RWBY Volume 4: Rise of the Grimm Lords

by Saric the Slayer

Ruby and her friends are on a journey to the Kingdom of Mistral in order to find some answers to their questions about what exactly happened at Beacon. Along the way Ruby encounters an old childhood friend of hers who joins her group and agrees to help them in their quest. While this is going on sinister forces are starting to emerge in Remnant in the form of two bizarre new Grimm.

9. Episode 6: The Brothers Grimm

Okay, here it is finally, Episode 6 of the story. This chapter will probably be a very long one, but it is also a very important one for the story, and now we'll finally get to see some action and fighting in real time. Think of this chapter as sort of a treat to celebrate the premiere of the actual RWBY Volume 4. I was actually hoping to get this chapter out before Volume 4 premiered, but the whole process of writing it took much longer than I expected. I'm almost certain that if it hadn't been for that setback that occurred while I was writing the previous chapter, then I probably would have been able to release this chapter before RWBY Volume 4 premiered.

---

Night was fast approaching, and the group of Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Hans were now making their way through the countryside near the outskirts of Haven City, entering into what appeared to be more of a swampy type of wilderness and terrain that was commonly found throughout the countryside of Mistral.

"We spent the whole day looking everywhere for Zwei." said Ruby, telling the group about another story from her childhood to help pass the time. "I couldn't stop crying. We couldn't find him anywhere. I was afraid that he might have gotten hit by a car."

"But then everything turned out okay in the end." said Hans. "Yang eventually found him, asleep under the couch. Since Zwei is such a small dog, he would always hide in some of the weirdest places whenever he slept. It would sometimes cause us a lot of trouble and worrying whenever we couldn't find him after a while."

"I guess it's a good thing that nothing bad ended up happening to Zwei." said Ruby. "I'd feel terrible if we lost him too."

As the group continued to converse, they entered a village and proceeded to follow the road that led through it, however, they quickly started to notice that something was amiss. The entire village was seemingly deserted, and there were signs of chaos and devastation everywhere, almost as though its inhabitants had been forced to flee in the wake of a sudden and deadly catastrophe.

"What in the world happened here?" asked Ruby, surprised by the state of the village. "It looks like a tornado came through this place."

"Where is everyone?" asked Jaune. "If some kind of disaster happened here, then we should have at least heard something about it, especially since this village is so close to Haven."

"Whatever happened here, it happened recently." said Ren, examining their surroundings.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." said Hans, feeling a cold chill in the air, as if somewhere in the very back of his mind, something about the atmosphere of this village felt very familiar.

Suddenly, the sounds of movement could be heard, and all throughout the village Grimm became to emerge from various hiding places, many of them with strange, vaguely humanoid forms and hideously frightening grins made up of razor sharp teeth on their otherwise blank mask-like faces.

"There's Grimm here!" exclaimed Hans, alerting the group to the creatures, and they quickly began to form a circle with their backs to the center, readying themselves for battle.

"What kind of Grimm are these?" asked Ruby. "I've never seen anything like them before."

"Could these actually be Revenants?" said Weiss, with a curious tone. "I once read something about them before. They're supposedly a very rare type of Grimm in Remnant that shows up every once in a while, but I never thought they were real."

"They're really creepy looking." said Jaune.

As the group of about twenty Revenant-type Grimm approached them, it almost seemed as though they were trying to mimic their speech by repeating whatever words they heard Ruby and her friends say, just like how a baby would imitate the speech of its mother for the first time while trying to learn how to speak.

"They sound really creepy too." added Ruby, commenting on the anguished and broken sounding speech of the Revenants.

Strangely enough, the Revenants then started to move away to the side and clear a path towards the group as they got closer, almost as though they were expecting someone or something to appear from behind them. Surely enough, two dark humanoid figures then came into view and began walking down the path towards the group. These two figures looked even more human-like than the Revenants, possessing very distinct features. They looked like something that was a cross between a human and a Grimm, but not quite either. One of them was gaunt and thinly built, and had an almost corpse-like appearance, while the other was more meaty and heavy built, having a very bestial appearance. The two then turned their attention towards Ruby and her friends, with a look of excitement and blood-lust in their eyes.

"Look what has wondered into our feast brother." said the first of the two Grimm-like beings. "They don't seem to be from around here, otherwise they would have run off with the rest of the villagers."

"They're Huntsmen and Huntresses by the looks of it." said the second of the two Grimm-like beings. "They must have come here to spoil our fun."

"Are those Grimm?" asked Jaune, sounding very shocked. "They're talking..."

"Are you the ones responsible for this?" asked Weiss, addressing the two beings. "Where did all of the people of this village go?"

"We ate them." said the first Grimm, very causally, as if it were a normal thing for him to say. "We just had ourselves a little meal. Think of it as sort of like a thinning of the herd. The villagers who did manage to escape fled from here, and those that couldn't, we ate them for dinner."

"Who are you?" asked Weiss. "Are you both Grimm? I've never seen Grimm like you before."

"Yes, you could say that is what you humans would classify us as." said the first Grimm. "I am Dracul, and this here is my brother Lycaon. We are the Brothers Grimm. It's only proper that you should know our names, since your about to become our next meal."

"You're feast ends here." said Weiss, pointing her rapier towards them. "As students of Beacon Academy, it is our duty to stop the Creatures of Grimm like you from doing whatever they please in Remnant."

"So they're students of Beacon." said Lycaon, the second Grimm. "That must mean that they're some of Ozpin's brats."

"Indeed they are." said Dracul. "Mother will be most intrigued to hear about this. We should take all of their heads back home with us and present them to her. That'll be sure to get the attention of that coward Ozpin and draw him out of hiding."

Upon hearing all of this, everyone immediately jumped to high alert and got their weapons ready for battle. Ruby however noticed that Hans' hands seemed to be shaking profusely as he tried to hold his weapon steady.

"There's two of them now..." Ruby could hear Hans whisper under his breath.

"Well, look who it is." said Dracul, finally noticing Hans within the group. "I remember you from that night at Beacon. You're Hans Quicksilver. So, have you come here for round two?"

"Everyone be careful!" shouted Hans. "Don't underestimate these two Grimm. They're way stronger than any you've ever faced before."

"So it was you then." said Ruby, finally beginning to piece things together. "You must be the one that hurt Hans. I knew there was more to what happened that night than what he told me. So you're the one that killed his team and mentally scarred him to the point that he shakes in his sleep, like how he is now."

Ruby gripped her weapon tightly in anger, and the Grimm then turned his attention to her.

"Ah, and you must be Ruby Rose I presume." said Dracul.

"How does he know our names?" asked Hans, now feeling even more frightened by the fact that a Grimm knew something personal like that about him.

"Don't you remember?" said Dracul. "When I tried to devour your essence, I was also able to peer into your memories. I know quite a bit about you now. All your strengths, all your weaknesses, all that you love, and all that you fear. I know you have a strong bond with that girl. I also know much about you Ruby Rose. Not only were you in Hans' memories, but you were also in the memories of another Huntress that I once killed and devoured. You look just like her."

"Don't tell me." said Ruby, feeling the anger starting to build up inside her. "Did you have something to do with that?"

"What if I did?" asked Dracul, mockingly.

Her anger now getting the better of her, Ruby then began charging towards the Grimm with her weapon ready, and the others soon followed after her. The two Grimm brothers prepared for battle, with Dracul summoning his black shadow-like weapons into his hands, and the pack of Revenants with the brothers also joined in. The two groups clashed and a very fierce battle began, and in the ensuing chaos everyone was separated from one another.

---

As a result of the confusion and disarray of the battle, Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora had found themselves separated from Ruby and Hans, and were now in a more forested area near the edge of the village, facing off against Lycaon and a handful of Revenants.

"These Revenant Grimm are fast." said Jaune, panting. "We can barely keep up with them."

"We can't even get close enough to attack that other Grimm that's probably the one commanding them." said Nora.

The Revenants charged at the four of them with incredible speed, almost like a group of blurry figures that dashed and ricocheted from place to place. The group had resorted to fighting with their backs turned towards each other in a close circle, so as to minimize the opportunities for the Revenants to get the jump on them from behind.

"We'll have to focus all of our efforts on these Revenants one at a time if we want to kill them." said Weiss. "Otherwise they'll just keep avoiding our attacks while having us cornered like this."

"Is everyone ready?" asked Jaune.

"Ready!" everyone else said in unison.

With that, the four of them scattered off in different directions, running around in an attempt to confuse the Revenants. Two of them began to chase after Weiss, and with that Jaune, Ren and Nora locked on to their targets and decided that those two would be the ones to focus on first. Weiss then immediately turned around and started to rush towards the Revenants pursuing her, while Jaune, Ren, and Nora made their way towards Weiss to back her up. As Weiss lunged towards the Revenants, they immediately put some distance between themselves and Weiss, only to be met by Nora striking her hammer hard against the ground next to them, forcing them to turn around in the other direction.

In the new direction they towards, they were met by Jaune and Ren, who also made a dash towards them with their weapons. As Jaune attempted to stab one of the Revenants, it tried to dodge, only to be stabbed through from behind by Weiss, having left itself wide open to her. Now that Weiss had pierced it with her rapier, Jaune followed suit by stabbing his own sword into the Revenant, and the two of them then proceeded to move their swords at opposite angles through the Revenant's body, slicing it in half. The other of the two Revenants that Ren now fought was met with a similar fate. As it attempted to avoid the strike of Ren's punch, it found itself struck from behind by Nora's hammer, and Ren's fist connected with it from the other side, sandwiching it in between and causing it to explode into a black shadowy substance due to the concussive force of both of their attacks combined.

