Well, here we are. To this day, I don't think I've ever been more excited to show you guys the finale of this incredible adaptation. When I started outlining this story, it was always going to revolve around RWBY, there was no mistaking that. But after seeing the potential of Volume 8 and how it turned out, I knew that it needed to be the adaptation this story would thrive off of.

Again, this story is going to end very differently from its canon counterpart. There's no Volume 9 after this. For me, this is my definitive ending to the RWBY series, at least for now.

TerrorKing10, I really appreciate all your help with edits and such for this story. We've still got the epilogue after this update, but we've also got a lot to look forward to. I think it's time we got this started.

Welcome to the penultimate chapter of "Reality".

REALITY

There really is no time to spare. Atlas is falling. Ruby and the others are still fighting to protect the refugees as they escape to Vacuo. And with the bomb on its way to Mantle, the battle is only just beginning.

They need help… Maybe I can…

"Xiaomei," a voice boomed, getting the time oracle's attention as she gasped. She turned herself around… and found herself standing in the palm of a gigantic, humanoid creature with a red body and six glowing eyes. Immediately, Xiaomei dropped to her knees, bowing her head.

"Arishem…" she uttered, "To what do I owe this sudden visit?" she inquired curiously.

"You are overextending your reach on Universe-Four-Zero-Four-Zero," the massive being answered, "Your duty is only to observe, not to intervene," he stated firmly. The time oracle grimaced.

"I… understand that, but…" she tried to say, grimacing a little, "Is there nothing we can do at this point to help them?" she questioned.

"Your duty is to observe," Arishem answered firmly, "The fate of that universe will be left up to those within it," he declared, "Whether those you wish to succeed do so or fail…" he continued, "you are not to intervene again," he stated in a booming voice that made her flinch, "Otherwise, Arawan will come and relieve you of your duties," he confirmed to her shock. In an instant, he disappeared, leaving her in the spacious void. Her bare feet felt the reflected surface that was like a starry sky. With a shaky breath, she walked back and sat upon her throne.

As I said, time is running short. Will our heroes attain victory? Or will they lose everything they've worked so hard to build?

UNIVERSE-4040

"Ergh…!" Kryptoknight grunted, feeling strained from having to move Atlas all by himself. He could hear all the chaos happening around him. The carrier ships flying towards Mantle, the battle raging on inside Atlas' Vault, and whatever was happening on the other side of the portals.

The Kryptonian looked down to see where he was heading, spotting the crater of Mantle. He looked to see that it was completely abandoned, with the portals to the pocket dimension still in place. He took a deep breath, making sure the floating landmass was properly angled.

"Okay… go time!" he yelled, flying down in an instant and landing upon the ground. He turned and looked up at the descending city. His body became enveloped by an emerald light, growing to a massive size.

When it dissipated, the luminosity revealed that he had become a colossal humanoid creature with a large fin on his head, which was black at the front and red at the bottom. He had blade-like growths on his shoulders and spikes on his waist. He also had white arms with two black lines and red fins on the elbows, wristband-like outgrowths on his wrists and green eyes on his head with two extra eyes protruding on his cheeks, one on each. He had red feet with two toes, a black sandal-like covering on the middle of his feet, and three black lines on the side of his neck. The Biomnitrix symbol rested at the center of his chest.

"All right…" he uttered, making sure to take a ready stance as he held his arms out, ready to catch the incoming landmass. He had to be ready. Otherwise, there would be nothing to salvage. Up on Atlas itself, the Monstra's corpse was still dissolving. But in a spot of the carcass, trails of red and black energy were starting to condense.

Meanwhile, a purple portal opened up nearby. Stepping out from it were the likes of Eon, Lysandre, Van Kleiss, and Acnologia. The looked over to the disintegrating Grimm.

"She hasn't fully revived yet, it seems…" the orange-haired man noted, narrowing his eyes. The time walker beside him clenched his teeth in frustration.

"Find her allies," he advised of his colleagues, "I'll await her return," he declared, approaching the condensing energy mass. Meanwhile, the former dragon king sniffed at the air.

"I smell a dragon…" he growled, clenching his fists together.

"Ignore it," Lysandre advised, "You still can't revert to that draconic form of yours yet," he pointed out to Acnologia's chagrin, "Now where would you like us to head first?" he inquired.

"Take to the city below," another voice chimed in, getting their attentions as they looked to see that another figure had come out from the portal. It was a bulky, silver android with glowing red eyes as a reddish energy was coursing through his body. "Tennyson is there," he confirmed.

"What?" Van Kleiss uttered in surprise, "Why?" he inquired.

"I'm not certain just yet…" the android replied, "Perhaps it's to catch this floating rock," he inferred, "Haven't you noticed?" he inquired of his colleagues, "This city is falling," he pointed out. Eon took on a determined expression.

"Then we haven't a moment to waste," he concluded, "Lysandre, Acnologia, Van Kleiss," he listed off, catching the attentions of those in question, "Head to Mantle and deal with Tennyson," he instructed, "Ultron will locate Salem's allies," he affirmed, looking over to the android.

"Already found one," he confirmed, activating the jet boosters at his back as he flew up, "I'll take care of him myself," he decided, zooming off into the distance. The time walker looked to his other allies, who headed off on their own missions as well. He stayed in the carcass of the Monstra, kneeling down beside the condensing energy mass.

"Beloved… I am sorry we had to come…" he apologized, "But we had an agreement…" he pointed out seriously. Elsewhere in the Atlas Vault, Winter charged at James, leaping up and swinging her sword down onto his prosthetic left arm as he held it up to block her, resulting in a small shockwave. She then drew her smaller blade with the click of a lever, attempting to stab him with it. However, her foe dodged and jumped back.

He was then met with a lead pipe striking him upside the head, courtesy of Sabo. The general clashed his cannon against his opponent's pipe, making sparks fly. He managed to have it charge up in time, firing a small blast to knock the Flame-Flame user back in a yelp.

"Sabo!" Winter cried out. She saw James coming toward her next, swinging his cannon at her. She ducked from his first swing before leaping away from the second, landing atop a nearby pillar.

"Winter, do not blame me!" he yelled, aiming his cannon and firing another powerful green blast of light. The special operative hopped out of the way, letting the ray destroy the top of the pillar she was upon. She then created five white glyphs behind herself in midair, each launching large ice shards towards the general. He rolled out of the way, letting them shatter against the floor. "I have sacrificed everything!" he proclaimed, preparing to fire another blast on where his subordinate was going to land.

"Everything, huh?!" Sabo repeated, landing a vicious haymaker onto James' face with his enflamed left fist, making him stumble back, "And here I was hopin' Ben got through to you…" he muttered, coating his arms in Armament Haki, while Winter landed behind him.

"Maybe you were sacrificing everything at one point, including yourself…" she suggested to the general, who fired off another blast from his cannon, only for her to zip aside thanks to a black glyph that she projected, "But now you're sacrificing everyone else!" she proclaimed, projecting an array of white glyphs to skate across to her foe, clashing her weapons against his before being joined by the Flame-Flame user, "You closed the borders, you squeezed Mantle until it broke!" she listed off, "You had Ben suffer your consequences!" she added angrily.

"That was his choice!" James argued, swinging his cannon out to knock his foes back. He then charged his cannon up again and fired a blast at Winter, which she sidestepped to avoid. However, that left her wide open as the general was prepared to swing his weapon at her again. But at that moment, Sabo came in to block it with his pipe, locking their weapons together.

"ERAH!" he roared, shoving his foe back before jabbing him multiple times with his pipe, making him slightly falter. However, he managed to charge the cannon just as the Flame-Flame user ran at him again, firing a blast that engulfed him in a blast of smoke.

"SABO!" Winter screamed. She then had to parry and dodge the blows of the general swinging his weapon, using black glyphs to aid her movements. It came to the point where he threw his cannon down, forcing her to block with her blades as she clenched her teeth together.

"I've only done what's best for Remnant…" he proclaimed as his cannon was charging again, with its barrel aimed right at the special operative's face, "and no one… is grateful!" he roared. Luckily, Winter was able to shove the cannon away just before it fired, with its blast aimlessly heading off. However, her foe drew the white Due Process revolver out from the cannon, using it to pistol whip his opponent back and forth, disorienting her.

He was about to strike again, only to be met with a fireball to his chest from Sabo, making him slide back. He withdrew his lead pipe, breathing heavily as he looked to the special operative. She seemed exhausted already as well. But they nodded to each other, determined to not let the general go any further.

X

Back in the pocket dimension, Cinder and Penny flew at each other, using their respective created blades to clash. The Fall Maiden tried to strike her foe with a flame arc she conjured, but it was immediately countered by rays of icy blue light, making it burst into steam. She looked over and growled to see Danny there, having an angered look upon his face. He took a deep breath before letting out a powerful sonic scream with green, wavy energy.

It washed over his target, who grimaced as she put her hands over her ears in the effort to endure its force, being blown back only so far. After a few moments, the attack ceased as the half-ghost teen went into a mad fit of coughing. Penny was about to fly over and check on him, only to need to avoid a fireball that came her way from her foe. Realizing that she was the target, the Winter Maiden flew off, enticing her foe to pursue her.

In the meantime, people were running quickly towards the portal that would lead to Vacuo, not wasting a single moment. Jenny watched from within the crowd while clutching the remains of her severed right arm. Penny was zipping around the pocket dimension, making sure to lead Cinder away from those below. However, she suddenly found herself struck at the back by a fireball, tumbling forward.

"PENNY!" the teenage robot on the central platform screamed in fright, watching as the Fall Maiden extended her Shadow Hand out in an attempt to grab her target. But all of a sudden, a Queen Lancer summon from Weiss flew in, snatching the Winter Maiden and buzzing off with her. Jenny sighed with relief, watching as Cinder was stopped from pursuing Penny thanks to Danny flying in her way. The two exchanged beams of fire and ghostly energy respectively, being at a deadlock before an explosion erupted. As they fought, Nora watched on from afar with worry.

Everything was going downhill just because of a few people. Panic was spreading all throughout the pocket dimension. And it was only going to get worse if nothing was done about it. Jaune was just as concerned about the situation as he looked at the surrounding chaos. But now wasn't the time to be hesitant. He and his colleagues still had a job to do.

"Priority one," he said, getting Nora's attention as she looked back at him. They exchanged nods, with the orange-haired huntress putting Magnhild on her back in its grenade launcher form before hurrying after her leader, continuing with the evacuation. Meanwhile, the Queen Lancer summon Weiss and Penny were aboard continued to fly about the pocket dimension, heading toward the portal to Vacuo.

"Weiss…" the Winter Maiden began pleadingly, "all she's ever wanted is the Maiden power," she pointed out to her friend, "I can buy you all time," she assured.

"But, Penny—"

"WATCH OUT!" Danny's voice screamed, getting their attentions too late as Weiss found herself struck in the back by a fireball, causing her Queen Lancer summon to disappear into white ashes. Both girls fell towards the central platform. Jenny hurried over, managing to leap up and catch the ex-heiress. But the Winter Maiden unfortunately wasn't so lucky as she hit the surface hard, making her green Aura flicker.

Weiss' Aura also flickered as she winced, much to her fellow Omni Force member's shock. And to make matters worse, they saw Danny hit the central platform hard, rolling over to a stop upon his stomach. He tried to push himself up, but fell unconscious, with rings of light flowing up and down his body as he reverted back to his human form.

"Danny!" Weiss cried out. At that moment, Cinder landed down in front of his form in a three-point position. She stood up and smirked after evilly after whipping her hair back.

Penny gasped upon seeing her look towards Weiss and Jenny, as they had the Staff of Creation in their possession. If it fell into the Fall Maiden's hands now, then the whole plan would fall apart. The freckled robot girl quickly got up, standing in front of her friends with her arms outstretched.

"I'm right here!" she shouted out, "I'm what you want!" she mentioned on, willing to give herself up for the sakes of her colleagues.

"Penny, no…!" Jenny gasped with widened eyes of fright. Cinder let out a soft laugh.

"I want it all…" she declared as she narrowed her lone eye. She threw her hands back, unleashing flames to propel herself forward to her target. But suddenly, she was kicked upside by both of Blake's feet as she had leapt in, knocking her back a fair distance as she landed on her feet with a grunt.

"Blake!" Jenny exclaimed with relief. The cat Faunus set her Gambol Shroud into its katana form as she looked over to her Omni Force teammates.

"Get up!" she insisted, "Ruby and Peter need help!" she pointed out. Immediately understanding, Weiss got onto her feet, grabbing both the Staff and her Myrtenaster before hurrying off as quickly as she could. Meanwhile, Jenny morphed his lone arm into a cannon as she drew her eagle-like, metal wings from her back. She, Blake and Penny faced down Cinder, ready to continue their fight.

She was prepared to lunge at them again, only to wind up taking a vicious haymaker from Tifa, making her fly back before she landed on her feet again. She snarled as the bar hostess raised her fists like a boxer. Looking to her colleagues, she nodded to them, and they nodded back.

In the meantime, Danny was slowly starting to regain consciousness. A low groan left his lips as his eyes fluttered open. Instead of their normal blue though, they shined a fiery purple…

X

"Ergh…!" Enji grunted as he desperately tried to keep the carrier ship with the bomb from moving any closer to its intended destination. Inside the cockpit, Raven was trying to figure out how to turn off the autopilot, only to get errors from each button or switch she tried to press. She huffed in frustration, drawing her Omen from its hilt before heading to the cargo hold. Her brother and Harriet were still fighting, with the latter punching and kicking the former back into the wall, causing him to groan with pain.

