Okie dokie, so from this chapter forward the rating of this fic is officially M.

In response to my latest guest reviewer, Hugh Jackman huh? That actually doesn't sound so far off, and Astrid's voice totally fits girl Nova, idk why I've never thought about that since, in case people haven't picked up on it, Nova and Luna's fish obsession is a reference to how much dragons like fish in HTTYD. They can eat what they want they just prefer to eat fish.

Thanks for the concerns and well wishes from those of you who were probably actually worried about my grandpa and uncle, especially you KawaiiMomoko-chan. Gramps is actually finally stabilizing but he's still stuck in the hospital.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: A Beautiful and wonderfully amazing person, TheRealRohan, did a super amazing sketch of Nova in his male and female forms. It's super cute and brings out Nova's male dorkiness. In my head, I always saw Nova as a super bishie type of guy, but this art style suits him so well, I love it. Anyway I can't exactly drop a link here, but head on over to my profile and the link to my twitter is there, I pinned the post so go take a gander. Again big thanks to TheRealRohan for doing this, it made me super happy.


Chapter 36: It's All Gone To The Grimm


Lyme sat in a warehouse in Vale, the very one used by Torchwick during his previous stay, accompanied by the members of Team BLDE. They were held out on the docks, trying to distance themselves from Amity Colosseum and avoid unnecessary interactions. The building was barely repaired since Torchwick blew a hole in the side with a mech, the building itself was practically held together by bubblegum and duct tape. The only noise was the occupants breathing and the occasionally incessant dripping whenever it rained. It was a madhouse, to say the least.

"How much longer are we going to have to lurk in the shadowsss like thisss…?" Lyme asked, his tongue slithering out at his pronunciation. He twirled his blade in his hands like a toy, it was his only means of passing the time since the other alternative was literally just breathing.

Edan felt a vein throb, "For the nine-thousandth time, we'll be ready when High Commander says we're ready…" he seethed, throwing one of his spectral daggers at the snake-Faunus.

Lyme flinched as the sharp blade whizzed just past his ear, almost slicing his flickering tongue.

"Well, we'd be in a better ssspot if sssomeone didn't freeze up on the battlefield…" he retorted now gesturing his blade at Bell.

Edan's face contorted, " Yes… I agree… speak, little fairy, you've kept your trap shut since the fight, I think we all deserve some explanation…" he directed attention to her. Even Dune in his silent nature turned his head to view the expression of his blonde compatriot. He might be a mute giant, and even though most of his emotions were gone, he still cared for his teammates, Bell was like his little sister or daughter. He'd been with her the longest and felt concerned whenever she began acting odd.

"There's nothin' to say. I choked, that's it. It happens to the best of us…" Bell said not bothering to look up, fearing that her eyes would give away her true feelings. Dune let out a grunt and a puff of steam from his mechanical arms as if to say 'Are you sure? That doesn't sound like you?'

"See… that's where you're wrong. It doesn't happen to us. We were trained by the living incarnation of hell itself, there is nothing that can make us 'choke'!" Edan roared advancing toward her, holding her chin up with a dagger. Dune made a flinching motion, ready to act in case Edan made a wrong move, though he wasn't sure if he could, given his... recent enhancements.

Bell looked him directly in the eyes, "There are some things in this world more terrifying than hell. Maybe you should get your head out of your ass and acknowledge you got fucking be-" Was all she could say before Edan smacked her hard across her cheek.

"FEAR?! IS THAT WH-" He was interrupted when his communicator beeped, and just in time too because Dune was about to tackle him for hurting his friend. "WHAT IS IT?! Oh… Adam… it's ready? You want us to what? Are you fucking with me?" Edan looked incredulously before sighing, "Fine, we'll get it done."

The rest of BLDE looked at him curiously.

"That was HQ. It's time for phase two of the operation. Onyx wants us to infiltrate Ironwood's ship and commandeer it."

"Of all the ridiculousss… Did he sssay why? Or how?" Lyme asked.

"No, but orders are orders. As for how… I think I have a plan…" Edan mused.

