I'm back with a new chapter of VGW! I'm going to be updating whenever I can at this point since school starts back up in a week and it gets BUSY. So, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 6: Assassin

Atlesian Airship

Blake groaned as she sat up from her position on the floor. Looking around at her unfamiliar surroundings, her expression changed to one of fearful anxiety.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud, standing up to approach the door of what she assumed was a cell of some sort.

"Ah, good. You're awake," a voice outside the cell said, making her jump, "I was hoping to ask you some questions."

The door slid open to reveal General Ironwood, two soldiers on either side of the door along with a man in a black jacket with a torn green scarf behind the General.

"Why am I here?" Blake asked, defiance in her voice.

"Don't worry," Ironwood said, "I'm not going to hurt you. It's like I said, I just want to ask you a few questions, and then ask you a favor."

Blake's eyes narrowed. "What kind of favor?"

"Nothing too hard, considering the safety of the people is at stake. I want you to either give me your Command Seals, or order your Servant, Saber I believe it was, to kill himself."

Blake stepped back from the General in shock. "I- No. I won't do that to Saber. He trusts me, and I trust him. I won't betray him."

"Servants are already dead," Ironwood stated, "What difference does it really make?"

"The fact that they have feelings of their own and feel pain just like us," Blake replied.

"Please see reason, Miss Belladonna. If you allow me to win, the Grimm will never be a problem ever again, and I will work my hardest to secure the equality your people have wanted for decades."

Blake considered this for a moment, before looking the General straight in the eye and saying, "I don't care what your wish is. There are Hunters and Huntresses for a reason. If I have to sell out Saber to possibly gain equality, then I won't do it, because Faunus equality should be something that Humans willingly give, rather than being forced into, like the White Fang want."

General Ironwood sighed. "I had hoped that we could come to an understanding. I suppose I'll have to come back to you once I've spoken to the other two Masters from Beacon."

With a curt nod to her, he spun on his heel and walked out of the cell, the door sliding shut behind him, and leaving her to think of a way out.

Vale Docks

Rider stepped to the side and deflected Lancer's spear before it could pierce his stomach. He was just holding his own with his unorthodox fencing style against the Servant of the Spear. Her stats were obviously above his, being faster and stronger than him, without either of them using a Noble Phantasm.

It didn't help that she kept on creating solid glass walls to block his strikes and catching him off guard when he tried to dodge or block her thrusts and swipes with the same constructs.

"This is getting kind of old, you know that?" Rider asked as he hit another glass construct.

"If it isn't broken, don't fix it," Lancer replied, taking another thrust at Rider.

Rider quickly parried the thrust and jumped back, sheathing his swords mid-air.

"Sheathing your swords in the middle of a fight?" Lancer asked, "What are you up to?"

"Weiss is going to kill me for this…" Rider muttered.

Lancer narrowed her eyes as Rider held up his arm and pressed a button on the watch he had on, power building steadily around him as he prepared to use a Noble Phantasm.

"Beware the Blizzard…" Rider whispered.

At the call of its name, a large, highly customized Atlesian Paladin appeared from the sky, Rider climbing in to the cockpit.

"You've got some nice toys, Rider," Lancer commented.

"Thank you. I customized it myself," Rider replied.

Lancer smirked as she shot forward, firing her rifle as she ran before switching back to her spear form and stabbing any piece on the mecha that looked important, mainly the cameras and sensors.

Rider responded by batting her away with the Paladin's strength, sending her flying backwards. He followed up by launching a volley of missiles at her, and causing her to throw up several of her glass constructs around her.

The constructs were too thin by nature to do much in protection, and Lancer was once again sent flying backwards.

Lancer slowly got up off the ground, a smirk growing on her face. "Now we're talking. Let's go."

Lancer then disappeared in a burst of speed, trying to out-maneuver Rider to beat him, and thoroughly enjoying the fight as she did so.

Saber and Archer had meanwhile decimated a fair portion of the docks in their fight, dented cargo crates, craters, and scorch marks littering the area.

Archer was mainly going on a small rampage against Saber for the damage done to his cloak, as it had sentimental value to him. He would shoot and slash and stab at the Servant of the Sword, but Saber would always either teleport out of the way, dodge, or parry the attacks.

