Of Knights and Windmills

by GladiusNocturno

Jaune Arc has been offered to travel with and be trained by a Legendary Huntsman. An old eccentric man with a love for adventure!...and a little bit of madness. Follow their tale as they journey through the country side of Anima. A story of heroism, grief, loss, witchcraft and dreams. A story Of Knights and Windmills.

9. Dies Irae: The Fire Dance

Chapter IX

Dies Irae: The Fire Dance

The sun came down and the forest became dark and silent. The guard troops marched across the woods, illuminating their path with flashlights from their rifles. They were following the trail described by Cardin in his report, but the lack of moon light made it difficult to navigate the deep forest. Not only that, but the small drizzle falling on the area made the terrain muddy and difficult to step on. Many started to slip and fall, which only helped to startle the already nervous guards.

The guards were trained to deal with difficult situations, they were brave men and women, but even them heard the stories of the witches, they saw what they did to the city and now they were stepping in their creepy territory. No one would have blamed them for feeling unease.

At the tail of the group, the sound of a splash caught the guards' attention. "Come on, Jones. You are staying behind" A guard told her fellow who just slipped on the mud.

"I'm alright, I'm al…" Jones started to say, but the sound of rocks rolling down the mountain to their left startled him. "What was that?!". He said, prompting the squad to ready their weapons.

The guards all aimed their weapons to their left, waiting to see any sign of movement. They were so focused on the sound; they didn't realize the rest of the group had left them behind.

Jones started to shake once he noticed the squad had fewer people, only 5 guards stayed behind with him, but soon enough, chills came to his spin when the squad heard the sound of a little girl's laugh.

"Behind!" A guard said, as they all turned around quickly, aiming their weapons at the empty forest, but they didn't see a target.

The guards decided to move out on that direction, an idea Jones wasn't a fan off. They slowly walked towards the woods and away from the path in search for the witch they thought to hear.

They once more heard the sound of giggles and a strong wind blow made the trees crack. The guards started to hear movement coming from multiple directions, making them stand back to back in a circle. "Stay calm, stay calm" A guard instructed to her fellows, but not even her could hide her fear. Eventually the sound of leaves moving made Jones jump and aim his gun in the direction of the sound. The light of the flashlight allowed him to see the shape of a woman running and hiding behind the trees.

"I got you now!" Jones yelled before breaking formation and running after the witch, firing blindly at the woods.

"JONES!" the guard yelled as she ran after him, their fellows going after them.

As the guards ran through the forest, the ones that were behind were met with blue lights that pushed them into the woods. One by one, the guards disappeared until only 1 remained. She ran as fast as she could until she finally managed to reach Jones.

"What the hell?! Jon…" She was about to say but immediately became terrified at the sight of Jones kneeling in the ground, staring at the forest in terror.

The frightened guard lifted her flashlight shaking, and to her horror, 3 other guards were frozen and laid unconscious. She tried to make Jones stand up to run, but the sound of giggles paralyzed her. She was so scared; she dropped her gun and as the flashlight laid on the floor, it illuminated the witches surrounding them, staves in hand and ready to fire.

"AHHHHHH!".

---

The sound of gun fire in the distance was a clear sign that the assault had begun. The once peaceful mountain was now full of multiple combat sounds. Every rifle shot was another shake in Victoria's heart, it was impossible to know who had the advantage. All she could do was pray for the safety of her sisters and do her part on this war.

"Here" A sister said before handing over a brown package to Victoria.

"Thank you, stay safe" She wished to the sister who bowed and ran back to the woods.

Victoria put the package inside her cloak and mobilized her team.

---

In the middle of the forest, a witch kept running terrified, her sisters had been taken down and captured by the guards and now they were chasing after her.

The sister jumped over some fallen trees, but unfortunately the mud made her slip and twist her foot. Fear was bigger than the pain though, she was panicking as she heard the approaching guards. She gathered all her strength and forced herself to keep moving, using her staff as a walking stick.

As she struggled to get away, the witch turned around for a second and saw the lights of the guards looking for her. They were getting close. She had to hurry If she wanted a chance.

The terrain was erratic and a single misstep could mean the end for her. She was getting exhausted quickly and the adrenaline wasn't enough to calm her pain down. The thought of surrendering crossed her mind but she was too afraid to do so.

The guards spotted her and without a second though began to fire, hitting the trees around her. They were steadfast on their pursuit and she was too weak to fight them all on her own.

As she ran in a panic, she recognized the area around her and a bit of hope helped her move forward. She ran as fast as she could but the guards were getting closer. She finally managed to find what she was looking for, the cave, the safe spot she was told to run to if things went wrong. She was a little relieved until a blast of lighting dust ammo hit her in the back, stunning her and dropping her to the ground.

The guards finally caught her, two of them made sure the area was secured while a third handcuffed the prisoner.

"You see anyone?".

"No, all clear".

The guards said, before taking the sister in and leaving the area. If they had explored the place a bit more, they would have seen the cave and found the group of witches hiding there, all injured and scared…They were all that remained of their teams.

---

Victoria split her team in 3 squads to cover more ground, they were instructed to attack together to overwhelm the enemy from multiple directions. She stayed behind with a small squad of only 3 sisters at her side.

The sounds of the battle kept going, a few screams here and there gave shivers to her, she didn't know whether it came from the guards or from her dear sisters, but she remained hopeful and focus.

The sisters' attention was caught by the sound of bushes moving. Alerted, they had their staves ready and moved carefully towards the noise. Victoria lead the group and as she got closer to the bush, her heart kept rising and rising. Her grip on her staff got tighter as she was ready to strike.

As soon as she saw a figure coming out, she jumped to the offense, shooting a fire ball that was met with a shield.

"It's me! It's me!" Jaune said trying to calm down the battle-ready Victoria.

"Jaune?!" She said before coming at him and pushing him slightly, "I hate you! You scared me!".

"I scared you? You almost burned off my face!". He replied. The witches let out a sigh of relief and managed to relax a little.

Jaune joined Victoria's group for the time being. He wanted to know how the operation was going. He was a bit disappointed to hear that Victoria's squad hadn't found a single guard as he was hoping to get an idea of how strong the opponent was. However, this also gave him high hopes, the fact that Victoria hadn't been in a fight yet meant the guards still didn't make it that far, maybe they were doing better than he thought.

Victoria was seemingly worry about her team, she wished they had had the time to get communication equipment, but Jaune reassured her that they could handle it. He even gave her a compliment on her strategy.

She was still quite doubtful of him. The first time she met him, she felt so much fear that he would hurt Violet. But now, in their darkest hour, he stood there with them, by her side. Victoria couldn't stop wondering, why?

"Jaune…I need to ask you something". She said.

"Uh. Sure, what is it?"

"…Why?" Victoria asked with a bit of shame in her eyes. Jaune and the rest of the witches were surprised by the question, they even heard carefully as they also had curiosity, all the while Victoria pushed herself to continue, "You had plenty of opportunities to leave. Violet asked you to not get involved. She didn't want you to get hurt…So why? We have nothing to do with you. This isn't your city, these aren't your people, this isn't your fight!...Why did you stay?" she asked.

Jaune had an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head, "I guess…Because you needed it" his smile became less awkward and more kind, "I've seen so much suffering before…If I can do something to prevent it, then I want to do it…Someone has to".

Victoria was surprised by the answer but it filled her heart with hope. Violet was right, she said the exact same thing. Jaune only wanted to help others live a happy life, so that they wouldn't have to suffer what he has.

The witches chuckled a little which made Jaune a bit uncomfortable.

Victoria walked pass him with a smug smile and proud smile on her face, "Well, if that's the case, then I'll make you a deal. If we win this, I promise I'll apologize to you".

"That's a really generous offer, you should take it" A witch said jokingly much to Victoria's annoyance.

Jaune laughed a little, "You don't have to. But you know, maybe next time don't assume I'm a monster and I won't do that to you either. How is that for a deal?".

"You are a weird guy, you know?" Victoria said while chuckling herself.

"Ha!. If you think that, you haven't seen my master".

---

Sky and Dove rushed across the forest. Their speed was stellar, they were huntsmen in training after all. They never excelled in class but they were undeniably Beacon students. They kept an eye out for any signs of the witches, their weapons ready for combat.

They kept running with nothing but the light of the city illuminating the night in the small areas they found without trees, but as soon as they stepped back into the deep woods, they relied on nothing but their training.

As they approached another clearing in the forest, they made a quick stop as they heard the sound of a laugh.

"Bwahahahaha".

Dove and Sky stood back to back trying to pin point the source of the sound, but the laugh continued, it was as if it came from multiple directions, an entity that surrounded them and stalked them in the darkness.

"Bwahahahahaha!"

"Show yourself!" Sky yelled signaling Dove to get ready for the fight.

The wind started to blow even harder and the trees kept shaking more violently.

"You dare to step in MY DOMAIN?! TRASH!?" the voice said as the sound seemed to come from the woods.

"Sky…" Dove said a bit scared.

"Man up, dude. COME OUT! YOU COWARD!". Said Sky, trying to lure out their enemy.

"COWARD!? You have any idea who I am?! I am Arbolog the Amorphous! Dark Lord of shapes and contradictions! Your insolence invites my demonic WRATH!".

"You are that old man that was with Jaune, aren't you?" Sky asked, not impressed.

"N…No! I'm not that handsome devil! I AM A DARK DEMON! FEAR ME!".

"I swear, as soon as I find you, I'm gonna…"

"HAHAHAHA! I am everywhere and nowhere at the same time! You mortals will never be able to…" Don was interrupted by a gun shot from Sky's rifle.

"AH! MY LEG! SON OF A…OK, THAT'S IT! LADIES! LIGHT THEM UP!".

The witches' staves ignited and fire balls flew from all directions at the two huntsmen. Dove and Sky were able to evade many of them but were caught by surprise by Violet who shot a powerful wind blow that pushed them back.

Sky and Dove were quick to grab their weapons and charged once more. The witches continued their assault, lighting and fire was shot from multiple directions. The two huntsmen were hit many times, but their endurance didn't compare to that of mere civilians. Soon enough they managed to close the gap and fight the witches up close.

The witches knew they didn't stand a chance, the only way they could beat them was by outnumbering them and strike them from all around, but when Dove and Sky started to strike them, many started to panic.

Dove stroke with his sword, forcing the witches to return to the woods for cover. Meanwhile Sky's halberd was massive enough to slam a witch to the ground in one hit even after she successfully blocked it.

"Sorry, sweet heart. Chivalry is dead" Sky said before bringing his halberd down on the witch for a killing blow, only for the blade to meet a shield with a burning windmill emblem.

"Over my dead body!" Don proclaimed as he slashed Sky multiple time and forced him to back off.

Dove continued trying to strike the witches but suddenly his face was smacked with a staff. Victoria might had been the best fighter in the Coven, but when it came to protecting her sisters, Violet was just as fierce. In a swift swing she launched two fireballs at Dove, who couldn't react in time and just took them both. Dove recovered quickly and charged at Violet, but she just stood there with a smile on her face. Dove didn't have time to think about it but soon enough it was apparent what it meant, as Violet's witches stroke him with multiple shots of lighting dust. Dove dropped his sword, stunned a bit, he didn't have time to recover this time as immediately after the shocks, Violet stroke him.

Don and Sky dueled. Every shot from his rifle was met by Don's shield. Frustrated, Sky decided to overpower his opponent with brute force and jumped on a melee offense. He brought his blade down but Don merely evaded the strike, always a big grin in his face. Sky became more and more annoyed at Don's mockery as he kept evading his attacks.

"Come and fight! Oldman!".

Don smiled, "As you wish, brat". He said before activating his spear. Don charged for a direct thrust with his spear, something Sky barely managed to block. The two of them then engaged in a fight of long rage melee weapons, Sky's halberd and Don's spear. They slashed and stroke each other multiple times. Don had the advantage for a while, something that frustrated Sky a lot, but he was an old man, a prolonged fight was very taxing on him, meanwhile Sky was young, his endurance was way better and he was starting to notice Don's exhaustion.

"Getting tired already, grandpa?" Sky taunted his enemy.

Don was starting to breath hard, but always the jokester, he stood with a big smile on his face before replying. "You know, you should respect your elders. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two".

"Ha! Like what?"

"You know, the value of life. How to pay taxes. Not to stand in the middle of a group of angry nuns with magic staves".

"Wait, what?!" Sky said before looking around at the witches before getting shocked by lighting dust.

Violet stroke with a charge of explosive dust which sent Dove flying in Sky's direction, hitting him and launching them both. They were about to land in the woods when a rock wall came out of the ground thanks to a witch's earth dust. Suddenly 3 more walls appeared around them trapping them in a rock box. Sky got Dove off of him. Their only escape was to climb up, a fairly easy jump for a huntsman, but Dove was too beaten up. Sky tried to escape but as soon as he made it to the top, Violet and another witch blasted him with fire balls back inside.

Sky and Dove laid on their backs inside the rock cage and as they looked up, they saw a smiling Don, flute in hand walking on top of the cage.

"I told you to fear me, didn't I? Please get comfortable. How about a lullaby?" Don said, taunting his prey before playing his flute. The witches covered their ears as Don's hallucinatory melody put Dove and Sky in a trance, putting them out of commission.

---

Jaune and Victoria's group kept walking for a while. Jaune didn't admit it, but he felt a bit safer standing with the group. His worries were higher though, the plan had him on his own for a reason, and he had spent too much time with Victoria.

"I'll head off west. See how we are doing".

"Ok, I'll try to regroup with the rest of the team and…" Victoria started to say, but the sounds of gun shots and fireballs surprised them. To their shock, the sound was coming from very close and was followed by the screams of injured witches. "No!" Victoria said before rushing to the scene.

Victoria and her squad ran ahead of Jaune towards the noise, desperate to help the rest of their team. On one of the resting areas of the path, they found a witch partially stunned and barely able to walk, she was limping towards them, "Don't! They are coming!", the witch warned them before collapsing.

Victoria ran down the stairs to her aid but before she could make it to the resting area, she and her squad were met with dust bullets from four approaching guards. Victoria reacted by firing fireballs at the guards, firing in a panic just made her aim poorly. The other three witches jumped in the fight with fire balls and lighting bolts of their own, but the fire fight was short lived.

