Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and/or scenes from the show RWBY, which is trademarked by Rooster Teeth, and the video game Persona 3, which is trademarked by Atlus. I do not, in anyway, claim ownership over the characters, the world, the story, or any other aspect belonging to either one. This story should not be, in any way, considered canon. This story is written strictly for entertainment and not for profit.

Warning: This story will exhibit slight differences in character behavior since I will be taking the liberty to fill in blank points in the pasts of various characters. As such, expect that many characters will not behave exactly as their canon selves. I will attempt to keep their core personalities intact, but slight changes will be unavoidable.

Warning 2: With the ongoing status of RWBY, it's to be expected that many of my ideas will, at some point, go against what is canon, such as when more of each character's respective pasts are revealed. I will do my best to incorporate what I can, but expect that many will be blended with my own ideas or perhaps even ignored completely if incorporating it will be detrimental to my existing story plans.


Well over a year since my last update. I really wish I could have updated sooner but, well, things got more than a little out of hand for me since then. RL obligations, both at work and familial ones, take priority obviously plus a multitude of other unexpected matters cropping up one after another. Rather than trying to juggle them all with story writing, needless to say that I chose to temporarily drop less urgent and less important things.

I still took the time to write some scenes here and there when I found time, but a lot of them were future scenes that I found inspiration to write earlier than I should before I lost the idea or the right words. It won't necessarily mean that future updates will be faster, but at the very least it's less writing that needs to be done once we get to that point.


Chapter 22 – Shadows of the Past

January 30, 2010

The air in the command room was filled with tension. So much of it, in fact, that some of its occupants felt like they were suffocating on it. Making matters worse was the addition of the heavy feeling in the air that had come with whatever had caused the night to turn green. Not to mention the prevalent scent of blood that filled the air to the point that many of them were still avoiding taking deep breaths.

There was also Fuuka, standing in the corner inside Juno's domed dress. Though she was monitoring the situation, none of them felt that it brought much relief, if any.

There was nothing that could be done about either of those, however, but to wait.

Still, that didn't mean that Gwen had to like it.

After what seemed like an eternity, the lights suddenly came back on. They didn't even flicker, as was common when power was restored. Just a blink of an eye and the lights were back.

"Alright, the power's back. Now talk."

Her words brooked no argument, and the glare she was sending Mitsuru was so harsh that nobody dared to. Instead, SEES, turned to Mitsuru, wondering what they should do next. In turn, their teammates did the same but out of curiosity, wondering just what was so important that Mitsuru would retreat into the dorm rather than engage the eleven Arcana Shadows, as Fuuka had called them.

However, Mitsuru, and Akihiko beside her, ignored the demand and turned to Fuuka, who had just let Juno disappear. "Well?"

"It was just like earlier, senpai," Fuuka replied, looking concerned yet utterly confused. "None of the Arcana Shadows moved from their location, not even the Priestess, nor were there any smaller Shadows to be found within my range. Whatever is happening, they aren't behaving like they used to. It's as if they're waiting for something."

Mitsuru frowned in response, but offered her gratitude. "I see. That's reassuring, but also troubling. I thought that perhaps I was mistaken in not sensing other Shadows, given that Artemis is not well suited to reconnaissance, but if even Juno couldn't find any then that must mean there were none to be found in the first place."

"Are you going to keep stalling or are you actually gonna give us some answers sometime before the year ends?"

Unperturbed by Gwen's impatient demands, Mitsuru calmly turned to face the irate woman. "I apologize. It's just… this isn't something easy to explain. Not when even we don't understand everything that's going on."

"Then… why not start at the beginning?" Sensing the older woman's growing anger, Blake decided to step in. She shrunk back a bit at the attention, but did her best to ignore it. More and more, the situation was starting to feel familiar to her. In some ways, she felt that she was the best person to speak up there and then. "We… We all knew you were still keeping secrets from us. I can't speak for everyone, but I didn't blame you for it. But I won't deny that a part of me felt hurt that you couldn't trust us."

"Yeah," chimed Yang, looking downcast. "It's like no matter what happens there's this line we can't cross 'cause you won't let us. It's not like we're asking you to just tell us everything, or to tell us something personal, but…"

"We're friends, right?" Wine red met watery silver as Ruby decided to speak as well. "Like Yang said, we don't really need to know everything but… I think we'd kinda like it if you told us more, you know? Even just a little at a time."

Looking around, the members of SEES saw the looks they were being given by their friends. More than a few of them felt both shame and guilt welling up inside them and they found themselves unable to meet their friends' eyes. Mitsuru and Akihiko were the exceptions, able and willing to hold their gaze. Even so, it was clear to some that there was some measure of remorse and guilt in their eyes.

Then, Mitsuru sighed and looked down at her lap. "I see. In that case, allow me to apologize. I'm sorry." She bowed slightly at the waist despite being seated, thus she was unable to see the surprised looks she was being sent, even by the members of SEES. "I hadn't realized my decision to keep certain things to ourselves was making you feel this way."

"Senpai… you…"

Where Yukari seemed to struggle to find the words, Akihiko instead let out his own sigh, one that sounded exhausted. "Mitsuru, you have to stop putting everything on your shoulders. You say it was your decision, but we made it as a group. You know that if you were the only who wanted to keep things quiet that we'd have said something at one point or another."

Ken, who had been silent most of the night, decided to speak up then. "Akihiko-senpai's right. Even I agreed that it was better not to say anything. Like we discussed back then, there was just no point talking about it."

"Shadows, the Dark Hour, Tartarus, hell, we thought even Nyx was gone for good," Junpei threw in, leaning back into his seat. "So yeah, what was the point of bringing it all up again? Not like we could've done anything about it but remember how badly things went. And then we'd just go back to moping around and doing nothing."

"Senpai, back then you asked me to stand with you until the end, right?" Yukari's words brought to mind that very memory. The calm, flowing waters of the Samegawa River, its surface dyed red by the light of the setting sun. A sharp stinging sensation on her cheek, a memory that, strangely enough, she would cherish for the rest of her lifetime. The words of a girl who pulled her away from the edge of a precipice. "No matter what, I'm here for you senpai. But I can't stand by you if you aren't even there. And I'm not the only one. And it's not just SEES anymore."

"We're all here for you, Mitsuru," said Blake, taking the hint from the brunette's words. "Whether you like it or not."

A few people chuckled at the joke, and even Mitsuru found herself smiling just a bit at the words. Looking around, she saw everyone's eyes looking at her, watching her… waiting for her. "Thank you, everyone," she finally said, receiving smiles in return, including a small one from Weiss and a brief cheer from Nora. "It seems I still have much to learn when it comes to such things."

Throughout all this, Gwen had been silent. Experience had tempered her over the years. As much as she wanted to keep demanding answers, what was happening before her was a moment that could have broken their team, their friendship. Their future.

For all that Mitsuru seemed to be a natural leader, natural talent alone did not mean that she would always succeed. This moment, one where her prodigious talent had led to a mistake, would only help her grow. And far be it for her to stand in the way of that growth just because of her impatience.

Even so…

"Should we get back to the matter at hand then?"

It was Weiss who brought their attention back to what had led to their current situation. And almost immediately, everyone's smiles faded and their faces took on a more serious mien. Taking a deep breath, Mitsuru steeled herself for the tale she was about to relate. That it would be unpleasant was to be expected. But what she did not relish were the emotions some parts of the tale would evoke.

"Would you believe me if I said that the day consists of more than twenty-four hours?"

The members of SEES couldn't hold back their amusement at the looks on everyone else's faces. Ruby, Yang, and Nora had amusing looks of disbelief on their faces. Jaune and Blake looked suitably confused. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ren looked like they were trying, and spectacularly failing, to figure out if there was some deeper meaning to the question. Only Gwen remained steadfast, but it was clear she was interested in hearing the answer.

"If you don't believe me," she began to say, knowing that there was one irrefutable piece of evidence in the room. "Take a look at the clock. I'm sure at least one of you noticed the time when we returned here earlier."

Doing as she asked, nine pairs of eyes turned to the clock hanging on the wall. Four pairs of eyes slowly widened in disbelief, causing even more confusion among the remaining nine.

"It's… midnight? But… That can't be right."

"The clock's not broken though. Look, it's still ticking."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"It… It was midnight when we came back in."

"That's not possible." At her words, everyone turned to Blake. "I was worried earlier that something might happen. So I set an alarm to wake me a little before midnight. I bumped into Gwen by the stairs before we came up here. I'm pretty sure the lights went out around midnight. There's no way it was midnight when we came back in."

The mystery growing with every detail learned, nine people turned back to the others, their eyes all but demanding the answer be provided.

Satisfied that they would not doubt her words so easily, Mitsuru began her explanation. "We call it, the Dark Hour."


What followed was an intricate tale, one that was far more complex than any of them had imagined they would hear that night.

From the discovery of the Shadows, to the audacious yet insane aspirations of Kouetsu Kirijo, to the destruction of the research lab, to the emergence of Tartarus and the Dark Hour, all the way to the day that the most crucial member of their team had arrived, SEES explained it all with Mitsuru at the helm.

Questions were asked. Answers were given when they were available.

"That's a hell of a story."

And as fantastic as it all sounded, no one could refute anything. They had seen more than enough evidence to support all of it.

But all that was nothing more than a prelude to an even grander, more unbelievable tale.

With the background details explained, they then began to relate their adventures though the year that followed. The gradual spread of Apathy Syndrome, the sudden emergence of the Arcana Shadows around the time of Minato's return to Iwatodai, their exploration of Tartarus, the death of the twelve Arcana Shadows, the betrayal by Chairman Shuji Ikustuki, one of the scientists from the experiment years prior, the truth behind the Arcana Shadows and the Shadow called Death, the rise of the Cult of Nyx, and many more.

And because of these same explanation, a few other details, previously unknown to their friends, came to light.

They had known of Fuuka's bullying problem and how she had come close to death at one point due to it, but only now did they realize just how serious that incident truly had been.

Gwen had taken Aigis's status as an android surprisingly well. Moreover, Aigis having dueled Death not once but twice, as well as the act of sealing it into Minato to conclude the first one, garnered mixed reactions, not the least of which was awe as they realized that, perhaps, they had yet to see everything Aigis was truly capable of.

