CHAPTER LIV
Zero Hour
Ivory hurried through the halls of the Ragnarök as the alarm continued to sound. Noncombatants made their way to secure locations while combat personnel proceeded to man their posts. Fire suppression brigades were already awaiting action at their posts, as were medical personnel and other emergency management teams. This level of precision and coordination was exactly what Ivory expected of her countrymen, especially the soldiers of the Schwarze Sonne Specialist Corps.
Of course, she couldn't forget the actual defense teams and strike forces. She passed by hangars containing all sorts of aircraft and larger launch bays with armies of combat androids ready to deploy on a moment's notice.
"Sturmbannführer!" a soldier called out to her. "Ma'am, you should be with the rest of the command staff!"
"I'm not with any of the combat units here—" Ivory began, but he quickly cut her off.
"You must have recently been transferred aboard. I would have liked to have given you a tour of the Ragnarök, but it's not the time. Please, I will escort you to the bridge."
She had no choice but to follow him to the administrative section of the ship. All around her, combat teams were preparing to launch, but she still had no idea what in the world was going on. As far as she knew, this vessel was still floating over Atlas proper. Was there a border city that needed defending?
She balled her fist as she recalled the moments before the alarm rang out. She had just ended the life support for Elise, that woman she had been meeting with in her dreams, dreams that could only have been some kind of Labyrinth from all the evidence she had come across. But now was not the time to ponder the situation. The floating fortress she had been taken to was about to enter into battle.
"Here we are," the soldier said, saluting her before shutting the blast gate.
Ivory looked around. There were two familiar faces standing in the bridge.
"I-Ivory?" Yorath said, walking up to her.
"As I had thought," said the highest ranking person in the room. "That uniform certainly does fit you, Fräulein Schnee."
"Colonel Gottfried," she muttered under her breath.
"Uh, Ivory," Yorath said, clearing his throat. "He may still be a colonel according to the regular military, but we're aboard the Ragnarök, purely under Schwarze Sonne jurisdiction."
"I think I understand," Ivory said, approaching Gottfried before giving him the SS salute. "Für immer Atlas, Oberstgruppenführer."
"Atlas für immer," Gottfried returned the salute with a smile. He turned to Yorath. "I must commend you, young man. You truly are an exemplar for all of your juniors and peers to follow."
Yorath snapped to attention. "You are too kind, Oberstgruppenführer, but truly it is Ivory who is the exemplar, not myself. I only follow after her footsteps."
"Indeed." He turned back to Ivory. "It's obvious that uniform isn't yours, but if you would like to keep it, you may. That includes the rank attached to it."
Of course she wasn't interested in the offer, but if it would give her some kind of advantage in this otherwise hopeless situation, she had to take it. "I don't see why not."
He smiled before returning to his station.
"Ivory," Yorath began before clearing his throat, "I apologize, Sturmbannführer." He chuckled quietly. "You're right where you belong, you know. Outranking me once more, and in the service of our great country."
They returned each other's salutes silently before Yorath rejoined Gottfried at his post. Once again, she was left free to roam. Nothing would stop her from projecting glyphs all over the place and smashing the controls and killing everyone in sight, but she kept Elfenbein sheathed. After all, she knew Yorath's combat ability intimately well. She had never seen Colonel Gottfried in action with her own eyes, but her mother had made sure to instill in her a healthy dose of caution toward him.
She headed toward one of the port windows overlooking what was likely to become the battlefield in the next several minutes. Her eyes widened. She had to glance at a nearby map display to confirm it for herself, but that was most definitely the island of Vytal they were now slowly, but steadily hovering toward.
"Oberstgruppenführer! All divisions are ready for battle!"
"Primary weapon locks have been disengaged!"
"Shields are at maximum output!"
"Engines are at maximum output!"
"Dust reactors are at maximum output!"
"Sir! We are detecting movement in the enemy's vicinity!"
"The counterattack has begun," Yorath said. "It seems they were expecting us."
"Of course they were," Gottfried said. "Why else would they have been expanding the Knights of Remnant for the past year?"
"So, the Coalition really does intend on siding against Atlas, does it?"
"It's what we've been saying all along."
Ivory knew those words to be lies. It was the perfect pretext for war. Atlas builds up its own military power with the intent of invading, declaring it to be self-defense against an incoming invasion, which then leads to Vacuo and the Coalition building up arms as well in order to counter the threat from Atlas, who then uses that exact buildup as "evidence" supporting their claims from the beginning.