"You're making a mistake, Harriet!" he yelled out to his foe, "I did the same thing myself!" he mentioned on, "What happened to Clover…" he continued solemnly, causing the mohawk-haired Ace Operative to growl, "I blame—"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" his foe roared to interrupt him, speeding over to slam her right fist into his face. He flinched, but never received the expected impact. That was because when he opened his eyes, he lightly gasped to find his sister there, with her Omen blocking Harriet's fist.

"Want me to take over?" she assumed of her brother, swinging her blade to knock the mohawk-haired Ace Operative back. She snarled again, lunging at her as they clashed, making sparks fly. At one point, Harriet managed to kick Raven back against the wall. She was about to lunge out at her again, only for the Spring Maiden to have reddish energy flames trail out from her eyes.

Using her blade to block another of her foe's punches, she then conjured a trio of ice daggers in between her knuckles. She tossed them out, having them slash through the wires of the mohawk-haired Ace Operative's Fast Knuckles. She gasped in surprise, followed by being blown back by her opponent's Omen as it struck her upside the head, knocking her down.

"End of the line," Raven declared, aiming her blade at her foe's face. She merely glared, speeding back in an instant to cut the straps holding the bomb in place. What followed was her jumping up and slamming her fists down, tilting the carrier. The bomb started sliding toward the open cargo door.

"Shit!" Qrow cursed, jumping out in front of it, trying to hold it in place. His sister was going to join him, but was knocked back by a punch from Harriet's right fist. She looked over at the huntsman trying to push the heavy bomb back as he had withdrawn his Harbinger.

"Get out of the way!" she shouted. Suddenly, the ship jolted. Everyone looked out of the open cargo door, noticing the other carrier being piloted by Robyn flying in behind them. Vine was using his Aura-formed arms to hold the other vessel in place while being supported by Elm, whose Aura-formed roots tethered her to the top of the ship they were upon, as she held onto him from behind. They closed in on the bomb carrier as their colleague looked out at them in shock.

"Hare, please! Don't do this!" Elm begged as she shook her head, "They're still evacuating in Mantle!" she pointed out desperately.

"Why can't you just let me do my job?!" Harriet screamed back in question, throwing her left fist down.

"Because you're our friend!" Elm yelled back as tears were pricking her eyes, much to her mohawk-haired teammate's surprise, "And we won't let you go through with this!" she added firmly. Harriet was taken aback upon hearing that, lowering her head slightly. At that moment, the bomb started sliding forward move, shoving Qrow aside as he fell against the wall.

"No!" he exclaimed. Fortunately, his sister jumped in to grab the bomb from behind, letting her energy flames flare out from her eyes as she gritted her teeth. But even with her strength, she was unable to keep the bomb from sliding closer and closer to the open cargo door. Her brother could only watch, taking out Clover's pin from his jacket, closing his eyes somberly. He could only hope by some string of luck, the bomb would stop. But given his track record, that was unlikely.

"Ergh!" Raven growled, trying to at least move the bomb to the corner of the ramp, only for it to barely move an inch the way she wanted it to. The Ace-Ops all watched in shock. And then suddenly, a figure leapt aboard the carrier.

It was Wendy, whose hair and eyes flared a bright pink as she pushed against the bomb as hard as she could, roaring all the while. Together with the Spring Maiden, they managed to shove it up against the wall at the very corner, denting the metal to keep it stuck in place. Qrow sighed in relief, as did Elm and Vine. He looked at the pin in his hand and smiled. One last bit of luck saved them.

Meanwhile, Harriet watched as Wendy stepped back from the bomb, letting her hair and eyes go back to normal as she breathed heavily. The mohawk-haired Ace Operative noticed her stagger toward the ramp, with her eyelids drooping. Raven also saw.

"No!" she screamed, lunging out for her. But it seemed like she would be too late. However, Harriet managed to grab her right hand with her own, using her left to hold onto the bomb to keep them from falling. Her grip slipped on it, but she was fortunately caught by the Spring Maiden, whose eyes continued to flare with energy before she threw both of them back into the cargo hold, allowing for Qrow to catch them both in his arms.

As the mohawk-haired Ace Operative stood up, she looked over at the unconscious Wendy. She had evidently gone through a lot in the past few days, especially with the injury given to her from Salem. And yet, she was still fighting…

"Why…?" Harriet uttered in question. At that moment, Enji flew aboard, landing in the cargo bay.

"Is everyone alright?!" he immediately asked.

"Yeah… we're all good," Qrow answered with a relieved smile.

"All that's left to do is to make sure we get this bomb outta here before we disarm it," Raven chimed in as she sheathed her Omen, letting her eye flares disappear as well. However, at that very moment, she and the others heard a beep. They looked towards the bomb, seeing its interactive screen flash 'INITIATE COUNTDOWN' with a prompt below. The 'YES' prompt was highlighted, and a countdown of two minutes started. Everyone looked to each other in disbelief, having not touched the screen during their debacle.

It turned out to be Arthur's doing as he pulled his finger back from the computer in the command center of the military compound and smirked. He wasn't going to let anyone off easily. Back aboard the ship, Enji stared at the countdown on the bomb's screen. A familiar feeling welled up in him as he determinedly clenched his fists.

X

Back in the pocket dimension, Ruby and Peter were continuing to fight off Neopolitan, having driven her back to another platform of the vast space. She was parrying and dodging their attacks, always kicking the web-slinger away before focusing on the silver-eyed huntress. She was still filled with anger and sadness over her sister's apparent demise earlier, tearing up as she spun her Crescent Rose in her hands.

"ERRAAAHHH!" she yelled, flinging her weapon past her seemingly unamused mute foe before zipping around in a burst of rose petals to catch it. She cocked its shaft to turn the blade around, firing off a shot to propel it forward for a critical blow to her opponent. Not only did she dodge it though, she hooked her Hush's handle to the blade to be swung up behind her enemy, kicking her down onto the platform as her red Aura flickered, while she dropped her weapon.

"Ruby!" Peter cried out. Neopolitan slowly approached her threateningly, letting off a smirk. However, the web-slinger hopped into her path.

"Wanna get to her?" he assumed, "You gotta go through me…" he declared, glaring underneath his mask. His mute foe rolled her eyes, charging at him with her umbrella at the ready. He ducked from her first few jabs, landing a flip kick to knock her back. But she retaliated by drawing her hidden blade from her Hush and slashing his left cheek with it.

Ruby looked back with a grimace to see Peter getting nicked over and over by Neopolitan, unable to counter as she was not only becoming too nimble for him, he was growing exhausted, especially from all the cuts on his body. He eventually managed to land a right hook to her head, only to see her smirk as her body shattered like glass. The moment he felt a tingle in his head warning him, it was already too late as his opponent pierced her blade through his back.

"PETER!" Ruby shrieked, seeing him fall over onto his knees, while the mute woman smirked, glancing back at her intended target.

"Leave them alone!" Weiss' voice yelled out, getting her attention as she looked back to see the ex-heiress skating over via her white glyphs. She parried Neopolitan's attempted strike with her Myrtenaster before slamming the Staff of Creation against her stomach, knocking her out through a portal. She then quickly went over to Peter, whose blood was dripping on the platform as he breathed heavily.

Meanwhile, Cinder took notice of how her colleague had been momentarily sent out of the pocket dimension. She snarled, launching off a fireball to stop the approaching Penny and Jenny, followed by conjuring a flame wall to hold Blake back as she yelped, shutting her eyes to brace herself. Taking advantage of that, the Fall Maiden launched herself forward through the fire and stomped on the surface right at the cat Faunus' feet, blowing her off of the platform in a powerful blast.

Luckily, the ribbon of her Gambol Shroud was caught by Tifa, who pulled her ally back as she kicked Cinder squarely in the face with both of her feet, making her flip back. That left her open to a barrage of mini-missiles sent her way by Jenny. She managed to counter them all with obsidian projectiles she conjured, but she was then met with a powerful left hook from the bar hostess.

Penny dove in, thrusting her created blades out at the Fall Maiden. As they pierced into the surface one by one, Cinder found herself grimacing. She either had to get struck by them, or by Tifa's raging fists. And instinctively, she assumed the latter wouldn't be as bad.

That proved to be her mistake as the bar hostess wailed on her with several heavy blows to her head and stomach. Her foe's Aura had yet to really even flicker, so she needed to keep up the barrage for as long as possible. She reared her right fist back and roared as she landed another punch to the Fall Maiden's face.

She winced from the blow, but steeled herself. A flame hovered over her left hand as she flung it down to create a small blast of fire, forcing Tifa to jump back. That left her open for Cinder to extend her Grimm arm out in an attempt to kill her. She managed to lunge aside, but not before taking a slash to her stomach by her foe's claws.

"Tifa!" Blake cried out, hurrying over as the bar hostess fell to her knees, clutching her bleeding stomach. Cinder was ready to eviscerate them with another blast of fire, but then saw Penny swing her blades out at her, forcing her to duck. She conjured a pair of obsidian blades to counter those of the Winter Maiden's, heating them up to burn straight through them. Her foe gasped before finding her green Aura shattering from the first slash across her chest, followed by another that tore through her stomach.

"AAAAAHHHH!" she screamed as she was sent flying back.

"PENNY!" Jenny shrieked. Luckily, the Winter Maiden wasn't torn asunder as she tumbled to a stop. But there was a huge gash in her body, specifically where her prior wound from her fellow robot girl was. She tried to push herself up as her green coolant dripped out, making her wince. Jenny hurried over to her, readying her arm as she morphed it back into a cannon. Cinder huffed, ready to launch a fireball onto them. But then, she saw a few shots streak by from Blake, making her growl before she flew off.

"Agh…" Peter groaned as Weiss and Ruby helped him back onto his feet, "I'm good, I'm good…" he repeatedly reassured, allowing the girls to remove their arms from him.

"How many more people do we have to get through the portal?" the silver-eyed huntress inquired.

"I doubt many more," the ex-heiress answered, "Come on, we have to do this for Yang," she pointed out seriously, earning nods of agreement from her Omni Force teammates. At that moment though, Peter felt a tingle in his brain. He glanced over to see a smirking Cinder.

"WATCH OUT!" he yelled. The surface at his and the huntresses' feet was glowing. Reacting quickly, Weiss shoved her colleagues away, simultaneously putting the Staff of Creation into Ruby's grasp.

"NO!" she screamed before an explosion went off, knocking her and Peter down. The ex-heiress was launched up into the air as her white Aura shimmered, with her Myrtenaster flying out of her left hand. She landed hard upon the platform, with her Aura finally breaking apart as her weapon clattered on the surface beside her. The web-slinger's mask had flames smoldering upon it, forcing him to throw it off.

"Hang on, Weiss!" he called out, heading over to his downed ally. Ruby was ready to join them, but then saw Neopolitan come back through the portal she had gotten knocked into. She thrusted her Hush's out at the silver-eyed huntress, who barely managed to block her strike before attempting to slice her with her Crescent Rose, firing a shot to propel it. Unfortunately, the mute woman leapt over it in a flip, landing a few kicks before thrusting her umbrella up onto the Staff, opening it to launch it up into the air.

Distracted, Ruby found herself getting struck by her foe's Hush, knocking her off of the platform in a yelp. Peter and Weiss watched with widened eyes, seeing the Staff of Creation fall into Neopolitan's hands. The former was ready to lunge out at her, but was stopped by a wall of flames that was conjured by Cinder, forcing him to step back.

Luckily, Ruby did manage to land upon one of the walkways, bringing herself to a stop. But the same couldn't be said for her high caliber sniper-scythe. She watched helplessly as it bounced over the edge.

"NO!" she screamed as she tried to lunge for it, only to end up missing as her weapon plummeted into the abyss, disappearing into golden embers like Yang did earlier. Now unarmed, the silver-eyed huntress looked back at Neopolitan. She stared at her target with disdain. She was finally going to kill her and get the revenge she desired. At least, that's what she thought…

X

"The autopilot's locked!" Qrow yelled back on the bomb carrier as the device itself had only a minute and forty seconds before its detonation, "We gotta go!" he insisted desperately of his comrades. Harriet fell to her knees in dismay.

"There's no time to make it out of the blast range…" she realized, "I've… killed us all…" she noted with widened eyes, "I'm sorry…" she apologized sadly with guilt. There seemed to be nothing that anyone could do at this point. But then, Enji stepped forward.

"All of you, get back on the ship," he advised, turning his attention to Vine, "On my signal, let go and back away as quickly as possible," he instructed of him.

"Wait, are we just letting this thing keep riding?" Raven inquired, gesturing to the ship.

"Right now, it's low enough that the blast could reach Mantle," the Flame Hero pointed out, "So we need to get it higher," he told her.

"But how are we gonna do that when we're backing off?" the Spring Maiden asked.

"I'm doing it," Enji stated to her shock, as well as Qrow and Harriet's, "I'll push it as high as I can, keeping you all safe while also preventing any lives from being taken in Mantle, provided they haven't already evacuated," he explained.

"W-W-Wait..." Raven stammered out, "Why does it have to be you who does it?" she questioned, sounding frantic.

"I'm the only one capable right now since Marvell's out of commission," her colleague answered, "And I don't want to risk anyone else's life for this," he added firmly.

