaking its bones will be easier. One Burn attack from Yang could do it!"

Her sister placed a hand beneath her chin, thinking of the idea. After her fight with the Wendigo, Yang hadn't had any chance to recharge her Semblance. Blake was way too efficient at evading combat, so she had taken zero damage. Sure, her Aura had been restored to the point she could use her powers one or two times before falling into stasis again, but without taking any damage it'd be impossible to activate.

Unless…

"Leave it to me, Rubes!" The blonde said confidently, hitting one of her fists against her palm with a smile her little sis knew very well.

"So now we need to find a way to shoot Yang into the sky like a bullet? We're still on base one!" Weiss was starting to become desperate, none of the others really offered much of anything, so she had to bite her lip and put something she was specifically keeping for the future on the table. The girl sighed as she took out a Dust crystal. All eyes were on her.

"This is an S-rank Gravity Dust crystal, it's so expensive I had to save for many of my allowances to finally buy it off from the company." They all stared at her with confusion. "What? You think I don't have to buy the Dust I use just because I'm the heiress? Hmph, if we did that our company would have had to file for bankruptcy ages ago!" She coughed into her hand. "Anyways, as I was saying before you rudely judged me. With this and perhaps a catapult of sorts, we could fling Xiao Long into the Grimm, but we would only get one chance. One very, very expensive chance." She deflated.

Blake looked at the crystal thoughtfully. "I might have an idea. My weapon has a long, elastic cloth wire we could use as a makeshift slingshot of sorts, like the Schnee suggested. Although, with a crystal of that quality, even the recoil of a firearm should be enough to get her to the Nevermore, provided you can exert control over the trajectory." All eyes now laid upon Yang. Ruby immediately started fake coughing. Yang scratched her head with embarrassment.

"Yang, uhh… Her control over Dust is kinda bad. Kinda… kinda-Guh!." Ruby got caught in a headlock.

"L-Look!" The brawler said, a bright red flush on her cheeks. "It's not that it's bad, okay? It's just explosive, is all! Dust and Aura are for doing showy cool shit, not wimpy ass control. If it gets to that, just punch the problems away!" She let go of Ruby, the girl was now coughing for real.

A baffled silence filled the room. Only interrupted by the deafening sound of several projectiles impacting the ruins, both the ground beneath them and the ceiling shook, they had run out of time.

"C-Crap!" Ruby almost panicked, but then she felt it. Knowing what would come next, she forced her mind to push away any external, useless thoughts and focus. Her gaze filled with purpose, she allowed herself to flow, commanding the group in front of her.

"Listen, guys! We'll do Blake's idea. When I was looking for this place, I saw some more ruins further below into the canyon. There are some pillars we can use to shoot Yang at the Grimm, but we gotta move fast, probably faster, but more careful than before. And there's only one way to do that." A small smile plastered itself on Ruby's face. Everyone else followed suit, nodding confidently as she explained the last part of the plan, even Weiss recognized the genius of it all.

She was confident this would work, it was them or the Grimm now, and hell if it was going to be them. The building collapsed, rising a cloud of smoke that distracted the Nevermore for a second before it could detect the group from inside being propelled forward by a red-like blur.

"Team, let's go!

Hell from above followed suit. And they responded in kind.

---

"Nora, to your left!" Pyrrha jumped between the pink girl and the creature's stinger, both her and the girl taking the brunt of the attack, her own arms going numb from the strain they were taking.

Since the Deathstalker arrived, they began steadily fighting a defensive battle, retreating ever so slowly as to not alert the Nevermore behind them, but also giving enough leeway for the Grimm in front to not get a proper hold on its footing. Miles had suggested this strategy and thus the three of them had gotten down to business, although it wasn't easy.

Her partner, the boy she had only kind of met the day prior and only spoken to the morning of today, had proven to be an incredible fighter. Pyrrha had been trained in the traditional martial arts of Eastern Mistral. A style suited for defense, capitalizing on the reach of a spear as well as the steadiness of a shield, her own Miló and Akoúo fashioned to suit a style which combined her agility with the fortitude of the teachings of Argus.

Miles, on the other hand, was a swordsman. Pyrrha had been trained to use a sword, of course, a xiphos to be exact, it was one of the forms her Miló was capable of taking, but whilst her swordsmanship was more practical and strict, utilizing mostly thrusts and short swings to maximize the utility of the one-handed xiphos, Miles' blade was two-handed, a classic longsword, if she remembered correctly.

His form was pristine, every swing connecting cleanly with the next, a surprise considering he was Atlesian, where expression in combat was not often taught. His stance was unorthodox, the tip of his blade often finding itself facing his back and not the enemy, allowing him to make broad but precise swings.

She noticed how when he defended, he often relied more on parrying than outright blocking, it was impressive to see him batting aside the giant scorpion's claws utilizing the Deathstalker's own momentum against it. Pyrrha understood that battling against the monsters of Grimm was vastly different than the sanctioned, human vs human matches she was used to fighting, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't eager to spar with the young man, maybe even face him in competition one day.

Then there was his Semblance. From what she could surmise, he had the ability to create swords, or rather, to create the same sword. He made use of this ability to great effect, both in offense and defense. If he ascertained an attack to be impossible to parry, he would make several swords appear in front of him to fully block it, retreating backwards to give himself some room to breathe.

On the offensive, he would make the swords appear in mid air, they would then fire into the Grimm and either shatter on impact dealing splashing damage from what she assumed were Aura imbued swords, or even lodge themselves in vulnerable places. She wondered if they could be given elements with Dust, that was something he had not yet done, or at least she had not noticed.

There were also times where she would feel an energy spike in her surroundings, the monochrome sword in his hand would then shift into two twinblades, one with a white blade and another with a black blade. It seemed like he was also proficient in dual wielding, as the switch didn't make him more vulnerable, if anything, he always seemed faster and slightly stronger when shifting his weapon like that. Something strange she noticed was how this shift would also make his eyes a deep shade of crimson, though she attributed it to a quirk with his Semblance or something of the sort.