Archer paused as he rested from his storm of attacks, inspecting Saber for any sign of injury. Finding none, he looked at him incredulously.

"How did I not land a single hit on you?" Archer asked, annoyed.

Saber considered his question for a moment before replying, "It might be because I have better senses than you do, even for a Servant, mine are high, but it could also be another thing."

"And that would be?" Archer asked.

Saber smirked as his cloak and jacket disappeared for a moment, only to be replaced by a new set, the jacket being black with white accents, and the cloak being white with a red inner lining.

Archer's eyes widened. "Oh… Right."

"I suppose you could call me Uncle Saber," the swordsman said with a grin.

"I am not calling you that," Archer deadpanned.

Saber shrugged. "Ah, well, it was worth a shot."

Saber then drew two identical swords, each one having a straight silver blade with a black hilt, and a red rose symbol on the hand guards.

Archer quickly got into a stance to be able to shoot or slash on a second's notice, wary of Saber's new swords, but before either could make a move, several red beams of energy impacted the ground between them, causing both Servants to look up to see Caster floating above them.

"Are you done?" Caster asked, "Or am I going to have to fight you to get some help?"

"What kind of help could you possibly need, Caster?" Saber asked.

"Well, I was away from my Master for a couple hours, and when I came back, they weren't there. My first thought was you and Rider, but then I remembered your identity, so now I believe it to be Assassin."

"It's good to know that Assassin has come out into the open, but how does it affect Saber?" Archer asked, annoyed that their fight was interrupted.

"I checked to see if their Masters were in their dorm, and they weren't, and I couldn't find any trace of them nearby," Caster replied.

Saber reverted back to his original weapons and clothes at this statement, sparks of electricity arching across his body. "So what you're saying is that both Rider's Master, and mine, are gone, without a trace."

"Yep," Caster confirmed.

Without another word, Saber interrupted Rider and Lancer's battle and knocked Lancer back as he gave Rider the rundown of the situation.

After a couple moments, Rider's mecha disappeared, and both Saber and Rider soon entered their ethereal forms to search for their likely endangered Masters.

Lancer and Archer turned to Caster with looks of annoyance on their faces.

Caster smiled sheepishly at them. "Sorry, gotta go help them. See you!"

With those departing words, Caster dematerialized.

Beacon Academy

Saber and Rider rematerialized in the dorm belonging to Team RWBY, Caster following close behind. It was a little after midnight, and the other two occupants of the room were fast asleep, causing the three Servants to speak in hushed tones.

Saber turned to Caster with a glare. "What do you know?"

Caster resisted the urge to flinch at the gaze and replied, "I know that all three of our Masters are still alive, and I'm sure you would know if they got hurt."

"That's it?" Saber asked.

"Hey, what do you want from me? My Master was taken too, you know!" Caster said, annoyed.

"Do we have any clues?" Rider asked.

"All I know is that Assassin is dressed in black, but I can't say much more than that," Caster replied.

"Yeah, because that's real specific when you're talking about Assassin," Saber commented dryly.

"They aren't close by, since I can't quite get a grasp on my mental link with Weiss," Rider stated, shooting a glance at Saber.

"That's what I thought as well when I first started looking," Caster agreed.

"I can still sense certain emotions from Blake, so they have to be in the city," Saber said.

"Wouldn't we have sensed them on our way back if they were in the city?" Rider asked.

"If they aren't there, then where are they?" Caster asked loudly.

All three Servants fell silent, completely forgetting about the airship flying above the city at that very moment, and unaware that they had caught the attention of the two girls who were supposed to be sleeping in that same room.

Atlesian Airship

Weiss Schnee was not happy as she sat in her cell aboard what she assumed was the Atlas Military's airship flying above Vale. She couldn't believe that Ironwood would stoop so low as to kidnap her, and presumably Blake, from her dorm room through his Servant, while theirs were out.

Just like her teammate a few cells over, she was quickly trying to think of a plan. She idly examined her Command Seals again when she remembered something about them she had read a few days before.