Bell felt her blood boil. Blind orders, that's all they were given. No explanations, no details. Just carry out the mission and get it done. How much she wanted to.. "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Bell screamed in pain as a sudden surge of anger caused a migraine.

"What's the matter with you? Got something up your ass? Are you getting too soft to work?" Edan glowered.

Bell had just about enough, she walked up and grabbed him by the collar, bringing his face to hers, "You shut the fuck up weasel boy, if you think I'm soft then you must be a fucking marshmallow." With that, she slammed a fist into the wall next to him for emphasis.

Everyone recoiled, "Yikesss, you pissssed her off…" A dagger came soaring at him as Lyme spoke.

"Can it snake breath, we've got a job to do…"


-Beacon Academy-

Ozpin sat in his office chair, his hands clasped over his mouth. Of all the things he'd never expected, one of his own top students, his own hand-selected special operations unit, turning on a defenceless student in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

The members of team ASHNRWBY stood staring down General Ironwood, Qrow, Randolf and Ozpin in dead silence, atmosphere so heavy Nova could swear his neck was starting to hurt.

Yang, in particular, stood looking rather pensive and scared. Being the subject of inquiry and investigation was never a good feeling, she felt isolated and alone, like a murderer on trial.

"Miss Xiaolong, can you please explain your actions at the recent match?" Ozpin asked calmly, breaking the silence by addressing the elephant in the room.

Ironwood felt his brow twitch, "Oz, with all due respect, we shouldn't even be questioning her right now. She should be in custody for the uproar she caused!"

"YOU WATCH YOUR FUC-!"

"HEX!" Nova yelled stopping the purplette from digging a deeper grave. Hex simmered down and bit her lip, the sheer fury never leaving her eyes. It wasn't fair for Yang to be under the gun like this, even if the evidence said otherwise, even if Yang wasn't innocent, she'd fight the Atlas military ten times over if it meant peace for her girlfriend.

"James, I understand your concerns but I think that one of my own trusted operatives has a solid explanation as to what happened." Ozpin turned to Yang, "Please, Miss Xiaolong, I'd like to hear your side of the story."

Yang looked uneasy, "Sir, he attacked me!" you could tell she was serious since she called Ozpin sir instead of Oz. "He was down, the match was called but suddenly he came flying at me with a kick. Couldn't you see it?!" she asked, as if reality was less than what it was.

"Sorry firecracker, but thousands of people and recorded video footage says otherwise," Qrow said grimly.

Yang looked baffled, "But I swear to you! He attacked!"

"You could swear to me but could you swear on Summer's grave that's what happened?" Qrow asked, deadly serious. Yang and Ruby went wide-eyed.

"With Summer Rose as my witness I swear that's what happened..." Yang said without a shred of doubt.

Qrow breathed a sigh of relief, he knew his niece wasn't a psychopath, he just needed to be sure...

"She's clearly delusional, I'll have my men escort her out…"

"Ironwood you give the order and I swear to you, you will find burn marks where your hands should be," Nova said dangerously, his patience had all but worn out.

"Do you have any idea what you're implying?" Ironwood asked folding his arms.

Nova's face was stoic, "I know very well, and I also know that I have the upper hand. I can write up this altercation as merely a disagreement and no one in this room would testify against me."

James flinched, "Oz would never…" he looked to the headmaster but the man was looking the other way.

Nova smirked, Ozpin knew his priorities, his most highly trained soldiers with the power to level an army at will, or relations with Atlas. The choice was simple.

"James, I suggest you keep your peace and think of a more rational solution. If Miss Xiaolong says she was attacked then more than likely she was… or there was something else going on."

"We already have suspicions on the victim, Mercury Black's group. It's not that far off that somethings happened out there that we weren't aware." Randolf sad calmly.

"Have you all gone mad? Concrete proof is right there in the videotapes, the witnesses!"

"The tapes could be altered; witnesses were too far away to say that Mercury didn't pull something that only Yang could see. Case in point, I'd like to refer to the match with Emerald and Mercury against Coco and Yatsuhashi." Nova said trying to be reasonable.