The same could not be said for Chidori's past and former affiliations.

It had taken an explanation from both Mitsuru and Chidori to relay that, for the most part, the experiments had only been done under the Kirijo name and that even Takeharu Kirijo, Mitsuru's father, had been unaware of the lengths that the scientists had gone to under the leadership of Shuji Ikutsuki. And when the experiment ultimately ended in a failure, any and all files had either been destroyed or sealed and buried deep within the archives.

That Pyrrha had already been told of Chidori's past by the girl herself was a surprise to them all, though neither one elaborated on why the latter had even shared the tale.

And now, nearly three hours later, they had finally come to the conclusion of their tale.

"… and then we woke up in the chamber underground. After it was explained to us just what happened after the fight with Nyx, we made the decision to attend Beacon with Elizabeth's help."

Their captive audience was silent now that the tale had, more or less, concluded, all of them digesting what they heard.

SEES, in turn, gave them the time they needed to do so. The history surrounding the Shadows and SEES was not something so easily digested.

"So between the time you woke up and your arrival at Beacon, you were just… here?" asked Weiss, gesturing to the room but also speaking about the dorm in general. "I assume Elizabeth regularly left to bring back supplies and such but… why didn't you consider moving elsewhere? Surely it would have been more convenient."

"We don't exactly have any identification that any other government would accept," Akihiko supplied. "Besides, asides from Mitsuru, most of us couldn't exactly speak English all that well. Some of us did well enough in class, but hardly enough for day to day things."

"English?"

He nodded, realizing that none of them had ever addressed that particular issue before. "That's what we call the language we're using right now. Doesn't seem like the rest of the world actually calls it anything, but it's probably because there isn't any other language anyway so I guess it wouldn't really matter. Anyway, it took several months of learning and practice before everyone could read, write, and speak it well enough."

Weiss hummed speculatively. "That explains that slight accent you all have. I thought it might have been due to having come from a different country, but I suppose it makes sense knowing now that it isn't your primary language. "

"Hey, didn't you guys say that before you came to Beacon someone trained you?" Yang asked, remembering that detail that SEES had once shared. "Was that Elizabeth too?"

For such a simple question, SEES seemed to suddenly grow uneasy, all of them glancing at one another before finally settling on Mitsuru. In turn, the redhead shut her eyes in thought for just a moment before nodding. "It was, yes." Before anyone could question the reluctance, she continued and said, "But there was also one other. Ryoji Mochizuki."

The name meant little to many of them, each one assuming it was someone that Elizabeth had brought in front one of the kingdoms to help train them. All of them, save for Jaune.

"Ryoji… Ryoji…" He repeated the name under his breath a few times, trying to remember why it sounded familiar. Then it struck him, and his eyes snapped over to his team's leader. "Hey, wait… Junpei, wasn't Ryoji the name of one of your friends in school?"

It didn't take long for the rest of them to connect the significance of that bit of information. For one of Junpei's friends to have been named as one of their trainers, he had to have been alive following the destruction of Japan.

All eyes turned to Junpei, who sheepishly laughed as he repeatedly glanced at the other members of SEES with equal parts desperation and embarrassment, with just a sliver of guilt mixed in.

"Ugh… Stupei…"

A soft, elegant laugh came from Mitsuru, who smiled reassuringly at the flustered teen. "It's fine, Junpei. Considering who it is we're talking about I fully expect we'll be seeing him soon."

"I find it strange that none of you mentioned another survivor," Gwen threw in with a hint of accusation on her tone. "I find it even stranger that you're expecting to meet him soon when, before all this happened, nobody said a word about it, even when we thought we might be stranded her for who knows how long."

And yet, Mitsuru didn't seem the least bit perturbed. She seemed to expect the scrutiny, if anything. "Ryoji Mochizuki is a bit of an enigma, even to us. That he wasn't here to greet us when we arrived was enough of a sign that we wouldn't be seeing him. Now that the situation has changed, the possibility that he will appear is almost a certainty. If not this coming night, then the night after."

Her words, however, seemed to inspire even more suspicion from the Huntress. "What makes you so sure?"

"Because the first time we met him was shortly after we eliminated all the Arcana Shadows. And the last time we saw him, before waking in the underground chamber, was the night we fought Nyx."

Nearly all of them were sending SEES worried looks now, wondering just what it meant for him to appear at such… specific times.

And seeing all of this, Mitsuru made a brief show of glancing at the clock. "Unless there are any urgent questions, I suggest we all turn in." Everyone followed her gaze, and more than a few pairs of eyes widened when they realized it was already past three in the morning. "Now that we know that the Arcana Shadows have returned, we can spend the day resting and planning for the operation. Best we get some rest then reconvene later this morning. Or after noon if need be."

The look in Gwen's eyes conveyed that she was well aware of what Mitsuru was doing, but understood the situation well enough to know better than to push. "She's right," she said instead, rising from her seat and stretching out her back. It wasn't entirely an act though. Despite being used to working unreasonably long hours under poor conditions, it was still not something she preferred. So staying up this late and compounding her physical exhaustion with mental stress was most definitely not optimal. "We practically had the biggest bomb of our lives dropped on our heads. Let's take some time to process it all then talk about what we'll be doing after we've rested."

There were no complaints, especially after a veteran Huntress backed-up the leader of SEES, so everyone rose and shuffled off to their assigned rooms, some like Ruby and Nora practically hanging off Yang and Ren respectively, their fatigue catching up to them now that they were aware of it.

Mitsuru and Akihiko stayed behind, giving the excuse of going over a few things on the command console. And once everyone finally left, the two senior members of SEES shut off the console, knowing they would learn nothing from it that they already knew.

"How bad is this going to be?" Akihiko asked with a grave tone, his instincts already telling him that the next night was not going to be, in any way or form, easy.

"That depends."

"On?"

"… Whether or not we're on a deadline."


Despite how tired they all were, sleep did not come easy for any of them.

For the members of SEES, the knowledge that the Arcana Shadows have returned was a heavy mental and emotional burden on them. And though Chidori was mostly exempt from this due to her previous affiliations, the looming possibility of what their reappearance meant weighed heavily on her as well.

For the Aura-users, the info bomb that Mitsuru all but dropped onto their laps had kept most of them awake until the sun had begun to brighten the horizon. Even after exhaustion finally claimed their consciousness, waking up hours later still left them only a little less tired than they had been before falling asleep.

A very late breakfast, or an early lunch depending on who was asked, courtesy of Akihiko helped somewhat, but none could deny that their sleep was a restless one.

It wasn't long before they were all gathered together once more. Instead of the command room, they were situated in the lounge. Once they were all seated or positioned somewhere comfortable, the meeting began.

Gwen, having held her peace long enough, decided to bring up something that had been on her mind since the explanation hours earlier. "Mitsuru." Once she had the redhead's attention, she gave her a look that told the younger woman that she would not accept any more distractions or misdirection. "I think it's time you told us what else you've been holding back."

Many people shuffled uncomfortably in their seats, not wanting to deny their curiosity but also not willing to push the issue. "Sis…" Jaune began uneasily, barely repressing a shudder when his older sister's attention turned to him. "Maybe now's not-"

"No." Surprisingly, the interruption came from Yukari, who was giving Mitsuru a meaningful, pleading look. "Senpai…"

No words needed to be said. Not just Mitsuru, but everyone who had been present that night when Yukari first confronted her so long ago knew just what she wanted to say. The significance of it all was not lost on them, least of all Mitsuru herself.

After seemingly an eternity, she turned to the larger woman and nodded. "… Go ahead then."

Though the sudden turnaround was surprising, the Huntress didn't let it keep her from taking the opportunity to finally satisfy her curiosity. Not to mention finding out what she felt was crucial information.

"I've been going over everything you've said earlier and more than a few things don't make sense to me. For now, there are two things I need to know before anything else. First, the fact that Shadows exist here but not anywhere else is a possibility I'm willing to admit. But the fact that Grimm don't exist here? I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I call bullshit. Aquatic Grimm are some of the most dangerous just by virtue of having to fight them either over open sea or near the coast, both of which limits mobility and engagement options. And even if this is an island nation, Grimm have appeared even on islands with no connection to the mainland."

She noted that Junpei was looking quite nervous, though for what reason she didn't know. Asides from Junpei, the other members of SEES were uneasy, but Chidori, Mitsuru, and Akihiko remained steadfastly stoic. In fact, the latter two looked somewhat resigned as though anticipating her line of questioning.

"Second, who exactly are Elizabeth and this Ryoji character? No matter how I turn it around in my head, there's just something about them, even with what little I do know, that screams 'unnatural' to me. Elizabeth, as Headmaster Ozpin tells it, doesn't exist anywhere yet is bizarrely capable and somehow amassed a massive fortune, one that she passed on to you without a care in the world. And this Ryoji clearly has something to do with the Shadows given what little you've mentioned of his appearances, yet some of you seem quite close to him and are even willing to trust him."

"…I see." Turning to Aigis, who had remained standing closer to the door, she said, "Aigis, could you bring us a map or a globe? I believe there should be one in the sign-in area."

With a nod, Aigis did as asked while everyone waited patiently for Mitsuru's explanation. When the blonde android returned, she placed the item on the table, the map neatly folded into four. "You should take a look, all of you." The second part was directed to the other eight who had accompanied them. "It will be easier to explain, and understand, once you see what our map looks like."

Many of them shot her dubious expressions, no doubt wondering why a map of Japan could be so important. Nonetheless, they obliged her and unfolded the map. When they did, jaws dropped open.

Once, they had been told that Japan believed itself to be the only nation there was. That their maps did not include anything beyond the seas that surrounded their nation.

The map before them, however, told a very, very different tale.

"What the… this... doesn't look like any map I've ever seen."

"Is all of this Japan?"

"But… at the top it says 'World Map'. And over here… it says Japan… right?"

"Isn't that a little too small though?"

"This doesn't make sense. I don't recognize any of these places. And this can't all be Japan. Look." Weiss pointed to the corner of the map. "The map scale is one to fifty thousand. A centimeter on the map is fifty kilometers. If all this were Japan then that implies that this one country is as large, if not larger, than all of Remnant as we know it."

"If that was true, then our map is literally only half complete," supplemented Blake. "It's strange though. Doesn't this map look similar to ours in a way?" She pointed to a spot near the corner of the map. "This place, Australia, is in about the same place on the map as Menagerie."