Nora Valkyrie fought very differently to both her and her partner. The girl, from what Pyrrha had seen and experienced, was a powerhouse. Each swing of her hammer clumsily telegraphed, but packed with so much power and velocity it made them almost impossible to evade. A part of her thought she would be able to fight around the girl's strength, but it didn't currently matter. What mattered was that she was likely stronger than both herself and her partner combined, every hit she connected rocked the beast's world, even if the creature was starting to become accustomed to the girl's patterns.

And as an explosive extra, the girl could also shift her weapon into a 40 mm grenade launcher, capable of firing very destructive blasts with what Pyrrha surmised was average grade Dust. Her durability and strength were phenomenal and she was likely the reason they were managing to stand their ground at the moment.

Speaking of this moment.

After a series of exchanges which were leading to nothing, Miles used his Semblance just as the Grimm lost its footing again, this time creating several swords of a bigger size that buried themselves straight down into the Deathstalker's legs, pinning it mercilessly to the ground. This was the opportunity they were looking for, with enough luck they could perhaps take one or two legs, maybe even the stinger. She got into position and-

"Hey, Sword Guy!" Her head turned towards the pink combatant, the girl's hammer was high in the air, she was running straight towards the Deathstalker. Even with the beast pinned as it was, running straight towards it was suicide, the stinger could still easily catch her, Pyrrha moved to intercept, but halted when she heard the girl's next words. "Gimme a boost with one of your swords, I'll jump!" Without missing a beat, Miles nodded with recognition and created a sword in front of Nora, this one was dull and flat, providing great footing for the girl to leap high into the air, hammer in hand.

What came next was an even bigger surprise. "Invincible Girl!" Pyrrha looked up at Nora, the girl sported a devilish grin. "Shoot me with an electric bullet!" She said as she was falling down on the creature, Miles joined the fray and tried his best to prevent the stinger from skewering the girl. For a fraction of a second, she doubted, but in the end she decided to trust the girl, shifting Miló into its repeating rifle form, cycling one lone Lighting Dust round and shooting.

"Ohhhhhh yeahhhh!" The bullet hit Nora's weapon, both Miles and Pyrrha saw how the electric energy from the Dust concentrated itself and-

BOOM!

It felt like thunder crashing into the Grimm. The creature shrieked in pain, its entire body began to spasm from the current surely messing with its nervous systems. A cloud of dust raised high into the air, three figures rapidly stepping away from it.

"Did I get 'em, is he dead?!" Said Nora, her disposition showing a tiny bit of fatigue from all the fighting. They all tried looking into the dust cloud for a moment, but it was too dense to truly see anything. Even if it hadn't killed the Grimm, such a blow would surely take a long time to heal.

"I think we are in the clear." She let her chest puff in, the adrenaline from the battle still flowed through her veins, it was hard to calm down after being standing between a sword and a wall for so long. Even so, the intense roar coming from behind them was a clear indication things were far from over. If the Nevermore was not removed, then escaping would be as good as impossible.

"Let's go, I doubt that thing is standing up anytime soon… Ah, damn." Pyrrha looked at Miles, he seemed conflicted.

"Something wrong?" His expression seemed complicated, but she would ask anyways, it was her duty as his partner. "Are you hurt?" The swordsman shook his head, he offered a brief reply before adjusting his dust belt and holstering his sword on his left hip.

"No, but if we don't hurry up they will."

"They who?" Asked Nora.

"Five people are fighting the Nevermore." They started moving as he explained. "If my eyes are not mistaken, and trust me when I say they aren't very often, there's Ruby, her sister Yang, the Schnee girl, Blake, and a guy wielding twin handguns. Eeeh?!" Miles was grabbed by the collar by Nora.

"YOU'RE SAYING REN IS THERE?!" Miles just blinked a couple of times, Pyrrha could tell he wasn't sure, but nodded just to get the pink girl off him. "Shit! We gotta run, then! Come on, come on, come on! Hold on, Ren, the cavalry's coming!" With that she stormed off.

Unfortunately for her, and them, the Nevermore was blocking the path ahead, and simply sprinting towards the ruins in the canyon would likely result in them getting skewered by the creature's feathers. The worst part was that they were incredibly close, there was only around sixty or so meters between them and the other group. They were stuck, it was very vexing, but unless they found some other means of getting there, there was simply no way.

"Hey, you two." Both Nora - who was panicking at this point - and she looked at Miles. For the second time today, she saw that look in his eyes. His gaze was resolved, his eyes reflected a number of emotions she could not entirely grasp, and in his hand was his sword, now unholstered. "If things go how I think they will, we'll probably end up being teammates, so hiding this for a lot won't really be useful for us. I have a way to get to them, but you have to trust me."

For the first time since they met her, Pyrrha saw Nora frown, the girl seemed confused, not too different to herself. Both of them shared a look, and then turned to the swordsman. In some way, she could understand if he was hiding something, especially if it was an ability he was keeping in his pocket for another situation, she also did the same, hiding the true nature of her Semblance to the public in order to get an edge over her opponents. In a way, their situation was similar, so she nodded at him without too much trepidation, she actually appreciated the fact he was willing to show them, maybe she would do the same if they ended up on the same team as he said.

"You certain it can get us there?" Nora questioned, still unsure.

"You might feel a little dizzy afterwards, but yeah, I promise I can." He said, certain of his words.

"Alrighty!" Nora smiled, nodding her head as well. "I trust ya, Miles! Let's go give 'em hell!"

Pyrrha couldn't help but smile. The young man extended his left hand towards them, they both took a hold of it. His next actions were confusing, he took a good hold of his sword and with a practiced motion threw it over no man's land, it was such a powerful throw the sword covered the distance in a second and-

"Point: Warp!"

"W-What?" It hit her. As she blinked, a feeling of emptiness filled her stomach. Had it not been for her endurance and training, she was sure her breakfast would now sadly be on her feet. It took a moment for her to regain her bearings, the dizziness warning had not been unwarranted, she had to briefly take a knee in order to completely shake it off.

Nora, on the other hand.

"Ren!" She jumped towards an awed-looking boy. Wait, now that she saw him properly, he was the young man who had woken up early to mediate, how he was friends with such a loud person as Nora came as a surprise.

