Chapter 12: Let Slip the Dogs of War

Kingdom of Vale

All was normal in the Kingdom of Vale. Despite the increased tensions as a result of an absence of Grimm, the citizens of the kingdom were going about their daily lives as if there was nothing to be concerned about. There was nothing to be done about the Grimm nor was there any reason to find out why they were gone. Thus, life proceeded as if things had not changed.

Even Beacon Academy was operating according to plan. Although students could not fight Grimm, they were all given an initiation test as well as numerous obstacles in which they had to overcome. These changes were short-notice, but all the same, the changes were implemented. The most arduous part of the test was a final fight with a veteran Grimm killer, either one of the staff or a veteran in the field.

This new policy was not only done at Beacon. Shade, Atlas, and Haven also implemented the same test. Not only was this test a break from tradition, but the already high attrition rate had drastically increased. The incoming freshman year was looking to be slim with new students either being incredibly lucky, incredibly skilled, or both. Whatever the case, this smaller year would need to be trained with a new mindset.

The plan was to have students go through more rigorous tests and challenges meant to break them down and build them up. Without the Grimm as a means of testing their strength, other methods had to act as a substitute. More emphasis needed to be placed on practical combat and applicable lessons. New drills would need to be instilled. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors would need to adjust as well, which would be arguably harder for them considering they had already established a rhythm. It would be the freshman this year that would benefit the most from this deviation.

This would have shaped up to be an experimental one assuming there were no Grimm that could be fought. Huntsmen and huntresses were warriors unparalleled in combat. Their primary goal was to exterminate Grimm of all types, but with their future now looking uncertain, their work would have to shift. Some might join the military after graduation. Others would take mercenary jobs. Some found contracts in the private sector. Even a few would continue their education elsewhere, Regardless of what paths were chosen, there was one thing that was clear: becoming a huntsman or a huntress as this time would not be the same as those that came before, far from it.

What everyone's focus should have been on was what was to follow. It should have been clear that there was something big coming, but for the majority, that was far from their minds. In spite of the caution and dream that was in the air all around, there was also an overwhelming sense of desire to spread the borders, obtain new land, acquire new resources.

It had been nearly half a year of peace unlike any that the world had ever seen and eventually, many settled on the idea that there was hope for a better world.

Until they came.

At first, it was just one incident. A scouting party of explorers and a couple huntsmen failed to check in. They were part of a larger expeditionary force being sent out to navigate the unclaimed lands surrounding Vale. With months of silence from the Grimm, efforts were being made to establish a foothold outside the kingdom walls. With such efforts needing large amounts of people and resources, one team not reporting was per the course.

But then another team went silent. Then three others didn't check in. Soon, it became apparent that scouting teams were going to be lost if more were sent out. That was when the order was given to temporarily cease all operations. A squad of huntsmen were dispatched in order to ascertain what had happened to the missing teams. The only evidence of their disappearance were some items that could be confirmed to have been possessed by the missing individuals.

The dread that had once occupied everyone's minds half a year ago was beginning to surface. Were the Grimm back?

But there was no time for questions. The huntsmen sent out didn't return either. Their disappearance called into question the entire expedition. Whoever or whatever was attacking them, it was doing so with scary efficiency. It was enough for the higher-ups to cancel the entire expedition and pack it up.

But they were never even close to getting back to Vale.

From the wild, they came everywhere at once. Creatures that looked like Grimm, yet didn't carry the same colorations. What was once black was now golden and what was once white was now red. Not only were there species that huntsmen could recognize, but there were others that were unfamiliar, even to those with extensive knowledge of obscure Grimm species. None of that mattered in the end.

The entire exploratory was killed and Vale couldn't account for their absence. The entirety of the kingdom was now on alert once again. Defenses had been bolstered, all available huntsmen were called on to establish teams for security. Whatever was out there, it was determined to not allow Mankind to expand further than its established civilizations, but they would be ready for it. They always were.

Only this time, they were not.

Nobody could explain when the sight of gold and red came into view. All that was clear was that there were new monsters slaughtering any and all who were not strong enough to fight back, but the number of enemies weren't just staggering. They were also intelligent. They fought back with cunning that was unlike anything ever seen.

It had only taken a few hours for these new beasts to completely overrun the southern defenses of Vale and enter into the kingdom. With no time for evacuation and the remainder of combatants scrambling to gain purpose in this chaos, there was little stopping the enemy from slaughtering the civilians.