"Hey yeah, you're right. And look." Jaune placed his scroll on the table next to the map. While small, it did provide a clear enough image of their own map. "There's a lot less land but it does look similar in a way."

"Maybe i-"

"I'VE GOT IT! THEY'RE TIME TRAVELLERS!"

Everyone all but jumped out of their seats at Nora's surprise declaration, even the members of SEES were shocked, though for an entirely different reason. They certainly didn't expect Nora, of all people, to be the one to somehow figure out the truth with what little clues had been provided.

"Nora, that doesn't make any sense," said Ren, having recovered the fastest due to being the most exposed to Nora's usual brand of eccentricity. In fact, his face didn't show any surprise at all asides from the suddenness of the proclamation.

"Come on Ren, it makes perfect sense," Nora counters, speaking with a tone that all but declared that she believed she was right. "They already said that Shadows can control time, right? So obviously they came back from the future because their friend used his weird power that lets him have a ton of Personas to take the Shadows' powers too and sent them back to the past so they can make sure to stop everything before it even happens only he sent them waaaaaaaaay too far back and they ended up here!"

The silence that followed was practically deafening as every single one of them stared at the orange-haired hammer wielder, who stood there with a triumphant pose.

"Uh…" Yang began to speak, hand raised with a finger pointing up, but stopped, unable to form the words she was trying to say, and dropped her hand back to her side.

The silence was eventually broken by, of all things, the sound of restrained and muffled laughter. Looking to the source, everyone found Ken doubled over, one hand over his mouth, and his shoulders trembling. Seeing them all looking at him, he was no longer able to hold himself back and he broke out in loud, raucous laughter.

Most of them gave him strange looks, and Nora even muttered "I was being serious…" while giving him half a sour look of betrayal.

But then, a second person joined him. Much to their surprise, that second person turned out to be Mitsuru. Junpei and Akihiko followed soon after. And it wasn't long before Fuuka and Yukari joined in. Aigis and Chidori were much more restrained, but their soft giggles could still be heard by those closest to them.

Seeing all of them laughing, Nora huffed and crossed her arms with a frown. In turn, when Akihiko saw this, he reined in his

Laughter, though he was unable to completely keep the amusement off his face. "Sorry Nora. It's just-"

"It's ridiculous and completely wrong." She finished for him, even as Ren placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "I. KNOW!"

"It's ridiculous, I'll give you that," said Akihiko, brushing off her angry tone, knowing that she wouldn't be angry for long. "But I wouldn't say you're completely wrong. You're half right after all."

Five words. That was all it took to render half the room speechless "Uh… wait… what?"

As though they were thinking the same thing, the members of SEES looked to one another with amused and inquisitive looks. Finally, their gazes settle on Mitsuru who, without any pause or hesitation, nodded. The smiles on SEES's faces at that moment looks almost… relieved.

"Better get comfortable," Akihiko began, the glint of amusement in his eyes looking quite predatory. "This is gonna be a hell of a story."


"Sooo~ooo, lemme get this straight. You guys are actually from waaaa~aaaaay back in the past? Like, hundreds or thousands of years back?"

The skepticism in Nora's voice was so heavily exaggerated that there could absolutely be no doubt that she did not believe their tale. At best, she might have felt they were trying to use her own ridiculous theory to cover something up. At worst, she might have felt that they were making fun of her.

The others were also looking at them with just as much disbelief. Understandable, given the story they had just related.

"Believe it or not, it is the truth," said Mitsuru, her expression relaxed and hoping to show that this was no jest. "Neither Elizabeth nor Mochizuki could give us so much as a proper estimate of how much time has passed. Elizabeth claims she was wandering the world though she cared little for keeping track of the passage of time. Mochizuki watched over us while we were in stasis so was unable to do so. All they could say for certain is that it is easily hundreds of years, if not thousands."

"What abou-"

"Hold up," interrupted her blonde teammate, looking and sounding quite bewildered. "You mean to say those two have been alive ever since you…" She gestured helplessly, searching for the right words to say. "… You know, fell asleep?"

"Those two ain't exactly human, y'know?" quipped Junpei, who was enjoying the multitude of expressions running through everyone's faces at the facts that they had laid out before them. Though, thinking back to his early days in SEES and even the following year, he did feel a pang of sympathy for them, having so many shocking and unbelievable truths revealed in less than a day. "Elizabeth-san could probably kill any of the Arcana Shadows in a second if she wanted to."

"And Ryoji… well…" he hesitated, wondering how he was going to explain that he himself was a Shadow, one that was deeply connected to Nyx herself.

"Mochizuki is a special case," came the save from Mitsuru when she saw her junior struggling to find the right words to say. "He isn't human, though he lived as a human for a short time, which was when some among us befriended him. But he isn't like Elizabeth either, whose circumstances we know very little of."

The denizens of the future Earth paused their questioning to further digest what they learned. The Dark Hour and Tartarus, Shadows and Nyx, and now it turns out that their teammates had been frozen in time for an indefinite number of years only to re-emerge now.

Barely twelve hours have passed since the reappearance of the Dark Hour and already they were all but drowning in information that they needed to process before it returned, lest they find themselves distracted at a crucial moment.

"So… what now?"

Despite wanting to move forward with things, it was obvious from her expression that Ruby was still trying to wrap her head around everything she had just learned. And it was just as clear that many of them still had questions, but either could not put them to words or felt that the situation with the Shadows' return was more important.

"For now, we work on a plan to eliminate the Arcana Shadows." Everyone straightened up at Mitsuru's words, their gaze sharpening as they fell into more familiar territory. "If my hunch is right, we'll need to eliminate them all tonight."

Then the uncertainty returned for most of them upon hearing the second half of her answer.

"All of 'em?" Junpei asked breathlessly, gray eyes staring disbelievingly.

It was Akihiko who provided the answer. "Today's the thirtieth. And the thirty-first was…" he paused, then shook his head. "Is the night Nyx is supposed to arrive. We don't know what'll happen if Nyx arrives and the Arcana Shadows are still around."

"Won't Nyx just not appear then?" asked Yukari. "I mean, we needed to destroy all the Arcana Shadows before she appeared last time."

"That was then. Can you really say for sure that it'll happen exactly the same way now?" The question gave Yukari pause, and even the others fell into a pensive silence. "Back then there were countless Shadows, not just the Arcana Shadows. This time it's only the Arcana Shadows and not a single trace of the smaller Shadows. Without the guarantee that things will remain the same, any assumptions we make will carry an unknown level of risk that we can't afford to take."

Mitsuru picked up right after Akihiko. "Which is why we'll be splitting up by pairs to eliminate the remaining Arcana Shadows." That announcement garnered many looks of shock from everyone, including most of SEES. "One pair will also be positioned here just in case the Magician returns tonight as well. If not, they will move to assist one of the others."

"That's reckless."

Gwen's firm denial of Mitsuru's plan was the only thing that stopped the onslaught of voices from voicing their own opinions on the matter. And from the tone of her voice, she would not be backing down this time.

"Disregarding Fuuka, we have sixteen peo-"

"Woof!"

"- Seventeen combat-ready personnel." It was a credit to Gwen that she barely batted an eye at Koromaru's timely interjection and that she had adjusted accordingly without pause. "And you expect us to split up into eight pairs, likely with me going off by myself as the ninth party, to take on possibly twelve Shadows? Not to mention that half of us don't know what we're getting into."

Similarly, likely having expected that line of questioning, Mitsuru's response came without delay. "Akihiko and I have already accounted for that." And somehow, none of them were surprised that the two seniors of SEES had already devised a plan, likely after everyone else had left the command room.

Taking out a folded sheet of paper from her pocket, the redhead spread it open and laid it on the table for everyone to see. On it were two columns. One listed the names of everyone present, put into pairs, or a trio in two cases. The other column bore the names of the Arcana Shadows. Given the arrangement, it was clear to everyone who would be fighting which Shadow.

"Jaune and Pyrrha will be stationed here at the dorm in case the Magician comes back tonight despite being killed," Akihiko explained, turning to the aforementioned pair. "If it doesn't, Fuuka will direct you to either the nearest group, or whichever group needs assistance most."

"Hey Chi-chan, looks like we've got the Priestess." Junpei was both concerned and elated. The former because of the memories it evoked of that night when he, Yukari, and Minato had first faced down the large, feminine Shadow, as well as his immaturity that could very well have caused their deaths. And the latter because it was, in a way, a second chance to do things right, even if the circumstances were different.

"Wait, we're taking on two of them at once?" Ruby's words, laced with worry, drew everyone's attention to the third line on the list where, indeed, Ruby, Weiss, and Fuuka were slated to combat the Empress and Emperor Arcana Shadows.

It was Fuuka, whose memories of those two particular Shadows were among the clearest, who answered Ruby's, and by extension Yang's, concerns. "The Empress and Emperor appear together and in the same location. As for why it's assigned to the three of us, it's because of the Shadows' unique abilities. The Empress is initially vulnerable to physical strikes, while possessing a sort of barrier against our Personas' various elemental abilities. The Emperor is the opposite, possessing a barrier against physical damage but leaving it vulnerable to other abilities."

It didn't take long before many of them understood just why it was those Shadows were left at the hands of their particular group. "So you need me to handle the Empress while Weiss handles the Emperor? But why's your name here too?"

"The Shadows also have the ability to change the properties of their barriers," Fuuka explained patiently. After all, only SEES were aware of the specifics of each Shadow. And in this case, anyone who joined after her would only know if they had taken the time to look at the records of that fight. "You'll need me to monitor them closely to let you know when they change."

While Fuuka was explaining things to her teammates, Mitsuru had already moved on. "Yukari and I will handle the Hierophant and Lovers Arcana," she said, receiving a resolute nod from the brunette.

Much like Junpei, Yukari was looking forward to once more facing down the Shadow that had once caused her great embarrassment.

On the other hand, the other half of their team looked on with worry. "Are you sure about that? Just the two of you against two Shadows?" Yang didn't necessarily doubt their strength, but it did cause her some level of concern that they would be facing two at the same time.