She balled her fists, her anger almost getting the better of her, but she once more stayed her rage. She couldn't lose her cool, not when she needed to make lightning fast decisions. Unfortunately, her composure would prove to have its weak points. A familiar voice sounded far off in the distance. She glanced toward the center of the bridge, where the communication was coming through. And of course she would recognize the voice. She grew up listening to it, after all.
"You have nothing to worry about, Herr Schnee," Franz Gottfried said. "We managed to retrieve your granddaughter and she is safely aboard with us. Oh, and you should be proud of her. After all, she now holds the rank of Sturmbannführer with our Schwarze Sonne."
"I had no idea she was with you," Jacques said. "I did get the notification that my son and his children were abducted by terrorists, but I assume that's where you're headed now."
"Indeed. If your son is not a traitor, then we shall return him home safely, but if it turns out that he went with those terrorists willingly, then, well, I cannot promise his safety. Of course, the children will be unharmed. They are the future of Atlas, after all."
"I understand, Oberstgruppenführer. Is she there with you now?"
"She is."
Yorath went to retrieve her and she went with him, though it took all of her might not to tear the whole room apart with her Semblance.
"Ivory," Jacques began with a hint of relief in his voice. He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "I know we haven't had the best relationship we could have had, but I want you to know that everything I've done and am doing now has been for the good of our family."
"Does that include disowning Aunt Weiss and her then unborn daughter?" she snapped, silencing her immediate surroundings. She shook her head. "Forget I said that."
Jacques let out a heavy sigh. "We don't see eye to eye and we probably never will. But do believe me when I say that I am proud of you right now, my granddaughter. I always knew you'd quickly rise up to the top of our government someday. I just never expected it would happen before your eighteenth birthday. You truly are the child prodigy of our family."
She hid her disgust at all the praise, which was directed at the abominable uniform she now wore, especially that red armband that both she and her grandfather wore and everything it stood for.
"Please, survive the oncoming battle," Jacques continued, "and bring home your uncle and cousins. It is my understanding that your mother is also being held by the terrorists."
"I intend on accomplishing my mission, come what may," she said before giving the SS salute. "Für immer Atlas, grandfather."
"Atlas für immer."
His face disappeared from the display.
"All right," Yorath began, "we're about to enter into battle. I assume you don't need a flak jacket, not with your skills."
Ivory didn't reply, her face painted with focus she reserved for combat.
"Hauptsturmführer," Gottfried said, turning to Yorath. "You and the Sturmbannführer are both combat specialists, are you not?"
"We are, Oberstgruppenführer," he answered.
"Then, perhaps it is more appropriate for both of you to be on the front lines, not languishing in the bridge."
Yorath glanced at Ivory, but her expression was unreadable. "Are we not prioritizing her safety, sir?"
"Of course we are, but we are also prioritizing the recovery of her family from the hands of the terrorists. That would be much more effective with her combat abilities on the field."
"Yes, understood, Oberstgruppenführer." He saluted Ivory. "Shall we join the battle?"
Without a word, she turned and headed to the door.
—
"Can anyone tell us what's happening?" Winter said in the midst of an attempt to coordinate the Coalition response to the mammoth structure approaching the island. "Why in the world are these readings all over the place like this?"
"This confirms it," Penny said as she and Hillphire pored through the data. "These waveforms and EP patterns. It's definitely magic."
"And not the chaotic kind we get from the Labyrinth," Hillphire added. "This is pure, precise rune magic."
"But how?" Leon said. "Isn't that impossible in the real world?"
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Ariadne said, joining the other staff in data analysis. "But look at your own hands. Your runes are active, and we're in the real world."
"It's gotta be the Nexus under the castle," Lilith said. "That's the only thing I can think of."
"But it only just recently started," Xanthus said.
"Right, which tells me that giant thing floating in the distance has something to do with it. Those EP patterns are ordered, telling us they're employing rune magic." She turned to Penny. "Hey, do you also pick up disordered EP output?"
Penny scanned the massive object. "Yes, I do. Actually, now that you mention it..."
"These readings are identical to a Nexus," Ariadne said, adjusting her glasses.
Xanthus joined her at the console. "This is impossible," he said, typing away. "According to what we know, a Nexus is nothing more than a ley line convergence point. Ley lines typically follow some kind of geographical feature, like a mountain range, or rivers and lakes, or even fault lines, but—"
"But that's floating in the fucking sky," Athena said. She turned to Lilith.
"Why are all of you looking at me?" she said, scratching her head. "Every damn thing about my magic is completely fucked up in this world. For all we know, that big flying building probably does have ley lines inside of it—I don't fucking have a clue."
"Forget about that for now," Winter said before turning her attention to one of the monitors. "Teams RWBY, JNPR, and all the rest, are you ready?"