"We just might have found their weakness." said Weiss. "It seems that whenever these Grimm move, they move so fast that they can't immediately stop because of all the momentum they've built up, so a surprise attack coming from another direction will catch them off guard before they can avoid it. If we're going to take them all out, we're going to have to fight them together rather than taking them on individually. We'll have to split up into pairs. Ren and Nora, you two stick together. Jaune, you're with me."

The group looked around the battlefield and counted that six more Revenants remained, as well as the Grimm Lord Lycaon, who for the time being was just watching them from a distance.

"Looks like it will three Grimm for each pair." said Jaune. "The odds still don't look too good for us, but we'll just have to go with it and wing it as best as we can. On top of that, the big guy over there hasn't even started fighting yet. Why is he just standing there and letting the other Grimm do all the work? Is he studying our attacks?"

"We'll get to him when the time comes." said Ren. "Now we have to worry about these guys."

"Remember what Professor Port taught us." said Weiss. "When faced with a large number of opponents, divide and conquer."

As the six Revenants closed in on them, the group broke off, with the two pairs each heading off in opposite directions. Both pairs of fighters picked one Revenant as their target out of the three they had to face, and they got to work separating it from its other two companions. Ren began by first firing with his pistols towards the legs one of the Revenants, piercing them and causing it to stumble and slow down, and as soon as it did Nora managed to catch up to it and use her hammer to break its legs. The Revenant was then brought to its knees, and before it could make an attempt to get back up, Ren had already reached it and used the blades on his pistols to decapitate it.

Jaune proceeded attack his Revenant target head on, and used his shield to block the slashes of its long dagger-like claws, which left scratches all over the shield's surface. Seeing an opportunity, Jaune held up his shield and charged, so as to block the Revenant's field of vision, and with its sight focused on Jaune's approaching shield, it was unable to anticipate being impaled from behind by Weiss' rapier. Jaune immediately stepped to the side as Weiss pulled the trigger on her weapon, using a shot of fire-infused Dust to blast a hole straight through the Revenant's chest.

"Four more to go." said Jaune. "If only we can make it that long."

Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora then proceeded to find their next targets, and began the same maneuver as before, this time however, it didn't go as planned. Right as they started their maneuvers, the Revenants were able to anticipate the patterns of their attacks. As a result they began to use much more erratic movements than before, allowing them to stay one step ahead and avoid having the same fate befall them as did their four other companions. The Revenants were starting to learn at a alarmingly fast pace, and by using the experience they had gained in battle they were able to change their strategy and method of attack in order to adapt to their opponents.

"It seems they're much smarter than the average Grimm." said Ren. "This is going to be much harder than we thought."

"So you've started to notice, have you?" said Lycaon, finally speaking. "They've been studying your movements, just as I have." The Revenants then proceeded to move away to the side and clear the area, as Lycaon finally stepped forward into enter the fray. "I've waited long enough. I'm ready to fight you now. Hopefully you'll at least provide me with somewhat of a challenge."

Lycaon's body then began to morph and change shape, contorting and twisting until he took on the form of a more wolf-like Grimm, similar in appearance to that of a Beowulf, although his color scheme remained the same as before.

"When I'm finished with you, I'll be picking my teeth clean with your bones." said Lycaon, now with a more menacing and feral sounding voice.

Lycaon rushed dashed with incredible speed, appearing almost as a blur to Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora, who did their best to avoid his claws and fangs as he zig-zagged his way throughout the battle field.

"This is insane!" yelled Jaune. "I can barely even see him, much less avoid him!"

As soon as he had said the words, Lycaon was hurtling towards Jaune, forcing him to suddenly lean backwards as if playing a game of limbo to avoid having his head taken off. With his jaws wide open, Lycaon's path put him on course to slam into a tree, but rather than crashing into it, he bit straight through the trunk with his teeth and passed through to the other side.

"Talk about jaw strength." said Jaune. "How does that not give him a toothache?"

Recovering in no time at all, Lycaon was already heading back towards their direction, and as he went for a pass at Ren, Nora struck him with her hammer, sending him flying into the canopy of a nearby tree.

"That was a pretty good hit." said Lycaon, regaining his bearings and quickly landing on a tree branch. "But not good enough."

Lycaon again began to shape shift and transform, this time taking on a more ape-like appearance and form, similar to that of a Beringal type Grimm. He then jumped down from the tree and landed with a powerful thud, leaving a small crater in the ground. He began anew his charge towards then, now attacking them with his powerful fists, attempting to hit them. Even though they managed to avoid them, whatever was hit by Lycaon's fists would shatter from the explosive force, whether it be the trunk of a tree or the ground at their feet. Seeing an opening, Nora struck Lycaon in side of his torso with as much force as she could muster, however to Nora's surprise, nothing seemed to happen. Lycaon didn't budge an inch, and just stood there as if nothing had happened at all, the attack having had no effect.

"Is that all you've got?" said Lycaon, sounding disappointed. "You're going to have to do much better than that. At this rate, I'll be done with all of you before my brother finishes with those other two companions of yours. He has a really bad habit of playing with his food."

---

As Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora fought with the Grimm Lord Lycaon, Ruby and Hans found themselves in a much more dire predicament back at the village. They were now fighting against the Grimm Lord Dracul, and accompanying him were the rest of the Revenants; about twelve in total.

"It looks like we really got short end of the stick this time Hans." said Ruby.

"Hopefully the others are doing better than we are." said Hans. "These things are fast, and deadly."

"But not fast enough." said Ruby. "This is nothing. We've trained together for years to increase our speed, so we should definitely be able to match the speed of these Grimm and take them out."

"It'll be just like practicing our old routine." said Hans, smiling.

With that, Ruby and Hans rushed towards the Revenants in what looked to be a blur, slashing at them with their weapons. They clashed with the Revenants, blocking each of their attacks and returning the favor with their own. This exchange continued on until they were each able to find an opening, and from there they sliced the Revenants they were fighting into pieces. Despite taking out two Revenants, several more still remained, and the rest began to rapidly converge on them, all while also having to defend against Dracul, who continuously harassed the two fighters with attacks from the two shadow-like swords he wielded in his hands. The relentless stream of attacks coming from the large group of opponents was starting to wear Ruby and Hans down.

"Getting tired already?" asked Dracul, sounding disappointed. "I'm just getting started."

As another Revenant approached Hans, he changed his sword into its flexible snake-like form, taking his opponent by surprise and piercing its head, after which the blade stitched itself through several other parts of its body. All it took was a single tug on the hilt of his sword by Hans and the Revenant was shredded to pieces by Kusanagi. The Revenant that attacked Ruby was also dispatched with equal efficiency as it tried to block the blade of her scythe with its claws, allowing her to spin the handle around and slice the Revenant vertically from the groin up to its head with the sharp pointed blade on the other end of the handle.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this." said Hans.

"Don't relax just yet." said Ruby. "Here come some more."

Two more Revenants now approached them, attacking them both at the same time, forcing Ruby and Hans to back each other up. Seeing a way to even the score, Hans wrapped the snake-like blade of Kusanagi around the legs of one of the Revenants, preventing it from moving, which allowed Ruby just enough time to rush forward and slice it in half. After taking that one down, Ruby reflexively turned around and quickly sliced off the legs of the other Revenant, allowing Hans to finish it off by straightening the blade of his sword and slashing the Revenant down the middle.

"We've taken out about half of them now." said Hans, panting from exhaustion. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up for."

"Must I do everything myself?" said Dracul, now sounding annoyed. "Out of the way you useless creatures. This is my fight alone now."

With that, the six remaining Revenants backed away and put some distance between themselves and the three combatants now on the battlefield. Dracul resumed fighting again with a renewed vigor and blood lust, now managing to push Ruby and Hans back and block each of their weapons with his two shadowy swords. As the fight dragged on, Ruby and Hans began to notice that several small, beetle-like Grimm were beginning to sprout from Dracul's skin, almost as if they had been summoned or created by him. These insect-like Grimm then attempted to jump off of Dracul and latch themselves onto Ruby and Hans, after which they tried to bite into their skin in order to drain their aura and essence. The creatures seemed to avoid Ruby for the most part, sensing that her aura was too powerful for them to handle at the moment, and instead attacked Hans, whose aura they sensed was beginning to weaken, almost as if they could sense the fear in him. Hans began to panic, and frantically tried to brush the creatures off of his skin.

"What are these things!" shouted Hans, freaking out. "Are they some kind of parasitic Grimm?"

Hans eventually managed to brush them all off and kill off by stamping on them with his feet, but he could feel his mind beginning to break under the stress, and his fear was beginning to take hold of him again. To Hans, it was starting to feel as though the longer he spent fighting Dracul, the more likely it was that he would lose to him. Finally, his emotions got the better of him and he broke under the strain, charging at Dracul and repeatedly swinging his sword at him in desperation, but to no avail as Dracul dodged and blocked all of his attacks.

"It's useless you know." said Dracul, taunting him. "The more you fear and struggle, the more it feeds into me and makes me stronger."

"Don't listen to him Hans." said Ruby. "You have to calm down. You're doing exactly what he wants. I know he's hurt you and done terrible things to you, but we can't beat him if you let your fear get the better of you."

