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Chapter 16: Evaluation

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Eugene walked into the arena. He felt strangely calm as the lights of the place fell upon him. He looked into the stands. There were quite a few people there, though not as many as their would have been had classes still been in session. Many students went home at the end of the semester, returning to their families, but others either wanted to stay, or (much like Delsin and him) had nowhere to go.

He looked up to the monitor behind him. His name and Aura level (he was still curious as to how he'd unlocked it) were displayed openly.

"Well, at least if I run out I have a giant power source ready and waiting," he thought.

When he was ready, he walked to the center of the arena to begin the test. Glynda stepped into the judge's box.

"Quiet down everyone," she called. The students who had been talking amongst themselves quickly stopped.

"Go Eugene, you got this!" Delsin shouted.

Glynda nearly gave herself whiplash at the speed she turned to glare at him. Delsin met her gaze and smiled, utterly unconcerned with her anger. She turned back to the arena and cleared her throat.

"This will be a combat evaluation in two parts. Do I need to remind you of the rules Mr. Sims?" she asked.

"Do whatever I want so long as it's just me as I am now right?" he replied, editing himself to preserve his secret.

"Correct," she answered, "So keep them in mind. Are you ready to begin?"

Eugene did a mental check of his powers and reserves, then nodded.

"I am," he said.

"Well then," she began. She tapped a few times on her tablet.

Four hatches opened in the floor of the arena, and four cages rose up through them. Eugene tensed up when he saw that each cage contained a Beowolf. The cages started to retract and recede into the platforms they were stationed on.

"Begin!" Glynda shouted.

O00000O00000O

The cages finished collapsing, then the Grimm raced towards him, one from each side.

Eugene launched a volley of Bloodthirsty Blades at the Beowolf coming at him head on, and it was blown to mist without a word. He turned to do the same thing to the one to his left, but the one from behind him caught him before he could.

The evil creature swiped at him with its claws and the recoil from the blow impacting his Aura knocked him back. In his peripheral vision he saw that it had taken a big chunk of his Aura, running it down to 80. Eugene caught himself and used the force to turn. He was now face to face with the three Grimm.

He summoned one of his Digital Longswords to his right and readied himself, using a stance he had borrowed from Pyrrha. The Grimm charged. He brought his blade down the second one of them entered his range. In the stands, Pyrrha winced ever so slightly. She knew he'd made a bad move.

The Grimm that had gotten him in the back earlier dodged the swing and returned with one of its own. In that moment, Eugene realized he'd forgotten to keep his Aura up and the Grimm's claws dug into his right shoulder.

He managed to jump back before he suffered major damage but he was still hurt, and with his healing factor being as weak as it was, he'd likely be dealing with that injury for the duration of the fight. He moved his other hand to check the wound, and pulled it back to find his fingers wet with blood.

He started to panic at the sight. He wasn't used to seeing his own blood, and the adrenaline rush hit him like city bus. His first instinct was to run away as fast as he could, and he was inches away from doing just that. But instead, he fought down the urge to run, remembering what his new friends had taught him about fear.

"It's only information," Yatsuhashi had said, "Your body is telling you that you are in danger. Don't fight your fear, use it. It can guide you if you let it."

Eugene almost smiled. In the moment he had, he brought his Aura back up and moved his sword to his other hand. When the Grimm came back on him, he let his fear do the walking.

One of the beasts brought one of it's claws in a swipe from his left. This time Eugene evaded, if only barely. He replied this time with an upward strike and his sword sliced the Grimm's arm off. The monster roared and fell back.

The next one came on him from his right and tried to bull rush him. Eugene managed to sidestep and, with a move he borrowed from Weiss, stab it in the side. The beast cried out but managed to get a bit away from him.

The third Grimm, this being the same one that had gotten the drop on him twice now, was evidently smarter than the rest. Or perhaps it was just lucky. Either way, it used the whimpering form of the one armed Grimm to hide itself while it jumped over it in a wild pounce.

This time, Eugene actually did smile. He called up his wings and surged upwards. The Grimm pounced onto open air. From his superior position, Eugene launched another wave of Bloodthirsty Blades, right onto the Grimm that had landed where he was, killing it.

"Serves you right asshole," he said to himself.

As he slowly descended, he unleashed a wave of Video Torrents from both hands, targeting the two remaining Grimm. The one without an arm fell after one wave. The other managed to pick up a run and dodge. When Eugene touched down, the last Grimm turned and charged at him, consumed by its rage.

