Hey peps! Here I am with a brand new chapter for you guys to read. I hope you will enjoy it, also, I have to say that the next Arc will be a little bit focused on Beacon. Mainly, team RWBY coming together, Geo meeting Qrow and Taiyang, and some other situations that I won't reveal yet. That's all, have a great read everyone, bye.

A Shattered Life

Chapter 19: Unexpected Twist

Lieutenant Cross and his squad were walking through the town's market making their way towards Avala's home. The smell of death and blood was flying everywhere in that area has the ground was littered with countless bodies of dismembered men, women and children. Seeing this terrible sight with their own eyes made most soldiers under Cross's command sick, even a couple of them vomited when they saw a young boy's body ripped in half near a wagon. "Control yourselves!" He shouted while kicking one of his companions in the chest, making him fall to a small pool of blood. "Stop acting like cowards god dammit! We are soldiers, we have seen worse than this, so get a grip and move forward or I will leave you behind."

Has Cross turned around to resume his path, he noticed a single man crawling through blood has he was trying to escape. "What have we here?" He approached the stranger to get a better look at him. "A surviving loyalist? I thought we had killed all of you pathetic dogs already." The Lieutenant recognized the injured man's uniform. "No matter, I will simply kill you and end your suffering." Cross grabbed his blade and removed it from it's holster, he then aimed his sword at the soldier's abdomen and began piercing him very slowly.

Waves of throbbing pain pulsed within his abdomen and he felt like his breakfast was going to return to him in an instant. "Ahhh! P-Please, stop! I beg you." His mind became overwhelmed with dread and for a moment he thought the pain would only get worse. "I-I can give you v-value information about where t-the others are hiding, j-just let me live." He expected Cross to stop after hearing that, but the cruel man didn't. "I...I don't want to die." The wounded loyalist's body was numb, he could no longer feel the cold blade butchering his insides, he was beyond saving now.

"Say hello to your family in hell for me." Cross was staring directly at the man's eyes has he saw them closing. He then cleaned the blood with his cape, and stored his weapon back to it's holster. "You!" He pointed at the soldier carrying Solomon's flag. "Bring that to me." Lieutenant Cross ordered. The private obeyed and gave him what he asked. "Take a good look you weaklings!" He slammed the flag's spear-point at the dead body, piercing his flesh. "You will suffer the same fate has this dog if you don't follow my orders, I hope I have made myself clear." Said Cross with a bitter tone.

"Understood sir! We won't fail you." Said the Corporal while the others nodded in agreement. "Remember why we are here boys! Our new Lord has promised us a lot riches and women if we followed him without questioning, so let's continue with the mission and find those two bitches before the Grimm get to them." The Corporal turned to the flag and saluted.

Solomon's faction flag is made up of two vertical stripes and a triangle in black, dark gold and light bronze. The emblem consists of a dragon on top of two feathers, the emblem is part of the standard flag and thus shown all the time. "With Lord Solomon in command, Gwain will expand and someday the other kingdoms will have to show us respect." A burning desire was erupting from his heart.

Suddenly, a large blast of Aura overtook half of the soldiers that were with Cross, causing them to be blow back by the sheer force of the attack. Blood dripped from his head as he hissed in pain coughing. "What the hell was that?!" Lieutenant Cross was confused has he had no idea what was happening. He glanced to the right side towards the young blonde woman approaching and it seemed she wasn't alone. "You are going to pay for this! Kill them!"

With a burst of speed, Yang launched herself towards the incoming soldiers, she fired numerous blasts of fire from her gauntlets. Creating several explosions across the battlefield, but that didn't stop them from continuing with their charge. "Ruby, you and Avala can handle these guys. I'll take care of this bastard myself." She smashed her fists together.

"Okay sis, just be careful." Ruby unleashed Crescent Rose, then she activated her Semblance and in an instant she disappeared, leaving a few rose petals behind flying around.

"Don't worry, I bet this fight won't last long anyhow." She smirked, feeling pretty cocky.

"We'll see about that." Cross place both hands around his blade's hilt. "If you really think you can defeat me on your own than you are more stupid than I thought." He tightened his grip. "I didn't gained the position of Lieutenant by pure luck, I earned it because I'm a strong warrior, I trained for years to surpass my limits and now you are going to have a taste of my power."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Are we going to fight or what?" Yang was somewhat impatient.

Cross grit his teeth as he charged straight to her position. "Get ready to meet your end you blonde bitch!" He swung his sword sideways aiming at her torso, but unfortunately for him, she managed to block it without much effort. Yang turned her gaze toward the young man and attacked with a barrage of quick punches but he was blocking them all with his weapon. "A woman like you should know her place in the world, you were born to simply pleasure men, nothing else." Cross was matching her with such ease that caused Yang to get even angrier in her advances.