As though having predicted her concern, which wouldn't be entirely unexpected, Mitsuru gave them a reassuring nod. "Unlike what Ruby and Weiss will be facing, the Hierophant and the Lovers Shadows won't appear at the same time. The latter only appeared after the former was defeated." Seeing that her words failed to alleviate their concerns, she added, "If both are present, however, we can wait until another group eliminates their own target and have them assist us. I'm sure Fuuka can warn us ahead of time if there are indeed two Shadows present rather than one."

That seemed to work, as Yang and Blake relaxed a bit more, accepting Mitsuru's compromise.

Meanwhile, Akihiko was already briefing Ren and Nora regarding their own targets. "The Chariot and Justice Shadows take the form of a tank," he explained. "The Chariot is the main body of the tank, while Justice is the turret itself. There'll be times when they'll be combined into one form but sometimes they'll separate and you'll be fighting two at once. I'm not sure if it's possible, but back then we couldn't kill them both while they were combined. You'll probably need to do what we did and take them out at the same time, or take out the second one immediately after the first, while they're separated. Give them too much time and they can revive the other."

"Relax, we've got this in the bag," came the exuberant response, accompanied by a fist pump. "Right Ren?"

A nod, far more composed, was the other response, magenta eyes showing understanding as to why they were given these particular Shadows. "You can leave it to us."

Ken's grip tightened as he silently stared at the piece of paper where his name and Akihiko's were written down across from the Hermit. Just thinking back to that time they originally fought it brought back memories of the one time he had fought by his side against an Arcana Shadow. The first, and last, time.

"So Yang and I will be fighting two as well then," Blake mused, looking down at the list where hers and Yang's names were written across the words 'Strength and Fortune'. "Anything we should know about them?"

"They're annoying," was Yukari's bland response, remembering just how those two particular Shadows fought. "The Fortune Shadow doesn't usually attack you directly, but it uses something like a roulette wheel. Wherever the pointer lands on the wheel decides what it actually does."

"… seriously?" deadpanned Yang, unable to come up with a proper response. "Ain't that a little too on the nose?"

Despite the small smile of amusement on Mitsuru's face, her tone was quite serious. "It's far more troublesome than you think. As I recall, there are eight sections on the wheel. Three symbols, which resemble a starburst image, leads to it attacking you from a distance. How strong and numerous its attacks are, are determined by the size of the starburst."

"The heart means it'll recover some of the damage done to it or the Strength Shadow. The one that looks like purple bubbles means it'll release a cloud of poison." The wide-eyed looks Yukari got from everyone who heard her made her raise her hands up in front of her shaking them side to side as though to ward them off. "It's not immediately fatal, and it disperses fast enough that you'd have to be right in front of it to actually breathe in enough to get affected. You'll still want to stay away from it if it happens though since I don't know if your Aura protects you from it or if it'll help you recover faster than it can hurt you. If either of you get caught up in it, let Fuuka know. She'll let me know and I can come to you as soon as I can. Isis is the only Persona we have that can remove it, now that we don't have Minato."

"Wouldn't it be better if you were with them in that case?" Gwen asked, making sure to not sound accusatory. If Mitsuru had setup the teams that way then there had to be a reason she didn't put the one Persona that could counteract poisons against the Shadow that used it.

And predictably, there was indeed a good reason. "The Lovers has an ability that Isis can also dispel," explained Yukari.

Judging by her stiff tone, there was more to it than she was saying. But Gwen also caught the brief look in the brunette's eyes, practically begging her not to ask. Against her better judgment, she let it slide even as Yukari and Mitsuru continued to brief their teammates about the Fortune Shadow's other abilities, followed by what the Strength Shadow was capable of which, apparently, included forming a barrier over the Fortune Shadow, making it impervious to attacks. As such, the two would have to contend with Fortune's various disruptions while trying to take down Strength.

And finally…

"I take it this one's the strongest of the bunch then," she said to Aigis, tapping the words 'Hanged Man' on the piece of paper, right across from where her name was written down next to Aigis and Koromaru.

"Correct," responded the android, something that Gwen had been quite curious about since it had been brought up but found no time to properly address in depth. "The Hanged Man is a large Shadow that, despite its size, is capable of flight. However, it mainly utilizes it to remain out of reach while striking from afar and calling upon smaller Shadows to disrupt attempts to reach it."

"Can we use any nearby buildings to reach it?"

"If the Shadow appears in the same place where it once did, then that will not be possible. The Hanged Man Shadow appeared in the middle of the Moonlight Bridge." At that, Gwen's expression soured even as Aigis continued their own briefing. "The roadway stands fifty-two meters above sea level, while the towers of the supports stand a further seventy-four meters in height. The Shadow hovers above even that. Not by a significant amount, but enough that reaching it will be troublesome."

Mitsuru glanced around, silently taking in the various groups as the members of SEES briefed their teammates about what they needed to know regarding their respective opponents. The expectation that each group of two or three would have to take on one or two Arcana Shadows on their own was undoubtedly daunting for some. Despite SEES's growth during that time, in addition to their training since awakening in this time period, she still could not help but worry.

As much as she did not want to admit it, she and Yukari were in the most precarious situation of them all. The Hierophant, if she and Akihiko had recalled correctly, utilized the Zio class abilities, the very same element that Yukari's Isis was least resistant to. Meanwhile, although her words earlier rang true about Isis being able to combat one of the Lovers' main avenues of combat, that would only be valid if Mitsuru herself were the target. Were Yukari to be ensnared instead, then Mitsuru would have no easy way of rousing her from the trance-like state of infatuation that the Shadow induced to bring them under its control.

Yukari was the weak point in both battles, but she was also the key to the second battle they would face later that night. Without her, whoever faced the Lovers Shadow could very well fall under its sway.

When she and Akihiko had discussed who would be facing which Shadow, neither one felt comfortable with placing Yukari in such a dangerous position. Unfortunately, without Minato among their ranks, Isis was their only counter to the Lovers Shadow.

They agreed that they would bring up the matter with Yukari, coming up with an alternative if need be. But no sooner did they broach the topic did Yukari give her assent, stating that she understood the risks but that she would face them regardless.

Mitsuru could only pray that luck favored them tonight.


Once the briefing was over and multiple plans brought up for each group to account for some unexpected occurrences, other questions were brought up. Questions that weren't as important in the grand scheme of things but ones that they were interested to know the answer to regarding SEES's life in the past as well as what the world had been like at that time.

For the most part, Gwen only lent half an ear to the conversation taking place on the other side of the glass that set apart the dining area from the lounge. The majority of her attention was on the Scroll in her hands, one of the larger models on account of her larger than average stature.

Currently on the display was a file that she had started the other night, her thoughts on the situation on top of information that SEES had divulged since the start of the mission. She had been going over it since waking up, trying to figure out more of what the group of Japanese teens had been hiding despite sharing a not-so-insignificant amount earlier that morning once the Dark Hour had passed.

The Dark Hour…

Sharp blue eyes stared at those words on her notes through round spectacles, her thoughts going in overdrive as she continued to think about that bizarre phenomenon.

It was a strange feeling to know exactly when a fight would start. Training was one thing, but fights against the Grimm weren't so cut and dry. To be able to know exactly when and where a fight would take place was a luxury she had never once experienced out in the field.

And now they held such an advantage all because of this one thing.

And yet, she couldn't help but speculate on how wrong it all felt.

Time, specifically the way it was broken down into seconds, minutes, hours, days, and so on… Such a thing was a human concept that was created out of necessity, in order to better keep track of the passage of time.

No other living being had need of such detailed timekeeping. Be it animals, insects, or plants, none of them needed to know what time of day it was, nor how much time has passed since a certain event took place, nor how much time needed to pass before another event takes place.

So then, why was it that the Dark Hour started precisely at midnight? And why did it last for exactly one hour?

It was far too… human… for her to believe that it was nothing more than a coincidence. The man ultimately responsible for the creation of the Dark Hour, the man who sought to harness the power of the Shadows, was certainly human enough. And Gwen had briefly entertained the idea that he, or perhaps some of his accomplices from back then, was somehow still alive and was the mastermind behind everything that SEES had gone through.

It didn't fit, however. Despite everything that happened, no third-party had made any moves to obtain the power of the Shadows. Or at least, nothing that SEES had mentioned felt like something caused by an unknown faction attempting to manipulate events for their own gains.

The group called Strega certainly seemed close enough to it, but the one responsible for the birth of that group had been the man leading SEES under the guise of the benevolent Chairman, Shuji Ikutsuki. If there had been any other hand holding their reins, then Chidori made no mention of any suspicions of such when she explained the history of the group she had once been a part of.

If SEES was to be believed, and she had no reason to doubt their tale, then the Dark Hour and the Shadows had not appeared at all the entire time they resided in the dorm after their awakening. Through months of training and studying, not once did the Dark Hour appear nor did a single Shadow make itself known to them. For that matter, they did not meet anyone else at all asides from Elizabeth and the mysterious Ryoji.

If there was indeed someone in the shadows – Gwen grimaced at her own choice of words – manipulating events or waiting to make their move, then she could only come to three possible conclusions.

The first is that whatever SEES's field leader had done had made their plan unattainable. Otherwise someone with the ability to control time and space would have stepped forward at that time once they claimed the power of the Shadows. She found it doubtful that the present they lived in now would be the way it was if someone truly did control such a power.

The second is that the person or group had indeed gotten what they wanted. And yet, despite that, their present is the way it is. Perhaps things were the way they were because of this unknown. For all she knew, they, if they were a group, had fallen to in-fighting and the result was the world they lived in now. That might even explain what they'd been told earlier, that the Grimm were, as they'd been told, the successors to the Shadows. If the power of the Shadows had indeed been harnessed at one point, then it might have resulted in the power taking a different form after the culprit or culprits lost control over them. The Grimm might even be a deliberate creation of theirs.

The third, and one that she dearly hoped was wrong, was that what they were experiencing now was part of their plan to obtain the power of the Shadows and they were but pawns on the board to help them obtain it.

However, that final possibility was also the least likely in her mind. Provided, of course, that Elizabeth was indeed someone they could trust.

Of the other two, it didn't truly matter in the end. Whether or not these unknowns succeeded or failed to obtain the power of the Shadows, their time has, hopefully, long since come and gone.

Still… she could not shake the feeling that there was far more going on than she, and everyone else, believed.

