The Lost Son

by OculiImperator

Jaune Arc wished to live his own life, a life not in the shadow of the Arc Family but a life where he could make his own choices. In order to escape that shadow, he decided to become a Huntsman. What he did not realize was that while Duty and Desire may not always share the same road they often share the same destination.

14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Jaune stood next to the doorway of the South Valley Keep, there he watched as men and women chattered on Vox-casters or to each other. Some of it was to report about the results of the fighting that took place further north or to relay the reported positions of minor groups of Grimm or the supply convoys or drops.

Since arriving he learned a few things after listening to the noise of the room, apparently the two reserve Companies had been deployed already. Apparently the Central Valley Outpost had its walls breeched by the Grimm with nearly a third of the defenders getting killed in the close quarters combat.

Along with that additional reinforcements from the 1st and 2nd Battalion were coming in via Valkyries to escort the supply convoys that were heading their way.

At the same time Jaune got the impression that they were surprised at the Grimm attack. Not because of how close they cut it but more so that they managed to keep them out at all which Jaune had to agree.

From what he remember about the late night meeting with Kagiris and Meidner there was supposed to be a lot of Grimm attacking. More than any in recent memory for the Hurin Valleys, yet two out of three Outposts managed to hold them off for the most part.

Sure he could chalk it up to the overwhelming firepower that the 13th Brigade was able to bring down on them in a sort amount of time. As he remembered the blasts that rattled his insides as they ripped apart the field filled with Grimm that were assaulting the western wall of the Outpost.

Even then in comparison to the other two Outposts they were only given a small amount of support. With a few Avengers they had broken the siege here while to their north more Avengers and Corsair Flights were assisting them for almost the entire battle.

Though they would all have to return soon as they would no doubt need to refuel and rearm at some point. Upon which Jaune felt would be the most dangerous time for a second wave as then it would all be down to the soldiers on the ground.

To him that probably would explain why he heard that the northern Flights of Avengers and Corsairs were so vehemently pursuing the Grimm despite having beaten them back from the vicinity of the Outposts.

"So what's this about Sgèin and Martin telling me that you're now missing both the Huntress and a team?" A voice said and Jaune jumped a little as he looked to see an annoyed but tired Madeg.

"Well sir, we lost contact with Fusia in the forest south of the Outpost and against my advice team RWBY went out to look for her." The young captain sighed as he ran a hand over his head; he seemed to have aged at least five years since Jaune had last seen him. Though he supposed combat and the responsibility of a commander would stress most people out.

"Alright then, how long has it been since you noticed that they were gone?"

"About thirty minutes sir but at first we double checked to see if they weren't in fact in the Outpost before coming to you."

"Well you should have come to me first." Madeg snapped and Jaune wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Look, when I've got a platoon with almost a third of its personnel missing I want to know as soon as possible."

"Yes sir." Jaune said and Madeg sighed before putting a hand on his shoulder.

"In any case you should go get out of here, we don't know if the Creatures of Grimm are going to be back so now is the time to get some rest."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well we've managed to break the first attack but when the Air Force started to harass the Grimm they went north and Army Command believes that the Grimm are instead trying to go north to circumvent our forces here in the valley after forcing us to put a heavy deployment here."

"Really?" Jaune asked surprised to hear that, from all the reports Areto made him read about past battles and campaigns against the Creatures of Grimm they normally struck as hard as they could. No finesse or thought in their actions just brute strength and numbers.

"Yea, Command is formulating a projected line of advance of the Grimm horde through the northern mountains though they don't have any idea what their target other than getting around us is."

"Do you think they'll get through?" Jaune asked and Madeg chuckled.

"I think the Air Force is gonna gather its strength then pick a spot to drop enough ordnance to flatten a mountain on them. So no, I don't think we'll have to worry about the bulk of this Grimm horde anymore." He explained and Jaune nodded slowly.

"So it's over then?" Madeg shook his head.

"No, there are bound to be stragglers that could still be a viable threat if they reach the western mountains of Nodens."

"I guess that makes sense." At that moment Nora came through the door and grabbed Jaune's arm.