"Well… what about her?!" the Spring Maiden shouted in question, pointing accusingly at Harriet, "She's the one who got us into this whole mess!" she yelled harshly, making the mohawk-haired Ace Operative flinch, "Why do you have to make the sacrifice play?!" she inquired on, breathing heavily. Enji's expression softened.

"Because that's what a hero like you does," he responded to her shock as her eyes widened and shook. She didn't know what to say. Her brother's hand came onto her shoulder.

"Raven…" he said, getting her attention as she saw him carrying the unconscious Wendy over his left shoulder, "We gotta go," he advised seriously. Tears pricked the Spring Maiden's eyes before she scoffed. As Qrow and Harriet hopped aboard the other cargo ship, Raven looked back at Enji, who simply nodded to her. Her lips quivered a little before she turned and leapt aboard the other vessel as well.

With that, the Hellflame Quirk user jumped down the ramp, expelling fire from his feet to propel himself underneath the bomb carrier. Heating up his fingertips, he managed to gouge into the metal, getting a firm grip onto it. This situation eerily reminded him of the last time he faced such a challenge. But like that time, he would overcome this with all of his strength.

Back in the pocket dimension, Ruby was in the greatest bind of her life. She had no Crescent Rose, no teammates able to help her, and no control over the situation. She looked over her shoulder as she neared the edge of the walkway.

"Whatever you wanted…" she began to Neopolitan, turning to face her, "I hope it was worth it," she remarked, spreading her arms wide open to offer herself as a target. Widening her eyes, the mute woman glared. She clenched her teeth and extended her Hush's hidden blade, lunging out for the kill. The silver-eyed huntress was prepared to make a move, but suddenly, her foe stopped.

She looked back to find that her left leg was ensnared in a mass of sand that extended all the way back toward the central platform. Without warning, she was suddenly reeled back in an instant, being slammed down against the surface hard as her pink Aura shimmered. Her umbrella, the Lamp of Knowledge, and the Staff of Creation clattered a few feet away from her in the process. As she pushed herself up, she noticed sand encircling the former in a torrent, bringing it up into the air. Before she could even reach for her weapon, the sand completely encased and crushed it.

Her heterochromatic eyes widened before she heard footsteps approaching from behind. She turned her head to find Gaara slowly approaching her. His eyes were veiled by his red hair. His colleagues watched on, wondering what he was doing there at first. And then, Blake gasped upon seeing his murderous expression. From afar, Peter and Weiss also noticed.

"Do you think he…?" the latter started to assume with a frightened expression.

"Yeah, come on!" the former responded, waving her to follow him down the walkway to the central platform as quickly as they could. Ruby was running over as well, while Cinder watched on curiously. Neopolitan got onto her feet, turning around to face the incoming Kazekage. The sand was swirling around her, making her grimace as she had nowhere to run.

So in a shimmer of pink light that looked like glass, she transformed herself into Yang. Gaara stopped his approach for a moment, seeing the illusion of his girlfriend ahead of him. She gave him a warm smile, and then smirked.

She lunged out at him, only for her feet to suddenly be entrapped in a mass of sand, pulling her back. She tried to reach down and pull her legs out, only for more sand to wrap around her arms, holding them in place at their respective sides. Gritting her teeth, she struggled to try and break free of her bonds.

The Kazekage approached, encasing his right hand in a gauntlet of sand. He closed it into a fist… and didn't even hesitate before he thrusted it out to strike his entrapped foe, shattering her pink Aura as she turned back into Neopolitan. She weakly looked up in horror to see the deadly expression on his face. He wanted to kill her. He held his left hand out.

"SAND COFFIN!" he bellowed, closing his extremity into a fist. The sickening crunches of the sand compressing onto his mute foe's limbs were deafening. Blood squelched out, dripping all over the platform before Neopolitan herself fell onto it upon her back. Tears were pouring out of her eyes from the sheer pain she was feeling. Her arms and legs were brutally mangled, bleeding all over the surface. If she could, she would've screamed in agony. She even opened her mouth, releasing a silent wail.

Everyone was stunned, including Cinder. The heterochromatic woman, who had been a valuable asset to her, was now lying on the ground without the use of her arms and legs. Her pain didn't register with Gaara. He merely went ahead and his sand form into a large halberd in his right hand.

Ruby, Weiss and Peter arrived on the scene, having seen what had happened. But it looked like they were going to be too late to stop the Kazekage. He lifted his created weapon up and thrusted it down in an angered roar, aiming to pierce through Neopolitan's chest.

But suddenly, it was stopped. Blake had jumped in at the very last moment, blocking the halberd with her Gambol Shroud's katana and sheath. Gaara clenched his teeth, pushing hard against her. She steadied herself, looking up at him with tears welling up in her eyes. She was wordlessly conveying how killing the mute woman wouldn't do anyone any good.

Thinking back to the time the team was stuck at the Brunswick Farms, needing to find some form of transportation, the cat Faunus remembered overhearing the Kazekage's conversation with his girlfriend about things were changing. She recalled hearing him shout at her for not being as open and honest with everyone, almost sounding defeated from everything. Though it may have been because of the Apathy, Yang had harbored some resentment. And Gaara admitted that he had resentment for things himself, having done terrible things such as killing people.

"You're not that person anymore…" Blake affirmed to his surprise as he blinked. In that very moment, he finally rescinded, letting his halberd of sand fade away. Tears streaked down his face as he sobbed. The cat Faunus stood up and hugged him warmly, sniffling herself. They had both lost someone important to them today. But revenge wasn't the answer for that.

"Well… that was exciting…" Cinder chimed in, causing the pair to perk up before they saw a stream of flames heading their way. Gaara quickly waved his right hand to form a wall of sand to block off the fire, which would've struck Neopolitan as well. Her teary eyes were widened at the realization of Cinder having betrayed her as the wall of sand came down. She merely scoffed. "Don't take it so personally," she insisted, resting her right hand onto her hip, "You threaten me, you pay the price," she remarked, "It just so happens that he was the one to do it…" she noted, pointing toward Gaara. Ropes of sand were building up around him, while Blake readied the blades in her hands. They lunged at the Fall Maiden, whose lone eye flared up with an energy flame.

As their battle continued, Peter took notice of Danny trying to push himself back up onto his feet. He hurried over to him, while Ruby and Weiss went to attend to Tifa. Looking around, Jenny could tell that everyone was worn out. Even together, it was unlikely that they could defeat Cinder.

"Jenny…" Penny uttered out, getting her fellow robot girl's attention as she looked to see the Winter Maiden trying to stand back up, "you need… to get to Vacuo…!" she insisted, her knees buckling as she fell down again.

"Penny, no!" Jenny refused as she shook her head, "You need to be the one to get to Vacuo!" she firmly advised.

"But I do not want to lose my friends!" Penny argued.

"And I don't wanna lose you again!" the Omni Force member shouted back to her shock, "You deserve to live more of your life…" she pointed out softly, putting her lone hand onto her fellow robot girl's cheek, "Whether you're the Winter Maiden or the Protector of Mantle…" she continued, "you're still Penny…" she noted as she moved her head closer, "And… it shouldn't be you having to risk your life now…" she added, much to the confusion of her crush as her eyes shook.

Back in the sky of Atlas, the bomb aboard the cargo ship was now at a minute until its detonation. Enji took a deep breath underneath the vessel. Everyone aboard the other one watched on with worry, hoping that his plan would work.

"NOW!" he roared out, expelling a powerful blast of fire from his feet. At that same moment, Vine undid his Aura-formed tendrils around the cargo ship's tailpipes, allowing for Robyn to quickly fly their carrier away as the fire's brightness made those inside flinch. Raven's eyes shook as she witnessed her colleague carry the vessel higher into the sky.

In the pocket dimension, Jenny went ahead and planted a kiss onto Penny's lips. She blinked with a perplexed look. This wasn't like the kiss back in the lab earlier. It now felt… different. Almost solemn. Her fellow robot girl pulled herself back, having a guilty expression upon her face. She tore off a metal panel upon her severed arm, placing it onto her friend's wound to seal it off.

"I love you…" she confessed earnestly, standing up and unfolding her eagle-like, metal wings. Before the Winter Maiden could say anything, she watched Jenny fly out toward the battle, as Cinder had just blown back Blake again with another fireball, making her purple Aura shimmer as she fell down onto her stomach, with her katana and sheath clattering upon the platform's surface. The Fall Maiden grinned evilly, unleashing a stream of fire onto the incoming ropes of sand from Gaara, melting them into glass as they fell onto the surface and shattered.

Meanwhile, inside the central command of the military compound, an alert notification appeared upon one of the screens of the terminal that Arthur was using. He blinked in surprise, immediately opening it to find that the intended trajectory of the cargo ship carrying the bomb was heading upwards. He frantically starting typing commands on the keyboards, trying to remotely veer the vessel in the right direction. But it was useless against the force of Enji's flames propelling it upward. Qrow, Robyn, Marrow, Elm, Vine, Harriet and Raven were still watching him go.

"He's… really doing it…" the canine Faunus noted in amazement. The Spring Maiden gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, trembling a little. She wasn't going to watch her colleague sacrifice herself.

Back in the pocket dimension, Gaara found himself being barraged by Cinder's flames, as she was shooting them from both of her hands onto his barricade of sand. She knew that he was probably one of the key pieces to her foes' plan, so eliminating him would be in her best interest. But without warning, she was tackled away by Jenny, who flew her off toward the other side of the platform.

With a growl, the Fall Maiden slashed her face with her Shadow Hand's claws, making pieces of metal scatter about. Everyone gasped, watching as the robot girl steeled herself, wrapping her lone arm around Cinder firmly before attaching her hand to what remained of her other arm, locking it in place. Her foe squirmed in her grasp, but then smirked.

"You must be desperate to get it over with…" she remarked as a strong heat coursed through her body onto her opponent, who grimaced. Several obsidian blades appeared around them, all aimed for the teenage robot. Everyone watching on gasped.

"Jenny, get out of there!" Ruby screamed. Her Omni Force teammate glanced back at Penny, still showing off a solemn expression. Back in the Atlesian sky, Enji roared as he pushed the ship further into the air. Fifteen seconds were left on the bomb's countdown.

"No, no, NO!" Arthur vehemently yelled, banging his right fist against the terminal as he clenched his teeth together angrily. Meanwhile, Raven let out a frustrated grunt as she withdrew her Omen from its scabbard from the other cargo ship.

"Raven?" her brother said, seeing her hop down into the cargo hold. With the last burst of firepower that he had, the Hellflame Quirk user threw the bomb carrier higher up into the sky with six seconds to spare. The ship itself kept going upward, floating aimlessly into the space above. Meanwhile, the fire around the Flame Hero's body went out as he started falling.

The countdown of the bomb officially reached zero, and a massive explosion erupted. The flames from it were expanding down towards Enji, who was barely conscious. He shut his eyes, accepting his fate.

Back in the pocket dimension, Jenny felt Cinder's Grimm hand dig into her metal skin, attempting to burn her up from the inside out. But she wasn't deterred. She looked the Fall Maiden dead in the eye.

"I'm not letting you take anyone else…" she vowed. Her foe huffed with a smirk, but then noticed the blue glow coming from her stomach. The moment she gasped, a powerful explosion engulfed both her and the robot girl.

In the Atlesian sky where Enji was falling, a red portal appeared beside him. Raven flew out from it, grabbing him and slashing open another rift for them to fall into. It closed just before the flames of the blast reached.

The force of the explosion made the lone ship in the air jolt as everyone braced themselves. They quickly got back up, looking to see the ensuing smoke. Harriet's eyes were shaking.

"He… did it…" she realized. Just then, everyone heard a loud bang in the cargo hold. Qrow hurried down alongside the Ace-Ops, widening their eyes to find Raven there, groaning up against the wall as she pushed Enji off of her.

"Shit, is he okay?!" her brother asked immediately as he jogged over. She sat up, leaning over to see that the Hellflame Quirk user's eyes were shut. She reached over to caress his right cheek, sniffling a little.

"Enji…" she whimpered out, "please…" she pleaded as everyone watched on, seeing her drop her sword to hold his left hand, "I can't lose you, too…" she noted sadly. There was a long silence as she lowered her head. And then, the Flame Quirk user coughed. Those in the cargo hold perked up to hear him groan as he sat up.

"Are… we safe?" he inquired weakly. The Spring Maiden's tears flowed down her cheeks as she laughed happily. She leaned her head in and kissed Enji's lips, much to his surprise as he let out a muffled yelp. She pulled back after a moment and giggled a little.

"Uh…" Qrow uttered out.

"Oh, shut up, Qrow…" her sister grumbled back with a glare, enticing him to hold his hands up in surrender as he chuckled.

"All's well that ends well," Elm remarked with her hands at her hips, sharing a smile with Marrow and Vine. However, they looked back to see Harriet sit herself down on the opposite side of the cargo hold.

"Hare?" the canine Faunus uttered out, "Are you… okay?" he asked, seeing her bring her hands up over her eyes.

"I… almost…" she whimpered out. Her friends looked on at her solemnly as she cried. They knew that she was just doing this out of loyalty, even if it was misguided. They turned to each other, wondering how their own loyalties had led them astray.

"Okay, where to now?" Robyn inquired from the cockpit.

"We need to get to one of those portals," Qrow answered, climbing up and walking over, "Preferably one in Mantle, since Atlas is still going down," he pointed out.

"Tennyson's probably getting into position as we speak…" Enji noted as he sat upright, much to the surprise of the Ace-Ops, "The city may no longer be in the sky..." he continued, "but it'll at least be salvaged when he plants it in Mantle's crater," he told the others.

