Beacon's Fall and the Rise of the Red Giant

The kingdom of Vale was in complete and utter chaos.

There was no other way for Weiss to describe what was happening all around her as she looked around her. After the Grimm attacked the fairgrounds, Weiss, along with several other students, did their best in fighting off the Grimm yet the students' suffered losses. To her right laid the dead body of May Zedong, the quiet sniper of team BRNZ. Weiss tried to avoid looking at her as the poor girl's stomach was torn open, exposing her intestines, legs were bitten off, and her only visible eye open with a horrified look on her face. Whatever horrors May had seen was probably the last thing she saw before dying.

Just above Weiss was the cold dead body of Roy Stallion, another member of team BRNZ. during an attempt at contacting her team, Weiss was almost picked up by a Nevermore, but was pushed out of the way by the Vacuoian boy. Weiss didn't want to see what happened to him, but she did and the sight of her would be savior was just as horrifying. The Nevermore had Roy clutched in its talon, Roy tried to break free from its grip but another Nevermore flew toward the one holding him. The two black birds fought each other, causing the one holding Roy to let go of him resulting in him being impaled onto one of the many poles that were used for the festival.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Weiss said to herself as she tried to make her way out of the fairgrounds while keeping her weapon on hand in case of another Grimm were to attack her.

Yet despite all of the chaos happening on the ground, it was far worse in the sky as the sight of two giant armored men continued their fight, ignoring everything around them and focusing solely on one another. If Weiss had taken a moment to look up, she would have seen a large wyvern type Grimm fly in the sky while liquid drop from its body as it flew towards the direction of the two gigantic Guyvers.

The Wyvern Grimm growled as it continued flying toward these two other worlders, however it also sensed the presence of someone else that was beckoning it. While its instinct to attack these two dueling beings was strong, the call was stronger, causing the giant Grimm to change its course and head for the source that beckoned it.

Streets of Vale

An Atlesian Knight crashed into the display window of a clothing store, thrown by Russel, oil dripping from his Zoanoid body. It was the last of the hacked robots that was dealt with, and during that time several more Grimm appeared and attacked. Fortunately, they were taken down by the combined efforts of team CRDL, NDGO, and General Ironwood. Once the area was cleared, James took a look at the eight students and noticed how exhausted they all were. Two of the girls were on their knees, breathing heavily while a third was using her trident to keep herself standing. One of the boys was leaning against a damaged car while dropping his sword, too tired to keep his guard up. Yet despite their exhaustion, the Atlas headmaster was glad that the eight of them held out for as long as they had even though things had not gone so well for everyone.

"S-so…what…do we…do now?" Cardin panted out, looking to the General for guidance as he was the most experienced person among this group.

Looking over the practically war-torn street and the flames in the distance, James turned back to the students who were now looking at him.

"As you are all aware, the city is overrun by Grimm, the White Fang, and…the Atlesian Knights have been compromised and are now attacking everyone," Ironwood told the eight students. "I have told the other students that they have the choice to either stay and fight…" he paused, letting his words sink in. "Or you can join up with the evacuation," he gave them their choices. "I will think any less of any of you for choosing to leave," he assured the students standing before him.

"I can't believe you're saying that," a new voice said from behind James.

James and the students turned to see Qrow walking toward them with his repaired Harbinger held in his right hand.

"These kids signed up for this job, and you're telling them that they can just runaway like cowards," Qrow said, angry at what Ironwood was suggesting, that last word causing the three human members of team CRDL to flinch while Russel glared at the newcomer.

"Qrow…I am giving them a choice," James said, surprised that Qrow would want these kids to keep on fighting, especially in the condition they are all in. "They have the right to choose," he added.

"They shouldn't even be thinking about leaving!" Qrow yelled.

While the two adults continued to argue over whether the two teams stay or leave, the eight students in question looked at one another. Nebula looked at Russel, noticing how heavily his breathing was compared to everyone else.

"Russel, are you okay?" Nebula asked, concerned that he might have been injured.

Instead of answering, Russel changed back into his human form, too exhausted to maintain his combat form, and collapsing onto his knees.

"Russel!" Nebula cried out as she rushed to his side.

Nebula's voice caught James and Qrow's attention as they looked to see the purple haired girl grab a hold of the now naked boy that was on his knees.

"What happened?" James asked, showing concern for the boy.

"So tired," Russel finally answered before noticing that he was naked once again. "Can someone get me some pants?" he asked while covering his lower region with his hands.

Not even bothering with coming up with a joke or any snide comment, Sky made his way toward the clothing store, that Russel threw the last robot into, and grabbed a hold of some clothes that looked like they would fit Russel.

Underneath Beacon Academy

After fairly intense battle with Ozpin, Cinder looked at the area in satisfaction that she was the only combatant left standing.

"Now to more pressing matters," Cinder said to herself before rocketing upwards, burning a hole through the ceiling as she flew off.

Once she was gone a mysterious silverish white figure flickered into existence in the deserted area. It had a human form before opening up to reveal Ozpin was inside it. The silver moved in front of Ozpin and started to take form. Ozpin could only look on in awe as this silver slime creature took on a humanoid insect form while its color changed along with it. The slime creature turned out to be Aptom in his Omega Blast form.

"You're lucky I was able to keep myself from absorbing you," Aptom told Ozpin. "The last time I did this was when I had to help Fukamachi infiltrate Cloud Gate," he explained, remembering how Sho wanted to speak with the Zoalord, Shin Rubeoamniculus, about Apollon back when they were on Earth. "And he had his Guyver armor to protect him," he added.

"I am thankful that you were able to help me," Ozpin said. "However, we must act quickly if we are to stop her…" he tried to continue.

"What makes you think I rescued you just to help you with that bitch?" Aptom retorted as he grabbed a hold of Ozpin's throat. "What I want to know is what you're hiding," he said, bringing Ozpin closer to his face. "And if you don't start talking, I'll make you wish that you were killed by Miss Pyromaniac," he threatened.

"There isn't time to…" Ozpin tried to reason with Aptom.

"Make time," Aptom said, not interested in Ozpin's excuses.

In the skies of Vale

Sho and Lisker found themselves deadlocked as the two of them refused to give the other the upper hand in this fight. Sho tried to fire his head beams at Lisker, but the older Guyver pulled him closer to knee him in the gut before pulling away as Sho quickly recovered and fired his head beams regardless. Not having enough time to make an energy shield, Lisker dodged the shots, but one of the beams managed to graze his right cheek.

