Reviews:
IAML3G3ND: Interesting theory!
CykaBlyatintensifies: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the story!
SoSlimShady: Perhaps, perhaps not. Though isn't RWBY already sort of a mecha anime? I mean look at the stuff the Atlesian Military has.
Hitler's Moustache: Currently? As of this chapter we're extremely far from Dark Souls canon. We've diverged from RWBY canon to a degree, but not drastically just yet. The stuff that happens in the next few chapters is going to be mostly the same as in cannon.
After his mission to subdue the humanity creature, Schwarz gave a short demonstration of his newly discovered semblance by creating a hundred or so "soldiers" made of humanity. He then made them all disappear before covering the area in darkness much like the creature had. Finally he allowed the dark to dissipate.
"Fascinating. Is there anything else you can do with it?" Ozpin inquired.
"Not that I'm aware of. I can only create and manipulate it. Well, enough about my semblance for the moment. While talking with that scientist over the scroll I actually came up with an idea I thought could prove useful." Schwarz stated.
"That being?"
"Seath the Scaleless, insane as he was, was an absolute genius when it came to sorcery. So much so that he even managed to use sorcery to create life! As well as crystalline golems but I'll get to those in a moment. The point is, I know how he did it and I can replicate it. So I can create Moonlight Butterflies to fight the Grimm, and trust me they're a lot bigger and tougher than they sound. I can also create animate humanoid golems made of blue titanite, the same crystals that my crystal sorceries produce. Oh, by the way those massive pillars I created can be mined for more blue titanite and there are literal tons of it scattered around the facility, but I digress. The point is, I can create things with my magic to assist in battling the Grimm with zero material cost and without putting actual humans in any danger. Or I could make giant metal golems, but that would require actual resources and would be quite expensive as a result. They could help guard towns and settlements outside of any major cities or they could even hunt the Grimm in the wilderness." Schwarz explained.
Ozpin sighed and said, "You really aren't making it easy to hide the fact magic exists or that you're effectively an undead god in your own right just based on your raw power alone."
"I apologize as that isn't my intention. Everything I am suggesting and the reason I'm being so cooperative with you and your allies is to further the goal of exterminating the Grimm and to keep as many people as safe from them as possible… Hm… Lord Ozpin, if I may ask, why are we keeping magic or the fact I'm as powerful as I am a secret in the first place? Coming from the Dragon School of Vinheim which was rife with politics I'm familiar with the realm of politics as it was unavoidable in the College even as a mere student. However, I will admit I am a far better sorcerer than a politician, I always have been, and it has been eons since I've been involved with any real politics. So I'm afraid I genuinely don't understand the purpose behind this." Schwarz inquired.
"Well, if we were to reveal the existence of magic the public would demand it be taught in normal schools so everyone could have equal access to it. However, if everyone had access to it then individuals such as the White Fang terrorist organization would also get their hands on it. So it's better to keep it a secret so we can use it to our advantage while keeping it out of the hands of villains. As for the subject of your power, I'm not sure how the public would react to the idea that gods are real and a being as powerful as a god has come to Remnant. So I would prefer to be cautious in that regard." Ozpin explained.
"Very well, I see your point in regards to magic. Back in my world no such organizations really existed and magic was not something everybody knew so we never had such concerns. However, while I would appreciate keeping my curse a closely guarded secret, wouldn't the idea that a so-called 'god' has come to Remnant and is actively assisting you against the Grimm by giving you tools with which to better fight them and defend yourselves inspire hope? Call me an optimist, but I can only imagine a positive reaction to such a thing." Schwarz stated, crossing his arms behind his back.
Ozpin shook his head and said, "Perhaps it would, but I fear that it would also inspire religious extremists. Religious extremists who I'm sure would go on to form more terrorist organizations similar to the White Fang if not worse. Furthermore, it would then become impossible for you to attend Beacon Academy as a student as the public would know your appearance."