Whatever happened tonight, and perhaps the next, she would need to be cautious and alert lest they perish in a land far beyond any known borders.


Before they knew it, the sun began to set. Many of them had opted to take a brief nap to make up for their poor sleeping conditions earlier. Only a few did not feel the need for additional rest.

Preparations began soon after they'd had their fill of the evening meal, not that there was much to prepare.

It took less than an hour to go over their equipment, making sure everything was in proper working order. Another hour or so was spent going over their plans and contingencies. And then they went their separate ways while still remaining inside the dorm.

They could not proceed to their respective positions just yet lest they risk unwanted attention for wandering the streets late at night with weapons in hand. At most they could minimize it by departing closer to midnight so that they arrived at their designated locations shortly before the appointed time, reducing the chances of someone encountering them while they waited for the Dark Hour.

As Mitsuru and Akihiko explained, they no longer had the right connections with the local police force. They would not be able to easily excuse themselves if questioned as to their presence out in the city that late at night.

Some were eager to begin, others were nervous, others still remained calm even as the appointed time slowly approached. Some gathered in groups and made conversation, while some kept to themselves.

With more than an hour before they were scheduled to depart from the dorm, Weiss found herself ascending the staircase. Past the second floor where Junpei was chatting animatedly with Nora and Ren. Past the third floor where she could hear at least one muffled conversation coming from the rooms.

Reaching the fourth floor, she was surprised to hear a voice coming from the command room. She recognized it as Akihiko's. She wondered briefly who he was speaking with, but there were too many whom she had not seen on the way up to know for certain.

She paid it little heed as she made her way to the other door on that level, behind which was her destination. Her quarry.

The door opened with only a slight whine, too soft to catch the attention of the one sitting at the edge of the roof directly across from her. Making her way across the rooftop, she called out softly so as to avoid startling her rooftop companion. "What are you doing out here Ruby?"

Rather than react with any amount of surprise, Ruby uttered a soft "Huh?" even as she turned away from the night sky. "Oh, Weiss. When did you get here?"

"Just now," she replied, climbing onto the ledge and taking a seat beside her partner even as said girl turned her attention back to the sky. "And you still haven't answered my question."

"Oh, just thinking."

"About everything we learned today?" She already knew it wasn't, not after what happened, but she wasn't about to poke that Ursa that blatantly.

The younger girl didn't respond, silver eyes still locked onto the nearly full moon high up in the sky. A moon that was, as strange as the thought may have been, completely whole according to SEES. Then… "Hard to believe isn't it? It almost sounds like some sort of fairy tale, or the kind of story you'd see in a comic book."

"Seems more like a tragic epic than a low-born comedy if you ask me," came Weiss's response before she even realized she was speaking.

In turn, Ruby winced even as a sheepish grin made its way onto her face. "I guess I should apologize to Yukari, huh?"

"You probably should."

The pair sat in silence once more, one gazing at the horizon, watching the lights of the city, while the other gazed down, deep in thought.

"I just… I don't understand." Ruby's voice was soft, confused and uncertain, as she recalled the conversation that led to her seeking refuge up on the roof. "I thought she'd be happy that she could probably talk to her mom again. I mean, yeah this probably isn't real and it'll all disappear once we beat the Shadows but…"

"But you thought maybe she'd want to see her mother again before it all disappeared." Weiss finished, having understood her partner's intent after overhearing the conversation downstairs. "Even if it's just to properly say goodbye unlike how it ended last time."

A silent nod was the only response that came, and she could only sigh in turn.

She was certain that Ruby had had the best intentions to begin with. She didn't have a single malicious bone in her body as far as Weiss could tell. She just didn't realize that even the best intentions could be perceived poorly in the wrong light, made worse by her partner's less than stellar communication skills. The conversation earlier being one such example.

She hadn't been paying attention to how the conversation began, but at some point, Ruby's thoughts had clearly turned to the family that some of them had left behind and had brought it up to her conversation partners.

Fuuka and Yukari answered as best as they could.

Both their families lived in Iwatodai, meaning that it was possible to actually visit them. Fuuka admitted to thinking about it ever since she realized the possibility but wanted to prioritize their situation first and foremost. Yukari, on the other hand, responded that she had no desire to do so regardless of how things turned out.

Nothing might have come of it had that been the end of it. Instead, Ruby had asked something that, while well-intentioned, was not well thought out. If at all.

'But, don't you miss her?'

It certainly wasn't Ruby's best showing. Then again, her partner could be socially awkward even at the best of times so it was not that much of a surprise that she didn't realize just how horribly she had phrased that question. Perhaps she didn't realize even now just why that question had set off the temperamental brunette.

After all, who wouldn't feel outraged when someone's words seemed to be implying that one did not care for their own mother? Especially a person who had already shown that they did care deeply for them?

It felt strange for her to be in this position. Her own understanding of the situation only came about as a result of hearing the two affected individuals talk about their families while in her general vicinity. Neither one had spoken to her directly about it, but she had heard enough to understand just why the situation became what it is now.

A part of her wanted to have nothing to do with it. After all, it didn't have anything to do with her to begin with so she had no reason to step in. But the conversation had, somehow, brought up thoughts about her own familial situation. And before she knew it, she was already climbing the stairs.

She still couldn't say for certain why she had followed her partner. Their situations were different. Yukari's was different. But perhaps it was similar enough to stir something within her.

"I'm sure Yukari does miss her mother. In fact, I'd wager everything I do and will own on it."

"So why d-"

"But neither of us can imagine what she's going through right now," Weiss cut in, wanting to make her point now that she'd made the conscious decision to get involved in some way. "More importantly, neither of us are her. Even if you and I, and everyone else, found ourselves in Yukari's circumstances instead, I'm sure that we would make different decisions in the end. And even if some make the same choice, I'm sure they'd have different reasons for making it. You shouldn't assume that she'd think and feel the same way as you even if your situations had been exactly the same."

Weiss took a second to turn and face her partner, an action that caused Ruby to look up and do the same after noticing it. "And you shouldn't have assumed that her refusal to see her mother is a result of no longer having any attachments to her."

"Oh…" For a moment, Ruby seemed to have just responded out of reflex. But after a few moments, clarity and understanding, and perhaps more than just a bit of shame and horror, filled her slowly widening silver eyes as she came to understand just what it was she had been trying to convey. And, more importantly, just why her question had triggered the archer so badly. "O-oooh…"

There was a notable quiver in her voice, one that told Weiss that her partner did, indeed, pick up on the meaning of her words. A small miracle seeing as Ruby was known to not pick up certain social cues, but one that she was thankful for as she did not want to have to explain things in detail.

The two sat in silence for a while longer, Weiss returning to her observations of the cityscape, occasionally thinking of their coming battle, while Ruby continued to come to terms with her mistake.

"… should I get her something to go with my apology?"

"I'm sure it'll help."


Eventually, the time came for most of them to depart from the dorm.

As they had discussed, Jaune and Pyrrha would remain at the dorm to await the Magician. As the only Arcana Shadow that the non-SEES combatants were even remotely familiar with, as well as the weakest, it should be easy enough for Pyrrha and Jaune to eliminate in short order if it made a re-appearance. If not, or once they took care of it, they could them move to reinforce one of the other teams as directed by Fuuka.

Out of earshot, Akihiko had requested that their coordinator prioritize Mitsuru and Yukari provided nobody else was in dire need of assistance, explaining his and Mitsuru's earlier concerns. It certainly did carry its own risks, but he felt they were outweighed by the benefits.

Everyone else departed from the dorm an hour before midnight. Several of them would need to travel to Tatsumi Port Island via monorail so the extra travel time was necessary. As for the others, being on the mainland made it easier to come up with a viable excuse should anyone question why they were out on the streets late at night. Hiding their weapons, particularly those that were not so subtle or easily hidden away, was still a concern, but the late hour worked to their advantage in many ways provided they did not advertise themselves.

Half an hour later, everyone was in position. Or, in some cases like Akihiko and Ken, were close by and ready to proceed once the Dark Hour came. After all, it would be far too suspicious for the two of them to be spotted waiting outside, or inside, Paulownia Mall after closing hours.

On their part, the only issue they encountered was being discreet as they opened the gate before them, unlocking it with the key provided to them by Mitsuru. The steel gate squealed softly even as they slid it open as slowly as they could, and every moment it did made her worry that someone would hear it and catch them in the act.

Once they were through, they shut the gates, repeating the earlier ordeal, and made their way to a secluded area where they wouldn't be spotted easily.

Finding one at the far corner of the area behind what Fuuka said was one of the club buildings, Ruby and Weiss kept an eye on their surroundings just in case while their teammate pulled out her Evoker and summoned Juno.

"Is everyone in position?" She asked, her voice echoing in everyone's heads as she formed a connection to them all.

As Fuuka listened to each response, Ruby took the time to look around. Gekkoukan High School certainly didn't look anything like she had expected. Then again, the city itself was nothing like she'd expected.

While not as large as Vale, Iwatodai was certainly large enough that, had it been located elsewhere, it would have had a wall constructed around it for protection. It was an interesting experience to see what a city would look like when there was no need to protect it from the Grimm.

The Shadows were certainly a threat but, given that they only appeared during the Dark Hour, conventional defenses would prove all but useless against them.

It was an interesting experience, even if she hadn't exactly been able to tour the city, but it did make her wonder if there would ever come a time that Remnant was free of Grimm. Or if it was something she'd see during her lifetime.

"Are you ready?"

Ruby turned to her partner, whose hand was resting on Myrtenaster's hilt even as she surveyed the school yard, keeping an eye out for anyone who might approach their location. Mitsuru had informed them that the school did have a single security guard during the night shift, so they would have to be discreet until the Dark Hour came. Their patrol was often focused on the main school building, but she warned them not to get complacent in case they decide to patrol the yard at some point.

"Yeah." She had to work to keep her voice down, her excitement just barely kept in control by multiple stern reminders that they needed to be stealthy.

While it was sooner than she'd expected, she was finally on her first real mission as a Huntress-in-training. Sure, they hadn't exactly gone through the usual channels. And she was probably gonna get scolded by her dad when she got back since they ditched their escorts, even if it was mainly Mitsuru's doing. And probably another scolding for going along even when she wasn't actually required to go. But those were things she could think about later.

