"Alright, split up so we can deal with this better! Ker you take the left side! Raven, Qrow, you two take the right side! I'll take the one with the most amount of stronger grimm in the center! Now go!" I shout.

I get off Ker as he quickly runs far to the left before engaging the grimm with Qrow and Raven doing the same to my right. Heh what a familiar sight, facing off against an army except this time I don't have one myself and it's against hordes of monsters. Well, no time like the present.

I take out my claws and pour mana into it before calling the Wraith's and Dragon's souls that I absorbed. They manifest besides me with dark blue energy as their bodies and blue flames coming out of their mouths and eyes along with glowing blue orbs in place of their eyes. They already know what to do as I dash, the wraith immediately warps and starts slaughtering grimm while the dragon flies up and starts breathing blue fire also killing countless amounts of grimm.

I put the claws away before charging right into the middle of the grimm already killing some as I ram my way through. I jump before slamming into the ground with enough for force to bring up large chunks of the ground. Quickly, while they're still in the air, I kick all of them in various directions easily killing hundreds upon hundreds of the weaker grimm.

As I clear another large group of grimm with my blades, I feel the ground rumble before I can see three giant centipede grimm emerging out of the ground in the distance they have bone armor completely covering their backs and legs but they have an exposed underside. They're also probably about half the size of that leviathan grimm. They let out a booming roar before burrowing in and out of the ground in our direction.

God damn, I wonder what type of grimm will appear when Salem gets here. Because right now, this would be disastrous for Atlas if I here. I pour more mana into my blades before slamming them into the ground, creating a series of large explosions clearing a path for me.

I quicky run through the path as I kill grimm on the way to the giants. I finally reach it as it appears from below and it tries to eat my whole. I quickly switch weapons before throwing them and hooking them onto the top of its head. I pull myself up just in time to not get eaten, although I could've probably just cut up its insides and get out through its unguarded side.

I switch back to my blades before smashing them through the decently thick bone armor on its head. This makes it roar out in pain as it tries to shake me off. But just like the rest of the creatures that tried that, I held on. I jump off behind it as I pull the chains down brining its head along with me. It smashes into the ground before I get my blades back and before it can get back up, I grab it by its fangs before using a good chunk of my strength to pull it completely out of the ground.

And with great effort I begin to spin it around faster and faster as I start killing countless amounts of grimm who were recklessly charging at me. I continued this for a few more seconds before slamming it back onto the ground with its back facing the ground. I jump onto the underside of its head and easily stab my now ignited blades in before running along the whole underside of this thing. As I reach the end, I can already see that the head's turning to dust before getting covered by the cannon fodder.

I jump up high and I can see that the two other centipedes were already handled by the wraith and dragon. I can also see where Ker and Raven are because Ker's using his shadow tentacles and Raven's using Erebus' abilities. I land back down as I clear even more grimm upon impact.

I continue to kill all the grimm around me but I hear a screech, so I look up to see several flying grimm all resembling different animals come flying at me. I can see that they're about to fire a breath attack at me but were burnt to a crisp by my dragon. I hear more louder than usual roars from the distance and whatever grimm it is, it's rushing me so fast that it's likely twice as fast as Ruby. It charges through the grimm seemingly not caring and solely focusing on me.

It quickly charges through the remaining grimm keeping us apart and stops right in front me giving me a good view of it. It has a slim body by normal grimm standards, bone armor covering everything but its joints and long needle like hands with a sharp single toed feet.

"What… are you?"

"You can talk. Are you an elder?"

"Answer my question and I shall answer yours."

"Then, I am someone you do not want to fight."

"I suppose that answer will suffice, and yes I am and elder."

"Then prepare for your death."

"I shall not lose to a mortal."

"Heh, who ever said I was a mortal?"

"Wha-"

I interrupt it as I aim a punch at its midsection which it dodges and retaliated with a stab aimed at my face. I block it with one of my blades and slash with the other. It goes into a burst of speed to get behind me but I quickly sidestep the attack and grab its hand before throwing it into the hordes of grimm surrounding us. It seems Salem actually sent an elder here, how kind of her. I'm going to have to thank her after all this is over.

