Journey of Micheal: Curse of the Grimmlord

by Chaosdragonedge412

Micheal was ripped from his world and put into the world of Remnant. He finds himself with a new body and a new life ahead of him. This new life, though, has a couple of things in store for him. An ancient Grimm and the virus it produces. (Bad at descriptions and titles)

23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Fox Village Ruins

Hitomi groans as she was gently shaken. Her eyes slowly open to see her partner and leader in front of her. The room was black and white as her night vision kicks in to give her sight in the darkness. Ruby has the night vision goggles on her head. Grim looks on their faces. "Their aircraft is here to pick us up?" Hitomi inquires. She grimaces as Ruby nods.

"Almost, a few more minutes at the latest," Micheal explains. The fox faunus sighs as her eyes glance at the ground, ears flattening to her scalp. Then she sees the figure behind them. Her eyes pick up to see Duke looking out the window. The older faunus has his arms crossed, looking towards the cliff. He slightly turns his head towards the group, only one of his deep blue eyes visible.

"We were contacted earlier of the rendezvous party's arrival half an hour ago," Duke informs. He then pulls out a long white piece of cloth and a pair of handcuffs. The handcuffs had an extra chain attached at the middle of the metal links. "Once we're on the aircraft, I'll put these on you little red; I need to make sure you're by my side at all times," he says to Ruby. He smiles both sympathetically and somberly at the young girl. "So, until then, spend what time you have together while you can." He then walks out of the room. He sees Steel on the other side of the door, her firearm in her hands. "Don't do anything stupid and keep watch, you only need to tolerate the human girl's presence for a little longer," he orders sternly. The female faunus nods, but huffs afterward. The older faunus then walks towards the entrance, glancing behind him down the hall. He mistrusts the rat faunus, but he had to hope she could keep her cool for a little longer. The trio sat together against the wall facing the window, waiting for the aircraft. The brunette has both of her teammates' hands in hers. None of them knowing what to say. Their time together as a team was ending.

Micheal grits his teeth at the outcome, his ears flat to his scalp as well. He had a place to call home and the potential for a decent life in his future. It wouldn't have been easy, but it would have been something to work towards. It felt like all his current work to try and even make that possible meant nothing. His team's work to help going down the drain. Then there was the most disappointingly aggravating aspect to this; he was losing his chance at starting a relationship with one of them. He finds his partner attractive and wouldn't mind a romantic bond under normal circumstances. Still, their future relationship would be diminished by the aspect they are forcing themselves to do this. They just found the thought of being with each significantly better than being with some other faunus they don't know.

Hitomi shares some of the thoughts as her partner. But to her, what hurts her is the aspect of losing her family again. She would never see her adopted family. She could clearly see her sister crying at the news of her capture, along with her mom and dad. Her life is coming down to just having sex with her partner and bearing children. Like her partner, she had nothing against him, she just wanted more than this. Both faunus felt their leader's grip tighten, they look down at the younger girl. Her eyes downcast as her head hung low. No matter how much they could comfort her, it still didn't make her feel better. She still feels like a terrible leader. Even if she was going to back to Vale safe, she wanted to return with her friends. Then lights streamed in through the window, followed by the loud sound of engines humming. The trio of friends gets up and walks over to look out the window. They see the White Fang aircraft hovering just at the cliff edge, the hatch open. Duke was outside talking to a few fellow members of his organization. The trio he was talking salute and rush into the aircraft. Duke then began to walk towards the mansion.

"Get ready, we're moving out," a harsh voice says from behind them. The friends turn to see the rat faunus raising her rifle at them. Ruby, Hitomi, and Micheal were about to raise their hands when a roar akin to screaming tears through the air, overpowering the engines. Ruby, Hitomi, and Micheal's eyes went wide at the familiar cry, the two faunus's ears sticking up. The turn toward the window, Steel rushing over to look over their shoulders. The group sees a long draconic figure roughly land on the aircraft, knocking it off balance. Even from this distance, the trio knew who it was. Duke drew a weapon out a began firing at Magaru.

Glowing red dust rounds piercing the air to uselessly striking the dragon Grimm hide. In the next moment, Magaru uses his tail to cut into the left-wing of the plane. Then digging his claws into the damage metal limb, rips the arm off the aircraft. The sounds of metal tearing filling the air. The dragon Grimm effortlessly throws the section of the craft away. The part of the plane flying out of sight. And then Magaru jumps off the aircraft, pushing the ship into the canyon. The only sounds after that were the sounds of the craft slamming against the rock wall. After a few minutes of banging, a flash of light followed by the sound of the explosion. Magaru's attack lasts for less than a minute. Then before anyone could do anything else, a loud bang and wood cracking could be heard from the palisade wall at the entrance to the ruins.

"Damn it, everyone needs to get to your planned positions now!" Duke yells as he runs into the manor. The sound of many boots moving wildly and quickly reverberate through the building. Steel left the room, going to her position Micheal assumed.

"Move!" a voice shouts at them from behind. The trio turns to see a male faunus holding a massive two-handed hammer rushes at the trio. The friends dive out of the way as the male faunus swings his hammer at the wall. The hammer effortlessly destroys the old wooden surface, fragments flying in all directions. The group of Beacon attendees turns to see a sizeable oval-shaped hole where the window had been.

"There you can use that hole as a vantage point to fire from," the White Fang says curtly.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring the building down!" Micheal shouts at the masked faunus.

"Done worse in a similar position with Duke before, and the building still didn't collapse," he comments before rushing off. Every few minutes, another sound of crashing could be heard. Micheal assumes that the same person was smashing more holes for firing spots. The group of friends look at each other and then ready themselves for the oncoming assault. Micheal rests on one knee and rests Faith on the remains of the destroyed wall.

"How many do think there will be?" Micheal asks.

"Don't know, as many as Magaru could get through the mountains," Ruby answers. Micheal turns to his left. His leader is in a similar position to him, holding her rifle above the shattered wall, the night vision goggles over her eyes now.

"We just need to focus on our survival," Hitomi says. The red and grey duo turn to the tallest of their team. Ruby and Micheal look at each other and nod in agreement. "Micheal, you may like Duke, but he's still trying to capture us, and I don't trust any of them," Hitomi says. Micheal turns to partner again. "I'll help them if I can, but I'm not going out of my way to save any of them, at the end of this I want all us of return to Vale together." Her partner just nods in response.

"I know, they may or may not return the favor, but if worse comes to worst…," Micheal says.

"They may attack us," Ruby interjects. The wolf faunus turns to nod at her.

"If that happens, you must be prepared to kill them," he says, turning his head between his teammates. He frowns as they visible flinch. They knew he was right about this, but it still didn't make the aspect of taking another's life easier. Ruby's lip slightly quivers as she tried to imagine herself killing a person. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't do it. Hitomi wasn't much better off. While her features were calm, her eyes show anxiety at the thought. Her grip on her rifle tightens. The two girls look at each other in the eyes. "I don't want you two to do something you're not comfortable with, but…," he stops to ponder the right words. He was trying to think of something comforting to say. They were silent for a minute before taking a deep.

"Okay," Hitomi says, trying to keep her voice calm. Micheal looks at her, his eyes show he wasn't entirely convinced.

"Okay, what? I need to know you are going to be able to do it if it comes down to it," Micheal says firmly. He could still see the apprehension in her eyes and couldn't blame her. Taking another life for the first time isn't easy, to put it lightly. But he needed the assurance she will do it. It took half a minute before the fox faunus answers.

"I will kill them if it comes down to it," Hitomi says firmly. Micheal stares at her intently, studying her face. Her face was severe and showing signs of acceptance. While there was still a bit of reservation on the subject, he accepts it. He could never fully get rid of the apprehensions of killing. The wolf faunus turns towards his leader. The brunette's body had locked up as her friend faces her. Ruby was nibbling her lips apprehensively. Thought the goggles blocked his view of her eyes, he could imagine there were filled with fear. The brunette came here to save lives, not end them. She knew he was right; she might need to do it, both now and potentially sometime in the future. But it still sent a terrible feeling through her. Her head lowers to look at the floor. She then feels a hand firmly grip her shoulder. She looks up into Micheal's somber face.

"Ruby, don't fo…" the wolf faunus starts.

"No, I'll do it," the brunette says solemnly, she firmly grips Micheal's hand as she looks into her friend's eyes. The reaper's lips quivered as the words form in her mind. "As a huntress, I may need to do it, so I best prepare myself now," she says. Like the fox faunus, Ruby still shows the apparent apprehension at the potential action.

"Okay, but try not to force yourselves into were you need to take a life," Micheal says. They both shakily nod as they return their attention forward. The wolf faunus's eye slowly drifts between his two teammates. While he had their assurances they would, he still has a slight doubt whether they could go through with the action. It would be a kill or be killed scenario, like what he experienced when he first took a life. 'I may have to keep my eyes on them just in case I need to do it. Hopefully, it won't come to it; I would rather be the only one on the team to have blood on their hands,' he muses. Though, the aspect of killing criminals did bring him some joy. So, to him, it wasn't all bad. He returns his attention forward as the bangs and cracking were getting louder. The trio was looking down the scope and sights of their weapon. If Micheal listens close enough, he could make out the sound of growling above the wood splintering. Then a loud smash reverberates across the ruins. A series of noisy barks and growls quickly followed by pained yelps emit from the entrance.

Micheal sees that a group of Beowolves and Rippers were the first through the busted makeshift wall. The same group immediately ran into the wall of stakes, impaling them through their heads and torsos. The limp bodies hanging there until the horde behind them burst through the gateway. The vast crowd of black creatures trampling their dead brethren, crushing them, and the wooden spikes underneath. Upon clearing the broken stakes, every person in the manor across the clearing opens fire on the creatures. The open-air was filled with glowing red dots flying towards the beasts of darkness. Each dust round that hit the charging horde, causing the struck member to tumble over and trampled by the other members.