Vale's military did what it could to gather small pockets of civilians and evacuate them to a much safer zone, although such areas were not truly safe, not really. The support of huntsmen could only do so much seeing as their numbers were limited enough as it was. The best that could be managed were small to medium-sized encampments, carefully hidden away from the main streets where heavy action was seen.

In response to the chaos, the headmaster of Beacon Academy began to send out whatever forces were available to him in order to contain the invasion. The result turned all of Vale into a warzones. What was once a peaceful place where people went about their daily lives was now smoldering heaps of rubble, blazing infernos destroying homes, bodies all over the street either dead or injured, and people slowly losing their minds to the madness.

Desperate calls had been made to the other kingdoms, but considering the distance and time needed to gather sufficient forces to mount a counterattack, the earliest that any reinforcements could arrive was maybe within the week, but by that point, there might not be much left, or anything for that matter.

Peak times of conflict occurred during the nighttime where the cover of darkness served to further frighten. Humans were incapable of seeing any. Even the Faunus, with their enhanced senses, fared little better.

The number of these things didn't appear to go down either. They just kept coming in waves each day, the next one stronger than the first and yet even a single kill was an incredible feat, but not enough for the relentless amount that replaced the fallen.

This was madness at its finest.

The rest of the world could only do its best to send whatever help they could while also preparing their own defenses. Miraculously enough, communication between the kingdoms still existed, but as soon as the fighting reached Beacon Academy, there would be no such relief. If even one tower of the CCTS fell, then the entire world would lose the ability to communicate. That would be the death of all should that future come to pass.

Two weeks into the breach and there was no stopping. The situation had devolved and people were losing hope. Many had simply given up and were taking their chances in the wild, which ultimately proved to be a path to an instant death. Not a single individual, no matter who they were or what they were, could even so much as get a kilometer out without being met with a swift and unexpected death. A general alert was sounded not to venture outside the walls. This could only dely death for a time and not everyone was eager to die.

Throughout the City of Vale in particular, there had been a few select students from Beacon Academy that had made the tough choice of taking to the streets to do what they could for the civilians. Naturally, they had been warned that they were risking dying themselves against foes that had felled a quite a number of professionally trained huntsmen and huntresses with years of experience to their credit.

It still didn't stop some from stepping up.

Fate/Stay Night - - - RWBY

Ruby Rose wanted to be a hero. Ever since she had listened to the stories and exploits of heroes in the past, it had become her singular most important dream. She wanted to be immortalized into story and song and memory for all of time. That dream became especially so when her mother never returned home. Perhaps in a way, the young girl thought that by embedding herself deep into the hearts and minds of people across the world, by extension her own mother would live on as well.

Alongside her hope of becoming legendary, she hoped that Crescent Rose, her trusty sniper rifle scythe would also become part of her legend. It was a weapon crafted by her own hands. It had taken precious hours of time and much of her own lien to make, but it had been an effort well worth it. Now she was armed to the teeth and she was ready to take down any kind of threat, big or small.

With time and effort, she and her weapon became best friends and trained together for many years. The first year was the toughest. The second year was better. The two year spent at Signal Academy saw a considerable jump in improvement. Now, she was a freshman at the most prestigious huntsman academy in the entire world: Beacon. Even more amazing was that she was only fifteen years old. That must be a record or something.

But then the strangest thing had to go and happen. Just as Ruby's transfer papers were completed and all of the necessary information was documented about her, the Creatures of Grimm had to go and mysteriously vanish without a trace. Seriously, there was, like, not a single trace of them. One day, they were all over the world and the next day, they were just gone. Well, it wasn't like they just vanished into the wind, but for the better part of six months, there wasn't even a single sighting of them, not even from places that had tons of them crawling around. It was the most bizarre thing ever.

Initially, the girl with silver eyes was panicked due to the state of the world. Yeah, it was definitely awesome that Remnant was now at peace and things were cool. People wouldn't have to be fearful for their lives everyday. Life could get better. On the flip side, her dreams and everything she had worked for was all going down the drain. If everything she had done till now was pointless, then what would she do?

Her fears were then temporarily washed away when she got the word that Beacon Academy would still be open and incoming freshmen would still be tested. That was enough motivation for her to get through the test and pass it. She had formed a team with four other girls, her elder sister Yang Xiao Long included. They were called Team RWBY. She wasn't the only one initially perplexed by the team name. She just rolled with it.