"Wait, when did we move?" Even more confusion. What had Miles done? Was it his Semblance? Was it Aura, or… No, it had to have been a Semblance. But if he also had Sword Creation, did that mean he had two Semblances? Was that even possible?

Pyrrha shook her head. It didn't matter, at least not for now.

She was offered a hand to get back up, it was him. She took it without any doubt and stood up, only now did she realize the monster that was upon them.

"Ruby." Her partner greeted the red girl with a smile. She blinked a couple of times, but ultimately greeted him back and briefly explained the situation.

It seems like they were also at a standstill, their original plan was to rush the canyon ruins and take the battle there, but they had been stopped in their tracks by the Nevermore. Currently they held their position in an improvised trench, waiting for an opportunity to advance. Their brief talk, however, was interrupted by the sound of a second combatant making its presence known.

"Oh, no way in hell." The amethyst lilac eyed girl spoke up. "Seriously, first a damn Nevermore and now a fucking Deathstalker?! Why the hell are those Grimm in this forest, we seriously need a damn adult right now."

"Yang." Deadpanned the black haired girl. "We are adults."

"Alright, enough gags!" Said Weiss Schnee, she had actually talked with her before. "We need a plan. We have more people now, but there is also the Deathstalker to deal with. How much damage did you manage to inflict on it? I assume it is following you, yes? Oh, it's Pyrrha!" She coughed on her hand, clearly surprised to see her. "Well, then." She tried looking all cold and collected now. "It is safe to say it is damaged enough."

"If we distract the Nevermore long enough, can you do your plan and finish it off?" Miles asked the red girl, Ruby, if she wasn't mistaken.

"H-Hey, distracting that thing means going against the Deathstalker too." Ruby said, concern written all over her face. Pyrrha herself was unsure how to feel about this, but considering Miles' new "trick", who was she to say that he didn't have any more in the bag?

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it!" Nora reassured the girl. The young man next to her, Ren, sighed, but nodded.

"I'll be joining them. The other two's capabilities are unknown to me." He said, referring to herself and Miles. "But if Nora was with them, I'm sure we can briefly hold on if we go all-out. At this point it is the only way we get a chance to survive."

"I can distract the Nevermore on my own." Miles said, staring up at the beast still surveying the area.

"Wait, what?" Pyrrha had been staying quiet for some time, that statement was enough to elicit a response from her. What the hell is he talking about? They were barely able to hold the Deathstalker, and that was between Nora, him, and herself. "Miles, there is a difference between wanting to help and wanting to die!" After everyone heard her words, they couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"I know it's cool to show off, man, but handling that giant ass bird on your own is too much." The blonde, Yang shared her sentiment.

"It's hard to believe, but I can do it. You just have to trust me." He said, the resolve in his eyes unwavering. "You can call bullshit on this, but I've dealt with things bigger than that."

"Well, damn straight we'd call bs." Yang answered again, she was about to go on when…

"I trust him." All eyes immediately turned to the ribbon girl. "I know those eyes, I've seen them before. He is not lying, or at least he is confident enough he won't die. It's our best chance, we shouldn't take long to execute the Yang catapult (she came up with the name) anyways."

"It's up to you, Ruby." The swordsman secured his Dust holster and sheathed his sword, crossing his arms and looking at the scythe wielder.

"Hey, seriously you can't-" She tried one more time to dissuade him, but the red Rose spoke up.

"If you don't come back alive, I'll be really mad, okay? I don't wanna lose a f-friend." It was obvious it took courage to say that last word. Miles simply smiled at her and nodded.

Pyrrha thought to protest one more time, but those eyes of him, unwavering as they were, made her fall silent. She could only find Nora's gaze and the girl's confident nod to assure her.

"Then once again." Ruby Rose spoke up. "Let's get moving, people!"

Eight people immediately sprung into action.

---

Miles faced the Nevermore.

His heart was beating in his chest, the breeze blown by creature's wings softly caressed his face. It was almost baffling how differently confrontations felt when they were one-on-one. Every mistake, every miscalculation, and every mishap could easily spell your death. When he first enrolled in Kasatsu Academy, he understood that the path of the Hunter was to walk with death. Every waking moment, every Hunter in the world was one single step away from meeting their end, the ones who chose to hunt solo even more than the rest.

Yet here, in the face of this gargantuan beast, in the face of death.

He chose to be alone.

With his peripherals he could see the other confrontations starting. Pyrrha took the lead over Ren and Nora, the three of them engaging the unrelenting scorpion Grimm. For all the damage it had received, it was putting up a ferocious fight, he was certain it would struggle until the very end, such was its nature.

On the opposite hand, Ruby and the other girls began a mad sprint towards the canyon ruins. with their pace it should not take long before they executed their plan and the winged beast fell, until then, however, it would be up to him.

For the first time since his resurrection, for the first time he had taken upon himself the task to become a Hero of Remnant, Miles van Astrea would go all out. It was a shame no one would be witness to it. No one but one man, one man whose sight no one could escape.

Miles unsheathed Soulcalibur and took in a deep breath. His concentration absolute. His resolve umwavering like cold steel. His grip firm and determined.

And so, he called upon its power.

"O' sword, quiet as the night." Energy rippled around him.

"O' sword, which relinquished its light." One, two, three, four, five phases encompassed his power.

"O' knight, whom he betrayed all." Almost like a prophecy. Dark hair to Silver, Dark eyes to Violet.

"Reign in thy strength through thine mighty sword." A breastplate, two gauntlets, his fable armor of legend.

"And release upon ny foes the soul of the eternal lake once more."

Miles Awakened.

"Soulcalibur!" The Sword of Absolute Balance shivered on his palms, released from all restraints, brought back to its truest form. The Eternal Light of the Lake shined through it, calling for the impure and the wicked, calling for the pure and just. For a second, it was almost as if the Nevermore simply ceased moving, its head turned immediately towards him, the next second literal hell rained upon him.

Dozens, if not hundreds of projectiles fell mercilessly on him. To any Huntsman in the known world, this would have spelled instant death.

But Miles was no Huntsman, he was a Hunter, trained through sweat, blood, and tears to be a defender of Earth, his sole duty to eradicate the Shadows who loomed over his precious world, constantly threatening the security of all life in it.