"You're starting to piss me off Fukamachi," Lisker growled out as he fired a one-handed pressure cannon at the golden Gigantic Guyver.

Just as the miniature black hole got closer to him, Sho activated his energy barrier to block it. However, Sho started to notice that the energy to keep the Gigantic active was running out, meaning that he needed to end this fight now more than ever.

'It's all or nothing now,' Sho thought as he flew toward Lisker once again. 'And this time I'll make it count,' he declared to himself, charging up another Gravity Knuckle attack.

Seeing Sho approaching, Lisker waited for the right moment to make his move. As soon as Sho threw his fist toward him, Lisker shifted his body to the right, evading the Gravity Knuckle before countering with the vibration blades on his left arm.

Sho cried out in pain and rage as his right arm was cut off from the elbow as he moved away from Lisker. Once he was far enough, Sho focused his mind on his severed arm. He remembered Agito once mentioning to him that it was possible to still use a severed limb in combat so long as the power amp wasn't damaged.

'But can I use it in time?' Sho doubted himself as he saw Lisker extending his vibration blades even further before swinging them at him like a pair of whips.

While Sho dodged the attacks, his severed arm continued to fall closer to the ground before it had stopped. The power amp had a faint glow, barely enough energy to make its way back to Sho, but that was fine as the vibration blade on it extended before turning upwards and making contact with Lisker's vibration blades. The feedback from the blades colliding was deafening as everything and everyone in Vale could hear the high pitch sound, causing so many people to scream out in agony as they covered their ears.

Lisker retracted his blades while Sho's severed arm continued to drop to the ground below them. Before he could press on his attack, the Gigantic armor separated itself from his body, leaving Lisker in only his base Guyver form. While initially confused, Lisker wasn't about to take his focus off of Sho as he saw that the younger Guyver had also lost his Gigantic armor. Unfortunately for Lisker, Sho was perfectly fine, his Guyver form having both of his arms instead of losing one like its Gigantic form did.

"So that's how it is then," Lisker said to himself in annoyance.

Sho was relieved that he had both of his arms as it made this fight stay even. But he knew that he couldn't let his guard down any more as he considered what his next move should be.

Top of Beacon Academy

The Wyvern Grimm circled around the tower, spotting a female human in red. Despite being one of the creatures it was meant to eradicate, the Wyvern Grimm felt this sense of kinship and oddly a sense of authority resonating from the human. The human watched the Wyvern Grimm, waiting for it to finish circling before landing on the top of the tower, shaking slightly from the weight of the Wyvern Grimm. The female approached the giant Grimm, showing no fear but rather this soothing calmness that no creature would give off to such a monster.

"This is your home," the female human told the Grimm, but her words meant nothing to it, rather her soothing tone had more sway over the beast.

However, the presence of the two armored beings fighting one another still bothered the Wyvern Grimm. It can still feel their power colliding even from where it landed, and the Wyvern did not want to ignore these beings as they were never meant to being in this world.

Standing next to the giant Wyvern Grimm, Cinder turned her attention to the destruction that has been done to Beacon Academy and Vale. While the original plan had to be altered, the end result went as well as she expected, maybe even better given how that man, Lisker, had successfully slaughtered so many of Ozpin's little pawns with ease. Then there was the massive collateral damage that happened while Lisker was fighting with Sho.

"If only you had joined me Sho…" Cinder lamented as she two armored being fighting in the air. "Then maybe you would be standing by my side right now," she continued.

The sound of the Wyvern Grimm growling brought Cinder out of her musing as she turned around to see an elevator burst from the floor. Turning around completely, Cinder saw Pyrrha exiting the elevator, weapon and shield in hand.

"The famous Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos…" Cinder said as she watched the girl put her guard up. "I wonder if you are truly as skills as everyone says you are?" she added as she created two glass swords out of thin air. "Why don't you show me," she told the younger girl.

Pyrrha chose to remain silent as she kept her eyes on Cinder while also taking the giant Wyvern Grimm into account. While she remembered Ozpin telling her that shouldn't confront this woman, Pyrrha knew that she couldn't let Cinder succeed or else everything would have been in vain. With that thought in mind, Pyrrha charged at Cinder, who in turn flew at her, eager to use her new powers against Beacon Academy's top fighter.

Cinder created a pair of swords made of hard glass just as she reached Pyrrha, swinging the sword in her right hand at her foe's head. Seeing this, Pyrrha blocked the attack with her shield while thrusting the javelin form of Milo. However, Cinder evaded the thrust by shifting the left side of her body back, allowing the tip of Milo to miss her as she changed her evasion into a spinning sidekick, using her left leg to hit Pyrrha in the stomach causing the girl to stumble back a bit before regaining her footing. Cinder finished her spin by discarding her glass swords and throwing a fireball as Pyrrha, who dodged the attack by rolling to her right.

Quickly changing Milo into its rifle form, Pyrrha fired four shots at Cinder's head. Cinder responded by quickly creating a small shield made of fire to block the Dust rounds while glaring at the girl that shot at her. Straightening her right hand, Cinder created a blade made of fire that covered her right hand before dashing toward Pyrrha.

Pyrrha tried to deflect the attack with her shield, but fire blade was so hot it was practically melting the shield, much to Pyrrha's shock as she tried to avoid Cinder's next attack. Once she was far away from Cinder, Pyrrha threw her shield at Cinder, using her Semblance to direct it around Cinder's fire blade arm. This act briefly caught Cinder by surprise, but it was enough for Pyrrha to increase the speed of her shield's movement as she aimed for the back of Cinder's neck.

However, the Wyvern Grimm interfered by snatching up the shield with its mouth, much to Pyrrha's shock and Cinder's amusement.

"That was a nice attempt," Cinder mockingly commended Pyrrha before rushing toward her again.

Cinder closed the gap between her and Pyrrha and was ready to cut the girl in half with her fire blade, but the loud roar from the Wyvern Grimm caused the two young ladies to stop fighting as something hit the area they were fighting on. The object that crashed between Cinder and the Wyvern Grimm turned out to be Guyver 1.

"Sho!" both Cinder and Pyrrha called out in surprise before realizing that they both said the same thing.

Sho didn't respond to either of the two young women, instead his focus was on Lisker, who was descending towards where everyone was standing. Once he touched the barely stable floor, Lisker briefly took note of Cinder before returning his focus on Sho.

"Well…isn't this interesting," Lisker commented, not taking his eyes off of Sho. "Is the fire arm a new trick you learned or are you just playing around?" he asked Cinder, but still not looking directly at the woman.

