"The Cerberus? Yeah, I saw those before. Big ol' dogs, gigantic actually. Used to, we had to waste a shitton of mortars just to kill one of those big mutts, they were that huge. Crazy how Hellhounds can grow into those huge mother-fuckers..."
"What changed? Oh, well… The Emerald Knight joined The Valian Army. I think you had a good idea what happened to them then, right?"
-Unknown soldier when interviewed about the types of Grimm encountered during The Great War.
Present Day
Mistral Outskirts
RAKATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!
Chief began firing Sigurd, the battle rifle's firing mode was toggled to automatic and even then it wasn't enough against the charge of Hellhounds. The ferocious dogs were coming in by the dozens, and The Spartan II was going to need a new plan of attack. These Hellhounds were preventing the super-soldier from moving forward, and that needed to change.
"Cortana? Ideas?" asked The Emerald Knight.
"Yeah, I got one, just hold on!" his companion responded. The Master Chief grabbed the snout of one hound and threw it at its brethren. He proceeded to kick another in the face, instantly killing it and continued firing his battle rifle. The sound of gunfire was heard over the howling and whining of the hungry Grimm, all running too their prey, hoping to chomp down on his flesh.
Ding...
The sound of Chief's HUD lightning up was heard and soon a NAV marker was placed on it. What was strange was that it was on the hull of The Dawn.
"Cortana?" asked Chief.
"Trust me, Chief. I'll guide you," she responded. Chief turned and holstered Sigurd and proceeded to run towards the ship, as soon as he put his foot on the hull his mag boots swiftly attached himself to the ship. He began running up farther and farther and then, the NAV point changed and it appeared at the center of The Grimm. The Master Chief jumped at them, but his descent surprisingly slowed down heavily.
"I've taken the pleasure of upgrading your suit's EVA thrusters, you should be able to use them a lot more effectively in combat," informed the AI. The Master Chief understood and began shooting at the Hellhounds with Sigurd, but at the same time a thought came into his mind... when wearing The MJOLNIR Mark VI, The Master Chief was over nine hundred pounds. He knew what kind of damage that could do if he were to say, crash down onto something or someone. Cortana knew exactly what Chief wanted and sent more power to the Mark VI's thrusters and in an instant The Emerald Knight became a missile, crashing down onto the dogs of hell with ease and killing several of them on impact. He turned Sigurd into its sword form and swung wide with the weapon at more incoming Hellhounds, the blade cut through their flesh, beheading them. The SPARTAN II started to charge at The Cerberus in front of him, however, he was drawn back by more Hellhounds charging at him.
He stood still, preparing his sword for more Hellhound until he began hearing an all too familiar noise...
Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The Master Chief turned and saw Oscar in a Warthog. The boy ran over three Hellhounds while Chief managed to kill the rest.
"I told you to stay inside!" barked The Chief. Oscar smiled, and John realized that this was Dias, not Oscar.
"Oscar had a brilliant idea to assist you, I agreed with it." said the former king. "We'll give you some covering fire, while you take care of that Cerberus!" The former king said. The Spartan II nodded, he wasn't going to argue with Dias on this. The Master Chief acted as distraction for only a few moments, hacking away at the few Hellhounds that charged at him with ease. It didn't last long, as Oscar or Dias was now on the turret and started firing away at the few Hellhounds.
The Cerberus glared and growled at the two, then let out another monstrous roar.
"More Hellhounds!" cried The Chief.
"I have them in sight," Dias calmly said and began firing the machine turret. Chief on the other hand, charged directly at The Cerberus, Sigurd in hand. He cut down any Hellhound that was foolish enough to even dare get close to The Spartan II, the rest of them however were being slaughtered by turret fire from the warthog.
John got close to The Cerberus and swung wide with his sword, cutting the beast's leg! Black mist oozed out of it like blood and the three headed dog roared in pain. It attempted to strike back at Chief with its tail but he avoided the beast's attack and cut its tail completely off!
GUHROOOWWWWWWWWW!