And despite his power, his confidence, Miles had pledged to never underestimate a foe, he would not suffer the same fate in Remnant as he had on Earth. It all took a breath, less than five seconds.

Miles charged into death. Soulcalibur parried, blocked, and reflected a seemingly endless amount of projectiles, each would have shattered a regular fighter's arms and obliterated their weapons, regardless of how much Aura they protected them with, but to the swordsman who held the blade of Lancelot, they felt like nothing more than a nuisance.

"Hahh!" Planting his foot on the ground, the van Astrea blasted the barrage away, his Mastery of Eternal Arms guiding his movements, each of the four Kingsglaive Shades, the most powerful of his copies rapidly surrounding him and offering protection against rogue pieces of debris that could potentially hit him. Nor that any normal shrapnel would even leave a scratch on him.

One step at a time he moved, pushing towards the creature of Grimm and batting away any and all threats. His reflexes, amplified to their maximum by the Soul Aura, were bound to identify an opening amongst the concentrated doom that fell upon him, but it wasn't his wish to capitalize on it yet. His honed instincts felt the moment of truth coming, and so long as the monster's attention was on him. They would not fail.

"There!" From his sword he fired a wave of energy at the Nevermore. Not meant to destroy, but to blind and confuse the Grimm. It was fast, one second there was a blinding light, and the next the creature shrieked in pure agony. The source of the agony apparent enough, although it surprised Miles to see who had been the one to ultimately do the job.

"Hyaaahhh!" For perhaps the first time in its existence, the winged beast felt what it was like to be a victim of death from above, a red blur, Ruby Rose rocketed through the air, her speed exponentially increasing from the recoil generated from the scythe part of the gun.

With such force, the girl slammed into the Nevermore's wing like a meteor, Crescent Rose ripped feathers, flesh, and bone apart, but even with such power, Miles could see the blade of Ruby's scythe dulling as it was unable to complete its task, the beast's iron constitution proving too much for the masterfully crafted, yet mundane weapon. The Knight of Soulcalibur wasted no time and exerted his Absolute Balance over the girl and her weapon, with the incredible boost granted by the skill, the red Rose now severed the Grimm's wing from the main body like it was hot butter.

His task completed, Miles smiled in satisfaction and Unawakened, his hair and eye color going back to normal, his disposition losing the noble edge it previously had. Sure, someone else might have thought it was up to the rest now, but after using his full strength for the first time in almost a month, he would lie if he said the adrenaline coursing through him would wear off soon.

With a quick step, and sheathing Soulcalibur for the time being, he started heading towards the Deathstalker. It was about time the scorpion fell.

---

Moments Earlier

"Weiss, Yang, Blake, get in position!" Ruby and her group, her team finally reached the bridge overlooking the canyon ruins. In a different time, a battle of epic proportions would have occurred here, the red rose standing victorious upon the Emerald Cliff at the end of it all. Here and now, however, the ruins would serve a different purpose, one just as important.

The three girls nodded at Ruby, their trust in the girl absolute. In a matter of seconds, Blake had dexterously wrapped the elastic cloth of Gambol Shroud around two pillars, creating a scuffed, improvised, but perfectly functional slingshot. Yang jabbed at her own ribs a couple of times, her hair starting to flare as she positioned her back against the slingshot, her strong lower half backing up against it, generating a great degree of tension.

Weiss and Ruby came in last. The girl in white would be the one responsible for controlling the velocity and force generated by Gravity Dust, while her partner in red would aim and give the signal to fire at the Grimm.

"It's time. Nod if you're ready!" One, two, three nods. There were supposed to be four.

"Yang?" Ruby panicked, her sister looked deflated, she jabbed at her own ribs time and time again, trying her hardest to activate her Semblance, yet it was fruitless.

"Damn it! I thought I could get it done from self-inflicted damage, but it's different. There's no emotion from hurting myself, I feel pathetic, I-I can't, I'm so sorry, Rubes…" Ruby had known Yang since the day she was born. They were sisters, she didn't care if they had different moms, she still loved Yang a lot. And in all her time together, the red rose had only seen Yang hang her had that way once.

"It's okay, Yang. I thought of an alternative on the way here, I know how your Semblance works and the chance of it not activating was always there." The girl took in a deep breath, her expression showing a degree of maturity no person her age should have. "I'll do it. It's risky, but I'm sure if we generate as much speed as we can, Crescent Rose will cleanly cut that thing's wing."

It only took some seconds of deliberation, Weiss and Blake agreed.

"The only thing, though." Ruby's gaze fell on the Schnee heiress. "You'll have to take the shot on your own, Weiss."

The girl in white paled further than she usually was. Her insecurities surfacing as memories from their earlier encounter with the Ursa and her failure clouded her mind. The girl started biting her nails, her shoulder dropped, shrinking her entire figure, she trembled, unable to bear the responsibility, the failure of missing again and getting them all killed. "I-I don't think that's a good idea…"

Blake clicked her tongue coldly, Yang deflated even more, cursing at herself for not having enough control over her Semblance. Weiss shrinked even more, the girl was on the verse of mental collapse. Things looked grim, but even at their lowest moment, one of them had to shine through. One of them would never lose the shine in her Silver Eyes.

"Weiss!" Three sets of widened eyes fell upon Ruby Rose. Amethyst, Bronze, and Pale Sapphire met Silver. "You saved my life! If it wasn't for you, I would be red paste on some Ursa's claws. And sure, I helped you in the end, but that's the point of pairs! The point of teams! We have to rely and trust each other, and I trust you. We need to do this, for everyone! For the guys who died before us! Please!"

…

…

…

Her name was Weiss Schnee, and from this moment on, she acknowledged Ruby Rose as a proper, ideal partner.

The girl subtly wiped some annoying eye-sweat from her face and nodded, her eyes having found the determination she needed.

"Let's do this." She grabbed Ruby's hand for the second time today, but this time it was not to transfer any Aura, but to truly share her feelings. "Partner," Both of them smiled, and nodded.

Ruby wasted no time, she took Yang's place and began to move backwards, attempting to emulate her sister, though lacking her strength and almost failing to get all the way back. Before she exhausted herself Yang grabbed her shoulders from behind and helped her push further back. Weiss recited a short prayer her grandpapa had once told her, praying to no god, but to her own valor and success, she loaded the precious Gravity crystal on her rapier and began to exert control over it.