"So many," Hitomi says, fear in her voice. Her eye wide in horror at the sight through the scope of her rifle. The Grimm were pouring through the bust entrance, and many more were in the pass on the other side. Creeps, Beowolves, and Rippers, were among the first through the busted wall. Behind the charging lesser, Grimm stands one of their heavily armored members. Hitomi could see that it was a Grendel by its body shape, but some of its features were off. As she already noted, it's heavily armored unlike the Grendel their group fought during their journey, bone armor plating covers most of its body. An extra pair of huge, curving tusks extends from its bottom jaw, it lacks its usual pointy ears, and its nose was more like a pig's snout. It's left arm was covered in black fur up to its shoulder instead of its usual warty skin, and its hands were claws instead of the human-like one like the last Grendel. Hitomi thinks it looks weird with its unusual appearance, the new parts clashing with each other. It brandishes a stone axe, like the troll Grimm before, but is far smoother and more refined in appearance. The weapon shaft, while still made from a tree branch, was lacking twigs and seemed to be shaved into a stable form. The axe head lacks the disproportional serrated edge, it was just one clean, sharp edge and still strapped with twine. On its back were a small set of more tree branches with sharpened points, strapped together with more cord.

Emerging from behind its back came two more large figures, an Alpha Beowolf and an Alpha Ripper. The two Alphas were slightly different in appearance. The Alpha Beowolf's body is covered in bone plating with joints of its limbs exposed. The Alpha Ripper's body is almost entirely covered in feather, the only parts that weren't concealed were covered by bone plating, the head raptor was virtually double the size of the one from initiation. The Alpha raptor hunches down, readying to rush the mansion. The Grendel puts a hand in front of it and growl. The feathered monster snaps at the troll and hisses. The troll Grimm growls at the werewolf monster as well. Said creature growls in frustration as well. The trio of enormous Grimm stood at the entrance, letting its lesser brethren charge forward to weaken the defenders. Time began to slow for the defenders as the seconds stretched into minutes. The few minutes

"How the hell did Magaru get so many of things up the mountain and so fast?" Micheal yells his question. He had already slain at least thirty Grimm, taking no more than two shots at the most for each monster. He wasn't just holding the trigger down, but actual lining up each shot. The kick of the weapon was more manageable now, thanks to the firearm's current rest and some practice with the gun. And as a result, the wolf faunus' aim has improved by a noticeable amount, resulting in his success in slaying the assaulting host. Though, Micheal has to note that even with his improved accuracy, it felt like it didn't matter. As cliché as it seemed, for everyone he killed another took its place and the group of monsters inched closer to the manor house.

"He must have used the Wind Ruler and Nevermore," Ruby answers as she downs a Creep and Beowolf. She quickly ejects her empty cartridge and loads the next one in time to down a Ripper. The young leader nibbles her lips, continuing to kill the Grimm in front of her. The horde was endless from what she could see. She could feel fear slowly building up in. She has never seen so many Grimm at one time in her life. The sea of black slowly inching closer to the building by the minute. Like her friend, she felt like her efforts were useless. Even if they could hold off the mass of the monsters, there was still the three Grimm looming by the entrance. Ruby mostly concentrated on her current task, doing her best to think of a strategy to deal with each one. She did find it odd, they weren't attacking or contributing to the assault in some way. Then she sees the Grendel reaches around with its left arm and pull out one of the sharpened branches from its back. Its fellow Grimm at its side looks at the troll curiously. The humanoid Grimm rears its arm back, the sharp end of the narrow log towards the mansion. It then swings its arm forward, and lets go of its weapon.

The shaft went flying like a javelin at the building. The trio could hear shouting, and the slight decline in gunfire from the first floor as the improvised weapon stabs the building. This distraction allows the Grimm horde to creep even closer to the building. The Grendel repeated its action four more times, hitting the first floor two more times and then the second floor two times. One of the sharp branches striking the room where the trio was holing up, Impaling the decaying ground between Micheal and Hitomi. It missed them by a single foot. They let loose a shaky breath as they acknowledge how close they were to death before returning to the mast of Grimm bearing down on their location.

Then one of the Rippers found an opening in the wall of dust rounds and bolts through it. In under two seconds, it reaches the manor house. It jumps through the window and lands on one of the male White Fangs on the first floor. Before it could sink its fangs into the faunus, Duke immediately turns and destroys its head with a round from his gunblade. The downed member quickly gets to his feet and returns to his previous task. Duke realizes that was only the first of the Grimm to clear the gap, others would cross it as well. Then it would only be a matter of time before the horde was upon them. If it was only the lesser Grimm, it wouldn't be much of a problem. His group, with teamwork, could hold out with at worst a death or two. He had no illusion that they would all survive this encounter, there was too many against so few people. It was the three in the back that worried him, just standing there watching the assault. The middle one he recognized as the Grimm that killed seven of his men. Unfortunately, he still didn't have an exact plan to deal with it like his team's last encounter. The didn't have the equipment to deal with the creature. The other two were not much of an issue as the Grendel. On their own, the Alpha Beowolf and Ripper could be efficiently dealt with. And even together, they still weren't much of a problem but would require him to split his forces to deal with each one.

Then a scream caught his attention, he turns his head to see one of his female compatriots pulled through a window by a Ripper by her arm, dropping her weapon. The bear faunus aims out his window at the raptor and pulls the trigger. The top of the head of the dinosaurian Grimm exploded in a flash of red. The leader growls as his help was soon wasted. Before the female faunus could even get to her feet, a Beowolf grabs her bitten arm and drags her into the crowd screaming. She tried to uselessly draw her spear on her back with her remaining arm, but it was pinned under her. The instant the White Fang member disappears into the crowd, the nearby Grimm swarm her. Fortunately for the rest of the defenders, the screams were quickly silenced and didn't see how the monsters tore into their former comrade.

Ruby takes a shuddering breath, the sight unnerved her. She knew it was the first death of the night. This wasn't the usual fight against Grimm she knew, one where she could have some fun slaying the creatures of darkness. No, this was indeed a battle for survival; there was no excitement to be had here. She just hoped that neither she nor her friends were among those dying tonight. The horrible thought terrified her that it motivated her to slay the monsters in front of her even faster. Her finger was pulling the trigger of Crescent Rose at a rate more frantic that she had before. Despite her hectic pace of fire, her finesse with her sweetheart did not diminish. She was still accurately dropping each Grimm she saw in a single shot. Thankfully for her, her friends felt the same as her and increased their fire rate as well.

The battle continued this way for another twenty minutes. There had been many more close calls on the first floor. The various species of Grimm in the horde had jumped the windows, only to be gunned down. The few that did manage to grab hold of one the defenders found themselves slain on the spot. After the first time, the group had paid closer attention to prevent another death. It still wasn't enough as another one of their members was pulled into the swarm to be devoured. Though as the battle dragged on, the people in the manor house started to find themselves running short on ammo. After ten minutes had passed, the defenders were slightly relieved when one of their members shouted that the mast of lesser Grimm started to begin to thin. The trio glance at each other for a second, unsure how to feel. On the one hand, they were happy that the Grimm was beginning to thin, meaning they were going to survive. On the other hand, if they held, Hitomi and Micheal would be off to a White Fang base for an indeterminate amount of time.

Then a loud caw pieces the air, over the sounds of gunfire and snarls. The sound of rapid thuds could be heard coming from the entrance. Everyone glances to see the Alpha Ripper charging forward at the building. Then suddenly, the alpha raptors turn sideways to the mansion. Then the dinosaurian monster began running back in forth from the cliff edge to the mountain wall on the other side. The group of defenders was going to ignore it till it then quickly spun in a circle, swinging its tail. A barrage of feathers, long as a man's arm, flew at the mansion in a spread pattern. The black feathers effortless slice through the rotten walls on the first and second floor on the right side of the building. A strangled gagging sound catches Duke's attention after he dodged the feathers. He turns to see one of his fellow members impaled with many feathers across his body. The male faunus slowly and shakily reaches up to the feather in his neck. The masked faunus then falls backward as his finger grip the black plume. The bear faunus angrily grits his teeth as he stares at the corpse and quickly gets to his feet and opens fire on the Alpha Ripper. The dust rounds impact harmlessly of the creature's feathered body. If it still wasn't for a still sizeable force of monster between him and the large raptor, he would have charged to the raptor. The Alpha Ripper continues its assault of sending quills at the manor house. Each barrage sent the defenders scattering were ever the feathers flew.

"Micheal, Hitomi, concentrate fire on the Alpha," Ruby orders. Her teammates follow their leader's command. The trio shifts the barrels of their firearms towards the giant raptor. The Alpha Ripper screeches in pain as the rounds impact against its quills. The Alpha Beowolf jumps in front of the raptor, brings its arms up, forearm towards the dust rounds. The glowing red balls impact uselessly against the plating. The werewolf creature huddles its body closer, covering its body as best it can. "Stop, we're just wasting ammo," her friends did as she instructed and went back to the lesser Grimm. "Take shots at it when you can," she requests.

"The Ripper must be one of those variant Grimm the book said exists," Micheal comments as he shoots one of the jumping raptor-like monsters out of the air.

"Including the Grendel, all three of them are the first time seeing one myself," Ruby comments. Despite the situation at hand, she couldn't help but be somewhat excited and intrigued by the Ripper and Beowolf Variant in front of her. Seeing how different the two Alpha from the regular counterparts is spectacular in its own right. The Alpha Ripper was launching feathers out of its tail like the spread of shotgun. The Alpha Beowolf being tougher then than its usual brethren. The armor is proving to be sturdy enough to endure assault from her team's powerful firearms. If the circumstances were different and the rest of her team was here, it may have been fun fighting these variants. The head raptor deftly leaps into the air in front of the window spinning. It swings its tail towards the trio.

"Move!" Hitomi shouts as the trio shuffle away from the incoming assault. The feather burst through the wall, shredding everything in their path. A shout of pain could be heard not even a second after quills have passed. Ruby and Hitomi turn to see one of the feathers have punctured Micheal's left thigh, sticking out like a knife with a feathery handle. The wolf faunus immediately reaches to pull it out. But Hitomi slides to his side and slaps his hand away. If someone was going to pull it out, it should be her. Her stepmom is a doctor and had taught her various medical treatments beyond just first aid. Among her team, she was the only one with enough practice to pull the plume out without causing more damage. Though she knew that taking the feather out was a poor decision, she couldn't leave it in. They going to need to move soon, and the feather would cause more damage to his legs staying in there, and they couldn't carry him. "You are going to have to grit your teeth," the fox faunus says. Micheal nods in response as he grits his teeth. The fox faunus then knees down and gently grabs the feather. She was about to pull it out when a thud and cracking sound emits behind her. A hiss told her a Ripper had landed in the room. The next instant, a shot rang from a different direction, followed by a thud.