Suddenly the guards stopped firing and Victoria saw it as an opportunity, she shot a fireball straight at them…but to her surprise, the fireball was cut and dispelled in midair by a blade. Russel leaped at high speed ready to take Victoria down, she was caught off guard by his speed and couldn't react fast enough, by the time she was ready to fire once more, Russel's daggers were already about to slice her. She stood there in shock only to be pushed out of the way by Jaune who took the strike with his shield.

Russel leaped back, standing in the middle of the resting area, a bit frustrated at missing his kill.

"Victoria! Are you alright?!". Jaune yelled to a shocked Victoria, who shook her head to snap out of it and quickly stood up once more.

Russel struck once more in frustration, this time aiming straight at the distracted Jaune. Victoria warned him on time and Jaune's shield was locked with Russel's daggers. Victoria moved quickly pass Jaune's shield and touched Russel's arm, a wave of purple aura flowed from her hand and quickly covered his body.

Russel's body started to feel extremely light, he couldn't sustain his push against Jaune and started to float a little.

"Kick him! Now!" Victoria instructed Jaune.

Jaune did as told without a second thought and kicked Russel away. To his surprise, Russel was sent flying back weightless, much to the guard's confusion and awe. Victoria's semblance had nullified the effect of gravity on his body. He would have flown away from the mountain itself, if a hand hadn't reached him and pulled him back to the ground, it did so with such strength, the shock wave made Victoria lose her focus and the effect of her semblance worn off.

As the dust settled, Russel stood up pained. A larger figured walked pass him illuminated by the light of the city.

"Thank so much, Jaune. You did it." Cardin said, mace in hand and a mad grin in his face, "You got in my way".

Cardin snapped his fingers which prompted the guards to take aim once more and resume fire, but the 3 witches were quick, they leaped and used wind dust to blow the 4 guards away from the resting area before chasing after them. "We'll deal with them! We are counting on you two!" a witch said before rushing to the forest, leaving the scene with her sisters.

Cardin was annoyed at the incompetence of the guards, but the scene was just so perfect for him. The resting area was a flat battle ground and in it only remained standing Russel, a witch, him… and that dumb idiot who needed to be reminded of his place.

"Kill the witch…He is mine".

Russel rushed once more, the chambers on his daggers infused the blades with gravity dust. Jaune saw the purple shimmer in them and immediately recognized it. "DODGE!". He told Victoria. The two of them leaped from the stairs into the resting area right before Russel brought his blades down, the gravity dust increasing the power of his strike and making a crater on the stairs.

After making their opponents lose the high ground, Russel leaped to strike Victoria down who barely managed to block his blades.

"Victoria!" Jaune yelled but he had no time to be concerned about her, as Cardin brought his powerful mace down on his shield, a blow so strong it pushed Jaune back even after blocking it.

"Don't worry about your little faunus friend. I'll take care her myself after I'm done WITH YOU!" Cardin said before bringing his mace down once more, this time, Jaune managed to evade the first strike and block Cardin's second swing, once more the strike was strong enough to push him back a bit.

Victoria was struggling to put some distance between her and Russel, whose strikes were as vicious as they were fast. But they didn't call Victoria the best fighter in the Coven for no reason. She bought her time walking backwards slowly until finally she saw her opportunity, Russel went for a stab that she evaded, his strike got the daggers stuck on a tree. Victoria took the change and put her staff on the back of his head, pulling him and headbutting him multiple times, she then stepped aside slightly and swung her staff quickly, bashing him in the face with strength and pushing him backwards. The impact got his daggers unstocked but it gave her the distance she was looking for and without giving him any chance of recovering, Victoria, pushed him with wind dust. She used another blast of her wind dust to push herself upwards and from midair she sent fireballs raining on her opponent. Russel stood up quickly, barely evading the fire storm and as soon as Victoria landed, he rushed at her, his fast strikes made her miss her subsequent attack.

Cardin had a sense of déjà vu, the sight of Jaune struggling to withstand his strikes took him back to their days at Beacon, to the days in which this useless, fraudulent and pathetic excuse of a warrior kept falling to the ground with tears in his eyes. He wanted to make him suffer, he deserved it, he deserved it for what he did, for what he was doing!

"How dare you! Stand. Besides. THEM!" Cardin kept saying; every strike was fueled with more rage.

Jaune's defense had improved a lot, but Cardin didn't waste his time either. He had become significantly stronger. Jaune however, was not about to give up, he couldn't allow himself to do so.

Cardin raised his mace for another blow, but Jaune's training caught him off guard. Jaune leaped to the side in a dodge roll, evading the strike. Just as his master taught him, Jaune didn't wait for an opening, he moved and found one. He sliced Cardin multiple times from the side. In response, Cardin swung his mace aiming at his head, but Jaune docked and slashed him with an upwards slice. Jaune knew that if he wanted to end this, his assault had to be faster. He launched at Cardin, his blade met his mace multiple times, but to Cardin's annoyance, Jaune was actually pushing him back. The little shrimp was actually overwhelming him, this however didn't last, Cardin's rage just kept rising and soon his response was more brutal.

Cardin slammed his mace against Jaune's shield to make him lose balance, he then tried to hit him but Jaune was able to evade the second strike. Jaune launched another attack, but Cardin was waiting for it. He swung his mace and hit him in the arm, pushing it aside before grabbing it with his left hand and pushing Jaune's neck with his right wrist.

"You stand with murderers and terrorists. Don't be stupid!" Cardin said angrily.

Jaune struggled to breath but he was focus on his goal, he had people to safe. He moved his body and managed to move his head down under Cardin's arm, bashing him in the chin with his shield. Cardin let go of Jaune's arm and before he could respond, Jaune bashed him in the face once more with his shield, over and over and over again.

Cardin was a bit dizzy and stunned. Jaune however stopped his assault, trying to recover his breath. "You are wrong…It's a misunderstanding…Cardin, just listen! I'm trying to end this!".

Cardin was holding his face, to Jaune's surprise though, he let out a chuckle. "Hehe. You think I don't know what they have done? If you are going to stand with the ones that killed her, THEN DIE WITH THEM!" Cardin yelled before striking Jaune with an explosive dust charge from his mace, sending him flying to the stairs.

"Jaune!" Victoria said, she quickly rushed to help him.

Jaune was stunned by the blast, barely managing to sit down. Victoria helped him but Cardin and Russel were approaching. As if things weren't dire enough. The 4 were surprised when the sky lit up with fire coming from higher up in the mountain.

"The signal …The Temple!" Victoria said, her shoulder was met by Jaune's hand, who pushed her as he struggled to stand up.

"Go".

"But…"

"I'LL BUY YOU TIME, JUST GO!" Jaune gave her a straight order, one that Victoria was reluctant to follow, but she knew there were sister hiding at the Temple, their lives were in danger. She nodded at him and immediately her body was covered by the wave of purple light of her semblance. Victoria then used a wind blow from her staff and rode it as a magic broom back to the temple.

Cardin looked at Jaune as he stood up painfully.

"Hahahah! I'll give it to you, Jaunie. You are way more fun than I remember…. But just as stupid"

Jaune folded his shield back into its sheath form and grabbed it with his left hand by the middle.

"Oh. So, you ARE giving up? Maybe you aren't that dumb…Too bad is too late for that".

Jaune placed the hilt of his sword inside the sucked of his sheath. "You are not going through".

Cardin laughed a little, before signaling Russel to chase Victoria. "Bring me her head".

Russel ran up the stairs, he moved at Jaune's right at a good distance. Jaune rushed at him as fast as he could, but Russel didn't mind him that much, knowing full well that even if he tried something, he was never going to be able to reach…Or so he thought.

Suddenly, the bottom half of the sheath extended and Russel was surprised by a hit up his stomach that took the air out of his lungs. Cardin saw in shock how Russel plummeted down the stairs back to the resting area, he laid on the floor struggling to breath.

With a mad face, Cardin lifted his sight and looked straight at Jaune. Soon enough the upper half of the sheath extended as well until the entire sheath had become a long pole. As the sheath extended a small portion of it locked itself to the cross guard of the sword and from it, bladed spikes covered it, completing Crocea Mors' transformation, into its spear mode.

"You are NOT GOING THROUGH!".

Cardin was completely mistaken. That fool he once knew was no more. Jaune had grown beyond that a long time ago. Before him stood a huntsman.

Jaune leaped from the stairs and launched a strike straight at Russel who was struggling to stand up. The blade barely missed him and hit the ground but this was meant to startle him and throw him even more off balance. Jaune started to spin his spear, attacking Russel multiple times in a short time, Russel struggled even more to block the strikes, stumbling and with even more difficulty to breath. Jaune didn't give him any time to respond before he delivered a kick that pushed him back and made him fall on his back.

Cardin was filled with rage, he charged at Jaune and hit him with his mace right in the chest, sending him flying backwards and rolling in the ground. But Jaune quickly recovered and in seconds charged once more. Jaune thrusted his spear at Cardin, an attack Cardin evaded by simply stepping to the side. He thought to himself how much of a fool Jaune was, fighting a battle he couldn't win and still as mediocre of a fighter as he always was, he was full of confidence…until he took a glimpse at Jaune's smile. The thrust was a faint, Jaune quickly swung the bottom end of the spear and bashed Cardin in the back of the head, dazing him. He then made a spin move and a low sweep, hitting Cardin's legs and making him fall. As Cardin hit the floor, Jaune brought his blade down on him for a stab. But Cardin managed to roll away.

Russel barely had time to recover before he launched a new assault to protect Cardin. He swung his blades one after the other but Jaune blocked every single strike. Jaune soon enough saw the opportunity to increase the gap between the two, he saw an opening, stepped back and slashed Russel from the bottom across the chest and with a quick spin he hit him in the face with the bottom end of the pole, pushing him back.

Cardin and Russel stood next to each other and without a second thought, they both attacked Jaune together. Russel's blades came from the left while Cardin's mace came from the right, but Jaune wasn't ready to give up yet. He dodged Cardin's strike and blocked Russel's daggers. Cardin then swung his mace back which Jaune dodged once more before slashing him with his spear and with the same motion he quickly swung his blade at Russel to force him to stay back. Don's spear training was tailor made to fight multiple opponents at the same time and Jaune was proving its effectiveness, but this didn't mean he could not be overwhelmed, plus he was still in the process of mastering the weapon, and his lack of expertise was about to show.

Cardin rushed at Jaune, but he thrusted with his spear to force him to back off. Cardin however was able to lock the blade inside of his mace catching Jaune off guard. Russel then stroked him, he tried to block the strikes but Cardin restricted his movement and Russel was able to slash him multiple times. In the struggle, Jaune was able to free his spear but as he stumbled back Cardin brought his mace down on his face with force, launching Jaune back. Jaune struggled to remain standing but his vision was starting to get a bit blurry for the raw strength of Cardin's hit. Unable to react quickly enough, Jaune tried to swing his spear to strike Russel and stop him in his next assault, but he just dodged the spear and slashed him again.

"AAAAAH!" Jaune yelled in pain.

Cardin let out a laugh. "Music for my ears!" He said before hitting Jaune once more with his mace and launching him to the side.

Jaune laid on the floor, struggling to keep going. The rain was starting to become a bit stronger as Cardin and Russel walked close to him.

"You lost again. Why don't stay there and cry like back at school?" Cardin said, reminding Jaune how worthless he was back at Beacon. But once again Cardin wasn't seeing this wasn't the same Jaune he once knew.

Cardin was surprised and extremely annoyed as soon as he heard the sound of Jaune's laughter.

"What's so funny, you dumbass?!" Cardin yelled in anger.

Jaune grabbed his spear and stood back up, "A Knight Errant doesn't let their enemies see them cry. They make them tremble…at the sight of their smile!". Jaune proclaimed as he charged once more at his opponents, it didn't matter how much pain he had, it didn't matter how dire things looked, he had a smile on his face. A smile that wasn't meant to pretend everything was alright, a smile that didn't mean he was hopeful everything would sort itself out. It was a smile that showed his resolve to not let the world bring him down and fight until the end to make things right.

Jaune swung and slashed Russel from the top. He blocked it with his blades but the spiked cross guard managed to stab him in the arm, his aura protected him but it was painful and strong enough to make him drop a dagger. Jaune then rushed at Cardin who immediately swung his mace with a charge of explosive dust to the ground to stop him in his tracks, but Jaune anticipated the strike, he jumped and evaded the mace and the explosion. A dodge roll on the ground and Jaune was ready for the next assault. He thrusted his spear on Cardin's side and quickly spun it hitting him with the bottom end of the spear, spun once more and slashed him again and finally did one last spin to hit him with force with the spiked cross guard, pushing him forward towards Russel.

Cardin landed in his knees, extremely pissed. He stood up quickly enraged. Russel had time to grab his dagger, he was in pain but he was packing more surprises. The three of them charged for a final squirmish. Jaune stopped Russel on his tracks by thrusting him with his spear, but soon enough Cardin came in from the right with an upper slam, Jaune was able to evade it and hit him in the face before returning to Russel who leaped forward and locked his daggers with Jaune's blade. Jaune pushed back hard but Russel wasn't willing to give up. To Jaune's surprise, Russel's blades got infused with lighting dust and while locked to his spear, the electricity shocked him.

Jaune held on to it, struggling to resist the electric charge. He lifted his face with difficulty and saw Cardin rushing at him, ready to finishing him off. In a moment of quick thinking, Jaune activated his semblance to resist the electric charge and then moved the other end of his spear to hit Cardin in the chest, redirecting the electric current at him. Cardin was shocked with electricity which made him drop his mace and sent him flying far enough, he felt down the resting area and rolled down the mountain.

"Cardin!" Russel yelled but he was met with a fist to the face that pushed him backwards.

In a despaired attempt, Russel made a run for it and rushed to the stairs, trying to head to the Temple. Jaune was too exhausted and hurt to run after him, but he immediately remembered another part of his training and without a second thought threw his spear like a javelin, pinning Russel's clothe against a tree. Russel forced himself out of the lock by ripping his clothe off, but as soon as he felt a bit of relief for getting out quickly, Jaune bashed his face with Cardin's mace, breaking his aura and knocking him out.