It let out an even more pained cry, and it was now starting to become more and more weakened. The Master Chief stared at his HUD, he still had that plasma grenade. He sheathed Sigurd and drew only his combat knife and the plasma grenade and began climbing on top of The Cerberus as if it were a mountain, his knife acting like an ice pick. He stabbed it into the side of the beast and climbed on top of the creature. The Grimm attempted to shake The Chief off but that did no good as The Spartan II simply stabbed his knife into its back. It let out another roar of pain, which called upon more Hellhounds. All of which were attempting to get at The Chief, blasting balls of fire at the SPARTAN II who used The Cerberus's body as a shield.
"Enjoying your new ride?" asked Cortana.
"Not really," Chief replied. The Spartan II then jumped off of The Cerberus, and activated his EVA thrusters. He stayed in the air for only a few moments and then crashed upon the beast as if he were a meteor from space.
The beast fell to the ground, and Chief could hear the bones in its back cracking and snapping, breaking apart just by his actions. The beast attempted to heal whatever it could with its third head, but The Spartan II pulled out the plasma grenade and activated it, it made a high pitched noise, signifying that it was activated. Once he was sure it was active, he slammed the explosive into the Cerberus's head of healing and jumped off of the beast, performing a somersault as he landed and drawing Sigurd, and started cutting down the other Hellhounds that charged at Dias. He swung his blade several times, cutting down hound after hound while the former king simply tore them apart with the Warthog's machine turret.
"We're getting overwhelmed!" screamed Oscar, now no longer under the control of Dias. The Master Chief wasn't surprised that this was happening, without a pack leader, The Hellhounds were furious. Out of control. He jumped on The Warthog and grabbed Oscar and jumped off of it, carrying the boy in his arms.
"We're leaving," The Spartan II calmly said. "Cortana, activate The Dawn's defenses. All, of her defenses. We're scuttling this place," he ordered.
"Understood," the AI responded.
The Master Chief put Oscar down as soon as they reached The Dawn and got into the Warthog that The Emerald Knight had prepared for the two. The boy got into the passenger seat and Chief slammed his foot down on the gas petal, the vehicle took off rather quickly and began driving off from the area.
"What uh... defenses does this thing have?" asked Oscar.
"Other than anti-personnel turrets used to get rid of boarders? It once had a MAC cannon, though that's... well, destroyed, other than that we have Archer missiles as well as several point defense guns." Cortana explained.
"Wait a second, missiles?" cried Oscar.
"They'll be useful in wiping out The Grimm, all we need to use is one and we can take out a huge majority of them. The point defense turrets will be able to get rid of any stragglers and the anti-personnel turrets will be able to get rid of any that somehow get into the ship." explained The Master Chief.
"Good thing that I managed to alter The Dawn a little right?" asked Cortana. "I was able to make sure that the Archer missiles could be fired from a different console remotely, and I'm glad I did that." The AI said.
As soon as the warthog got out of the area, the earth began rumbling and sounds of explosions were heard. Oscar covered his ears from how loud they were while The Chief didn't react at all.
"You don't think anyone saw that, did you?" asked Cortana.
"Probably not," The Chief said as he continued driving.
The two had been on the drive for what felt like hours, there was no radio playing and Chief had inserted Cortana's chip into the warthog, allowing her to better communicate with everyone without being inside of her friend's helmet as well as making sure the old Warthog they were in had no problems. Everything was completely silent, until finally... The Master Chief looked at Oscar and began speaking,
"Oscar, do you think you can bring me up to speed on everything that's happened? Dias didn't say much about what's happened while we were all out." he asked. "Cortana can bring me up to speed about everything that's gone on throughout time, but I'm going to need you to inform me exactly what happened that forced Dias to wake me up."
"Right... that's... kind of a long story, and to be honest he hasn't said much. He said he'd explain to me every little detail while we were on our way to Mistral, but, I witnessed one of his past lives fighting alongside you and asked about it and we kinda just..."
"Came to the conclusion you should be woken up," the boy finished, nervously chuckling.
"Understood," The Master Chief replied, "But that still doesn't answer my question," he said.