"Why, whoever said that I would be making public appearances as myself? I could just do what Gwyndolin did in Anor Londo and create an illusion that can speak. I can easily make it look like the humanity creature we just sent off with Lord Ironwood but significantly larger and more imposing. As for the extremists, said 'god' could very easily denounce such behavior and direct any 'extremist' behavior towards the eradication of the Grimm. It could even advocate for equality amongst the Humans and Faunus if that's something that's relevant to you. It would also make it far easier to actually explain my actions such as repairing the moon or creating those pillars of crystal around that facility. It would also allow for the creation of my golems and moonlight butterflies without arousing any suspicion. And if the magic I'm teaching you and those other huntsmen is ever discovered it could be dismissed as a 'blessing' granted to you by said god, similar to how miracles are portrayed in my world. That way we could keep it in the hands of Huntsmen and Huntsmen alone." Schwarz stated while pacing back and forth a bit.
Ozpin was silent for a few moments before saying, "If we did this, you know the public would ask why you don't just destroy the Grimm yourself."
"Simple enough, this 'god' — not me — could say that such direct interference on his part would encourage sloth. After all, why work for anything at all when a god could just hand it to you on a silver platter? Thus while he would be willing to provide us mortals extra tools and even a few guardians against the Grimm, it is ultimately up to us to destroy them or be destroyed by them. For it is by our own blood, sweat, and tears that civilization has come as far as it has, not by the hand of any god, and that is the beauty of us mortals. Thus he hesitates to interfere at all, but after thousands of years of watching humanity grow, develop, fight, and struggle against the odds he can not help but want to live amongst them and grant them a few minor gifts, such as repairing the moon and providing us with a few very simple new tools to use against the Grimm." Schwarz stated before stopping his pacing and turning to look at Ozpin once more.
Ozpin raised a hand to his chin in thought. "I suppose it could work and it would open up some very interesting options as well as offer us a powerful new tool for encouraging unity… I'll have to discuss it with the others. I should have a definitive answer for you in several days. Just know that if they do agree to this, they'll want to control the message your 'god' will portray."
Schwarz shrugged. "I expected no less and I do not mind. I trust you to not abuse this. Never attempt to betray that trust and there shall be no problems."
"Understood. Well… I suppose I have a few calls I need to make. Have a good evening Schwarz." Ozpin stated before turning and walking away.
Schwarz watched him walk away before turning and heading back to his dorm. One thing he didn't tell Ozpin was that he wanted this fake god to be revealed to the public so he could encourage more people to take up arms and strive to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. Not that he thought Ozpin would disapprove, he simply didn't think to mention it directly as he thought such a goal would be implied. After all, the entire purpose Ozpin had given him was the complete and utter extermination of the Grimm and he was taking that goal just as seriously as he had taken his quest to relight the First Fire. That meant he would stop at absolutely nothing to accomplish it. To that end he wanted to raise entire armies of huntsmen and huntresses to kill the beasts and uniting people under religion seemed like an excellent means of accomplishing this. After all, religion had managed to encourage entire armies of people to take up arms and fight the hollows and demons in his world, so why would it be any different for the Grimm in this world?
A few days later he was informed by Ozpin that the headmasters of all four major huntsmen academies had agreed to his plan and would be holding a major public announcement in Vale. However, as Ozpin had suggested, they wanted to control the message this false god sent to the people. Thus Ozpin had provided him with a script for this "gods" initial speech and a list of other things that were okay to say and were not okay to say. He had a few more days to read it over until finally the day of the announcement arrived.
Professor Ozpin stood on the stage along with the headmasters of the three other major huntsmen schools "Ladies and Gentlemen, Humans and Faunus, the four of us stand before you today with a major announcement that may change the world forever. It is our sincerest hope that it will change the world for the better. As I'm sure you have all seen, the moon has been fixed by some unknown force. Well, we have determined exactly what that force truly was. A god."
The crowd suddenly erupted with confused muttering and questions being shouted at the Headmasters.
General Ironwood then stepped forwards and said, "Please save your questions until the end of the announcement.
Now, I realize full well how this sounds. However, the Atlesian Military can indeed confirm that it was, in fact, a god. You see, this god has spoken to all of us you see before you and has demonstrated his power by doing this." Suddenly a projector turned on and began displaying images on the massive screen behind the headmasters. It showed images of the massive crystalline towers Schwarz had created during his fight with the humanity creature. "I assure you, everything you see on this screen right now is real. It is a physical location you can all visit yourselves. In a demonstration of his power this god created these massive pillars of a crystal he calls 'blue titanite'. The Atlesian Military is currently studying this material and its properties are unlike anything we have ever seen before. We are finding many uses for it in weapons that we can use against the Grimm."