Whatever vision Ruby did have of the future to come, it was nothing compared to what was happening now in reality.

The Kingdom of Vale was now a battleground. Aside from some heavily-fortified positions, no street, no alley, no place within the walls were safe. Naturally, she was the first to volunteer and her team followed, albeit some more reluctantly than others. She thought that now was her time to act. From the reports, the things that were causing all of this were Grimm look-alikes, except gold and red. It seemed simply enough to kill the things and drive them out of their home and back into the wilds.

It was now day sixteen since the outbreak had occurred and Team RWBY was barely holding on as it was. Every kill they made was done by the skin of their teeth. Every person saved was only possible through sheer willpower. Every block of ground reclaimed was taken with desperation. Everything was done with the fear of death, the fear of loss, and the fear of defeat at the forefront of all their minds.

And on the off chance they failed to remember what was at stake, there were plenty of dead bodies of civilians, military personnel, and huntsmen and huntresses littered all around to remind them what failure would mean, the state of many of them so unbearable to witness.

For Ruby and Yang, it was the first time for them ever seeing dead bodies. The former had gone into shock on the first sighting. The latter held it together, but she was barely any better than her younger sister.

For Weiss Schnee, it was the first time seeing corpses in such mangled states. She had vomited the first time. Now she kept it together by keeping herself constantly alert and aware of her surroundings, searching for hostiles.

Blake Belladonna was the least affected, or so her face said, but even she was horrified by the violence before her. Not even the White Fang was this much of a force of nature. This was indiscriminate brutality at its finest.

Eventually, Team RWBY had to overcome their initial hesitation and push on. All of them found their own reasons to keep foraging through all of this death and destruction. Even with the number of dead on the rise, every life saved even just one, was worth it in their eyes. Just this morning, they had rescued a boy six years old and brought him to one of the safe zones. Moments of hope of that one were all that they had left to cling to. That and their growing dependence on each other in combat. Without all four of them together, they would have never survived even the first day.

But they were far from okay physically speaking. Ruby was recovering from a wound on her side. It prevented her from maneuvering her body fully. Weiss was suffering a limp in her right leg. She had been impaled and it was only by a miracle that she would make a recovery. Blake had dislocated her arms overextending herself. Reinserting them had been a painful experience. Yang, the most physically capable, was succumbing to sheer exhaustion due to her team's reliance on her.

Yet here they were, rushing towards a commotion about a block down.

"C'mon, guys!" Ruby ordered. "Just a little further!"

"How many… have we… dispatched today?" Weiss spoke in between breaths. "And how… much more… are we going… to do?"

"Fifteen." Blake managed while trying to keep her breathing under control. "And I don't know."

"Ruby, we need to stop." Yang was almost wheezing. "Please. I need to… rest."

Before the young leader could scold her elder sister, they were met with a roar coming from where they had just come from. All four heads turned to see a small group of the beasts coming their ways. They might look like differently-colored Beowolves, but these things were anything but cuddly.

"NEVER MIND!" Yang was suddenly energized. "RUN! RUN!"

Without any further need of prompting, the four girls took off at breakneck speed, using their aura to enhance their speed to the absolute limit. Admittedly, it was a complete waste of aura, but given what they had been going through these past two weeks, they couldn't always be counted on to make sound judgements all the time.

With survival now being the ultimate priority, things passed by in a blur to their eyes. They probably had passed more than a few people in need of help, but with the monsters able to come from any direction at any time and their adrenaline spiking through the roof, the details passed them by without their notice.

"This way!" Ruby's semblance allowed her a bit more reaction time. "Down King Street!"

Going on onto such a major road in the city was perhaps the most risky thing to do, but the way the red reaper saw it, the only chance of losing their pursuers was to go to a hotspot of battle where others were struggling just as much. Maybe in that confusion, they could formulate a way to counterattack or regroup. It was a huge gamble at best and a horribly incompetent idea at worst.

That turned out to be a horrible idea as they all ran into the path of something that looked like a Megoliath. They were not flattened, but they were scattered like grains of sand to the wind. All of them were tossed into the streets where they fell either on their backs, their sides, or their front, anywhere other than their feet.

Ruby groaned as she looked around. Her ears were ringing and her eyes could only regard everything going around her in slow motion. People dying, fire raging, a city in shambles. The once peaceful City of Vale was in ruins.

She had dreamed of being a hero.

She had not dreamed of this.

So many people were screaming.

"MAKE IT STOP!" Ruby shouted, covering her ears. "MAKE IT STOP!"