"In... Dias's previous life, he was the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, one of the four academies that train the people who eventually become Huntsmen." Oscar spoke and continued explaining the situation,
"From what Dias told me, a woman named Cinder Fall had stolen the powers of the previous Fall Maiden and sneaked into Beacon with two others and they orchestrated an attack which had the academy in tatters." he spoke.
The Master Chief turned his head a little bit towards Oscar, his golden visor stared right into the boy's nervous eyes.
"She stole the powers of the previous maiden?" asked the super-soldier in shock. "How the hell did she do that?" Chief questioned.
"Dias... doesn't know," Oscar responded. The Master Chief said nothing, only focusing on the road and finally, Cortana spoke up,
"This is bad, Chief. Not only did we fail in stopping Salem but she's gotten stronger... she never was able to pull something off like that during The War," she said.
"Because there was no way she could have," Chief said. He had said it like a fact, like he knew her every move... "The war was fought between man and man, as well as man and grimm. The only times when The Grimm had the upper hand was right after a battle, when the soldiers who won their previous battle were weak and tired, but back then, Salem only had The Grimm. She never had any helping hands from the faunus or humanity. Only The Grimm, but now, she has human allies and its changed the entire playing field." explained The Spartan II.
"Exactly," said Dias who now took over Oscar's body once more. "Things have been... rather chaotic for me, and I suspect I have a traitor in my group." He said.
"Judging by everything I'm seeing so far... yes, it appears this General Ironwood isn't exactly the loyal soldier he appears to be." Cortana said, appearing from her chip. "Though, I can't say I'm surprised since Atlas appears to be some offshoot from Mantle." the AI said.
"Cortana?" asked Chief. The AI turned to her friend and nodded.
"While you've been driving, I've not only been giving myself a couple of history lessons but I've also been catching up on Remnant's latest news." she said and turned back to Dias. "Any idea on how we can take care of this General Ironwood?"
"Ironwood is not the traitor, Cortana. His machines were taken over, how that would be the case... I don't know, but I know very well that he did not order them to turn on us." The Wizard clarified. "I believe the traitor in our midst is L-"
"Leonardo Lionheart, I assume then? After all, this Cinder Fall said that she and her team came from Haven Academy which is located in Mistral." the AI responded.
"Yes, Leonardo... I believe its possible he let Cinder and her team sneak into Beacon, but there's also the fact that he hasn't reported to me in months and has gone silent. He hasn't even bothered searching for the missing Spring Maiden." Dias said.
"The Spring Maiden is missing?" Cortana asked. Dias only nodded and there was another moment of silence, and Cortana finally sighed. "How did you live without us, Ozman?" she asked.
"Things were comfortable at first. After your little 'battle' with Salem, she wound up silent for a good while. She eventually reappeared after surviving, somehow and started winding things up again. Though she was slow this time, and I think that she's been preparing all of this since her last defeat." the former Headmaster said. "Her tactics are changing, and there's not much I can do to counter them. Like Chief said, she's changing the entire playing field, this game of Chess that she and I have been playing for so long is now shifting, she is slowly becoming the victor." he said.
"Which is why you need us... you need pieces that can adapt to whatever scenario," Chief spoke.
"Indeed. I can't rely on huntsmen anymore, John. Nobody here can face off against Salem, not like you. I need you and Cortana to help me defeat Salem once more." Dias responded.
"And we'll do just that," Cortana interjected. "Now, exactly what are you doing here in Mistral? Surely you and Oscar weren't going to right in front of Leonardo's doorstep and interrogate him were you?" she asked. Dias laughed and shook his head,
"No, I was not. One of my other lieutenants, Qrow Branwen was with me when Beacon fell. If there was such an incident where I were to have died, Qrow was ordered to go to Mistral and well... act in my place for a short time, at least until I were to come back." The Wizard said. "Like me, he was suspicious about Leonardo and will most likely do some investigating. I plan on meeting with him first... and if we're lucky, we'll be getting more assistance from students of mine."