Jaune stood exhausted in the rain, struggling to stand up. He dropped Cardin's mace and took a minute to recover his breath. He couldn't believe it, he actually did it. He would have been rejoicing if the pain wasn't so bad. He aura was helping but the blast he took and the hit on the head was causing him troubles to remain standing. He didn't have much time to rest though. His mind soon went back to the signal fire. If the guards made it that far, he had to act quickly if he wanted to end this. He dropped Cardin's mace and got his spear back before running up the mountain. The battle wasn't over yet.

---

Victoria flew as fast as she could. Her mind was scrambled with thoughts and worries. Worries for the coven, worries for Violet and worries for Jaune who she left behind. She was despaired as she rushed up the mountain, tears of fear came down as she thought of everything that might have happened to her dear sisters. She couldn't bare the idea of losing them, of not being there to protect them.

She finally made it to the Temple and got off her staff. It was odd, they all saw the signal fires, but the sentinels weren't there. Victoria couldn't understand, the place was empty, not a single person was in sight. This wasn't what she was expecting. In her mind, the place was full of guards rounding up the sisters, but that wasn't the case. Not a single soul. Were they mistaken? No, the flare was clear. Victoria kept on pondering for a moment before she got hints she was fearing to find. Scorched marks in the floor and some rocks. She looked closer and saw ice and stones that weren't there before, as well as empty shells from a dust weapon. It was clear that a fight had happened…But where was everyone?

"No…" Victoria said to herself, she then rushed inside the temple, her staff ready had the worst had happened.

As she ran down the spiral staircase, Victoria's fears came true. Intruders had invaded the sacred halls of the Temple of Saint Aradia, mad and ready to prey on the witches hiding in it. They were everywhere, running around and breaking the ancient artifacts, and to her horror, they were running after her dear sisters.

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR! WITCH!" a man yelled as he slammed a door angrily, a machete in hand and a mad look on his face. Next to him, another man and a woman stood, both armed with simple tools, a shovel and a bat.

The man had enough and started to hack the door open with his machete, the screams of the scared witches could be heard clearly after each strike to the door.

"HEY!" Victoria yelled, catching the raiders' attention. Without giving them a chance to respond, Victoria shot a wind blow at them, pushing them away from the door. The machete wielding raider immediately rushed at her with the intend to kill the witch, but Victoria was faster. She shot a fire ball at him, burning him slightly, a detail that was surprising to her; she then used earth dust to imprison all three raiders before blowing sleep powder to knock them all out.

"Victoria!" A scared sister said before embracing her. "Thank you! Thank you so much!".

The other sisters were relieved, and Victoria did her best to calm down the sister hugging her. "It's ok, we'll make it out, I promise". She said to the terrified sister.

Victoria then addressed the other sisters who were equally afraid but a bit calmer. "How many are there?".

"We don't know. They broke the door down and just got in".

Victoria was frustrated but this wasn't time to be angry, she had to protect the sisters. "What about Mother Emilia? Have anyone seen her?!".

"She was still in her room. Everything was so quick".

Mother Emilia, Jaune had told her that she was one of the Major's main targets. Victoria had to find her and protect her at all cost. It was the only way to ensure the survival of the Coven.

"Things outside aren't much better. The wine cellar is in the deepest level, you can hide there. Stay together and barricade the door. I'll go get you in a bit". She said, directing the remaining sisters to run down stairs before running in another direction.

"Where are you going?!"

"Mother Emilia. I'll go get her. I'll meet you at the cellar! JUST GO!" Victoria answered as she kept running.

The temple was a disaster. Broker furniture, burning books. The history and sanctity of the temple was being violated. It was heart breaking for Victoria, but she didn't have much time to cry over it.

On her way to Mother Emilia's chambers, Victoria fought more raiders, immobilizing them and protecting the sisters they were attacking. Every sister she encountered she sent to the cellar before she kept going.

The raiders, it was strange. Victoria was expecting guards, but this people... The more she thought about the one she burned, the more she started to notice a pattern within all raiders she fought. Not a single one had their aura unlocked, they didn't know how to fight, they just rushed erratically with anger. It was clear to Victoria that these people weren't guards in disguise, they were civilians, regular everyday people of the city.

Victoria ran as fast as she could until she finally made it to Mother Emilia's chambers. To her horror, the door was broken and blood was spilled everywhere.

"Mother Emilia!" Victoria ran inside the room despaired. It was empty, books and paper scattered around, but not a single trace of Mother Emilia. Victoria was horrified but a bit hopeful…that was until she turned around and notices something. She saw the broken door once more and realized that it was outside the room. It wasn't pulled out; it was blown out from inside. "What happened?".

She left the room, rushing to find any clue of where Mother Emilia was. Her search for clues leaded her to follow the blood splatters, she was afraid of the worst but this was the best bread crumb trail she had. She ran through hallway after hallway…and the bread crumb trail got worst and worst. Soon enough, she started to find bodies. Men and women, the blood stain trail had become a path of corpses. The raiders…the civilians that attacked her family, they were monsters, weren't they? She couldn't stop wondering, trying to justified the sight, but even then, she couldn't deny the truth, they were all dead.

Victoria kept following the path until eventually she heard a voice coming from the main ceremonial hall. She ran and as soon as she made it to the end of the hallway, she was greeted with the sight of Mother Emilia scrambling through the altar of the God of Darkness.

"Where is it?! WHERE IS IT!? Those damn blasphemous fools!" She kept saying in anger, trying desperately to find something.

"M..Mother Emilia?" Victoria said a bit worried; she didn't have time to think before she had to get down to the floor. Mother Emilia had turned at her and without hesitation she used a scepter like short version of the witches' staves and shot a fireball straight at her, barely missing her.

Mother Emilia had a mad look, her hair was messy and her garment had marks of previous fights. She looked like a rabid animal, a scepter in each hand and blood stains covering her body. After a few seconds, she realized who the one she attacked was, and as if a switch was flipped, she stood up and her mad face was replaced with a kind smile.

"Oh, Victoria. What a surprise. I'm so glad you stopped by". She said, not even acknowledging the fact she just attacked her.

Victoria was confused, Mother Emilia was acting stranger, she slowly grabbed her staff and stood up as to not startle her again.

"Mo…Mother Emilia…What…What's going on?" She asked nervously.

"Oh, nothing sweetheart. I was locked in my room by some prankster, I guess. But let's talk about it later. It seems someone took our sacred text…Why don't you help me find it?".

Victoria was shaking a little, but she had a tendency to always trust Mother Emilia's judgement. She pulled the brown package she received earlier out of her robe and showed it to her. "I…Here it is, Mother. I…I'm sorry, we were trying to keep it safe".

The two of them were quick to turn around at the sound of a door slamming open and two raiders rushing at them. As one ran at them with an axe in hand, the other fired with a rifle. Victoria took cover behind a stool in the hall, but Mother Emilia wasn't faced at all. She quickly shot a lightning bolt at the rifle raider with one scepter and in seconds used the other with earth dust to crush her against a pillar. The axe raider was quick but Mother Emilia simply froze him with ice, leaving only his head free.

"You dare to defile sacred ground. You come here with your ignorant anger" She put her scepter in the man's face "I tried to safe you, but every day you taught me, you are beyond lost". The man was in panic, yelling and crying for mercy as his body was trapped. "May the Dark brother be kind to your insolent soul" Mother Emilia said before incinerating the man's head.

The screams of the man were heard in the entire temple, the raiders on the upper levels looked down at the horrific scene and ran away outside in terror.

Victoria was in shock, horrified at the act. She couldn't believe it. Why? Mother Emilia was always kind, always responsible and sweet. She took them in when she and Violet lost their parents. She always took care of the sisters….Why?

"Well, that was unfortunate. Anyways, sweetie, please give me the book". Mother Emilia smiled at Victoria whose skin became pale with fear. She was shaking in terror, holding the book in her arms tightly. Mother Emilia addressed her once more, "I won't ask again".

Victoria stood up, not being able to see her in the eyes out of sheer horror, but she needed to ask. "W…Why?".

Mother Emilia chuckled, "What do you mean? They attacked first sweetie".

"They were civilians."

"They were, but they choose the wrong side" Mother Emilia replied.

Victoria couldn't believe what she was hearing. "The wrong side?! They are the citizens we were supposed to protect! We made the Coven for them, to help their lost ones to…"

"And look at what they did. Assaulted our home, hunted us down. Victoria, darling, can't you see? They stopped being more than animals a long time ago. Years of indoctrination turned them into a lost cause. We have a responsibility to our lords" She argued.

Victoria was heartbroken. "Why do you want the book?", she said with tears shocking her voice.

Mother Emilia started walked towards her, "Sign. Don't make this harder than it already is. The Book of Shadows is the main pillar of our faith. I'm going to need it for when we rebuild the city a new".

"What?! What do you….The speech….They were right..."

"The 24hrs are about to end. With or without the Major, the spirits of the dead will consume that sinful and lost city, Victoria, and the Coven of Saint Aradia will guide it to a new era of peace and harmony"

Victoria started backing off. "This is not what the Coven stood for, we just wanted to help the people!".

"And we are. But to get a beautiful garden, we first need to CUT THE WEED!" Mother Emilia said before shooting a fire ball. Victoria evaded it but was soon hit with a second one from the second scepter. Victoria dropped the book; she was quick enough to pick it up again before Emilia could strike her with an ice beam.

Victoria was quick to put the book back inside her robe and ran away, trying her best to make it out of the temple. She was soon stopped in her tracks by an earth wall summoned by Emilia.

"I won't tolerate TREASON!", Emilia proclaimed. She then shot a flurry of fire balls. Victoria was quick enough to make an ice wall and protect herself.

She couldn't deny it anymore, Mother Emilia, the person she trusted more than her own sister, she was a vile person that would stop at nothing for her own goal.

The ice wall was destroyed with an explosive dust charge, pushing Victoria against the stone wall. As Emilia approached, Victoria took her staff and shot multiple fire balls, something Emilia didn't mind much, simply blocking them with her ignited scepters. Victoria ran to the side and shot a lightning bolt, but a stone wall came out in response.

If she wanted to have a chance, Victoria couldn't hold back. Her feelings for Emilia were clouding her judgement, but if she didn't do anything, the lives of thousands were in danger.

Victoria used her semblance and launched herself to the air. A lighting storm fell on Emilia whose stone barrier started to crumble.

Emilia responded with her own lighting, but this was a faint. Victoria was able to evade it with a wind blow, but Emilia then used plant dust to summons vines out of her scepter, binding her leg and pulling Victoria towards her. As soon as she got close, Emilia hit her with her scepter, enhancing the weight of the weapon with gravity dust and launching the weightless Victoria back, she then pulled her still bind leg again for a second blow.

Victoria approached Emilia quickly as she prepared a charge of explosive dust to finish her off, But Victoria thought fast, she froze Emilia's arm and locked it to the ground. She then put her feet on Emilia's shoulders, and before she could react with her freed arm, Victoria shot a blast of explosive dust right on her chest. The explosion launched Emilia backwards, making her hit the statue of the God of Darkness. Her aura broke but it saved her life; the explosion weakened her severely and she struggled to stand up. Victoria used the force of the explosion to launch herself to the upper floor, from that distance, she saw Mother Emilia laying on the floor, her heart was pained with regret and conflicting feelings, but she had to return to the field and help her sisters. She left the temple steadfast, the Coven had to learn the truth.

---

Jaune ran as fast as he could, in extreme pain. His aura was helping him but it wasn't as fast as he would have wanted it. Regardless of the pain, he had to make it to the top.

He ran and ran, slipping and falling many times as the rain poured stronger by the second. He was soaking wet, but he didn't care, he kept going, nothing was going to stop him.

As he finally made it to the temple, Jaune was greeted with the same sight as Victoria, an empty field with traces of a fight. Not a single person in the entire area. The rain made things harder to distinguish, but Jaune noticed something Victoria missed. There were foot marks heading in an odd direction. They were heading behind the temple, not inside it.

Jaune started to wonder what this could mean…but the crash of a thunder startled him and what came next, was worst.

Jaune was hit and launched to the side with a powerful blow if a mace, he had failed to notice as an enraged Cardin approached him from behind.

Jaune struggled to stand up once more, but Cardin didn't give him any chances before he stroke him again, launching him on his back.

Without saying a single word, Cardin brought down his mace again, his face was that of a mad bull. His eyes wide open and his teeth clenched. At the last minute, Jaune was able to unfold his shield and block the impact, which only served to anger Cardin even more. He slammed the shield again and again in frustration until finally Jaune took the chance to kick his leg and make him fall.

Jaune stood up quickly and drew his sword, and as he did, so did Cardin, mace ready.

The two of them charged at each other, Jaune blocked Cardin's strike and slashed him twice before thrusting him, but Cardin locked the blade on his mace and managed to disarm him, tossing the sword to the right.

Cardin assaulted with a barrage of strikes that pinned Jaune down behind his shield. Each Strike was stronger than the other, fueled with an irrational hate and anger. Jaune leaped to the side and dodge rolled, grabbing his sword in the process. Before Cardin could strike again, Jaune activated his great sword and slashed him, forcing him to block. Jaune moved pass Cardin before going for another slash, but Cardin blocked it once more and the two of them locked weapons, facing each other straight in the eyes.

Jaune could only see hatred coming from Cardin. It wasn't just that dislike for him had back at Beacon, Cardin genuinely hated him. He was always a bully, but Jaune never thought he would become a monster.

"I won't let you kill them, Cardin!".

"But you let them kill her?!…You let them kill her and then ran away!" Cardin yelled, unlocking the weapons and slamming Jaune in the stomach, launching him back.

Jaune could barely stand, he held his stomach in pain as he tried to recover his breath. But Cardin wasn't about to give him any chances. He rushed once more and Jaune evaded the attack, slashing him in the leg and making him fall on his side.

"What are you talking about?!" Jaune asked as he struggled to breath.