"Jaune!" She said and he exchanged looks with the slightly amused Madeg.

"Nora? Why are you here?" Jaune asked.

"Ren and Pyrrha sent me." She said and Jaune tapped his laryngophone.

"You realize that you guys could have just reached me on this." Nora flushed and Jaune raised a hand to calm her.

"Okay, okay, what is it?"

"Team RWBY returned."

---

A few moments later…

Jaune, Madeg and Nora reached the east gate of the Outpost. Soldiers were milling around as they watched the team stumble inside the perimeter.

Getting a closer look Jaune could see that the four girls all looked shaken as they made their way over to a bench that a soldier gestured for them to use.

"You're all back." Jaune called out as he walked up to them and stopped abruptly as Yang gave him a hallow stare.

"Yea." She said evenly before looking at her fists and Jaune noticed something on her cheek. An all too familiar color and he knelt before her.

"Yang." He said softly but the blonde girl didn't react at first.

"What happened out there?" Jaune asked looking at the other three girls.

"There are people out there to the south." Ruby finally said as she stood up from the bench.

"People?" Madeg asked from behind Jaune.

"Oh! Captain Madeg, I didn't see you there." Ruby said putting on a fake smile.

"Cut the crap Ms. Rose and tell me what happened out there. Who did you see?" He asked and the smile fell away from Ruby's face.

"We found Ms. Aster." She said and her face scrunched up.

"She's dead." Blake cut in as she looked up as well.

"We came across a large group of men in full plate armor much like your Praetorians to the south of the Outpost. They had her strung up on some wooden star; they gutted her as if she was some fish." This sent a murmur throughout the crowd of soldiers that were nearby to hear them and Pyrrha who was standing to the side watching the exchange noticed that they all looked nervous about what Blake said.

"Describe this star." Madeg said cutting off Jaune who looked like he was going to ask another question. The four girl exchanged looks before Blake spoke up.

"It was a large circular object with eight arrows that was held up from behind on a makeshift cart. The people seemed to be humming together as well, it was strange." The cat Faunus said.

"Yea even Blake fell into some weird trance and began to hum before we snapped her out of it." Weiss said and Madeg stood up at that as he rubbed his chin.

"This can't be happening." He said softly and Jaune frowned.

"What is it Captain?" He asked.

"Fuck!" Madeg shouted instead of answering him then turned abruptly away before running back to the Keep.

"I knew it; I knew we shouldn't have gone out there." Weiss said as they watched the soldiers disperse.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked turning to face her partner.

"I mean, it was stupid for us to go out there Ruby. There was no point in doing what we did; all of this is just luck or really bad luck considering what we just saw."

"You seriously can't say that Weiss, we had a good reason, we needed to find Fusia." Yang said and the shorter girl's face contorted in annoyance.

"No, we didn't, we were on that hill near our destination long enough that she could have found us or contacted us but that didn't happen. The soldiers pointed out the obvious, with the number of Grimm out there if she didn't show us any signs of her being alive then she was probably dead by that point."

"We didn't know that and neither did they so we had to take the chance Weiss." Ruby said and Jaune could see the younger girl balling her fists up in anger.

"But they were right Ruby, that's the point, they were right all along."

"No they weren't those people were obviously the ones that killed her, if we had left earlier then we could have found her and helped her."

"Ruby, Weiss still has a point we didn't know where she was." Blake said and Ruby rounded on the black hair Faunus girl.

"So?"

"So!? Ruby what would you have us do? Run around the forest looking for her?" Weiss asked and Yang held up a hand as she stepped next to her sister.

"Hey now, Ruby did what she thought was right and I agree with her as long as there's a chance of rescuing them then we should never leave anyone behind or alone."

"Risking the lives of four people to save someone who we didn't even know was still alive doesn't seem brave or courageous it's reckless, no, it goes beyond reckless into the realm of stupid." Weiss said and Ruby rounded on Jaune who was just standing there hoping to be ignored.

"Do you think that I made a stupid decision?" The younger girl asked him, Jaune opened and closed his mouth as he tried to think of a tactful answer. Ruby's face seemed to grow more crestfallen the longer he didn't answer.