"Where Atlas came to be…" Vine pointed out.

"It's not going to be a perfect fit…" Elm mentioned with a grimace.

"But at least there'll still be a city for people to come back to when all's said and done," Marrow affirmed to his colleagues, "I know this plan sounds crazy, but it'll be worth it," he vowed, "so long as we can protect the people," he added seriously. Vine and Elm nodded. Harriet didn't respond, looking up toward the cockpit. There, Wendy was sleeping against the side wall, worn from all her battles up to this point. Yet she still had more to face. Though it wouldn't be her facing it…

"GAH!" Arthur roared as he slammed his fists against the console he had been using angrily, "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU, JAMES!" he cursed out, breathing heavily with rage, "Every time I think I've finally gotten the better of you…" he growled on, "you somehow have something up your sleeve!" he bellowed, slamming his fists against the console again. All of a sudden, all of the screens in the room flashed a bright red. The scientist looked around in confusion before the door to the command center opened behind him. He quickly grabbed his rifle and turned to see a platoon of Atlesian Knights there, each with glowing red faceplates like the ones he remotely controlled earlier. He was prepared to fire them until he heard heavy footsteps beyond the android soldiers.

"Now… there's no need for any more bloodshed," Ultron said as he stepped forward, with the Atlesian Knights stepping aside for him to approach the surprised doctor, "Especially when you've already shed so much… Arthur…" he noted, grinning a little.

"Who… are you?" the mustached man asked, lowering his weapon.

"Hm," the bulky android chuckled, "Let's talk business," he insisted.

X

Everyone in the pocket dimension was left shell-shocked as the smoke from the explosion lingered. No one could really grasp what they had just witnessed. Penny was especially astonished. Jenny had just told her that she loved her and… She felt something touch her right foot. She looked to see that it was a blue bolt, which she remembered was her fellow robot girl's belly button. As she picked it up, the green flames of her Maiden powers lingered over her eyes. So many emotions ran through her mind. But the strongest of them all… was anguish.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" she wailed with dismay, with water coming out from her eyes like tears that streaked down her face. A burst of wind erupted from her body as the others looked on in disbelief.

"Jenny…?" Ruby uttered out with shaking, teary eyes.

"No…" Peter uttered, clenching his fists in frustration, "NO!" he yelled, slamming his right extremity against the surface of the central platform. Weiss sobbed into her hands, while Blake covered her mouth to block out her cries of dismay. First Yang plummeted to her demise, and now Jenny was another victim because of their enemies. Gaara looked on sadly, doing his best to steel himself as he took a deep breath.

"Guys!" Jaune's voice cried out, getting their attentions as they saw him running over, "What… What happened?" he asked, looking around to see the distraught expressions on everyone's faces.

"Yang… fell earlier and…" Blake started to answer as she wiped her teary eyes, "Jenny just…" she tried to say, only to start sobbing again. Widening his eyes, the Team JNPR leader looked over to the crying Penny, hearing her whimper as she took a tight hold of the blue bolt, clutching it against her chest. The blonde-haired huntsman let out a solemn sigh.

"We… got everyone through the portal," he pointed out, "We need to hurry over there to help get them safely to the city," he affirmed on.

"Right…" Gaara agreed, wiping his right eye free of tears, "We can mourn later," he said, getting the attentions of his colleagues, "Let's go," he insisted. Everyone started to pick themselves up, sans Penny as she continued to whimper. Ruby went over to her carefully.

"Penny…" she uttered, trying to get her attention as she reached out to her, "We need to g—" Without warning, she was suddenly struck aside by a fireball that flew out from the smoke.

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out, seeing her tumble toward the edge of the platform. Fortunately, Peter was quick to fire off a web line that caught her by her right wrist. She grabbed onto it just as she reached the edge, pulling herself back up as her red Aura flickered. Meanwhile, the others widened their eyes in disbelief. Emerging from the smoke with her Shadow Hand reforming was Cinder. She groaned as her orange Aura flickered ever so slightly. Once her Grimm arm had fully returned, she sighed with relief, followed by chuckling.

"Well, that was… unpleasant…" she admitted, "I guess I should've expected some of you to make sacrifices after what happened with Xiao Long…" she noted on. Penny's eyes were shaking. Jenny's last-ditch effort to stop Cinder… was seemingly all for nothing.

"Stay back!" Jaune yelled, drawing his sword from his shield as it expanded with Hard-Light energy. The Fall Maiden chuckled.

"Do you really think you stand a chance against me?" she inquired to him as he gripped his blade tightly, "Do any of you?" she questioned on, "You lost Yang… and you just lost Jenny," he listed off, "There's no way you can stop me now," she affirmed as her eye flared with orange energy. Everyone grimaced with frustration. Their lone foe was too strong for all of them right now. While they were still reeling from prior injuries, she stood without so much as a scratch.

This was reality in Ruby's mind. Her Aura dissipated around her body as she breathed heavily with exhaustion. They couldn't win against Cinder. Not right now. But they didn't have to. She stood tall, taking on a determined expression.

"So what?" she said, much to the Fall Maiden and everyone else's surprise, "Even if Yang and Jenny are gone, even if you kill the rest of us and take Penny's power…" she listed off, "our job's still done," she stated, "We protected everyone, we got them away from the fight," she pointed out, "And we knew there'd be risks, but…" she continued, looking over solemnly at Penny, "it'd be wrong of us to not follow through for their sakes," she finished, glaring at Cinder, "So go ahead," she remarked, outstretching her arms as she was essentially offering herself to the Fall Maiden like she did earlier with Neopolitan, "We're still gonna fight to the end," she declared. Hearing that, her foe snarled as she rocketed out at her with flames shooting out from her feet.

"RUBY!" Weiss and Blake screamed. In the instant that Cinder closed in on the silver-eyed huntress, aiming to finally get her revenge once and for all, a pinkish-purple fireball blasted her aside. She landed down upon the platform and slid to a stop, looking up and snarling to find Danny there in his ghost form, with his eyes shining a pinkish-purple as flames were building in his hands.

"D-Danny?" the ex-heiress stammered in shock.

"Sorry for the scare, guys," he apologized to his colleagues, getting into a ready stance to face down the Fall Maiden, "I can hold her off from here," he affirmed. With that, Ruby hurried forward, grabbing both the Staff of Creation and the Lamp of Knowledge off of the floor. Noticing, Cinder gasped lightly.

"No!" she yelled, extending her Grimm arm out to try and grab her. However, it was slashed away by a pair of Penny's Floating Array blades, making her bellow with pain. The silver-eyed huntress looked back at the Winter Maiden, seeing her nod to her while her created tears were still tolling down her face. She nodded back, hurrying off to the portal.

"I'm going with her!" Tifa decided, jogging after Ruby. Gaara was prepared to join them as well, but then looked back at the mangled Neopolitan. He was ashamed of himself for harming her so brutally, even though she wasn't dead. He quickly formed a cloud of sand underneath her, lifting her up and moving her alongside him as he headed to the Vacuo portal. As Cinder reformed her Shadow Hand in a pained grunt, Jaune placed his hands onto Blake and Weiss' shoulders, amplifying their respective Auras.

"That good?" he inquired of them.

"Yeah, thanks," the ex-heiress responded, drawing her Myrtenaster as she slid her fingers across it, piercing it into the platform to create a large white glyph. Gnashing her teeth together angrily, the Fall Maiden fired off a plethora of obsidian projectiles towards her foes. However, they were slashed away by the blades of Penny's Floating Array along with her created swords as she flew out in front of her opponent.

"You will not harm any more of my friends!" she declared fiercely as behind her, the Arma Gigas summon arose from the glyph that Weiss had formed. Blake and Jaune drew their weapons, while Peter and Danny remained in ready stances. They were prepared to fend Cinder off for as long as they needed to…

"Holy shit…" Marrow uttered in disbelief as he and the other Ace Operatives disembarked from the cargo ship after it landed on one of Mantle's many streets. They were paying witness to Way Big carefully positioning himself in preparation to catch Atlas, which was still descending slowly. "We really did never stand a chance, did we?" the canine Faunus assumed of his colleagues.

"No, we did not…" Elm agreed with a shake of her head, "It makes me wonder if we could've tried to talk things out…" she confessed to her teammates, earning a nod from Vine, while Harriet lowered her head with shame.

"Hey, eyes up," Raven called out, getting their attentions as they saw her toss a rifle over, which Elm caught. The Spring Maiden disembarked from the ship with Qrow and Robyn, as her brother was hoisting Enji's left arm over his shoulders. "Once we get to the others, whether or not they're in Vacuo, we need to protect the people," his sister insisted firmly.

"What about restoring comms?" Marrow asked.

"Too late for that, I think…" Robyn responded with a shake of her head as she readied her crossbow. She then curiously looked over at the exhausted Flame Hero. "How long is he gonna need before he's back to full strength?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"About ten to fifteen minutes at most…" Enji replied, "I used up a lot of firepower to get the bomb away…" he pointed out, "Raven, portal," he instructed of the Spring Maiden.

"Yeah, yeah…" she grumbled, drawing her Omen from its sheath and slashing open a rift.

"Okay, let's get moving!" Qrow advised.

"Wait!" his sister called out, making him and the others stop. They noticed the portal itself she formed was appearing to glitch a little, looking rather unstable.

"You did set it to Yang, right?" her brother inquired. She narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Take one of the other portals," she advised to everyone's surprise, "Something's not right…" she noted.

"…Be careful," Enji said, enticing her to nod in response before she walked into the rift all by herself.

"Okay, I think there's a portal just a couple blocks from here," Robyn confirmed to the rest of the group, "Let's get a move on," she insisted.

"Wait," Harriet chimed in, "What about the kid?" she asked, looking back to the cargo ship. Wendy was still aboard it, sleeping on the floor as she tensed up a little. She opened her eyes to find herself in a mindscape with nothing but a pool of water at her feet and a beautiful sky with clouds overhead. The wind raced by as she flinched, letting her ponytailed hair wave about.

"That was one hell of an effort you showed…" a disembodied voice commented, causing her to lightly gasp as she whipped around to find no one there, "Your body's practically spent at this point, but I get the feeling it'll have to go through one last scuffle…" she mentioned, making the Sky Dragon Slayer grimace.

"You want to take over, don't you?" she assumed, noticing a shadow casting over her from behind.

"At least until we get to Vacuo," the woman's voice answered. Wendy turned her head to see the figure behind her. It was a tall, voluptuous woman with thickly braided, bow-adorned, scarlet hair. Her two front braids had two golden ornaments near the upper sections; she also wore a pair of U-shaped earrings, and donned red lipstick.

She also had on a risqué version of a typical witch's garb. Her black top had a diamond-shaped opening, exposing a portion of her breasts, and a heart-shaped pattern around the borders. It extended down to the naval of her stomach where it met a large angular scar, was draped over by a dark-colored cape with a light-colored inside and two medallion-gold-like ornaments, and was held together by a golden chain. Not left bare, too, her neck was decorated by other small cloth-based accessories, including a wide bow. Additionally, she wore an elongated black loincloth with a crown-shaped, silver symbol emblazoned on its front, having white borders on its edges and being connected to another cloth piece with the very same heart-shaped design. She also donned black thigh-high boots with heels that had a white-colored border near the top and gloves of the same color and design, only having claw-like extensions.

"How are you even here, Miss Irene?" Wendy asked.

"I'll explain later," she responded, putting a hand onto her left shoulder, "In the meantime, whether you like it or not, you need my help," she affirmed, "Fighting this is only going to make things worse," she pointed out seriously, "I'll make sure your friends are saved by whatever means necessary," she promised on. The Sky Dragon Slayer's fists trembled. She didn't want to surrender control of her body. From how it sounded, it would be like Oscar giving control to Ozpin. Only this time, she wouldn't know if she would get her body back.

She looked at the scarlet-haired woman, who gave her an expectant expression back. As much as she hated to admit it, Wendy knew that she was too tired to force herself to keep fighting. At the very least, Irene could use her body more effectively, as worn as it was.

"Alright…" she said, lowering her head with acceptance, "Take control for now…" she advised, "and we'll talk when this is over…" she declared. The scarlet-haired mage smirked.

"Now that's what I like to hear…" she remarked in response. Back in reality, Harriet climbed herself up into the cockpit of the cargo ship.

"Huh?" she uttered in surprise to see Wendy standing, looking over indifferently at her, "Kid…" she said, clearing her throat to compose herself, "Listen, I—"

"Save it," the Sky Dragon Slayer interjected, walking over and hopping down into the cargo hold, "Let's go," she advised, walking down the ramp to meet her colleagues, who were relieved to see her up and about. Though Marrow did raise an eyebrow at something peculiar.

"Uh… you doing alright, Wendy?" he asked out of concern.

"Fine," she answered, walking past him, "We need to head into one of those other portals, right?" she assumed, continuing on her way. Harriet exited from the ship, joining up with the other Ace Operatives.

"Was she… always that tall?" the canine Faunus inquired of his colleagues, who were all perplexed by the Sky Dragon Slayer's appearance. They decided to let it be for the moment, knowing that there were more pressing matters to attend to. Back in the Atlas Vault, Winter's Aura flickered after she was slammed into a column. She looked up and gasped to see James about to strike her again with his cannon, only to be stopped by Sabo as he blocked it with his lead pipe.

They pushed against each other, gnashing their teeth and glaring all the while. Winter stood up in a pained grunt. She felt a sudden rumble, realizing that the floating landmass was starting to descend faster.