"Yeah! There was a clear use of illusions!" Ruby piped in bringing up the evidence.

"We've done the analysis on the fight as well, Mercury's semblance is the use of those air blasts, so illusory abilities would have to fall under Emerald's power unless Mercury is the only person in the world who has two semblances, Emerald did something in that fight," Luna said pulling up evidence of her own recording of the fight.

Ozpin and Ironwood studied the footage, "Even if what you are saying is true, there is still no concrete proof, I'd be basing judgment on your words alone…" Ironwood said finally easing himself. Hex and Nitro resisted the urge to punch the man, he was too proud for his own good.

"I think we-" James was interrupted when the door to Ozpin's office opened up, revealing Glynda and two boys following behind her. She strut forward with purpose, ignoring the curious gazes of Team ASHNRWBY.

"Glynda, this is rather important, I instructed that all other matters be placed afterward," Ozpin said.

Glynda pushed up her glasses, "My apologies sir, but I believe this one here has some valuable information…" she turned around to reveal Krome and Ragnar behind her. "This one here is Ragnar Faux, he has a very special semblance."

Ragnar stepped forward, eyeing the persons present, much to his surprise were the rest of team ASHNRWBY. The Dragon Prince himself standing at the forefront, like a guard protecting his team.

"Sir," Ragnar stood at attention.

"Mr. Faux, what is it that is so important it warranted Glynda to interrupt our meeting?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"Headmaster Ozpin sir, my semblance is what I call the Fox's Eyes, it allows me to detect anomalies." He responded, glowing his eyes for proof.

"Anomaly detection? Elaborate..."

"I can 'see' most people can't. Ranging from ultraviolet light to heat distortions and aura, even when it's inactive. I can see when a person uses their aura in their bodies and how it moves, for combat it generally allows me to predict an opponent's moves." He explained.

Everyone was now intrigued, "And how does this pertain to our situation?" Ironwood asked trying to avoid time wastage, he regarded his own student as someone he'd never even seen before. It said a lot about the General's involvement in the detailed work that was supposedly beneath him.

"General Ironwood sir, during Miss Xiaolong's match, there were two distinct aura activations outside of the combatants. On Yang's eyes, it wasn't her aura, because its colour differed, it clouded her eyes like a veil. The second was in the stands, I'm not sure who but, the aura colours on Yang's eyes and the one in the stands matched."

Nova smiled, "There's your proof Ironwood. Yang is innocent." He turned to Ragnar, "You were from the Atlas team we fought right? Thank you…"

"You did a good thing by bringing this to our attention." Ironwood commended, "What academy are you from again?"

Krome and Ragnar both deadpanned, "We're from Atlas sir..." Krome spoke up.

Everyone in the room felt a sweat drop, "Ahem yes, of course, I knew that I was just allowing you to inform the room..." Ironwood coughed into his fist.

Ragnar pretended to ignore that comment, "I'm just doing my part. Anything to get back at those traitors."

"Thorian and Gale, yeah we have a few bones to pick with them to…" Nova mused.

"A few?" Nitro quirked his brow.

"Okay more like several hundred, can we get back to matter at hand?" Nova gestured to Yang who looked slightly more relieved.

"Yes, well, the semblance of someone is still no concrete proof, even if you are considered an eye witness. The world believes that Miss Xiaolong turned on her downed opponent and sparking controversy now would just incite more negativity. And we all know what that brings…" Ozpin said grimly.

Yang flinched, "So… what is going to happen to me now…? Can't I just be free to go?"

"Sorry, Miss Xiaolong but I think it best if James places you under dorm arrest." Ozpin nodded to Ironwood.

"Arrest?! BUT SHE'S INNOCENT!" Hex was furious, she had fully lost her patience with these 'authoritative decisions'.

"Be that as it may, having her freely walk around would be detrimental to the health of the tournament. We're just having her stay in her dorm under guarded protection until the matches are over."

"You do realize we're playing into their hands right? We're just dancing to their tune and there's nothing we can do about it!" Blake finally spoke up. The whole time she'd been terrified to speak given her… record.