"Ah, so calm and collected in the heat of battle, just like she was." said Dracul, addressing Ruby. "Nothing ever seemed to break her spirit." Dracul looked up at the sky and looked at the moon. "Looks like the moon is finally out, which means I can use the full extent of my powers now. It's a full moon too, so it should be even more potent tonight. I can finally bring "her" out to play. How about it then Ruby Rose? Let's see if you're anything like her at all..."

Dracul's body began to change and morph as a black shadow-like cloak began to envelop it, twisting and altering his appearance and aura. Hans knew right away what was coming next.

"Close your eyes Ruby!" yelled Hans, desperately trying to hold back the inevitable. "Please don't look!"

It was too late for Hans to do anything about it now. Dracul's transformation had finished, and what stood before then now was the form of Summer Rose in all her splendor and glory.

"It's a trick Ruby!" yelled Hans, still trying desperately, but all in vain, as his pleas to Ruby fell on deaf ears. "It's not real! Don't believe it!"

"No... Why?" Ruby said, dumbfounded. She was in complete and utter shock and disbelief, and at a loss for words. She fell to the ground on her knees, seemingly in defeat. "How can it be? Mom..." She could feel herself starting to cry.

---

The group of Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora continued their battle against the Grimm Lord Lycaon, however it did not seem to be going anywhere, and was starting to turn into somewhat of a stalemate for them. Ren and Nora unleashed a barrage of attacks on Lycaon, Nora with her hammer and Ren with his fists, but it didn't seem to be having any effect at all.

"This guy is tanking everything we throw at him!" yelled Nora, frustrated. "It's like he's a walking fortress."

"He seems to be immune to all types physical attacks while in this form." said Ren. "We'll have to try a different approach."

"Twenty." said Lycaon, examining them.

"Twenty?" asked Ren, confused. "Twenty what?

"That's the number of times you and that girl have hit me with your attacks." said Lycaon.

"What of it?" asked Ren. "You were counting?"

"I have absorbed the kinetic energy from at least twenty of your attacks, and stored them within my body." said Lycaon, smiling as though he knew something that they did not. "Are you ready to have all of that combined energy returned back to you in full?"

Lycaon then rushed towards Ren and Nora and began his retaliation. Although he missed with the first attack, with one strike of his fist he was able to create a powerful shock wave that blasted away anything that was nearby.

"Nora, get away from him, quick!" yelled Ren, realizing what was about to happen next.

As Nora attempted to dodge, she was unable to put enough distance between herself and Lycaon fast enough, and despite Lycaon's fist not hitting her directly, the shock wave sent her flying back with incredible force. Nora landed several feet away and continued to roll on the ground until she came to a stop next to a group of bushes, completely unconscious and now out of the fight.

"Nora!" yelled Ren, worried for his teammate.

"You're next boy." said Lycaon, turning his attention to Ren.

As Lycaon ran towards him, the force of his footsteps made small craters in the ground with each and every step, and as he reached the distracted Ren, he sent a punch straight into his gut before he could react, sending him flying away in a similar manner to Nora. This attack however seemed to have much less force than the one before, likely due to the fact that the amount of energy Lycaon had stored within his body from their attacks began to decrease with each successive hit. Ren came to a stop and landed a few feet away from where Nora was, taking a few gasping breaths before passing out next to her.

"Two down, two more to go." said Lycaon, now setting his sights on Weiss and Jaune.

Weiss and Jaune could feel themselves tense up in fear as Lycaon looked their way, causing them to tighten their grip on their weapons. As Lycaon started to make his way towards them, Weiss and Jaune desperately tried to think of a plan.

"What do we do now?" asked Jaune. "This guy is invincible. He just took out Ren and Nora like it was nothing."

"Attacks with kinetic force won't work against him." said Weiss. "Our best option now would be to try cutting him with our swords, or using Dust-based attacks."

Continuing his approach towards them, Lycaon's body began to change and morph again, taking on a different animal form now. This new Grimm form turned him into what appeared to be a muscular bipedal creature that looked like it was half-man and half-lion, similar to a manticore, complete with sharp fangs and claws, and even a mane around its head.

"This is one of my favorite forms to use in battle." said Lycaon. "It should be more than enough to finish off the two of you."

Lycaon came at them again, slashing his claws at Weiss and Jaune with full force as they did their best to block and evade them. One of those attacks came very close to taking off Jaune's face, causing him to instinctively put up his shield to protect himself, resulting in a deep scratch mark being left on it by Lycaon's claws, one which would not be easy to fix and was likely to be permanent.

"You did not just do that!" shouted Jaune, looking at the damage to his trusty shield with a mix of anger and shock. "That was a gift from a friend!"

As Jaune tried his best to hold Lycaon back, Weiss fired several bursts of Dust-based attacks from her rapier, but they all missed their mark. Deciding that she needed to get closer for a better shot, Weiss summoned several glyphs to propel herself through the battlefield in order to increase her speed and reach her intended target, finally launching herself off the trunk of a tree in a horizontal path that sent her flying straight at Lycaon like a missile. With her blade held out in front of her, Weiss was on a direct path for Lycaon's head, however to her surprise, she suddenly came to complete stop in midair as she reached him.

To her shock and surprise, Lycaon had actually caught the blade of her rapier right out of the air with his powerful jaws, holding it there steadfast, even with Weiss still hanging onto it. Before Weiss could react, Lycaon began to violently shake his head back and forth in an attempt to make her let go and send her flying away. Weiss held on for as long as she could, not wanting to lose her rapier, but eventually she lost her grip and was thrown aside, but not before she managed to pull the trigger of her weapon, unleashing the full blast of a fire based Dust attack right into Lycaon's face. Despite being sent a good distance away, Weiss was able to correct her path before reaching the ground and land safely on her feet, keeping her eyes on her opponent. As the cloud of smoke around Lycaon cleared away, Weiss could see him standing there, still holding her weapon in his jaws, but now his fur appeared to be burnt black all over due to the flames, with his mane now having burnt off almost completely, and there was also now a large burn mark across his face, but otherwise he seemed to be perfectly fine. Now with an annoyed look on his face, Lycaon bit down into the blade Myrtenaster with his jaws, snapping the blade in half and causing the weapon fall to ground in pieces.

"What is this guy made of?" exclaimed Weiss, now sounding very frustrated and starting to lose her composure.

"It seems like you humans have started to find some interesting ways to incorporate Dust into your weapons." said Lycaon, now sounding slightly raspy voiced after having inhaled some of the burning Dust earlier. "That was very creative, but it won't be enough to save you now. I'll make you pay for destroying my beautiful mane."

Lycaon began to charging towards Weiss with murderous intent glowing in his red eyes, and as he approached her Weiss found herself frozen in fear, not knowing what to do next. Before he could reach her, a metal object flew through the air, hitting Lycaon square in the face and causing him to jump back. The object in question had been Jaune's shield, who after seeing no other possible use for it had thrown it at him as a last resort to save Weiss. Seeing an opportunity to strike as Lycaon tried to recover from the blow, Jaune rushed forward and slashed him across the chest with his sword, creating a large gash that spewed black blood. The look that appeared on Lycaon's face at that moment seemed to be one of shock.

"That one actually stung a bit." said Lycaon, looking down at his chest and examining the wound, watching as the blood leaking from it began to turn into black mist as it left the gash. "That was no ordinary weapon."

Lycaon looked towards Jaune to find the source of his injury, and saw that his opponent's sword Crocea Mors was now beginning to glow with a faint yellowish aura as he held it in his hands.

"I see, so you possess one of those accursed weapons." said Lycaon, with a hint of contempt in his voice. "The so called Legendary Weapons of Remnant."

"What?" said Jaune, looking down at his sword, surprised to find it emitting such a strange aura that he had never seen before. "It's glowing? But why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Lycaon. "The ancient blood lust of the Grimm that sword was created from is starting to bubble to the surface again now that it has come into contact with the aura of a powerful Grimm like me."

"If the sword's aura is starting to resonate due to that Grimm's presence, then that also means..." said Weiss, a thought starting to occur to her.

Weiss quickly reached behind her skirt and unhooked something from the back of her belt. Pulling the object forward, Weiss held in her hands the Walpurgisnacht Wand she had taken with her before leaving on her journey, and was surprised to find that it was now glowing with a mystical purple aura.

"Are they resonating with each other, or are they starting to awaken?" said Weiss, pondering the strange new behavior of their weapons. "Of course, why didn't it occur to me before! With these we might actually still have a chance! It's worth a shot Jaune, so we might as well try it..."

---

Ruby sat there on the ground crying, awestruck by the sight of her mother Summer Rose.

"Is that really you mom?" asked Ruby, sobbing. "Are you really here?"

"It is me Ruby." said the sweet voice of the woman as she approached.

"Where did you go?" asked Ruby. "I've missed you so much."

"I know, I've missed you too Ruby." said Summer Rose. "I've been gone for so long, but I'm here for you now."

Summer Rose approached Ruby with her arms spread wide open to hug her, and Ruby ceased all resistance, anticipating her mother's embrace. Blinded by her emotions, Ruby failed to notice the blade that Summer Rose was beginning to pull out of the back of her skirt as she approached her, ready to stab Ruby in the back. Right as she began to raise her blade, Summer Rose suddenly found herself stabbed through the shoulder by a long, snake-like blade, forcing her back from Ruby.