"Sabo, we need to go!" she called out to her colleague, who managed to push James back. However, he readied his cannon, having it charge with a green energy before firing off a blast towards his foes. The Revolutionary Army Chief reared his left fist back, engulfing it in flames.

"FIRE FIST!" he bellowed, unleashing a column of fire to meet the incoming ray in a massive explosion, engulfing the Vault in smoke. Up upon the floating landmass, Eon stayed beside the swirling energy that was condensing into human form. As the smoky mass finally dissipated, in its place was Salem, who was lying upon her hands and knees. She took a deep breath, looking over to find the time walker there.

"Beloved…" she uttered out.

"We had a deal, remember?" Eon noted, making her sigh in frustration.

"They have the stone…" she noted, standing up, "I need to retrieve it…" she declared.

"Salem—!"

"Do not try to stop me…" she snarled back, interjecting the time walker, "I haven't failed yet…" she proclaimed, heading off as she morphed herself into a black mist. Eon sighed, watching as black pools of a tar-like substance within the Monstra's carcass started bubbling. Grimm were emerging, consisting of Ursai, Beowolves, Lancers, and Sabyrs. They hurried off, following the black mass of mist that was their master. She wasn't going to let things end so easily…

X

The second Ruby emerged from the portal into Vacuo, her eyes widened at the sight of the numerous Grimm attacking the refugees. Genji slashed a few Ravagers away with his katana, while Kevin and Hazel knocked aside others. Oscar and Emerald were dealing with hordes of Sulfur Fish, keeping them back alongside Kim. Looking around, the silver-eyed huntress cursed herself for not thoroughly thinking her plan through.

The idea of funneling people into one location so that she and her friends could protect them was solid. But she failed to anticipate the sandstorm and the varieties of Grimm the group would end up encountering. Once again, her plan wound up with critical flaws.

"Ruby!" Nora called out, getting her attention as she saw her and Obi-Wan hurrying over, "What's going on in there?" she questioned.

"Wait… you can't get back in?" the silver-eyed huntress inquired, arching an eyebrow in shock.

"Evidently not…" the Jedi confirmed as a response, placing his right hand against the portal, only for it to be repelled, "It seems the spirit's designs were made to your exact specifications, including the part there's only one way out and no way back in," he explained.

"Shit…" Ruby cursed.

"At least you got the Staff and the Lamp," Nora pointed out, noticing the Relics in the Team RWBY leader's grasp, "Wait, how'd you even get the Lamp back?" she asked curiously. At that moment, another pair of figures emerged from the portal, being Tifa and Gaara.

"Tifa!" Obi-Wan exclaimed, approaching her upon noticing her wounds, "Are you alright?" he quickly questioned.

"Yeah, it's just a scratch…" the bar hostess claimed with a wince. The orange-haired huntress was prepared to jog up to the Kazekage, but then noticed Neopolitan being carried out. Her eyes widened at the sight of her mangled limbs as she was wincing with agony. She looked over to Ruby.

"What happened in there…?" she asked out of concern and fright.

"…Too much to talk about right now," the silver-eyed huntress replied, "Gaara, can you deal with the sandstorm?" she asked of the Kazekage, who gently set down their heterochromatic enemy. He nodded in response. "Okay… I'll take care of the Grimm," Ruby affirmed, balling her fists. Her eyes started glowing as she ran forward.

Back in the pocket dimension, Cinder let out an angered snarl as she unleashed a trio of flame arcs towards her foes. Weiss' Arma Gigas summon was quick to block the flames with the flat end of its broadsword, allowing for Jaune and Blake to charge in, readying their blades. The Fall Maiden prepared weapons of hot black glass in her own hands, smirking all the while. However, she suddenly found herself stuck in place. She looked down to find webbing ensnaring her feet.

She whipped her head to glare over at Peter, who was breathing heavily as blood was dripping down his body. The blonde-haired huntsman and the cat Faunus lunged in, slashing at their foe. She countered with her blades, but found herself unable to retaliate thanks to the webbing at her feet. Igniting it with flames, she burned it off.

But the moment she pivoted around to attack Blake, she instead was met with the green-glowing right fist of Danny striking her squarely in the face. The blow sent her flying back before she landed on her feet, sliding to a stop. The orange energy flaring around her eye brightened as she gnashed her teeth together.

"How is her Aura not gone yet…?" Jaune wondered aloud.

"Between our attacks and Jenny's…" Blake tried to say, only to grimace from the memory of seeing the teenage robot self-destruct earlier to try and save her friends, "We don't need to beat her," she affirmed, "We just have to hold her off long enough for everyone in Vacuo to be brought to safety," she told him.

"But how are we gonna know they're safe?" Peter asked as he hopped over, knowing that communications between the groups in Vacuo, Atlas, and the pocket dimension were all completely down.

"…We just have to have faith," Blake answered, shifting her Gambol Shroud into its pistol form, "Come on!" she yelled, firing off shots towards the Fall Maiden. She easily evaded them by rolling to her right before firing off a stream of flames from her hand at the trio. At that moment, Penny flew down and brushed the incoming fire aside in a burst of wind, landing hard upon the central platform in a three-pointed position. She looked up and glared at Cinder with green energy flames still trailing from her eyes. She just smirked up.

"Aw, are you still upset that one of your precious tools is gone?" she mockingly assumed.

"Do not… call her that!" the Winter Maiden roared, forming dozens of blades similar to her Floating Array over herself. The others widened their eyes. Cinder herself just chuckled.

"A tool that loves another just to have some semblance of humanity…" she noted, shaking her head, "How pathetic…" she said as she herself formed several blades of black glass. At the same time, both Maidens fired off their created weapons, having them shatter against each other as their shards scattered about.

"Ah!" Peter yelped in pain upon being nicked by a shard at his right leg. Jaune was quick to shield him, activating the Hard-Light expansion of Crocea Mors to block the incoming shards. Blake zipped around via her shadow clones to avoid the shards herself, while Weiss had the Arma Gigas summon defend her from others. Danny turned his body intangible to let more of the shards go through him. They pierced into the platform below, scattered all around the group.

"Hahahaha…" Cinder chuckled out, "You're still just a tool to everyone, Penny," she noted to her fellow Maiden, who clenched her fists tightly, "And that's what you'll always be…" she affirmed on, "A tool with no means to an end…" she added with a smirk. The robot girl gritted her teeth angrily. In her right hand was the blue bolt that acted as Jenny's belly button. She looked at it, remembering the time they spent together in the past couple of days, not only learning more about each other, but also falling in love.

And Penny realized that she never got the chance to reciprocate those feelings to her fellow robot girl. She recalled their conversation before Amity Tower had gotten sent up. She gave off a determined expression.

"I am not a tool," she affirmed, making Cinder scoff, "I have friends, I have a life, I have people who actually love me…" she listed off to the chagrin of the Fall Maiden, who narrowed her lone eye, "I get to decide what kind of person I will be!" she declared fiercely. Everyone below smiled up at Penny. She was going to honor Jenny's dying wishes.

"Hmph," Cinder huffed, holding her right hand out, "Then this is what'll happen…" she decided, closing her hand into a fist. All of a sudden, Weiss heard a familiar hissing across the platform. The pieces of the Fall Maiden's created weapons were heating up, glowing a bright orange. Peter could feel his sixth sense tingling wildly in his head.

"GET BACK!" he screamed out. A chain of blasts erupted all around the platform, much to Penny and Danny's fright as they widened their eyes in horror, while Cinder grinned with amusement. Jaune was barely able to shield Peter from the explosions, with his gold Aura flickering afterwards. The smoke cleared to reveal both Weiss and Blake lying upon the surface on their stomachs, both of their Auras dissipating along with the former's Arma Gigas.

The half-ghost teen growled as a pinkish-purple glow appeared in his eyes. He prepared a purple fireball in between his hands, only for the Fall Maiden to quickly form a flame arc that she launched his way. He was barely able to counter it as an explosion blew him back down, slamming him against the platform as he grimaced.

"Danny!" Penny cried out. With that, Cinder turned her attention onto her target. She extended her Grimm arm out to her, firing off more hot black glass projectiles down towards her foes below. The Winter Maiden didn't know what to do. If she went to protect her friends, her power would likely get stolen and she would die. But if she tried to escape from her opponent, her friends would be killed.

Luckily, she didn't have to worry about either as the boomerang form of Fetch flew by, knocking the Fall Maiden's Shadow Hand away. Meanwhile, a rush of wind blew away the incoming obsidian projectiles, preventing them from hitting those on the platform. Everyone looked over in surprise to find the Ace Operatives coming down to the central platform alongside Qrow, Robyn, Enji, and Wendy. Fetch returned to Marrow, who caught it before setting it back into its rifle form.

"You guys…" Weiss uttered out in relief.

"Everyone still in one piece?" Harriet asked as she sped over to help Peter back up onto his feet.

"Not really…" he responded to her confusion and worry.

"Agh…" Blake grunted out as Vine helped her back up onto her feet, holding her right arm around his shoulders, "We've evacuated everyone into Vacuo…" she noted, "but we still need to make sure that Cinder's taken care of…" she mentioned with a grimace. The Fall Maiden cackled upon overhearing that.

"You still think that you can stop me?!" she inquired, laughing on as everyone looked up at her and glared, "You all know what'll happen if you try!" she bellowed, "The same stupid sacrifices Xiao Long and that machine made!" she yelled out. Wendy slightly widened her eyes.

'Yang… and Jenny…?' she assumed inwardly.

'Wendy, this is why I wanted you to let me take control,' Irene pointed out to her within their shared mind, 'If by some chance one or more of your friends didn't end up making it by the time we arrived here…' she continued.

'Then I'd get too caught up in my emotions to think properly…' the Sky Dragon Slayer realized.

'Exactly,' the scarlet-haired woman confirmed, 'Don't worry, I'm going to make sure you win this fight,' she vowed. She stepped forward.

"Marvell, wait!" Enji cried out.

"Get everyone injured through the portal to safety, including Penny," Irene insisted to his surprise along with those of the other adults, "I'll handle this myself," she decided, narrowing her eyes onto the Fall Maiden, who widened hers in surprise. At first, she was amused by everyone thinking that they could challenge her in spite of all that she had already accomplished. But now that the Dragon Slayer beneath her was challenging her all by herself, she felt mocked.

"So two of the kids bit the bullet…" Robyn noted solemnly. Qrow lowered his head in frustration, but took a deep breath to calm himself.

"It's fine," he assured, "Let's get everyone through!" he called out to his colleagues. Marrow helped get Weiss onto her feet, while Elm assisted Danny and Jaune. In the meantime, Cinder glared down at Irene, who took on a ready stance as the wind whisked around her. She raised her left hand, waving it goadingly to her foe with a smirk.

"Fine then…" she snarled, expelling a burst of flames from her feet to propel herself down toward the Sky Dragon Slayer with her Grimm arm at the ready. Harriet took notice and gasped.

"Kid!" she screamed. However, she was astonished to see Irene pivot around sharply, slamming the heel of her left foot into the Fall Maiden's face. All she could see was a black flash of light before she was sent flying, tumbling across the platform before coming to a stop at the edge.

"Agh…!" she groaned out, coughing up blood. She wiped her lips, shocked to find that she was bleeding at all, even as her Aura was still up. Everyone was shocked, watching as the Dragon Slayer adjusted her neck with a crick, turning to walk over to her opponent. She stood back up, gnashing her teeth before preparing a pair of hot obsidian blades in her hands. Irene scoffed, letting the wind swirl around her arms.

Yang's eyes were fluttering open every few moments, only to find herself in a void of red. She couldn't really feel anything as she kept falling. At one point, she thought that she caught a glimpse of her sister's Crescent Rose or even some pieces of metal raining with her. But they were falling faster, while she kept descending slowly.

She could see a faint red glow in her flak jacket, recognizing that it was where she had placed the Reality Stone's container. Was it keeping her from plummeting completely into wherever she was heading? All she could see around her was red. And then, in the blink of an eye, she found herself in a starry space.

"What the…?" she uttered out weakly, trying to bring herself up. She was fading in and out of consciousness, noticing a figure approaching her at her left. It was Xiaomei.

"Well, I suppose this is as close as I can get to not intervening while also getting the chance to meet one of you…" she noted as the blonde-haired huntress was wondering if she was just a hallucination, "Yang, you cannot let Salem reclaim the Reality Stone…" she advised seriously, "You barely saw so much of her power before," she pointed out, "If she is able to reclaim it now…" she continued grimly, "none of you will survive…" she confessed in a solemn tone. The blonde-haired huntress tried to reach for her. "Do what you must to ensure your futures," she advised, "I believe in you," she added.

"YANG!" a familiar voice cried out, causing the blonde-haired huntress to jolt her eyes open. She looked to her right to not only find herself back in the void of red, but also see her mother reaching out to her from a portal with energy flares trailing from her eyes. "TAKE MY HAND!" she screamed desperately, extending her left arm out as far as it could go as she grimaced. Gritting her teeth, her biological daughter managed to reach her prosthetic hand toward her. At one point, where they wouldn't take each other's hands, they were now desperate to grab on. Their fingertips were just barely managing to touch each other.

With one last grunt, Raven managed to grab Yang's hand fully. She pulled on her hard, yanking her through the portal with her. They both returned to the streets of Mantle, tumbling along the roadway to a stop as the portal fizzled out behind them. They breathed heavily as they brought themselves up onto their knees, with the blonde-haired huntress looking up at her mother in astonishment.