"I see."

"Ruby, please, it's a difficult question to just ask someone." Pyrrha chimed in as the young girl looked down.

"This isn't fair guys." Yang said.

"No it's not but it's the truth." Weiss said but they could see that she had a look of pain on her own face before she turned away.

"Look, it's been a long day but it's getting late and we need to get some rest. I reckon we'll be dealing with whoever it was that you saw out there tomorrow." Jaune said and Blake looked at him.

"Speaking of which Jaune, what can you tell us about those people?"

"Me? I haven't the faintest idea who you encountered out there."

"Wait, what do you mean you don't know? Madeg seems like he knows, even the other soldiers seemed to know who we're talking about." Yang pointed out.

"Look, there are actually a lot of things that I don't know even about Arcadia."

"That doesn't make any sense, you're like, what, a prince or something." The blond girl said and Jaune shrugged feeling a little self-conscious about the conversation.

"You already know that I was raised in the Outlands so I didn't exactly get the proper education about Arcadia as you might think I have."

"Right, so you're actually useless in giving us information." Blake said with her arms crossed so Jaune smiled and shrugged.

"Yup."

"Great."

"So, what we know is, a group of armed and armored people are heading this way and there's a high chance that they're not friendly." Weiss surmised.

"Why did we agree to on this again?"

"What's going on?" Nora asked as she joined them apparently the hammer wielder had gone off somewhere to grab a ration pack which she was eating out of and Ren just shrugged.

"Nothing good that's for sure." As if on cue, someone shouted a warning and above them a dozen bright iridescent balls of fire struck the nearest tower. The top half of wooden structure along with the Hydra Anti-Aircraft gun exploded in a ball of fire showering the area in and out of the Outpost with flaming fragments.

"I hate being right." Ren said as the others scattered, an alarm was ringing loudly and soldiers were scrambling to get their armor on.

In the corner of his eye Jaune saw three tanks rumbling loudly towards the gate, the three massive Sicaran tanks looked battered with at least several noticeable dents in their armor while the sole Predator was sitting back.

Jaune could see its crew working swiftly to get the tank working but the plume of smoke rising from behind it suggested that the tank was out of commission.

"Come on!" Pyrrha said from next to him grabbing his hand and Jaune's mind went blank as he followed his partner. She led them up a flight of stairs connected to the inside of the east wall; Nora, Ren and team RWBY along with dozens of soldiers were also on the stairs.

Overhead another bright iridescent ball came over the wall, and Jaune couldn't help but note that it sound like someone was screaming just before landing in a flash of blinding light and thunder. A wooden barrack was shattered by it and Jaune could see soldiers running around on the ground screaming as others tried to put the flames on them out.

When they reached the top of the stairs, the remaining three of the Hydra platforms were spinning around pointing their quad barrels down at the distant tree line. As Jaune and the others came up to the wooden parapet wall they saw what was coming out of the forest.

Every direction they looked they could see that people were lining the edge of the forest. In the center of their line however were a dozen large devices that looked to be like cannons with barrels glowing reddish and a strange snarling mouth that looked as if they were the glowing faces of monsters.

The longer he studied the more a strange numbness wrapped his mind before his head began to throb with a soft headache until he closed his eyes counting to ten. With the final count he could feel the pain and numbness subsiding.

Opening his eyes again he quickly looked around to see the Pyrrha and the others looking a little discomforted. In the distant there was a series of dull booms and Jaune looked to see a dozen bright balls of fire arcing through the air towards the Outpost.

"Incoming!" Someone screamed as four balls of fire hit the wall again; two struck another tower, tearing chunks out of the wood structure while leaving fires that slowly began to spread. The other two however struck near the gatehouse while the rest struck inside the Outpost sending soldiers scattering or striking the west wall from the inside.

A few moments later Jaune could see the heavy wood gates swing open and the three Sicaran Tanks rumbled out from the relative safety of the Outpost. From above the three surviving Hydra Platforms opened up.