"You work on Micheal, I'll cover you," Ruby says. Then three more thuds and three more hisses resonate behind her. "Just hurry up," the brunette says as she shifts Crescent Rose from its gun form to its scythe form. Then a gust of wind blows over the faunus duo followed by three thuds. Hitomi began to pull the feather out of her partner's thigh deftly. Various shouts and orders began to reverberate from several spots in the manor house. It didn't take long to figure out that the lesser Grimm began to invade the building. Then more loud thumps emit from behind Hitomi as she pulls the quill out. Another gust of wind told her Ruby and moves to intercept the new invaders. The fox faunus then quickly snatches her pack and removes the first aid out of the bag. She works swiftly to wrap the wound as her partner raises Faith's barrel next to her head. A bang followed by ringing in her ear, and a deep, dull thump from behind told her he just shoots a Grimm. As soon as she finished with her partner's leg, she pulls him to his feet. Another sound of feet landing resonates behind her; she immediately draws Lone Aster turning to meet the threat. She brings her sword down on a Ripper's neck, decapitating it. Then two shots followed by two bangs came from behind her. She turns to see her partner looking at their previous position, their lay two Beowolves.

"What now?" Hitomi asks as she slashes another Ripper in half. The Grimm are starting to enter the building faster, their current position was becoming too small for their weapons. She sees two Creeps flying towards their area. The odd two-legged creature appeared to have been thrown by the Grendel. The troll Grimm was scooping up a couple more of its lesser brethren and rearing its arm back. Her partner immediately shoots two accurate shots at the small Grimm, killing them midair. The monsters land on the floor of the second floor with a crash. The slain Grimm's corpses were starting to build up, diminishing the remaining space in the room. Ruby and Hitomi were beginning to have trouble moving through the bodies, as the ground became uneven and unstable.

"Best we make our way downstairs with the others, we'll have a better chance to survive with them," Ruby says.

"And to be shot at," Micheal informs grimly. Ruby nervously swallows as she acknowledges the possibility.

"I know," the brunette says quietly, turning her head towards her teammates. They could see the apprehension in her eyes, but the steely determination as well. "But we are going to survive, we have to." Her friends nod in confirmation, agreeing with her.

"You two go ahead, I'll be behind you, covering our backs," Micheal says, raising Faith towards the hole in the wall. At that moment, a pair of Rippers jump in the room, followed by a couple of Beowolves climbing inside. The wolf faunus shoot each one at most two times each as the creatures hunch down to charge. The trio steadily makes their way to the main room of the mansion. The second Ruby steps out of the room, she had to dodge a savage bite from another raptor Grimm immediately. Her eyes wide in horror as the jaws snap shut an inch from her face. Then the violet blade of her friend's nodachi plunges over the brunette's shoulder and through the skull of the Grimm. The creature of darkness went limp, lower jaw hanging open like a marionette with its strings cut. The fox faunus rushes past Ruby, pulling her sword from the slain creature.

"Ruby, let me in front, your weapon needs more room to be effective," Hitomi remarks, as he shifts her position to stab at any approaching Grimm. Ruby just changes Crescent Rose back to its gun form, ready to back her friend up. As she exits the room again, she could see down the hall that the White Fang was doing the same thing as her group. A group of four were heading down the stairs towards the bottom floor as well, a singular member is covering their retreat. The masked faunus is firing his firearm down the other hallway. The dust rounds were making the heads of Creeps explode in a flash of red light, illuminating the hall as if someone had lit a flare for a second. Ruby, Hitomi, and Micheal moved down the hallway toward the stairs. By the time they reach the stairs, Micheal downed six Grimm. The fox faunus and reaper rushed down the stair. The White Fang turns to look behind him for a second to see the trio behind him.

"You first, wolf!" the masked faunus shouts as he returns his attention forward to shoot a pair of Beowolves. Micheal didn't even hesitate after shooting a couple of Rippers himself. He points weapon upward as he slowly descends the steps. The other faunus makes his way down the staircases, still facing the top. Both faunus were making sure to shoot Grimm that appear from the hallways.

"Duke sir, we are running out of room here, what is the plan?" one of the White Fang asks as his hammer crushes a Creep's head like a watermelon. He was the first one to run out of ammo and pulled his melee weapon out.

"We're going to have to leave the mansion," the bear faunus says. A few people look at him with varied expressions, varying between disbelief to dread. The others were concentrating on the invading Grimm. "We're steadily running out of ammo, some us are already out of ammunition, and we'll need to resort to our melee weapons, but we are running out of room to swing them without hitting each other." His eyes were glaring at the Alpha Ripper outside the manor building, tightening his grip on his armaments. "So, our objective is to take out the Alpha Variants and eventually the Grendel, but first the Alphas, I'll take the Ripper, and the rest of you will attack the Beowolf."

"But sir," one of the female faunus says defiantly.

"No, buts, that's an order Steel," Duke says sternly, raises his voice. Micheal feels the commanding pitch coming out in his voice. Virginia flinches in response to the tone. The older faunus smiles, a smile that radiates utter joy, like relishing a beloved hobby. "I haven't fought a Grimm that large by myself in so long, I'm itching to fight it, besides I'm the only one here with enough experience to fight it by myself," he informs, first a longing mood and then an informative one. He left out the piece where he was going to kill it for the death of his men. "That Beowolf's tougher hide and armor requires more people to fight it than the Ripper does, it's going to take more effort to break or piece that shell to hurt it. So, I need the rest of you to work together and with the trio. If someone has an idea, regardless if it from a faunus or the red one, to slay it, you will listen. Understand?" His eyes scan the crowd, seeing many scowls at the aspect of listening to a human. But he didn't hear a single complaint from them, at least not verbally. He just hopes that they will put aside their hatred to work with the human. He still wants to follow through on his promise that they will be alive at the end of this. They will have injuries at the end of this night, but they will be breathing. "One last thing, once you head outside, you will pair up with each to protect your comrade as best you can. Once out there, your chances of dying are going to be higher but better than here. I'll be honest, I have no illusion that there will be no more death. I can guarantee that at least a couple more of us will die. The one good thing is that the horde of Grimm is significantly thinner than before, so there can't be many lesser ones left. Just remember that your objective is still to protect the trio we came to capture; so, protect them at all costs."

"Sir!" The extremist soldiers say in unison, though Duke could hear some were growling lightly amongst the group. He expected that response, but circumstances prevent him from punishing it. The bear faunus' eyes travel towards the trio behind the group. Ruby nods in response to his orders. He gives her a nod in response. He takes a deep breath

"Okay, on three, we charge," Duke says. He aims his gunblade at a Beowolf that was jumping through one of the broken windows. The faunus leader pulls the trigger as soon as it lands, destroying the head in a ruby flash of light. "One," he brings his axe down on a Creep's head. "Two," as he notes Ruby was slicing two Rippers in half. "Three!" The leader yells. The whole group then charges out of the building at varying exits, whether it was the front door or the windows. Then the group splits with Duke charging the Alpha Ripper, the rest attack the Head Beowolf. The ones with ammo left turn behind them, proceeding to fire upon the Grimm that were exiting the building after the group.

Micheal internally sighs in relief upon exiting the building as he sees that the younger Grimm were so few now. At best, he could count around seventy-five minor monsters of darkness left in the village. While still quite a bit, it was nothing compared to almost half an hour ago. But his group was charging one of the Alpha Grimm, a Variant at that. He swallows nervously at the prospect. While he fought the Gigas in Initiation, it was a standard one and not full grown. Now he was about to fight an elder creature of darkness. While he remembers team CFVY's and other teachers' tales of an Alpha Grimm. They always seem to be about how easy they were to slay, but those were regular ones, not the variations. There was no telling how this encounter would go. Its size alone intimidates him; it is almost about three times his size. Micheal felt like a bug next to its size. The wolf faunus tightens his grip on Faith as his group meets the opposing Grimm host.

The massive raptor aggressively hisses at the bear faunus approaching him. A small group of its lesser brethren dashes forward to intercept. Duke fires two shoots, down the front two. The other creatures behind it crush their fallen 'comrades' underfoot. The bear faunus brings his axe down on the closest Ripper as jagged, deep blue lines run up his arms. The handheld weapon completely crushes the Raptor's skull with a deep crunch. He then swings his gunblade, decapitating another raptor Grimm, then fires his armament, slaying another monster trying to circle around him. He had to roll to dodge a barrage of feathers from the head Ripper. The Alpha was in the air above the faunus. The quills were carelessly ripping through a few of its brethren. It the instant the creature hits the ground, it lunges at the bear faunus with a savage bite. Duke spins to the side, dodge the sharp teeth by an inch, and swings both weapons. The blade digs into the bone mask enough to piece it, but barely enough to bite into the Grimm's skull underneath. The force of the strike sends the large raptor spinning slightly. The creature quickly recovers from the attack and holds out its hand, extending its claws, especially the elongated middle one. Then it slashes at its opponent in a lethal arc. Duke ducks the attack as the sharp claw flies over his head, eviscerating the younger Grimm behind him. He turns his gunblade over and swings upward, trying to slice the Alpha's arm off. The head Ripper pulls its limb back in time and hops back in response.

Duke immediately dashes forward as it hops away. He then feels something jump onto his back and sharp pain in his right shoulder. At the edge of his vision, he can see the top half of a Raptor's head, its teeth sinking into his shoulder. The older faunus smashes his axe into the raptor's head, which causes the monster to become limp. The bear faunus, dropping his armament, grabs the slain creature's corpse and vigorously throws the body, as it was just a stone, at its leader. The corpse flies and slams into its former Alpha with an audible smack, knocking it off balance and forcing its head to the side. The force of the impact. The former officer picks his discarded weapon up and again charges the Alpha. The Head Ripper growls and spins, swinging its tail, and the bear faunus dodges the barrage of feathers again. As soon as he regains his footing, he has to roll out of the way of another volley. He sees the Alpha has resorted to dancing out of his range and sending salvo after salvo of feathers. Duke places his axe into his mouth and quickly reaches into his vest and pulls out a vial of red dust. He chucks it into the large Raptor's path as he dodges another volley of quills. Duke growls at the sputters of pain from behind. After waiting for a second, he fires a single round at the vial. The shot hits the flask as the Alpha 's head is within an inch of it. The next instant, a small explosion erupts from the bottle, followed by a cry of pain.