Her eyes, unknowingly to her, began to glow.

RWBY - - - Fate/Stay Night

Jaune Arc just wanted to get stronger for himself. Ever since he was a child, he had been babied and coddled by his family. Out of eight children, he was the only male child of his family, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume that he received special treatment from his seven sisters, but eventually, that feeling of depending on them while knowing of his family's legacy began to eat away at him. He was worthless and unless he changed things fast, he was going to be that way for the rest of his life.

That's why he forged his transcripts and came to Beacon Academy. One day, he would return home victorious and tell his family that he accomplished what they thought he couldn't do. Although he was primarily in it for his own confidence and pride, he wouldn't deny that a part of him was trying to prove to the people he loved that he could be depended on. He wanted everyone to know that he wasn't going to be a loser forever.

Going to the most prestigious huntsman academy in all of Remnant provided him with a chance to change who he was. Sure, he wasn't all that great at combat and he wasn't the most in-shape nor was he the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was willing to learn and do whatever it took to reach his full potential. If he had to suffer for it, then so be it. It wasn't like he had much further down to go. Up was what was most important.

Then the Grimm were gone and the tests at Beacon became exponentially harder. Fighting Grimm was one thing that maybe he could've gotten by with ease, but the initiation with professional huntsmen and huntresses fighting them was just borderline torture. The only reason he was here in the first place was by sheer luck. Apparently, his partner was a real big deal when it came to fighting so she picked up pretty much all of his slack. That and his other two teammates were highly competent as well.

Team JNPR was only functional thanks to Jaune's unexpected talent for leadership and coordination. For some reason, they all worked well together. He told them what to do and they just did it, but he had a feeling that if he was actually bad at his job, then they wouldn't follow him, so they had to believe in his ability on some level. Well, he was a student and not a failure, so that had to be a start.

But when the knight had imagined how the next four years at Beacon would pan out, he couldn't possibly prepare himself to go to war. It just happened and all of a sudden, and for some stubborn and selfish reason, he just had to go and volunteer himself and his teammates. This was a chance to be useful and do stuff for once.

That had been his naive way of thinking.

It soon became clear within the first few days that if he acted in selfishness or pride, he would die. In fact, he had been so close to death and once again, he was saved by Pyrrha. This forced him to acknowledge that he had to man up and get the job done, not pet his own ego or feed his confidence. He couldn't afford that luxury, not anymore.

Thankfully, there was some good news. His aura and semblance were getting stronger and he had discovered the nature of the latter. He could amplify aura and increase its effectiveness many times over. Whether it healed wounds faster or boosted semblances, it was a great help to fellow fighters. Many students and even professional huntsmen and huntresses had been grateful for the assistance he provided. He also knew a little bit about first-aid, so what time wasn't spent on the battlefield was dedicated to helping the wounded in the various safe zones scattered throughout the city.

This was the main way that Jaune could help out during this time of crisis. Whenever Team JNPR entered into a hostile zone, he was very careful about how each encounter took place. Pyrrha was their best fighter, so she was used primarily as an immovable object against the Grimm-like monsters. Nora had sheer power on her side, so she dealt the killing blows on many occasions. Ren was most suited to reconnaissance and scouting, a swift, silent, and deadly fighter who did his job quietly.

But the team leader knew that proper recovery was needed in order for himself and the others to operate at peak performance. However, with the mounting enemies outside and the increasing casualty rates, they couldn't afford much rest. If luck was really on their side, four hours of sleep would be a good night. Two meals a day was starting to sound like the most luxurious thing ever. Being in a warzone forced one to accept new standards of living that would be considered horrendous by normal standards.

There were many times where the blonde boy thought that his efforts weren't enough and that he had to do more. The only reason that he wasn't going off on his own was because he wasn't strong enough to do anything on his own. Plus, whenever he wasn't in the field with the team, their combat effectiveness decreased by a considerable amount. Although not a vain guy, he knew that his leadership was what was needed, but maybe Team JNPR's dependence on each other was why they worked so well. As long as they relied on each other, stepping out of line was the least of their concerns.

Jaune reached the corner of a building before getting on one knee. He held his sword arm up, signalling his teammates to half, He listened for a moment, hearing the distant sound of roars. Deciding that he had at least a few seconds, he quickly peaked out to see that some one hundred meters down the street, there were Ursa-like beasts devouring something. It was probably another of the dead.