"Mom…" she uttered out. Hearing that, the Spring Maiden lifted her head up. Tears welled up in her eyes and started streaking down her cheeks as she whimpered. She lunged over and embraced her biological daughter tightly.

"I'm so sorry…!" she apologized through a sob, "I'm so sorry…!" she whimpered on, crying profusely. Tearing up herself, Yang wrapped her arms around her mother's back, hugging her warmly. All the while, the glow of the Reality Stone's container hummed between them. They had seemingly rekindled their relationship as mother and daughter. And with it, they would persevere…

X

It felt like ages for Way Big as he saw the descending landmass of Atlas finally coming toward him. Catching it wouldn't be too much of a problem, but making sure he set it down gently was. He knew that he could end up causing more harm than good if he either misplaced it or didn't get it set in the crater well enough for it to remain secured. As he pondered his plan, he was unaware of the approaching trio of Lysandre, Van Kleiss, and Acnologia. The latter of the three growled at the sight of To'kustar. He leapt into the air.

"ETERNAL FLARE!" he bellowed, releasing hundreds of starry rays of purple light from the sky, raining down toward Way Big.

"Huh?!" he yelped in surprise upon noticing, turning and crossing his arms over his head to endure the rays. He grimaced all the while, having recognized the technique. "AH!" he roared with pain, seeing a pool of magma at his left foot, forcing him to step back. He widened his eyes to find Lysandre down there with his hands placed against the pavement.

"Hm," he chuckled out, "So this is what it feels like…" he noted curiously with a smirk.

"Lysandre?!" the To'kustar exclaimed.

"Well, isn't this a surprise, Benjamin?" Van Kleiss called out, getting his attention as he turned to see the human EVO standing atop a nearby building, "We finally meet in the wake of Rex Salazar's demise," he pointed out with a smirk. Way Big growled.

"And now it will be your turn to meet your own demise…" Acnologia declared, landing upon another building. The To'kustar grimaced upon seeing his trio of opponents. What made things worse was the fact that Atlas was approaching. It would crash and collapse into rubble if he didn't catch it, killing anyone who was still there.

"I don't have time for you!" he yelled, enveloping himself in a green flash of light as he shrunk down into the form of Water Hazard. He aimed his hands forward towards Lysandre, firing off powerful jets of water. However, the former Team Flare leader smirked before the water struck in a powerful burst of steam. The Orishan narrowed his eyes before widening them to find the red Gyarados looming in front of the bearded man.

"Hm," he chuckled out, "Did you really think I gave up my Pokémon in exchange for these new abilities of mine?" he inquired as magma bubbled from his shoulders. He then reached over to the Key Stone upon his ring, tapping it with his pointer finger. "Gyarados, Mega Evolve!" he bellowed as bright streaks of golden light emerged from the trinket he had. The Atrocious Pokémon's Gyaradosite also released streaks of golden light, connecting with those of his trainer before they shined a bright white.

A multicolored aura shrouded his body as it morphed, becoming much bulkier. The fins on his cheeks became longer, but retained a white tint. His crest was larger, and his barbels also gained considerable length. A large spike extended downward underneath his chin, and the yellow spots along his body were replaced by raised red scales. Two large white fins with red spines appeared on his back. Most of the other fins along his back had disappeared, replaced by two rows of red spikes. There were now four whitish, spiky fins near his tail: two on his back and two on his underside.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" he bellowed upon the completion of his transformation, making Water Hazard grimace as he looked to see Acnologia and Van Kleiss land nearby, surrounding him.

"You've gone through battle after battle, Tennyson," Lysandre noted, preparing a ball of bubbling magma in his right hand, "But this is where it all ends for you today…" he declared. The Orishan clenched his fists tightly.

"I'll take that chance…" he challenged, enveloping himself in another green flash of light. Back in the pocket dimension, Irene ducked from Cinder's obsidian blades before kicking her back by thrusting her left leg out. She slid to a stop, letting out another angered snarl as she rocketed toward her foe with flames expelling from her feet. In the meantime, Elm was helping lead both Danny and Peter into the portal to Vacuo alongside Jaune, while Vine had Weiss and Blake. Qrow, Robyn, Enji, Marrow and Harriet watched as they went through, leaving no trace of their presence behind.

"Okay, so now what?" the canine Faunus asked of his colleagues, "Do we go and help them protect the people?" he inquired.

"Not before we make sure this hot mess is taken care of," the Happy Huntresses' leader responded, readying her crossbow.

"But Wendy said—"

"We're not taking any chances," Qrow interjected firmly, drawing Harbinger in its scythe form.

"Exactly," Harriet agreed, taking on a ready stance, "No one else dies today…" she vowed, letting electricity crackle around her as her eyes shined gold. She was the first to dash forward, lunging out at Cinder from behind. She turned around too late to take a powerful right hook from the mohawk-haired Ace Operative, dropping her obsidian weapons in the process as she stumbled.

As she tried to regain herself, a pair of crossbow bolts flew past her head, with one grazing her right cheek. Another pierced into her Grimm arm, making her yelp in pain. She tried to yank it out, but then noticed the rings upon it blinking red. It was too late for her to do anything as it exploded, making her cry out of agony.

"Go!" Robyn yelled, enticing the duo of Qrow and Enji to rush forward, with the latter regaining his flames as his eye mask and beard returned. Fire built up at a white-hot point on his right fist. Seeing him coming, Cinder launched herself up into the air with a burst of fire from her feet. She formed several obsidian projectiles around her body, firing them down at the Flame Hero. However, he opened his enflamed hand.

"HELL SPIDER!" he bellowed, unleashing thin beams of fire from his fingertips to eviscerate the incoming projectiles with ease. The Fall Maiden growled, then perked up as she heard the yelling of Qrow, who had lunged at her with his Harbinger at the ready. She barely managed to conjure an obsidian scimitar quickly enough to block off his slash, which sent her crashing onto the platform in an instant. She got up, breathing heavily with anger before needing to endure rapid gunfire from Marrow, who wielded Fetch in its rifle form.

"Wags, get ready!" Robyn insisted of the canine Faunus as she fired off more crossbow bolts. He nodded, withdrawing his weapon and setting it onto his back before running off. Cinder watched him go curiously, but was suddenly ambushed by the combined punches of Harriet and Irene, blowing her back. This wasn't like when she fought Team RWBY earlier. Her foes now were a lot more coordinated. So she needed to play things smart as well.

She went ahead and extended her Grimm arm out to grab Harriet as she whisked by, ripping off the right half of her Fast Knuckles as she tripped and fell over onto her back in a yelp. Afterwards, the Fall Maiden palmed the surface of the platform with her right hand, unleashing a blast of fire to blow both Qrow and Wendy back. Enji endured it, but suddenly found himself met with Cinder placing her hand against his chest, unleashing a blast of electricity onto it to send him flying back in a pained yell. Robyn went over to catch him as he grimaced, clenching his teeth together.

"Marrow, now!" the Happy Huntresses' leader yelled to the canine Faunus, who snapped his fingers as he looked right at Cinder.

"STAY!" he commanded. The Fall Maiden was stopped, but not before she launched what was essentially an obsidian needle. Marrow didn't even see until it burst into flames, striking him as he fell down onto his back, with his blue Aura flickering before it dissipated into embers.

"Marrow!" Harriet screamed in fright. Cinder cracked a smirk, regaining control of her body as she flexed her fingers. She turned and had a fireball hover over her hand as she approached the mohawk-haired Ace Operative.

"It's as I said…" she remarked, getting her foe's attention, "there is no way you can defeat me…" she affirmed, rearing her arm back. However, she then heard laughing. She blinked in surprise and turned towards the smoldering flames, seeing Irene standing up.

"You call this fire?" she inquired with her own smirk. Before the Fall Maiden could react, the Sky Dragon Slayer lunged out at her, slamming her right fist against the left side of her face. All Cinder could see was a black flash of light again before she was sent hurdling back, her patch tearing off from her face to reveal her scarred appearance and missing eye as blood dripped down her head. She brought herself to a stop, clenching her teeth together as she glared her ponytailed foe down. How was it that she was remaining so composed during this whole ordeal?

With a loud roar, the Fall Maiden created a torrent of fire to propel herself up high into the air. The others braced themselves from the fire, while Irene stood firm, letting off a smirk. A huge plethora of obsidian projectiles was created by Cinder, hovering over her as they were all aimed at the Sky Dragon Slayer. Harriet saw and gasped.

"Kid, you gotta get outta there!" she insisted firmly, about to speed over to her. However, Irene stuck a hand out to her, gesturing for her to stop. The wind swirled around her as she floated off of the ground, letting it envelop her arms.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the Fall Maiden bellowed as she stuck her hands out, firing off the hundreds of obsidian projectiles down at her foe. She waved her hands sharply, making the wind's power increase into a massive tornado, blowing away each and every one of the projectiles as they plummeted into the abyss of the pocket dimension below. Everyone watched in amazement, seeing the torrent of air subside around Irene, whose hair and eyes shined pink as white scales protruded from her arms, legs, and back. She smirked up at Cinder, whose lone eye shook before she snarled with rage.

She formed an obsidian spear in her hands, ready to rocket down and kill her opponent once and for all. But at that moment, she was met with another surprise. She found Raven coming toward her in midair, ready to draw her Omen from its scabbard. With red flames of energy trailing from her eyes, the Spring Maiden slashed mightily at her foe in an instant. She landed upon the platform, sheathing her blade.

Cinder let shaky breaths leave her lips before her orange Aura finally dissipated, with her flame tornado also going out as she descended down onto the platform, dropping to her knees. Her Shadow Hand had also been severed from Raven's attack, with smoke wafting off from what remained of it.

Huffing as she smirked again, Irene walked over to her. The Fall Maiden took notice and gritted her teeth together angrily. She readied a fireball upon her right hand, but the Sky Dragon Slayer grabbed her by the wrist before she could fire it, followed by pulling her down onto the platform and stomping her foot against her head to pin her there as she yelped with pain.

"Shhh…" Irene shushed calmly like a mother to a rowdy child, "This should only take a few moments…" she assured, reaching her right hand to take hold of what remained of the Grimm arm upon the Fall Maiden. Everyone looked on curiously, seeing the Sky Dragon Slayer expel a greenish, healing aura onto her former foe, who grunted and screamed with agony as her Shadow Hand writhed. All of a sudden, it completely faded away as its smoky remnants floated upward. Cinder looked at what remained of her arm with an expression of fright upon her face.

"Wh…What did you just do to me?" she asked as Irene stepped back, crouching down in front of her.

"I saved your life," she responded, "You didn't even realize that thing was eating away at you the whole time, did you?" she assumed, enticing Cinder to look back at what remained of her lost arm. Most of her flesh around her arm had seemingly been eaten away, barely not showing bone around her shoulder. "All that lust for power, but you didn't even care about what you had to sacrifice in order to get it," the Sky Dragon Slayer noted, getting her attention, "That's where you lost, little one," she remarked to the Fall Maiden's surprise.

"Who… are you…?" she asked. Irene chuckled.

"Wendy'll be glad to know that you're no longer going to be a problem ever again," she said. Her eyes then rolled into the back of her head as her body shrank back to normal. She fell backwards, only to be caught in the arms of a crouched Yang.

"Nice going, Wendy…" she complimented. The Sky Dragon Slayer's eyes fluttered open.

"Yang…" she uttered with a small smile, "You're alive…" she pointed out, earning a chuckle out of her Omni Force teammate.

"Yang!" Qrow cried out as he hurried over to his niece, hugging her and Wendy as tightly as he could.

"Agh…" Marrow groaned as he awoke, rubbing the back of his head upon sitting up, "Did we win?" he asked, earning a laugh out of Robyn. Meanwhile, Enji walked up to Raven, letting the flames around his face dissipate.

"What happened?" he asked of her.

"A lot…" she grumbled as an answer, "But… we got through it," she affirmed, "And we've still got this to boot," she mentioned, pulling out the container for the Reality Stone.

"What's the situation with Atlas right now?" Harriet asked as she approached the Team TOWER members.

"About to touch down," Raven answered, "But I don't know if Tennyson's ready to catch it…" she admitted with a shake of her head.

"Like we planned, salvaging Atlas isn't the main objective," Enji affirmed to her, "It's getting the refugees to safety in Vacuo and keeping the Reality Stone out of Salem's hands," he told her, pointing at the container she held. All of a sudden, there was a chill in the air. Cinder perked up as she recognized it. She started grinning.

"She's back…" she uttered out. Through one of the far-off portals, a torrent of black smoke emerged, followed by several Grimm. Everyone turned and widened their eyes to see them all charging towards the central platform, surrounding the group there. The smoke then arrived upon the platform, dissipating to reveal Salem. Her eyes glared crimson onto her foes, who all felt themselves become seemingly paralyzed with fear.

X

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Gyarados roared before unleashing a fiery orange beam of energy toward Water Hazard, who grimaced. He quickly enveloped himself in a flash of green light, transforming into NRG to endure the attack as he became enveloped in a blast with black smoke to follow. Acnologia then charged in through the dark veil, with his left arm at the ready. He closed it into a fist before punching the Prypiatosian-B, sending him flying back before he crashed through a building.

"Agh…" he groaned out, trying to sit up. Van Kleiss jumped into the building through the hole, chuckling as he approached his foe.