Leonardo Lionheart stepped up next. "People of Remnant, I know you have many questions. For example, 'How long have we known about this god?' or 'Why didn't we reveal this to the public sooner?' Well allow me to answer these questions for you now. We knew about this for exactly two weeks after the moon was repaired. Until then he hadn't revealed himself to us just yet. As for why we hadn't revealed his existence sooner, he himself told us he wanted to watch us from a distance for just a little while longer. We only just recently managed to convince him to reveal himself to the public. So, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the god of the darkness himself."
Hearing his que, Schwarz cast his illusion and created an illusion of a massive pitch black humanoid figure with two glowing white eyes standing directly behind the headmasters. "Greetings, mortals. I am the God of Shadows. The shadows being very different from the malignant corruption that spawned the wretched creatures you call 'Grimm'. While I may be a god of shadows I am absolutely not the same wretched god of darkness that created those abominations. Regardless it is my greatest pleasure to stand amongst you, Human and Faunus alike. I have seen your wars, your battles against each other, just as I have seen your fight to survive, your eternal struggle against the Grimm. I have witnessed hatred, lies, corruption, cruelty, violence, and bloodshed. However I have witnessed just as much love, honesty, kindness, compassion, and a desire for peace. For this reason as I watched your kind from afar I came to love you all. Because you are neither purely good nor purely evil. Human or Faunus, it doesn't matter to me for you are all equal in my eyes and I love you all just the same."
"That's why I have finally decided to descend upon this world and live amongst you. And as part of my arrival here on Remnant, I have prepared you all some gifts. The first among these being repairing your moon. Second among my gifts is titanite. A material which can imbue weapons with arcane properties which I hope you shall use against the Grimm. Third and finally, I grant you protectors. Creatures and constructs to assist you in guarding your towns and cities against the abominable Grimm."
Schwarz then proceeded to cast a spell and teleport a Moonlight Butterfly and Crystal Golem he had made in advance into the air next to the false god and on the stage next to the professors respectively. "These are your protectors. My Moonlight Butterflies and my Golems. They are not invincible as while I absolutely despise the Grimm I do not wish to trivialize the threat they pose, however they are quite strong all the same. Strong enough to assist in the protection of cities and settlements from the threat of Grimm invasion. Soon you shall see them in every settlement on the planet no matter how large or small. However, this does not mean they will be completely safe. You shall still have to protect yourselves. Relying solely on my creatures and constructs to protect you will invariably result in death. They are not meant to be relied upon, they are only meant to assist your own efforts to defend yourselves."
"I'm sure you're all wondering 'Why?' 'If you truly hate the Grimm, if you truly despise them with every fiber of your being, then why wouldn't you destroy them yourself? You are a god, are you not? Why create these things for us if they won't keep us safe of their own?' Well, I shall tell you. Doing so would encourage sloth. You would start to rely on my power to grant you things. After all, why do anything yourselves if a god could just do it all for you? So, while I could just destroy the beasts by doing so I would be inadvertently destroying your very will and spirit. More than anything, I want you all to be self-sufficient. Thus the reason I remained but a passive observer for so long. I was worried my presence here might ruin you all. However, I decided that so long as I kept my interference to a minimum I could stay with your kind and perhaps even grant you the few minor gifts that I have."
"I'm sure you're also wondering what my views are on everything that is going on in the world at the moment. So I'll tell you. I am saddened by the conflict between the Humans and Fanus and while I can not remove your freewill and autonomy I would strongly encourage tolerance, cooperation, and understanding. You are both equal and should thus treat each other as such. Any who view themselves as superior to the other are naive fools who think far too highly of themselves and far too little of others. That is not to say I support groups such as the White Fang who spread violence and suffering. It is the opposite. While I understand their plight and empathize with them, I detest the methods by which they seek to achieve their goals. Violence may seem tempting and I am generally fine with it but it is simply not the answer in this particular case. It will only lead to a further divide between Humans and Fanus when the goal should be peace and unity. I sincerely hope you will one day achieve a true balance between each other."