"Should have known," Sho muttered in rage, realizing that Lisker and Cinder were in league with each other.

Cinder didn't say anything, not in the least bit interested in what Lisker had to say to her, however the rage in Sho's words had a small effect on her. But before she could say or do anything else, the Wyvern Grimm interrupted Cinder's thoughts as and it turned its attention on the two Guyvers. The Wyvern Grimm lunged for the closest Guyver, much to Pyrrha's horror as the Guyver in question was Sho.

Before Pyrrha could call out to Sho, both he and Lisker fired a one-handed Pressure Cannon at the giant Grimm's open maw. The two mini-blackholes tore through the inside of the Grimm's mouth before both blackholes shot out from the back of its head. Both Pyrrha and Cinder were stunned by how the giant Grimm was killed so easily and how neither of the Guyvers bothered to look at the Wyvern Grimm.

"Now that, that pest is out of the way, where were we?" Lisker said calmly as he readied himself to begin his attack by activating his vibration blades.

Sho remained silent while activating his vibration blades as well before assuming a fighting stance.

Now that the initial shock has passed, Cinder shot out a fireball at Pyrrha, who dodged the attack by rolling toward her right. After finishing her roll, Pyrrha used his Semblance to recover her shield, that while damaged by the Wyvern Grimm's teeth, as a means of giving herself a bit of more defense against Cinder. Weapons in hand, Pyrrha stood up and took on a guard stance while Sho stood behind her, keeping his eyes on Lisker while Pyrrha focused on Cinder.

"You shouldn't have come up here," Sho told Pyrrha.

"I couldn't just let this continue Sho," Pyrrha said while keeping her eyes still on Cinder as the dark-haired woman glared back at her while her fire blade burned hotter. "That woman killed the Fall Maiden," she added, letting Sho know.

"Shit…" Sho cursed lowly as one of his head sensors moved toward Cinder's direction, letting the Guyver notice the change around Cinder's body. "I'll create an opening for you to escape…" he started to come up with a plan.

"What?" Pyrrha replied, shocked by what Sho was saying.

"I want you to get away from here and regroup with everyone and get out of here," Sho told the stunned Pyrrha.

Pyrrha couldn't believe that Sho wanted her to leave him here to fight against Cinder and Guyver 2. Despite knowing that Sho was far stronger and more experienced than her, the top student of the Beacon first years didn't want to leave her friend alone to fight.

"No, I'm staying to fight with you," Pyrrha said in defiance.

"Now's not the time to be stubborn Pyrrha," Sho said, angered by Pyrrha's decision to stay. "You need to leave and get back with everyone to tell them what happened," he told the girl.

Before Pyrrha could say anything back, Cinder charged at Pyrrha, fire blade drawn across her body in an attacking position. At that same time, Lisker rushed toward Sho, causing the younger Guyver move toward Lisker, ready to counter the oncoming attack. As for Pyrrha, she waited for Cinder to get closer before dodge rolling toward Cinder's left side. During the roll, Cinder had swung her fire blade horizontally, the intense heat practically licking Pyrrha's body as she evaded the attack.

Ignoring the burning sensation on her body, Pyrrha transformed her weapon into its rifle mode, firing three shots at Cinder's back. The shots hit their target, causing Cinder to turn around and glare at Pyrrha before shooting the fire blade at her like a giant flaming dart. Seeing the fire dart approaching, Pyrrha quickly moved out of its way before shooting another burst of shots at Cinder, who had dodged the shots.

As for Sho and Lisker, the two Guyvers struck at each other with their vibration blades while dodging each other's strikes. Between their strikes, they would fire head beams at each other, a few shots almost hit the two young women that were fighting in the same area as them, both of which dodged the shots while continuing their own fight.

Moving his body back, Sho dodged Lisker's right vibration blade but was not expecting the older Guyver to use the momentum of his attack to follow up with a spinning back kick aimed at his stomach area. The force of the kick managed to knock Sho onto his back, which Lisker capitalize on by firing a pressure cannon from his outstretched hands. Seeing the attack forming, Sho rolled to his left to escape the attack once Lisker fired the gravity weapon. After avoiding the attack, Sho quickly got back on his feet just in time to see Lisker rushing toward him.

Lisker got so close to Sho that neither Guyver could use their vibration blades, however since he was an expert in martial arts, it was no issue. Starting with a backfist to Sho's face, Lisker followed up with a knee strike to Sho's stomach before finishing with an uppercut to the chin. Sho stumbled backwards, trying to recover from those three hits before Lisker could press on with his attacks. Lisker rushed toward Sho once again, this time using the vibration blade on his left arm to cut off Sho's head.

This time Sho was ready as he ducked just as Lisker's arm vibration blade reached him, stepped toward his right and managed to kick Lisker's ribs while getting out of his foe's striking range.

'Damn it…' Sho mentally cursed as he fired a head beam at Lisker's back, the shot hit but as he expected the infrared laser barely left a scorch mark. 'Should have figured that Lisker wasn't going to skip out on training himself,' he thought as he considered what he should do next. 'I might have more experience fighting as a Guyver, but Lisker is far better at fighting regardless,' he mentally admitted as he dodged a head beam shot from Lisker. 'Not only that, with Pyrrha fighting Cinder, I need to be careful when using my weapons,' he reminded himself.

As for Pyrrha, her fight with Cinder was not going in her favor. She was out of Dust rounds; her shield was so badly damaged it was practically useless while her spear wasn't going to be enough. Keeping her eyes on Cinder, Pyrrha noticed how her foe was barely winded. If anything, Cinder looked more amused that their fight was taking so long if that condescending smirk on her face was any indicator. Regardless, Pyrrha had noted the metal that had littered the area and was thinking of a way to make use of them. Before she could up with a new plan of attack, Pyrrha saw Cinder unleash another wave of fire at her direction. With no time to dodge, Pyrrha instead chose to push out as much of her Aura as possible to at least endure the intense heat as the flames came in contact with her skin. Pyrrha screamed out in pain as she tried to move away from the fire, but Cinder moved her fire along with Pyrrha.

Hearing her screams, Sho instinctively turned toward Pyrrha's direction and could barely make out her silhouette from within the flames. Lisker, taking note of Sho's distracted state, got in close and was about to strike at him with his right vibration blade. However, just as Lisker swung his arm out, Sho ducked and dashed toward where Pyrrha was struggling with the fire that she was trapped in.