"You have students aware of Salem? Exactly how many people know of her existence?" Chief asked, remembering how Dias had plans on keeping Salem a secret from the world.
"Not many, its only The Headmasters. The students as I mentioned earlier are not aware of Salem, but they were heavily affected during Beacon's Fall. I'm only assuming that they'll be here looking for some answers." Dias said.
"Judging by what I can find... I assume these teams are RWBY and JNPR?" asked Cortana.
"Yes, Team RWBY were conducting their own little... 'missions' against Cinder, though they didn't know it was her they were fighting against and Pyrrha Nikos became aware of only a bit of Cinder and The Fall Maiden." he said.
"Well, thanks to the advancements in technology in the past century, I am very sure I can track all of these people down, if they're potential allies we could use them in the fight against Salem. For now though, I think we should focus on getting into Mistral." Cortana said.
"You have an idea on how to track them down?" Chief asked his companion who happily nodded.
"Remnant has had four CCT towers, the one in Vale was taken down, however as well as sub-towers. There's not much I can do at the moment for tracking them down as my connection to the nearest sub-tower is weakened due to being so far away, but if you get us into Mistral, Chief I can use my capabilities to their fullest and track down anyone thanks to the GPS within their scroll, but at the moment... I can only do so much while being connected to the Warthog's systems." Cortana said. Oscar soon got control and asked,
"Do you think you can play some music?" asked the boy.
"Sure," the AI responded. She vanished and a few moments later, audio was playing through the Warthog's radios. A talk show.
"So, Mr Jack was it? Why is it that you call yourself the... 'Greatest Fanfiction Writer Ever?" asked the host of the show.
"Because, Roach, I gave Joan Arkansas a harem and I then gave him a big fat co-"
The audio was soon cut off and then new audio was playing through the Warthog's radios.
"This is Mistralian Airship Echo Four Seven Niner... currently transporting four huntsmen and huntress students back to homebase. Be aware, we have an injured huntsman aboard. Huntsman's name is Qrow Branwen, the training team calls themselves RNJR. Team is led by a Ruby Rose and is comprised of students, Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc, and Lie Ren." A voice said.
"Well then, this is a nice change of pace..." Cortana said.
"Mistralian Home Base? Where is that at?" asked Chief.
"That would be Haven Academy, they have an infirmary used to treat students or certified huntsmen." Dias said, taking control of Oscar's body once more. "I hope that Qrow is alright..." he muttered to himself.
"Hold on," The Emerald Knight said and soon pressed on the gas pedal even harder, the Warthog began going faster and faster. "Cortana, are you able to pinpoint where Mistral academy is at?" he asked the AI.
"Already found it, marking it on your HUD right now!" the AI said and soon a blue arrow was guiding Chief to The Kingdom Of Mistral.
This was it, this was where this new war against Salem would start... here, in Mistral. Soon, The Master Chief would finally keep that promise. When this war ended, he would kill Salem. For his team, for all of those that suffered because of her...
The Master Chief would become The Emerald Knight once more, no longer being The UNSC's Spartan, but instead he would be Remnant's Brave Knight once again, and he would finally finish another fight, a fight that had been going on for centuries.
The Emerald Knight
Present Day
Mistral Academy
Leonardo Lionheart was frightened. First, Qrow Branwen was coming, and then there was some sort of explosion out in the far reaches of the kingdom? What was going on?
The Headmaster tried to find answers, but he could find nothing. There was no reason for this massive explosion to have occurred according to the few investigators he had sent out, and Qrow never even alerted him that he was coming to see him! As soon as he saw Salem's Grimm messenger and Doctor Watts he screamed,
"What the hell is going on? What was that explosion? Did you cause this?" he cried. "I thought we were supposed to keep this a secret, now we're going out in the open?" Leonardo asked.
"Now, now, Leonardo... The Queen had a problem that she attempted to take care of, though it didn't exactly work out well and it led to that. Don't worry though, there won't be any more problems like that again." The Doctor said calmly and a smile on his face.