"Snap out of it Ruby!" said Hans, retracting Kusanagi's blade after his attack. "That's not Summer Rose. It's some kind of shadow puppet that Grimm has created with his shape shifting abilities."

"How can that be possible?" asked Ruby. "Everything about her is the same, exactly how I remember being."

"I know it looks and feels real, but you can't fall for his deception." said Hans. "Think back on it Ruby. You remember don't you? The day we received the news that your mother had died while out on a mission? All they had found of her was her cloak and a pile of bones. We were there at the funeral and watched them bury what was left of her that the hilltop. She's as dead as can be. There's no way that this can her."

"Aw, you're no fun." said Summer Rose. "Why'd you have to go and ruin the surprise?"

"You sick, vile creature!" shouted Hans, now angry. "Why would you do something like this? It's not enough for you to just physically defeat an opponent, but you also have to start playing with their emotions too? Why would you go this far?"

"You of all people should know the answer to that question by now." said Summer Rose, her voice now becoming that of Dracul's. "I'm a Grimm. That's just what I do. I feed on the despair you humans feel in order to make myself stronger and gain sustenance."

Another blade now swung at Summer Rose to attack her, forcing her to jump out of the way in order to avoid being sliced in half. This time, the blade had belonged to Ruby, who now seemed to be back to normal.

"What the matter Ruby?" asked Summer Rose, now going back to using the same sweet voice she had used earlier. "Why are you attacking your mother?"

"You're not my mother." said Ruby, now seemingly revitalized. "I can tell now that you aren't her. My mother had silver eyes. You're eyes are red, like a Grimm's."

"Oh that's right, how did I not notice that before?" said Hans in a moment of revelation, examining Summer Rose and noticing that despite her nearly identical features to Ruby's mother, she still possessed Dracul's red eyes.

"It looks like I've been found out." said Summer Rose, laughing, her voice now changing back to Dracul's again. "Despite being able to steal her appearance and abilities, her silver eyes were the one thing I couldn't take from her. It would have destroyed me if I'd have tried. Even so, this is still one of my favorite puppets from my collection to use in battle."

"It was you that killed her then, wasn't it?" said Ruby. "You were the powerful Grimm they were saying she had died fighting on her last mission?"

"Yes, it was me." said the puppet of Summer Rose, now smiling evilly. "I killed Summer Rose, and I savored every moment of it. We were glad to finally be rid of another one of those accursed silver-eyed warriors."

"You did more than just kill her." said Ruby, gripping her weapon tightly in anger. "There was nothing left of her. You completely obliterated her from existence."

"Yes, I devoured her essence and made it a part of my own." said Dracul. "It was one of the sweetest essences I'd ever tasted."

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did!" shouted Ruby, now enraged.

"You made Ruby cry." said Hans, now beginning to feel the same as Ruby. "There's no way I'll ever forgive you for doing that."

"I don't need your forgiveness." said Dracul. "Like I care what you or any other human thinks about me. I am what I am; a Grimm to the end."

"This guy is asking for it Ruby." said Hans. "Let's show him what we students of Beacon are truly capable of."

With their morale now slowly starting to return, Ruby and Hans prepared their weapons and charged at Dracul, fighting him with a renewed sense of vigor. Dracul summoned Summer Rose's weapons to counter them, and they clashed in a flurry of blows. The three of them appeared as though they were flashing in and out of existence as the surrounding landscape was shredded apart by the attacks of their weapons, with Ruby's signature rose petals being the only thing left in their wake.

"Yes, this is what I've been waiting for!" said Dracul, sounding very excited. "I haven't felt this much joy from the thrill of a battle in a long time! Finally, I've found someone who can push me to bringing out this body's full potential!"

The exchange of blows continued on for several more minutes, with Ruby and Hans eventually having to stop for a moment to catch their breaths, the two now beginning to tire out again.

"Wow, I didn't think he'd be this fast." said Hans, breathing heavily. "He must have been holding back earlier. His speed is almost on par with ours Ruby."

They clashed again, and the exchange of blows between the three resumed in full force, however, Ruby and Hans' movements seemed to be slowing down, while Dracul's still seemed to remain at the same constant speed as before. While it was true that Ruby and Hans were amazingly fast, they were still only human and would not be able to keep this up forever.

"Where does he get all of this energy from?" said Ruby, sounding frustrated. "Even Nora with her crazy stamina would be hard pressed to try to outdo this guy's level of endurance."

"We can't go on like this for much longer." said Hans. "We have to find a way to end this fight, fast."

Dracul was now starting to take notice of their weakening attacks and decreasing speed, which was beginning to show in how sloppy their movements were starting to become. Seeing an opening to attack, Dracul propelled himself off the wall of a nearby house and went flying, sending his feet straight into Hans, giving him a nasty flying dropkick to the chest that sent him flying several feet away.

"Sorry Ruby, it looks like a screwed up..." Hans said to himself, as a traveled through the air and his body slammed into a nearby building. This knocked the wind out of him, causing him to cough up blood, and as he hit the back of his head against the wall, he was knocked unconscious.

"Oh come on now, what was that?" asked Dracul, looking at Ruby and the unconscious Hans. "You two are starting to slip up now. That boy left himself wide open, just like you are now..."

Before Ruby could even react, Dracul was already right next to her, taking advantage of the fact that she was momentarily distracted by her comrade's defeat. His blade headed straight for her heart, instinctively causing her to jump back to avoid it, but in her haste she made a critical misstep, causing her to trip over the back of her cloak as she stepped away and fall to the ground. As Ruby quickly struggled to get back up, Dracul was already on top of her, pointing his blade to her throat and putting his foot down on the handle of her weapon to prevent her from lifting it.

"What happened to all that fighting spirit you had not too long ago?" asked Dracul, looking down at Ruby in disappointment. "Were you two just blowing smoke?"

"But how..." said Ruby. "How can a Grimm be this powerful? We could barely even land a hit on you. You beat us so easily."

"Of course I beat you." said Dracul. "I've been doing this for hundreds of years, while you on the other hand are barely even a fully-fledged Huntress. In the end, what it all comes down to is skill and experience. And here I thought I had actually found a worthy opponent. At least you made things fun and managed to keep me entertained. As a reward, I think I'll even add you to my collection, along with that boy over there. What an ironic twist of fate, having your essence devoured by your own beloved mother."

Dracul reached down towards Ruby's face with his hand, and she closed her eyes in anticipation. Before he could touch her however, Dracul was surprised to find that a large blade was now being held against his throat, this one belonging to someone else. He turned around to see who the weapon belonged to, and was surprised to find that someone else had unexpectedly joined the battle. Standing beside him now was the Huntsmen Qrow Branwen, who had stopped Dracul from trying to devour Ruby's essence. Ruby seemed just as surprised to see Qrow as Dracul was, and felt an immense sense of relief at the sight of her uncle.

"Hey there kiddo." said Qrow, looking down towards Ruby with a smile. "Need a hand here?"

---

As Weiss and Jaune continued their battle against the Grimm Lord Lycaon, the glowing aura of their weapons continued to intensify, and they also began to shake somewhat, almost as though they were alive.

"Ours weapons are starting to awaken Jaune." said Weiss. "If we can find a way to use these, then we might have a chance."

"But how do we get their true power to come out?" asked Jaune. "All they're doing now is just glowing ominously and squirming a bit. Are we supposed to chant some kind of magic words or do a special hand gesture or something like that?"

"Remember when we looked up that information on the Legendary Weapons of Remnant back in Haven?" asked Weiss. "That book we found said something about the weapons each responding to the wielder's aura when they channel it into the weapons themselves. It's similar to when you channel your own aura to use a Semblance."

"But I don't know even how to use a Semblance yet." said Jaune.

"You can do this Jaune." said Weiss. "You just have to try. The only way we can fully awaken our weapons is if we put all of our effort into channeling our auras into them. Think back on everything you've learned up until now. You have what it takes to do it. You just need to open yourself up and let go of your doubts."

As Lycaon began to make his way towards them, Weiss and Jaune got to channeling their auras into their weapons as fast as they could. So far, Crocea Mors did not seem to change much, but the wand that Weiss held seemed to be more responsive, as its aura began to radiate along with her own white aura. Weiss appeared to have much better control over her aura than Jaune did, and as a result her weapon was much more responsive. With one wave of the Walpurgisnacht Wand, Weiss summoned several glyphs onto the battlefield, out of which emerged the ghostly figures of many different Grimm, along with a wide array of ghostly floating weapons. Weiss waved the wand again, and the summoned Grimm were then commanded to attack, rushing at Lycaon as the floating weapons began to target him as well, coming at him like a swarm of angry bees.

"Do you really think this will stop me?" asked Lycaon, now fighting off the Grimm and dodging the flying weapons. "This is nothing but child's play to me."

"No, but it will at least keep you busy." said Weiss, who then turned to Jaune. "Hurry Jaune! This probably won't hold him for long. If we want to have a chance at beating him, we have to combine our attacks. The only way we can win is if we fight him together."