The Alpha Ripper staggers away from the explosion. The blast had blown off a chunk of its mouth and scorched the side of its face, cracking the bone mask where the scorch marks were. Duke takes a second to look at the other group. He sees the member that caught in the last volley on the group with feathers in her back, neck, and back of her head and another one dead with his throat torn open. The bear faunus smiles at the sight of his compatriots, making progress through the Grimm horde to the Beowolf Variant, who was throwing lesser Grimm at them. But this was a mistake to look away, as he felt three sharp pains in his back and feathers piece the stone ground next to him. The bear faunus coughs blood as he turns to his opponent, reaching to pull the quills out. The Ripper Variant hisses at his target, flexing its claws. It dashes forward, jaws wide, and claws outward. The former officer rolls under the creature's left hand as its jaws snap behind him. He takes this chance to slash it left leg with his axe, his armament biting deep. The former officer was turning quickly and throwing the hand-held weapon at Ripper as it awkwardly turns. The head of the arm digging deep into its thigh as a shriek of pain emits from the Alpha.

The Alpha Ripper pulls the weapon out with its teeth and clamps down, breaking the arm in two with a loud snap. Duke scowls at the sight of losing a combat tool. Though his spirits lift upon seeing the large raptor limping on its hurt leg, trying to circle the bear faunus. He firmly grabs the handle of his remaining weapon with both hands readying himself. The Ripper tries to spin on its better leg but stumbles as it tries to push off its back leg. It hisses at the aspect of being unable to fling its quills. Duke takes this chance to charge the creature. The bear faunus then leaps over a vicious bite from the Alpha and lands on its head. The former office grabs the crest on the leading creature's head as said monster thrashes its head vigorously to throw its unwanted rider off. The moment it stops flailing, Duke swings his gunblade with all his might on the undamaged side of the head. The blade bites deep into the mask as the strike smacks the Alpha's head to the side. Duke holds on before be delivering one last savage attack on the other side of the creature's head. The time the attack shatters the damaged bone plate and through the head. The former office jumps off the head, spinning forward, the blade cleaving through the top of the raptor's skull and bursting out the top. The creature of darkness falls on its side with a thud, unmoving, and mouth open. Duke deftly lands on the ground and sighs in relief. He groans in pain a bit from his injuries, internally complaining about his age, but turns toward the Grendel. The troll Grimm hasn't moved from the entrance since this battle began. It just stands there alone, as if to only oversee the fight in front of it. Duke glares darkly at the creature as he readies himself for another battle. This one has killed a fair number of his men and desires to slay it. He mentally inspires him to slay the monster. He will avenge his men or die trying. He grips the handle of his sword and charges the beast. The Grendel grips its axe in both hands, ready to fight back as well.

A few minutes earlier, the other group

While Duke fights against the Alpha Ripper, the other group were slowly making their way towards the Beowolf Variant. The group was cutting their way through the last group of lesser Grimm that was between them and their target. They split into two groups, one that fought the lesser Grimm in melee with the other covering from behind. Micheal is in the second group, being one of the few people having a fair amount of ammo left; His teammates were in the first group having only a single magazine for their own firearms. Within the first couple minutes, they lost a member to a well-placed throw from the head werewolf Grimm. The creature threw one of its lesser kin, which landed on one of male White fang. The young Beowolf immediately tore the man's throat open before anyone could react. By the time Ruby had slain it with a shot to the head, it was too late. Not even another two minutes had passed, when another was killed by a stray volley of feathers from Duke's battle. This did, however, seem to motivate the rest of the White Fang to fight even harder than before.

Just as they gained the upper hand, the group scatters as the Beowolf Variant leaps into the middle of the crowd. The armored Alpha swipes its claws in a lethal arc around it, missing all of them by an inch. The head Grimm then feels dust rounds harmlessly impact on its armor plating. The massive monster turns head to see its attacker or attackers but had to quickly bring an arm up to shield its eyes from being shot. With its free claw, scoops one of its remaining lesser kin and hurls it at the aggressor. It growls in frustration as a yelp emits from the thrown Beowolf, followed by a thud. Then it decides to risk it and lowers its arm. Again, grabbing two of its lesser brethren and throwing them; One of them was gunned down while the other flew over their heads. The sound of crashing and wood snapping resonates from behind the group, telling them that the creature flew into the manor building. Then the leader of the monster leaps at the gunners, forcing them to disperse as well. Though not without swiping at one of them as well. This time catching one of the remaining male White Fang, it closes its fingers around the extremist soldier. The head monster then proceeds to throw that member over the cliff edge of the village. The man's screams could be heard as he flew over the border into the canyon. It took a while before the screaming would cease or become so far away; they couldn't hear the helpless cry anymore. Micheal didn't want to imagine what the man would look like in a bit, plus he had more crucial issues.

The wolf faunus begins to look for weak spots in the armor he could take advantage of. There were joints in its limbs, it was a start. His eyes stray down to the back of the Alpha knees. 'Take out its mobility first,' he muses to himself. He then looks to his right and sees one of the remaining members of the extremists, a female by body build. She is holding a light machine gun like him, though her firearm was different. It is longer and narrower in shape, and the magazine is more like a standard clip than his drum magazine. It would be easier to pull off with some help. Though, the prospect of working with this person did anger him. "Uhm, Hey," he says quietly, slightly uneasy at the prospect of talking to this faunus, afraid of what she might do.

"Yes?" She inquires with a surprisingly polite response. It irked him that this person was treaty him kindly and probably one of the ones scowling at his friend. Micheal, unfortunately, had to curb his irritation at that remark.

"I was thinking of trying to attack behind the knee where there is no armor," Micheal starts.

"So, you either want me to cover you or help you take out the knee," she responds quickly.

"Both, if you want, at least cover me while I circle around to its back," the wolf faunus states.

"We'll do it together, this way we can get both legs at the same time," she comments. The wolf faunus just nods in response. The unlikely duo began to work their way around the Alpha to behind its legs. Ruby notices this immediately and looks toward her other teammate, who was cutting a Beowolf clean in half.

"Hitomi," she says firmly. Her faunus friend looks at her while preparing to slay another lesser Grimm. The brunette nods toward their teammate working his way around with the White Fang in tow. The two faunus were only shooting the smaller creatures that stood in their path, making to attract as little attention to themselves. The fox faunus nods in confirmation as she turns toward the head werewolf monster. Said creature was still swiping it huge furry claws at any person in reach. Fortunately, most of the other White Fang were keeping themselves right outside its range. The other White Fang did manage to see spot what the duo was doing. As a result, the group was doing their best to keep the giant beast engrossed in combatting them. The band of faunus and the lone human were being louder and more obnoxious towards the Alpha, taunting or harassing it with swift, but mostly harmless strikes. The blades of their weapons, causing sparks on the durable white plate. It then noticed two members were missing from the group that weren't dead yet. It had been keeping track of how many people were alive in their target quarry. At that moment, it leaps back, looking down. It sees the duo below him and growls angrily at their audacity. As it lands, it felt something hard under its foot. It quickly glances down at the remains of the fortification that failed to stop its horde from charging into the village.

"Wasn't the greatest idea anyway," one the remaining female White Fang comments.

"No, but it was better than just wailing on it, hoping to break its armor," one of the remaining male members says. The squad of remaining White Fang began to argue amongst themselves, trying to come up with a plan, readying themselves for another round of combat. The trio huddles close together a few feet from the others talking to amongst themselves as well, but much calmer.

"We had to try something," Micheal defends himself.

"Good idea, poor plan," Hitomi comments.

"I should have done it, my semblance would have let me do it safer and much quicker than you," Ruby says.

"Sorry, should have thought of that, but you were in the middle of the melee there," Micheal says. His eyes drifting to see only, at best, ten lesser Grimmer left, all Beowolves. They just hung a few feet away, waiting for something.

"It's okay, but…," she never got to finish her sentence. At that moment, a collection of shouts from the White Fang followed swiftly but a deep thump and a sickening crunch. The trio turns to see the White Fang members dispersing in different directions. The Alpha Beowolf had jumped into the crowd, wielding a piece of the barrier, and swung the rotten wood vertically at them. It did make contact with at least one member of the extremist group as an arm stuck from under the decaying wood with a puddle of blood spreading out. Micheal looks at the slowly dwindling squad and sees one less male member amongst the group. The wolf faunus looks at his leader to gauge her demeanor.

Ruby seems calm, but her knuckles were white as her grip on Crescent Rose was abnormally tight, her breathing was more uneven, and she was trembling slightly. Micheal imagines she trying to hold it together for the sake of her friends, hopefully not looking weak to the faunus they were reluctantly fighting with. The battle was wearing on her not only physically but mentally as well. It looks like something his dad told him once. Micheal's father may have been reluctant to divulge about his military life; he would say that sometimes give a few pieces of experience. 'There's a difference between expecting and experiencing Micheal, When I got deployed for the first time, I knew there was a solid chance of expecting combat and expecting casualties, but actually experiencing it was a shock, putting it mildly, I'm not sure how to put it into words, but the unpredictability and sheer terror of actual combat, plus seeing those die around you is something you can't forget, you expect to take a life, you expect to see people die, but actually seeing and doing it…, well…, I just hope you never have to, ' his dad's stern voice rings in his head. Ruby was now truly experiencing what this kind of life will entail. 'Looks like my dad's words right true for Ruby, she probably going to have nightmares,' Micheal muses. The surviving members had to dodge away as the Beowolf Variant viciously swings its improvised weapon at them. Its lesser kin rush in after it.