The twelve barrels of the Hydras sent a torrent of heavy caliber shells downrange towards the tree line. Blake winced as she could see men evaporate in cloud of broken flesh, armor and blood as they were hit by the shells.

Along with them a number of the strange cannons were ripped apart before going up in strange pinkish explosions which for some reason reminded her of Nora.

"Stop! They don't have Aura!" Ruby called out turning to run towards the nearest tower but as Jaune turned to stop her it was in fact Yang who grabbed her sister before she could get out of reach.

"Ruby no, let the soldiers do their job." The older girl said but Ruby shrugged off her sister's hand and looked at her in outrage.

"How can you say that Yang, can't you see they're killing them."

"Well they killed Fusia and now are bombarding the Outpost Ruby what do you expect the soldiers to do? Ask them nicely to stop killing?" Jaune turned away as more of the screaming balls of fire soared at them but none of them were aimed at the three Sicaran Tanks which began to open fire at the tree line.

Three of the cannon shots blew apart another tower while a fourth soared over the wall, immolating four soldiers with its passing heat before falling amongst the tents of the field hospital. Jaune felt his heart twist in pain as he could see soldiers rushing to put out the flames that burned both the injured and trained medical professionals.

"What are those?!" Pyrrha called out and Jaune turned to see what she was pointing at. Coming out from the forest were three monstrosities. His mind went blank as it couldn't seem to fathom what he was looking at but one of the soldiers nearby started screaming something at the top of her voice, a word that Jaune's mind filed away.

"Neverborn!" The Sicarans Tanks which had been slowly advancing on the enemy began to reverse hard while the creatures bore down on them. The Sicaran on the right of the formation spun around its gun turret just as the creature struck it with its horn.

While he wasn't that surprised that the horned head didn't penetrate the front armor of the heavy tank, Jaune was more than a little worried at seeing the impact lifting the front half of the tank off the ground.

The second one that looked like some weird tentacle meatball seemed to have an easier time as it was able to hold the turret in place as it tried to overturn the heavy tank.

Alas it only achieved in lifting it partially up before just pushing it away but ultimately achieving the goal of incapacitating the heavy tank by preventing it from bringing its cannon to bear.

Finally the largest humanoid monster met the lead Sicaran which if Jaune recalled correctly after briefly meeting its captain was called Lion's Pride.

The Sicaran fired almost point blank into the torso of the monster and Jaune felt the blood drain from his face. The shell had hit the creature driving it to its strange looking knees however he could see that it wasn't dead as it had yet to fall over.

In a flash the monster moved forward, Jaune could see that it grabbed that end of the Sicaran barrel and bent it almost effortlessly. With the main gun rendered useless the coaxial hammered at it but Jaune could see it was having no effect as it began to rip at the tank.

Unlike the previous two monsters, it was able to breech the Sicaran's armor while the other two effectively pinned their tanks down. Beyond them seven cannons opened up again and the seven bright cannon shots soared towards the east wall.

One of these cannon shots hit a Hydra directly which ripped apart the top half of the tower it was on while the others missed the last tower and hit the wall to either side of it.

As the Hydra opened up again hammering the distant cannons Jaune could feel a sudden shift in the floor as their portion of the wall was now significantly weakened.

"Help the soldiers off the wall, it's gonna collapse at this rate." Jaune said looking at Ren and Nora who nodded before running down the southern length to help a few soldiers that were now just getting out of the ruins of the first destroyed tower.

Out in the field Lion's Pride was being ripped apart and Jaune could see the crew bailing but he along with everyone else still watching knew that they wouldn't make it. They watched as the five crew members ran west towards them as the monster ripped the turret off before hurling it at the fleeing people.

Two of them ended up being squashed by the turret before the monster chased down the other three. Blake who had the best eyesight amongst the eight Beacon students wanted to look away but couldn't as she watched their final moments.

One of them was split in two by the creature then another had everything above their waist obliterated by a backhand swing before it grabbed the last member with its clawed hand then squished him.

Before anyone could really say anything the final Hydra tower imploded rocking the already weakened wall hard enough that they struggled to keep their footing. Jaune looked around to see soldiers running to the south and north walls or simply climbing off altogether.