"The orders of your superiors are given for your benefit. You will comply or I will have to… enact on your previous record with The White Fang." Ironwood said playing the card. Blake shrank back.

"How did you…"

"Classified."

"Threatening my friends James... I'll remember this." Nova said his eyes trained on the General, they were both now locked in a staring contest.

Ruby desperately tried to defuse the situation by making apologies but they went unheard as the two leaders were locked in a staredown as if one move was all it took to begin pulling weapons on each other. Ozpin watched in dismay, "Calm down you two... we're all on the same side here..."

Their staring contest was interrupted when James received a message on his earpiece communicator.

"This is Ironwood. Yes, wait what?!"

All the persons in the room suddenly halted their thoughts and observed him curiously.

"You are sure? Escort them to my ship immediately and throw them in the brig, it's our best holding cell for now. And tighten them on maximum security."

Ironwood turned to everyone else, "It seems we have just had a stroke of luck."

Now everyone was doubly curious, "How so?" asked Ozpin.

Ironwood smiled, which was strange, "It seems our enemies have turned themselves in."

"WHAT?!"

"Yes, four persons, two of which match the profiles of the ones Nova and Luna fought during their duos match, have just turned themselves in," Ironwood said almost… happily. The fact that he even looked excited made Nova feel queasy.

"James you just… arrested them?" Qrow asked stupefied.

"Yes. I've had my men place them on my airship in the holding cell under maximum security."

"Why would they even turn themselves in?! Why now?" Weiss asked trying to use her brain to come up with a reason.

"Why didn't you put them in Vale's prison?" Nova turned to the general. His eyes narrowing in contemplation.

Ozpin sighed, "Earlier last night there was a fire at the prison, the majority of the cells were torched, and no before you ask none of the prisoners got hurt or got out, the cells were thankfully all empty." He said.

"Oh! Well that's one good thing… right?" Ruby asked trying to be optimistic.

Nova sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Unfortunately Ruby, that doesn't put me at ease."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. A fire breaks out in the prison rendering it unusable, someone, probably Emerald, messes with Yang's fight and causes chaos, then Team BLDE just turns themselves in? These things can't be a coincidence." He reasoned.

Ozpin grimaced, "Yes, I'm getting that feeling as well. James is there any alternative to your ship?"

"My ship has the highest maximum security cell in all of the fleet. I will have several highly trained teams on the job to look after our captives. It is the most secure place in Vale." He said proudly.

"Ironwood I don't think that's what Ozpin means…" Randolf sighed.

"Huh?"

"Getting on board your ship was probably the one thing they wanted in the first place…" Hex said with realization.

"Be that as it may… we don't have any other choice…" Nova grimaced, "Ironwood I sincerely hope your security is as good as you say… for all our sakes."


-Amity Arena-

"AND NOW FOR THE NEXT BATTLE OF THE VYTAL TOURNAMENT'S FINAL ROUND!" Port announced over the PA system.

"We will now begin the random selection process." Oobleck continued for him.

Nova and Ruby sat with their team in the stands while they awaited the candidates for the next battle. Hex, Blake, and Luna had been keeping a special eye out for Emerald or the other members of her team while Nova and Ruby focused on trying to spot other potential threats. They were given access to the camera feeds for the back halls and Hex installed her own devices throughout the outer arena for extra coverage. Ragnar and Krome were in the stands as audience members to spot out potential threats. They had the entire place on lockdown, any suspicious activity was to be caught the moment it went live.

"Any sign of them?" Nitro asked his eyes trained on their rows.

"Nothing… wait… The camera feed outside is picking up some anomalies," Hex said checking her equipment to ensure it wasn't glitching.

"Anomalies?" Nova asked.

"It's like I'm seeing the same loop of video every twenty seconds, I didn't notice it at first but… there's like this one scrap of paper in the corner of the screen that occasionally moves a few centimetres backward and forward…"

"Ruby." Was all Nova had to say and she nodded. The two team leaders calmly got up from their seat and made a straight line for the hallways with intent and purpose.