A bead of sweat soon appeared on her face, it was distracting, however, just as it was about to break her focus, she felt a soft handkerchief wipe it off her face, her eyes sprung open and met bronze, Blake nodded at her reassuringly, the Schnee nodded back and focused once more several glyphs appearing behind Ruby's back, everything was in place, it was a matter of releasing it.

"I know you can make the shot, I trust you." Those were the final words Ruby Rose spoke, the final words before she exploded towards the Nevermore Grimm, her dear Crescent Rose behind her, firing continuously, not to fix her trajectory or anything similar, she knew that would be perfect, she trusted it would be, but to further speed up, any resistance the air put ceased as she broke some sort of physical barrier, her eardrums would've surely exploded had they not been protected by Aura.

"Hyaaahhh!" She finally made contact, the Grimm none the wiser as it focused its fire on the swordsman beneath them. She could feel her blade tearing into the Nevermore, visceral sounds vibrating within her ears as flesh, feathers, and bone were ripped and teared apart, It all took less than a second, but Ruby noticed something. The edge on Crescent Rose was rapidly dulling, sure, the Nevermore's bones were hollow, but they were still thick and hard like steel. Ruby had yet to make any significant damage and at this rate, she wouldn't even be able to cripple the Grimm enough to make it fall.

"N-No… Come on!" She fired behind her, slowly making progress, but still not enough. It was then when she felt something burn inside her, a form of foreign energy that made her Aura flare immensely, her reserves somehow filling to the max as the world around her seemingly slowed. For a moment, Ruby could see, no, she could feel everything. Every subtle movement, every sound, every sight. Her eyes burned, now that she thought about it, but it didn't hurt, it was almost like when the Ursa was about to-

But as soon as it came, it disappeared. Her Scythe roared as she severed the wing from the bird's body. Even with the foreign energy leaving her, Ruby felt better than she had ever felt before, she had enough time to reload Crescent Rose and landing just as she had at the start of the initiation. The teenager heroically landed on top of the Nevermore's now fading body. There was zero exhaustion in her features, only pure bliss.

"Heck yeah!" She pumped a fist into the air triumphantly.

If only she knew one day the same fist would reach the heavens themselves.

---

"Alrighty." Nora stood next to Ren and Pyrrha, in front of them was their foe, the battered, damaged, and frankly tenacious Deathstalker who, true to his name had been on their ass for long now she had decided to stop keeping time. "If we kill this thing fast, we can go back and support Miles. I honestly don't think anything baaad will happen to him, but even I ain't reckless enough to take on a freaking flying rat Grimm".

"Less talking and more focusing, Nora." Ren said. It was not trio, but rather the Grimm who decided to take the initiative. Fearlessly, the creature charged at them, showing so much ferocity, you wouldn't believe it had taken two full powered Manghild blows to the face(?). Without so much as batting an eye, the three of them sprung into action.

Pyrrha was the first to directly engage, or rather, the Grimm zeroed in on her first, clearly making the Invincible Girl the priority. Taking the full brunt of the creature's charge, Pyrrha valiantly stood her ground, the grieves on her legs coated with a strange energy, unmoving from the ground as she blocked blow after blow from the Grimm. There was something off about Pyrrha that Nora couldn't exactly figure out, almost as if her emerald eyes were filled with frustration.

But like Ren usually said, that didn't matter right now.

Utilizing the distraction provided by the Eastern Mistralian, Ren and herself surrounded and charged at the Grimm from the sides, Ren landing some solid shots and kicks whilst she relentlessly striked at the beast's side with her dear hammer. Man, it always felt so natural fighting alongside Ren, if the rules of the initiation hadn't changed due to their odd circumstances, then he would still technically be the first person whose eyes she met, thus making them partners!

She knew making like a sloth would work in the end, it was fate! And it fueled her mind with warm emotions, said emotions she would take a hold on in order to pulverize the enemy in front of her.

"Huzahhh!" Another solid hit landed. This one proved strong enough for the Deathstalker to rotate in place, shifting its attention towards her, and hoo boy did she like the attention. She had to jump over the claws and duck under the stinger, leaving not a lot of room to do any damage, but she didn't mind. The creature would soon realize how bad of an idea it was to leave its back exposed against her partner.

"Toh!" Nora saw Ren jump at the creature's stinger, he began to shoot and slash the very tip, and if the Grimm's cries were anything to go by, it was hurting it a lot, Unfortunately for Ren, he had never been too strong, always losing to Nora on arm wrestling, even if she held back. And so, after dealing some considerable damage, he was flung away, he was close to crashing against a wall, but Pyrrha quickly intercepted him mid air, the force, however, made them both have a rough landing, they would be dazed for a second and half, in that time all responsibility rested upon her.

"You won't eat my friends, you punk!" Shifting her Manghild into its grenade launcher form, Nora fired several heart shells at the creature, distracting it from pouncing on her partner and Pyrrha. It instead turned around and madly charged towards her. Nora, not expecting this development, panicked for a second.

And a second was all it took. The girl shifted her weapon back again to its hammer form a second too late, the Grimm landed a solid hit on her midsection utilizing one of its claws, Nora saw red as she soared in the air for some seconds, landing loudly on the rocky floor.

"Agh…" She coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her Aura was barely hanging on after that hit. She managed to nurse her wound with one hand and stand up with the other, using Manghild as a crutch of sorts. "C-Crap." It was too bad she hadn't heard the Grimm charging at her once more, her ears were ringing too loudly, she was unbalanced and losing focus. Ren was too far, Pyrrha was just standing up.

Nora could only close her eyes and brace for impact, weakly placing her hammer in front of her.

But the attack never came.

"Warp Strike!" Instead her eyes were opened by the sound of steel clashing with bone. In front of her stood Miles, his clothing somehow intact even after the hundreds of feathers she heard the Nevermore shoot at him. It didn't make sense, but she was so thankful.

"Fall back, Nora!" He said, his sword locked against the claw the Nevermore was going to use to tear her in half. The earth beneath him cracked as the entire weight of the Grimm was now against it and him.