"You know, I'm not exactly the most useful member of our little alliance given our situation…" he admitted, "But I can at least make do with making EVOs out of you and your friends…" he decided, thrusting his biomechanical arm down to his foe. Another green flash of light enveloped him just before his opponent's arm could reach. He widened his eyes to find that he had transformed into Lodestar, who was holding his arm back with the magnetism he emitted from his right claw.

"Back… OFF!" he yelled, magnetically throwing Van Kleiss out of the building as he slammed against a wall. Noticing, Acnologia growled. He took a deep breath before firing off a giant beam of blue light from his mouth. The Biosovortian widened his eyes upon noticing, enveloping himself in another flash of green light. He assumed the form of Feedback, sticking his plugged fingers out to absorb the massive beam as he clenched his teeth together. As finally took it all in, he aimed his hands towards the former dragon king, who smirked.

But to his surprise, the Conductoid turned his aim to Gyarados, firing off a powerful ray of blue light that struck him fiercely. Lysandre gasped, seeing his partner topple over onto his side. A flash of light enveloped his body as he turned back to normal. His trainer growled in frustration, glaring over at Feedback.

"Apparently, you guys don't get that I'm not playing around," he pointed out to his foes, "So either stay out of my way, or you'll pay the price…" he threatened, narrowing his lone eye. His answer was met in the form of Acnologia lunging out at him. He sighed, enveloping himself in another flash of emerald light.

On the other side of the portal to Vacuo, most of the refugees scampered back as they let those of the Omni Force, the huntsmen and their allies deal with the hordes of Grimm that were still coming. Obi-Wan managed to slash a few Ravagers into ashes with his lightsaber, followed by Kim striking down some Sulfur Fish with her Hard-Light gauntlets over her arms. Most of the shadowy creatures were being kept back thanks to the waves of sand sent their way by Gaara, who held his hands out determinedly.

One Ravager managed to evade his attacks, diving down to snatch up some children below as they screamed. However, Ruby dashed out in front of them, widening her eyes as a silver flash went off. The Ravager and many of the other Grimm in the immediate area were left petrified into stone. Hazel shattered one of them with his fists.

"We need to close off the portal!" he called out insistently to the silver-eyed huntress, who was grimacing as she blinked rapidly to try and water her eyes.

"There're still people in there!" she argued, rubbing her eyes with her left arm. Her vision was starting to get blurry. She couldn't even tell that there were more Sulfur Fish and Ravagers coming towards her. Luckily, Penny landed down in front of her, blowing them back in a blast of air. Her energy flames trailed out from her eyes, with her fake tears flowing down them.

"Ruby… he is right," she confirmed to her shock, "At some point, the Grimm from Atlas will find their way through the portals and come here, surrounding us," she explained, "We have to close the portals soon," she advised seriously.

"Penny…" the silver-eyed huntress uttered out, recognizing the hurt in her tone. Back in the pocket dimension, Salem stepped forward, approaching her foes. Raven put her hand onto her Omen's hilt, Enji took on a ready stance, Qrow pointed Harbinger forward, much like Robyn did with her crossbow, and Harriet and Yang held onto Marrow and Wendy close respectively. Cinder looked up at her master and smiled a little. Even as she was beaten, there was no way the immortal witch would lose to her many foes.

"Cinder…" she uttered, sounding disappointed.

"Your grace…" she began with a grimace, "we tried to stop them on our own, but…" she recalled, lowering her head in shame, "I am sorry for failing you…" she apologized as Salem narrowed her eyes with disgust onto her subordinate, "But now that you're here, there is nothing that they can do to attain victory today!" she proclaimed, "Without you… I am nothing…" she mentioned. The Master of Grimm seemed completely unimpressed.

"With me…" she started to say, "you are less than nothing…" she venomously remarked. Hearing that, the Fall Maiden's lone eye widened. All of the effort that she had put in to please her master, fighting on to not only gain her approval, but also obtain the power she desired… and she was now considered less than nothing for her latest failure. The sheer shock of that alone was enough to make her pass out upon the platform. And that was enough to alarm those still standing at how much of a threatening presence the person in front of them was. Raven looked over her shoulder to her biological daughter. She nodded to her, enticing her to nod back.

"Enji, take that one-eyed bitch and get outta here with everyone," she requested of the Flame Hero, who widened his eyes, "Don't worry, I'll be with you in a sec," she promised, drawing her Omen from its scabbard.

"Raven, what are you doing?!" Qrow screamed in question.

"You can't fight her alone!" Enji yelled.

"But I can give you all time!" the Spring Maiden shouted back, "Go!" she commanded. That was enough to entice Harriet, Marrow and Robyn to hurry to the portal. None of the Grimm went after them. Yang picked up Wendy in her arms, holding her like a princess as she hurried off. Again, no shadowy monster even dared to lunge out at her.

"Raven…" Qrow uttered out, withdrawing his Harbinger and setting it onto the back of his belt, "you better be coming soon!" he insisted, hurrying off. Enji picked up the unconscious Cinder, looking back at his colleague.

"Are you sure about this?" he inquired in concern.

"I'm the only who can right now," the Spring Maiden replied, "Now go," she insisted firmly. With a nod, the Hellflame Quirk user ran after Qrow to the Vacuo portal. None of the Grimm chased them. They remained where they were, growling and snarling towards Raven as she turned to face them.

"So I finally get to meet you face-to-face…" Salem noted, "It was thanks to you that Cinder failed to obtain the Lamp from Haven's Vault," she recalled, "And instead of keeping to yourself like you could've," she continued, "you decided to pick a side to fight me…" she pointed out, exhaling a sigh, "Honestly, I'm disappointed…" she admitted with a shake of her head, "You could've lived a comfortable life for however long it would still last…" she noted.

"Huh," the Spring Maiden scoffed, letting red energy flames trail out from her eyes as she tightened the grip she had on her blade's hilt, "Comfortable?" she repeated, "Knowing that you'd be trying to destroy the world, the only thing that'd make me comfortable is making sure you're not a problem anymore…" she affirmed, taking a ready stance as the wind swirled around her, "So that's what I'm gonna do…" she declared, lunging forward in a powerful roar.

On the other side of the portal, Ren and Emerald fired off shots onto Sulfur Fish nearing the citizens, while Hazel unleashed bursts of electricity from his arms to take out Ravagers. However, more and more were coming. Kevin grimaced alongside Genji.

"We need to clear this sandstorm, now!" the former of the two Omni Force members called out.

"I'm on it!" Penny responded, flying up as her energy flames shined brightly. She swung her arms out, causing a torrent of wind to erupt from her body, blowing all of the Grimm back as the people braced themselves. Battles were continuing all throughout the world. In Mantle, Ben had transformed into Big Chill, needing to evade the fist-shaped magma blasts shot from Lysandre's hands as he turned himself intangible. In Atlas' Vault, Sabo and Winter continued to struggle against the resilient James, all while the floating landmass itself was getting closer and closer to touching down onto the city below.

And back in the pocket dimension, Raven yelled as she sped about, slashing Ursai and Sabyrs with ease as more and more Grimm were converging onto her. Her Maiden flames burned brightly before she created a saber of ice in her left hand, using it to bisect a Lancer's head. A horde of Apathy let out a screech towards her, causing her to stumble a little. However, she steeled herself as she slammed her ice saber against the platform, causing ice to spread up and freeze the humanoid Grimm, followed by her slashing past them in an instant.

She breathed heavily in exhaustion. Even as a Maiden, dealing with the numerous hordes of Grimm conjured by the immortal witch was seemingly impossible. She managed to slash another Ursai into ashes before a pair of Beowolves lunged towards her, with Megoliaths and Boarbatusks to follow. However, the moment Salem raised her left hand, they stopped instantly. Raven was confused, taking a step back just in case as her foe approached.

"Do you know how long I've wielded the Reality Stone up to now?" she inquired, having orbs of magic roil over her hands. She then brought them together to fire off a powerful beam. The Spring Maiden gasped, bringing up Omen's blade to block it. She slid back from its force, gritting her teeth as she tried to endure it for as long as she could. Eventually, she found herself forced down onto her left knee as her red Aura flickered wildly.

"Hah… hah…!" she breathed out.

"From the moment I emerged from the Pools of Grimm back in the Land of Darkness, I had complete control over that stone," Salem noted as she let her beam dissipate, getting closer to the Spring Maiden, "It's energy resonates with me because it sees me as a true wielder, able to mold anything I want into my image…" she pointed out. Hearing that, Raven perked up slightly. "Don't you see, Raven?" she inquired of her foe, who lifted her head up to look her in the eyes, "You're resisting against a world that's still doomed to fail…" she told her, "Surrendering is your only salvation…" she affirmed, holding her right hand out to her, "Give me the stone," she requested simply. Bringing herself up to her feet in a grunt, the Spring Maiden pulled out the container for the Infinity Stone. She looked at it curiously before letting off a grin.

"You know that thing you said about the stone resonating with you?" she questioned, causing the Master of Grimm to narrow her eyes, "I think I felt that, too…" she admitted, gripping the gem's container in her hand, "Which means I could use it like you can…" she pointed out. Salem chuckled.

"Even if you could use the stone, there's no possible way you can use it like I would…" she confirmed, letting a ball of magic roil between her hands threateningly.

"That's the thing," Raven said with a smirk, "Maybe I don't want to use it…" she suggested to her foe's confusion, "I just have to make sure that you can't…" she pointed out. Hearing that, the Master of Grimm gasped in realization.

"NO!" she yelled. The Spring Maiden tossed the container up high into the open air. Her energy flames burned brightly before she launched herself up. Teryxes and Lancers flew out towards her as she raised her Omen's blade. In a powerful yell, she brought it down onto the container, slashing through it and shattering the Reality Stone inside. Salem's eyes widened with horror at the sight, seeing the pieces of the gem she used for centuries scatter about on the central platform.

Raven morphed into her corvid form, weaving about to snatch one of the pieces in her right talon before gliding toward the Vacuo portal. Salem was trying to collect the other pieces scattered about, only to notice the escaping Spring Maiden. She clenched her teeth together angrily.

"STOP HER!" she commanded, enticing the Grimm to chase after the bird, who flew through the portal. As she came out on the other side into the sandstorm, she rolled forward, grasping the piece of the Reality Stone she had in her left hand.

"USE THE STAFF! NOW!" she yelled desperately over to Ruby, who yelped in surprise. She did as told however, gripping the Relic of Creation tightly before time slowed to a complete halt around her and several of the others in the immediate area, not including the refugees. A cyan smoke emitted from the staff, swirling into the air before dissipating to reveal Ambrosius.

"Ah, free to engage in my creative wiles once ag—! Oh, it's you…" he grumbled, interjecting himself upon spotting the silver-eyed huntress, slouching a little with disappointment.

"Wh-Wh-What do I say?!" she stammered in panic, unsure of what specifically she and her colleagues needed. Raven approached.

"Hey, big blue!" she called out, getting the spirit's attention as she tossed him the piece of the Reality Stone, which he caught in a yelp, "Use that to reconnect the multiverse and remove whatever freaky barrier's around ours," she instructed quickly of Ambrosius, who arched an eyebrow.

"Okay, you're going to have to be a bit more specific than that…" he responded, holding the piece of the red gem in between his fingers, "And… is this the Reality Stone?" he inquired, "What in the world did you do to it?!" he questioned frantically.

"Raven, what happened?" Enji asked as he approached.

"Look, I had to think of something so that Salem wouldn't be able to use the stone again…" the Spring Maiden responded to his surprise, "So yeah, it's in pieces 'cause I broke the damn thing," she admitted.

"You what?!" Ruby, Enji, and Ambrosius all exclaimed in shock simultaneously. Raven let out a deep sigh, calming herself down.

"Look, just make a new bridge between our universes, like you did with that central location thing between the portals from Atlas and Mantle to here," she requested thoroughly of the staff's spirit.

"With the whole multiverse?" he questioned, grimacing a little, "Gotta admit, that's a big ask…" he confessed.

"That's why I gave you the piece of the stone," the Spring Maiden pointed out to his surprise, "Use it to reconnect all the universes to ours," she insisted firmly. Ambrosius let off a grin after moment.

"I like your style," he admitted with a wink, "Alright, hold on tight!" he advised of those not frozen in his presence, clapping his hands together. He then made several intricate hand gestures, rapidly going through them. He finished by raising the fragment of the Reality Stone into the air, having it release a burst of red light.

Everyone flinched from the brightness before looking out to see that Ambrosius had disappeared, along with the piece of the gem. The portal also started to fade away as well. Inside the pocket dimension, Salem was frantically collecting the fragments of the Reality Stone on the central platform. However, she looked up to find the pathways and portals all disappearing, trailing towards her and her Grimm.

"No…" she uttered, realizing her defeat. The platform faded beneath her before she and her shadowy monsters fell into the abyss, disappearing into golden ashes. In Vacuo, the large portal had finally disappeared.

"What do we do now…?" Ruby asked afterwards, clutching the Staff of Creation tightly. Raven drew her Omen from its hilt, letting her red energy flames appear around her eyes.

"We hold the line and hope the plan worked," she answered, charging into battle as she leapt out and slashed down a Ravager that was about to snatch a frightened citizen. The threat may have passed, but the battle was far from over…

X

Ben tumbled across the pavement to a stop, getting up onto his hands and knees before looking out towards his three foes. It wasn't like he couldn't take them on altogether. It was just the concern with the descending landmass of Atlas that kept his attention. And it was starting to veer off course…

"I think it's about time we settled this scuffle once and for all…" Lysandre declared, having magma bubble around his hands. With a grimace, the Omni Force leader enveloped himself in an emerald flash of light, blinding his trio of enemies. When it dissipated, it revealed that he had transformed into Gravattack.