"We need to go!" Ruby called out and Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's arm as the red head girl was staring out at the field. The line of people had finally made their move, like a tidal wave Jaune could see hundreds of them moving forward towards the Outpost as more cannon shots soared into the air.

Pyrrha finally began to move at that point and Jaune followed her as four jarring impacts hit the wall. Off to his right Jaune could see a fiery explosion as the Outpost's gate shattered inward.

Soldiers and vehicles maneuvered in front of the destroyed gate. Several Chimeras were placed in a semicircle facing the gate with riflemen and soldiers armed with assault stubbers crouching or laying down in front of the armored transports.

Jaune however was running with team RWBY and Pyrrha as they went looking for the rest of their platoon. What they didn't see but Ren and Nora did was the bloodbath that engulfed the stricken gate.

Ren and Nora who had found a pair of injured soldiers had made it down the slowly weakening wall as it got hammered from the outside cannons. As they reached the ground however they saw the defending soldiers and Chimera gunners opening up at the unseen foe.

The noise of the gunfire was tremendous that anyone even a few miles out from the Outpost would have easily heard the roar of automatic fire.

Ren, armed with StormFlower, waited with Nora as another pair of soldiers who were apparently escorting a medic that came to look at the two injured soldiers. However all five of them looked up in surprise as they heard horses of all things.

Coming in through the gate weathering the incoming gunfire that ripped into their thick metal plate armor and mounts were dozens of large cavalrymen. Each horse was easily twenty hands high and looked to be strong animals as they were adorned with heavy looking armor.

Ren couldn't help but get a terrifying flashback to one particular night many years ago however these were monsters of a different degree. Horses and riders fell under the weight of gunfire but enough reached the Arcadian line.

Armed with heavy lances, long bladed spears, axes, maces or sword and shield combinations they rode into the infantry. Ren felt his face twist in anger, while it looked like the cavalry were taking the bigger loss at first once they were among the Arcadians however they began to reap a heavy toll.

"Ren." Nora said from next to him and he looked to see the anger in her eyes.

"You want to go down there, don't you?" He asked obviously aware of her answer as she gave him a twisted smile before readying Magnhild.

"Are you with us?" Ren asked turning to face the other two soldiers with them; they both nodded readying their rifles as the medic tended to the two wounded soldiers. Nora raised Magnhild and fired three times as Ren dashed forward with the two soldiers shortly behind him.

As Ren got close he watched as a trio of pink blossoms erupted amongst the cavalry that had broken contact with the Arcadians. The explosions sent horsemen off their mounts though whether or not it put them out of action Ren wasn't sure as he leapt up on the nearest Chimera.

He nearly stopped completely as he saw the Chimera gunner slumped by his gun. As Ren reached out to check if he was still alive he saw that the soldier's faceplate had a wide vertical slit in the middle of it.

Gritting his teeth he stood up with StormFlower in hand as more foes came through the gate. Though they weren't mounted horsemen but on foot. Dozens if not hundreds of men that wore a motley amount of armor or weapons came at the soldiers.

As Ren opened up with StormFlower he gave a quick glance at the Arcadians and could see that they in fact did beat most of the cavalry though at least twenty had made it past the defenders to run rampant in the base but the Arcadian soldiers looked mostly spent from the effort.

If he had to guess at least a third were dead or dying while the others rallied themselves with only a few squads worth of soldiers were firing at the advancing horde of men.

Some of the Arcadians armed with melee weapons however moved immediately forward to engage the charging men. Ren figured that they must be the ones that had their Aura unlocked as Jaune mentioned earlier.

Ren couldn't help but think that they weren't half bad as he watched a soldier armed with a short sword and a war axe kill six men in less than a minute.

When a mace struck his face however it gave an opening to allow even more men to start hacking at him with their weapons. In a manner of seconds his Aura began to fail and the weapons began to strike home.

Ren opened fired with both of his pistols from above peppering the attacking men with Dust rounds. As each round sent a gout or spray of blood Ren realized that none of them had their Aura unlocked yet they were able to overpower a soldier with an unlocked Aura.