"Damn it! We are not equipped for armored Grimm! Why didn't we get more time to prepare!" Virginia shouts as readies her halberd. She then drives the spear tip of her armament through the head of a charging Beowolf. Then before she could pull her weapon out, one of the other werewolf Grimm jumps over its slain brethren and lands on the rat faunus. Before the creature of darkness could sink its fangs into the masked girl, a red blur passes through the monster. The body of the beast disappears while its head remains, like a failed disappearing act. Virginia looks toward her rescuer and scowls as she sees Ruby, the brunette uneasily swallows at the masked faunus' face. Virginia hops on her feet and swings her halberd. Ruby's eyes went wide as the polearm came her way, instinctively bring her weapon to block. Then the polearm stops an inch from the shaft of her scythe, and a thud resonates from behind her. The reaper quickly turns her body to see the axe head of the polearm wedged inside the skull of the few remaining young Beowolves. "We're even now," she says harshly. She looks between the human and the Alpha Variant. "Any ideas?" the rat faunus asks, lowering the callousness in her voice.

"You're going to listen to me?" Ruby inquires. The duo had to dodge a vicious blow from the Armored Alpha.

"Duke ordered us to, and I'll obey his orders, plus we've got nowhere like this," Virginia says. She was mentally biting her tongue at her current situation, hating the prospect of relying on this human for a plan, but they were running out of options. She could tell the young girl was thinking rapidly as her head quickly turns, examining the situation.

"Work with my teammates to distract it, and I'll get behind it, then do what Micheal tried to do," Ruby says.

"What makes you think you can do it?" Virginia asks.

"My Semblance," the brunette informs. Ruby couldn't tell what the rat faunus' expression, other than her frowning lips, due to the mask. But she could perceive the faunus was thinking about her answer.

"Fine," the masked faunus snaps. She then runs off towards her remaining comrades. Ruby turns toward her teammates. They nod as she spots them, and she smiles at them in return. She sits back, waiting for the opportune moment. The Beowolf Variant jumps over the group and swipes at them. The band of faunus all dodges out of the lethal claws' path. The Alpha lands with a heavy thump and quickly lunge forward, jaw wide open. It viciously snaps an inch from Micheal's left arm. Ruby's eyes widen at the sight and, with her semblance, bolts forward. In the next instant, the reaper was behind the Alpha's left leg, swinging her scythe. The werewolf Grimm then jumps backward, dodging the attack. As soon as it lands, it starts to flourish its claws at its attacker. Ruby deftly leaps over the attack and duck another vicious swipe, feeling the wind as the black paw passes over her.

Ruby then swings her scythe at the creature's right leg, only for the weapon to generate sparks against its plate. The brunette grumbles angrily at the aspect of being unable to pierce the creature's armor. It was unreservedly irritating to incapable of even piercing this monster's shell. The brunette leaps over another swipe and then jumps on its arm. The reaper then slashes her precious weapon at the monster's head. Once again, not puncturing the monster's bone plate, but violently knocking it head to the side, destabilizing the large Grimm. The Alpha growls in irritation at the attack as it rebalances himself. It quickly turns its head to see where its attacker was, to see her gone. Before the Alpha Variant could look for her, a gunshot rang from in front of it, and it went blind in its right eye. Then various other object scapes against its bone plate.

The Beowolf must turn its head, to see with its remaining eye, to gaze upon the other assailants. Their weapons harmlessly scraping against its body armor, sparks were flying everywhere. Then it notices the wolf faunus, he is appearing to line up a shot. The Alpha deduces that it was probably the one that blinded it. But before it could leap at Micheal. Sharp burning pain in its left shoulder distracted it. Then it felt lighter on its left side like someone removed a weight on its arm. Then its arm flew into its vision and something land on its shoulder. It didn't even bother to look and swipes its claws at its unwanted rider. It felt the person leap off its shoulder before its claw reached her. The Alpha then lunges forward, getting some distance from its assailant. The monster snaps at one of the White Fang, and this time it finds its mark. One of the remaining female members didn't even utter a scream as the jaws snap shut around her. Then it quickly pounces at another member but was intercepted this time with a pair of feet impacting the left side of its head. Before it could recover from the recent attack, it felt a sharp pain in the back of its right knee; then fell back as it lost its balance. It tried to get up but found itself unable to use its right leg. Then before it could get up even think of a plan to do something about its situation, a flash red enters its vision. Then Crescent Rose pierces its upper jaw and out the top of its head. And in one clean, powerful swing of her weapon, Ruby destroyed the head of the Alpha Variant.

Before the group could breathe, a guttural howl reverberates from the entrance of the village. They all look toward the sound to see Duke fighting the Grendel alone. The old faunus wasn't looking good, the back of his vest was almost stained black from bleeding, from three arm-sized holes in the back of his jacket the blood flowed, and from the top of his head the blood streaming over his left eye. He had lost his axe and is holding his gunblade in both hands, his body was shaking from either blood loss or exhaustion, or both, Micheal could not tell. The group ran to both help the older faunus and to slay the Grendel. The monster in question has suffered some damage itself, pieces of its armor were missing, a tusk was broken, and cracks were on other parts and its axe. The wolf faunus notes that the Grendel's regeneration didn't extend to its armor, or the veteran had done so much damage that it severely slowed the creature's regenerative capabilities.

Micheal stops first and raises Faith, readying to fire. He pulls the trigger, only to hear a click. The wolf faunus sneers at the sound, removing the clip from the firearm. He then pulls his pack off and opens it. He grimaces at the sight of the last clip. It would be all they have for the night if they survive this battle. Micheal quickly loads the clip and readies himself to support the group from afar. As he put his body in his usual firing stance, numerous immense sharp pains, like multiple daggers stabbing, sear from the crus of his left leg. That wasn't the only problem coming from his leg, he felt an excessive pressure on the same leg and then hears a distinct sickening snap. Then a sudden pull backward made him fall forward, his face smashing into the ground. Micheal didn't have time to ponder his injuries. He quickly twists his body around, gripping the barrel of Faith and swing the firearm as an improvised club. The stock of the firearm slams into the side of a lesser Beowolf's head. The attack stunned the creature, and it backs off a bit. The werewolf monster shakes its head before lunging at Micheal, knocking Faith aside. The wolf faunus puts both his feet up to stall the creature. As the creature's body presses against his legs, another burning pain shoots through his leg, but Micheal could only grit his teeth. It didn't take him long to figure out his leg was broken. Then Micheal feels the creature's fuzzy paws grab his shoulder and the claws digging into his skin, puncturing it multiple times. The wolf faunus' face contorted into a mix of pain and horror as the creature desperately tries to sink its fangs into its current target's neck Micheal reaches around his waist and unsheathes Crocea Mors. He swings upward at the Beowolf's head and lodges it in the skull of the monster. The creature's strength quickly fades and falls limply on Micheal. The wolf faunus pushes the slain beast off his body and reaches for Faith, which was only a couple feet away. Using the weapon as support, he then raises himself off the ground. He unsteadily stands, almost all his weight right leg, and sheathes Jaune's sword. As he painfully sighs as he strains to turn around, the sound of heavy thumps rapidly approaches him.

"Micheal, watch out!" Ruby's voice screams as she tackles him. Micheal hisses as Ruby's weight presses on his bad leg and the same limb hitting the ground roughly, then an enormous white rod flies above the duo's heads. A loud smack followed by a loud thud came after the narrowly dodged attack. The brunette gets off her friend.

"My leg is broken, a Beowolf just snapped it," Micheal hisses.

"Damn it, Ash, Steel, get him out of here, in the cave quickly, he'll just be a liability out here now, there are rooms in there to hole up," Duke orders loudly. The two faunus didn't even hesitate, strapping their weapons to their backs, and grab his arms. Both were supporting one arm around their necks and quickly carrying him off. Though before they could get far, a white rod slams into the trio of faunus, sending them flying towards the stone wall. The three faunus smash into the mountainside, cracks forming where they impacted, and the three fell to the ground unmoving. The remaining White Fang charge the Grendel as Ruby and Hitomi dash to check on Micheal. For the first time, they see Micheal leg, they could see the Beowolf did more than just break the limb. There were deep, jagged grooves running horizontal across the crus of his leg, from the shin to the back of the leg. The blood is staining his pant legs and his tail, which was resting between his legs. Ruby bent down to listen for him breathing. Though, it was unnecessary as the wolf faunus painfully groans as he tries to get up. He places his arms under him, using his whatever strength he can muster to push himself up. A hand gently urges him back on the ground.

"Micheal, lay down, you have done enough, we will take care of the rest," Hitomi says gently.

"No, got to help," Micheal groans. His body hurt like nothing before, every part of his body ached, it was like someone lit him on fire and was stabbing him at the same time. He would probably be in worse shape if he didn't harden his aura after Ruby screamed at him and was getting carried away as a precaution, it didn't hurt to protect himself just in case. Though the wolf faunus had to admit, it felt like it didn't help much. He could feel the blood pooling around his leg. His vision was blurry, and his head felt like someone bashed his head with a hammer.

"No, just stay still, Hitomi can you do anything?" Ruby says.

"Not anything decent with the Grendel still alive, once it is slain then I can, but until…," Hitomi stops as she takes off her jacket and wraps it like a tourniquet on his leg as her mom showed her. She slightly cringes as her coat soaks in her partner's blood, staining it. 'I like that jacket, that is the second one I lost this year,' she complains to herself. She couldn't blame her partner though for the loss of her clothes. "Now stay still," she says firmly to her partner. She and her leader give each other a quick look and nod as if to silently encourage each other to fight even harder. They turn toward the Grendel to see that the battle with the last Grimm hasn't improved since they left to check on their downed teammate. There is was only one remaining male member of the White Fang left, that one being Duke, who looked even worse. His body was shaking, he looks unsteady on his feet, and his complexion was pale, the blood loss was getting to him. The other male was nothing more than a puddle of blood and a stain on the white rod the armored troll wields. It was an axe a few minutes before Hitomi broke it, catching it mid-swing during her prior engagement with the monster. The last two female members were running outside the monster's range, waiting for a chance to attack.