"I'm trying." said Jaune, looking down at his weapon and beginning to focus. "You make it look so easy Weiss. If only I had natural-born talent like yours. Okay, so I just have to do what Hans showed me." As Jaune powered up his aura, it began to glow all around his body as he started to channel it into the blade, however, nothing changed much. Jaune then began to think to himself "If only Pyrrha were still here. She could definitely help me do this. She always knew what to do. I miss having her around... No, Pyrrha is gone. I can't keep dwelling on it. That's what's been holding me back all this time. Losing Pyrrha has made me lose confidence in my own abilities and has caused my heart to be filled with doubt. I need to let go of the pain and move on. I need to accept that Pyrrha is gone and fend for myself. All that's let of her now is her memory." Jaune then looked down at his sword and a thought occurred to him. "No, she's not gone. She's been right here with me this whole time. This sword that I'm holding in my hands, it's a part of her legacy, created by her ancestor and passed down through the generations. A piece of her still lives on, with me." The yellow glow of Jaune's sword now began to engulf the entire weapon, as if it were resonating in response to Jaune's thoughts and emotions. "Yes, I understand now. I was never truly alone. You're still here with me Pyrrha. I'll carry you with me by my side. From now on, you'll be the sword that protects me and my friends, Crocea Mors!"

Jaune could feel the sensation of someone wrapping their arms around him from behind, as if they were hugging him, and noticed two ghostly hands reaching out to touch his, and help him hold up his sword. For a split second, Jaune thought he could see a ghostly figure that resembled Pyrrha standing there next to him and smiling, and then in the blink of an eye, it was gone, as if it had been nothing but a hallucination. Jaune snapped back to reality, and was surprised to find that his face was now wet with tears. He was even more surprised to find that Crocea Mors now seemed to be changing. Along with the golden-yellow glow, the blade was now starting to morph and change shape, lengthening and become wider, and a more intricate design was starting to appear on it. The entire weapon itself was now evolving along with Jaune's aura, growing and changing in proportion to the amount of aura that was fed into it, and with the large amount of aura that Jaune possessed it quickly began to grow out of control. Shooting out with great force, the blade grew to an almost ridiculous length and width, slicing through several trees in the process and finally becoming stuck in the trunk of a nearby tree. Pulling it out, Jaune then tried to swing it in the other direction, only for it to become stuck in the gap between two other trees, and then upon trying to move it upwards, it became caught in the branches above.

"Well this is new." said Jaune, surprised and intrigued. "But how am I supposed to fight with this thing? It's so big that it keeps getting stuck between the trees."

"What's this now?" said Lycaon, laughing. "It looks like I got worked up over nothing. You may have just now figured out how to use your weapon, but you can't even control it properly. With that huge, untrained aura of yours, it will just rage out of control and become too big to use in battle. You might as well be swinging around a giant pool noodle."

"How would a like you Grimm even know what a pool noodle is?" said Jaune, firing back. "This is the weapon that's going to defeat you... somehow."

"You did it Jaune." said Weiss, sounding surprised and happy at the same time. "Though it is a bit unwieldy. You have to keep your aura under control. You'll need to be precise and channel your aura in little by little. Don't just dump it all into your weapon at the same time."

Weiss then focused her attention back on Lycaon and continued her barrage of summoning attacks. Not sure what to do next, Jaune let go of his sword and allowed it fall to the ground. Upon being separated from Jaune's aura, Crocea Mors immediately reverted back to its original form, shirking back down to its normal size and losing its yellow glow. Jaune then proceeded to pick it back up again and once again focused his aura into it. The blade grow and widened again, and the intricate designs on the blade reappeared, along with the golden-yellow glow. Now that Jaune was more careful this time with how much aura he fed into the weapon, the blade was now at a much more manageable length, now about the length of a large claymore.

"I get it now." said Jaune. "This weapon grows and changes in proportion to how much of my aura I put into it. To keep its size and shape under control, I'll have to keep my aura in check."

Satisfied with how the weapon was now, Jaune towards Weiss to assist her, dragging the enormous sword behind him as he ran. Coming within striking distance of Lycaon, Jaune swung his sword, putting all of his weight and strength into it, but to his surprise he tripped and fell forward, falling on his face.

"It seems you've never had any experience wielding a weapon of that size before." said Lycaon. "This is almost comical."

"No, that's not it..." said Jaune, thinking to himself and getting up off the ground with his sword in hand. "That's strange. I was expecting the blade to be really heavy, so I put all of my weight into that swing, but it turned out to be much lighter than I expected, and I fell. I see, even though the weapon can change its size, the weight will still stay the same. The weapon can just keep growing, but it won't get any heavier. This will take some time to get used to. With more training I'll probably become more accustomed to it, but I don't have the time for that right now. I'm severely off balance with this giant sword being this light while I'm in all this heavy armor that's weighing me down. I'll have to remove some weight in order to make up for the difference, but what?"

Having to think fast, an idea came to Jaune. He immediately began to unfasten his armor and took it off, letting it fall to the ground with a thud, leaving him with only the clothes underneath. Jaune then tried swinging the sword and found that it felt much better, and found that he could keep his balance now.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this Weiss." said Jaune, joining her in battle. "I'm coming to help you now, but you'll need to watch my back now that I'll be much more vulnerable without my armor."

"Glad to have you back Jaune." said Weiss, smiling at the fact that Jaune was now back to his old self again. "Let's do this. We'll attack him from both sides with all we've got."

The two then rushed forward and the battle with Lycaon resumed. With the two of them using the powers of their weapons on him at the same time, Lycaon was now starting to have some trouble keeping up. Jaune was also starting become more accurate with his weapon, as with each attack he seemed to be slowly adjusting to it the more he swung. With each and every attack, Crocea Mors and the Walpurgisnacht Wand seemed to glow in response to each other, yellow and purple mixing together, almost as though the weapons were beginning to resonate with each other. With this newfound harmony in their weapons, Weiss and Jaune were able to let off several combined attacks on their opponent, fighting in tandem with one another to make up for what the other lacked. At last, Lycaon was finally starting to be pushed back, becoming weary of his opponents and beginning to see them as a more serious threat than he originally thought.

"The tables have turned now." said Weiss. With their weapons now in harmony with one another, Weiss waved the wand to summon some more Grimm to the battlefield. "Come forth fallen Grimm, and fight!"

This time the effect was much more potent, letting off a great big flash of white light, and two large glyphs appeared on the ground, and as they did so, Weiss and Jaune's weapons shook in response. What emerged from the glyphs were the ghostly forms of two Grimm who were much different from the others Weiss had summoned before. One was a large unicorn-like Grimm with a broken horn and a haunting purple aura, and the other was a very large Ursa-like Grimm with an iridescent yellow aura, and had a spike missing from its back.

"What kind of Grimm are those?" asked Jaune, surprised. "I didn't know you could summon these."

"I didn't know either." said Weiss, surprised. "It can't be. Could these two summoned Grimm actually be the spirits of the Grimm that our weapons were created from?"

"That would make sense." said Jaune, awestruck by the majestic yet terrifying nature of these two summoned Grimm. "At least they're on our side, I hope."

"There's only one way to find out." said Weiss. "Hopefully they won't hold a grudge against use for wielding these weapons they were made into."

With a wave of her wand and then pointing it in the direction of Lycaon, the two Grimm charged forward, with a raging fury in their eyes and in their spirits. Lycaon now seemed worried, and before they could reach him, two of the surviving Revenants hiding nearby jumped into their paths, having been called there by Lycaon to shield him. It was futile however, as the unicorn-like Grimm rammed one of the Revenants with its horn and then trampled it to death underfoot, while the large Ursa-like Grimm shredded the other Revenant to pieces with its long, sharp claws. Not even so much as slowing down, the two Grimm continued their charged towards Lycaon, his eyes widening as he realized what was coming next. The unicorn-like Grimm slammed into Lycaon with its head, sending him flying straight up into the air. Before he had a chance to regain his bearings, Lycaon was hit by a second attack, this time from the Ursa-like Grimm, which had jumped into the air and hit him with one of its claws, slamming him straight into the ground below. As he struggled to get up off the ground, Weiss and Jaune closed in on Lycaon, with their weapons aimed straight at him. Putting his arm up to shield himself, Lycaon was then met by Jaune's sword, which came down from his side, barely missing his shoulder and slicing his arm off in the process. As his severed limb fell to the ground spurting black blood, Lycaon let out a cry of pain.

"Curse you humans!" yelled Lycaon. "How dare you do this to me. It burns!"

"It should burn." said Jaune. "These weapons were created specifically for the purpose of killing Grimm, which as you can see they're very effective at. I was actually aiming for your head, but it seems I missed and got your arm instead."

"It looks like we've overstayed our welcome here." said Lycaon, looking down at the stump of his arm. "This battle has already far exceeded the scope of our original task here. I don't have a reason to stick around here any longer than I need to."

As Weiss got ready to send the two summoned Grimm in for another charge, Lycaon began to transform again, turning back into the wolf-like form he had used earlier in the battle, and dashed towards Weiss and Jaune, now with only three legs to carry him. Expecting him to attack again, they got ready for another barrage, but to their surprise, Lycaon completely ignored them, instead going right past them and scooping his severed arm up off the ground with his jaws. Lycaon carried the limb away with him as he continued to dash off in the opposite direction, fleeing the battlefield with the two surviving Revenants following closely behind him.

"Don't rejoice yet." said Lycaon, carrying the arm in his mouth. "I'll be sure to pay you two back for this one day, mark my words!

"That's right, you better run!" said Jaune, shouting off in Lycaon's direction as he fled.

"I guess he only wants to play the game if he's winning." said Weiss. "What a sore loser."

"Does this means we won?" asked Jaune. "I have a feeling this won't be the last time we see of him."

"Yes Jaune, we won." said Weiss, smiling. "Come on, let's go see if Ren and Nora are alright."