"The Fall" Cardin said as he struggled to stand up again. "It was them, Jaune. The faunus. The witches. It was them, IT HAD TO BE THEM!". He said before charging again. Jaune blocked his strikes but Cardin delivered them with such strength it still made him fall on his back, he had to roll once more to avoid an attack and grab his weapon, but Cardin was waiting for it and as soon as he did, he slammed him once more, pushing him back.

Jaune couldn't understand. "What are you talking abo…You…The White Fang. Is this about what you said!? Cardin, the White Fang didn't have witches!". Jaune was baffled, when Cardin accused the witches and the white fang of having a connection, he just assumed it came from his natural discrimination towards faunus. But Cardin…he actually believed that.

Cardin rushed with another strike, he delivered multiple swings while yelling, "I'M NOT STUPID, JAUNE!". Jaune evaded the swings but one last one finally got him and launched him once more to the floor, covering his face in mud.

"We all saw it! We all did! How can you deny it?!" Cardin kept saying, his breath was becoming faster due to exhaustion and exasperation. "We all saw the lights! We all saw the flashes on the tower, the flames! And when the Wyvern landed, we all saw the massive bright light! Explain it to me, Jaune! What was that if not magic, huh?! WHAT THE HELL WAS IT?!". He said in anger.

Jaune was in shock…Cardin…he was misunderstanding. Those lights, if wasn't the White Fang. The flames came from Cinder and the bright light…that was Ruby. Cardin was right, it was magic, he just didn't understand what that power was and where did it come from. He called it magic just because that's what fairytales call miracles like those.

Jaune stood up again. "It's not what you think. The Coven had nothing to do with that day!"

Cardin wasn't willing to listen, "STOP LYING AND DEFENDING THEM!".

"WHY WOULD I LIE!? Do you have ANY IDEA how much I lost in the Fall?!" Jaune yelled, trying to make Cardin listen to reason, but Cardin's rage made him an irrational mad man. He angrily slammed Jaune once more, striking him on the legs, side, shoulder. It was a brutal flurry that ended with a hit on the chest and Jaune with his back on the floor.

"WE ALL LOST THAT DAY!" Cardin yelled with all his strength, much to Jaune's shock. Jaune laid on his side in pain, just to see Cardin as he held his face, trying to contain his own anger and sadness. "We…we all lost that day…. We lost our home… We lost so many people…. Pyrrha…We didn't get along, BUT SHE WAS ONE OF OURS!".

"P…Pyrrha" Jaune said to himself, that was the person Cardin was referring to all along. To think that after all this time…Cardin of all people, was feeling that pain too.

"She didn't deserve that…She didn't...None of us did" The rain stopped falling, as Cardin took his hand from his face. "We stayed afterwards" Cardin said with a cold and calm voice, "We stayed and fought to clean everything up. The guys did, Professor Goodwitch did, even Velvet and her team, they stayed with us to heal the wound the Fang left us" Cardin stopped and looked at Jaune directly, "But you, of all people…" He said with anger.

Cardin started walking towards Jaune once more, mace ready for another blow. Jaune stood up quickly and barely evaded the strike.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!" Cardin yelled as he swung once more. "YOU SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT WITH US!", he said before slamming Jaune once more. Jaune had to get back to his shield. Cardin was assaulting viciously. "SHE WAS YOUR PARTNER!" He slammed the shield. "SHE WAS YOUR FRIEND!", He slammed the shield again. "WHERE WAS YOUR TEAM!?", another strike. "WHEN VELVET FELL EXHAUSTED, WHERE WERE YOU?!", a bash with rage. "WHEN GOODWITCH CRIED HERSELF TO SLEEP, WHERE WERE YOU?!", a slam so strong it made Jaune almost lose his balance. "WHERE WERE YOU, JAUNE!?", Cardin increased the speed of his strikes, he smashed the shield over and over and over and over again. "ANSWER ME! WHERE WERE YOU!?". The flurry of strikes overwhelmed Jaune until his defense couldn't resist is, Cardin bashed him in the stomach and launched him once more, making him cough blood.

Cardin struggled to remain conscious, his injuries and the exhaustion where affecting him badly, but his mind…Cardin's anger was making his head dizzy, he was losing touch with reality.

Jaune struggled to stand up, which only served to annoy Cardin more.

"When everyone left. I took the guys through Anima to hunt down the Fang. Imagine my surprise when I heard there were witches in North Anima" Cardin kept saying. "I knew there were faunus with magic, I knew I was right"

Jaune stood up, sword and shield ready, but his vision was blurry and his legs were shacking.

"I won't stop…I can't…I'm going to make them pay…I'M GOING TO MAKE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID TO HER! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Cardin yelled, the rain had stopped and Jaune could now clearly see, the stream of tears coming down from Cardin's eyes.

Jaune's eyes got wide open…those words…He knew them, he heard them before. Jaune recognized the pain Cardin was in. He had told those same words with that same face to Cinder…and it almost caused the death of a loved one. Cardin…he wasn't going to stop; he lost the value of his own life. He bottled up his pain and sorrow and it turned him into a feral beast.

"Ca…Cardin" Jaune struggled to speak, but he pushed himself to do so. "I'm sorry…But you don't know what you are doing, and I can't let you continue…You are hurting others…You are hurting yourself…".

Cardin gave him an odd chuckle, "Don't talk…as if… YOU KNEW ME!".

Cardin and Jaune rushed at each other. Cardin slammed once more, a strike Jaune blocked with his shield, but to Cardin's surprise, Jaune responded immediately with a slice from the bottom followed with a shield bash that pushed him back. Cardin responded with a strike of explosive dust, but Jaune rolled to his side and quickly activated his greatsword, slashing him on the back with force multiple times, Jaune smashed Cardin's face with the flat side of his greatsword, throwing him off balance. As Cardin struggled to remain standing, he was met with a thrust from Jaune's spear followed with a flurry of strikes, Jaune spun his spear like the blades of a windmill, striking Cardin multiple times. Cardin recovered by slamming Jaune from above, his mace was blocked and locked with Jaune's spear. Cardin's strength was overpowering Jaune, but he was smarter, in a quick move, Jaune detached the sword form the top half of his spear, folding the pole quickly into the shield form, the swift move startled Cardin and left him open for a flurry of strike from Jaune's sword. One after the other, the slashed ate through Cardin's weak aura. Jaune pushed Cardin back with his shield and quickly activated his greatsword once more for a savage assault. Jaune swung at the mace and bashed it off of Cardin's hand. He then tossed his sword aside and tackled Cardin to the ground, pinning him on the floor and bashing his face with his fists.

Punch after punch after punch, Jaune smashed Cardin's face with anger and sorrow. A desperate attack to force him to stop. Frustration, Cardin's words kept resounding on his heart and mind. It pained him how much of himself he saw on him. He just wanted him to stop. Jaune kept going even after Cardin's aura broke, he kept punching with force, until Cardin's nose was broken and blood started to come out of his mouth. Eventually, Jaune calmed down and managed to stop himself. Exhausted, he grabbed his head in frustration. Cardin laid in the floor in excruciating pain. But he managed to remain conscious. The little pathetic kid he used to bully in school, just beat him to a pulp. He was surprised though when he started to feel drops falling to his face. The rain had stopped, the drops where Jaune's tears.

Jaune felt to the side, exhausted and barely able to move. He struggled to breath, and just laid there next to Cardin. The two of them looked straight at the sky, as the dark clouds moved along and the stars shined once more.

"I'm sorry" Jaune said with difficulty, but Cardin was too in pain to respond or even react.

"I…sho…should have been there" Jaune said, his voice showed guilt.

"I should have stayed…but it wouldn't have been for long anyways". He said.

Cardin, moved his head a little, trying to face Jaune.

Jaune continued, "They didn't do it…I know. I left because I know who did…Ruby told me…"

Cardin let out a sigh, of course Ruby would be involved.

"We've been chasing the people responsible ever since….We had our wins…and our loses" He kept explaining.

"Cardin…I do know you…I do, because I've been like you ever since I lost Pyrrha" Jaune said.

Jaune turned his head to face Cardin. "I let my hatred get the best of me…Weiss almost died too, because of me…Cardin…We can't keep hurting ourselves. Is not right. That's not a way to live. Ren, Nora, Ruby, they all tried to help me and I just kept that venom inside me. Dove, Sky and Russel also want to help you, if they didn't, they would have left a long time ago, don't you think?".

Cardin, turned his face back at the sky and soon Jaune did the same. The clouds kept moving slowly. After a few minutes, Cardin got the strength to speak again, even though doing so caused him a lot of pain. "I…just wish I could have done more…I can't take back the things I said or did to her…I can't take back all the things I did at Beacon. And now…I just can't fix it. It's too late. It's gone…everyone left, everyone kept going and I…I just didn't know what to do…".

"It's not too late…".

"Huh. Yes, it is. I'm a monster, Jaune. The first thing I noticed when the witches showed up was that only one of them was a faunus. I ignored it on purpose. I just wanted it so badly for them to be the ones…I just…I thought that if I ended them…I wouldn't feel so miserable all the time. That's why I dragged the guys in a goose chase. I'm a monster, I wanted to kill them all…just to feel better with myself…I wanted to kill people, so that it was easier to live with myself. What is wrong with me!?". Cardin said, frustrated tears came of his eyes.

"It's not too late." Jaune said again, much to Cardin's surprise. "I wanted to kill her. The one that caused the fall. And in doing so…I almost lost someone important to me. In doing so, I also lost myself. If it wasn't for my friends, I would have thrown away my life, just so that I wouldn't have to live with my guilt anymore... But is not too late. Is not too late to make things right, Cardin. Is not too late to learn from what we did. Is not too late…to accept that what happened, happened…and we have to live with that. It's not too late to learn, to grow, stand up…and keep going…It's hard, and it hurts every day, but we have to do it and we have to do it right. We owe it to them…to the ones that aren't with us. You and I, we owe Pyrrha, to at least try and stand up again, better than what we use to be".

Cardin kept looking at the sky. Jaune's words hit him hard, he would have lied if he said those words didn't give him a bit of hope. Hope that maybe one day he would be able to move past this, to be a better person. But a side of him was still incredulous. The guilt he felt kept telling him, that he didn't deserve it, he didn't deserve the chance to make things right. He saw himself as a vile person…But what if Jaune was right?

A few minutes passed as the two rivals laid in silence next to each other. The taste of blood in Cardin's mouth served as a reminder of his wrong doings, but…oddly enough, he felt a certain serenity. He had been piling up all his anger. All those words, he had them all locked inside, and now that he let them out…it was as if a massive weight had been taken from his shoulders. Jaune also felt a bit of peace, He now saw clearly the darkness that was inside him, what he could have been, and a wrong path to grow away from.

The peace as quiet didn't last too long though. The screams of people running out of the temple served as a reminder, that the war wasn't over yet.

Jaune and Cardin sat down with difficulty. They managed to see the people running, civilians. They were shocked and confused at the sight.

"Are those…Civilians? What…What's going on?" Cardin asked, much to Jaune's surprise. Jaune immediately realized that Cardin was just as confused as him.

Jaune struggled to stand up and stumbled towards his sword while Cardin stayed down, too tired and hurt to stand. Jaune took his sword and used it as a cane, he moved as quickly as he could towards the temple, fearing things were worse than he thought.

As he approached the temple's doors, Victoria came out running. "Jaune!".

"Victo…Arg!" Jaune tried to call for her but the pain didn't let him finish, he stubbled and almost fell to the ground, thankfully Victoria was quick enough to grab him and help him stand.

"Are you alright!?".

"Yeah, don't…worry. What's going on?" Jaune asked to a distraught Victoria.

"Civilians attacked the temple. And, Mother Emilia…She is out, she wants the book!".

"She escaped?!" Jaune asked, his tone showed worry.

Victoria was a bit surprised by Jaune's choice of words. "Escaped? But you said…" All the pieces started to connect in her mind, "You knew…We could have moved her to another place, but you wanted her at the temple…She wasn't there for her safety…She was your prisoner".

Jaune gave her a shamed look, it was all Victoria needed as confirmation. The two didn't have time to continue when an explosion coming from the temple startled them. From the smoke a figure emerged, leaping over them and landing in front of the temple.

"VIIIICTORIAAA!" Emilia yelled, a mad grin on her face. Her hair was messed up and her garment was torn. Blood dropping from her forehead. "Give me THE BOOK!". With wind dust on one scepter and fire dust on the other, Emilia shot a massive flame at Jaune and Victoria. Her sanity was gone and instead a ruthless rage took her over.

Jaune quickly dropped his sword and hugged Victoria, boosting his and her auras to protect them from the flames. It worked for a moment, but there was nothing aura could do with the heat and the flames were quickly consuming the oxygen around them. Jaune and Victoria were suffocating, to make matters worse, Jaune could barely keep his semblance going and was too weak to move out.

The situation was dire. Emilia kept on screaming, "GIVE ME THE BOOK!". She walked slowly towards them; the flames grown ever more intense. "VICTORI….." She was about to yell…until a mace came out flying and hit her on the side, making her drop her scepters and stopping the stream of flames.

Jaune and Victoria breathed heavily, as the oxygen started to come back. Fire surrounded them, but Jaune was able to stop his semblance and Victoria helped him grab his sword and move to a safer spot. They looked at the scene and saw Mother Emilia laying in the ground, spitting blood and from the opposite side, Cardin on his knees falling on all fours having used the rest of his force on that throw.

"You…cough…Insolent piece of sh…." Emilia was cut off by a kick on the face and a group of civilians getting a hold on her.

Jaune, Victoria and Cardin were surprised and confused. Suddenly, Victoria was roped by the neck and pulled away from Jaune, making both of them fall to the ground.

From behind the temple, a mob of angry citizens came out, followed by squads of guards coming from down the mountain. They surrounded the area, pinning Jaune, Emilia and Victoria to the ground as well as showing the lookout witches together with other captured ones.

Victoria struggled to release herself, but it was useless.

"Victoria!" Jaune yelled.

The sounds of clapping caught their attention. "Great job, Cardin. You did it, you took the main witch down". The Major said, coming from behind the crowd. He walked with a smug smile on his face, admiring his victory.