"Now, I am willing to hear and answer any questions you may have for me. However, before you all start shouting all at once, please just raise your hand and you will know who I select by the light blue aura that will surround them. So, what questions do you have for me?" The illusory god inquired.
Dozens if not hundreds of hands went up all at once. Schwarz picked someone at random and cast a spell to make an illusory aura surround who he chose. The person he chose appeared startled at first before standing up and shouting, "Why reveal yourself to the headmasters of the huntsman academies rather than to the councils that govern the kingdoms?"
"A fair question. Why would I go to the headmasters of the academies rather than the world governments? Well, I believe I have made my hatred of the Grimm very apparent at this point. So the headmasters who train huntsmen and huntresses who fight and kill the Grimm have earned my utmost respect. While I realize these councils do their best for the kingdoms and they do as good a job as any mortals could, I suppose it's just a personal preference of mine. I favor those who hunt the accursed Grimm and put their lives on the line to defend others from the beasts. In fact, I would encourage more people to strive to become huntsmen and huntresses. But don't go out and hunt Grimm without any clue as to what you're doing as that's a guaranteed way to meet a fool's demise. Rather, go through the proper training, learn how to fight such beasts, and become huntsmen the right way so you can hunt the Grimm. Do that, and you will have earned my favor and respect." The illusion explained.
Schwarz selected someone else at random. "When you say you encourage us to become huntsmen are you calling for a crusade against the Grimm?"
"Yes. Absolutely." As soon as the illusion said that Ozpin and the other headmasters stiffened up, clearly caught off guard by this and clearly not liking it. Unfortunately Schwarz didn't notice their reaction so he continued. "These beasts absolutely need to be exterminated. They are a blight on the face of Remnant! A parasite! A gangrenous infection! A cancer that needs to be excised! So I implore you, stop fighting each other and turn that aggression towards your true enemy. The Grimm. I love the Fanus and I love the Humans equally. I even love the regular animals that roam this world. The Grimm, however, are completely irredeemably vile and I would see them cease to exist. So yes. I am very much calling for what is essentially a crusade to purge the Grimm from existence."
"I would love nothing more than to see your fear of the Grimm come to an end and be replaced with a burning hatred towards them. United you have the power to destroy them completely and utterly, even if it takes you centuries to do it! Thus there is ultimately nothing to fear. These disgusting beasts are only worthy of your hatred and contempt! But as I said, I don't want random people picking up arms and charging the Grimm only to end up getting themselves killed. Such a waste of life is equally abhorrent to me as the Grimm themselves. Instead, unlock your auras, unlock your semblances, and get proper training in how to fight Grimm as the huntsmen do and if possible use powerful weapons like the huntsmen use. Only then should you put your life on the line to kill the Grimm. I encourage you to be intelligent in your approach to this, not suicidal. Thus I encourage the use of machines and technology as much as I encourage you to be huntsmen. So I don't mind how long it takes or how much you need to advance scientifically and technologically first so long as they are destroyed in the end."
Smiling to himself now that his message was out there for the public to hear he selected another person at random. "Uh… How do we know you're telling the truth and you really are a god?"
"Well, I could destroy the moon again if that would be sufficient proof for you. Or I could make fire rain from the sky and lava erupt from the ground. However I would rather not go so far as to do either of those so how about this instead?" Suddenly the ground began to tremble as Schwarz cast a spell similar to the one he cast while fighting the humanity creature except on a slightly larger scale since he didn't want to destroy the city of Vale. After a few moments the trembling stopped. "There. You will now find more pillars of titanite, this time surrounding the area around Vale. I was careful to make them outside of the city so they haven't destroyed anything. However, they can be mined, thus the reason I made them from titanite and not just pure rock. This way the pillars can actually be useful to you as they are made from a useful material that hadn't existed in this world until very recently."
"What are you going to do now that you're here in Remnant?" A reporter inquired.