Weiss and Jaune then changed their weapons back to their original forms and deactivated their powers, sheathing them at their sides. The two of them then gave each other a high-five, satisfied with their hard-earned victory and walked off into the distance to find their injured and unconscious companions. Along the way, Weiss picked up the broken pieces of her rapier, while Jaune put his armor back on and went over to retrieve his shield, sadly looking upon the damage that had been done to it.

"Thanks Pyrrha." Jaune whispered, delicately holding the scratched and bent shield in his hands.

---

As Ruby lay there pinned to the ground, she felt relief the sight of her uncle Qrow, who had arrived in the nick to time to save her from having her essence devoured by Dracul, who was now in the form of Summer Rose.

"I sure am glad to see you Uncle Qrow." said Ruby, shocked by his sudden arrival. "As you can see, I'm kind of in a tight spot here."

"Nothing to fear, the cavalry's here." said Qrow, smiling and reaching a hand out to Ruby, helping her up off the ground.

"Oh what now?" said Dracul, sounding annoyed. "A new arrival?

Dracul looked around to see where Qrow had come from, and noticed that three of the six surviving Revenants nearby had already been killed by him before he had showed up to stop him, and their remains were now slowly turning into black mist, signifying that they had been killed recently.

"How disgusting." said Qrow, looking upon the form of Summer Rose with disdain and contempt. "I see you're still up to your old tricks as usual, Dracul."

"Well if it isn't my favorite person in the world, Qrow." said Dracul, who now looked excited. "How long has it been since we last fought? I've been dying for a rematch."

"Are you that desperate for my attention that you've started to go after my niece now?" asked Qrow. "You must really be a glutton for punishment."

"Oh come on, you know how much I love fighting you." said Dracul, now ecstatic. "You're the best opponent I've had in years. You make me feel alive when we cross blades with each other."

"Hold on there, don't go getting a hard on just yet." said Qrow, jokingly. "I didn't come all this way just for you. I came to pick up my niece and her friends."

"Uncle Qrow, do you know this guy?" asked Ruby, surprised to find Qrow and Dracul acting so familiar with each other.

"We've become acquainted with each other, but not in the good way." said Qrow. "You could say that Dracul is somewhat of an arch-nemesis to me. I've often run into him and his brother while out doing missions for Ozpin. I've fought him many times in the past. The two of us have basically been at each other's throats since the moment we first met."

"Do you even see what he looks like right now?" asked Ruby, surprised by how causal Qrow was acting, despite the fact that Dracul was now using the form of one of his former teammates. "He can shape shift at will into the form of anyone he's killed in the past after absorbing their essence, and he can use their abilities too."

"I know Ruby." said Qrow. "I know all about his shadow puppets. He's pulled that trick on me before to mess with my head, but that's not really Summer Rose. It's just a shell that he commands, like a parasite hiding within. I'm sorry you had to find that out this way though."

"You flatter me Qrow." said Dracul, sarcastically. "I consider this one here to be one of my greatest masterpieces."

"I can tolerate a lot of things Dracul." said Qrow, now beginning to feel angry as he held his sword up and pointed it at Dracul. "But one thing I won't allow is for you disgrace the memory of my friend and teammate Summer Rose in front of her own daughter. Summer Rose may be dead now, but that doesn't mean you would be following her soon after."

"Yes, that's the Qrow I want to see." said Dracul, driving it in deeper. "Bring it on. Let's do this."

In a flurry of motion, Qrow and Dracul seemed to vanish in a flash, reappearing almost a second later several feet away with their blades now locked together in fierce combat. The two opponents blitzed their way throughout the battlefield with lightning fast speed, each strike of their weapons creating shockwaves that destroyed anything around them. Ruby stood there watching them in awe, never having seen a fight like this before, it surpassing even the one she had seen when Qrow had fought against Winter back at Beacon.

"You're absolutely despicable Dracul." said Qrow, speaking as they continued to fight. "You never cease to amaze me with each new low that you reach."

"Does it makes your blood boil?" asked Dracul, trying to get under Qrow's skin, the blood lust growing in his eyes. "I know it does. Keep getting mad. All it does is serve to feed my power even more."

The clash between Qrow and Dracul raged on with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Both opponents seemed to be evenly matched and of near equal power. With neither one letting up, it would likely result in a stalemate very soon. Seeing that there was nothing more she could really do in this situation, Ruby began to make her way towards Hans to see if he was alright. Finding him unconscious and injured against a wall, Ruby tried waking him, but to no avail, and then proceeded to pick him up, sheathing her weapon and propping him up against her shoulder. She began dragging him away to a safe distance from the battlefield, pulling his weapon along with her in the other hand. As this was going on, Dracul was finally starting to be pushed back by Qrow, beginning to tire after having fought for so long, and during their fight the two came crashing right through the wall where Hans had just been a minute before.

"You've gotten good Qrow." said Dracul, climbing out of the rubble of the collapsed wall. "If you had arrived before I had used up so much of my energy fighting those two earlier, than things might have turned out differently for you." Dracul then noticed that Ruby and Hans were no nowhere to be found and quickly looked around for them, finally spotting them near the edge of the forest, about to disappear from sight. "Hold on, just where do you think you two are going? That's my prey you have there with you. I'm not done him yet, or you for that matter. I still have to finish devouring his essence. In fact, I think I'll take some of it now to replenish myself." Before Qrow could stop him, Dracul had already left the collapsed ruins and was about to reach Ruby and Hans.

"Stay away from him!" shouted Ruby, holding up Hans' sword to defend herself. "I won't let you take him away the same way you took my mom away from me!"

Ruby could feel a mix of powerful emotions welling up inside her, and an intense sensation began to take hold of her body as her eyes began to glow. A shining white light then started to radiate from all around her seemingly pushing back all darkness. As it headed towards Dracul, his eyes widened in shock, forcing him to quickly jump back to avoid it, but not without first nicking the side of his body and causing the shadowy form of Summer Rose to dissipate, reverting Dracul back to his true form.

"So it's you then..." said Dracul, landing on the branch of a nearby tree. "You're the one we were looking for."

"It's that power again." said Ruby, puzzled. "This is just like before on the tower at Beacon."

"That was a close one." said Dracul, standing there on the tree branch as the last remnants of Summer Rose's form crumbled away from his body, and black blood began to leak from his mouth and nose. Many of the small beetle-like Grimm that had been crawling around on Dracul's skin earlier also fell to the ground dead, the creatures likely being a component of Dracul's innate ability to devour someone's essence and make it his own. "If I wasn't already familiar with that power of yours and knew to avoid it, then I might have been in some real trouble. You're one of them too, a silver eyed warrior."

"I am." said Ruby, proudly. "Just like my mother was."

As Qrow approached Ruby and Hans to assist them, the howling of a wolf could be heard off in the distance, which Dracul seemed to take notice of.

"Is it time to go already?" said Dracul, who then began to sprout black shadowy wings from his back, and then took off into the air. "Well, I'd love to stay longer, but it looks like that's my queue to leave now."

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Ruby. "We're not done here Dracul."

"I'm done here however." said Dracul. "We've now accomplished our main objective here, and in no small part thanks to you Ruby Rose."

"What are you talking about." asked Ruby.

"We'll meet again the future." said Dracul. "I look forward to it."

As Dracul fly off into the sky, Ruby and Qrow stood there watching him as he disappeared into the horizon. The surviving three Revenants nearby also fled, scattering off in the direction that Dracul had gone.

"I really hate that guy." said Qrow, scowling and then turning around to help Ruby with the injured and unconscious Hans.

---

Hans found himself falling through a deep dark abyss, as memories of his life flashed all around him, from his childhood days spent with Ruby and Yang to his days as a student at Beacon up until the night it fell. Then, it all began to crumble and fade away, as an all-powerful feeling of dread took hold of him. Now all he could see were images from his worst nightmares, such as the night at Beacon or the Grimm Lord Dracul. Hans felt alone and afraid, as if he were being crushed by the weight of his own powerlessness.

"Someone, please help me!" shouted Hans, calling out into the abyss. "I don't want to die! Ruby, please save me from this nightmare!"

Then, Hans could see a luminous white light appear, engulfing all of the surrounding darkness. He could a white silhouette walking towards him, and he could feel his dread begin to disappear, replaced by a warm soothing feeling that filled his mind and body, as if someone were there with him. The feeling wasn't just in his mind, but on the outside as well. Hans then awoke from his sleep to find himself back in the real world.

"Where am I?" asked Hans, hazily opening his eyes and examining his surroundings.

"Welcome back to the world of the living Hans." said a voice, which belonged to Ruby.

"Ruby, is that you?" asked Hans. "What's going on?"

Hans took a closer look where he was and finally realized that he being carried by Ruby on her back, which was most likely the warm sensation he had felt earlier that had awoken him. He looked around some more and noticed that the group was now traveling down a road leading through the countryside of Mistral, with Qrow Weiss and Jaune following closely behind, as well as Nora, who was now awake and carrying an unconscious Ren on her back, along with his weapons. Ruby now wore Hans' sword wrapped around her waist in its flexible form, like a sash for easier carrying, while Qrow carried Ruby's scythe and Nora's hammer over his shoulders, along with his own weapon on his back.

"What happened?" asked Hans. "The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was that Grimm sending me flying into a wall."

Hans tried to move, but then felt a sharp pain in his side as he did so, causing him immediately stop and hold onto Ruby.

"Try not to move too much Hans." said Ruby. "You've gotten hurt pretty badly."