From above however a familiar form came soaring through the air, Nora screamed in either anger or joy, he really wasn't sure at this point as she came down amongst the attackers. Ren winced as he watched the broken forms of people flying up through the air as Nora swung Magnhild around and around.

Nora didn't actually know what was going on, she didn't know who she was fighting, and she didn't know if they had Aura. All she knew was that she had to fight them, a man screamed as he lunged at her with a sword and she battered it aside with her hammer before quickly kicking him away as something hard hit her back.

Not even taking a second to see who it was she spun around clockwise bringing Magnhild up to hit the man in the chest sending him flying back into several others. She then spun around swinging hard as she did so, smashing aside another blade before carrying through to shatter the leg of another man that was trying to move past her.

The man screamed but Nora ignored it as she swung Magnhild again sending a man with a shield backwards into his comrades. Then she brought it down on another man breaking both of his arms as he tried to block the blow with his war axe.

Nora grunted as something sharp struck her in the back so she turned around swinging low with Magnhild shattering the hip of the man that struck her. More blows started to get in on her now, a spear thrust to her leg, a mace hit from the side and another sword strike from behind.

Though with each swing Nora was killing or crippling these men. She knew what she was doing was wrong on some level at the same time she felt it was necessary to strike with lethality.

As these men were cutting apart the Arcadians who struggled to keep them pinned in at the gate. At the same time she was completely surrounded and they were hitting her with every chance they could get.

She was vaguely aware of Ren standing somewhere off to the side firing down on the crowd of attacking men but he was avoiding getting sucked into the melee as she had done.

As she ducked under another mace swing only to jab Magnhild forward, smashing the top of her hammer into the man's face breaking bone and teeth, someone struck her head from behind. While her Aura prevents any lethal damage it didn't mean she didn't feel the blow or the pain.

"Nora! Get out of there!" Ren's voice called out into her ear and she remembered that she still had the ear bud in. She swung Magnhild around in a circle with one hand as she touched her throat with her free hand.

"I can't hold them off forever Ren; you need to find Jaune and the others to help us." Nora said as she quickly shifted Magnhild to its compact form then fired twice into the crowd. The twin pink blasts sent men flying backward as if they had been pulled backwards by some invisible force, the close proximity of the blast even threatened to knock her off her feet as well.

Gunfire roared out from behind her and she felt something painful strike her back twice before she jumped aside. A few of the Arcadian soldiers had thinned out the attackers near them who had also been behind her and some of their rifle rounds had inevitably hit her.

As she smashed aside another man who charged at her with a large chipped sword she couldn't help but wonder how much Aura she had left. Despite her strength though Nora was aware that while she could beat anyone that came up to her there were far too many for her to take on alone.

"Nora! You have to get out of there, the line is collapsing." Ren called out again and Nora glanced over her shoulder to see that he was right. The Arcadians didn't have the chance to reform when the enemy hit them and now locked were locked in fierce close quarters combat but were getting pushed back.

Nora cursed as the soldiers began to fall back, so she turned to run towards Ren who was reloading StormFlower before the both of them ran further into the Outpost.

At the same time outside of the Outpost the three Sicarans had been dispatched by the Neverborn who raced towards the gate following the advance of the full plated warriors.

Inside the main Keep Madeg frantically had the staff send emergency reports to the other two Outposts warning them. As well as sending a report to the western wall where Major Waldemar Hauck of the 7th Battalion was supposed to be preparing to go after the remaining Grimm that fled north.

All throughout the Outpost things had begun to fall apart, soldiers raced to put out the fire that had been ignited by the barracks from the cannon shots. While others were trying to save whomever they could from the burning tents of the field hospital.

At the same time the cavalry that had broken through the line at the gate were galloping around hacking, chopping, slice or trampling anyone they saw.

Jaune and the others however found the other members of their platoon. Sgèin and Martin were using their squads to help put out one of the fires that had spread out from the initial impact site of the cannon shots.

"Sgèin! Martin!" Jaune called out and located them when two armored soldier turned to his voice so he ran up to them as Pyrrha along with team RWBY went to help the soldiers put the fire out.