"I will continue to observe you much as I have been, albeit from a significantly closer proximity. I may provide minor assistance from time to time or even guidance should you seek it. However, I will spend most of my time in the form of a simple man and I will not reveal my Human or Faunus appearance to you nor will I claim to be me while in my mortal form. So any man, woman, or child claiming to be me is a liar. I will be completely impossible to find except for when I decide to reveal myself. I will attempt to have it announced beforehand whenever I reveal myself so those who wish to attend may do so. However I expect this will be relatively uncommon so do not expect it on any sort of regular basis. It may be months before I next decide to reveal myself or it may be several years. Just know that it won't be a once in a lifetime opportunity so you all shall have plenty of chances to attend should you so desire. Please be aware that it is by no means required. I am fine with it even if no one attends at all. Furthermore I do not ask for any sort of tribute, sacrifice, or anything else. Just your continued existence is sufficient for me to remain happy and content."
"Are you going to form a new theocratic kingdom?"
"No. I will not be making a kingdom based around religion. However I will not oppose it should you decide to do so yourself. However it has to be up to you. I do not command you. I only observe and make suggestions. You have free will for a reason, so use it. It is ultimately your decision to make, not mine."
"Do you punish criminals when they die? Or do you have no control over what happens when people die?"
"Hm… An interesting question. I honestly do not control what happens or to whom when they die, though I very much could. I could easily consume their souls or I could let them pass on to the afterlife as they should. But remember I am a creature of balance. So I do not support individuals being too violent and destructive nor do I support being too peaceful and 'good.' Rather I would prefer if they achieved balance in their lives. Not too good but not too evil. So I would make for a very poor judge of souls as I would consume the souls of the greatest of saints just as quickly as I would consume the souls of the greatest of sinners. I realize that may sound unfair to you mortals, thus why I avoid judging souls moving on to the afterlife. You believe good things should happen to good people and bad things should happen to bad people, while I dislike both extremes."
"You said you aren't the God of Darkness that created the Grimm. Does that mean the two brothers are real? Also are you in any way related to them?"
"How else do you think the Grimm came to be? Such soulless abominations most certainly didn't spawn from nothing. Something or more accurately someone created them and I despise that individual just as much as I despise the Grimm themselves. And no. I am most definitely not a third brother and view myself as completely separate from them. I hate the God of Light just as much as I hate the God of Darkness as he did not do anything to stop his brother from creating such abhorrent abominations. Nor did he even so much as create creatures of pure Light to counteract the Grimm thus creating a balance between the two. And before any of you ask, no you mortals do not count as the two of them created you together thus you are creatures of shadow like myself rather than creatures of pure light or pure dark. Furthermore, unlike the two of them I am capable of creation and destruction in equal measures. So while you can consider the God of Light a god of creation and the other God of Darkness a god of destruction, you can consider me a god of balance. Thus I am a God of Shadows as I am balanced between darkness and light, destruction and creation."
Schwarz didn't really know if the Gods of Light and Dark actually existed or not. For this question he was just going by the script that the headmasters had given him.
Schwarz continued answering questions for about an hour before Ozpin finally decided to call an end to the announcement. As soon as he did Schwarz had the illusion dismiss itself before dispelling it entirely. A few minutes later Schwarz met the headmasters backstage. He was surprised to see that they didn't look particularly pleased with him.
"You idiot! You called for a crusade?! What were you thinking!?" General Ironwood shouted at him.
"What? I thought that's what you all wanted. I mean the purpose Ozpin gave me was the extermination of the Grimm. I'm taking this as seriously as my mission to relight the First Fire and end the curse. Encouraging more people to become huntsmen seems like the best way to accomplish the goal of eradicating the Grimm." Schwarz stated confused as to why they were angry.
"There are not enough people in the world for a dedicated war against the Grimm, Schwarz. The Grimm have prevented us from creating new cities that would allow us to expand our numbers to the point we could combat them on a large scale. Besides which, our academies only have so much room to spare before they are full so we can only train so many huntsmen at once. What you said in there is going to have severe repercussions that we're going to have to try to mitigate now." Ozpin stated in a frustrated tone.
"Your kingdoms have armies do they not? I would imagine their training has to be just as good as that of the Huntsmen. So while I may have underestimated your numbers, you have to have space in your militaries even if you don't have space in your academies." Schwarz stated.