Eugene raised his left hand and released an unending wave of Video Torrent on it, but somehow it just powered through it. Eugene grimaced and stopped the Torrent. In its place he summoned another sword and held it in front of him with both hands, wincing in pain. As the beast closed in, he didn't move. His fear told him to run, it practically screamed it, but he stood, albeit shaking.

The monster leapt. Its claws were spread. Its jaws were open wide. As it fell towards Eugene, many of the spectators were wondering what the hell he was doing. Ruby was the first to get it.

He was waiting for an opening.

When the Beowolf was only a couple feet from him, Eugene thrust his sword, stabbing right through it's chest. The Grimm fell on his sword and let out a whine as it faded into black mist.

O00000O00000O

When the buzzer sounded signaling his victory, the adrenaline stopped almost as suddenly as it came. Eugene nearly collapsed as it left and the pain of his injured shoulder flooded him. He only managed to stop himself by summoning a flimsy staff for himself. Ruby and Delsin were with there to support him in moments. Glynda eyed them. Then she got on the loudspeaker.

"We will have a short break, then the second part of the trial will get underway. Please get that wound tended to in the time provided Mr. Sims," she said.

"Will do," he grunted.

"Good. Be back here in twenty minutes."

She turned and left the judges box, and the three people in the arena left.

"Good job buddy," Delsin said.

"Yeah, you did great," Ruby continued.

"Thanks guys," Eugene said, his voice more than a little pained.

"Don't worry, we'll get you patched up," Delsin said.

The three of them quickly left the arena.

As they left, no one noticed the soft traces of putrid sulfur smell, or the small patches of green-gray coloring tracing the fallen Beowolf's features.

O00000O00000O

"It didn't work," a small feminine voice said.

"I told you it wouldn't," a rough voice laced with sarcasm replied.

"Shut the fuck up Mercury," the feminine voice retorted.

"Calm down you two," a third voice said with quiet authority.

That voice was special. It had an almost seductive quality to it, with just a touch of hidden danger. It was the voice of a predator, one who used its beauty to distract you, and once your guard was down, it stabbed you in the back.

When that voice spoke, the other two stopped almost immediately and all but froze.

"You say it didn't work?" the special voice asked.

Mercury gulped, but no one heard it.

"Yeah," he said, "None of the Grimm from that last fight mutated."

"Really?"

The small voice spoke up.

"No ma'am, but there was a small glimpse of a change in one of them right at the end, but it was already dying."

"I see. Try again. Place the shard in the cage now while the evaluation is on hold. Give it a bit more time."

A smile crossed the lips of the woman to whom the predator's voice belonged.

"Let's see how the Conduits handle this."

O00000O00000O

Glynda walked into Ozpin's office.

"You called sir?" she asked.

Ozpin took a sip from his mug, then placed it on his desk.

"Yes. How did the first part of the evaluation go?" he asked.

"You weren't watching?" she questioned, giving him a questioning look.

Ozpin sighed.

"Glynda, classes may not be in session right now, but I still have a school to run. As much as I would like to, I don't have the time to keep watch of everything that happens in these walls. How did it go?"

Glynda cleared her throat.

"Fairly well. He succeeded in defeating his opponents and his Aura took minimal damage fore someone of his skill," she said.

"But?"

"But he let it drop in the middle of the fight. He then sustained a moderate injury to his right shoulder," she continued.

Ozpin didn't say anything in reply, beyond an elongated "hmmmm." He picked up his tablet and made a few taps. Glynda felt her Scroll buzz. She reached into her pocket (they were cleverly hidden on the sides of her skirt) and pulled it out, finding a new message from Ozpin. She looked up at him curiously.

"The updated rules for the next part of the evaluation," he said.

Glynda opened the message and looked it over. A small look of uncertainty crossed her face.

"Sir, are you sure about this?" she asked.

Ozpin nodded.

"You should get going," he said, "The evaluation will be resuming shortly."

Glynda stood there for a moment still reading the updated rules, but she quickly left the office when she was done.

When she was gone, Ozpin picked up his mug and walked to the window nearest his desk. As he looked out over Beacon and beyond it the Kingdom of Vale, he smiled. The hopeful feeling he'd felt since he'd seen Delsin in action had only grown since Eugene had appeared.

"Whatever you're planning Salem," he thought, "This time, I will be ready."