"Sorry…" he apologized as he floated up, curling his arms and legs in to take on a planetoid form, "but I've got bigger fish to fry," he remarked, turning and floating off toward the descending landmass. Letting out an angered snarl, Acnologia leapt after him, rearing his left arm back. The Galilean took notice with a grimace. There was no way he would be able to stop the former dragon king in his current state.

But just before his foe could reach him, another figure sped in. All Gravattack could see was the wide smile the individual had. And he recognized it, widening his eyes. It was a very large man with an equally muscular and well-defined physique. He had short blond hair, swept backwards, with two distinct tufts that stuck up above his head, leaning slightly to each side.

His outfit was a skin-tight blue bodysuit decorated with a red symbol that somewhat resembled a 'Y', designed with a white diamond at its center, with white lines connected to it that traced from his chest to his back shoulders; the lines trimmed with the aforementioned red symbol. The symbol appeared to have wings on the side that ran from the atop his torso before ending around his back, over which was a similar red and white design absent of the white diamond. Large white patches lined with red covered each side of his hips before ending at his lower thighs, and he wore a gold belt that had a silver buckle with red eyes. His forearm sleeves were colored in gold that each had white lines covered in blue accents over his wrists, and had spiked fins on the sides of his arms. His feet were covered in shin-length gold boots trimmed with white and red accents. To top it off, a blue cape flowed off from his back with it being red on the inner half, held by the metal pieces upon his broad shoulders.

"TEXAAASSSS…" he started to bellow, rearing his left fist back, "SSSMMMMMMAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he roared as he slammed his extremity into Acnologia's face, sending him flying in an instant. Lysandre and Van Kleiss watched on with widened eyes to see the former dragon king get sent hurdling down onto the street, his body razing through the pavement before he crashed into a building. As the dust settled, it revealed that he was barely conscious, clenching his teeth in pain.

"Toshi…!" Gravattack gasped out, "Then… that means…!" he started to realize, widening his eyes. He looked over to find the whole landmass of Atlas becoming encased in a sparkling amber aura. Floating over it was none other than Sunset Shimmer, who had taken on a form where she had gained orange high heels with the sun emblem and a pair of small, phoenix-like wings upon each one, a pinkish colored dress with a wavy white skirt that had a reddish extension behind it, much like the shape of a tail. She also sported bracelets near her shoulders with the same red and yellow sun symbol upon them, white fingerless gloves, a red stripe across her eyes, a choker with the same emblem around her neck, hair that stuck up like a large flame, and a glowing, golden horn stuck out from her forehead. A pair of energy wings sprouted from behind her, exactly the same as the ones from her original ponied up state, though they glowed like flames.

Her hands were stuck out toward Atlas as she grimaced, telekinetically moving it down to the crater as gently as possible. Gravattack quickly flew over, uncurling himself from his planetoid form as he went ahead and smacked the Biomnitrix dial upon his forehead, making spikes prong out from it. A greenish light flowed along his body as it grew, losing his legs as he floated upwards. His skin crust became more jagged, as crests and peaks formed on the surface. His planetary core was engulfed in his mouth now, with a green spiral circling outwards. His hands were now much larger than his original form. The most notable change, however, were the three smaller orbiting planetoids that spawned around him, caught in his gravitational field. They each had a little face on them that resembled his original form. The evolved Biomnitrix symbol had moved to his chest.

"Ultimate Gravattack!" he bellowed. He stuck his hands out towards the landmass, helping Sunset carefully position it. After a few moments, it was safely set in place, though it was elevated just a little compared to the city of Mantle. Toshinori looked over and grinned.

"Seems your grand plan has failed, fiends!" he declared to Lysandre and Van Kleiss, who both grimaced, "Now, I think it would be best if you surrendered…" he advised, still wearing his trademark smile, "We wouldn't want what happened to your friend to happen to you, would we?" he assumed. Both members of the Kronos Alliance trembled. But at that moment, a purple portal appeared beside them. Stepping out from it was Eon.

"We're going," he confirmed to his colleagues' surprise, "Salem failed…" he noted grimly before they could ask what had happened. They turned and nodded to each other, departing into the rift.

"I don't think so!" Toshinori yelled, launching himself forward. Unfortunately, he arrived too late as Eon went the through the portal himself, with it disappearing instantaneously afterwards. The pro hero landed upon the pavement and brought himself to a stop. "Damn…" he cursed out, noticing that Acnologia was gone as well.

In the meantime, Ultimate Gravattack descended onto the ground, transforming back into Ben in a flash of green light. He breathed heavily before seeing Sunset come down, landing in front of him. She morphed back to normal herself, looking over at her best friend for what felt like a few good minutes. She hurried over and leapt into his arms, whimpering into his right shoulder.

"I thought I'd never get to see you again…" she admitted through a sob. The Omni Force leader was tearing up himself, holding her close.

"Same here…" he confessed, sharing thankful laughs with the Equestrian Magic user. The danger had passed. Back in Atlas' Vault, Winter fell to the floor, dropping her blades as her white Aura dissipated.

"Winter!" Sabo cried out, imbuing his left arm with Haki to endure being struck by James' cannon. He then knocked him aside before turning to aim his weapon toward the downed special operative, letting it charge as it emitted a green glow. Gasping, the Revolutionary Army Chief shot over just as the general pulled the triggers, unleashing a searing green beam of light. The Flame-Flame user took the attack to his back as he yelled in pain, causing Winter to widen her eyes as she pushed herself up to see him drop onto his knees in front of her, with smoke emitting from a huge black burn mark upon the back of his coat.

"Sabo!" she exclaimed, grabbing hold of him as he fell forward, dropping his lead pipe as he winced, "I've got you… I've got you…" the special operative repeated reassuringly, wrapping her arms around his back. He let out a little chuckle as his own arms went behind her back.

"I've got you, too…" he vowed. Meanwhile, James readied his cannon again, glaring at his two foes. With the portals now gone and Atlas upon the ground, the only thing he could do was make sure that as many of his enemies were taken care of. But just as he was about to pull the triggers for his cannon, a laser bolt streaked in and struck it in a powerful blast, blowing him back. Sabo and Winter looked over in surprise to see him tumble along the floor, with the black revolver of Due Process still in his gloved hand. He brought himself up to his feet, widening his eyes to find the green portal at the other end of the vault, with Captain Rex standing by it alongside five other soldiers donning red-and-black armor.

"Stand down! Now!" he commanded of the general, who breathed heavily. He turned his attention toward Winter, who was the one person closest to him that decided to betray his trust. At the very least, he wanted to make sure she was disciplined for her actions. He fired off a shot aimed at her, enticing Sabo to shield her with his body. But the bullet never came. That was because someone caught it.

Standing there with his left hand coated in Haki was a man with black shaggy hair, round black eyes, and a slim muscular build. He had a scar underneath his left eye with two stitches, and a large x-shaped one upon his chest. He wore an open, long-sleeved red cardigan with four buttons, with a purple sash and orange-brown pants that had cuffs. On top on that, he wore a straw hat with a red band.

The Revolutionary Army Chief looked over and smiled. The man dropped the bullet he caught, letting it clatter onto the floor. James re-aimed his revolver toward him with a grimace, but at that moment, his foe glared fiercely at him. It was a moment of sheer shock for the general as his breathing grew shaky. He felt as if he had just been hit by a tremendous force, as his blue Aura flickered wildly before dissipating. He dropped his revolver and fell onto his knees, letting his eyes roll into the back of his head as he was rendered unconscious, tumbling over upon his stomach. Winter was left astonished, looking up at the man who saved them.

"Who is that…?" she asked with shaking eyes. Sabo chuckled.

"My little brother…" he answered, looking over to Monkey D. Luffy, who snickered with a wide grin. Meanwhile, Rex and the others went to pick up the unconscious James, putting his arms over their shoulders as they carried him back to the portal. The pirate king went over and extended his left hand out to his sibling, who gladly accepted it into his own, allowing him to lift both the Flame-Flame user and Winter up onto their feet.

Back in Vacuo, the hordes of Grimm were being pushed back thanks to the torrents of wind released by both Raven and Penny. The refugees were still unnerved by the situation they had gotten thrust into, but they were at least a little assured thanks to the efforts of the people fighting to protect them. Ruby watched on, wondering if things were going well with Atlas. Just then, she felt a buzz in her pocket… only it wasn't from her Scroll. She pulled out her MPG, seeing its glow. She noticed that the other Omni Force members around were grabbing their own devices, seeing that they were glowing as well. The silver-eyed huntress widened her eyes in realization.

"It worked…" she uttered out. At that moment, a trio of green portals appeared behind her and the others, enticing them to all turn and find them there. Emerging from one of them was a trio of figures, being Erza Scarlet, Starlight Glimmer, and Victor Stone.

"Ruby!" the former of the three called out upon noticing the silver-eyed huntress, running over to her.

"Erza!" she exclaimed, immediately being brought into an embrace by the requip user, who laughed with relief before looking out at the sea of refugees and others.

"Is this everyone from Atlas?" she assumed.

"Yeah…" Ruby responded with a nod, "We were gonna get 'em to Vacuo, but…" she started to say, looking back toward the sandstorm both Raven and Penny were dealing with. Erza narrowed her eyes onto the former of the two Maidens. She shook her head to alleviate any negative thoughts for the moment.

"The portals are all designated for Ben's universe," she informed, "I think the best option for you and everyone else is to go through them," she advised.

"We'll hold off any of the Grimm for you guys," Starlight assured with a nod.

"Yeah," Victor agreed, morphing his right arm into his sonic cannon, "We'll follow you back once you get everyone through," he promised. Ruby was tearing up out of sheer relief. Help had finally arrived at the eleventh hour. And though it may not have been the help she was expecting, she was truly grateful for it.

"Everyone!" she called out, causing many people, including her colleagues to look over to her, "Head through these portals!" she instructed loudly, "They'll take you out of the sandstorm to someplace much safer, I promise!" she vowed to refugees in particular. They seemed very skeptical, especially after what they had already gone through in the process of getting to Vacuo through the now vanished central location. But one person stepped forward, being Whitley.

"Come on, everyone!" he yelled insistently, waving for the people to follow him. His mother and Klein hurried with him into the rifts, passing by the Omni Force members on the way. In the meantime, Kevin slammed his electrically-charged fist into a Sulfur Fish, making it dissipate into ashes. He looked back to see more of the refugees departing through the MPG portals.

Most of Ravagers were being kept back due to the combined efforts of Raven and Penny's Maiden powers, leaving the others to deal with the Grimm crawling about across the sand. Gaara was quick to engulf them in mounds of sand, smacking fists together to crush them instantaneously. One Ravager made its way through the sandstorm, attempting to snatch a fleeing citizen in its talons. Jaune took notice and gasped, drawing his sword from his shield.

However, the Grimm was blasted back by a beam of turquoise light, falling onto the sand and dissipating into ashes. The blonde-haired huntsman blinked in surprise, widening his eyes to find Starlight there, ponied up as her skin was a light heliotrope color, while she had a long ponytail and pony ears. She took notice of him, widening her own eyes.

"Jaune?" she uttered out. The blonde-haired huntsman let out a chuckle, while she just smiled a little. Before their interaction could continue, a blast went off, getting their attentions as they saw that Victor and Erza had joined the fray, striking down more of the Grimm. As the last of the refugees evacuated through the MPG portals, Ruby turned to her colleagues.

"Our turn, guys!" she yelled.

"Let's move!" Enji advised, unleashing blasts of fire while heading back towards the portals, with the others following him. One after another, they all disappeared into the rifts, while the Grimm were continuing to be held back. With a loud yell, Penny unleashed one final rush of wind to knock the shadowy monsters away, followed by descending onto the ground and breathing heavily. She looked at the blue bolt still in her hand, giving off a sad expression as she held back a sob. Raven landed beside her.

"Come on, kid," she beckoned, crouching down and putting a hand onto her shoulder sympathetically, "We gotta go," she pointed out.

"…Right," the robot girl responded, clutching the bolt in her hand before standing up with her fellow Maiden, turning and jogging to the portals. Ruby was the last one left in the sandstorm, watching as the Ravagers and Sulfur Fish converged. She still had to wonder if she made the right decisions throughout this whole ordeal. Ultimately, things worked out… but sacrifices had been made in the process. And as she wandered into the MPG portal behind her, she knew that she needed to do better for whenever she was thrust into conflict again…

END

And that ends the adaptation portion of "Reality". I have to say, I really enjoyed getting to write this chapter. All of the things that I envisioned were put down on here, and it's all come together in this one big package.

As for my thoughts on the Volume 8 finale of RWBY, I didn't like it. There's a unique mystery I can see coming in Volume 9, but with this ending, we're not going to explore that. I didn't like that Penny was killed yet again in this series, nor did I enjoy Cinder once again getting away with lying to Salem.

Then there's my decisions for the story. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, like about Jenny's death, Irene Belserion lurking in Wendy's mind with the ability to take control of her body, and how Raven was able to shatter the Reality Stone thanks to her Maiden powers. I promise you, I'll be answering those questions in due time.

Up next will be this story's epilogue, which is looking to be fairly lengthy. There'll be a lot to cover and much left open-ended. But there's also going to be quite a bit of interesting stuff that's yet to be revealed.

So until then, thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing your comments if you have any to leave. Later!