"I was able to wrap my weapon around my torso at the last second to help lessen the blow." said Hans. "But it seems it didn't stop the damage completely. It feels like I might have broken a few ribs."

"Your injuries need time to heal." said Ruby. "Ren and Nora also got pretty banged up too, but Nora is already back on her feet. She's always been one tough cookie. She avoided a direct hit in her battle with Lycaon, so she didn't get hurt as badly, but Ren seems to have gotten the worst of it. Jaune offered to carry him instead to let Nora rest and recuperate, but she insisted that she be the one to carry him. Maybe it's the strong bond they have, so I decided to follow suit and do the same with you."

"Thanks for getting me out of there." said Hans, grateful, but also feeling somewhat embarrassed. "Whatever happened to those Grimm we were fighting anyway? Did you beat them? It looks like your Uncle Qrow is here too. When did he show up?"

"They got away." said Ruby. "They gave us a lot of trouble, but my Uncle Qrow showed up just in time and helped us even the playing field. Dracul then tried to go after the two of us, but I was able to stop him with that same silver-eyed power I used at Beacon on the night it fell."

"Ah, that must have been what that bright light was." said Hans. "That sounds like it'll be a very useful power to have, if you can figure out how it works. So, what happened next?"

"After that, Dracul ran off with his brother Lycaon, which is who Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora were fighting." said Ruby.

"How did that fight go?" asked Hans.

"We kicked his butt." said Jaune, entering the conversation. "After he took out Ren and Nora, it was just me and Weiss left to fight him. We were somehow able to unlock the hidden powers of our weapons and beat him, and then he ran away like a coward."

"It's a good thing we did some research on these ancient weapons." said Weiss. "They'll be a great asset to us when we fight the Grimm again in the future."

"Aside from Ren and Nora, that Lycaon did some serious damage to our equipment." said Jaune, demonstrating how his shield was bent and now only closed into its sheath form very crookedly. "I'll probably have to hammer this thing out, and I just got it fixed not too long ago. Sorry about what happened to your weapon though Weiss."

"It's okay Jaune." said Weiss, holding the pieces of her rapier in her hands. "I think I can fix this, if not I'll just make a new one. Besides, I have this powerful new summoning wand now."

"Who were those bloodthirsty, battle-crazed lunatics anyway?" asked Jaune. "I've never seen any Grimm like them before. Were they even Grimm at all?"

"The Brothers Grimm." said Qrow, entering into the conversation as well. "Two highly intelligent and very dangerous humanoid Grimm. Throughout Remnant's history, there have been many reported sightings and stories of their actions. Very few people have ever witnessed them in person and lived to tell about it. Countless Huntsmen and Huntresses have victim to their blood lust throughout the years. They're not an enemy you really want to have, but unfortunately for me and some of the other people in Ozpin's inner circle, we've come into conflict with them many times in the past. Those strange Grimm that were accompanying them were a rare and dangerous type of Grimm known as Revenants. They can also be pretty nasty, with their incredible speed, dexterity and deadly sharp claws, but fortunately they're not as intelligent as the Brothers are, but in large groups they can become a serious threat. You're lucky that I came along when I did, otherwise things could have turned out very badly for you."

"We survived though, didn't we?" said Jaune. "That's what's important."

"Yeah, but barely." said Qrow. "I will say this though, I'm really impressed with how you all handled yourselves. You survived a battle against the Brothers Grimm, and managed to defeat several Revenants. That's not something most warriors can say they've done. You're skills have greatly improved over these past few months. If Ozpin were here right now, he might even say that you're all ready to graduate and officially become full Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"We still have a long way to go before we're ready for that." said Weiss. "Maybe we should take Sun up on his offer after all, and sign ourselves up for Haven Academy."

"Did we do a good job then Uncle Qrow?" asked Ruby. "Did our whole mission to Haven accomplish anything? Right now, it doesn't really feel that way."

"It may be true that you guys didn't really find out anything new about Cinder Fall that we hadn't already uncovered through our investigations." said Qrow, pausing. "But you did manage to force the Brothers Grimm out into the open, and now that you've gained their attention, they will likely come after you again in the future, which will put us one step closer to finding out who they're working for and what their plans for Remnant are. The next time they show up, we'll be ready for them, especially now that you we have three of the Legendary Weapons of Remnant being wielded by skilled fighters on our side."

"The next time we see those two Grimm Brothers, they'll have another thing coming." said Nora, now pitching in.

Everyone nodded in agreement with Nora, and continued on down the road as the sun began to rise.

"Come on, let's get back to base and report on what's happened here." said Qrow.

Sometime later, Hans leaned forward to speak to Ruby while the others were too far ahead to hear them.

"Ruby, I'm sorry I didn't tell you." said Hans, sounding remorseful.

"Didn't tell me what?" asked Ruby.

"About how that Grimm killed your mother and stole her appearance and abilities." said Hans. "That is exactly why I didn't tell you the full story of what happened to me that night at Beacon. I mean, how would I have even been able to explain something like that to you? I was certain that you wouldn't take it very well if I told you. At best you'd think that it was some kind of sick joke, and at worst you would probably break down into tears. I knew about it, but I didn't say anything. I thought about telling you before, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I shouldn't have kept that from you though."

"It's not your fault Hans." said Ruby. "I'm not mad at you at all. You didn't tell me only because you cared about how it would make me feel. If our roles had been reversed and I were in your position, I probably would have done the same thing you did. But the way you talk about it, it's as if you think you killed her. That wasn't my real mom that we fought. It was nothing but an illusion. My real mom has been dead for a long time now, and you helped me realize that. It was that Grimm Dracul that killed her, not you or me."

"Maybe by keeping it all inside, somewhere deep down inside I somehow thought that it would make me stronger." said Hans. "I couldn't have been more wrong. Jaune probably thinks that he's the weak link of the group because of how Pyrrha's death has affected him, but the weak one was actually me. Jaune was able to overcome his weakness and despite all odds he and Weiss defeated Lycaon, while me on the other hand, I couldn't even do a single thing against Dracul. The whole time I was shaking in fear. Just like always, I needed you to come rescue me Ruby."

"That's not true." said Ruby. "Dracul was too powerful for either of us to handle. There's no way that we could have beat him if my Uncle Qrow hadn't shown up."

"Even now you're still coming to my rescue, by choosing to carry me on your back rather than letting someone else who's in much better shape to do it." said Hans. "Ever since we were kids, you were always the one picking me up off the ground. I was always the crybaby, while you never seemed to be afraid of anything. You always had the courage to do whatever you wanted, and nothing could stop you once you set your mind to it. You were the always the stronger one between the two of us, while I was always just second best, following behind you in your shadow. There's a reason why back in Signal Academy you had all kinds of cool nicknames and titles like Ruby the Red Reaper or Ruby the Scarlet Wind, while I was just plain old Hans."

"You're not weak Hans." said Ruby. "No matter how much you believe yourself to be inadequate, I know that on the inside you're actually strong. Do you remember when you climbed all the way to the top of the bell tower at Signal? You were afraid of heights, but you did it anyway. Even though I came up there to help you get down, it took a lot of courage to climb up there on your own in the first place. None of the kids who dared you to do it wanted to do it themselves."

"That wasn't courage, it was just plain stupidity and foolishness." said Hans.

"What about that time when I went with Yang to go search for her mother." said Ruby. "We got lost and were almost eaten by Grimm, but do you know why it is that we survived? It was because of what you did. You realized that something was wrong when we didn't come back after a while. Despite promising that you would keep it a secret, you told my Uncle Qrow where we had gone, and then you went ahead into the woods all by yourself to follow our trail. It was dark and dangerous, and there were Grimm roaming throughout the forest, but the only thing that seemed to matter to you was finding us. If it hadn't been for you, my Uncle Qrow wouldn't have known where to look for us, and me and Yang would be dead now, eaten by a Grimm."

"But what does that have to do with me being strong?" asked Hans.

"Back then you were willing put yourself in danger in order to come find us." said Ruby. "Any other kid would just run back home to their mom. You had something much more powerful motivating you that allowed you to set aside all your fears. You were able to do that because you loved us more than you feared the Grimm."

"Of course I do." said Hans. "The two of you are like family to me. If you two were gone, then things just wouldn't be the same without you."

"If you could do something like that when you were only a kid, then just imagine the kind of inner strength and courage you're capable of bringing out now." said Ruby.

"Ever since first encountering that Grimm at Beacon, things have never been the same for me." said Hans. "He broke my will and stole away what inner strength I had. The only way I'll ever be able to overcome that is if I defeat him."

"You don't have to fight this battle alone." said Ruby. "I know he's hurt you, both physically and mentally, but I want to help you. When I see you hurting like this, it hurts me too. He's had just as much of an effect on my life as he's had on yours when he killed my mom. If he isn't stopped, just think of how many other people will die because of him. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. If we combine ours and work together, we'll definitely defeat him one day, if we train hard enough. We'll overcome this pain and the scars he's left us with, together."

Hans could feel his spirit being uplifted by Ruby's words of encouragement, and he was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to Ruby, he was now slowly beginning to return to his old self again and regain his confidence.

"I'm so happy to have you around Ruby." said Hans, quickly wrapping his arms around her and hugging her. "What would I ever do without you?"

Ruby smiled and looked on as she continued on down the road. Looking up at the sky, she noticed that the moon was now starting to fade away from view and disappear as the morning light came.