O00000O00000O

Twenty minutes, a bandage and a low dose of painkillers later, Eugene was back in the arena.

There were actually more people in the stands now. He had drawn a bit more of a crowd once word had spread about him. Delsin had attracted quite a following in his time at Beacon, and once word had gotten out about a new student with similar powers, they were more than anxious to see it for themselves.

Once again, Glynda stepped up into the judge's box. After quieting the crowd down, she turned to face Eugene.

"And now, we come to the second part of your evaluation," She began.

Eugene gulped silently, determined not to show weakness to the crowd if he could avoid it.

"Before we begin, I should inform you of a slight change. The rules of this match will be slightly different than the last one."

Eugene looked at her questioningly.

"This will be a much more difficult trial than what was planned. As such, it will be over if your Aura reaches 40 or below, or you suffer a significant injury. Conversely, as this will be a more difficult bout, it's victory conditions are also different."

She made a few taps on her tablet and a three minute timer appeared on the monitor over his name and Aura level.

"If you manage not to lose until three minutes pass, or if you do succeed in killing your target, you will pass this part of your evaluation. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Eugene said.

"Good."

Glynda made another tap and a cage easily more than twice as large as the previous cages rose up before him. When Eugene saw what was in it, he stepped back, his fear forcing him to do so.

He'd read about the spider-like Grimm before him. It was called a Widowmaker. He'd laughed when he'd read that, thinking back to a character in a favorite game of his with the same moniker. But, as he looked at the monster in front of him, he didn't feel much like laughing.

It was the size of a house, easily twenty-five feet tall. Its face was covered by the typical bone mask found on Grimm, as were its mandibles. After the first joint on all eight of it's legs, they were covered in bone armor that actually spiked over the joint and into the air, making it just that more menacing. The armor on it's legs came to points where it's feet would be if it were a mammal, which Eugene remembered was its primary weapon.

However, what intimidated him most about him was the number of scratches on it's bone armor. There were too many to count. Undoubtedly, many of them had come from the weapons of Huntsmen and Huntresses who had tried and failed to kill the monster. Eugene knew, he was in for a very hard fight.

As the cage collapsed, Glynda shouted.

"Begin!"

O00000O00000O

Eugene summoned his wings and flew backwards, eager to put as much distance between himself and the Grimm as possible. It was a good move too, as the second the cage was down, one of the Widowmaker's spiked feet pierced the ground where he once stood. Eugene loosed a flurry of Bloodthirsty Blades, targeting the creature's face. If he could, he was hoping to end this in one shot.

When the first salvo made contact, the explosive impact made the thing reel, but only barely. Eugene didn't let up. He launched another three waves of Bloodthirsty Blades, one after the other. When the last one was launched, he followed them up with two streams of Video Torrents, one form each hand. It should be noted, he was screaming at the moment, half in fear and half in determination. The pixels resulting from his onslaught obscured the thing's head but if the rest of its body was any indication, it was certainly taking damage.

Eugene dropped his hands both to let his powers recover and to check how much damage the thing had taken. When the last of the pixels had disappeared, Eugene stepped back and his mouth fell open. He'd done damage, sure, but not much. He'd chipped a few pieces off of its mask, but all he'd really managed to do was add to the number of nicks in the things armor.

The thing would've roared, were it physically capable of it, but instead it screeched. The look of hatred in its eyes was enough to send a shiver down his spine, but again he took control of his fear and stood his ground. The angry spider spat at him. Literally.

Eugene hurriedly dodged, using his wings to propel him to his left. The spot where he was was now a small hole in the ground as the monster's spit was incredibly corrosive. As he flew, he resumed firing, hoping to at least hurt it a bit more. He checked the timer. Only forty-five seconds had passed. He wasn't even half way done yet. He grimaced. The pain from his shoulder wound was flaring up. He needed to end this quickly.

He flew up and tried to land on the thing's back, but the spider heard him coming. It tensed its legs and jumped out of the way. He had to admit, the thing was fast for something its size. It landed on the wall, its spider legs anchoring it there. It let out a few more rounds of acid spit, but Eugene dodged pretty easily.

The fight continued like that for about a minute. Eugene would try to get on the thing, only for the Grimm to jump away. The Grimm would fire a few rounds of its acid spit but Eugene would dodge. Though he had to admit, as the fight progressed, it almost seemed like the Widowmaker was getting smarter.