"And even the traitor is here. Gotta say, your fight was quite fun to watch from the forest…Not too happy about the outcome though, Cardin". The Major said, belittling Cardin for his defeat.

Jaune realized what had happened. The witches were too busy with the guards they were caught by surprise by the angry mob of civilians the Major had brought with him. When the lookouts sent the signal fire, The Major knew more would come to their aid, so he planned an ambush while a separate group raided the temple.

"YOU BROUGHT AN ANGRY MOB?! Are you crazy!?" Cardin yelled.

"Well, Cardin, it was your idea". The Major replied.

"What?".

"You were the one that said that we needed the citizen's strength, didn't you? Well, here they are".

"I…No! I wanted their support! This…An angry mob?! You have any idea what you di…" Cardin tried to say but a man muffled his mouth and pinned him to the floor, tying his hands behind him as Cardin was of no use to the cause anymore.

"No! Give it back! NO!" Victoria pleaded as a guard took the book from her, having heard Emilia pointing out she had it.

"Major" The guard said as she handed the sacred Book of Shadows to the Major himself, who took it with a grin on his face and laughed.

He walked towards Mother Emilia and addressed her. "The 24hrs are up, witch! And you got your wish! The people has delivered me at your request!...To bring your punishment".

The crowd cheered, swinging their weapons and torches.

"You heretic, FOOL! I'll kill you; I'LL KILL YOU ALL FOR THIS!" Emilia kept threating, but the Major was in control.

"QUIET!" The Major answered, kicking her in the face. "You really think you are in a position to threaten ME?! Tonight, you are at my mercy, I'll be your executioner!".

The crowd once more cheered. The guards didn't though, they were on duty and many weren't so sure about these actions, but they still followed orders.

"Yeah!...And you know what? Forget the stake…no, I have something better in mind. An end more ironic for a sickening witch like you.", The major took the Book of Shadows and opened it on his hands. "With this book, I'll have the power to wipe you and your evil Coven from existence! You will meet your end at the hand of the same demonic magic you used to kill so many innocents!".

Victoria struggled to get free, "Mother Emilia!".

"You are disgracing our sacred text! UNHAND IT! I'LL END YOU!". Emilia yelled in anger. Enraged at the sight of the Major touching the ancient relic.

The Major pointed his finger at Mother Emilia's face. "NO! I'LL END YOU! THIS ALL ENDS HERE! WITCH!". The crowd cheered once more. "Shake before the last words you'll ever hear!", The Major said. With a smile on his face and hearing Victoria's pleads, the Major started reading the powerful spell from the Book of Shadows, "AND X-RAY SAID: SUCK MY X…ray….WHAT THE?!.

"That's…THAT'S NOT THE BOOK!" Emilia said in shock.

"WHAT IS THIS GARBAGE?!".

"GARBAGE?! How dare you?! THAT is a limited-edition novelization of the X-Ray and Vav movie!" Jaune said taunting the Major with a big smile, much to him and everyone else's confusion.

Jaune let out a whistle, signaling an ambush of witches lead by Don. The witches surrounded the angry mob and the guards, blasting some of them with wind to push them back and break their formation. They attacked the people holding Jaune, Victoria and Emilia, freeing the three of them.

The fight stopped, everyone aiming their weapons at each other. Victoria's squad had brought a captured Russel, while Violet's team held Sky and Dove. Cardin tried to stand up, but he was too tired to do so and fell once more, the witches surrounded him and kept him on the floor with his mouth still muffled.

Victoria was so glad of seeing her sister, she rushed at her and the two embraced.

Emilia was free and didn't waste time, she rushed at her scepters with the intend of retaliating. She would have gotten them, if Don hadn't kicked them away and placed his sword on her neck.

"No, no. Sorry, ma'am, I can't let you do that" Don said, capturing Emilia himself.

The witches were all surprised by this action. None of them understood what Don was doing. They came here to save their sisters and headmistress, yet, the man they were trusting now held a sword at Mother Emilia's neck? What was going on?

"Another insolent, swine!? Where is it?!" Emilia demanded to know.

"Yeah! Where is it!? That book must be burned!" The Major continued.

"HERETIC! That book belongs to the Coven! It belongs to ME!". Emilia replied.

"TELL ME WHERE IS IT!" The Major demanded.

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP?!" Jaune yelled, catching everyone's attention. He stood with his sword as a cane and while everyone saw him, he walked towards an old tree stump and sat down.

"Neither of you will ever find it. Only I know where it is. Not the guards, not the Witches, ME!". Jaune said as he addressed everyone present.

The witches were all confused. Violet and Victoria didn't understand what this meant. Jaune gave them a decoy, he had managed to take the Book of Shadows unnoticed.

"You…you took it?" Violet asked, a bit worried and conflicted. She trusted Jaune and she hid this from her. She wasn't sure of what to think. Was Victoria right all along? She started to be afraid of that…until Victoria put her hand on her shoulder, and gave her a smile, assuring her that everything was alright.

Jaune smiled at them as Victoria nodded at him. He then continued. "I took the book because I knew it was the only way for both sides to listen".

"Listen what?! How did that Book destroyed our city?!" A man from the angry mob yelled, but he was met with an angry look from Jaune.

"THEY DIDN'T CAUSE THIS!" Jaune said…and everyone listened.

"The Fall brought the Grimm…" Jaune said, much to CRDL's shock. He continued, "When Beacon fell, Grimm around Remnant became more hostile, those were the first waves of Grimm you got. Every other settlement got the same attacks".

"But the witches! They brought more!" The Major said, pointing his finger at Emilia much to her anger.

"No. YOU, brought more Grimm" Jaune said, shutting the Major up as the mob shifted their angry eyes at him. "Your laws. You have no idea of what you did. Making it illegal to express negative emotions will never reduce Grimm attacks, it increased them." Jaune said and the Major became more nervous. "Don't you see? You made a city full of tanks of negative emotions! You didn't let them release their anger, their sadness, they all had to repress them!...But…when you got rid of the Graveyard…that was the drop that spilled the glass".

The Major started to shiver.

Jaune continued, "You are starting to get it, aren't you? When you got rid of the Graveyard, you wanted to prevent people from being sad, but all you did was preventing them from grieving", He said, the Major took his eyes away from him in a bit of shame. The angry mob and the guards started to lower the weapons a little. Jaune continued, "When you lose someone…you feel an emptiness in your heart, it hurts, it's a heavy weight that makes every step more difficult…But you need to keep going. By taking away the Graveyard, you didn't let people grieve their dead, you didn't let them get closure…you didn't let them get rid of their guilt, their sorrow. You didn't let them move on. That's what brought the Grimm".

The Major was reluctant to believe it. "No…That's not true! My projects…. They are for the people! For the good of the city!".

"But you didn't let me cry for him…" A woman from the mob said, her hands shaking and tears coming from her eyes, "It's been so hard ever since my dad died…And I can't even visit his grave, you won't even let us have a picture and candles for him…why?! Why won't you?!" The woman said and the Major started to sweat. Guilt started to pressure him.

Violet stepped in, "Our rituals are to help the souls of your lost ones to move on. We didn't want to send Grimm to the city".

"But you didn't help either" Jaune interrupted her to her and all the witches' surprise.

"The Major's laws brought the Grimm to the city, but you made them stronger and their attacks even more frequent" Jaune said, shifting his arguments, to everyone's surprise, he was now blaming the Coven. Jaune approached a witch and took her hat. "You see this? Why did wear this? Huh? Have any of you ever wondered why?!" The witches all looked at each other. Jaune continued, "Wearing it for the ritual is one thing, is a ceremony, but going around dressed like this, what did you think was going to happen? Fear brings Grimm. The Major didn't start the witch rumors, you did, you caused panic in the city, of course the Grimm would follow it".

"But…That wasn't our intention, we just didn't want to be recognized" The witch replied before Jaune returned her hat. "We just wanted to help the people".

"No. You wanted to help their decease. Not even once did you ask the people for the items, not even once did you explain yourselves. You became a horror story and even worst; you stole the only things this people had left to remember their loves ones. You didn't allow them to grieve either".

The witches looked at each other in shame. All they wanted was to aid the city, to help stop what they thought was an injustice through their faith…and yet.

A guard broke formation, too focused on the discussion. "Wait…so who is to blame?".

"All of them" a person from the mob answered, "The Major and his stupid laws and the witches and their rituals! They both did this!".

"Is not that simple" Jaune said, walking around. "The thing you are not seeing is…None of you wanted this. You were all so focused on wanting to be right and wanting the other to be wrong that neither realized you both wanted the same thing". Jaune said, he looked at Don who gave him a proud smile. "The laws and the ritual were meant to protect the city, to help you all. They both wanted to save this city, to save their home. But neither was willing to listen to the other…This can be fix though, you can work to fix this now!… Is not too late" Jaune said, that last part made Cardin reflect on what Jaune told him earlier.

"So…there is no one to blame?" the guards said.

"Sigh…There is someone…." Jaune said as he turned his face at Mother Emilia. He walked towards her. "You ready to talk? Or you want me to keep going?".

"Hehe…Go on, clever boy. Enlighten us".

"Mother Emilia?" a witch said shyly.

Jaune saw her with disgust, "This morning's attack was because of her" Jaune declared to everyone's shock. He kept addressing her, Don lifting her head with his sword to make her look at Jaune. "You knew the panic the witches were causing. You knew what that was doing to the city. That's why you sent them last night" He said, the witches all with their eyes wide open. "You ordered them to attack City Hall and put a time limit on the Major, knowing that would cause chaos. You knew panic would bring even more Grimm. You knew the people would riot. You wanted it to happen so that the Grimm would attack and kill them all. Am I wrong?!".

The witches were in disbelief, Mother Emilia couldn't have manipulated them into destroying the city. She was their loving headmistress…I was impossible.

"You are very wrong, boy. Sisters! Do not believe this heretic's lies! You know that I would never…"

"To get a beautiful garden, you first need to cut the weed" Victoria interrupted, much to Emilia's anger. "That's what you said before you attacked me. Right after you murdered so many people…It's true, you wanted to send a Grimm horde to kill the citizens! All because they didn't see things the same as you!". Victoria said, angry tears on her eyes. The other witches were in shock, they all respected Mother Emilia like their own mother, but they also saw Victoria as their big sister, if she was saying these terrible things…it had to be true.

Violet stood next to her sister, "You used us. We trusted you. We all thought we were doing good. All we wanted was to give peace to our city, our family! This is not what the Coven stood for! We followed you because you showed us love, how could you do this?!".

Emilia started to chuckle. The sisters were horrified and heartbroken at this betrayal. And the mob was becoming angrier.

"YOU KILLED OUR PEOPLE!".

"THEY KILLED THEMSELVES! It's the beauty of it! Your own hatred, that same hatred that killed Saint Aradia. The same ignorance that gave power to corrupt idiots like him! It's the same thing that will kill you all!". Emilia proclaimed with a smile on her face.

Jaune noticed how Cardin was shaking, trying his best to free himself. "Let him go!".

The witches let go of him and Jaune released his mouth. "Jaune! The mob!".

Jaune turned and saw the mob getting angrier and out of control at Emilia's words. His eyes got wide with realization.

"You have to get out of here!". Jaune said, but the mob didn't listen. Guards preventing them from attacking Emilia.

His aura had the time to heal his wounds. Jaune was able to walk fast at the Major, who was in a state of denial at his responsibility in the deaths of so many.

"Major, you have to tell them to go back to the city. NOW!".

"No…I….Im the Major…They came here to support me because I'm right! I came here to prove you that I'm a good leader!" The Major said, starting to panic.

Jaune pulled him by the collar, "Yeah, I knew you would come! Had you not I was going to take her to your place anyways! What I wasn't counting on was on you being stupid enough to bring an angry mob to a Grimm infested forest!".

"W…what?".

"GRRRRRAAAAUUUU!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Screams were heard as Beowolves attacked. Soon enough, the entire plateau was swarmed by Grimm attracted by the anger, fear, distrust and sorrow of the people around.

The Beowolves brutally ravaged every person around them. The mob entered a panic, some tried to fight back but the terror was too much for them to think straight.

The Beowolves weren't the only concern. Other Grimm had joined them and the panic just grew exponentially as Ursas launched people around and Creeps tackled them.

The guards opened fire to protect the civilians, but the Grimm horde was overwhelming them.

A civilian was in panic, walking in a shock induced trance. "No, no, no, no, no….It was the witches….it was them…they did…" He was about to said until he was startled as a Beowolf jumped on a witch in front of him.

"HELP ME!" She yelled as she held the beast with her staff on its mouth, barely holding it back. The Beowolf frenetically tried to claw the witch and tear her apart, all the while, the man sat on the ground helplessly watching as the witch begged for her life, too terrified to even move.

"PLEASE! NOO!" She yelled, her staff starting to crack under the strength of the Beowolf's jaw. The man saw shacking at the horrific scene…until a sword pierced the Beowolf's head. Jaune killed the beast and immediately turned at the man, who started to crawl backwards away from the scene, not noticing the Beowolf standing behind him.

"AHHHHH!" The man yelled as the Beowolf grabbed his head and was ready to bite him in the neck. Fortunately for him, Victoria shot a fire ball at the creature, freeing the man from its grasp.

"Run away!" Victoria said to the man who just nodded at her and started running for his life.

The witches, the guards and the mob all fought the creatures as best as they could, but their fear only made the Grimm more and more aggressive.

Don ran towards Sky, Dove and Russel and immediately cut their ropes. "Stand up! We need you here!", he shouted as the witches gave their weapons back to them. The guys didn't hesitate and joined the fight immediately.

Victoria used her semblance momentarily and leaped in the air to where everyone could see her. "COVEN! PROTECT THE CIVILIANS!". She said then fell back down and rejoined the fight.

Jaune defended as many people as he could. His aura gave him back some of his strength but was still struggling. He quickly turned back and saw Cardin's mace still on the floor. He turned and saw Cardin crawling; his mouth was free but his arms were still tied up. Jaune folded his shield and took Cardin's mace, running at him at full speed.