Whoever they are, they're dead. He said to himself. There's nothing we can do for them now.

The priority right now was leading the small group of children back to the nearest safe zone, which was three more blocks north, but for every block they covered, it felt like precious time was slipping away.

Before Jaune could give the all-clear, something in him sent an alarm through his thoughts. He looked up and saw something coming.

"Pyrrha, make sure these kids make it to the safe zone." Jaune quickly made a choice. "When I give the signal, run and don't stop."

"Jaune, what's going on?" Pyrrha's concern was evident. "What are you sensing?"

"Just do as I say." Jaune looked her dead in the eye. "We can't afford mistakes, not with the kids."

If there was one thing that his partner's trust in him did do, it was make it easier for him to convince her to follow him. Even if she asked questions or didn't fully agree with his reasoning for certain actions, she had never once disobeyed. He could only pray that this time, she would listen to him too.

Her silence and dubious look almost made him falter, but by some willpower, he maintained his composure. Maybe all of this time fighting had surviving had made him turn in his nervous act and trade it in for a will of iron. Maybe he could start nicknaming himself the Iceman. Maybe then he could get Weiss to look at him more.

Now was not the time for that.

"Alright." Pyrrha finally agreed. "Do you need anything?"

"You have lightning dust, right?" Jaune gestured to her belt. "I need some to make this work."

The redhead carefully handed over a regular-sized vial of yellow dust. It was currently inactive, but it wouldn't take much to make it more volatile. Just a little aura to activate it and there would be light and energy.

"Thanks." Jaune held it tightly, then his face became serious. "On my signal."

He was surprised that none of them had spotted enemy contact on the rooftops of the buildings. They were likely acting as the eyes in the sky. These things were smart, probably on the level of people. Going out into the open would mean being spotted and having a potential horde breathing down their necks.

The knight held his breath for a moment, then exhaled it. He noticed Pyrrha relaying his instructions to Ren and Nora. He waited until they were done.

"Go!" Jaune motioned.

Right as his three teammates and the small group of children they were guiding began their, he unsealed the lid on the dust, poured aura into the vial, then coated his blade with the activated substance before slashing into the air. The result was a bolt of lightning shining bright enough to blind anything that saw it.

It would last for all of five seconds though. Once the distraction was over, now was the time to fight them.

"Ah, shit." Jaune was only now realizing his situation.

One of him.

Five of them.

Fate/Stay Night - - - RWBY

Gilgamesh regarding the Kingdom of Vale from high in the sky, his face distinctly bored. Everything was going as he had envisioned it. Even without his ability to predict the outcome of what was to come, none of this interested him in the slightest. He had more than enough brain power to figure out what was to come next.

There were a couple of unexpected developments while the invasion was underway. The first one interested him the most. He sensed something ancient, something powerful. He couldn't say that he knew what it was. Even with his growing knowledge about Remnant, some truths died alongside the people of the old times, only to be accidentally rediscovered or relearned by those in the present.

The other one was how quickly these people were adapting to his reformatted Grimm. While these things were far from the perfect image he wished to create, they were superior to the God of Darkness and his creations. He just might have underestimated them.

The King of Heroes wouldn't dedicate his army here for much longer. The Relic of Choice was almost in his grasp. This show of force was a means to draw out latent talent for warriors. Somewhere in this place, there were a handful of people who would rise up and become something greater. These individuals didn't necessarily have to be huntsmen or huntresses. They just needed an indomitable will, the ability to face adversity and overcome it no matter what.

Once he could clearly identify persons that met this simple criteria, then the fun would begin in earnest.

Gilgamesh found himself becoming more irritable lately. He had been doing a lot of waiting, but now that he was committing to a course of action, he found none of it satisfying either. That was also something that bothered him to no end. It felt like no matter where he turned, he just could not win.

When was the last time he had taken a vacation?

He should have considered investing some more effort into his slice of the world. He could remake Uruk. He could have transformed his once glorious empire into something much more grand. He certainly did miss the things that made his home what it was. The blazing sun, the feeling of sand against his skin, the taste of the wines he drank to his heart's content, all of it still within his memories in vivid detail.

The Heroic Spirit shoved his hands in his pockets.

War is underway and yet things aren't perfect, but what is?

I don't have anything to say about this chapter, but I will say this about the story as a whole: I've seen the flaws in my story, but still I press on to try and fix them.

Thoughts? Reviews and feedback are appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

"Art is the signiture of civilization."

Beverly Sills