When the two of them had done a complete ring around the arena, they stopped. For a moment, the the two of them stared at each other. Only a moment. The Grimm broke first. The second the monster twitched, Eugene let out a giant swathe of Bloodthirsty Blades, easily fifteen of them. All of them collided with the general area of the monster's head. When the first few blades crashed into it, an audible crack resounded throughout the arena, and the thing reeled backward. For once, it seemed like the Grimm had actually taken damage.

He wasn't so lucky.

The second the crack occurred, a wave of nausea passed over Eugene.

Starting at the thing's face, a series of putrid green veins spiraled around it, enveloping it. All but a bit of the red on its features turned that same shade of putrid green as they came in contact with the veins. Patches of the thing's fur began to fall out, leaving exposed areas of diseased looking skin as they crossed over its body. The thing's mandibles broke free of it's mask, looking the same as the areas where hair had fallen out as the veins pulsed under its mask. When the veins reached its legs, the bones on its legs expanded outward, forming additional tonfa-like protrusions.

Eugene looked on in horror as the thing morphed in front of him. In the corner of his eye, he saw Glynda furiously tapping away at her tablet, wondering what the hell was going on and trying to put a stop to it. He wasn't paying attention to that though. His eyes were still locked on the scene in front of him.

Beneath the monster, something else was happening. Every few seconds, a large drop of black liquid would fall from the thing's underbelly. Once it collided with the ground, it began to change. It would rise up a few inches off the ground, then begin taking a new form. Realization hit Eugene. Somehow, the thing was actually spawning new Grimm.

When the Grimm finished forming, it was as if someone had taken a Creep, the lowest form of Grimm, and Corrupted it as well. From looking over the files on Bertrand back in their world, Eugene recognized the changes the Widowmaker had gone through left it part Hive Lord. That meant that the things beneath it were Creep Spikers.

That knowledge didn't make it any less terrifying though.

From below, four of the newly formed Grimm spat acid at Eugene. It was like a wave of acidic shotgun blast were being fired at him. Eugene only barely managed to shake himself out of his daze in time to dodge, but some of the acid caught his hoodie and shirt.

Pain tore through him where the acid touched his skin. Luckily it didn't break through his Aura, Eugene wasn't about to make that mistake again. But, in his haste to dodge, he unknowingly walked into a trap.

See, most spiders fall into one of two categories, passive hunters and active hunters. Passive hunters are the more famous of the two, as they are the ones who actually spin webs to catch their prey. Active hunters take a more direct approach, and are usually much more agile so they can truly hunt their prey. The Widowmaker? That would be an example of a spider who does both.

Unbeknownst to Eugene, every time the spider landed in a new spot, it left a trail of web. As a result, it had managed to encase most of the arena in its snare. What's worse, Eugene only just remembered that a Widowmaker's web was laced with a low-grade neurotoxin to inhibit movement.

His eyes locked back onto the monster, and as it lumbered towards him on its spindly legs he could almost swear the giant Grimm was smiling.

O00000O00000O

"Eugene!" Delsin cried out from the stands.

Before any of his friends could react, Delsin shot over the crowd in a burst of water, having switched to that power to help Eugene recover in between bouts. When he reached the edge of the interior ring, he tried to comet drop onto the thing's back, only to smash into the Arena's containment shield.

Fear flooding him, he smashed his fist into the energy dome repeatedly.

"Glynda, take down the shield!" he screamed.

"I can't! If that thing escapes it will go after the other students, and almost none of them are prepared for that right now!" she replied.

"If you don't, Eugene's gonna die down there!"

Glynda merely gave him a sorrowful look.

Delsin snarled and switched to his Concrete power.

"Then I guess I'll just have to hit this thing harder!"

He brought his fist down again. Nothing happened. As he was about to bring it down again, a lightning bolt struck the shield. Delsin turned and saw Alex standing alongside Teams RWBY, CFVY and JNPR, his arm in front of him.

"You might wanna move," the bird Faunus said, raising his hand up high..

Delsin immediately Concrete Launched himself into the air.

Alex brought his hand down and yelled, "Open fire!"

Bullets, explosions and dust rounds all pinged onto the spot where Delsin had been. The shield quickly began to flicker, quickly weakening under the onslaught. The next second, Delsin was readying a Comet Drop to break through.

"Stop! We can't let that thing escape!" Glynda shouted, only barely audible over the hail of gunfire.

"Don't worry," Delsin said, "It won't."

O00000O00000O

As the giant Grimm came towards him, Eugene's eyes were locked onto it. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of his own racing heartbeat. Because of that, he completely missed the barrier's collapse.