An Ursa took notice of the vulnerable Cardin who was trying his best to get away from it. The beast charged at him without hesitation, even trampling other Grimm away to get to its prey. Fear took over Cardin, but he couldn't even blink, his eyes stayed wide as the beast charged at him. But to his surprise, Jaune slammed the Ursa under the jaw with his mace and then cut its head off with his sword, saving Cardin's life.

Jaune dropped Cardin's mace next to him and quickly ran behind him to cut him loose.

"Get up!" Jaune said…but Cardin stayed down, ashamed. "Come on! STAND UP!".

"You should have let it…I'm a monster like them…I don't…"

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" Jaune yelled at him. "Cardin! You are a huntsman too! You have a responsibility! You owe it to this people! STAND UP AND FIGHT!" Jaune said, shocking Cardin who looked at him straight in the eyes. Jaune offered him a hand and saw him with a serious face. "Is not too late, Cardin". Cardin smiled and Jaune smiled back and with a quick move, Cardin took Jaune's hand and bright aura started covering him. Jaune used his semblance on him, acceleration the regeneration of his aura and healing him a bit in the process. Revigorated, Cardin stood up and the former rivals charged together, to protect the ones that needed them.

The battle kept going and panic kept growing, but Jaune and Cardin cut and smashed their way through the battlefield, protecting as many people they could in the process.

The witches and the guards fought together, bullets and fire balls flying around, united by a common enemy.

The mob, once angry and blood thirsty, was now cowardly spreading, many were taking any chance they could to run back to the city, many others stood and fought the Grimm horde…many others fell to it.

Jaune and Cardin split up, covering more ground. Cardin saw his team on the distance. They were all exhausted, Russel hadn't even recovered his aura yet. A pack of beowolves approached team CRDL, ready to launch themselves at them. Russel could barely move and soon he was covered in fear as the a beowolf leaped at him, clearly the easiest prey. To Russel's surprise, Cardin stood in front of him, slamming the beast and every other beowolf that tried to attack him. The team was stunned, Cardin was just as exhausted and weakened as them, but he kept on fighting. They had been following him for a long time, always worry of his decent after the fall. They were all used to seeing Cardin push himself and them to their limits out of sheer hatred and petty pride…but this was different. They could all see Cardin wasn't fighting for his revenge anymore, he was fighting for them, he had never done something like that before, specially not at Beacon. As Cardin kept fighting the horde, he was starting to get overwhelmed, when gun fire from Sky's rifle and Dove's gun-sword took down the Beowolves around him. Team CRDL smiled at each other, they had fought together many times before…but maybe, this was the first time they fought as a real team, following a leader that truly inspired them to give it their all.

Emilia crawled amongst the chaos, quickly approaching her scepters. Violet saw her in the commotion and rushed at her. As Emilia took her scepters and stood up proudly, she thought she had a chance of actually escaping the scene, but that delusion was broken when Violet hit her in the face with her staff.

Emilia stood in anger at this insolence. "You….Always the trouble maker, Violet! Can't you understand I'm finally bringing peace to the dead? Can't you see I'm doing this for our family!?".

"You are just causing more pain. You are making more innocent people suffer. Our family? You don't deserve to call us that. Not after what you did. You are just a rotten hag, a murderous sinner! May the gods' light forgive you and their shadows have mercy on you…because I won't". Violet said, looking down on Emilia, enraging her.

Emilia and Violet battled. The flurry of fire balls from Emilia's scepters were deviated by Violet's staff who choose to get close and personal, pushing the scepters away and making her miss every shot. Violet quickly noticed that Emilia didn't have any aura left, it was an easy fight for her. She hit her multiple times with her staff, slamming her legs, face and stomach repeatedly before pushing her with a wind blow. Violet quickly switched to lighting dust and with a lightning bolt, Emilia dropped her scepters stunned. To finish things off, Violet swung her staff and launched Emilia against the walls of the Temple, defeating the disgraceful former headmistress.

Jaune found himself surrounded with Grimm. His shield up and his sword ready. He blocked an attack and slashed another Beowolf, before turning quickly to block another beast and stab a fourth one. Three more Beowolves launched at him at once, he managed to stab one and block the other but the third was about to bite his head off, if it wasn't for Don's blade. As he stepped back, Jaune found himself back to back with his master.

"Having fun, kid?".

"You have no idea, haha".

"Atta boy! Let's show them what we got!".

Master and Apprentice launched their assault, swinging their swords and shields in sync. A beowolf attacked Don and Jaune blocked it, a Creep launched at Jaune and Don slashed it. The beasts leaped from all directions and the pair did not yield. Jaune and Don put their shields together and with their steel wall up trampled the Grimm in front of them and got free of their siege.

Jaune and Don rushed across the battlefield, killing every Grimm on their path. Fighting as one, they both swapped to their spears and ravaged the Grimm. Noone could stop the duo.

"Not bad, lad!".

"Can't keep up, old man?"

"HA! Get on my level! Kid!".

"Let's do it!".

The spears were shift, their blades agile and deathly. The swarm of Grimm was being mown down but the spinning blades. Jaune and Don smiled, even the Grimm would learn to fear the smile of the Knight Errants. An Ursa Major rushed at them, but ever so fearless, Jaune and Don stood up to it, their spears stabbing its neck at the same time, crossing inside the beast's flesh and ending its life.

A guard rushed to the Major, he was in shock talking to himself while hiding behind a tree.

"Sir! We have to get you out of here, right now!".

"It's…It's my fault…It was all my fault….It was…" The Major kept mumbling.

"SIR!" The guard tried to bring him back to his senses.

Suddenly…the floor started to shake. The entire mountain trebled. From the distance, a massive figure emerged. The creature was huge yet slender and long. The immense centipede like Grimm came out from higher up in the mountain and stood out from the canopy of the woods. It extended as if reaching for the moon itself. And without a warning, it let out an imponent screech, so loud, even the Grimm stopped and turned to look at it.

"SSCCREEEEEEEEEEECHHHH".

Everyone saw the beast horrified…everyone, but Emilia.

"hehehehe. HAHAHAHAHAH!" She laughed, finally snapping and losing the last bits of sanity she had left. "IT'S AWAKE! HAHAHA!". Violet turned at her, seeing her ramble like a lunatic. "I found it months ago, dormant in the depths of the mountain" She said with her face down, she quickly lifted it with a massive maniacal grin. "The souls of the dead will consume that sinful city!". Violet was shocked with the realization, this was what Emilia was working on, this is what she wanted to accomplish, create enough chaos to awaken this massive beast. "SLAUGTHER THEM! MIGHTY SCOLOPENDRA! END THEM ALL! HAHAHAH!".

The Scolopendra screeched once more, sending both the mob and some of the guards rushing in a panic back to the city, the Grimm horde swarming after them. The Scolopendra ran down the mountain, attracted by the fear of the city. It was as if a train speeded out of control down the mountain. A vicious hunger for death and destruction.

The plateau soon was almost empty, only a few guards, the witches, the Major and the huntsmen were left. Everyone else ran back to the city, and the Grimm horde followed.

Emilia kept laughing. Against all odds, she felt triumphant. "It's done, hahaha. The city won't survive the night. Hehehe".

Everyone gathered in front of the temple, with some guards and witches tending to the injured survivors.

"We have to contact the guards in the city!" Jaune said, trying to get the guards around to send a message to their troops.

"They won't get in time, there are still riots across the city and…." A guard tried to explain but was soon shut down.

"Do as he say!" The Major ordered, in terror still but making an effort to swallow his pride.

Jaune and the Major exchanged a look, only nodding at each other. The Major handed the situation to Jaune. His status, his public image, none of that mattered anymore, The Major only wanted his city saved.

The guards followed orders and contacted all forces, ordering every unit to rush south of the city and all forces stationed close by already were ordered to evacuate the area and prepare for the attack.

"We have to go down and fight as well. Guards, follow me and Don. Violet, Victoria, lead the Coven forces" Jaune started instructing.

Cardin and his team approached him, "We are going too". The two former rivals looked at each other. "I won't let you have all the glory; you know?" Cardin said with a smile which Jaune returned.

A witch intervened, "We won't make it. It would take us 2 hours to get down to the city on foot. The Grimm would have destroyed everything by then!".

Jaune realized this, but he already had a plan. "Victoria. How many people can you use your semblance on at once?".

"Me? I…I've done 4 people max, but I don't have much aura left, I don't know…" Victoria responded but Jaune interrupted.

"I'll help you out with that. Ok, everyone, grab your things. I need some people to stay with the injured, the rest follow me!". Jaune instructed and the troops started to get ready. "Coven, gather up!".

"No, you won't!" Emilia said, getting the attention of her former sisters. Emilia grabbed dirt and pressed it on her hand angrily. "Sisters! Can't you see?! All I did, everything I did was in the name of our lords. I gave all of you a home, but now that home has a plague. If you go down there, you'll die with that scum…But if you stand with me, we can make a new city, a city without sin, a city without corruption, discrimination and hatred! Can't you see? I'm fighting for the good of the people!".

"SHUT UP!" Violet yelled in anger. "How dare you!? Fighting for the good of the people? Are you kidding me? No, you haven't…None of us have…" She said in anger and frustration, her fist clenched and small tears coming out. Violet raised her face and addressed her sisters. "Jaune is the only that has been fighting for the people! But us? We are responsible for this! The Coven was meant to bring peace to the dead, you really think this is peace?!" She asked and the Coven all were ashamed. Violet continued. "Sisters, we owe this city, we have sinned and it's time we repay them!".

The sisters were all thinking the same way. The had a desire to repent for their actions even though none of this was their intention.

"Violet is right" Victoria stepped in. "We are the sisters of Saint Agnes and the Coven of Saint Aradia. We have a duty to this city. They need us. We swore to serve them as our saints once did".

"By following this stupid brat?! You want to put your faith in him over your gods appointed headmistress?!". Emilia replied…but her arguments fell in deft ears.

A witch approached. "We trust Violet and Victoria. They are right, we owe this city. If they say we should follow the huntsmen, we will. They haven't let us down yet. They earned our faith".

The witches all looked with determination. They would fight for what they believed was right and were sure Violet and Victoria would lead them on the right path.

Jaune smiled at the sisters before turning once more at the defeated Mother Emilia, "Arrest her already. We have to get going", he said and two guards followed suit.

"I'll stay with the injured and the prisoner" The Major said, much to Jaune's surprise. "Give me a few guards and I'll take them down the mountain…Jaune, I'm begging you. Please save my city".

Jaune looked at him with a determine face. "I will".

---

Without any other delay, the witches and the guards gathered around, by combining Victoria and Jaune's semblances, all witches were able to ride their staves as brooms, flying through the night sky and carrying the guards and huntsmen with them.

Jaune was riding with Victoria, boosting her aura all the way back to the city. He had to keep focus, but he was visibly struggling.

"Jaune!".

"I'm fine. Don't worry. Just hurry up" Jaune said, he didn't want to worry Victoria, but in truth, Jaune was at his limit. He had been using his semblance and receiving damage to his aura all night. At this point he was forcing himself to keep his semblance up as to not make the rest of the people fall from the sky.

From the sky, the terror of the city could be seen as the Grimm swarm had already reached it and the Scolopendra's rampage was devastating everything in its path.

Everyone saw in horror as the Grimm slaughtered the guard troops and attacked the still fleeing citizens.

"They aren't well organized!" Jaune said, referring to the guard troops that were just arriving to the scene and firing wildly.

"I'll take care of it! Take charge!" Cardin said before Violet flew off with him. Jaune took the rest of the troops straight to the middle of the battlefield.

The guards panicking and firing at everything that moved were completely ineffective. The Grimm outnumbered them and the Scolopendra's presence had them extremely intimidated.

The guards were startled when Violet dropped Cardin off and he ran towards them.

"Everyone, line up! We are pushing forward!"

"Why should we listen to you!?".

Cardin grabbed the guard by the neck and put his face close to him, mad eyes sending shivers to his spin. "Because if you don't, I'll break your ribs one by one. NOW FORM UP!".

"YES SIR!".

---

In the middle of the swarm, the witches and the guards dropped on the street and immediately started their assault.

"Victoria! Get the civilians!". Jaune instructed.

"COVEN! Escort the citizens! Evacuate the area!".

"Guards! With me!"

"ROGER!".

The Grimm horde was devastating the city. Beowolves and Ursas ran on the streets. The commotion had attracted even more Grimm from around the forest. Boarbastusks rolled around trampling everything on their path.

Jaune and his forces swarmed the rampaging Grimm. As they moved, Jaune recognized a screeching sound coming from the black sky. He immediately lifted his shield and yelled at everyone around. "Get down!".

Nevermores flew by, shooting their feathers around before taking off. The bladed feathers got stuck on Jaune's shield, many others weren't so lucky.

"Keep pushing!" He ordered. He couldn't allow the troops to panic.

Jaune and Don ran and slayed as many Grimm as they could, clearing street after street while they pushed their way to the main threat.

Manticores arrived at the scene, shooting fire balls from the sky. Jaune was ready this time, instructing his troop to take cover in time to remain unharmed. Sky sniped a Manticore and Don threw his spear at another.

Before they could regroup, Jaune heard the flock of Nevermores approaching again. They didn't have time to take cover again but luckily, the winged beasts were taken down by explosions, fire balls and ice beams.

"Victoria!"

"I split up the Coven, you need range support. Now let's move!". Victoria said and the troops of guards and witches moved on.

The swarm was tenacious. The huntsmen ran in front of the troops taking down as many Grimm as they could, with the guards giving them ground support and the witches dealing with enemies at a distance.

The troops rushed until they reached an open area of the market, and in the middle, the imponent Scolopendra rampaged everything in its sight.

"SSSSCCRREEEEEECCHHHHH!".

The beast was extremely erratic and blood thirsty. Grimm around it were being crushed by its mad rampage.

From the street nearby, a bullet storm was being fired at the Scolopendra. Cardin and the bulk of the guard forces had arrived and started firing at the beast. Bullets flew mercilessly, but not a single one made a dent on the plated hide of the Scolopendra. The creature was armored, it was essentially bulletproof.