"The Command Seals are three claims of absolute obedience of a Servant to a Master. They are used to control the Servant by either strengthening or restraining them. If the order is strong enough, the Seal can also break the laws of physics by allowing a Servant to teleport a great distance at their Master's command."

Weiss gazed intently at the three interlocking gears on the back of her left hand for a few moments.

"It can't be that easy, can it?" she thought.

She was snapped out of her musings by the door to her cell sliding open again, Ironwood stepping in with that black clothed figure flanking him again.

"Have you considered the offer I gave you, Miss Schnee?" he asked, a small smile on his face.

Weiss kept her expression blank and unreadable as she responded, "I have."

"And?" the General inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Weiss simply held up her left hand for the General to see, causing him to smirk.

"By my Command Seal, I, Weiss Schnee, order you, Servant Rider…"

The General's smirk grew as the Seals began to glow a bright red.

"… To come to my side at once!"

In a flash of light, Rider appeared in front of the heiress, his swords drawn, and a look of anger on his face as he looked at Ironwood.

"So it was you…" he muttered. Turning to Weiss, he said, "Go find the other two Masters that are being held here and tell them to get their Servants up here." Rider twirled his rapiers. "I'll take care of this corrupt General and his Assassin."

Ironwood's eyes widened as he quickly backed up and ran off, shouting at Assassin, "I give you full authority to use all of your Noble Phantasms. Just make sure that he doesn't leave!"

Weiss quickly ran by and down the hall with Rider covering her escape as Assassin made to stop her.

"Why are you doing this, Assassin?" Rider asked, recognizing the Servant of Assassination's face. "This isn't you!"

"In order to ensure that my wish is granted, and the people of Vale remain safe from harm, I will do whatever the General asks me to," Assassin replied, a cold look in his eyes.

Seeing that Assassin wasn't going to back down, Rider sighed, gripping his swords tightly. "If you won't see the error yourself," he started before dashing forward and swiping at Assassin, giving him small cuts on his coat, "Then I'll just have to show you."

Assassin quickly drew his twin curved-daggers and began his counter attack, holding them in a reverse grip as he slashed at Rider. Rider, however, had the advantage of range with his longer blades, causing Assassin to jump back to avoid further damage.

"Have you not grown out of the tendencies we had before coming to Beacon and forming our team, Assassin-no, Yaron?" Rider asked in anger. "We were friends, and I would never have thought that you would kill those that couldn't defend themselves against your strength. You're a Heroic Spirit for crying out loud!"

"If collateral damage will be avoided, I'll do it. Besides, if my wish is granted, it will all be worth it," Assassin said.

"That's way too cynical of a way to live, Yaron," Rider stated.

"Didn't we all have that mentality at one point or another, Ryan?" Assassin retorted.

Rider shifted his rapiers to pistol form, aiming both at Assassin. "I've moved on."

Assassin smirked as he held up his left hand and took off the glove covering it, revealing a mark similar to a Command Seal. "Bend time!"

The mark glowed white as time slowed down around the Servant of Assassination. Assassin quickly ran forward and slashed Rider with his daggers several times before deactivating the ability, causing Rider to bend over in pain from the wounds left behind.

Rider went back to his rapiers and leveled them at Assassin. "Yaron…"

A look of cold determination came over Assassin's face as the two Servants stared each other down.

After a few moments, Assassin flipped both daggers to a forward grip, his gaze never leaving Rider as he whispered the name of his weapons. "Nightfall…"

As soon as the word left his mouth, the daggers extended into swords, a dark energy pulsing through the blades.

Rider narrowed his eyes at the familiar swords as he got into a more defensive stance.

They continued to stare at each other, waiting for a move to be made. Rider summoned his hover board and hopped on, charging directly at Assassin at full speed. As soon as Rider was within striking distance, Assassin directed a cross-slash at him, which the Servant of the Mount avoided by jumping backwards off the board and using it to make Assassin lose balance as it slammed into his shins.

Rider then held up his left arm to reveal a metal gauntlet that extended toward the palm of his hand. A circle at the palm glowed as several small turrets appeared and scattered around the two Servants, beginning to rain fire down on Assassin.