However it had happened, she was now on a mission. An important one at that. Maybe if things weren't so serious she'd have been celebrating at some point. At least they could still celebrate once they got back.

If she didn't get grounded until she graduated.

"Are you excited Weiss?" she asked her partner, wanting to keep her thoughts on something more positive.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Weiss was of a different mindset, which probably should have come as a surprise. "No Ruby, I'm not. If anything, I'm worried."

"What's there to worry about? We've got this Weiss. I just gotta whoosh in there and let Crescent Rose do the talking and you'll blast the other one with whatever Dust Fuuka tells you to use. It'll be a piece of cake!"

"Pipe down!" hissed the older girl even as her hand shot up to cover Ruby's mouth, eyes sharpening and looking for any signs that that brief outburst might have drawn attention.

Satisfied that nobody was coming to check, Weiss pulled her hand back but then glowered at Ruby. "What part of 'be discreet' don't you understand?" she asked, receiving only a sheepish grin in response. "This city may or may not be real, and our interactions with the people in it may or may not have lasting consequences, but the least you could do is treat this matter seriously. This isn't a training scenario, and it certainly isn't anything like the homework that you put off until the very last moment by lollygagging about."

That last one was a very sore point for Ruby, even if it was a very good point. And though she understood why Weiss was bringing it up, she still readied a defense for herself. After all, she'd been studying properly since they'd come back from the New Year's break, right?

But before she could so much as take a breath, her partner was already moving on to her next point, her eyes sharp and focused. "We're about to face something very different from the Grimm we're used to. Just because SEES beat it once before doesn't mean we'll necessarily have an easy time of it. If we're not careful, we could very well die here Ruby. And it's not just our lives on the line. If we fail, Fuuka will be defenseless."

That stopped every single retort that Ruby had been about to shoot back.

She had been prepared to remind Weiss that they could have died back in the Emerald Forest too. And that she knew what they were getting into, perhaps even more than Weiss herself did seeing as her father had not sugarcoated the dangers of being a Huntsman back when she first told them that she wanted to become one. Even her uncle, despite his usual laidback attitude, had been completely serious when he'd spoken to her about it.

She knew the dangers she was about to face.

She knew that she could very well die in the line of duty.

She couldn't say that she was prepared for it to actually happen, even as a bluff. But she was, at the very least, aware that it could happen even before she graduated.

But the reminder that it wasn't just their lives on the line was what got to her the most.

After all, wasn't that one of the reasons why she wanted to become a Huntress in the first place? To protect people?

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, it was only now that she truly felt the weight of the burden she had taken upon herself.

She and Weiss were about to fight two Shadows. Not just any Shadows, but two of twelve greater Shadows that had led to the catastrophe of ages past.

All they knew about them were what they'd been told. They had no experience fighting the Empress or Emperor Arcana Shadows, or even Shadows in general. And her own experiences with the Grimm told her that knowing and understanding what her enemies were capable of were two vastly different things.

Knowing that a Beowulf was fast or that an Ursa was strong didn't really tell them how fast or strong they were. Similarly, knowing that the Empress used wind attacks while the Emperor relied more on attacking with its sword and abilities centered on it as a medium did not really tell them how the attacks would come.

They could speculate, based on their experiences with SEES's Personas, but it wasn't the same.

On top of that, Fuuka was with them to better provide assistance. Having her close by was a risk, especially since distance did not affect her abilities all that much, but Fuuka herself insisted on accompanying them. Why, they didn't know. But there was measure of concern in her eyes when she spoke, telling them that there were things they were still not privy to despite all the revelations they'd received over the past few days.

Her life was literally in their hands. If something went wrong the chances were incredibly slim that one of the other groups could come and do something about it. They'd likely be too busy with their own fights to do anything to help. Not to mention that only Ruby would have been able to traverse the distance from the nearest group to render aid in a timely manner.

This was the first time that she would be directly responsible for safeguarding someone's life.

And, even if only in the privacy of her own mind, the thought scared her just as much as it motivated her.

So she turned to one of the few things she could do to help alleviate the burden on her shoulders that now felt twice as heavy.

"Kinda hard to believe the school's gonna turn into some giant tower soon."

There was no doubt in her mind that Weiss knew she was changing the subject. But, for whatever reason, her partner ignored it. Surprisingly, she went along with it and nodded in response. "I suppose seeing is believing. It doesn't seem scientifically possible. But then again, a twenty-fifth hour literally hidden between each day isn't possible either and yet we've experienced it once before."

"Think it's gonna be scarier than a horror movie?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Which movie we're comparing it to."

Before Ruby could ask which movies Weiss had even actually seen, Fuuka's voice echoed in their heads.

"Get ready everyone. One minute until the Dark Hour."

For the coming operation, none of the other groups would be able to hear the others, preventing them from getting distracted by a fight that wasn't theirs. Only Fuuka would be privy to all their communications, if any. But since each group would be acting independently during their respective fights, there shouldn't be a need to rely on Fuuka for communication during the battle.

Hopefully that meant she wouldn't be as burdened as the time they had gone to rescue Mitsuru from Weiss's kidnappers. Ruby remembered Fuuka talking about how stressful and difficult it had been coordinating all their movements. Paying attention to not only their teams but also the various enemy movements certainly seemed like a daunting task. One that Ruby was glad to not be responsible for.

"Ten seconds."

Small hands reached behind her, grasping Crescent Rose by the hilt. Pulling it off the magnetic strip on her lower back, Ruby spun the weapon around even as it unfolded, the sound of shifting steel echoing in the silence of the schoolyard as the weapon's full scythe form came into view.

A quick, practiced movement loaded a magazine.

"Five."

Another movement chambered a single round.

"Four."

A quick set of movements tested the weapon's balance as she spun it around her steady form.

"Three."

Satisfied, she brought Crescent Rose to her side, the edge pointed forward and the tip to the right. A glance at her partner showed that she too was ready, Myrtenaster down and to the side, ready to be brought to bear.

"Two."

Whatever happens, they were as ready as they could be.

"One."


It happened in an instant. Exactly one second after Fuuka last spoke, the Dark Hour came.

Unlike Blake and Gwen, everyone else had been asleep the previous night when the Dark Hour came. They'd awoken in a flurry of noise and activity, too flustered to properly take in the changes as soon as it occurred. It was only when Blake had brought it to their attention, and when they stepped out onto the street, that they first took notice.

This time, they were wide awake when the changes occurred.

The remaining seven who had yet to experience it firsthand felt it as much as they sensed it. A brief pulse that seemed to reverberate across their entire being, one that seemed to reach deeper than their physical bodies. At the same time, everything changed.

The changes were instantaneous. There had been no sign, no indication at all, of what had caused the change. One moment they were looking at their target destinations. The next, they were back in that green-tinged, blood-covered copy of the world around them.

Although some had noticed it the previous night, not all of them had paid it much attention. But with the sudden shift in their surroundings, many of them choked and gagged at the smell and taste of blood as they took their first breath of the Dark Hour's night air.

Ruby and Weiss were not as badly affected, but only because they were far too distracted.

They'd been expecting it, to some degree. They'd been warned that the school would change forms once the Dark Hour came, and that the sight was not one that any sane mind could make sense of.

Nothing, however, could prepare them for the sight that greeted them when the world shifted.

At first, the school simply seemed to stretch. It grew taller in height, and so too did the roof, the windows, and the doors stretch upwards as though they were all made of rubber.

And then came the incomprehensible.

Without warning, another building seemed to grow out of its side at an angle, one that did not share the school's outward design in any way. And then another. And another. And another dozen. All of them different in design, some of them bigger than even the school had originally been.

And it wasn't just buildings. At one point Weiss could have sword she saw train tracks wrap around one of the structures that grew outwards. Train tracks that, judging by the distance and the scale when compared to the things around it, seemed to be made for a train that was wider than even a Goliath.

Some were archways yet its base did not touch anything. Others were the roofs of buildings yet appeared nearly upside-down and grew outwards from the side. Many more looked like those strangely popular and famous sculptures and paintings that did not resemble anything at all.

Nothing about it made sense.

Were she not so certain that she had awakened from her earlier nap, she could attribute it all as some surreal and incomprehensible dream.

Upwards and higher it stretched and grew. Spires and towers that twisted and curled. Spiraling windows and dizzying staircases. Clocks with crooked hands and numbers replaced by faces, round masks with blank round eyes that seemed to stare directly at them no matter how high up they were. More and more grew out of the base structure that could no longer be recognized at what seemed like random locations and directions. All of it a pale white that glowed a sickly green as it reflected the color of the moonlight.

It took barely a minute but the sheer impossibility and insanity of it all made it feel like ages. By the time it stopped growing, neither she nor Ruby could see the top of the structure. For all they knew the tower had already broken through the clouds and ended on the moon itself.

After hearing of its name, and the origin of its name as described by Fuuka, Weiss could only agree that it seemed fitting.

Tartarus.

The infernal regions as described in mythology. The lower region of the underworld where the Gods themselves imprisoned their foes.

"It's here."

The two of them nearly jumped out of their skins, so fascinated by the incredulous sight before them that they had briefly forgotten about Fuuka, who had already re-summoned Juno.

The three had relocated to the front yard as soon as the Dark Hour arrived. They kept walking even as they stared up at the growing superstructure. Had it not been for Fuuka they might have just kept on walking and staring until they reached the other end of the yard.

Following Fuuka's line of sight, the two found the only thing about the structure that looked normal.

Surprisingly, the entrance did not change very much. The flight of stairs leading up to the door was much wider and longer. The pillars were larger and further spaced apart. The doorway itself, however, was much, much larger. Several meters in height, and wide enough to allow two teams to walk through side-by-side. The doors were decorated by a clock, taller than any man, and glowing a luminous blue. Lines grew outward from the clock along the door and the walls surrounding it, making it resemble a sun.

Or perhaps a moon, she mused, as the bright blue glow coming from the clock was often associated with moonlight rather than sunlight.

"Are they inside?" asked Ruby, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"They are," replied Fuuka, whose eyes remained shut just as she herself was shut inside Juno. "Be careful, both of you. I'll keep you updated on the status of the Shadows. For now, Ruby should engage the Empress while Weiss engages the Emperor with her Dust. Any of it will do."

"Whatever happens, do not enter the doorway at the top of the staircase inside, or the door at the back."