Soon enough, other guard troops arrived from other directions and joined in the fight, however this were unorganized and stood too close to the beast. The Scolopendra rushed at them prompting Jaune's squad and Cardin's forces to follow the creature to try to protect the guards.

The Scolopendra slaughter them as if they were nothing. Its hundred legs stomped the guards, its mandibles grabbed multiples of them at once and effortlessly cut them in half.

Its attention was finally caught by the rushing assault of Jaune's forces. Victoria and her witches created a stone wall to protect the guards from the rampaging Grimm. This enraged it, how dare they get between it and its prey.

"In coming!" Jaune yelled as the Scolopendra rushed at them. The troops managed to disperse and avoid the attack, many however, Jaune included were launched by the Grimm's force pushing them back.

Bullets kept flying and the beast didn't care for them, but it was enraged even more when a flurry of lightning bolts felt from behind it.

Violet had brought the rest of the witch Coven; the evacuation had ended successfully. A team from the mountain fight had actually made it to the city, they managed to free the witches that were captured on the Cathedral, reinforcements had arrived…but would it be enough?

"Kid!" Don rushed at Jaune's side, he shook his head and grabbed Don's shoulder.

"I'm fine!".

Lighting wasn't doing anything to the creature either, just getting it even more angry.

"SCREEEEEECHHHHHH!".

The powerful sound was painful and even broken some windows. Answering the call, the swarm of Grimm rampaged from all over the city to the middle of the market. The rage of the Scolopendra only meant one thing for them, prey.

Don took the guards, Russel, Sky and Dove with him to fight the Grimm together with Violet's witches. Meanwhile, Cardin's troops and Victoria's Coven followed Jaune on their assault against the Scolopendra.

Jaune now spear in hand lead the forces on a swarming offense. But nothing was working, the beast was immune to anything. Fire balls, bullets, slashes, lighting bolts. Nothing seemed to be able to pierce its thick plated hide. Jaune's forces surrounded the beast and tried to cut its legs, but once more this resulted ineffective. Jaune was forced to retreat, ordering the guards to protect the witches who were firing every type of dust they had in hand.

"Nothing works!" Jaune said in frustration.

The Scolopendra whipped its tail on the troops, slamming everything in its path and launching the unfortunate ones that couldn't evade it. Jaune tackled Victoria to the ground, saving her life but getting hit with one of the legs of the beast.

"JAUNE!".

Jaune hit a food stand, his aura barely protecting him. It wasn't going to last him much longer, another strike like that would be the end…but he had to keep trying.

As the beast moved to continue its attack, Jaune noticed the movement of the plated armor and realized, there were gaps in it. He just needed to make it stretch enough. Without delay, he rushed at his forces.

"Cardin! Rush north! Bait it to you! Victoria, Coven! Follow me!".

Cardin followed the orders, leading the troops and forming them up in front of the beast, marching backwards making sure the Scolopendra would follow.

Jaune took the witches with him behind the beast and sent Victoria to contact Violet's forces.

As soon as the Scolopendra rushed to trample Cardin's troops, Jaune gave the signal.

"NOW!" He shouted and immediately, his witches fired ice beams at the tail of the creature, freezing it and locking it in place.

The Scolopendra pulled itself by inertia, being taken by surprise at the ice wall. Immediately, Violet and Victoria's forces froze the head of the beast as it was extending at its maximum reach trying to devour the guards.

The plated armor was stretched and the gaps on it were exposed.

"ATTACK!" Jaune shouted and rushed with his spear, followed by Don's huntsmen and guard forces. The warriors fired and pierced the exposed flesh of the Grimm which screeched in pain and moved erratically trying to free itself. The assault was brutal and the forces were determinate to end this monster's life right there and then. It took them a while but finally, the army managed to cut the Grimm in half.

Jaune and Don stood breathing heavily as the two halves of the Grimm laid motionless.

Russel, Dove and Sky laughed incredulous. They did it, they had slayed the beast.

The troops cheered for their victory and the witches hugged their dear sisters. Violet and Victoria embraced each other.

Cardin ran searching for Jaune, he saw him and his master standing in front of the beast and tried to approach them

Don was relieved, the battle was over, they had done it, they saved the city…then why wasn't Jaune smiling?

Jaune looked in shock as black goo came out of the two halves on the Scolopendra. It was a massive puddle that kept coming out. Jaune had had his fair share of fights, but never had he ever seen a Grimm bleeding. Was that even possible?...No, Grimm don't bleed…This was, something else.

"Jaune?".

"Retreat…" Jaune said.

"What?"

The legs of the Scolopendra started to move, each side independent of one another. There was a squishy sound coming from each half, as if something was coming out of them.

"RETREAT!" Jaune yelled, alarming everyone around.

The two halves of the Scolopendra started moving independently and from the open wounds a new head and a new tail came out. What started as one massive monster was now two. The Scolopendras broke free of the ice walls and screeched in anger, prompting everyone to run away.

In the commotion, the forces split up in two and ran to different streets. The Scolopendras followed them, blood thirsty and extremely enraged.

Jaune and Don ran to one street, Violet, Sky and Russel ended up running with them, splitting from their loved ones in the chaos. Victoria, Cardin and Dove ended up in another street. Both parties ran as fast as they could with their troops, all in terror as the Scolopendras followed them viciously.

The path was rough, many other Grimm were still swarming them and flying around and they had no problem hunting down the Scolopendra's left overs.

Jaune ran as fast as he could, he turned around for a moment and saw how the Scolopendra approached them quickly, crawling up and down the buildings as it stalked its prey, trampling every Grimm in its path. It was ruthless. He was starting to panic himself and when he turned his head to the front again, he was met with the arm of a Beowolf, hitting him and throwing him on his back.

---

On the next street, Cardin and Dove ran with the crowd, many pushing each other in the frenzy. Dove fell to the ground and Cardin rushed to help him stand. That's when he saw Victoria, she was staying behind trying to encourage people to run and even directing others to hide in the alleyways. Cardin couldn't believe it, this was a situation in which no one would have blamed her for leaving and running for her life, and still there she stood, helping to her bitter end no matter the danger. The faunus girl was braver than him. She chose to stay and fight.

A boarbatusk rolled over to attack Cardin as he was trying to get Dove up, he had to let go of him and drop him again just to block the attack and protect his friend. Cardin didn't have time to grab his mace, so he risked it and tried to stop the rolling Grimm barehanded. He managed to grab it by the tusks and force it to stop when a second one surprised him and hit him from the side. Down on the ground a Beowolf launched at him but the Grimm was shocked by electricity. Victoria rushed to his aid, killing the Beowolf and shooting lightning bolts at the boarbatusks, saving his life.

"Stand up!" Victoria said, offering her hand to a surprised Cardin.

Cardin was hesitant, she was a faunus. Even before the fall he didn't have the best view of them, and afterwards he had nothing but hatred towards them…and still, he owed this faunus his life. He took her hand and pulled her, making her fall front first to the floor, Victoria was surprised by this, but a claw barely missed the back of her head. Victoria turned around and saw Cardin fist fighting a Beowolf, punching it and blocking its attacks with his arms. The beast clawed him many times, not giving him a chance to reach for his mace, but thankfully, Dove stabbed the Grimm and killed it.

Cardin turned at Victoria with a smug smile, "We are even now, faunus". He said before a fireball barely touched his cheek and flew behind him, hitting a flying Nevermore that was about to rip Cardin apart.

"Haha. I don't think so, human" Victoria replied as she stood up with a smug smile of her own.

The three turned around and saw the Scolopendra getting extremely close, prompting them to resume their escape.

---

The beowolf was ready to slice Jaune with its claws, but Don stabbed it in the back with his spear just in time.

"Kid!". Don yelled as he rushed to help Jaune stand, Russel running to help him as well.

Violet had ordered her witches to create walls to stop the Scolopendra, which worked at first as the creature tried to go through them in anger, eventually it learned from its mistake and just crawled over the walls. They couldn't stop it, but they did slow it down.

"We have to keep moving!" Sky said but Jaune just looked at them shaking his head.

"We are driving it deeper into the city, if we don't figure out how to kill it, we will just be making things worse!" He said.

Violet ran towards the group. "We can't trap it. It's to strong!".

Jaune tried to think but he didn't have time at all, Grimm started swarming them. Manticores flew down and launched their attack. The team had no choice but to fight them off. Violet pushed them all back with wind dust as Don, Sky and Russel leaped forward to stab and slice the beasts. Another Manticore flew by and shot fireballs at Violet, but Jaune managed to cover her with his boosted aura. As the beast started stalking the two, toying with its prey, Jaune had his spear ready, the blade slightly down, he swung it in position for a thrusting stab but was surprised by the sight. The blade had ignited on fire, Jaune didn't understand what was happening but after a bit of thinking realized that a fireball from the Manticore most have hit the blade…but why was it burning? Jaune's eyes got wide as he pieced everything together, the blade was covered on the black goo from the Scolopendra's body, the substance was extremely inflammable…and that thing was filled with it. The Manticore launched and Jaune stabbed it with his flaming spear, killing it instantly.

"That's it…" Jaune said, a plan already forming in his head.

The Scolopendra had breached the last of the walls and was rushing towards its prey. Jaune realized they ran out of time, but there was hope, they could still win this fight.

"Don! Take Russel and Sky. Get to the end of the street and round up as many troops as you can. Guards at ground level, witches in the high ground, tell them to get fire dust ready!" Jaune instructed.

"Where are you going?!".

"I need Cardin and Victoria! Violet! With me!" Jaune said as he ran to an alleyway connecting with the next street.

The alleyway was long and interconnected with other paths, it was dark and filled with Grimm, but if they wanted to succeed, they had to fight their way through.

Violet shot fireballs at the Grimm, providing cover for Jaune as he charged with his spear and impaled and slashed his way through. A Beowolf came from an alley on his right and slashed him on the shoulder but Violet killed it allowing Jaune to stab another one coming from his left, then hit one on the front. As they reached the end of the alleyway, an Alpha Beowolf stood on their way but Jaune charged, ready to face the beast. Jaune thrusted the creature forcing it back, then spun the spear and hit it with the staff before swinging again and slashed it with the blade, Violet pushed it back with a wind blow and Jaune finished it off with a javelin throw, sending the Grimm's corpse away to the next street before running and retrieving his spear.

"Victoria! Cardin!" Jaune yelled as Victoria, Cardin and Dove ran from the Scolopendra.

Jaune rushed at them and made Victoria use her semblance once more on all of them, boosted by what little aura Jaune had left. They used this to fly further as fast as they could, gaining a bit of time to discuss the plan.

They landed almost at the end of the street, the Scolopendra rushing but a few minutes behind.

"I know how to kill them. Those things are weak to fire". Jaune said, explaining the plan to his allies.

"But we have been shooting fireballs at it all night! It doesn't do anything!" Victoria said, but Jaune kept going.

"The hide is unaffected, but the goo inside is super inflammable. I saw it myself. We need to rip them apart again and ignite them immediately, that's how we'll kill it".

Don ran from the end of the street. "Kid! Bad news. We don't have enough fire dust. I had the guys ask every witch left and they don't have much. There might be enough to kill one, but not the other".

Jaune pondered. "Then we'll kill them at the same time. We need a way to move them around".

"I'll take care of it, if you help me out" Victoria said.

Violet then followed, "They are smart. We tried to block them with walls, but they learned quickly, they aren't just mindless beasts. If they can learn they won't fall for the same bating trick again".

"Then we'll adapt too. Same principle, different mechanics". Jaune said as he drew the battle plan on the floor. "The flesh is weaker than the armor, but it is still thick, we can't just shoot the fire dust, it won't be strong enough".

"Put it in my mace" Cardin said, much to everyone's surprise. "My mace is full of explosive dust. Put all the fire dust you have in it; I'll throw it at them and your witches can ignite it".

"Boom. Hahaha. I love it" Don said, excited.

Jaune smiled and stood up "Get it done then!", he instructed and deployed his forces for a finally assault.

---

As the Scolopendras approached, Don and Jaune ordered the guards around, while Violet and Victoria got the witches ready for battle.

They stood around a plaza in the market. They had to win in this place, this was their last chance. A bit further was the border between the restricted evacuated area and the urban area of the city, if they failed to slay the Scolopendras here, they would rampage in the city and kill hundreds of innocent civilians in the process.

As instructed, the guards were stationed at ground level, while the witches took the high ground up in the buildings. The Coven gave Cardin all the fire dust they had left, filling his mace as much as they could and as fast as possible. Russel, Sky and Dove stood with the guards, nervous but ready for battle. The approaching Scolopendras could be heard clearly, it was now or never.

Jaune and Victoria stood next to each other as Violet rushed to the roof of a building with her sisters and Don formed up with the ground troops.

The ground started to shake as the first Scolopendra arrived to the battlefield. The beast wasted no time in launching at the guards who opened fire at it. Russel slashed it and Sky fired at it, none of which was effective but they already knew that, all they had to do was make time for the other monster to arrive.

The Scolopendra attacked erratically, swinging its tail around and launching people in every direction. The witches provided ranged support, summoning stone walls to protect the ground forces and slowing it down by freezing its legs.

Eventually the second Scolopendra appeared. Don and Dove lead the assault on it, trying their best to drive it closer to its brother. They opened fire and the Scolopendra rushed at them, forcing them to split up around and regroup behind it. Don stabbed the beast many times, but the hide was too strong.

The two forces pushed the beast close to each other. It was a difficult task, but it was their only chance.

Once the Scolopendras where close enough, the pieces were all gathered, and the offense began. Jaune and Victoria flew over the battlefield and plummeted down on the first Scolopendra. With Jaune pushing himself to his limits, Victoria's semblance was able to affect the massive Grimm, which started to lose its grasp over the ground and float. Victoria and Jaune held hands as Victoria pushed their weightless bodies with a wind blow and launched both to the second Scolopendra. The beast was frenetic but soon enough, Victoria was able to touch it and make it float as well.

The two massive Grimm started to levitate uncontrollably, aggressively moving and attacking in a frenzy as neither could understand what was happening.

