"My Lord," The young aide called to the ruler of Vale. "Queen Glynda and King Port wish to speak with you."
Lord Ozpin turned away from the window he was staring out of and towards the man who called to him. "Very well, is this in person, or by other methods?"
"They await for you to join them within the circle," The aide replied before bowing to the man and exiting the hall.
Ozpin took a deep breath and walked towards the back wall of the throne room. Off to the side of the throne, Ozpin pressed one of the bricks that lined the walls, pushing it in and activating the mechanisms contained within. He only had to wait for a few moments before a door opened up to him and allowed him to travel into the inner confines of the castle. There were many secrets that were kept within this vault hidden under the keep, all of them worth so much.
Very few people even knew of the vault itself, only the ruling family, a very select few servants, and some of the veteran members of the Huntsman. The aide that had called to him was one of the few who knew, and it was his job to ensure that Ozpin was made aware of this development. The circle was one of the more intricate devices within the vault.
It was a device that allowed the user to speak with others that had a device similar to their own. Very few were made, for they were operated with the use of magic. Only the rulers of the Kingdoms of Vale, Atlas, and Sanctum had the few remaining circles, for the devices within Isen and Menagerie were destroyed, either by the dragon, or by the corrupt rulership. If there were other devices out there, then none of the rulers knew about it.
Once Ozpin reached the circle, he grabbed a bag of powder from the table nearby and held it out in his hands before the circle. As he stepped up to his place, he threw the powder down into the middle, activating the device and releasing a cloud of smoke. Soon afterwards, the smoke disappeared and was replaced with the images of Queen Glynda and King Port.
"Lord Ozpin," Queen Glynda said.
"Glynda, there is no need for such formalities right now," Ozpin stated. "Not while the three of us are here."
"Regardless, we have much to discuss," Port interjected. "As I'm sure you're well aware, the White Fang has become increasingly hostile. They continue to press against Atlas' border, and Menagerie is bearing the worst of the hostilities. They are all but on the brink of civil war right now, and if conflict happens, then I fear it might spread."
"Or it could attract the Grimm to Menagerie and the entire kingdom would become a bloodbath," Glynda pointed out. "In either case, things aren't looking good for the world, and unfortunately for my people, Sanctum is having a hard enough time defending itself from the Grimm attacks that have started to plague our lands."
Ozpin knew exactly what that meant. In either scenario, there would be tens of thousands of lives lost if either were to take place. Unfortunately, neither situation was completely avoidable. The world would always have the Grimm, and Menagerie really was becoming destabilized from within. The White Fang fighting against the oppression they faced, and the guards who retaliated on the orders of a Mad King. Both sides were at fault, and the other kingdoms did whatever they could to keep the fragile peace alive. Time was running out for them, and they needed to act fast.
"It would appear as though we are at a crossroads, then," Ozpin said. "Do we take action and try to bring order to Menagerie, putting our own borders at risk as a result? Or do we leave the kingdom to its own machinations and wait to see which of the two scenarios we just stated takes place?"
"There is also this business with the dragon," Port reminded the others. "Should those stated in the prophecy fail, our actions in the end won't matter at all."
"I have faith that they will succeed," Ozpin stated. "As of this moment, they are on their way to the former city of Daggerhorn to locate an item which is believed to be the key to defeating the dragon once and for all."
"Daggerhorn?" Glynda questioned. "Are you sure it's a wise thing to be sending them there? The likelihood that they encounter the dragon is very high. If they aren't prepared for it-"
"They had encountered the dragon once already, as you were told," Ozpin mentioned. "I am not worried about whether they will be prepared for the fight or not. In all honesty, I believe they are guaranteed to encounter the dragon, and come out the other side relatively unharmed."
"That still isn't enough, though," Glynda countered. "You and I have both read this prophecy with as much scrutiny as possible. The arrow alone isn't enough to kill the dragon, it needs more, and the prophecy says that the nine have to bring the arrow to someone known as 'The Alchemist' in order to give the arrow the strength it needs and heal the pains they have faced along the way. We don't even know who this person is."
"That would be me."
The sound of another person within the circle was enough to surprise everyone, and soon, a fourth figure was amongst them. He was clad in a white coat and pants, a white glove covering his right hand only. His black hair was starting to gray along the sides, and he had plates of metal coming to rest on the right side of his face.
Ozpin could only stare at this newcomer, wondering just how he had managed to insert himself into the conversation. "And who exactly are you?" King Port had asked, breaking the silence.
The man shut his eyes and sighed. "I am the Alchemist that your prophecy speaks of."
Yang's eyes had turned blood red by this point, the man who had killed her mentor was standing right in front of her, taunting her. She looked all around and saw numerous members of the White Fang standing behind him, ready to gun the four of them down without hesitation. The odds were greatly stacked against them, but Yang wasn't about to back down so long as she still drew breath.