The halls were empty and barren, devoid of all other persons since, everyone wanted to see the match.

"And the candidates are… Pyrrha Nikos and…. Minor technical difficulties… PENNY POLENDINA!" Came the distant sound of Port.

"Oooh, Penny is going to fight! Aw, I don't want to miss this…" Ruby pouted, "But we have more important fish to fry."

Nova paled, "Ruby wait…" he held his hand out to stop her.

"What is it?"

"Penny is an android girl, right? As in made of metal bits?" Nova asked hoping she was at least half-human.

"Yup, one hundred percent metal, and she's going to fight… Pyrrha…" It slowly dawned on Ruby. "WE NEED TO GET HER OUT OF THERE! PYRRHA DOESN'T KNOW!" she made a mad dash backward but Nova held on to her.

"RUBY! FOCUS! Penny can take care of herself! We need to focus, if Cinder's team is down here then we need to stop them. If we stop them and whatever their plan is then we stop the madness."

The red leader deflated, her game face now coming on, "Right. We need to… focus…" her eyes began focusing on something in the distance.

"What is it?"

"Mercury?" Ruby asked, the question not being directed at Nova.

The dragon turned around to see Mercury Black, walking good as new, no evidence of breakage or damage to his person, as if his fight with Yang was just a bad dream.

"Hmph, some injury you got there, it's so bad that you can actually walk on it?" Nova asked sarcastically.

Mercury didn't say anything. He just smiled and stood before them.

"What's the matter? Did they fix your leg but cut out your tongue?" Nova asked now growing impatient.

"Why don't you just admit it. We know what you've been planning. Your allies at Team BLDE have already turned themselves in… so I suggest you do the same." he said now becoming very very irritated.

"FIGHT BEGIN!" Port announced in the distance.

Mercury now took up a stance, "Showtime…" was all he said before rushing at Nova with blinding speed.

Nova made a move to duck past him but Mercury blocked instantly.

"Ruby! I'll handle this guy, the fact that he ain't saying anything means he's probably trying to stall. Get to the arena NOW!"

"But…"

"RUBY, I PROMISE I WILL CATCH UP TO YOU LATER! JUST GO!"

She hesitated for a moment, but shook herself off, she needed to be serious, this was a matter of life and death. "RIGHT!" She saluted and burst off with her semblance. Mercury made a move to stop her with his air blasts but Nova parried them by throwing Asura.

"Don't you dare touch her! Your fight is with me…"


Back at the arena Penny and Pyrrha had already begun brawling. Penny drew several floating blades from behind her, they were all about the size of long swords, but with one sharp edge, each patterned with a green omega symbol. They seemed to float on air and were controlled by Penny's movements, in reality, they were strung together and operated by almost invisible wires.

The android girl began a complex blade dance by maneuvering her hands and guiding the blades to strike Pyrrha in a hailstorm of swords.

The red-headed champion expertly dodged and deflected them all while simultaneously closing in the distance, however, the deflected blades were not out of the fight. With one swift motion, Penny summoned the blades calling them back, almost blindsiding Pyrrha. The champion's reflexed proved to be too good as she evaded all the swords again, this time they forced her back.

Now Penny was on the full offensive, attacking Pyrrha in a deadly flourish, forcing her to use both her spear and shield to block.

Pyrrha attempted to make a close-range strike but it was easily blocked by Penny who then made an attempt to counterattack with her blades, only to miss by a hair strand.

It was like hellfire in the arena for Pyrrha as Penny suddenly began shooting lasers from her swords, as if their range wasn't already deadly enough.

On one end of the stadium, Emerald stood, cloaked in her semblance, "Keep fighting Miss Champion... I think our robotic friend deserves a little... help..."


Back with Nova he and Mercury had been fighting on relatively equal grounds. Nova was holding back but not by choice. If he started using his powers here then he'd probably roast the infrastructure and start an unnecessary panic. He couldn't let the people above know that there was a fight going down outside the arena. Thus he was forced to go back to his vanilla combat skills, something that Mercury seemed very well versed in.