Assassin retaliated by charging toward Rider and attacking him while simultaneously avoiding the turret-fire. Rider was just able to deflect the dark swords before once again using his hover board to send Assassin off balance and leave him open to the turrets.

Assassin took several rounds before Rider stopped the turrets, allowing Assassin to fall flat on his back from the damage and use of energy. Rider walked up to his side, swords in hand, and looked him in the eye.

"I'm sorry," Rider said to the defeated Servant.

"No," Assassin replied, his expression going from stone cold to a softer expression. "No, I'm sorry for my stupidity. What would Aria say if she saw me like this?"

"She wouldn't approve at all," Rider replied, hiding the tears coming to his eyes.

"Do me a favor, will you, Ryan?" Assassin asked.

"What is it?"

"Kill me and win," Assassin commanded. "That way the fool of a General won't be able to claim the Grail. We're just Heroic Spirits anyways. I can handle dying one more time."

Rider stood there, unsure what to do, as he met his friend's eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, Rider spun his rapiers through the air and brought both down into Assassin's chest.

"I promise, Yaron," Rider said, barely able to keep his tears back.

"See you on the other side," Assassin replied as he dissolved into blue particles, his essence returning to the Grail.

Rider stood up, sheathing his swords, and began to walk away, hands in his pockets, and a blank expression on his face. Before he could go any farther, Saber and Caster appeared in front of him, Weiss, Blake, and Velvet Scarlatina at their heels.

"Is he gone?" Caster asked.

Rider simply nodded, causing Weiss to gain a curious, and worried, expression.

"Did you get a name?" Saber asked cautiously.

Rider nodded once again, whispering a single name. "Yaron."

Saber's eyes widened before he nodded in understanding, the others just looking confused at Rider's attitude.

Saber decided to cover for him, however. "Rider, you've used a lot of energy tonight, especially with that Paladin and your fights with two other Servants. Why don't you go into your ethereal state and rest? I'll get Weiss and Blake back to Beacon."

Rider nodded in acknowledgement as he dematerialized.

"What was that?" Blake asked Saber.

Saber sighed. "I'll tell you later. For now, we need to get you three back to Beacon."

Caster nodded as he offered Velvet his hand, the rabbit Faunus taking it with minimal hesitation.

"Velvet," Blake called, getting the older girl's attention, "We'll talk about this later, okay?"

Velvet nodded with a small smile. "Of course."

Caster then activated his gauntlets and boots and took off down the hall.

Weiss and Blake looked at Saber expectantly, both having raised eyebrows.

"Well?" Weiss asked impatiently, "Were we going? I'd like to go back to bed."

Saber suppressed a laugh as he held out his hands for the two to take, both taking a hand rather quickly, and disappearing in a flash of lightning.

Beacon Academy

The two Masters and the Servant of the Sword reappeared in the dorm room to find that they weren't the only ones up at three in the morning. On either side of the room, on the upper bunks, were Ruby and Yang, small smirks on their faces as they looked at the new arrivals.

"You guys are so busted," Yang said, her smirk growing wider as she saw her two teammates holding hands with the unknown male.

"My Luck is ranked C, and yet it sometimes feels like E…" Saber muttered.

That's a wrap on this chapter. It was very sad, but unfortunately inevitable that Assassin would die first in this war, the way things were going. I'll be leaving his stat page here, with Rider's being displayed next chapter.

See you next time!

Author: Oathkeeper0317

Servant Class: Assassin

True Name: Yaron Schatten

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Master: General James Ironwood

Stats-

Strength: D

Endurance: C

Agility: A+

Mana: C

Luck: C

Noble Phantasms: B+

Skills-

Class Skills-

Presence Concealment: C

Personal Skills-

Transformation: EX

Eye of the Mind (True): B-

Noble Phantasms-

Awakened Swords: His daggers (Nightfall) extend into short swords with dark energy pulsing through them. Rank: B (Anti-Unit)

Grimm Hunter: Allows him to take on the attributes of what he hunts. Rank: A (No Classification)

Outsider's Mark: Mark on his left hand giving him immense power. (Severely limited due to the Assassin classification) Rank: A (normally EX)