"Combat ready, ma'am!" Ruby said, making Penny giggle.
"So are we," Hillphire said, standing with Penny and the rest of their team.
"Mom, dad, be careful!" Ingrid yelled at the communications terminal.
"You, too, baby," Sun said.
"Yuan!" Nora's voice chimed in. "Go kick some butt!"
Yuan smiled, turning to his teams, who nodded in acknowledgement.
"Okay," Winter said. "Here's our play. The bulk of the Knights of Remnant and Coalition forces will remain at Castle Vytal to defend against whatever the hell they plan on throwing at us." She turned to the kids before sighing. "I hate to keep burdening you like this, but—"
"Don't worry about us, Aunt Winter," Lilith said. "We'll be sure to kick some ass, too."
Winter blinked twice before staring at her niece for a moment.
"It's Lilith," Ingrid said. "The potty mouth is the giveaway."
"R-Right," Winter said, clearing her throat. "Anyway, you'll be our interception teams." She paused. "Although, I don't know how that's supposed to happen. That thing looks like a mountain."
"We've taken on bigger," Athena said with a grin.
Winter looked at all the youngsters. Each one had smug looks on their faces.
"Colonel Schnee," Ariadne said without looking up from her controls. "Those words are not mere bluster. I have witnessed this group take down absolute monstrosities in the Labyrinth."
"But we aren't in the Labyrinth," Winter said.
"Maybe," Leon said as he examined his runes, "but for some reason I'm feeling super pumped. And..." He projected a fireball in his right palm, glancing around his teammates and grinning.
"With that confidence, it's no wonder Lilly's in love with—" Lilith began before her eyes flashed gold.
"Huh?" Echo said, appearing in Lilly's vision. "Who's in love with what?"
"Nothing and nobody!" Lilly shrieked before storming off.
—
Ivory found it increasingly impossible to control her anger by now. Any other time and she would have had the wherewithal to cope, but everything was crashing down on her all at once. First, it was her return to a home she did not recognize. And then there was the execution and suicide bombing Viktor had gone through. Then, the ordeal with Elise. The damned uniform she was wearing. Her grandfather conspiring with Gottfried. Her former teammate's fanaticism toward the new Atlesian order.
It was all too much for her to process.
She put a hand to her chest as something within her felt as if it was tearing apart. She tried to fight it off, but the pain was more than a mere mortal could bear.
"Ivory!" Yorath yelled as he ran to her side.
"I'm...fine," she asserted, catching her breath before standing back upright.
"We don't have to go out there. I know...that this is a lot for you to manage, but I've seen you deal with a lot worse."
He would have been right if he had known the whole story. She couldn't get Elise out of her mind. Out of everything, that bothered her most. Was it her own planning years ago that led to Elise's fate? All of those human experiments, her hand was in their execution, just as the labor camps and prison camps. Was it all her fault?
She grunted as she fell to a knee, extending a hand to the wall for support.
"Hey!" Yorath yelled, offering help she outright rejected.
"I need no help," she grunted.
"Ivory, it's clear you're not fit for combat right now—"
"Shut up."
"Ivory?"
"Just..." She put a hand to her head as the whining intensified. "...Shut up!" She squeezed her eyes shut as her head throbbed. The pain lasted mere seconds, but it felt like hours. She fell to all fours, panting as sweat fell to the metal tiles.
"Ivory!" Yorath's voice came in muffled.
"I'm all right," she huffed. "Just got a migraine. That's all."
"Okay, you're definitely in no condition for battle. Let's head to the infirmary for now, get some rest."
She accepted his proposal, following him down the hall.
—
"It is time. Soon, the Winter Maiden will reawaken."
"It took long enough."
"And it is understandable, given how utterly fractured her body and spirit were."
"Asmodeus, your new vessel awaits."
—
Weiss Schnee stood at the very front and center of Castle Vytal's defensive formation. Flanking her were the rest of her team, Ruby to her right and Yang and Blake to her left. A few steps away stood Team JNPR, with Penny reprising her position on the team. Hillphire's team was situated further away, with Astor taking a spot with his own powered armor. They were tasked with high-mobility rapid response to changes on the battlefield. Their other friends were scattered about as well, Team STRQ with Sun leading a battalion of Coalition forces and Hollie coordinating support and re-supply. Her Semblance would prove invaluable to troop morale. Collectively, these elite groups were known as the Knights of Remnant, whose primary duty was the defense of Remnant against all threats to the planet itself.