The flames and heat were becoming too much for Pyrrha to handle, and no matter how much she tried to get away from it, the fire that Cinder shot at her followed wherever she went as Cinder sadistically enjoyed watching Pyrrha burn. But just as she felt her Aura breaking, Pyrrha felt someone grab a hold of her waist and pulled her up and away from the fire.

Cinder's smirk quickly turned into a scowl when she saw her would be opponent shooting into the air, carried by Sho. Seeing Sho's arms around that girl's waist enraged the dark-haired Maiden. The confused look on Pyrrha's face before slowly turning into relief that she was save by the teal Guyver only served to intensify her rage as channeled her power into her feet, allowing her to fly with fire propelling her.

Seeing Sho in the air, Lisker also took flight, aiming for Sho's back while Cinder charged toward the front. Sensing the danger coming from behind, Sho quickly lowered himself and Pyrrha to dodge their two foes as they kept flying forward. Cinder's eyes widened in shock as Lisker got closer, but the older Guyver shifted his body toward his right, avoiding a collision at the last moment.

"You little bastard," Lisker growled out as he watched Sho and Pyrrha continue their descent.

"You got in my way!" Cinder yelled as she prepared to fire a blast of fire at Lisker.

Lisker didn't pay Cinder any attention as his Control Medal started glowing. Behind Lisker a ripple in the area between him and Cinder appeared before one of the Gigantic Chrysalis emerged, engulfing Lisker. Cinder watched in shock and awe as she got to see Lisker's Gigantic form emerge from within the alien chrysalis. Below them, Sho saw that Lisker managed to summon his Gigantic form and started calling for his own to appear while Pyrrha looked on in horror at the sight of it. The sight of this dark green copy of Sho's Gigantic form just felt wrong to her, especially with how it was looking down on them.

'I don't think either of them has enough power recovered for another fight, but I need just enough to create a barrier,' Sho thought while hoping that his Gigantic unit will have enough power to defend against Lisker.

While Sho tried to call forth his own Gigantic Chrysalis, Lisker thrusted his hand forward and started charging up a powerful Pressure Cannon. He didn't have enough power to use the Giga Smasher, but Lisker didn't care. Before Cinder could say anything to him, Lisker fired the Pressure Cannon down toward Sho and Pyrrha.

Realizing that he couldn't summon the chrysalis in time, Sho flew himself and Pyrrha out of the Pressure Cannon's line of fire as the powered up black hole flew downwards. Still holding onto Sho, Pyrrha took a look at Lisker's Pressure Cannon hitting the top of the tower they were all fighting on and let out a horrified gasp as the black hole tore through all the materials, sucking in all that was in its way and leaving a clean-cut hole while the black hole continued descending.

"So…powerful…" Pyrrha whispered, scared at the destructive power that the Gigantic Guyver had when used by someone who wasn't Sho.

"Yeah, but I think Lisker won't be able to do anything like that again," Sho said, trying to reassure Pyrrha. "I don't think he had enough power to maintain that form now," he added, remembering how he and Lisker had used a lot of energy from the other dimension during their fight in their Gigantic forms.

Pyrrha was about to say something to Sho, but wasn't able to when she and Sho spotted Cinder flying down from above. The dark-haired woman's right hand was engulfed in fire as she picked up speed. In a manner of seconds, Cinder was less than a foot away from Sho and Pyrrha before unleashing a powerful blast of fire at them.

Acting quickly, Sho turned around to have his back facing the flames as he kept Pyrrha covered. While she had Aura, Sho doubted it would be enough to handle the searing heat of Cinder's fire. Luckily for Pyrrha, Sho's Guyver armor was able to withstand it as Cinder's fire was no different from flames that Derzerb of Chronos's Elite Hyper-Zoanoid 5 member was able to expel from his mouth. However, Sho also knew that it was stupid to stay put as that would put Pyrrha's life at even greater risk.

Despite being protected by Sho, Pyrrha could still feel the heat of the fire that Cinder shot at them. Pyrrha clenched her teeth, trying to keep herself from screaming in pain from the fire while Sho tried to get away from the fire. Cinder noticed this, flew towards Sho's back, and kicked his back. The force of the kick wasn't enough to injure Sho, nor was it strong enough to loosen his hold on Pyrrha. However, Cinder was not deterred as she flew around Sho and Pyrrha until she was in front of Sho, glaring at the girl in Sho's arms.

Sho kept a hold of Pyrrha while keeping his eyes of Cinder. His head sensors were keeping track of Lisker, who was still hovering above them. Seeing how Lisker hadn't descended toward him, Sho was considering that Lisker focusing on recovering, which meant that Cinder was his more pressing issue now.

"Why are you doing all of this Cinder?" Sho asked the floating woman, surprising Pyrrha with the fact that he knew her opponent's name.

Hearing Sho's question, Cinder's glare softened slightly as she turned her attention to Sho.

"Because it is my destiny Sho," Cinder said.

When she heard Cinder say the world destiny, Pyrrha's eyes widened as she too was a believer of destiny. Yet hearing Cinder say that everything she did was her destiny make Pyrrha feel sick to her stomach.

"That's not destiny," Pyrrha said, disgust in her voice as she moved her head to face Cinder. "What you are doing is nothing but pure evil," she continued, glaring at the woman who cause all of this chaos and death.

"And how can you be so sure of that?" Cinder retorted, smirking as she looked at Pyrrha. "After all, has Ozpin told you everything?" she asked rhetorically.

"What Ozpin has told us doesn't change what you have done," Sho interrupted. "All of these lives are gone, for what?" he continued, barely holding his anger in check.

It was at that moment when Lisker, without his Gigantic form, flew down and kicked Sho in the back because of how he was so focused on Cinder. The force of Lisker's kick was enough to cause Sho to lose his hold of Pyrrha, releasing the girl who had no means of staying in the air.

"PYRRHA!" Sho shouted in horror as he tried to go after her, only for Lisker to get in his way once again.

"SHO!" Pyrrha screamed as she desperately tried to use her Semblance on anything metal, she could spot to at least try to slow down her fall.

Cinder watched Pyrrha fall while Sho tried to get past Lisker so that he could save the girl. Considering how even with Aura, the odds of Pyrrha surviving were slim, but the idea of Pyrrha dying like that didn't seem to satisfy Cinder in the slightest. Taking off in a fiery blaze, Cinder flew after Pyrrha while Sho dodged another of Lisker's attacks.