"Hey Hans, do you remember that story I once told you and Yang when we were kids?" asked Ruby. "The one my mom used to tell me all the time when I was little?"

"You mean the one about where the moon goes during the day and how it got to be the way it is now?" said Hans. "Yeah, I remember that."

"How did it go exactly?" asked Ruby, thinking. "I think the story said that the reason we can't see the moon during the day is because it's afraid of the sun, and that whenever the sun rises, the moon always runs away to a dark faraway land, where it hides from the sun and waits until it sets in the evening before coming out again. It's also said that a witch lives in that dark, faraway land, along with her four monster children. The witch once had a husband that lived with them, who was just a normal human, but she still loved him anyway. For a long time, the six of them lived together happily, but the love that the witch and her husband once shared with each other slowly began to fade away, and it eventually grew into hatred and bitter resentment. As the years passed by, the witch and her husband would often fight with each other, and one day during a particularly heated argument, they accidentally broke a huge part of the moon while fighting. After that, the husband left the witch and her four children, and he never came back. From then on, the witch would always search him, trying to find him and bring him back to her. The moon being chased by the sun is said to be a reflection of her pursuit of him. The witch's former husband now runs away from her because he's afraid of how she had hurt him, just as the moon was once hurt by her when she broke it."

"I wonder, why she chases him?" asked Hans. "Does she hate him that much and wants revenge, or did she perhaps realize what she had done wrong and wants him to come back. But she can never find him because he's too afraid of her and is always on the run. It's actually kind of tragic if you think about it."

"Sounds like they have some serious relationship issue to work out." said Ruby, laughing a little bit.

"I wonder if the story is really true or not." said Hans. "Almost all myths, legends, and even fairy tales have some sort of basis in reality."

"Who knows?" said Ruby, looking off into the sky with Hans. "Maybe there is some truth to it after all."

---

Sometime before morning arrived, the two Grimm Brothers had now regrouped after having fled from their respective battles with Ruby and her friends. Beaten and injured, they were now starting to make their way back home, accompanied by the five surviving Revenants from the group of twenty that had originally accompanied them.

"That really was something back there." said Lycaon, listening to Dracul's account of how his battle had gone. "There's more to those young warriors than meets the eye. I look forward to the next time we meet them in battle."

"It was truly invigorating." said Dracul, sounding strangely happy. "I haven't had that much fun in a long time. Our old friend Qrow even showed up to the party."

"Brother, what was that bright light I saw earlier?" asked Lycaon. "Did your opponents possess strange weapons as well?"

"That light you saw is exactly what came here for." said Dracul. "It looks like the report that Cinder provided us with was accurate. We've found the silver-eyed warrior. It's the girl in red with the mechanical scythe. As it turns out, she's also the daughter of Summer Rose, which explains a lot."

"So another one has appeared then." said Lycaon. "She could end up becoming a real thorn in our side if she's able to master that power."

"It's quite a nasty ability, isn't it?" said Dracul, wiping away the blood dripping from his mouth and nose as a result of the injuries he had sustained from Ruby's power. "Unlike what happened with Cinder, I was already familiar with this power and knew what to expect, so I was able to avoid it in time before it could do any real damage. If I had been any normal Grimm, I would have been vaporized in an instant. We have at least some resistance to it because we're half-human. As much as we despise "him", I must admit that this is at least one useful thing our father had given us."

"Being half-Grimm also has its benefits as well." said Lycaon, who was holding onto his severed arm with his other arm.

Lycaon held the severed arm and put it up against the stump where it had been severed, and a thick black substance then began to ooze out as the arm reattached itself to the stump and started to heal. With his severed arm now reconnected, Lycaon began to move his fingers around, and then the entire arm in order to test its mobility.

"There, good as new." said Lycaon, examining the newly reattached limb and smiling.

"Let's go home now Brother, the same way we came here, through the astral pathway." said Dracul. "Mother will be eager to hear of the results of our mission to find the new silver eyed warrior. Our allies will be meeting again soon, so they should be informed as well."

The two brothers than began to pick up speed, and as they did so, Lycaon transformed into his wolf-like form, while Dracul sprouted his black shadowy wings and took off into the air. The two continued on traveling at this fast pace for a while, and the five Revenants followed behind them still managing to keep up. After a while, they eventually reached the top of a cliff that overlooked a large lake and stopped, standing at the edge and looking down into the water below. Without a moment's hesitation, the two of them then jumped straight down from the edge of the cliff and into the lake, with the five Revenants following closely behind them, and they disappeared into the pristine waters below, as the image of the moon reflected onto the surface of the water.

---

Faraway in the kingdom of Vacuo, there was a garden inside of what appeared to be a large indoor space within a school; a school which was quite similar in size and appearance to Beacon Academy or Haven Academy. Within this garden, there was a woman in a white dress with long green hair decorated with flowers, who she was in the middle of tending to the garden, when she suddenly dropped the basket of vegetables that she had been holding in her hands. The look on her face seemed to be one of pure terror and confusion, as if she had just awoken from really nightmare or hallucination. Upon seeing this, three people came rushing to her side, two men, and a woman, with looks of concern on their faces.

"What's the matter Lady Gayl?" asked the woman. "Is something wrong?"

"I've had another vision Eclair." said the woman, picking the basket up off the ground.

"Another one?" said Eclair. "And so soon after the last one too?"

"What was it this time Aurora." asked one of the men, who seemed to resemble the woman in the garden somewhat, likely being a relative of hers.

"I've felt it again Giorno." said Aurora. "The silver eyed warrior's power. This the second time now in the past few months. I wasn't sure of it before when I felt their power the first time, but now I'm certain. Whoever they are, they've begun to awaken their powers."

"What could this mean?" asked the other man. "Is it a good sign, or a bad one?"

"I don't know Leon." said Aurora. "But "she" will definitely try to eliminate whoever it is. We can't let that happen. A series of catastrophic, world-changing events have now been set in motion, and I can sense that this new silver eyed warrior will be at the center of it all. We must find them before she does. Whoever they are, I have a feeling that they will either destined to help stop these events, or end up being the cause of them..."

"Sounds like this silver-eyed warrior is a magnet for trouble." said Giorno.

"We haven't got much time." said Aurora. "They've already taken out the Fall Maiden Amber and stolen her powers, as well as laid waste Beacon. With no sign of Ozpin or word of his whereabouts, we can only fear the worst. Any one of the other three Huntsman academies in Remnant could be next, including ours, and very soon she will likely send someone after me as well."

"There's no way we'll let her do that." said Eclair. "Not while we're still alive."

"As your protectors, it is our sworn duty to keep you safe." said Leon. "Whoever she sends, they'll be no match for the four of us working together as Team GALE."

Aurora's three companions and protectors stood proudly by her side with their weapons in hand. In his hands, Giorno wielded a strange two-handed spear with a blade that was straight on one side and jagged on the other, while Leon wielded a large broad sword with a wide blade and a slight curve at the end, and finally Eclair wielded a recurve bow that almost seemed to glow with a faint blue light, and had a quiver on her back containing many different types of arrows. At first glance, one could immediately tell that their weapons were far from ordinary and had unique attributes and special qualities to them, all marked by the same small, skull shaped crest that was engraved on them.

---

Wow, this chapter took a really long time to write and release, but I'm glad to finally be done with it. Ever since I released the previous chapter, I've been so busy with life lately that I've had very little free time for myself, but I've been working on this chapter with every spare opportunity I could get. At some points it even felt as though I might never finish this chapter, and that it would turn into the project of a lifetime. Part of the reason it took so long was because of the chapter's length, it being the longest one in the story so far, which means it also required a lot of editing and proofreading.

After seeing that first episode of RWBY Volume 4, I must say that I'm really surprised with how some of the events, characters, and concepts in it ended up being pretty similar to some of the events, characters, and concepts in this fan fiction. The personalities of some of the new villains also kind of seem to match up with those of the two Grimm Brothers Dracul and Lycaon pretty closely. Even their appearances were somewhat close to how I imagined Dracul and Lycaon looking.

I've noticed that whenever I write a fan fiction, I usually seem to have a really good feel for how the creators of a series want to do things, and I often try to follow that same style with my fan fictions so that they feel like they could fit within the story. The story of this fan fiction does indeed seem like it could possibly fit within the events of or even possibly after Volume 4, depending on how things pan out. I even added in a few tid-bits into this chapter that allude to some of the events of the first episode of Volume 4. Maybe after Volume 4 officially ends and if the story and events still line up, then I might even make this story into a RWBY Volume 5 fan fiction instead.

Think of this chapter as being sort of a mid-season finale for my Volume 4 story, or it might even work out as a season finale in general if don't continue writing it To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure where the story should go next at this point, since I kind of only thought worked out the events of the story up until this point, though I do have a few ideas for things that could happen next, but most of them are pretty random and unconnected. I'm not sure how many other chapters of this story I'll end up writing in the future, if any at all.

With the arrival of Volume 4, it's likely that I might end up losing motivation to write more chapters and will take a hiatus (as is what often happens when I try to write fan fictions), but once Volume 4 is done, there might be a possibly that I'll come back to continue this story if I can think of any cool new ideas. Don't worry though, this isn't the end of the story just yet. I still have two more extra chapters of this story that I plan to release sometime within the next few weeks. One of them will be another World of Remnant segment, this time about the newly introduced Team Gale, and the other will be a bonus chapter about the backstory and past of Ren and Nora, which should be interesting.