Winter served as overall commander of the defense. In the meantime, she had insisted that Oscar Pine and Glynda Goodwitch return to Vale in order to gather reinforcements in the event that it was needed. An attack on Vytal was not necessarily an attack on the Kingdom of Vale, but with that enormous Atlesian vessel so close to the country's northern border, it wouldn't be too difficult to justify a mobilization.
Neptune was also sent back to Vacuo in order to coordinate with Shade's Headmaster Orion Jupiter regarding the defense of the country, which was likely to become a battleground while the attack on Vytal was underway. Menagerie, however, was intent on staying out of the war. The assault on the country by the Greater Daemons had taken its toll and it was still a long way from recovering, whether physically or spiritually. Ilia, Velvet, and Fiona did what they could to keep the country from falling apart, but total collapse was not out of the question. Mistral also unilaterally decided to stay out of the conflict, a move which forced its resident Knights of Remnant to vacate the country and reinforce Castle Vytal without their nation's support.
But the imminent global conflagration was not on today's agenda. The most pressing matter at hand was the cloud of aerial attack ships and battle androids spilling forth from the floating fortress.
Weiss looked to her left. "Blake, are you sure you're all right?" she asked her teammate.
"Yeah," she replied resolutely. "They haven't broken my spirit. Or Sun's."
"Or your kids'," Yang said. "Ingrid is one tough cookie."
"Gets it from her mommy, obvi," Ruby said before pulling out one of the rune-embedded gemstones from her pocket. "Oh, it's glowing!"
Blake and Yang pulled out their own diamonds. The Earth Rune embedded in each one was glowing with a light brown hue.
"I still don't get how we're able to use magic like this," Yang said.
"We should save it for later," Blake said, readying her weapon for battle as the swarm of SS androids closed in.
Weiss looked over her shoulder. Castle Vytal was behind them, their defensive gun emplacements and sentries primed and ready for war. Many of those young men and women likely had never seen combat in their lives.
Ruby looked at her combat partner as her clothing and hair began to billow with a quiet force burgeoning up from within. And then, that calm power exploded with magnificent violence. For the first time in twenty years, her old friend was covered from head to foot in that radiant, silver armor, complete with Schnee snowflake emblazoned on the center of her chest plate and the golden roaring dragon embroidery on her blue cape.
Weiss turned to each of her friends. "Just like old times," she said with a smirk.
Yang returned her grin. "I kinda miss the old days, though," she said.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"You know. Back when all we had to kill was Grimm. Not each other."
"Sometimes," Weiss began as she marched forward, "humans can be even more monstrous than the Grimm."
With that, Teams RWBY and JNPR blasted forward, leading the charge against the massive horde of combat droids and aircraft.
—
Teams LILY and APEX turned to the battlefield as the air filled with the thunder of anti-aircraft fire and all manner of explosive ordnance.
"That's our cue," Athena said before turning to her rival team leader. "Hey, uh, is that you?"
Lilly tilted her head and pointed to herself.
"Yeah..."
"Oh!" she said. "Yeah, it's me. It's Lilly."
"This is confusing," Ingrid mumbled.
"Lilly's voice is more high-pitched than Lilith and also Lilly never cusses," Echo said.
"Leave it to you to notice all of that."
"Of course," Yuan said. "As Lilith herself stated, Echo was her first kiss. It's no surprise they have that connection."
Perseus and Leon burst into chuckles while Echo hid behind Athena.
"Why are you hiding behind me?" her girlfriend said. "You're the one who laid one on her without any warning."
"I really don't like this conversation anymore," Echo mumbled.
"Now you know how I feel when they pile on me," Ingrid sighed, leading the march toward the floating fortress.
"What's the plan?" Athena said to Lilly.
"Right," she said. "Once we get to that big flying thing, I use my magic to project platforms everywhere so we can leap all the way up to it."
"You can do that?" Leon said.
"Mm-hmm!"
"She sounds super excited to do this," Xanthus said.
"Who wouldn't be?" Echo yelled. "That sounds super freakin' awesome! We're gonna fly through the air and stuff? Ohmygod!"
"Hey," Athena said with a dry look. "You're not actually still crushin' on Lilly, are you?"
"What?" she yelled. "No! It's just super cool that we can fly!"
"Uh-huh."
"I mean, she's not wrong," Perseus said.
"Oh, that's right," Ingrid said. "You actually spent a whole summer with her doing Labyrinth work and stuff, didn't you?"
"Yeah. And it is pretty awesome to go flying in the sky."
"See?" Echo yelled.
"Okay, it's here," Lilly said.