Sensing that Cinder's presence was now lower than him, Sho realized that she was following after Pyrrha. Knowing that Cinder wasn't going to save Pyrrha, Sho acted quickly as he dodged another of Lisker's attacks before uppercutting him in the chin, then taking off as fast as he could to save Pyrrha before Cinder reached the falling girl.

Stunned for a moment, Lisker was slightly perplexed by Sho not continuing the fight before remembering about that girl the younger Guyver was holding.

"So, you're deciding to play hero, huh Fukamachi?" Lisker said to himself while his head sensors picked up a Nevermore flying toward him.

The giant bird had its talon out as if it was about to grab a hold of the bronze Guyver. However, Lisker wasn't concerned as he let the bird grab him before firing three head beams into its underside. The infrared laser tore through the Nevermore, causing it to dissolve while Lisker went back to floating in the air.

As for Pyrrha, grabbing a hold of the closest source of metal was proving to be harder than she thought. The speed of her fall made it tough for her to focus on one part of the tower. However, it seemed that fate was on the younger woman's side as she spotted a damaged piece of the metal support jutting out of the tower that she was quickly approaching. Focusing her Semblance on that metal piece, Pyrrha managed to slow her descent once she felt her Semblance get a hold of the metal. Once she reached it, Pyrrha was able to breath a sigh of relief.

"ACK…!" Pyrrha could barely cough out as she felt an intense burning pain in her back.

"How pathetic…" Cinder whispered as she had her lips close to Pyrrha ear. "You managed to save yourself from a gory death, only to die by my hand instead," she continued to whisper as she increased the heat in her hand that was still buried in Pyrrha's body.

Pyrrha's heart was racing as she felt the heat inside her building up, her inside burning up while Cinder enjoyed the fear in Pyrrha's eyes. Yet despite the burning pain inside her body, Pyrrha tried to fight back as she grabbed a hold of Cinder's forearm, trying to push Cinder's hand out of her body.

Noticing what Pyrrha was trying to do, Cinder grabbed a hold of Pyrrha's head and ignited the head in her other hand. The heat from the hand on her head caused Pyrrha to scream out in pain, resulting in her letting go of Cinder's forearm as flames started to erupt from her body.

Up above the two young women's position, Sho heard Pyrrha's screaming and tried to move faster. Once he got close enough to see them, Sho saw Pyrrha's body was on fire while Cinder held her in place. A closer look revealed to Sho that Cinder had buried one hand into Pyrrha's body.

"PYRRHA!" Sho shouted in horror as he subconsciously began summoning the Gigantic Chrysalis.

Cinder watched as the flames burned away Pyrrha's body until all she saw left was a charred skeleton. Pulling her hand out of the burnt skeleton, Cinder took a moment before kicking it away from her and watched it fall to the ground.

"NOOOOO!" the loud voice of Sho above her cause Cinder to look up and saw Sho in his Gigantic Armor, but it was different.

The orbs and the chest spike of the Gigantic were glowing, the armor was now red, and much to Cinder's shock, the Gigantic was growing in size.

Beacon Academy grounds

The efforts to help the injured students was the easy part, but Glynda's main struggle was getting the remaining students among her to stop looking at the deceased students. One of the students from Haven, Reese, was on her knees in front of the body of her teammate Bolin. The poor girl's body was shaking, as if she was trying her hardest not to cry for the young man who fell in battle. Seeing this made it difficult for the professional huntress but Glynda knew that she needed to maintain her air of authority for the sake of the students around her.

'If only I could have been here for them sooner,' Glynda thought to herself, unaware of hearing the voice of one of her students.

"Professor…Professor," one of the students continued to call out to Glynda.

Finally realizing that someone was calling her, Glynda turned to the voice to see Weiss standing before her. The white-haired girl looked a bit out of breath, as if she had just finish running to her. It took a moment for Glynda to remember that Weiss wasn't among the students that tried to fight Guyver 2.

"Ms. Schnee…" Glynda said as she waited for her student to say something.

"What happened?" Weiss asked, horrified by the sight of all the chaos here.

Glynda was about to say something, but a loud yell stopped her. Glynda and the other surviving students turned to look and see Nadir looking up at Beacon tower, pointing toward the sky.

What Nadir was pointing was a red armored giant, that was a tall as the tower, appear out of seemingly nowhere. Weiss let out a gasp as she instantly recognized the form of the giant as Sho's Gigantic Guyver, yet its armor wasn't its usual golden color.

"That's Sho!" Weiss cried out, shocking everyone around her.

"For real!?" Sun yelled out while holding onto the injured Ren, the JNPR member also looked up in awe at the sight.

"Since when can he do that?" Neptune asked as he tried to help Nora up as gently as possible so as to not cause the girl to cry out in pain because of her broken leg.

Nora, despite all the pain she was experiencing, looked up to see the red Gigantic Guyver appear. It was nothing she had ever seen before; it was a sight that she would never forget.

"T-t-the…Warrior God…" Nora whispered in awe, that silly little joke that Ren had made back during the Breach, the very same joke that she blew out of proportion in good fun no longer felt like a joke. Instead, to the wounded and slightly delirious Nora, Sho might as well be a god that had come to put an end to all of this suffering. At least, a small part of her hopes that was the case.

From the ground, the teacher and students watched as Sho struck out at a small object that tried to avoid the giant's shockingly fast movements. The giant's right fist hit the tower and tore a massive chuck of the tower when his fist missed the flying object. Many of the students were shocked at the sight how fast the red Gigantic Guyver's moves were as he continued attacking this unknown foe of his.

Beacon Tower

The speed of Sho's attacks was something Cinder had not expected. When she saw the Guyver appear before her in his Gigantic form, Cinder was barely able to take in the form as it grew in size. The power behind Sho's attacks was as impressive as it was deadly as the giant fist tore through the tower with ease.

'Such power,' Cinder thought, forgetting where she was for a moment, which Sho capitalized on as his other hand smacked Cinder from behind.

The Fall Maiden screamed in pain as she found herself hurling toward the damaged tower, crashing through the wall and hitting the floor. Cinder picked herself back up just in time to see Sho's gigantic fist coming toward her so fast that she barely registered the glowing power amp on his forearm. Acting quickly, Cinder created a barrier to brace herself for Sho's attack.

When the giant fist hit the barrier, Cinder was knocked backwards due to the incredible force behind Sho's attack, causing her to exit out of the tower from the other side while her barrier shattered. Shooting fire out from her feet, Cinder desperately tried to avoid Sho's next attack as the red giant fired a head beam. The massive infrared laser tore through the tower, but Cinder was able to avoid the attack partially thanks to be much smaller than Sho's current size. Thinking that there might be a way to win, Cinder flew around the torn-up tower, hoping to catch Sho by surprise.