That is, until Delsin smashed into the thing's back.

"Sorry pal, but I think you need a diet!"

The monster shuddered from the impact, but it shook itself and threw him off. Delsin caught himself in the air and landed right next to Eugene. He switched to his Smoke power and grabbed the web Eugene was trapped in. He lit up his hand and quickly burned through the web, releasing Eugene. Eugene fell to the ground, still paralyzed from the neurotoxin in the web.

The monster screeched again, this time in anger. Delsin turned to face it and lobbed a Sulfur grenade in it's face. The grenade went off and the Widowmaker breathed in the fumes, quickly becoming disoriented.

"Keep it distracted!" Delsin yelled.

From the edge of the stands, all of his friends with long range abilities and weapons circled the arena and resumed firing. While the thing was distracted, Delsin switched back to his Water power to heal Eugene. In a few moments, the Video Conduit was back on his feet.

"Delsin!" Eugene exclaimed.

"You're welcome," Delsin replied.

Alex landed in front of them.

"Much as I hate to interrupt, we need to take this thing out," the Bird Faunus said.

"Right," Eugene said.

"Any ideas?" Delsin said, still looking at Eugene.

Eugene was a bit startled.

"Me?" he asked.

"It's your evaluation," Delsin replied.

Eugene looked around the arena. Later he would credit it to years of playing Fire Emblem, but he actually came up with a counter strategy in only a few seconds.

"Alex, you and everyone else, keep it on the ground. We can't let that thing get out of the arena. Delsin and I can fight it beat it here," he said.

"You sure?" Alex asked.

"Yeah," Eugene replied, "We got this."

"Got it," Alex said.

The bird Faunus took off and did a ring around the arena to inform the others of the strategy. Then he flew into position over it, hanging off the arena rafters so he wouldn't tire himself out hovering in circles.

"I think it's safe to say that the rules for this fight have officially gone out the window," Delsin said.

Eugene smiled.

"You know, I was thinking the same thing."

Eugene spread his arms. Ten Angels materialized over his head and returned fire on the Creep-Spikers. The new Grimm were surprisingly agile and many of the dodged the first round of attacks. Even still, more of them fell under the repeated waves. Even as the Widowmaker kept birthing more of the new Grimm, Eugene's Wingmen kept firing.

Several of the more lucky or agile ones actually managed to return fire, as did the Widowmaker itself. Given that the Angels weren't exactly the most durable of constructs, they vanished when even one blast of acid hit them. But just as the Widowmaker kept making more Grimm, Eugene kept making more Angels, locking them into a stalemate.

"You ready Delsin?" Eugene asked.

"What's the plan?"

"You said the rules went out the window right?"

"Yeah?"

Eugene smiled.

O00000O00000O

For monsters without emotions, Grimm show fear pretty well.

For example, when a giant spider-Grimm goes from looking at a small band of human sized targets to looking at a small band of human sized targets plus one building sized Angel, it backpedals pretty quick. The monster tried to jump back and spit acid, but Eugene didn't let it.

"FACE THE POWER OF HE WHO DWELLS!" Eugene shouted as he grabbed ahold of the bone spikes on the thing's front legs.

The monster fought back and spat more acid at him, this time hitting him square in the face. Even through the construct, Eugene felt it. He reeled back and lost his hold, but behind the mask of He Who Dwells, Eugene smiled. He'd only been the distraction. At that moment, Delsin struck. He raised his arm up and with his Water power active, unleashed a Pressure Slice.

Right a the Widowmaker's inside legs.

Almost immediately, the front inside leg on it's left side was sheered off. The monster screeched in pain, and more acid fell from it's mouth. Without missing a beat, Delsin spun and Pressure Sliced off the same leg on the opposite side. The monster began to lose its balance as six legs weren't enough to fully support its weight.

When the thing faltered, He Who Dwells summoned his massive sword and brought it down on the creatures head. Still the Widowmaker's armor held, the blade shattering into pixels as it collided with the thing's mask. Eugene grimaced.

"What do I have to do to kill this thing?!" he thought.

His thoughts were interrupted as Delsin cut off another of its legs. The limb caught his eye and he immediately remembered something back from his childhood, specifically the final battle of The Incredibles movie.

"Can't hurt to try!"