The duo charge ahead, weapons ready to slay the troll monster quickly. Ruby uses her semblance to speed forward, a red blur in the night. The Grendel turns its head and sees the reaper dashing towards it. It jumps backward, evading the blade of Crescent Rose from slashing its leg. As it lands, it swings its weapon at the reaper. Ruby dashes away from the attack. As it finishes it strike, it felt a sharp pain in its back. It clenches its hand and swings it fist upward towards its shoulder. The fist smacks Hitomi squarely, violently propelling her back to the ground. The fox faunus immediately rolls to the side to dodge a stomp from the troll creature. The Grendel swings its club trying to smash the faunus, then sharp pains emit from its leg. It holds its club above its head as it looks down to see the two female White Fang's spears jabbing into the back of its knees. It growls in anger and picks it left leg up. One of the female members managed to pull her weapon out, but the other couldn't as it was still in the leg. The female did leap away from stomp but couldn't move from the follow-up grab from its left hand. The female White Fang hopelessly struggled in the troll's immensely sturdy grip. Duke jumped into the air, swinging his gunblade in a vicious attack. The blade dug into the arm, but the monster's grip held. The Grendel pull its arm away from Hitomi's violet blade, only the tip of the nodachi slices the bottom of the limb. It then hops away from Ruby's attack, Crescent Rose missing the armpit of the left shoulder. The troll monster quickly shoves the screaming woman into its mouth and bites down with a sickening crunch.

"Damn it!" Duke angrily shouts. He then jumps onto the Grendel's arm, then shoulder, and finally onto the creature's head. He then furiously swings his weapon down onto the monster's skull. Despite his weakened state, the older faunus still holds immense strength in his arms. The force of his strike knocks the creature off balance. Though his damaged condition has lowered his reaction time, he didn't have time to acknowledge the sizeable armored hand grab him. This time though, instead of eating the person in its grip, it throws the former officer into the mountain wall. The older faunus slide down the wall and lands on the ground roughly, he wasn't moving.

Ruby bolts forward, raising her weapon, concentrated on slaying the Grendel. The troll hops away to dodge the attack. But as soon as it lands Ruby was behind it with her beloved scythe, she slashes the back of its legs, cleaving through half the limbs. But like their last encounter, the wounds began to heal instantly. Its regenerative factor was indeed slower than before, it took a minute for the injury to recover. Ruby has to leaps backward, dodging a swipe from its clawed hand and away from its white rod trying to crush her. Hitomi slashes at the arm wielding the improvised weapon. The Grendel intercepts the assault with its armament with a small shift of its grip. A clang of metal and stone clashing reverberated and followed by cracking and shattering, pebbles flew harmlessly in all directions, and a little dust cloud fills the air. The troll pulls the remains of its weapon away; it was now barely halfway up its forearm. It might as well be a dagger in its massive hands. Then it sees the fox faunus destroy the other half of the stone pole with a powerful kick. It growls in anger at the destruction of its weapon. It chucks the small shaft of rock at the fox faunus, who deflects the object with her sword.

The Grendel clasp its hands together and swings its hands at the fox faunus. Hitomi jumps backward as the hands smack the ground, cracks form where it impacts. Ruby hops on the clasped hands and then leaps towards the shoulder, swing her scythe at the monster's face. The Grendel lowers it head so Crescent Rose impact harmlessly on the mask. It unclasps its hands and tries to smack Ruby with one of its now free hands. The reaper deftly jumps over the monster's head, dodging the attack. The Brunette swings her weapon as she lands, angling it to go through the unarmored neck. The troll Grimm suddenly jerks its body, making Ruby lose her balance, interrupting her attack, and fall of its shoulder. The monster snatches the reaper out of the air in a tight grip. It was going to bring it struggling prey to its mouth, only for it lose sight in its left eye with a loud bang. It drops the young girl and brings its hand up to the destroyed eye, but not without trying to stomp on Ruby. The Brunette quickly rolls away from the attack. The troll looks for the source of the shot to see the wolf faunus lying on the ground and pointing his handgun at it. The wolf faunus slowly, and unsteadily was trying to load another round into the firearm. It then charges at Micheal, its eyesight returning, but didn't get far as something sharp wraps in front of its leg and pulled backward. The troll trips and quickly turns its head to see Ruby flying through the air, the blade of Crescent Rose pointing downward, ready to pierce the unarmored neck. The troll swiftly twists its body swinging its hand, smacking the brunette towards the cliff, stopping an inch short of the edge. The Grendel gets up and continues towards wolf faunus. Micheal stares upward to the hulking figure of the armored troll in front of him. He points his handgun up at the creature and fires, the monster jerks its head down so the dust round harmless bounce of its bone mask. As the Grendel reaches down to pick the wolf faunus up.

"Get the hell away from my partner!" Hitomi yell rents the air. Then the Grendel howls in pain as a massive object is lodged into its left shoulder and then cleaves through it, cutting its furry arm off. Micheal then gets a good look at the thing his partner is holding, which was much bigger than Hitomi's nodachi. Micheal wasn't sure if the pain, or blood loss, or both, were starting to make him insane as he thought he was seeing his weapon, in its Chaos form, in his partner's hands. But the wolf faunus notices that instead of being silver, it was violet in color. He turns towards his leader, who was now bleeding from her head to she was looking amazed as well, meaning she could see it. He wasn't hallucinating, his partner was somehow wielding his weapon, though it was a different color than usual, which was back at Beacon. The Grendel clutches the spot where its arm was, giving low grunts of pain. It then furiously yowls as it picks up its amputated arm with it remain limb and swings it like a club. Hitomi quickly shifts the broad axe and her grip to block the incoming attack. The impromptu club slams into the axe head with immense force, Hitomi slides across the stone floor for a few feet.

Once the fox faunus stopped sliding, she immediately flips the large weapon around and swings it with one hand. The heavy axe easily cleaves through the Grendel's armor and the chest underneath, leaving a deep gash. The troll Grimm staggered backward from the attack, not expecting it break its plate so smoothly. The wound, but not the bone plate, was healing quickly, and the Grimm hops to the side, avoiding a vertical slash from the fox faunus. It swings its remaining arm at his enemy. Hitomi shifts Chaos to block the strike, though the angle at which the fist struck sent Chaos flying away. Then a peculiar sight transpired; Micheal's oddly colored weapon dissipated like it was a cloud of smoke. Hitomi leaps away to put some distance between her and the Grimm. She places both her hands in front of her and exhales, a cloud of smoke appears around her hands. Then a shape forms in the smoke undefined at first, but soon it took a defined appearance. It took the outline of a scythe, growing to the shape and size of Ruby's beloved weapon. Hitomi grabbed the silhouette of the armament, and the cloud disappeared, in the fox faunus hands is a violet Crescent Rose.

"Hitomi, no, get rid of it!" Ruby screams as she teleports to her friend's side.

"Why!?" Hitomi shouts back at her leader, confused.

"Because one, I'm the only one allowed to wield my sweetheart, two, there is only one Crescent Rose, not this imposter. And three, you are ruining her with that color, she's red, not purple," Ruby complains vehemently, her eyes reflecting her angry mood.

"One, that is absolutely ridiculous; we are going to have a class soon where we wield each other's weapons, two, this just temporary, it is not a permanent thing, it will disappear after I drop it. And three, the color is just a byproduct of my Semblance, I can't control it, also stop calling my color purple, it's violet, and also I think Crescent Rose looks just as good in violet as it does in red," Hitomi argues back. The duo dodges out of the way of a vicious punch.

"Why don't you use your own weapon? It's on your back; also, it does not, it looks hideous, you're disrespecting my sweetheart with that ugly imposter," Ruby asks annoyed. She swings her scythe into its unarmed flank, the armor lost at some point, cleaving through its hip. The wound heals slowly after the hit. Hitomi swings her scythe through its leg, cleaving through half of it.

"I'm trying to mix things up, so it has to keep guessing," Hitomi answers. She dodges another punch from the monster, seeing the injury she left heal up. "Damn it, Ruby, do you remember how to kill this thing? Just damaging the head won't work."

"I know," Ruby silently remarks as she dodges a furious stomp. She tries and thinks of a solution, trying to remember all the knowledge of Grendels she could muster. The brunette had merely glanced at the chapter from the book Micheal rented when he wasn't looking at it. That is how she found out about the healing factor but can't remember the rest of the part. The thing is, she believed the head was the only thing worth attacking, any other damage was worth the effort, it would just heal. Though the skull would recover as well from attacks, they should concentrate on the head for now. "Hitomi, just concentrate on the head, it's the only place that matters."

"Got it," Hitomi replies, swinging the duplicate scythe upward towards the armpit of the remaining arm. She knew this wasn't part of her leader's plan, but it didn't hurt to remove another method of attack from the Grimm. The Grendel pulls its body away as the weapon passes by its shoulder, not keen on losing its remaining arm. The monster retaliates with a wild swing, which the rust-colored haired girl leaps away from. The fox faunus reacts with an attack from the copied weapon, sending it into the monster's hand, the violet Crescent Rose stabs into the monster's palm. The Grendel grunts in pain as it drives its hand forward, catching the young faunus off guard. She receives the full brunt of the attack, sending her flying into the stone wall. Hitomi uncomfortably grunts as she impacts the wall. Then the troll Grimm slams into the young faunus as she begins to slide down the wall, cracks forming where it struck. The fox faunus felt a searing pain in her back, followed by a break. After the troll pulled away from the mountain wall, Hitomi fell to the ground. She twitches as she reaches toward her spine. She felt that her back had fractured again, though nowhere near as bad as the last time. She had concentrated her aura to protect herself after the first attack in case of a follow-up, she made the right choice. Though, she had a feeling that her aura could only take one more hit before it ran out and shattered.

"No!" Ruby scream rips through the battlefield. A flash of red quickly moves upward through the Grendel's right armpit. Crescent Rose's blade was cleanly cutting through the monster's shoulder, sending it remaining arm flying away from its owner. The troll uneasily staggers backward from the reaper, the loss of its limb throwing off its balance. It then glares at the one responsible for amputating its arms and then flinches. The look of sheer determination and anger in Ruby's silver eyes made an unfamiliar feeling build in its body. It also swore that was a slight glow to her eyes, but if there was, it was too dim to really tell. The brunette's body began to glow red, and in the next instant, she disappeared. The troll Grimm frantically searches for the young girl, head moving from left to right, twisting its body around. Then a flash of red and a deep gash appears on its chest, the wound began to heal slowly. A second later, a flash of red and another laceration forms on its waist, starting to heal slower than before. The Grendel begins to wildly stomp the area around it in a vain attempt to crush Ruby. Then it felt something land on its shoulder, then another large wound appears on its shoulder. The Grimm's new injury healed as slowly as the last, its regenerative factor was at its limit. The battle with the older faunus had taxed it regeneration a great deal before the other joined in. The Grendel had a sudden thought, it needed to get out of here and now. It had no way of fighting the reaper now, no arms or weapon, unable to reform quickly, and it couldn't even see where she was. But before it took a step, another laceration appears on its right leg forms, followed by a blunt for on its side.