She heard the sound of her companions drawing their weapons, giving her confidence that the fight wouldn't end the way that everyone else believed it would. She activated her gauntlets and gave Adam a smirk, ready to do what she had to in order to bring him down.
She leapt forward, stopping inches before him and swung at him, only to have her fist connect with the side of his blade. He countered by kicking her backwards, but that only served to give her an opportunity to fire a missile at him instead.
Adam swiftly dodged the missile and let it impact the soldiers behind him, sending a few of them flying into the air in defeat. Soon afterwards, the remaining White Fang started to open fire, only for their bullets to stop in mid-air while Pyrrha held her hands out. She let the bullets drop to the ground and the White Fang realized that ranged weapons weren't going to cut it, they had to get up close. So with a charge, they drew varying swords and ran towards the four who stood in their way.
Weiss used her swiftness to make precision strikes against the White Fang, dodging their blades as they came swinging towards her. Knocking them back with a glyph, she decided that was a good time to give herself a little boost, activating a glyph underneath her that allowed her to speed herself up. Soon afterwards, she leapt forward and struck one of the White Fang thugs, only to leap to the next and repeat the process over and over again until they were down on the ground in the blink of an eye.
Sun was having a relatively easy time dealing with the White Fang, Ryu Bang and Jingu Bang blocking any swings that came his way and sending the White Fang thugs backwards. As they started to circle around him, he clasped his hands together and created to clones of himself that ran out and burst in front of the White Fang, sending them careening backwards. Once he finished, he switched his staff into the dual nunchaku that he possessed and started to fire upon the crowd that surrounded him with the shotguns that were attached.
Pyrrha was fighting like she normally would in this situation, dodge as much as she could and counter the enemies that tried to strike at her. Occasionally, she would use her semblance to aid in the endeavor, but for the most part, her natural skills carried her throughout the fight. As her opponents kept coming at her, she continued to prove why she was made a Captain of the Royal Guard of Sanctum. She barely had a scratch on her by the time she had felled her opponents.
Yang, of course, was struggling to keep up with Adam. He was too fast for her to handle alone, and everyone else was too busy contending with the remaining White Fang to help her. All that she could do was dodge what she could, and bear with the strikes that she couldn't. In the end, all it was doing was helping to strengthen her. Once she was ready, she would unleash all the power she had built up into a flurry of attacks that would hopefully take the man down.
"Adam!"
Both Yang and Adam turned just in time to see Blake leap towards them and swipe at the man with Gambol Shroud, forcing the man to raise his sword up in defense and give Yang an opportunity to strike out with Ember Celica.
Grunting in pain, Adam glared at Blake and Yang who stood defiantly against him. "Why, Blake?" Adam questioned. "Why did you betray us for them? We could be ruling over them all right now!"
"You talk about it like what you're doing is just, but it isn't!" Blake cried as she launched herself forward for another attack. "This isn't justice, it's terrorism! You've sunken to new lows, and now I don't even know who you are anymore!"
Blake was forced back, just as Yang came in for another attack. Adam had enough time to block Yang's strike and force her back as well. "If you're not with us, then you're my enemy," Adam said. "And I will make it my mission to destroy everything that you hold dear!" At that, Adam took a defiant stance, glaring right at Yang. "Starting with you."
It was enough to provoke Yang into making a mistake. With blood red eyes brighter than ever before, she cried out and leapt towards Adam, bringing her right arm back and readying her strongest punch possible.
"Yang no!" Blake cried once she saw Yang leap forth, unable to stop the blonde from making her move.
Once Yang reached Adam, he made his move, swinging his sword at just the right angle, causing Yang's arm to be cut off above the elbow. The swing sent Yang soaring past Adam and into the ground, her body impacting a rock and nearly knocking her unconscious. Blake ran past Adam and knelt in front of Yang, trying to protect her and willing to die for her.
Yang looked up at Blake, at Adam, her eyes starting to fade into black. The last thing she could remember was a blinding light stepping in front of her and Blake, a shrill scream that she had only heard once before, and a voice that she recognized that had combined itself with something that would make most people look upon her with awe.
"You will not lay another hand on her, so long as I draw breath," Weiss said. Runes ran across her body and her eyes pure white, yet still human. She was in full control this time, and nothing was going to stand in her way.
AN: And that's how this part of the story ends. BRING ON THE RAGE AT THE MAJOR CLIFFHANGER! Seriously, I've been planning this ending for the longest time, since before the story started. I wanted to have this ending because of how much of an impact it would be. There were some additions that I made last minute (the alchemist), and decisions that came more recently, but this has just been so fun.
I don't know when the third part will be out, but I can tell you, it's going to be good. There is still plenty to go with this story, so I hope you guys get to enjoy this madhouse I've created.
Thanks for being a part of this, and I hope to see you again when I begin the final act.