"PUSH!" Jaune signaled and the troops followed his orders. Jaune, Don, Russel, Dove, Sky and Victoria all pushed with the rest of the guards with all the strength they had left. The Scolopendras kept attacking in an enraged frenzy, striking them all many times with their legs. Jaune was struggling, he barely had any aura left, but he needed to keep Victoria's semblance boosted or she wouldn't be able to hold both Grimm on her own.

The forces gave it their all until finally, they managed to slam the Grimm together. The enraged Scolopendras attacked each other holding to one another, an unexpected result but one extremely beneficial to the plan.

"ICE!" Violet yelled and the witches followed her orders. They shot ice beams at the tails of both Grimm, locking them in the ground.

The ground forces pushed the Grimm up with all their strength. At this time, Cardin ran as fast as he could, mace in hand. The ground forces had left a path for him and he rushed through it.

The Scolopendras were being pushed to the air, the lock on their tails made them stretch as they reached their higher limit, exposing the weak points of the armored plate.

"FALL BACK!" Jaune yelled, still holding Victoria's hand to keep her boosted and running away from the Scolopendras as fast as possible. The rest of the troops did as order and ran away, putting as much distance from the beast as they could.

"SCREEEEECCCCHHHH!".

Cardin threw his mace with all his strength. This was it; he couldn't miss this shot. As the mace flew the Scolopendras started to fall down once more, the plates were slowly closing off, the window of opportunity was getting smaller and smaller and suddenly…the mace hit the flesh.

"FIRE!" Violet yelled and lighting bolts came down from the roof of the surrounding buildings. A thunder storm that all connected with the mace at the right time, igniting the dust inside it.

"BOOOOOOOM".

The explosion was massive, it pushed every ground trooper to the floor. Jaune even hit his head when he fell.

The explosion blew up entire plates from the Scolopendras, and the fire dust ignited their exposed black goo. The beasts busted into flames from the inside out. Fire came out of every single gap and eventually the flames expelled from their mouths.

"SCCCCCCREEEECHhhhh..h.." The Scolopendras let out one last screech, before turning into ash and banishing.

They did it, this time they were sure. The city was safe, they had won. Everyone cheered and tears came out as the heroes had truly gotten their victory.

Jaune stood up, smiling. He saw how everyone was jumping around in joy, celebrating their achievement. He stumbled a little and almost felt when his master came in and helped him stay standing.

"Easy there, champ" Don said, proud of his student.

"Hehe…How was that for a squire?".

"Um, not too shabby if I say so myself, haha" Don replied.

"That's…good to hea…" Jaune tried to say, his aura finally breaking as he almost fell once more.

This time Victoria helped Don keep Jaune standing as the poor guy struggled to stay conscious.

The troops' celebration was cut short, when the cord was broken and the rioters approached the scene.

"THE WITCHES! THEY BROUGHT THOSE THINGS HERE! LOOK AT OUR CITY! IN RUINS!". They said in anger.

Victoria was about to yell at the angry crowd, but Cardin was faster.

"Shut your mouth!" He said, confronting the rioter. "The witches stood with us, without them, your sorry ass would be dead right now!"

"The only ones who should be dead, are them!". They said but were soon interrupted by an approaching voice.

"Not they are not" Everyone turned around to see Major Cornsilk escorted by guards and witches.

The Major addressed the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's tragedy is no one's responsibility but mine. The blood spilled tonight is in my hands. The sisters standing in front of you fought with everything they had, they even went against their own headmistress out of love for this city and its citizen".

"You said you would kill them!".

"AND NOW IM SAYING I WONT! They had nothing to do with the Grimm!" The Major proclaimed, but Violet approached him and touched his shoulder.

"There is no need for that, Major. Thank you, but we are responsible for this" Violet turned at the crowd. "People of Sevillana. You must know it was never our intension to bring so much pain to you. Our faith just wanted to help you cope with the loss of your loved ones, nothing else. But our methods were misguided. I'm sorry…I'm sorry, but a simple apology is not enough to pay for our crimes".

The Major intervened, "There are no crimes. I'm ready to give a pardon and exonerate all member of the Coven".

"And we are ready to refuse it. Our hands are as dirty as yours" Violet responded.

An old lady came out of the crowd, to Jaune and Violet's surprise, it was the old lady they had helped the day before. She approached Violet slowly much to the crowd's curiosity.

"Is it true? You wanted to help my husband?".

"Yes ma'am…I'm sorry I didn't help you, but I did want to give peace to your husband's soul…At least I wanted to try". Violet responded to which the old woman just grabbed her hands with teary eyes.

"Thank you" She said with a smile. Violet broke down in tears as the woman gave her a hug.

The crowd was astonished.

After the woman let go of Violet, The Major intervened once more. "The sisters are willing to pay for their crimes?".

"Yes, sir".

"In that case, by order of city hall, the sisters of Saint Agnes will repay the citizens of Sevillana by assisting them in all their needs. You will serve this city and its people unconditionally…under the faith of your choice". He declared. The sisters were shocked, this gave them the freedom to perform their duties without hiding their faith. No longer would they be forced to choose a god, they would be able to follow their belief at its fullest as long as they remained loyal to the people, something that was their desire after all.

"Thank you, Major. We will".

"Don't call me that…Not anymore" The Major said before addressing the crowd once more. "As my final acts as Major of Sevillana, I revoke all the stablished Social Projects. The Sisters of Saint Agnes will forever remain under the protection of the government. And similar projects to restrict the expression of emotions will be banned from being stablished. An attempt to do so will be considered treason".

"Major…" A guard said, but the Major turned with a peaceful expression.

"Not anymore. I formally resign from my position and surrender myself to the authorities. I declare guilty of murder, arson, negligence, corruption, littering, any charge you want…I love this city, and I failed its people…it's time to attune for my sins".

The Major smiled as the guards pulled handcuffs to arrest him, but before they could he stopped them. "One last thing". He walked over to Jaune and asked Victoria to let go of his arm. The Major lifted it to the air, "PEOPLE OF SEVILLANA! I INTRODUCE YOU TO YOUR HERO! JAUNE ARC!".

The troops and the witches cheered and applauded and soon so did the crowd.

Don smiled proudly and soon Jaune smiled at him, thankful.

Jaune's vision was blurry and the sound of the cheering crowd became more and more distorted as he passed out. Complete silence was in his head as he lost consciousness…and a familiar voice came to him "…I'm so happy…Jaune…".

---

Morning came and the city was rebuilding, yet everything felt completely different. There was still tension and fear, but also hope for a better tomorrow.

The people worked tirelessly and so did the sisters. Tending the injured, helping in the repairs, supplying food, water and medicine. The sisters ran around helping as many people as they could, even those who still saw them as nothing but evil witches, they didn't care, in their eyes, the only way to heal the wound they caused was by showing these people who they really were.

The Sisters of Saint Agnes took their new found freedom of belief and decided to no longer hide their faith on the God of Darkness. They would no longer split between the sisters and the coven. Choosing to call themselves the Coven of the Twin Sisters they would follow the paths of the God of Light and the God of Darkness equally. Without a headmistress, the sisters elected a new leader and they all agreed, there were none more fit for the roll than Violet and Victoria, the new headmistresses of the Coven.

Justice came to Mother Emilia; she was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was hoping for execution, a minute more in this sinful city was disgusting to her. But the Coven convinced the judge to do otherwise, she still had many crimes on Remnant to pay for.

Former Major Cornsilk was imprisoned as well…20 years of house arrest. He wanted more as the guilt over so many deaths was excruciating. He was forced to compensate the city monetarily, basically donating almost his entire money. The sisters intervened however, claiming that he wouldn't be able to serve house arrest without a house. As a result, the Major was given a shed behind the Cathedral of Saint Agnes, nothing luxurious and rather small, but with a window to a nice garden from which he could see the sisters tend the needs of the citizens. It sounded really peaceful to him.

Don ran around helping the reconstruction efforts. He kept on telling his stories to the workers, many of which grew annoyed really quickly.

As the city worked tirelessly to rebuilt, Jaune and Cardin sat under the sun on a bench. Jaune had a bandage around his head while Cardin sported a black eye and bandages on his nose courtesy of Jaune's fists.

"Shade Academy?" Jaune asked, curious at what Cardin was telling him.

"Yeah. That's where Coco took Velvet and her team after the fall. Many went there to continued studying, it must be like a Beacon reunion over there" He drank a bit of water before continuing, "At first I thought you and Ruby had run off there too".

"Ha, no. Afterward we went to Haven and…things weren't exactly good there either" Jaune replied.

Cardin looked at him with a serious look, "You won't tell who are they, right?".

Jaune took a long breath, "No. I'm sorry, I can't".

Cardin smiled, he already knew the answer, "Meh, it's alright. At least now I know someone will kick their assess".

"Hehe".

"But Jaune, seriously. If you guys ever need help, don't let the rest of us out. There are a lot of Beacon students who would gladly fight with you. Remember that they lost too. Try to keep that in mind when you make it to Vacuo".

Jaune smiled. "I'll let Ruby know. What about you guys? Are you also going to Shade?".

Cardin looked at the distance and saw the rest of his team. They were slacking off from work and making fun of Dove. He put on a smile. "No. I'm staying here for a while. The sisters aren't the only ones with sins to attune to. The city is still divided because of me, and it will be like that for a long time. I owe them…But, The guys…I told them to leave if they wanted, I dragged them along for too long now…Hehe, but the dumbasses said no. They said that they wanted to stay…as a team".

Jaune was glad to hear that. Russel, Dove and Sky use to be quick to abandon Cardin when he needed them back at Beacon. Maybe now they saw something worth staying for.

The three slacking idiots were approached by an angry Victoria who yelled at them for fooling around and not working. She pulled Sky and Russel by the ears and dragged them back to work, Dove running with them completely compliant and afraid of her rage.

"She is amazing" Cardin said as he looked at Victoria. Much to Jaune's surprise. Cardin realized Jaune saw him staring and immediately became nervous, "I mean…for a faunus…".

The two former rivals sat in silence looking at the sky.

"The anniversary is in two days. It's crazy isn't it?" Cardin said with a bit of melancholy in his voice.

"Yeah…A full year, After the Fall…" Jaune replied with a sorrowful tone.

Jaune and Cardin stretched and stood up, ready to head out.

"Ready for work?" Cardin asked.

"No, I'm meeting Violet back at the temple. Later Don and I will get everything ready to continue our trip tomorrow". Jaune answered.

Cardin smiled at him and replied, "Ok, I'll see you at dinner then".

"Yeah, I'll see you then".

Cardin started to walk out but stopped right away and turned back, "Oh, Jaune?".

"Yeah?".

"Pyrrha would be proud of you. I'm sure of that". Cardin said before leaving the scene.

Jaune smiled at the comment, but didn't say anything. He appreciated the words, he really did…but they may have been more painful than Cardin realized.

---

Violet and Jaune walked across the woods south of the city. Jaune was leading her to the place he had hidden the Book of Shadows.

"Right this way, oh headmistress".

"Hehe. Stop it! Don't call me that. It's embarrassing enough". Violet replied as she punched Jaune's arm playfully.

The two walked across the forest calmly, there was a peace Violet had never felt in these woods before.

As they walked deeper into woods, Violet decided to say something she had in her mind for a while now. "Jaune…".

"Yeah?".

"Thank you…for everything. You kept your promise and I… will always be in debt with you".

Jaune chuckled a little. "You don't owe me anything. I'm just glad things will get better for you and the city. Besides…I haven't kept all my promises yet…".

"What do you mean?" Violet asked, a bit confused by the comment.

"Oh…nothing, forget about it. It's right this way".

As Jaune and Violet walked, the woods started to clear a little. They crossed some bushes to get to a clearing.

"It's over h…" Jaune tried to say, but Violet pulled him behind a tree and shut his mouth with her hand quickly.

Silently, the two of them picked their heads out of the tree and were astonished by the sight. A beowolf was smelling a lone tree. Curious, it walked around it as if searching for something. Eventually, the beowolf climbed the tree and smelled a hole in it, using its claws to break the hole open, exposing what was inside. As the hole on the tree got wide enough, the Beowolf jumped down and stared at the Book of Shadows. Jaune and Violet were shocked when the Grimm, the vicious creature of death and destruction, kneeled before the Book the Of Shadows, praising its presence. Jaune tried to get a closer look, his hand in his sword in case of a fight, he stepped on a branch and cracked it. The beowolf turned around and the two saw each other eye to eye…but the beowolf didn't attack. The creature ignored Jaune and left without even attempting to attack. As Violet came out of the bushes, the two looked back at the Book of Shadows, in shock at what just had happened. Something Violet could only describe as a miracle…from the God of Darkness.

---

Author's notes: And with that, we end the Witches' Market arc. Thank you so much for reading. As always, any feedback both positive and negative are appreciated.

A bit of lore:

Victoria's Semblance is called "Angelic Witchcraft", it allows her to nullify the effect of gravity in both herself and other people, a max of 4 people at the time. She must touch the target to apply the effect and then remain focus to keep the effect up. The larger and heavier the object the harder it is to use on it. It comes from the side of her personality that wants to oversee her sisters and keep them safe, this is why it lets her reach hights to see her loves ones all around as well as takes the heavy weight off of their shoulders.

The Scolopendra was created before I even knew about the canon "Centinels". To keep consistency, the Scolopendra is a unique species to the Stained Coast Line but is closely related to the Centinels. The Scolopendra is based of the Scolopendra Gigantae or the Amazonian Gigant Centipede (google it and then imagine you are 8 years old and woke up with one of those crawling up your leg...Now you know why this thing terrifies me). The Scolopendra is extremely larger than its Atlasian cousins and sports a bulletproof plated hide. The black goo inside the Scolopendra is a fluid with properties similar to the Grimm spawning pools, but is not the same substance. The Black goo regenerates the Scolopendra's body parts essencially by spawning a new body in the same manner a new Grimm would be born from a Grimm spawning pool. It's not exacly a healing substance, it creates a completly new section of the body. Unlike the Grimm spawning goo, the Black goo is extremely immflamable.

Jaune's spear, like Don's, it's technically a Swordstaff, not exacly a spear. However, it would be refered as such for the sake of simplicity and out of personal preference.

Thank you all for reading. Hope you have a great day and enjoy Volume 7.