The troll Grimm fell over, but before it hit the ground, it felt something tear through the back of its neck, and a scythe appears out the front of its neck. An angry shout rents the air as Crescent Rose completely rips through the troll's neck, decapitating it. The last thing it saw was Ruby swing her precious scythe one last time at its head, splitting it in two. Ruby collapses on her knees, tired from her fight. The night became eerily silent compared to constant growls, barks, yells, scream from earlier. The brunette found her head starting to sting, and her muscles aching from exerting herself in that last flurry of attacks. She hadn't used her semblance like that in a while, not since she first activated it. She reaches up and touches her bleeding scalp and pulls away as soon as she feels it, the sting of the wound telling her it was a bad idea.

"You caused this, all three of you!" an unfamiliar voice rings through the silent air. It made Ruby jump as she turned towards the source. She had forgotten there was still one member of the White Fang alive. The last female of the destroyed group raises her spear ready strike. Ruby's eyes widen in fear as the masked faunus attacks, the brunette screams, backing away from the attack.

"No, we didn't!" She falls on her rear, and the spear impales the ground between her legs. The reaper kicks the faunus' legs, tripping the woman, who falls forward onto Ruby, who screams and pushes her off.

"Damn," Hitomi curses as tries to get up. But it was slow as her body fought every step of the way, he back hurt extremely bad, sending sparks of pain across her body. Even if she could get on her feet in time, she doubts her body could produce the strength to wield her weapon. She didn't have any ammo in her rifle, having spent it a long time ago. But then the thought of killing came to her mind paralyzing her for a second, before Ruby's scream and Yang's promise regain her desire to help her friend, putting strength in her body she didn't have before.

"Fuck," Micheal weakly utters as he aims his handgun. His vision was now blurry from the blood loss and pain, and his hands were shaking. Ruby and the white Fang were blurry as well, but he could tell who by their colors was. He struggled to pull the trigger, a bang resounds through the air, but he missed. The last White Fang just seemed to look at him for a second. Micheal unsteadily reaches around to grab one of the rounds from his pouch when the distinct sound of metal tearing into flesh caught his attention. He turns to see two red blurs, one of the red blurs going through the white blur. Even in his exhausted mind, he knew what happened. Hitomi could only stare as she got on her feet at the sight in front of her. A light clang emits from the female's fallen spear. The last White Fang feebly tries to push Crescent Rose out of her, the base of the blade at the masked faunus's hips and the tip above her shoulder. This weak action continued for a few seconds before she went limp. Then a loud clatter resounds as Ruby drops her precious scythe as if it was a disgusting object now.

"I killed someone," Ruby quietly says, her body shaking. Her eyes widen at the corpse in front of her. "I killed her," she repeats.

"You had no choice," Hitomi says, trying to comfort the girl, as she struggles to walk towards Ruby.

"I…, I…, I know but…," Ruby says unsteadily.

"Ruby, we need to move Micheal to a more defensible place and tend to him and ourselves, we can't stay out here," Hitomi says trying to distract her junior. And it worked, Ruby's eye sharpens and looks toward the wolf faunus, who was beginning to look sick.

"Can you help pick him up?" Ruby asks as she gets up.

"No, I am having a tough time walking, I can patch us up at least," Hitomi says.

"Right," The brunette says, voice shaking slightly but more focused, as she glances around. "Into the cave, that's the only place left we can hole up," she walks over to the wolf faunus. She knees down to her friend and pulls his arm around her shoulders. "Micheal, I know you're hurting, but I need you to help me as much you can, I can't carry you far by myself," she says gently, but firmly.

"Okay," Micheal groans as he, with Ruby's help, gets on his feet. The duo makes their way into a cave behind their other teammate. They made their way into one of the few rooms with an intact door, which also happen to be in the best shape, minimal damage, and dust. The reaper gently lies her friend on the stone floor.

"Ruby, can you go get our medical supplies? I think I left it in the room at the manor," Hitomi groan as she tenderly rolls her partner's pant leg. The brunette then runs off to find her teammate's pack. As she exits the cave, her eyes drift to the faunus she killed. Her beloved weapon still stuck inside the slain White Fang. Ruby shudders at the sight, and her breathing quickens. She shakes her head, trying to distract herself from the view and get back to her original task. With her semblance, it took her a minute to find the backpack and get back to her teammates. As soon as she gets back and hands the supplies, Hitomi immediately patches her injury up, she did her first since she was the least injured. "Ruby, go see what you can find, we will need what we can get for the rest of the night, I can do this," Hitomi says, gritting her teeth.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Ruby asks, slightly ashamed and annoyed about not being able to help.

"No, this is what I can do to help," Hitomi answers. Ruby just stares at her for a second before walking off to find supplies for them. The brunette wanders out of the cave and finally seeing the aftermath of the battle. The dissipating bodies of the Grimm littered the battlefield, and other than the manor, which despite sport holes still stands, all the other ruined buildings were gone or crushed into splinter by the horde of Grimm. She could see the corpses of the other White Fang that fought alongside her team, shuddering slightly at the thought that could have easily been her and her friends. The brunette sighs as she bows her head and closes her eyes in respect. The realization they were the only ones to survive the fight, for some reason, didn't heighten her spirits. Then she wanders over to her weapon, her breathing quickening as she got closer. The sight of her first kill of a person in front of her. She wanted to knee over and scream, but she knew it wouldn't do anything. In fact, she knew she couldn't panic and breakdown over this right now. She was the only one capable of fighting and protecting her teammates. She shakes her head violently and knees down, placing a hand on the corpse, the cooling skin feeling wrong under her touch. Ruby silently whimpers as she pulls Crescent Rose from the body, a sickening sound of flesh being cut echoes piercingly as the scythe is extracted. She had to stare at the sight of her precious weapon covered in blood, growing pale at the scene.

In a sudden panic, Ruby bolts to her pack to look for a way to clean her armament, wanting to wipe the taint from her weapon. She did manage to find one, a rag, not in her pack, but the other backpacks the White Fang had. She frantically wipes the blood as much as she could, making a mental note to give her weapon a proper cleaning later. After the brunette felt satisfied with her scrubbing, setting off to rummage through the bags. She places whatever things she found useful in a pile to her right and threw the other items to the side. As the reaper felt she found what she could, she places them in both her bag and one of the White Fangs. She then proceeded to carry both bags filled with more medical supplies and some food with her when she hears a low groan.

The brunette looks to the source of the noise to see one of the White Fang soldiers moving slightly. Ruby drops her bags and rushes to the masked faunus's side. She immediately deduces this one as one of the female members and one of the ones trying to carry Micheal earlier. Ruby could remember Duke calling her name but couldn't remember if it's either Steel or Ash. She takes the mask of the faunus off, to reveal a surprisingly pretty face. Her features are sharp with a light tan but didn't appear to be much older than Yang. She was bleeding from her hairline but didn't seem to have more visible injuries. Then another groan catches her attention, turning to this source, she sees Duke struggling to move against the stone wall. The older faunus, using the mountain face for support, was trying to push himself onto his feet. The Reaper teleports to his side and wraps her left arm around his waist.

"Thank you," he says weakly as he unintentionally leans on the young girl, putting more weight than she expected. The sudden load was causing her to lose balance for a second. "Sorry," he mumbles, trying to shift some of his weight off the young girl, as Ruby helps slowly move him where her team is. "It's good to see you alive," he comments with as much warmth he could muster.

"Thanks," Ruby says quietly.

"Did any of my group survive?" the bear faunus asks.

"The girl that tried to carry Micheal, she's unconscious and bleeding from the head but looks okay otherwise," Ruby says.

"Steel, Virginia Steel, she was one of the ones I didn't trust, but it's good to hear she is alive. Any others?" Duke asks. An uneasy silence fell on the duo as they entered the cave. The silence hung between the pair for a minute. "I see," he says with a tone of sadness.

"One more would have survived, but she attacked me," Ruby says, her breathing beginning to pick up again. The older faunus turns her head towards the young girl, a look of sympathy in his eyes.

"And you killed her," the older faunus states. He felt the girl freeze in place for a second.

"I'm sorry, I…, I didn't…," Ruby starts, shaking lightly.

"It's okay," Duke stops to take a breath. "I'm not angry, she attacked you, and you defended yourself," the older faunus says comfortingly. The duo enters the room to see Bandages on Micheal's leg, head propped on the backpack. Hitomi was lying against the wall, a slightly uncomfortable look on her face. The fox faunus turns her head, and hers widen. Ruby gently lies him near the far wall at the edge of the bed. Hitomi walks over with the backpack and begins to work on the older faunus's injuries. He tries to brush her off, but the fox faunus continues anyway. "I honestly doubt I'll survive the night, even with the bandages, little red," he says, getting Ruby's attention. The brunette looks at him quizzically. "Go get Steel, at least make sure she gets out of here alive."

"Okay," Ruby says as she left the room to get the unconscious White Fang. She was at Virginia's side in a minute. The brunette takes a deep breath and picks the young woman up and places her on her back. After struggling, she manages to drag the woman into the room, softly laying her on the ground near the entrance. Ruby drops to her knees, tired from carrying the woman. The brunette takes a minute to rest before leaving to get the supplies she dropped. She looks around to see Hitomi already beginning to work on Virginia and sees a shirtless Duke with bandages all around his upper torso, the older faunus still didn't look good in the slightest, he seems very weak and pale. The reaper knew the situation didn't look great, two injured, one unconscious, and one seriously injured. She could believe what he told her earlier about not surviving the night, but she hopes he doesn't. He was the only one that treated them pleasantly, even if he was going to take her friends. Ruby takes in another deep breath before getting to her feet, ready to get the necessities she left.