He rolled out of the way of the next volley of acid and picked up the severed leg. Hobbling, the thing turned to face him one last time. It opened its mouth to fire again. The second it's mouth opened, Eugene lunged, using the leg like a spear.

The monster didn't even have the chance to scream.

The leg tore through the monster, obliterating most of it's face and what was left of its mask. It sputtered around for a moment, somehow still clinging to life. He Who Dwells flew upward as high as he could, a new sword appearing in his hands.

"THIS WILL END IT!" he shouted.

He fell, diving with his blade pointed down. The sword pierced the monster's back, and without a sound it died. He Who Dwells knelt next to it as it faded away, still holding his sword. When the monster finally vanished, the all of the other Angels vanished as soon as the wiped out the Creep-Spikers.

For a moment, the giant angel stared at the spot where his foe once stood. Then he shattered, and Eugene reappeared in a pose identical to the angel's. The Video Conduit was panting in exhaustion and clinging to his sword was the only thing keeping him upright. He looked at the scoreboard. His Aura was in the single digits. If he'd so much as stubbed his toe, he would have likely died.

"You ok man?" Delsin asked from behind him.

"Yeah," Eugene wheezed, "I'm just going to need a minute."

The second the words left his mouth, Eugene passed out.

O00000O00000O

Hidden in the back of the spectator seating, two people stood and watched the fight.

The woman had a dark complexion, short cropped green hair and piercing red eyes. Her outfit could only barely be described as one as it consisted of barely any fabric. That said, she wore it with confidence.

The man next to her appeared to be opposite her in in many ways. Where she was dark skinned, he was very pale. Where she was lightly clothed, he was covered almost entirely. The only skin he showed was his face and a tiny patch on his elbows.

When the fight ended, the woman's mouth hung open. The man looked over her in an utterly disinterested manner.

"Emerald, your mouth's open," he said, somehow managing to sound sarcastic.

The woman shook her head and looked back at him with a scowl.

"Shut up Mercury," she said.

The man sighed.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

"Now?" she replied, a touch of fear coloring her tone, "Now we report in."

The woman pulled out her Scroll and dialed up a phone number. A few seconds later, the person on the other end answered.

"Lady Cinder? We have a problem."

O00000O00000O

A few hours later, Eugene woke up in a hospital bed.

"Dammit, I hate hospitals," he groaned, slurring a bit.

"Hey bud," Delsin said from beside him, "You feeling okay?"

Eugene shook his head.

"I feel like I got hit by a truck. And having actually been hit by a truck before, I can say that."

He heard a giggle outside his field of vision. He turned to see everyone was in the room with him. Somehow.

"You had us worried there for a minute kid," Coco said.

"Y'know, having this many people in this room is probably some kind of health code violation," Eugene said.

Coco smirked at him.

"I can assure you, it is perfectly alright," an older voice said from behind them all.

The crowd parted to reveal Ozpin standing in the doorway holding a briefcase. The room fell silent.

"Oz? What brings you down here?" Delsin asked.

"I wanted to apologize for how things unfolded during your evaluation. I should have never let something like that happen," he said, his head hanging slightly.

Eugene nodded.

"Any idea how it happened?" he asked.

Ozpin reached up and laid the briefcase on the bed.

"I investigated after the fight concluded," he said, opening the case, "and I found this in the Widowmaker's cage."

He turned the case so Delsin and Eugene could see.

It was another Blast Shard, Corrupted like the one they had found in the cave near Rintah. Eugene picked it up. He looked over at Delsin. Delsin nodded at him, a grim look on his face. Eugene drained the shard dry and its glow died. Instantly he felt better. He wasn't back to 100%, but he was a lot closer.

"I see. It was another one of those," Ozpin said.

"Another one of what?" Coco asked.

"I'll explain it to you later," Delsin said.

"Either way, someone placed it there intentionally. I'll have people check every single one of those cages. If there are more, we need to deal with that now," he said.

After a moment of silence, Eugene spoke up again.

"Thank you, Professor," he said.

"No thanks necessary," the old professor said.

He turned toward the door and began to leave.

"Do your best to heal quickly. Classes resume soon," he said as he was leaving.

"What?" Eugene asked.

Ozpin turned and looked over his shoulder.

"You passed."

CHAPTER END

As promised, one update on Christmas day. My Christmas present to you, my loyal followers. The next update will be on January 9th, then back to every other Tuesday. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a family dinner to attend/ suffer through.

So as a jolly man once said, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

PS, if you don't celebrate Christmas, happy holidays.