However, Sho's Gigantic Exceed form still had the same abilities original form, such as his head sensors. The massive orbs tracked Cinder's movements with ease as well as the encroaching flock of Nevermores and Griffons that were coming from behind Sho. Once Cinder got close, Sho smacked her aside with one hand while turning around to face the flock of Grimm. All of his vibration globes activated, unleashing a powerful soundwave that obliterated all of the flying Grimm in an instant. Once the Grimm were wiped out, Sho turned his attention back to Cinder as he detected her still in the air.

When Cinder saw Sho's attack wipe out all of those Grimm, she couldn't believe just how powerful Sho was in that form.

"He's so powerful…" Cinder whispered as she looked at the red Gigantic Guyver in awe. "He's…perfect…" she added just before Sho grabbed a hold of her.

Keeping a firm hold of Cinder, Sho glared at the dark-haired beauty that cause so much suffering. Cinder, on the other hand, continued to look at Sho in admiration, seeing him as the closest thing to a vengeful god, no a god KILLER.

'He would be a perfect addition to my plans,' Cinder thought to herself as she felt Sho's grip on her tighten, causing the woman to cry out in pain as Sho turned to face Beacon Tower.

Sho swung his hand, still holding Cinder, at the ruined tower. Once his hand was within range, Sho released his hold on Cinder, causing her to be hurled toward the wall of the tower. Cinder cried out in pain as she hit the tower wall, partially imprinted onto it. She looked forward, seeing Sho's giant fist coming at her again. Cinder barely had time to use up all the remaining Aura in her body to brace herself when Sho's fist connected. The force of the blow completely shattered Cinder's Aura, but Sho wasn't done as he pulled his fist back for a moment before throwing another punch. This in an act of desperation, Cinder whatever amount of her maiden power she could gather to create another barrier.

As the giant fist reached her, Cinder was surprised to see the red Gigantic Guyver vanish and was instead replaced by Sho's standard Guyver form. However, Sho wasn't about to stop just because he was no longer in his Gigantic form as his fist connected with the barrier. With barely any strength in her, the barrier wasn't strong enough to survive Sho's punch. The barrier shattered instantly, and Sho stood over Cinder, who could only look up at the alien armored human before her. Without a word, Sho activated the vibration blade on his left arm before pulling it back. Despite not having any strength or power left in her body to fight back, Cinder made one final desperate act as she forced herself forward.

It was at that moment that Beacon Tower started to shake as the damage done to it was too much, causing the supports below the two to snap. Sho and Cinder found themselves falling out of the tower, heading for the ground below. Sho activated his gravity orb to stop himself while Cinder continued to fall. Sho watched as the woman responsible for all of this continued falling, neither joy or sorrow fill his body, all Sho felt was regret for not being able to be the one to kill Cinder for all she had done. Yet, Sho's regret would only turn into confusion as a Nevermore snatched Cinder and flew off with her.

"What the hell?" Sho found himself wondering as he watched the Nevermore fly further and further away from Vale with Cinder still in its talons. "That Grimm caught her…but why?" he asked himself before making his way down to the ground below.

On the ground around Beacon Tower

Glynda had used her Semblance to halt the debris from Beacon Tower hitting the ground. Given the how severe the injuries inflicted on the surviving students, Glynda couldn't let any more harm come to them.

"Professor!" two voice called out from behind her, but Glynda ignored them in favor of focusing on the debris above all of them.

Weiss, who had also heard the voices turned to see Ruby and Jaune approaching. Realizing that she hadn't seen either of them since all of this started, approached the two.

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out, stopping a few feet in front of her leader.

"Weiss," Ruby replied as she looked around to see the damage and the injured. Letting out a gasp, horrified at the sight of so many dead bodies that were also on the grounds. "What happened?" she asked.

Jaune remembering what had happened earlier, stayed silent as he noticed one of the surviving students glaring at him. He didn't know if the glare was because of his secret being revealed or if how he had left everyone behind to aid Pyrrha. The thought of his partner cause Jaune to look around frantically, hoping that he would spot the redhead. Yet it was obvious that Pyrrha wasn't among the students and had gone to face the woman he had tried to stop and failed.

"Where's Yang and Blake?" Ruby asked her next question, noticing that neither of them were spotted.

"Who cares where that bitch is!" the voice of Velvet screamed out as she approached the fifteen-year-old girl. "It's that traitor's fault this has happened!" she continued yelling.

Ruby and Weiss were shocked and a bit frightened by the rage in Velvet's voice. The two girls had never known the brunette rabbit Faunus was capable of expressing such rage. But one look at the mutilated corpses of Velvet's team was all that was needed to stop either of them from saying anything.

"I swear if I ever see her again, she's dead!" Velvet loudly declared, shocking Ruby and Weiss even more when they heard her say that.

Before either girl could say anything to calm Velvet down, another student noticed something floating down toward all of them.

"What's that?" Neon said, pointing at the descending figure.

The assembled group of students looked up to see the familiar blue armored Guyver slowly descend to the ground close to them. Once his feet touched the ground, the Guyver noticed the debris that Glynda was keeping in place. Without saying anything, Sho unleashed a wide range Sonic Buster at the debris that was float around everyone. Since the Sonic Buster was keyed to the molecular frequency of the large number of debris, the students and teacher were safe as they watched in awe as the debris disintegrated right before their collective eyes.

"No way…" Sun said softly, amazed at how Sho was able to easily deal with all of that debris.

"Sho!" Jaune cried out as he approached the Guyver, who hadn't turn to face him. "Where's Pyrrha?" he asked.

Hearing that name, Sho lowered his head, staying silent as he continued to avoid looking at Jaune.

"Come on, Sho, where is she?" Jaune asked again, but he was met with silence once again. "S-Sho…?" he stuttered this time.

"I wasn't fast enough…" Sho finally answered. "I'm sorry Jaune," he softly said as he walked away from Jaune, making a beeline for Glynda.

Hearing Sho's answer, Jaune dropped to his knees before placing his hands on the ground to keep himself from falling forward.

"No…no, it can't be true…" Jaune whispered to himself, not wanting to believe what Sho said.

Ruby, Weiss, and Velvet were also shocked when they heard Sho's response to Jaune.

"No…not Pyrrha…" Weiss softly said, shocked that the strongest fighter in her class was no longer with them.