It stops when I hear a loud boom indicating it hit the ground. But not a moment later another boom is heard along with a shout.

"DON'T THINK THAT I'LL DIE THAT EASILY!"

I can see him going double his initial speed which is now just not fair to compare to Ruby. It reaches me and goes for a strike that I block causing a shockwave and the ground beneath us to crack under the pressure. It goes for multiple quick strikes but I block all of them. That's because when you've fought someone like Hermes, this is practically nothing.

I shift slightly during one of its many strikes causing it to go off balance just by a little. But that's enough for me to get through its guard and stab it through its armor and into its flesh. This causes it to shout in pain and it speeds up its attacks to try and get me but I duck and sweep its legs before slamming it into the ground.

While it's stunned, I switch to my claws and start pulling out its soul.

"*Cough* It seems… I have lost. *Cough* May I know the name of my killer?"

"Kratos, that is my name."

It couldn't say anything more as I ripped out its soul before it fuses with me instantly making me feel much faster and more agile than I was just moments ago. And the hordes of grimm is the perfect thing to practice this new amount of power on.

(Timeskip)

After that elder grimm appeared, there were only weaklings left so nothing noteworthy happened after that. Me, Ker, Raven, and Qrow gathered as we head back to the Mantle's entrance where we'll go to Atlas.

"So how did it go for the rest of you? Any struggles?" I ask.

"None here, strongest thing I fought were a large group of alphas and some of them were almost elders." Ker says.

"Me and Erebus didn't have any problems when we used our new combo." Raven says.

"It was alright I guess… *Mumble* I should get stronger…" Qrow said.

We arrive at the walls of Mantle and the guards came to greet and thank us. And they didn't seem to mind Ker being out as well, they probably saw him fighting against the grimm. Ker gets back into my shadow after the gates because the normal people would probably not react the same to Ker. Most of them came to thank us well, it took longer to get to the airship area because of that.

But nevertheless, we arrived and there was already a pilot waiting for us. We got on and quickly made our way to James' tower.

"Do you think there'll be more hordes like that before she arrives?" Raven asks.

"I don't think so, but if there is I hope there's an elder to make it worthwhile." I say

"Sheesh, if there're going to be more elders then we're going to have a much harder time." Qrow says as he takes a swig of his flask.

"All you have to do is lead them to me or Ker, we can take care of them." I say.

"I'm glad I'm not the one having to deal with them… but damn do I wanna be the one." Qrow says.

"You simply need to get stronger, brother." Raven says as she slaps Qrow's back while he's taking a drink form his flask.

This of course makes him spit out the alcohol and glare at Raven who's looking away with a knowing smile. We arrive at James' tower not too long after that before heading up to his office.

"Do you think the others are already here?" Qrow.

"Well, we're about to see." Raven says.

The elevator doors open and the other were already there, which made sense since they were already in Mantle when we finished. We joined the little line in front of James.

"Now that everyone's here, let us begin the debriefing. Firstly, I would like to thank the main attack force consisting of Dominus, Qrow, and Raven. Atlas and Mantle are in your debt. And for the rest of you who kept the citizens of Atlas and Mantle safe from any stragglers that got through, you have my thanks as well. In terms of actual damage it has been kept to an absolute minimum thanks to the efforts of the main attack force. And there were also no casualties with the combined efforts of both teams. All in all, this is the best outcome we could have hope for. Everyone but Dominus is dismissed." Ironwood says.

Everyone else but me left quickly leaving only me and James.

"Coffee?" He asks.

"Sure." I say as I take a seat.

He pours both a of us a cup and after we each take a sip he says, "Now onto the next order of business. Have you found out anything about Salem and when she's going to attack?"

"So far nothing, although be wary of something happening in Mantle, she probably sent subordinates to cause chaos." I say.

"I see, that would make sense to do that. Now, from general to former general, let's talk about our defense plan shall we?" He asks.

"We shall." I say.