"You're pretty good at fighting for a bad guy…" Nova commended as he drew Asura and dashed toward Mercury, the ninjato blade ready to carve through only for it to be met by the steel boot of his adversary.

"And you're holding back. Come on, spit those flames you're so proud of, or are you afraid of the… collateral damage?" Mercury smirked sending a flying kick at him.

Nova easily dodged, "You're just stalling for time. Come on, tell me, what are you trying to gain from causing all this panic?"

"I don't have to answer to you."

"Really? That's a shame, I thought we were finally warming up on each other here. Hey, a few more words and we could be besties," Nova said with a fake smile that caused Mercury to puke internally.

"Ew, that's actually disgusting, please don't ever do that again."

"Do what? I thought I was being the epitome of niceness." Nova did it again. This time Mercury actually physically gagged.

"Holy shit how the fuck do you fake a smile like that ?! I almost thought you were being real!"

"It takes fucking practice, that's what. Now, how bout we end this little charade hm?"

"See now I want to spend more time with you…"

Nova grimaced, the clock was ticking, he could feel it. Seconds were counting down on the invisible clock of doom, he needed to be faster.


Ruby barely made it to the arena in time. On the stage, Penny and Pyrrha were still locked in heated combat.

"Woah… Penny's fighting style is incredible… are those wires?" the red leader marvelled as she observed the android girl skilfully manipulate the blades to the point where Pyrrha was on the defence entirely, being forced to dodge at all angles as laser blasts and blade swipes came down like a futuristic butchering machine.

"AH THIS IS NO TIME TO BE OOGLING! I NEED TO FOCUS!" She slapped her cheeks, and petal burst over to her team.

"Ruby! Where's Nova?" Luna asked concerned.

"We met Mercury in the back halls, Nova's handling him. He sent me back because he thinks now that he's occupied there might be trouble. Any sign on Emerald?"

"RUBY ROSE!" A new voice screamed, scampering toward them, it was Ragnar.

"Fox kid? You got anything?" Nitro asked, remembering about the boy's semblance. Ozpin had placed him in the higher stands to get more coverage.

"Opposite end of the arena, directly in front of us, aura being used, the same kind as when Yang fought." Ragnar panted, clearly exhausted from barrelling through hundreds of people on his way to find them.

"That's all you had to say. RUBY GO!" Hex yelled.

"BUT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE OUT WHO IT IS IF THEY'RE CLOAKED?!" Ruby yelled frantically.

"Brown shirt, blonde hair, green eyes." Was all Ragnar could say before Ruby zipped off.

Back in the arena, Pyrrha was having the most taxing experience of her life. One of the toughest matches she'd ever fought before, the last one being against Nova himself. She'd slowly been driving herself mad with exhaustion. It felt like there were more than eight swords, it was beginning to feel like ten, then twelve, as if they were just adding up.

She finally managed to get away from the continuously multiplying swords, now standing at one end of the arena, staring down Penny.

The android girl smiled cheerily as she raised her swords, ready to strike at Pyrrha again.

In Pyrrha's eyes, however, there were no longer eight swords… there were hundreds. An entire armada of sharp blades all lined in perfect order, ready to execute at Penny's command. It terrified her.

Pyrrha felt her brain beginning to lose it's cool as panic set in. She was going to lose, or potentially die. The sheer amount of swords couldn't possibly be tournament regulated, could they? Why wasn't anyone saying anything?

The fear and panic began welling up inside her until she snapped. The moment Penny threw her swords, Pyrrha unleashed her semblance, more than she'd ever used before. A wave of polarity struck the android girl and her swords like a shockwave, sending them flying back in the opposite direction, except… things didn't happen as Pyrrha had expected.


Outside on the rim, Ruby had barely made it to the other end in time, desperately searching for the person Ragnar described. But, that person was nowhere to be found.

"COME ON! EMERALD WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Ruby practically shouted over the roar of the crowd, and, suddenly that roar died into a simultaneous gasp of shock and some even screamed.