"Actually, no. Not quite. Our students receive a bit higher quality training than the soldiers in the militaries. It's a matter of funding. Our academies receive a significant amount of funding for the number of students we have compared to the militaries. That isn't to say our soldiers aren't well trained, they are, they simply aren't huntsmen. Furthermore not all of the kingdoms even have militaries to begin with." Professor Leonardo informed him.
Schwarz frowned at that. "You are being threatened by the Grimm to the point you can't even build new cities yet your armies don't receive enough funding to train soldiers that are equivalent to Huntsmen? Even worse, some of your kingdoms don't have any military force whatsoever? That makes no sense. Shouldn't your first priority be your militaries and the huntsmen be the secondary priority?"
General Ironwood sighed and said, "That is something that has frustrated me for the longest time. But no. Apparently the politicians that run our kingdoms see things very differently."
Schwarz shook his head and said, "That is exceptionally stupid. But fine. I admit that I made a mistake. I'm not an architect but perhaps I should have built a new city or two out of crystal for you then let you send people to move in. After your numbers were built up more over the course of a few generations or so, that's when I should have called for a crusade."
Ozpin sighed in exasperation. "No, you shouldn't have called for a crusade at all. And it's not as simple as just sending people to move into a city. There's far more that goes into a modern city than just housing and buildings for businesses. And protecting them long enough for them to build up their own militaries would be a serious problem. And there's the issue of how expensive it would be to suddenly build an entirely new city even if you made it entirely out of crystal for free… I see there's still much you have to learn about our world. Fine. I should have expected as much since you've only been here for a little over a month, but it never occurred to me that you might call for a crusade against the Grimm."
"Well, I suspect I'm going to be punished for this. So what's my punishment going to be?" Schwarz inquired.
"Punishment? How would we even punish you for this? You want to kill Grimm so that's not a punishment. Not letting you kill Grimm isn't a punishment either since you'll be doing other things to further the goal of killing Grimm. Judging by how you withstand our experiments with your aura, physical punishment such as inflicting pain seems completely pointless. Now that we made this announcement we need you out here so we can't just lock you in your sarcophagus. Cleaning the academy seems trivial compared to this. You don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't even breathe. You don't even seem to care much about money or physical possessions. We might be able to put you in prison for a time but we all know you could break out whenever you wanted and we need you to continue teaching sorcery which you can't do while in prison." General Ironwood stated.
"Well, technically there is one way to punish him. Though it's not exactly a punishment in the traditional sense so much as it is purely mental. Schwarz, what you just did has hindered if not outright set back your goal of exterminating the Grimm. Think about that for a while. Realize the gravity of what you've done. That's your punishment. Living with the consequences of your actions knowing you just caused a major setback to the goal that's keeping you sane. Not to the point your goal has become impossible, but it has just become even harder. At least for the next few years if not decades." Ozpin told him.
Hearing that hit him harder than a raging Taurus Demon, causing him to flinch. "I… I didn't know… By the gods… I have to fix this."
"You aren't going to do anything. It's too late now. While posing as a god you've told people you were calling for a crusade. If you tried to retract that statement now, you would just be causing even more damage. You don't want that, do you?" Ozpin inquired.
Schwarz collapsed to his knees and placed his hands on his head in panic. "Nonono… Shit! Gods I was so stupid! Damn me and my gods forsaken mouth!"
"Wow… He's taking this a lot worse than I expected. How did you know he was going to react like this?" Professor Theodor inquired.
"I didn't. Well, not exactly anyways. I made an assumption based on knowing how his curse works. If his goal is the only thing keeping him from going hollow then clearly he would be extremely dedicated to that goal. Thus, logically, knowing that he actively set back his goal would elicit a negative response from him due to his dedication to it. However, this is a bit worse of a reaction than I was expecting as well." Ozpin explained, looking at Schwarz curiously.
Schwarz didn't stop panicking until several hours after he was back in his dorm in Beacon Academy. By the time he did it was already late the next morning. After that he became morose and despondent for a few days, though he did try his best to follow his usual schedule of learning the language of Remnant, teaching the huntsmen and huntresses sorcery, and now creating more golems and moonlight butterflies. He didn't go hunting Grimm again until he fully recovered about a week later. After that he returned to behaving as he usually did but he never stopped mentally berating himself for what he did.