It was a warning they'd already been given. But the urgency in her tone told them that it was not being repeated just for the sake of repeating it. Whatever was behind those doorways was likely dangerous.

"Let's go."

Weiss dashed forward, Ruby following closely.

The doors, for all their size, opened easily enough, swinging smoothly inward without a groan or whine. Perhaps it was by design, or perhaps it was just another oddity of this strange state the world was in.

Past the doors, Weiss took in everything with a single glance.

Leading up from the doorway they had entered through was a royal blue carpet as wide as the doorway. It traveled along the floor, to a staircase situated roughly in the middle of the room. The staircase, which was held up by some unknown power as there seemed to be nothing beneath it to hold it up, led up to a massive and ornate clock face, which itself was held up by decorative pillars of steel on either side. In the middle of the clock face, right where the stairs ended, was an opening that resembled a door. Beyond the doorway was a darkness that her sight could not pierce.

The room itself was roughly circular in shape, with large pillars at the sides and the back of the room that reached up to the ceiling, one that had an opening cut out in the middle to allow light to shine down into the room, centering on the staircase. What that light was, however, was a mystery as it did not resemble the greenish moonlight outside.

The boundaries of the room was another oddity. It resembled the outer infrastructure, giving off the impression that they were inside a building surrounded by other buildings. Except that those other buildings were unintelligible in design and scope.

But what threw her off was that one moment it looked as though they were designs painted on the wall, looking so life-like that it was no different than gazing up at the outer structure of Tartarus. The next moment, it would shift ever so slightly. And then it looked as though the structures and constructs she could see were actually there in the distance, and that they stood on a platform rather than within a room.

It was all so disconcerting that it gave her a headache.

Or rather, it would have given her a headache were it not for two other things that had caught the bulk of her attention.

There, standing on either side of the staircase, were their targets. The two Arcana Shadows.

On the left was the Empress, large and almost perfectly round. It possessed two comically thin and arms, and a similar pair of legs. Its neck was inhumanly long and thin, holding up a head that bore a crystal-white mask that, at any other time, would not have looked out of place on a more regal woman given how the top of the mask resembled a crown.

Its body was wrapped in what looked like a sea-blue dress, one that ended in a pair of pants rather than a skirt, and its feet were adorned in crimson heels. Around its rotund belly was what appeared to be a steel corset, only rather than shaping the woman wearing it, the woman beneath gave the corset it's round shape. A large collar came up behind its neck and head, resembling the plumage of a peacock, and a pale green cape completed its design.

All in all, it evoked the image of a lazy and indulgent queen who had grown in size as a result of her indolence.

To the right was her primary target, the Emperor.

It possessed a far more proportionate frame, but its barrel-chested figure was at odds with its long and spindly arms, and its short, thin legs. Its arms resembled a regal-looking coat, while its torso was decorated with a large red cross. Its head was covered with a lavender-colored mask that, much like its counterpart, resembled that of a crown. Its eyes were pointed ovals that were slightly turned downwards, giving off an expression of weariness.

The two Arcana Shadows had turned in their direction as soon as they entered, and it wasn't long before they began to approach.

With a silent nod to her partner, one that she reciprocated in a similar fashion, both girls turned to their respective targets. After one final breath to steady their nerves, black and white surged forward, their eyes filled with a sharp determination.


Despite to her more sensitive senses, she was no stranger to the scent and taste of blood. It was far from palatable, but she could ignore it better now that she was expecting it, unlike the previous night when she had been caught off guard.

The same couldn't be said for her partner, who was looking more than a little green now that she didn't have an urgent situation to distract her from it.

Probably the only reason she had yet to throw up was the fact that, directly across the street from them, two Shadows had appeared at the same instant that the Dark Hour did.

They looked exactly as described.

A golden, almost two-dimensional figure that resembled a clockwork four-legged animal. It possessed two wings on its 'back', and a tail on one end, long and thin, ending with a golden ball. On the side of its head that faced them was a green mask, two eyes, one on top of the other, and a grin beneath it. On its cheek was the letter 'X' which, as they'd been told, was a symbol for the number ten, marking it as the tenth of the Arcana Shadows, Fortune.

The other was shockingly humanoid in appearance. Were it not for the obviously inhuman aspects, they might have mistaken it for an actual person. It stood atop a platform made of large flowers and around her hovered what seemed to be an iron fence, the kind that was topped with sharp, pointy ends. Its body was that of a tall, slim woman with long blonde hair, clad in a white dress. It's 'skin' was the color of the night itself. On its face was a blue mask depicting a neutral expression with the letters 'XI' on its forehead, the symbol that marked it as the eleventh, the Strength Arcana Shadow.

The image brought to mind the thought of a gardener hiding behind the fence for safety and its guard dog.

Except that, according to Yukari, it was Strength that provided protection for Fortune, preventing it from being harmed so long as it was still alive by projecting a sort of barrier over it. As far as they knew, nothing their Personas did could pierce the barrier and she didn't recommend wasting time trying their luck.

Meanwhile, Fortune provided distractions and disruptions, making it more difficult to focus solely on Strength.

Given what they'd been told of the Strength Shadow's combat capabilities, their plan was simple. Yang would take point and focus on taking down Strength. Blake would interfere with Strength's attempts to disrupt Yang's momentum while simultaneously keeping an eye on Fortune to warn her partner of whatever the roulette landed on. Fuuka could have done so as well, but they agreed it was better she focus on the Empress and Emperor.

"Are you alright?" she asked her partner, who was taking slow and steady breaths.

"… yeah," Yang replied. She still looked a little ill, but she no longer looked unsteady. "Let's take care of this quickly so we can help the others."

With a resolute nod, Blake drew her weapons in both hands and prepared herself.

But even as they both charged in, neither could prevent themselves from worrying about the other half of their team. It hadn't escaped their notice that Yukari and Mitsuru were the only pair from SEES who would be engaging two Shadows tonight, even if they would engage them separately.

As such, Yang had approached Jaune and Pyrrha, urging them to go to their aid if the Magician didn't appear. Even if it did, no one expected that fight to take long.

Even so, the two member of Team KYBT hoped that they could also finish their fight quickly so as to go to their teammates' aid in short order.


Having waited just behind the front door, Jaune and Pyrrha had been able to engage their target almost as soon as it appeared. Just as Mitsuru had suspected, the Magician did indeed reappear.

It was, however, not as easily defeated as it was the previous night.

It was not that it was that much stronger than before. It was simply that the strength of their Personas had long since surpassed its own strength.

Jaune and Pyrrha, on the other hand, relied on martial skill first and foremost. Something that, unfortunately, was not the best match-up for their situation.

The red-haired half of the partnership had chosen a deadly dance, one that was only an option due to her superior physical capabilities.

Using the Shadow's limbs as makeshift hand and foot holds, she had literally leapt into the fray aiming directly for the Shadow's mask. Of course, with so many limbs it was a simple matter for the mask to, literally, exchange hands, forcing her to chase after it in an awe-inspiring display of aerial acrobatics even as she held off the numerous blades that sought her out in mid-air.

The only reason she wasn't so badly outnumbered and forced back to the ground was because of Jaune's interference.

The blonde young man blocked another flurry of blades, lashing out once it passed and cutting off yet another limb. The Shadow's blade did not even reach the ground before another hand reached out and took hold of its hilt, the severed arm pulling back even as it began to regenerate. Still, the opening gave him time to slip in and cut off a few of the limbs acting as its legs, jumping back even as it stumbled for a brief moment before other limbs took their place to hold it up.

Their goal was both a battle of attrition and a blitz.

He had seen the night before that there was a limit to the Shadow's regenerative ability. Compared to SEES, it would take them longer to force the Shadow to the point where it could barely regrow its limbs. But that wasn't their goal.

All they needed to do was relentlessly attack, cutting off as many limbs as possible all the while aiming for its mask. The limbs would return, but it wasn't instantaneous. Jaune was certain that as long as they took every opportunity to cut off its limbs, they would slowly whittle down the numbers to something far more manageable.

It was a crude strategy but, since neither of them were properly equipped to deal wide-area damage with either Persona or Dust, it was the best they had.

Jaune had taken a few hits, but his Aura held strong. What the Shadow had in numbers, it lacked in strength as a quick check showed that his Aura had barely been reduced. Perhaps it was because it was aimed at facing foes that did not have such a convenient defense. Regardless, it emboldened Jaune and his offense grew more aggressive as a result.

Already they could see the Shadow struggling to keep Pyrrha at bay. Too many of its limbs still in the process of regenerating, too many of its blades already allowed to clatter to the ground as there were no limbs available to utilize them.

It wouldn't be long before they could race to Mitsuru and Yukari's aid, something that three separate people had requested of them due to the danger they faced.


Streams of fire surged forth from three canine heads, burning and destroying over half a dozen of those Shadows that resembled crawling mounds of slime. Moments later, it howled and a point not too far away suddenly exploded, scattering even more of the Shadows.

"A dog with a Persona. And here I thought I couldn't be more surprised," mused Gwen, watching as the diminutive Koromaru charged forth, tearing apart Shadow after Shadow with the knife in his mouth.

When the Dark Hour had arrived, the first thing that caught her attention was the massive Shadow that had appeared over the middle of the bridge.

It was humanoid in appearance. Two arms, two legs, a torso, a somewhat elongated neck, bald head, and an upside-down white mask bearing facial features that were distinctly human, and the letters 'XII' at the bottom of the mask. If not for the orientation of its limbs, she might have thought that the body was facing upwards with its head hanging down and back to give the impression of its face being upside-down.

From what she had seen from a distance, the 'skin' on its back and the back of its limbs were connected to some sort of scaffolding, which were attached by what seemed to be chains to two metal rings above it, to which were attached multiple wings.

The wings spun around the ring, almost like a fan, which made no sense if it was its method of maintaining its altitude above the bridge. And yet Aigis had told her that last time it had been by destroying those wings that the Shadow had fallen onto the bridge, allowing them to destroy it.

She wasn't about to argue, even if it didn't make sense. Then again, nothing about their situation made sense.

Unfortunately, the Shadow was too high up to attack it directly. So first, they would need to draw it close enough to do so.