"T-The stinger!" She warned before taking a step back. The Deathstalker finally had the swordsman where it wanted him. Even whilst damaged, one direct attack from its stinger would be more than enough to rip anyone apart, and whoever was unlucky enough to survive would then be subjected to one of the most painful venoms imaginable, they would be victim to a gruesome death only by entering into direct contact with the appendage.

The only reason someone like Ren could safely attack the vulnerable weak spot beneath the stinger was because he had memorized the anatomy of the Grimm to perfection, he knew exactly what to touch and what not to.

Miles grunted, for a second Nora noticed his hair shining in a silver hue, but considering how dizzy she was, it might have been a trick of the light. What mattered was that in a show of incredible physical strength, the swordsman managed to not only get himself out of the deadlock with the Grimm's claw, but also parry a direct attack from its stinger. If she wasn't so rocked, Nora would be cheering in excitement.

A second later, support finally arrived. In the form of a flying shield completely severing the creature's stinger from the rest of its tail, the thing embedding itself on the scorpion's own back. It was Pyrrha and Ren, the latter jumped on the now exposed backside of the Grimm and savagely began to slash at it, whilst Pyrrha quickly secured her and put her to safety. "T-Thanks…" Nora smiled weakly at the Invincible Girl and she in turn smiled back at her. It was nice, the hammer wielder always thought all celebrities were rude and dickish, but Pyrrha seemed like a genuinely good person.

After carefully being sat down against a nearby wall, Nora could only observe. Sure, it was frustrating not being able to help anymore, but something within her said they, her team, would be able to handle what was left of the Deathstalker.

---

Pyrrha fearlessly charged back into the fray, grabbing her shield in mid air as she did, Miles continued fending off the Grimm from the front while Ren continued his backwards assault. In a moment of desperation, the scorpion creature forcefully rotated his body rapidly, losing various legs in the process but generating enough force to throw Ren off its back and make Miles fall back briefly.

"Hey!" The Pride of Argus looked back at the brunette boy. "I'm glad you're okay." Was the first thing she said with a small smile, her gaze then refocused again. "Also, I need you to boost me like you did with Nora, I think I can finish that thing off once and for all."

"Huh, sweetening me up first to ask something. Haven't seen that one in a while." He smiled back and nodded, a series of flat, dull swords appeared in front of Pyrrha. The girl wasted no time and began to jump from platform to platform, until she was finally right above the Grimm. She first threw her shield at the stinger still lodged on the monster's back, this made it dig deeper inside the beast. With a backwards flip, the red headed warrior then stabilized herself, her Eastern Mistralian sword shifting into a javelin of the same origin, one which she threw towards the stinger with great force, further propelled by the javelin's one propulsors.

There was an impact. Pyrrha landed next to her own partner. Both watched as the Grimm who had given them so much trouble twitched for one last time and then finally stopped moving, black specs began to fly off from its exoskeleton.

Miles couldn't help but smile in satisfaction, his sword disappearing from his hand as he finally dismissed it. "Damn." He exclaimed, rubbing the nape of his neck with his left hand. "That thing was tough, eh?" He looked at Pyrrha and she looked back, placing a hand on his shoulder to support herself.

"Not as tough as us, apparently. Good job, everyone." After so long, she finally took some time to sit down and relax her muscles, sighing in relief as she did. She looked up at Miles. "Don't think you're off the hook partner, I got some questions after all of this is done, okay?" Said partner shrugged and decided to sit down next to her, seemingly tired as well.

Ren did so too, sitting next to Nora and nursing her wounds a little.

It had certainly been a hell of a long battle, but in the end, they had emerged victorious, together as a team.

---

After some moments of well deserved rest, both teams joined up again, celebrating their victory and finally climbing to the top of Emerald Cliff. After all was set and done, a team of medical professionals rushed them to tend to their wounds.

Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Glynda had been there as well, the former congratulating them on their victory before briskly walking away to prepare for the next group of students. The latter making sure they were properly treated, telling them about the closing ceremony for the initiation later that day, and personally thanking them for not letting that one team's sacrifice go to waste. After those words, she swiftly followed behind the Headmaster.

They were all then taken to a medical facility and told to rest by the doctors who examined them. Apparently none of them had suffered any lasting damage, but their overall Aura reserves were low, with the exception of Ruby, who apparently had not only her regular full capacity of the mysterious energy, but also a surplus of it for whatever reason the medical staff couldn't figure out.

Miles' own "Aura" apparently was roughly at half of its maximum capacity, which frankly did not surprise him. After going all-out, brief as that was, and after the adrenaline in his body had completely dissipated, he felt very tired. Almost as if he was suffering from Anima deprivation. He would have to try and make sure another time, but perhaps due to the lack of magical energy in the world of Remnant, utilizing his Awakening took more of a toll than usual.

He didn't let it bother him too much, for the time being he would take a nap and wake up just in time for the closing ceremony. He slowly but surely closed his eyes, and finally went to sleep.

---

"Miles, Miles!" Ruby, Pyrrha, and some of the others currently sitting or standing by Miles' bed. The boy had been sleeping for around seven hours now. Considering the closing ceremony was due to begin in around fifteen minutes, if he didn't wake up soon, they wouldn't make it there in time.

"Huh." The pink girl crossed her arms in confusion. "Never thought he would be such a heavy sleeper. Reminds me of an Ursa during winter." She offered an analogy.

"Nora, Ursa don't hibernate." Ren countered, one his hands firmly placed over his forehead. "But yes, this is concerning. I did not see any damage on him when we climbed the cliff. If anything he looked less rough than all of us."

Several heads nodded simultaneously in agreement.

"Well, I guess there's nothing to do, then." The swordsman's partner spoke up. "Let's leave him here, we'll talk to the Headmaster and to Professor Goodwitch before or after the ceremony."

"A shame he will have to miss the closing ceremony, but oh well. Let us get going, if we tarry, then we will all be late, too." Weiss said, clearly concerned for the young man, but even more so with their own attendance.

"Alright…" Ruby was unsure. Was he like that because he had to fend off the Nevermore on his own? Was this her fault? Ugh, things could never be easy, could they? "We'll tell him what happened in the ceremony when he wakes up."