The fact a "god" had come to Remnant as well as everything he had said and done was all over the news for weeks after he first made his appearance. It was almost impossible for anyone in the entire world to be unaware of his presence. A few individuals were denouncing him as a false god, others were skeptical, while others were completely convinced. After all, it was fairly easy to be convinced of his divinity after he had fixed the moon and made massive pillars of a previously non-existent crystal erupt out of the ground all around the city of Vale. Remnant was essentially thrown into a massive religious upheaval.
It was still unclear if his words of equality between Humans and Faunus had any effect, but his words of hatred towards the Grimm definitely had an effect. More people started trying to unlock their auras and semblances and were starting to push the governments to increase their efforts to deal with the Grimm. Furthermore, people's respect and admiration for hunters increased somewhat. And the Moonlight Butterflies and Golems that were being spread across the world were starting to be revered as "holy guardians" of a sort. To save time and money they were only Crystal Golems but Schwarz made sure to make them larger and more powerful than the ones that Seath had originally created. He even made four that were especially large to guard the four major cities. Those four were easily as large as the Iron Golem that protected Sen's Fortress if not slightly larger. Thus he had to make them in or near the cities themselves as they were too large and heavy to easily transport.
As people officially began mining the blue titanite, new churches that were being built for the God of Shadows purchased large blocks of the titanite which were then smoothed, polished, and included in certain parts of the walls of the churches where they could easily be seen by everyone. The only reason entire churches weren't built out of it was because it was highly expensive due to being a new material that there was only a very limited supply of in circulation in the market at the time. It was revered as a "holy" stone with arcane properties gifted to mortal kind by the grace of the God of Shadows. Which was ironic since people were calling Blue Titanite holy when White Titanite was technically the only truly holy titanite as it was what was used to enhance divine weapons.
Right as summer break was nearing its end both Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch had told him he wasn't allowed to use sorcery or pyromancy during the school year. Nor was he allowed to use his Gold Tracer as it was clearly magical in nature. So he decided to use Velka's Rapier as he sincerely doubted that he would need anything heavier or more powerful than that and it was the perfect weapon for a sorcerer without a catalyst.
Other than that, he actually had to go and build his own gun since he needed an option for longer range as he wasn't allowed to use sorcery and a greatbow wasn't exactly practical for fighting Grimm. So he designed a 20mm anti material rifle with special arcane properties and mechanisms so it could benefit from his knowledge of the arcane similarly to his rapier. Said rifle also had a specially designed mounting at the end of the barrel so he could attach his rapier to it and use it as a bayonet. The rifle had a shorter barrel than most anti-material rifles of the same caliber as it was not designed for shooting from long range. It was designed to be as powerful as possible while still being able to be used at mid to short range. Schwarz simply didn't care about the recoil. Even if it knocked him off balance, which he found unlikely, he could just wear Havel's Armor to absorb most of the recoil with its weight.
Finally summer break came to an end and it was time for school to start. Ozpin sent Schwarz into Vale to board the plane that would be bringing the rest of the students to Beacon Academy so as to appear less suspicious. Or the least suspicious he possibly could be with his notably odd attire by Remnant's standards. He was still wearing the clothes he got off of the Marvelous Chester of course as they were by far the best clothes he owned. He had taken some time to wash them the night before not so much because they smelled bad — they didn't as unless he cast the flash sweat spell he never perspired — rather because they were quite dusty and parts were caked with long dried blood. So they were as clean as could be when he got onto the plane.
He didn't really interact with or pay attention to any of the other students during the flight. Instead he just watched the news and tried to ignore everyone else. Though he could tell that his strange clothes were drawing odd looks from a few of the other students. Eventually the news shut off and was replaced by an image of Glynda. "Hello and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsmen and huntresses it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The holographic image then disappeared.
After that, the rest of the ride went mostly uneventfully, save for some boy getting motion sickness.
Notes: I'm not sure if I like what I did with this chapter. What do you guys think? Is the fake god thing a good or bad idea? Because I can delete all of that and rewrite this chapter if I need to.