On the ground level, underneath and in front of where the Hanged Man hovered, were three statues. The statues seemed to have the ability to call forth smaller Shadows by the handfuls as well as use the same elemental abilities used by SEES's Personas. And if that wasn't enough, the Hanged Man was fond of striking them from afar with powerful attacks, even if its area of effect was quite narrow.

The smaller Shadows, which Aigis had referred to as a Maya, were easy enough to kill. They were slow, and their limbs were short. Between Cerberus and Athena's wide-ranged attacks, and Aigis's firearms, literal firearms at that, they posed no threat. The issue was that there were so many of them.

At a glance, there were enough of them to cover over a third of the bridge's surface, something that Fuuka immediately noted with great concern seeing as they hadn't been present the night before. With the bridge being nearly eight hundred meters in length, that was at least a quarter of a kilometer that they needed to traverse while killing the Mayas that looked almost like a living sea of black sludge.

The statues towards the rear were more troublesome, as they not only continue to call forth Maya non-stop, but they also fired at them from a distance, disrupting their momentum. And it seemed like Aigis's regular firearms were unable to deal sufficient damage to them even though she was fully capable of hitting them from a distance, so they'd need to get closer to properly attack them.

The Hanged Man's attacks were a bother at worst. Powerful but slow and easy to see. Aigis never failed to notice them and warn both her and Koromaru of the Shadow's target, allowing them to avoid the attacks altogether. They were forced to give ground, allowing the Mayas time to surge forth, but it was easy to make up for lost ground.

According to Aigis, back then, once the statues were destroyed, the Hanged Man had descended closer to the ground. Apparently it needed to be at ground level in order to recreate the statues, which they had unfortunately allowed it to do as they failed to kill it swiftly.

The second time they forced it to descend, they managed to destroy the wings on the contraption holding it up, preventing it from returning to the skies.

Personally, she would prefer to just kill it as soon as it was within range rather than give it a second chance.

Either way, they already crossed more than three-quarters of the way to the statues. In fact…

"Alright, this should be close enough."

Leaping back, Gwen gave herself some space even as Aigis and Koromaru adjusted to maintain their position. A ball of light formed in her hand, which quickly grew in length until it formed a lance easily as long as she was tall. Halfway down from the tip, it widened gradually until it was at least twice as wide as her fist, then narrowing once more at the hilt. Holding it in her hand by the hilt, she raised it up and cocked her arm back, her eyes trained on the statue on the left.

While not conventionally used as a throwing weapon, she had trained hard in order to use everything she had in as many different ways as possible. And that included turning what was normally a melee weapon, into a projectile if needed.

With a shout, she threw the light-formed weapon in her hand, watching at it sailed past Aigis, striking the statue's center mass, and then completely through it. The lance's widening width causing plenty of damage on its own, but it also caused the damage to spread, evidenced by the cracks that quickly spread from the massive hole in the center of the statue.

A triumphant grin spread across her face as she watched the first statue shatter into pieces.

Already a second lance was forming in her hand, and her eyes were already trained on the next statue even as a single word left her lips.

"Next."


"TAAAAKE THIS!"

A loud crash echoed throughout the underground bunker as the massive tank-shaped Shadow crashed against the walls. Ren dearly hoped there were no explosives stored down there with them.

The fight had gone more or less how they'd expected after Akihiko had explained what the Chariot and Justice Arcana Shadows were capable of. Neither possessed any of the various elemental abilities the Personas and some other Shadows were capable of using, making it a far simpler matter.

The only caveat was that they could not defeat the Shadows while they were combined. And defeating them separately needed to be done either simultaneously or within a short period of time to prevent the surviving Shadow from reviving the other.

Their plan was simple. They would first wear down the Shadows as much as they could with Ren observing the limits of the Shadows so they could better determine how easy or difficult it would be to land a killing blow on each one. Once he had sufficient understanding of their capabilities, it would be that much easier to coordinate the final blow necessary to eliminate both at the same time.

If not for the Justice Shadow being both elusive and capable of flight, it would have been even simpler.

Still, they were in an enclosed space so it couldn't just fly out of reach, so there was that.

Soon enough, the Shadows separated for the third time in less than five minutes.

The tank's main body, the Chariot Arcana Shadow, stood up on its treads. Each side had two sets of treads rather than just one, and the way they separated and moved made it seem as though the tank had grown arms and legs. On the underbelly of the tank was its mask, yellow and square, with square-shaped features that made it seem robotic in appearance.

Its turret, the Justice Arcana, flew up just in time to avoid another swing of Nora's hammer. It was much smaller than the Chariot. Its body was pretty much just the tank's turret, its mask, two wings, and a round metal disk at its back. But what it lacked in bulk it made up for speed and firepower.

Still, he'd seen enough.

With a discreet nod to his friend and partner, Nora grinned and shifted Magnhild into its gun form. She fired at both Shadows alternately as she ran to the side, drawing their attention to her as he carefully made his way around in the opposite direction.

Once he was in position, he quickly charged at his target. Nora, upon seeing his movements, shifted back to Magnhild's hammer form and charged towards her own target.

Ren leapt up and landed right on top of his unsuspecting target, the Justice Shadow seemingly panicking at his sudden appearance as its flight grew erratic. Unfortunately, it was too late. Stormflower had long since been drawn and ready, and were already descending on the Shadow's mask even before he landed on it.

Driving them down with all the force he could muster, the blades beneath each of his weapons punched right through the Shadow's mask with ease. The Justice Shadow stopped moving at that moment, its body suddenly dissolving into black particles starting from where he'd pierced its mask. It spread quickly, its entire body disappearing in barely a second.

And as his feet landed back on the ground, the only other sound in the bunker was Nora's battle cry as she flew through the air, Magnhild cocked back and aimed at the Chariot's yellow mask.


It had been almost ten minutes since the Dark Hour appeared.

Some had engaged the Shadows as soon as they appeared.

Others took a moment to adjust to the change in surroundings.

Others, still, needed a bit of time to make their way from their observation areas to the Shadow's actual location, using the Dark Hour's unique properties to bypass any bystanders and security measures in the area.

All of them were in combat before the two-minute mark.

Thus far, everything was going fine.

Jaune and Pyrrha were close to defeating the Magician.

Junpei and Chidori had just made it to the front of the train. A part of her wanted to laugh when Junpei attempted to take a shortcut by boarding closer to the front, only to find all the doors shut tight no matter what he did.

As for Weiss and Ruby, all she had done so far was inform them of any changes to their opponents. Twice they had to switch opponents. At one point Ruby had to pull back completely as both the Empress and the Emperor's barriers were now set to completely repel physical attacks, leaving her to run interference while Weiss attacked both. Even so, they were performing well and it was clear that the two were much better at fighting as a pair now compared to before.

Mitsuru and Yukari were in combat with the Hierophant and were making good progress.

Ren had just struck down the Justice Arcana Shadow, and she could sense Nora about to deal the finishing blow to the Chariot.

The Hermit was completely unable to harm Caesar, allowing both Akihiko and Ken to use it as a shield against its electric attacks. And although the same held true for both Caesar and Nemesis, the Hermit would still fall to direct physical attacks compounded by Caesar's ability to weaken its foes.

Yang and Blake had yet to make significant headway into defeating Strength, but the two had settled into a comfortable rhythm of attacking while evading Fortune's disruptions and she could see them slowly pushing back the Strength Shadow.

Gwen had just destroyed the second statue while Aigis and Koromaru had more or less cleared the area of the smaller Shadows.

It had worried her for a moment when her scan of the area showed that the bridge was literally crawling with Shadows, unlike the night before, but seeing that they were all of the weaker variety her concerns were quickly shelved but she made sure to keep a closer watch on the Hanged Man just in case.

Even as she kept an eye on the situation, Fuuka breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone had been more or less confident that they could handle their respective opponents. It was why she had chosen not to voice her concerns over whether or not they should just fight as full teams and fight half the Shadows first then the other half afterwards.

She had been worried that the situation had caused them all to act in haste. To choose the faster route in order to obtain answers faster.

She certainly understood Mitsuru's concern over what might happen the next night, the night of Nyx's supposed arrival, if the Arcana Shadows remained undefeated, especially what it would mean for them. But at the same time, Fuuka was certain that, with a full team of four, defeating a single Arcana Shadow would take minutes at most.

And even counting travel time, they'd reach the next location in less than half an hour, the exact time needed depending on where they came from and where they were headed. They would only need to position the teams in the right areas so that their second fight was close by.

Part of her regret not speaking up earlier.

But now, at least, she could rest easy knowing that everything would be f-

"NORAAAAAAAAAAA!"


Sorry, not sorry for that cliffhanger.

I hope none of you thought it would be that easy just because SEES has come back stronger than before, or that the RWBY gang are overall stronger than them in a straight fight.

I hope I'll manage to portray the Arcana Shadows in a way that reflects a properly difficult fight. Some may be easier than others, but I also didn't want them to just get steamrolled. Think of it as P3P's Vision Quest section where the Arcana Shadows had higher stats and had higher tiered skills. Only this time take out video game mechanics and add in just a touch of realism to try and make things reasonably more difficult.

Not by much though. But just enough so that, as I said, the Shadows aren't getting steamrolled.

As much as I want to end this chapter at a later point, it's already pretty long as it is and the section that covers the fights is also going to be long.

I'm aware that I've had longer chapters before but I'm still pretty busy IRL so I made the decision to release somewhat shorter chapters in exchange for being able to release them sooner. I make no promises as to the next update other than I have a bit of free time now to type a little each day just like I used to.

Now that I'm back in the swing of things though, I'll be reading through the old chapters again before I start the next chapter. I want to see if I can clean things up a bit, plus I need to re-do my story calendar in a different format so it's easier for me to keep track of what happened when.

I'm aware that this past year was and still is a trying time for a lot of people with the Covid situation, especially now that the Delta variant seems to be spreading more, but I just wanted to drop this here again for those who are willing to do so.

kofi (dotcom) (slash) leiciel

First, a big thank you to those who did drop a tip over the year I've been gone despite the lack of updates.

Second, this is just a reminder that this is nothing more than a tip jar. More does not mean I can or will update faster, less does not mean I will hold my story hostage.

If anything I'd appreciate a review or a PM more to let me know how my writing has fared after more than a year's absence.

So I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Until the next chapter.

Stay safe and stay healthy everyone.