"Little Red…," Duke starts.

"Ruby," the brunette interrupts, slightly annoyed at being addressed by name. She turns to look at the former officer.

"Ruby…," he says, groaning slightly to adjust his position to look at the girl. "Make sure while you're out there to grab any firearm that has ammunition left and also…, can you please get my weapon."

"Sure," Ruby says as she heads out for the last time. The veteran sighs as he relaxes against the stone wall, feeling more drained than he ever had in his life, both physically and mentally. The older faunus inwardly curses his old age. Hitomi moves onto the bed after finishing bandaging Steel and lies down on it, he back feeling slightly better to not be moving finally. The room went quiet for some time as they waited for the leader of team RWBY to return. After ten minutes, the sound of boots could be heard coming down the hallway. Then Ruby entered the room with two backpacks and two firearms in her hands, Micheal's Faith and Duke's gunblade. The young girl tries to hand the gunblade to its owner, but he pushes it back towards Ruby.

"Keep it, for now, it has some ammo in it to be of use for you," Duke remarks. Ruby sighs as she walks over to the entrance and sits down against the door frame, looking down the hall. The brunette places the weapons she has around her. But as she grabs her beloved armament, she flinches, the images of Crescent Rose going through the faunus appear in her mind. "You okay, Ruby?"

"Yeah," Ruby says shakily. She could feel the older faunus's eyes on her, studying her intently.

"Don't beat yourself up too bad, what's done is done, you did what you had to do," Duke says firmly, but comfortingly.

"But…," she tries to argue.

"Shut up and listen to me," the older faunus cuts her off. The brunette recoils at the tone and silently stares at the former officer. Micheal looks at the older faunus as well, curious to what he has to say. Duke takes a deep breath before speaking in a more comfortingly tone. "I know you didn't mean to kill anyone, there are many people who never planned to kill people that end up doing. It doesn't make you a horrible person automatically, the fact you feel terrible about it shows me that you are not, just remember what you did and never take pleasure in it. Admittedly, there is only so much I can say to comfort you; it's up to you get through this. Really, if one has any right to call themselves a terrible person, it's me, before I joined the White Fang, I killed a fair number of people, never innocent people back then mind you, just people we were ordered to or fired at me. But at the same time, I never felt like a terrible person back then, cause I always felt like what I did was for the good of the populous, it felt good feeling like I making sure people could sleep safely in their beds. Still, after getting discharged and joined the White Fang, I started getting involved in senseless manslaughter, some of it under the guise of a mission. Even when the mission wasn't going to involve slaughter human, my fellow members would go out of their way to kill some if they could."

"Why didn't you leave?" Ruby asks.

"Once I fully realized what I got involved in, it was already too late, I couldn't leave, it's not that I didn't try, but I had nowhere to go," Duke says bitterly. He retakes a deep, pained breath. "After that, I decided to make sure to save and spare as many people I could, human and faunus, but it doesn't matter, I've been involved to much pointless slaughter that I know that when I die, I'll go straight to hell," he stops for a second, closing his eyes and leans against the wall. "Compared to me, little rose, you're still a saint, so please don't hurt yourself over this."

"Listen to him, Ruby," Micheal says. Ruby jumped in surprise, not realizing he was awake. "Even I have more of a right to call myself a bad person than you, but I don't see me as one cause I don't enjoy killing, making sure that my weapon only points at people that deserve it, but I don't forget what I did," turning his head to look at his leader. "So, don't treat yourself like a terrible person." Ruby didn't respond as her eyes look down for a second, unfocused as thoughts swirl through her head. She pulls her beloved weapon from its holster and places it on the ground. The brunette stares at it intently for a second, considering something. The wolf faunus didn't know what was going through his friend's head, but she wasn't breathing heavily. Then the brunette picks up Faith and rests it on her lap, her grip on the large firearm was a bit tighter than needed. "Ruby?"

"Your weapon has a full clip, I rather have that just in case," the brunette says distracted her eyes not looking away from the hallway. She takes a deep breath and looks at Micheal, her eyes weary from the night's events. "Just get some rest, Micheal, I'll be fine, I need some time to think, which I have the rest of the night to do so, I won't try to beat myself up over this, but it's not something I can get over in a night." She manages a weak smile for the wolf faunus. Micheal tries to use his hand closest to reach out to his leader, which Ruby gently grabs.

"I know after I killed the first time, it took me a week at most to fully return to normal, just don't forget what you did, remember that you can confide in me, Yang, and the rest team about this, don't take it on by yourself," Micheal says comfortingly, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. The brunette returns the gesture herself and then let go to return to her task. The wolf faunus relaxes on the stone floor, which felt far more comfortable than it should in his weary state. He closes his eyes, and let's sleep overtake him.

"One last thing," Duke says. The brunette looks toward the older faunus. "Your teammate Blake Belladonna…," Ruby gives him an extremely quizzical look.

'Blake?' she wonders.

"Tell her that the White Fang knows where she is and will come for her," the former officer says.

"Wait, Why!?" Ruby asks loudly.

"Because she deserted the White Fang," Duke says.

"Wait, Blake was a member of the White Fang, she's a faunus!" Ruby says in astonishment at the information. The older faunus nods before letting fatigue take hold of him and falls asleep.

Outside the cave, perching on the destroyed manor building is a small Nevermore, not much bigger than a raven. It quickly twists its head side to side, looking at the entrance to the cave. After a minute passed with nothing coming in and out of the cavern, it flies off. The beating of its wings was the only sound in the still night. After ten minutes of flying, it comes to land on a plateau and walks toward the large black shape in front of it. The form moves, revealing it to be a Grimm, the dragon Grimm Magaru. The Nevermore chirps at its master and slowly ambles closer. Magaru lowers its head to look the Nevermore. The bird Grimm hops and flaps onto the dragon monster's back, nestling between its wings. The dragon hums in response to what its seen.

"Good, you survived pup, you and your friends, it would have been disappointing if you had died," Magaru says. He growls at the amount of Grimm wasted to kill the interlopers. He would have sent less, much less, but he had to make sure the meddlers died. The Grendel and the two Alphas would have been fine if it was the trio, but once the White Fang entered, it changed its plans with the help of the Wind Ruler and couple large Nevermores. The dragon begins to turn away from the destroyed ruins. As it turns, it sees the three other Grimm he brought along with himself. These creatures stand equal in height to itself and quadrupedal. They have the hind legs and tail of a lion with the forelegs, wings, and heads of a bird of prey. The Griffons were fidgeting restlessly as their leader stares at them. They wanted to join in the slaughter, but Magaru held them back. The dragon Grimm growls at them, and they went still. It then continues to snarl and grunt to communicate with them. 'Prevent others from taking them until the sun rises, including others of our kind; once dawn comes, you are free to do what you want.' The trio of Griffons growl amongst themselves and jump of the plateau, then soar to the recent battleground. Magaru then gently leaps into the air, flying towards his lair. "Until next time, pup."

A/N: As always, criticism is good

This was a mess to write; not only did it drag for far longer than I thought, and other things came up, moving to a new house, attending a wedding, and finals for college. It got busy that this got pushed to the side. Oh well, now that that's done, I can focus on the next chapter in my free time, since there is more of it.

So, this chapter had gone through many, many iterations. Gosh damn, I can't tell how many there were. It went from, initially, Micheal by himself fighting a single large Grimm, a fox Grimm, or a tarantula Grimm. Though, being honest, I still like the idea of the tarantula. To Micheal with the White Fang, Micheal going to fight a horde by himself, to all members of team RWBY, to team RWBY and the White Fang. Even those versions with White Fang had different variants, mostly how many members survive. I settled on at least one member and not trying to think if I want to spare Duke or not. Duke is mainly practicing on writing on a sympathetic villain. Also, for those who don't know, Duke's name is derived from a shade of blue called Duke Blue.

The fights with the Alphas and the Grendel were going play out somewhat different. First, it was going to be two plain Alpha Beowolves but got changed into the two Variants. While Duke was always going to kill one, but the other was going to have the slain by the White Fang grunts with the trio's help. The Grendel was going to be killed by Hitomi. But I realized that pushed Ruby to the side, so I had to alter it to put more spotlight on her. The best I could do was to hope I wrote enough that Micheal and Hitomi were at least pulling their weight.

So, Hitomi's semblance has been set in stone since she was created at least what it is, the ability to summon weapons from anywhere. But the details are somewhat shaky, mostly what she can muster. I know I want it to be a massive drain on her aura; complicated weapons, like Crescent Rose or Order and Chaos, will always cost a quarter of her maximum aura. So, let's say Aura was transferred into a Magic Points, or Aura Points, take your pick, setting. If Hitomi has 100 or 200 MP, or AP, it will always cost her 25 or 50 MP, or AP, respectively, meaning four uses at maximum. The thing is whether I want it to copy weapons from the people she considers friends, or just weapons with sharp edges, like swords, spears, Crescent Rose, Gambol Shroud. She can copy all aspects of the weapons, but not the wielder's skill. But the quality of the armament, meaning its strength and if she can use its other functions, are dependent on her memory.

One more chapter until I take a break. After my next chapter, I won't release a chapter till the end of February or beginning of March. During that time, I will mostly be trying to figure a plan for this story, while rewriting the first nine chapters, though I doubt I will finish that during that time frame. I've been toying with the idea of renaming my Raptors. I did like Rippers initially when I started the story, but I kind of hate it now and feel I can do better, even if slightly. I have been thinking of renaming to a respelling of Thief since I think raptor means thief, so something like that. Once I got an idea, I'll change it like my other Dinosaurian Grimm, the Gigas.

Also, since RWBY is being uploaded on Youtube again, it will be easier to watch. I like watching in through a playlist, this way, it plays the next episode immediately without needing to click on the video. I may do what I did with Red vs. Blue, just play it in the background of my room, just listening to it and turning to look when it gets interesting. To be honest, I really didn't like RvB till about season six, because the story got better and because my favorite character was introduced, at least to me as I was watching it on Netflix and saw none of the side material. My favorite character in that show is Agent Washington. So the same may happen with RWBY as well.