The Lieutenant took advantage of that for he suddenly dodged one of Yang's attacks toward his face, causing the blonde girl to be caught off guard by the sudden change in tactics. With that, the sword in his hand came upward, slashing her shoulder, blood flew into the air and then a kick was launched into her stomach, sending her backwards but Yang didn't fall down as she took a hold of her shoulder, the blood seeping in between her fingers.

Her gaze was fixed on the young man in front of her as she suddenly realized that he had disappeared from in front of her, then a surge of an unknown Aura grew around her and drew her attention to the left side, raising one of her gauntlets to block the blade that came after her life. From the light widening of the eyes, he wasn't expecting her to actually block his attack.

He made a small jump backwards but Yang didn't charge. She still had her arm raised as she remained in the same position as before. Yang's eyes had changed their color, now they were red has she let go of the wounded shoulder, then she turned to him. "I was wrong, you are a lot more stronger than I initially thought but make no mistake, you will be defeated by my own hands." Flames grew around her figure, making Cross feel a little intimidated has he stared directly at Yang's crimson eyes.

"...B-Bring it you whore!"

Yang's Aura surged through her body as her flames started to burn even stronger, the ground around her was darkening thanks to the immense heat of fire that was growing from her body and hair. The blonde's red eyes fixed upon her enemy and then she dashed forward causing the man to widen his eyes lightly at the higher level of speed that she was using. The fiery fist came toward him at a much higher force than before, but he managed to block it with his sword, creating a shockwave to dance around them as parts of his armor were ripped with the sudden rise in wind.

Then the power from beyond the punch pushed him backwards. "Where did she get this much power?!" But has he was about to counter-attack, Yang appeared right in front of him and with another punch she unleashed a large torrent of flames that completely engulfed him, causing a massive explosion that almost threw the young girl against a wall. But when the dust settled it was clear that Cross was still alive, his body revealed a few parts of his skin were scorched. "Ahhh! Ahh! Y-You bitch! I will fucking kill you!"

Cross charged and aimed his blade at her figure, but this time Yang met the attack head on as she simply raised her arm toward it and blocked it with her gauntlet. She grunted lightly at the amount of power that was within Cross' s strike before it dissipated into nothingness, her red eyes fixed upon him. The man seemed shocked has he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "We are done here!" She slammed her fist against his face, sending him rolling across the battlefield.

Yang's eyes then returned to their normal color has the battle was over. She looked at her right and saw that Ruby and Avala had just finished their fight as well. "I think we have the area secured."

"Indeed, Sunny can now move with the others and make her way to the Galeon safely." Replied Avala. "We should head to the castle, Geo might still be there."

Ruby nodded. "Let's go."

Suddenly, a mysterious figure came down from the skies like a fireball made of darkness, and slammed his fist on the ground, cracking it. Ruby and the others looked in awe has their path was blocked once again. "My, my, look at what we have here." He stared at the red haired girl. "I thought Solomon had killed you back at the river but it seems I was wrong." Said Hydrox.

"I know you, you were the guy that was with Solomon that night."

"The child remembers that's good." He slowly walked to Cross who was barely alive at this point. "You have failed your mission Cross but what's new right?" Hydrox grabbed him by the throat and raised him. "Mistress Salem does not tolerate failure, you should know that by now." He broke his neck and threw him to the side, leaving Ruby a bit puzzled at what just happened.

"Why did you do that? Wasn't he your companion?" She asked.

"Cross was trash that needed to be disposed off." Hydrox answered. "I have to admit when I heard that Geo had taken a woman I never expected that certain someone would be a silver eyes."

"Silver eyes? What are you talking about?" Ruby was confused.

"Hahaha! You have no idea do you? Ahaha! This is just precious." Laughed Hydrox. "Tell me, does at least anyone know why Salem is coming here?"

"Of course we know, she's after the relic that Lord Aiden gave Geo."

"...The relic?...Hahaha! You couldn't be more far from the true reason than that, but I guess you aren't totally wrong either because in a way she is also after the relic." He said. "My mistress just wants to have what was stolen from her a long time ago, she will stop at nothing to get back what rightfully belongs to her."

Ruby's expression changed. "The relic doesn't belong to her! Now get out of our way, I will save Geo even if it means going through you." Her eyes burned with determination to save her lover.

"You fools have no clue do you? But I won't waist anymore of my time talking." Hydrox jumped to the top of a building. "I wish I had the time to deal with you all but unfortunately, I have more pressing matters to attend to. But make no mistake, we will meet again."