Ingrid turned to her combat partner, noticing the profound change in her demeanor. It wasn't Lilith, she was sure of that. But this Lilly was most definitely not the Lilly she had first run into at Beacon Academy years ago. That Lilly was so unsure of herself and could barely figure out how to use her mother's weapon. This Lilly was as focused as a laser. Her pure smile was gone, replaced by a ferocious grin.
"Okay!" Lilly yelled before pointing Myrtenaster skyward. Runes manifested beneath the group's feet and in several locations in the air between them and the floating fortress. "Let's do this!"
Each one leaped up, targeting a rune to use as a platform. The leaders of the ascent were Lilly and Athena, who were neck and neck. Echo was immediately behind them with Xanthus nearby to provide their archer close quarters support. Leon, Perseus, Yuan, and Ingrid took up the rear together.
"Look at that," Leon said as they hopped from one rune platform to another. "Remember our initiation day at Beacon?"
"Yeah," Perseus said. "She almost died."
Yuan chuckled.
"Don't say that!" Ingrid said. "And you shouldn't be laughing!"
"But look at her now," Yuan said. "Only Athena can keep up with her."
"That's our boss," Leon said with a smile.
Ingrid glanced over at her childhood friend. A mild sensation of jealousy crawled up her back, but she ignored it. After all, he wasn't her boyfriend. There was no reason for her to be jealous of Lilly.
"You seem tense," Yuan said to her, making her hair stand on end.
"Of course!" she yelled as they landed in one of the ship's launch bays. "We're thousands of feet in the air right now!"
Ahead of them, Lilly, Athena, Xanthus, and Echo were already engaged with a number of combat androids and SS riflemen. A handful of Übersoldaten were among the mix, but Lilly's power against them was incredible. She punched one Übersoldat hard enough to stun it and she somersaulted backwards, pointing at the ground with Myrtenaster while she was upside down and projecting that same summon rune as always.
"Ritter von Remnant!" she yelled. "Beantworte meinen anruf! Leih mir dein schwert!"
Her knight dashed out of the rune circle, impaling one of the Übersoldaten against a pillar before decapitating it.
"Those things are fucking stupid hard to fight without our Wraith-Knight powers," Athena said. "And her knight just skewered it without any effort at all."
"That just goes to show how far she's come since our first day at Beacon," Yuan said.
The hangar defenders went down easily, but the group knew that reinforcements were probably already on the way. Lilly and Athena led their teams to the nearest gate, stopping at the doorway.
"Okay," Lilly said, looking up at her knight. "You have a shield, don't you?"
He nodded.
"Bigger than Perseus's shield?"
He manifested a massive wall of a shield that concealed his body from head to foot.
"Respect," Perseus said with a nod.
"He going first?" Athena asked.
Lilly nodded. She was about to move when Lilith began to stir. "What's wrong?" she said aloud.
"Huh? Oh, you're talking to Lilith."
"Wait, what do you mean?"
Yeah, I can sense her presence. I don't know how, but I can.
"She's aboard this ship?" Lilly all but yelled.
"Who's aboard this ship?" Ingrid said.
"Okay! Yeah, can you sense exactly where she is?"
She's above us. No idea where, though.
Echo's scroll rang and she looked at it. "Ariadne's calling," she said before answering. "What's up?"
"Oh, good," Ariadne said. "I'm assuming you're all aboard the giant vessel, given all of those rune circles in the sky just now and those explosions at its base."
"Yeah. And, yeah, this thing is friggin' huge."
"Ariadne!" Lilly yelled, snatching Echo's scroll. "Can you hack into the cameras and stuff?"
"Yes, I can," she said. "Their cyber security is rather pathetic, despite the fact that it's clearly a Schwarze Sonne vessel."
"Okay, cool. I need you to look for my cousin."
"Ivory?" Athena said, grabbing Leon's attention.
"She's onboard?" Ariadne said.
"Mm-hmm," Lilly answered.
"How do you know?"
"I don't. Lilith does. She said she just felt her presence for some reason. And it's not anything gut-related either. She said she sensed...magic?"
"Ivory has a Wraith-Knight?"
"No, no, it's not Ecumene magic. It's...magic of Remnant."
Ariadne paused for a moment. "I'll decode that last bit later. Okay, I'll search for her. Will update you via radio once I get a positive location."
"Roger dodger!" Lilly said, hanging up and giving the scroll back to its rightful owner. Echo cradled her scroll, turning away from Lilly, who giggled.
"You're sure she's here, huh?" Leon said.
Lilly noticed the longing in his face, but that wouldn't bother her right now. She had a mission to accomplish.
"Yeah," she said. "She's definitely here."
"What are we waiting for?" Athena said. "Let's go rescue the princess."