Ruby robotically turned her head to see the wires of Penny's swords whip around her arms and legs like rope. It was as if she was watching it happen in slow motion, the wires gripping on to the fabric on the unsuspecting Polendina's body, and painfully, slowly, ripping the very limbs from her.

It was like watching a horror movie, as the sword wires tore off her arms, legs and eventually… her head. All Ruby could do was watch in absolute terror as the life in Penny's eyes died out, leaving a scared, traumatized Pyrrha in the ring, instantly regretting what she'd done. Ruby could see the red-headed champion shaking in fear, trembling as she resisted the urge to vomit her insides out at the scene, at the act she'd just committed.

The world around Ruby droned out as she felt fear and despair dropping over her like a boulder, dragging her down. Panicking people, emergency announcements, all of it became dull noise as she stared at the gruesome scene before her.

"Aw, looks like you didn't make it in time~" Came a feminine voice causing Ruby to whip her head around.

Emerald stood smiling, her hands on her hips, "Too bad, that Penny girl probably deserved it though…"

"EMERALD!" Ruby felt hot tears sting her face as she felt the fury inside her build. She liked Emerald, despite all the evidence against her, she wanted to believe that Emerald was still a good person. Any thought like that shriveled up and died in that one very moment.

Emerald faked hurt, "Aw don't blame me~ After all… you failed to get here in time…" she said darkly. And just as soon as Ruby blinked, she was gone, just the faint laughter in the wind. The red leader just fell to her knees in utter despair.


Nova heard the screams up above, "What's happening? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Mercury smiled, an evil, sinister grin, "We've only just kindled the wildfire we started. This school, this system, you and your kind, it's over."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you get it? The mass panic of hundreds of thousands of people..."

Nova paled, "You... you're bringing the Grimm right to us!"

Mercury laughed, "And not just a few..."

Nova heard enough, with one swift motion he reared the flames of his scythe, the Fragment of Fire in the eye of Asura glowing hot from its owner's rage. The stone which had been held dormant since its acquisition was beginning to awaken.

The dragon swung the blazing scythe in a wide arc, cleaving the very steel pillars in half and simultaneously welding them back with the intense heat, the roar of the fire shooting at Mercury, consuming the hallway in a blaze.

Nova panted heavily from the recoil, having used his power in such rage, it consumed a great deal of energy. The fires of the hall died down just as quickly as they came, only to reveal an empty hallway, with no sign of Mercury,

"FUCK!" Nova cursed as he punched the wall next to him. ARGH, I Don't have time for this... Ruby just hold on, I'm on my way...

As Nova made his way back to the arena he could hear Oobleck screaming "BROADCAST! CUT THE BROADCAST!"... that wasn't good...

But the broadcast didn't cut, instead, Oobleck's cries were replaced by the voice of a woman Nova now considered to be literally godforsaken. "This was not an accident..." Cinder could be heard through a nearby speaker, causing Nova to momentarily stop.

"Shit..."

"This is what happens when hand over your trust... your safety... your children... to men who claim to be our guardians...who are... in the end... nothing more than men." Cinder continued.

"Yikes girl, you sound like some radical feminazi..." Nova rolled his eyes as he listened. The world was falling around him but hey, at least he could stop to critique her speech.

"Our headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both..."

"James fucking Ironwood... well even if she is a conniving bitch, I'm with her on the hatred for Ironwood..." the dragon mused.

"And what do we have here? One nation's synthetic soldiers torn apart by another's star pupil? What need does a nation have for soldiers disguised as innocent little girls? And what is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment? And now this? AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE SO-CALLED ROYALS HUH? The 'Prestigious Dragon Family' they disappear for almost a decade, contribute nothing to politics, and show up now? When it's convenient for them? They're just weak abusers..."

"OH BITCH YOU DID NOT!" Nova felt his blood boil, "I've heard enough..." Nova shot the speaker with his sniper. Cinder Fall... I'm coming for your throat...


Chapter's a bit shorter than I wanted but I didn't want to drop all the balls in one sitting you know?

Anyway, til next chapter, you beautiful people you.