Once again, a series of nods. One by one they exited the infirmary, the redhead being the last one to go out.

"Hmm…" After one last glance, she too followed the rest.

---

"Aghh…" A silent groan escaped his lips.

"So heavy…" Miles could swear that he hadn't felt this physically burdened since he died back in his world. Every muscle in his body ached, his head was throbbing and his arms felt like they were on fire. His legs, too. In fact, almost all of his body felt drained, starved of energy.

Suffice it to say, it wasn't pleasant at all, but perhaps even more unpleasant was what he felt when he finally gathered the will to open his eyes, his sight quickly falling on one of the opened windows.

"Ah, it's late…" A couple of seconds went by before his mind finally noticed the elephant in the room. "Wait! W-What time is it?" Ignoring the ache in his upper half, Miles scrambled to look for his scroll. After a second or so he picked the device up and flicked the screen open.

"Shit." It was six-thirty in the afternoon. The opening ceremony was supposed to start at six.

Not wasting any time, yet silently cursing for the pain, the van Astrea got up, put on his shoes and started walking as fast as he could. As he moved, the pain assaulting him slowly but surely vanished, his vision becoming clearer and his step faster.

In the end, it took him only around ten minutes to finally get there. Standing now in front of the opening ceremony's auditorium, he opened the double doors and went in, he was greeted by the sight of Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren standing on the stage.

Ozpin apparently was in the middle of saying something, his words coming to a halt as Miles came into the auditorium. "Ah, Mr. Astrea, great timing. Would you come up to the stage and stand beside your partner, if you will?"

Noticing the gazes of the majority of the students and staff now on him, the young man nodded and rapidly made his way next to Pyrrha on the stage, the girl worriedly smiling at him as if to ask how he was feeling. All he could do was nod reassuringly.

"As I was saying." Ozpin continued. "Today was a day of sacrifice. Those who stand here overcame the many trials of the Emerald forest. Partners, teams, and individuals alike surpassed their own limits and took another valuable step towards growth."

Miles noticed how most of the students within the area were now in groups of four. Much like they were on stage.

"However, there were two teams in particular that surpassed not only their limits, but every notion of expectation as well. Vanquishing not one, not two, but three of the most vicious creatures of Grimm known to Vale." Ozpin guided the attention of the crowd to a set of screens, they started to display said Grimm.

"The Bloody Beowolf known as the Wendigo. The Guardian of the Emerald cave, an Elder Deathstalker, and finally, perhaps most impressive of all. The Gatekeeper, a Nevermore." Ozpin continued. "Be it as a group, or as a solo effort, these admirable young Huntsmen and Huntresses defied the odds and avenged all of those who had fallen victim to these hideous beasts."

Both students and staff were in awe at this declaration, soon the displays changed, showing a list of grades ordered from the lowest at the bottom and the highest at the top.

In the top 10 were all the members who fought and successfully slayed the Grimm Ozpin mentioned.

Nora Valkyrie was at the lowest position amongst them, at ten, with an overall score of 89.1%.

Three positions above was Blake Belladonna, at seven, rocking a 91.5%.

Weiss Schnee followed close behind with a 92.9%, at the top six.

Number five, a pristine 94% next to his name was Lie Ren.

One position higher with a 94.8%, at four, was Pyrrha Nikos.

Breaking into the top three and taking the bronze medal, besting Pyrrha by only a fraction with a 95%, they could all see the goldilocks of Yang Xiao Long.

In a turn of events he couldn't quite understand, Miles van Astrea found himself in second place, a score of 96.7%, only surpassed by…

"Ruby Rose?!" Said a flabbergasted Weiss

"Rubes! Exclaimed Yang, a bright smile appearing on her features.

"So it was Ruby, huh?" Blake didn't seem all that surprised, although she did wear a tiny smile on her lips.

And whilst his own group didn't react with the same vigor, they all looked at Ruby with a smile. Miles himself felt a faint sense of pride. He hadn't seen much, but from what little he saw, out of everyone she had been who acted more like a leader.

Displayed in gold was Ruby Rose. A score of 97.2% proudly showed next to her picture.

The crowd below them all clapped. Some in respect, others in admiration, and some only half clapping out of obligation.

Ozpin coughed in his hand to silence them all and took to the microphone again. "With congratulations out of the way, allow me to introduce the final teams of this generation of Beacon Academy students.

The initials of Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake were taken from the scoreboard in order to make the name of their team.

"Led by Ruby Rose as team leader. Team RWBY." A wave of applause accompanied by Yang literally jumping to her sister with a huge hug, Ruby herself shocked from the developments, a tiny smile and a bright red flush soon appearing on her features.

On the other hand, Blake appeared rather content, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulders and congratulating her for her achievements.

The only of the four who did not seem entirely convinced was Weiss. The girl sported a confused look, she had to blink several times and glance at the screens above to finally accept the facts. Miles could notice a faint tinge of frustration and resignation on her features, but it was soon replaced by a warm, albeit slightly reluctant smile at her new leader, one of her thumbs rising at the girl.

All eyes were brought to the display once more. The initials of Astrea, Nikos, Valkyrie, and Ren were taken to form the name of their own team. Miles' head almost dropped when he noticed the A from Astrea standing in front of the rest.

"And last but certainly not least. Led by Miles van Astrea as team leader, allow me to introduce team ANVR." It was very subtle, but the swordsman managed to catch a tiny tinge of emotion in Ozpin's features as he stated their name.

"Team Amber, huh?" Said a smiling Pyrrha, next to her bounced Nora, congratulating Miles by slapping him several times in the back.

Ren simply sighed at his friend's display, but looked at him with a reassuring look. "It'll be a pleasure, leader."

Miles found himself speechless. On one hand he was happy, he had to admit that much. He liked his team, and he was sure that all of them could be made into exemplary Huntsmen, he would do the best he could leading them, even if he wasn't entirely confident about the position.

But at the same time something irked him. First, he had to assume the team leaders were chosen by their overall score, but he didn't exactly get why his was higher than someone like Pyrrha's. Outside of his grand stand against the Nevermore, he considered he hadn't done enough to warrant such a score.