"Really? Well, that's nice and dandy but if things like that keep on continuing then Qrow is going to get suspicious when he gets here!" screamed Lionheart and then finally, a voice spoke up,
"Leonardo..." the old faunus heard and suddenly, he began feeling nothing but fear.
This was Salem speaking to him, and he prayed to The Gods she wouldn't slay him for his disobedience.
"I'm sorry, your grace, I am! It's just that-" he said until he was interrupted by a sharp grip from behind on his tail and was thrown into his seat and saw a very tall and menacing figure that he hadn't seen enter with Watts and the Grimm. Leonardo attempted to draw Stalwart and use it against this menacing foe but he wrapped his hand around the neck of the faunus. This being was no Grimm, but he certainly was not human.
"Respect... The... Queen," it spoke with a deep and menacing voice. Leonardo's body began shaking, his eyes widening at this strange foe. "Dishonorable... cretin," it said. Its face moved up closer towards the defenseless faunus who began mentally praying to The Gods, "Please let me live, please let me live, please let me live!"
"Let him go," Salem said. The being did just that, releasing his hold on Leonardo, and stepping back towards his master. "Apologies about that, Leonardo... my enforcer here gets very, very upset when I am disrespected. He is quite protective, that he is." the witch chuckled.
"Yes, I... I understand, your grace." Leonardo said.
"I only speak to you to inform you that my... Enforcer, will be here to assist with Haven's Fall. He is simply going to make sure things go over smoothly, as my problem will most likely be arriving here in search of these huntsmen and huntresses. He will be able to hide himself very well, so... act normal will you? Your acting has been splendid so far, Leonardo, it would be a shame if the show ended poorly." Salem explained.
"Yes, of course, your grace." said the traitorous headmaster.
"Good... that will be all. Watts, I believe you wished to speak with me in private?" Salem asked.
"Yes, your grace." the doctor said. The two began stepping outside, and what Lionheart saw made him soil his pants...
The Enforcer turned and stared into his eyes for what felt like eternity and then... vanished into thin air, as if he wasn't there at all.
"This Enforcer of yours... are you sure he's equipped?" Arthur asked. The man was worried, if something went wrong, then he'd be in a lot of trouble. The entire plan could potentially be in a lot of trouble.
"My, my, Arthur, are you doubting me and my abilities?" Salem asked. The doctor was afraid that she would attack him, but remembered that she would only do so if she had a good reason and thus, began explaining himself.
"No, your grace, I do not doubt you nor your abilities. Its just these things, well... they take a while, and you haven't spent much time with this one. I just worry that he could break free of your hold at any moment or attempt to resist." he said. Salem chuckled, the tentacle of her Seer gently rubbed against Arthur's head, as if it were petting him.
"Do not worry, dear Arthur. This one I've had for a long time, and it did take a long time to mold him into my personal enforcer. He's just been asleep for a while, I've had him in storage just in case if I had to deal with Diaspin's knight in shining green armor again." she said.
"I.. see, your grace. I apologize for questioning you and your magnificent abilities. Please, forgive me." Arthur apologized.
"It is fine, Arthur. You were simply not aware... now, is there anything else?" asked the witch.
"Yes, The Enforcer's... weapons, they have been repaired to the best of my ability and he is equipped with them, however, they are out of this world. I'm requesting that if you have anything about these weapons, any manuals or whatnot, I would appreciate them. They would be of great aid if those strange tools get damaged once again." Arthur said.
"I understand, and I thank you once again, Doctor. I cannot promise what you ask for, but, I will search for them." Salem said.
"Thank you, your grace." responded Arthur, bowing before his leader. He began to take his leave, until Salem spoke up once more,
"Arthur?" she asked.
"Yes?" he asked, turning around and staring at The Seer.
"The Emerald Knight is coming here... if you spot him, let my Enforcer take care of him. Do not attempt to aid him," she said. "I believe he is the only one capable enough to take down The Emerald Knight, and I cannot have him worry about beings of lesser strength getting in his way, understand?" asked Salem.
"Yes, your grace. I will make sure that The Enforcer deals with The Emerald Knight alone." Arthur said, bowing once more and then taking his leave.