"Pyrrha…" Ruby whispered the name, as if she couldn't process what Sho was implying.

"She's…gone…" Velvet said, her rage subsiding for a moment before resurfacing. "They will pay…" she growled out as her rage grew once again. "I'll kill the White Fang," she declared to herself in a low voice.

For Sho, he ignored how his words affected everyone around them as he kept his eyes of Glynda. The combat instructor flinched as Sho approached her, the organic armor's face may be expressionless, but its overall appearance did a great job unnerving the experienced Huntress. When Sho reached her, Glynda noticed how despite the armor making Sho somewhat taller, she could still look him straight in the eyes, not that was any comfort for her.

"Where is he?" Sho asked his teacher.

Glynda was a bit confused as to what Sho was talking about for a moment. With everything that has happened, the older Huntress wasn't sure who Sho was referring to until it finally clicked.

"Professor Ozpin would be where he took Pyrrha," Glynda told Sho.

Sho was silent after receiving that answer, taking a moment to see the condition of the students that were surrounding him and Glynda. He saw how one of the members of team ARBN was trying to shake another member of the team awake. The downed member was Arslan, and she wasn't responsive to her teammate, Reese, trying to wake her up. The other member, Nadir, closed the eyes of another student who had the back of his head crushed. Sho vaguely remembered the dead student as another member of team ARBN, Bolin, and the damage to his body meant that he was one of Lisker's victims. Sho also spotted Nora being supported by Neptune while Sun was doing the same for the unconscious Ren. But what really caught his attention among the causalities was the sight of the majority of team CFVY. The gory deaths of his upperclassmen, who quite a few students saw as the best team that Beacon had to offer in recent years, reminded Sho that no matter what strong these huntsmen and huntresses see themselves, they were nothing more than fodder to Lisker.

"We're gettting the students out of here," Sho told Glynda as he turned around and focused his head sensors in the area in front of him. "There's nothing else they can do here," he added, his voice becoming very even in tone.

Glynda didn't say anything as Sho took charge of the situation. Normally, she would be the one who would take charge of her students during situations such as this, but her failure in protecting her students as well as the exchange students had shaken her resolve as their killer wasn't a creature of Grimm, but a man clad in alien armor and was more ruthless than the Grimm.

"Everyone, we will be heading toward the nearest evacuation point right now," Glynda told the students. "Anyone who isn't too injured is to help those who can't move on their own," she instructed before turning her attention to Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune. "The three of you will take up the rear and act as out defense while I'll lead the way," she told the three students.

"Yes ma'am," Ruby and Weiss replied while Jaune was still on the ground, not acknowledging anything around him.

Ruby noticed her friend's distress and approached him.

"Jaune…come on," Ruby said as she grabbed a hold of his shoulder. "We need to get moving," she told her friend.

"I couldn't do anything to stop her," Jaune muttered to himself, not paying attention to Ruby.

"Jaune…" Ruby softly said, confused by Jaune's words.

"Come on Ruby, we need to do what we're told," Weiss said from behind Ruby.

Wordlessly, Ruby nodded her head as the two girls took the rear of the group. As Ruby and Weiss drew their weapons, Ruby spared Jaune one more glance to see him stand back up, but he didn't draw his weapon. Instead, Jaune walked right past the two of them and followed after the group while keeping his distance.

Beneath Beacon Academy

Aptom watched as Ozpin looked over the massive door that was in front of the two of them. His eyes never once leaving the headmaster of this fallen school. Once Ozpin seemed satisfied with the condition of the door, he turned to face the Lost Number Zoanoid.

"It appears that our assailant never reached this location," Ozpin said, sounding very relieved.

"And what makes this place so damn important?" Aptom questioned, slightly annoyed with Ozpin.

"I'm afraid that would be a…" Ozpin tried to say before stopping when Aptom fired a laser right at the door, leaving a burn mark on it.

"Don't hand me that 'another time' bullshit," Aptom snapped at Ozpin. "In case you haven't noticed, a lot of people are dead thanks to your little secrets," he told the headmaster. "Keep it up and I'll take the answer from you the easier way," he threatened.

Ozpin took note of Aptom using the work 'take' in his threat, and became even more wary of the creature in front of him. During his brief time with this creature, Ozpin found himself unsure of what to do as nothing had gone the way he had hoped. The loss of the Fall Maiden was quite a blow to his efforts in keeping the world safe and oblivious to the threat of Salem, but the arrival of the three Guyvers and Aptom had thrown everything out of order. When he had seen Sho's arrival and the power he possessed, Ozpin thought that he had found a miracle that could turn the tide of his seemingly endless war with Salem, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Well, are you going to talk or not?" Aptom questioned the headmaster, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Behind this vault lies a relic that is very important, and we must make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands," Ozpin answered.

"And somehow this thing needs a special kind of key to open it," Aptom guessed, crossing his arm in annoyance. "Right?" he asked.

"Yes…" Ozpin replied. "And sadly, the key is now in my enemy's hands," he continued before turning to the door. "Though it would appear that they haven't made it here, so for the moment the relic is safe," he added, relieved with that turn of events.

"And what does this key look like?" Aptom asked.

"The key isn't so much as an actual key, but rather is a person," Ozpin told Aptom.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Aptom said in disbelief. "Why would you come up with such a retarded method?" he asked, his annoyance with Ozpin's methods growing by the second.

"It was a method I thought that would be for the best," Ozpin said, not bothering to look at Aptom.

Aptom looked at the man in silence, shocked that this school was run by someone who thought the most convoluted method was the best choice he could have made. Then again, during his time observing this school, Aptom shouldn't be surprised as most, if not all, of these students have been using impractical weapons in order to fight a bunch of mindless monsters that could be taken down easily by a couple of fifty caliber machine guns back on Earth.

"And what if that person was killed or betrays you?" Aptom finally said, slightly curious as to how Ozpin would answer.

"That is something I have considered and ensure that won't ever happen," Ozpin said, believing that his answer had sufficed.

Aptom didn't buy it at all.

Above ground: streets of Vale

The journey to the nearest evacuation site had gone fairly smoothly for the students that survived their encounter with Lisker. With Sho taking point, the Grimm never made it close enough for the students to take up defensive positions. Any of the Grimm that were still in Vale had either started retreating or became wary of attacking the Guyver protecting the humans and Faunus behind him. Once the evacuation site was within their field of vision, the students were grateful to see Atleasian soldiers holding defensive positions while a small squadron of soldiers approach them with stretchers. Wordlessly, the soldiers gathered the injured students and placed them on the stretchers.