If they had taken the full display of his abilities into account, then that meant someone had seen him fighting the Nevermore. And whilst the fact wasn't particularly bad, he had to ready himself to answer any possible questions that could come his way after this.

Damn, he really wanted to take a nap right now.

"With that, you are all dismissed." Ozpin looked at the eight of them one last time. Miles saw the man briefly nod at him before walking away.

After Ozpin left the stage, Glynda Goodwitch took the microphone and gave some announcements. First, each of the team leaders would be given a set of keys to their team's respective dormitories on their way out of the auditorium. It was their responsibility to take care of the keys and all of that.

Second, she stated how tomorrow would be a regular school day, many within the room groaned, but there wasn't much to be done. With that and various other less important announcements, they were truly dismissed.

At the exit, they met with team RWBY, both teams walked to the dorms together and realized their rooms were very close by. His own team wanted to organize their room right off the bat, but frankly he felt too exhausted, so the executive decision to get that done tomorrow was given.

Tonight, ambers and rubies would finally rest their weary bones.

---

Miles van Astrea

Weapon: Soulcalibur, the Unfading Sword of the Lake

Ultimate Ability: ?

Parameters (unawakened):
-VIT: C+
-STR: B
-MOV: S
-FIN: B
-DEF: C
-ANI: B
-CTL: F
-ULT: ?

X-X-X-X

Ruby Rose

Weapon: Crescent Rose, High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe

Semblance: Speed

Parameters (Emerald Forest):
-VIT: D
-STR: D+
-MOV: B
-FIN: C+
-DEF: E
-AUR: C
-CTL: B
-SEM: D

---

Hey guys and happy Thanksgiving! :))

I know it's been a couple of months since I last updated this fic, but what can I say? It's been a rough couple of months. Med School has more or less drained most of my time until recently, the end of semester wasn't pretty at all and I had to cut off time for most of my hobbies, writing included.

But here it is! Finally, and hoo boy. This is probably the longest chapter I've written for anything in a very long time, it managed to hit 16.7k words before betaing and editing, and I think it's a little over 17k now.

As for the chapter in question, I know most of it ended up being action, but I did try to sprinkle some moments of character interaction here and there. I did my best to show the dangerousness of both the Nevermore and Deathstalker, as well as to show how Huntsmen need to cooperate between themselves or suffer a very unfortunate end. I tried my best to show the situations from the points of view of various people, switching between Miles, Pyrrha, Nora, Ruby, and some others was a very fun exercise for me to do, I hope I can do the transitions more seamlessly in the future. Gotta say, the name for team ANVR was something I gave a lot of thought to, it went from team MNPR (emperor) to even team VNPR (vampire lol) at one point, but I settled with Team Amber considering various events that'll happen in the future, and also following the Beacon tradition of naming teams after gems, flavours, or colours.

I hope y'all also managed to notice or see the small changes I've been trying to implement in the setting (I talked about those in the last chapter's AN for anyone who doesn't remember). Next chapter will probably be calmer on the action and more focused on the start of Miles and the gang's school yeat, I wonder what sort of shenanigans will happen har har.

Lastly, I want to use this AN to explain the reasoning and meanings behind the stat system me and a couple of friends came up with. First, I'll briefly go over every stat.

-VIT/CON: This stat is called Vitality or Constitution, it basically dictates the overall healthiness of a character, as well as how much punishment their bodies are able to endure before they completely break down, also includes your top stamina and overall physical condition.

-STR: Strength, perhaps the most simple of stats, determines your physical strength and power. Do note that whilst overall damage benefits from Strength, being a powerhouse is not the only way of dealing huge chunks of damage.

-MOV: Movement. This stat is a combination of your speed and agility. Speed is how fast you can get from one place to another, whilst Agility is more related to your available ways of movement. Generally you could say that someone with an Agility of C is able to perform most forms of grounded movement very effectively, whilst B and further ranks dip their toes into aerial movement. B can be seen as the ability to Air-Dash, A the ability of flight, and S the ability of instant movement or teleportation, hence Miles' score.

-FIN: Finesse or technique. Probably the most complicated stat to determine, it basically relates to how dexterous you are at combat, how tricky ot how complex your fighting style is and how proficient you are at it. Someone who can be considered close to a master in their craft would achieve a score of A. In the case of Miles, the knowledge provided to him by his Relic, as well as his own trainer, places him close to Lancelot, a legendary knight of the past.

-DEF: Simply put, how good you are at nullifying damage you may receive. It also encompasses your overall toughness.

-AUR/ANI: This stat determines your overall reserves of Aura or in Miles' unique case, Anima. It is not impossible to increase through dedicated training and meditation, but usually your genetics and disposition to the element will end up determining your score.

-CTL: The control you have over your Aura, as well as how well you can exert that control over Dust. Miles' Anima control relies heavily on Soulcalibur as a catalyst to access, since he was never properly educated in Magecraft. As for his control over Dust, let's say Anima is not exactly the best conductor for the mineral, so his control is very, very limited.

-SEM/ULT: In the case of the RWBY cast, this stat determines their overall mastery and understanding they have over their Semblance, not the Semblance's relative strength since, well, it's very relative. The better and more efficient you are at using your Semblance, the higher this parameter is. In the case of Miles, it simply shows his Ultimate Ability's ranking of power, which considering it hasn't been shown and there is nothing to really compare it to, I've decided to keep the score hidden until he finally uses it.

Do keep in mind that an E rank represents a grade higher than the average person in the world, with F being the only score which could be strictly considered as lower than average. In turn, A and S represent people who have far succeeded the norm, so don't be surprised if mostly no one in the main cast has those scores at the beginning of the story. We still are in Volume 1, after all. I'll be including two or three stat pages per chapter. Oh, and Grimm will also have stats haha.

With all that said, I want to thank everyone again. Please keep in mind that I'm not a pro writer or anything remotely similar, so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! Chapter 7 is already being written, so it won't take nearly as much as this one.

Last but not least, thanks to my great friend Prit for sharing his opinions on the chapter with me beforehand and massive thanks to Lugia Moon for acting as both the editor and beta reader for this chapter.

Have a great day, everyone!