Sho looked on as one soldier talked to Glynda while the injured students were carried to the evacuation site. The uninjured students followed behind, relieved that this ordeal was coming to an end.

'All of this…' Sho didn't finish his thought as he wasn't sure what to think about all that has happened.

"General Ironwood!" a solider shouted, drawing the attention of Glynda, the other soldier, and Sho.

They all turned to see General Ironwood with Qrow along with teams CRDL and NDGO. The sight of more of his friends surviving was a huge relief to Sho as he stood there as the two teams ran toward him.

"Sho!" Dove called out. "Was that you as that red giant?" he asked, catching the attention of the soldiers that were still close enough to them.

"Yeah, that was me," Sho answered evenly.

"Dude, thanks to that, all the Grimm started rushing out of Vale," Dove told Sho, shocking a lot of people.

"Seriously?" Sho replied, surprised by this claim as he dealt with a few after using Gigantic Exceed.

"Well, not all of them left," Dew interjected, making her way to Sho. "But most of the Grimm were more hesitant to attack anyone," she clarified.

"Then I guess that's good," Sho said after hearing this.

"Yeah, if we knew you had something like that up your sleeve, then maybe this mess wouldn't have gone as shitty as it did," Qrow decided to butt in.

"Qrow, that's enough," James tried to reign the huntsman in.

"No, it's not enough Jimmy," Qrow retorted as he glared at Sho. "You had all of that power that could've helped us, but you decided to refuse Oz's offer," he said. "So, what do you have to say for yourself, you little punk?" he finished.

If Qrow had taken a moment to look behind him, he would have reacted in time as Russel pounced onto his back in his Zoanoid form.

"RUSSEL!" Cardin and Nebula screamed out in shock while Russel kept Qrow pinned to the ground while the Atlesian soldiers pointed their weapons at the Zoanoid.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby cried out, shifting Crescent Rose into its rifle form, aiming for Russel's head.

"Everyone, stand down!" James ordered his troops, wanting to stop this from escalating any further.

Russel, ignoring the weapons, screaming, and his friends trying to calm him down, grabbed a hold of Qrow's head with his right hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't give a shit…" Russel growled out. "But you have no right to be dressing down Sho after everything that's happened," he continued.

Seeing how things were going to get worse unless he did something, Sho finally decided on what to do and disengaged the Guyver armor.

"Russel, let him go," Sho told his Zoanoid friend.

Russel looked up to Sho, surprised by what he said, but complied regardless. The soldiers lowered their weapons, now that the potential threat was lowered, but Ruby kept her weapon on Russel. It was only after Sho turned around and gave Ruby a look that caused the girl to lower her rifle.

Once he felt the weight off his body, Qrow got back onto his feet. He turned to look at Sho once again, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"I didn't agree to Ozpin's request because I don't trust him," Sho told Qrow.

"Even after everything Oz has told you, you don't trust him," Qrow said, angry with Sho's reason.

"He only told me what he wanted to tell me," Sho said while looking Qrow straight in the eyes. "And it was obvious it wasn't the full story," he added. "And even if he did tell me everything, I still wouldn't help him," he told Qrow, shocking the man, Glynda, and even James.

"What?" Glynda said as she made her way to Sho and Qrow. "What do you mean you wouldn't help him?" she asked.

As this was going on, the students that were close by were confused as to what was going on between Sho and this man. Ruby was especially confused as she didn't know what her uncle was saying and how Sho was a part of it.

"I want nothing to do with Ozpin's problem," Sho told Glynda and Qrow. "All I care about is keeping those who don't know about any of it safe," he continued speaking. "And I can't do that while fighting Ozpin's war," he added before turning around and walked away from Glynda and Qrow.

James watched Sho walk to the evacuation site in silence, thinking about what the boy said while teams CRDL and NDGO followed after him.

'That one Grimm caught Cinder and flew off with her,' Sho thought to himself as he made his way to the evacuation site. 'Why would it do that?' he asked himself before taking a look at the sky and saw the broken moon. 'Just who is Ozpin fighting against and why is it something he wants to keep a secret?' he found himself asking more questions that he couldn't answer to.

Unknown to Sho and those within the evacuation site that were waiting for the next bullheads to arrive, a Seer Grimm had kept itself hidden from the everyone. This Grimm had its attention on Sho, yet made no movements beyond just floating in the air. It was just watching the human, as if it was sent to this area for that purpose.

The Grimmlands

Seeing Sho through her Seer Grimm, Salem found herself looking over the boy. At first glance, Salem would have dismissed him as nobody of importance, but seeing Sho in his Guyver armor caused an image to appear in her mind. It was so brief that Salem couldn't truly make out what it was, but there was one thing that stood out in that mental image.

A circle within a circle that shone as if it was reflecting light.

"Just what are you, young man?" Salem asked, not expecting an answer, but was no less intrigued by this new element to her war with Ozpin.

Author's note: Finally, the chapter is done. I have to say I am not happy with how long it took me to actually write this thing. Originally, I had hoped it would have been done and posted back in either late February or mid-March. Clearly, that didn't happen as I couldn't even motivate myself to write beyond one page every month, unless I was struck with some really good inspiration. If that's not a sign that I'm not going to be able to finish this story at all, then I don't know what is. Still, I want to at least finish this section of the overall story because it's the least I can do for all of you who stuck with this story. Hopefully, none of you will have to wait another six months for me to at least do an epilogue for this story.

Still, if there is anything about this story that fills me with joy is that it manages to gain the attention of those who want to see a story that took some risks that most RWBY stories would never do. In a way, I also hope that my story can at least inspire some fanfiction writers to take risks and make stories that stand out, instead of being almost the same as every other fanfic. It always disappoints me that when I look at RWBY fanfics that the majority of them is the same 'make Jaune somehow the most overpowered and beloved character that gets all the girls' or 'members of team RWBY dancing around their romantic/sexual attraction to one another' type stories. I'm not saying those are bad stories, I just wish that there was more variety in RWBY stories that would shake things up, and give some of the other characters a chance at the spotlight.

As for those who would be asking why I decided to have Sho use Exceed form, I've always planned for it to be the big shocker for this part of the story that would in a sense up the stakes for the villains. Admittedly, it does look like the wrong time for it to be revealed, but Sho wasn't exactly in the right state of mind as he just witnessed one of his classmates that was kind of a friend get killed in front of him by a woman that he was getting close to. Still, I can understand if someone thought that it wasn't the right time to reveal it.