"It's good you're here Jaune, we need help putting this fire out before it spreads anymore." Sgèin said but Jaune shook his head.

"No time for that, the gate's been breached." This put a stop to the two sergeants as they turned to look at him.

"We know, but we can't just let this go unchecked." Martin said but as if fate was waiting for that moment two riders turned the corner, Pyrrha shouted a warning as she saw two soldiers carrying a wounded man who had a wood fragment sticking out of his abdomen were in the horsemen's path.

The lead horseman had a long bladed spear with strange red runes glowing along its length. He was massive in his black plate armor adorned with a fur cloak and red cloth underneath even still his horse was huge which just served in making his stature even larger.

The group watched in horror as the horseman swept his spear out taking the heads of the two soldiers at the same time before trampling over the wounded man between them. As the horsemen rode past Yang was the first to make a move jumping out with a scream and unloading her gauntlets after the horseman.

Her rage fell on proverbial deaf ears as the shotgun rounds had little to no effect on the horsemen. However several soldiers picked up their rifles to start firing at the receding horsemen but it was too late as they turned the corner of another barrack building.

In the distance the gunfire that had been snapping and cracking furiously had begun to die down. Jaune watched as more cannon shots soared through the air to impact on the western wall or out of sight sending loud booms that punctured the ever dwindling automatic fire.

"Form up!" Martin called out and Jaune watched as Sgèin grabbed her arm.

"Don't look at me like that, we've got to fight or we're gonna die here. So fuck the fire and let's move." The other sergeant didn't say anything at first but Jaune didn't see if he nodded or shook his head as he turned to Pyrrha and team RWBY.

"What's the plan?" He asked and Yang slammed a fist into her palm.

"We go and kick ass."

"Yang we need to keep our wits about us, you saw what those things did to those tanks earlier we don't even know who we're fighting. This isn't some Kingdom on Kingdom or White Fang attack; we're not even fighting the Grimm." Weiss said.

"Which we need to come to terms with fast if we want to live." Jaune interjected and they looked at him.

"Ruby can you take point, Sgèin and Martin can form their squads behind you while Pyrrha and I take the rear."

"Jaune! Jaune, are you there!?" Ren's voice appeared suddenly in Jaune's ear and he clicked the sensors around his throat.

"Ren, I'm here, where are you?"

"I'm with Nora and we're falling back with the soldiers towards the main keep, Shimman says that Madeg is forming the rest of the company there."

"Roger that, we'll meet you over there." Jaune said before looking around, Pyrrha, team RWBY along with Martin and Sgèin's squads were forming around him.

"It seems the gate is lost, so we're heading to the Keep." At that moment something happened interesting happened.

Further north of them parts the western wall had begun to take serious hits from outside cannons which had been zeroed in with the help of the horsemen. However certain sections of the wall had been pulling up a large quantity of exposed munitions which had been in the process of resupplying the wall guns.

In particular one crate fifty shells of high explosive shells for the Lancer Field Guns was cooked by the intense heat of the cannon shots which set them off. The combined explosion went off with a deafening boom that rung in ears of every person within the Outpost.

That section western wall that had barely survived from the onslaught of the Grimm attack from before collapsed under its own weight as the blast had created a ten by ten meter size hole in it.

Madeg who was still in the Keep raced outside to see what had happened, all around the Keep entrance soldiers were setting up a defensive position.

Less than two hundred yards away the invading mass of warriors butchered the Chimera crews. Not because they were a threat but to him it looked like they were doing so for the fun of it.

In the corner of his eye he spotted Ren and Nora. The quiet green cladded teen was supporting his short friend; the hammer wielder was covered in blood and looked like she was going to be sick.

Madeg didn't blame her as Ren looked the same though as he looked around he could see that the few soldiers that didn't have their helmets also looked a little sick. Fighting the Grimm was one thing as they all knew they were monsters given form but it was men and women that were butchering his soldiers or their comrades.

"Captain!" A voice called out and Madeg turned to see Shimman jogging up to him. The Faunus Lieutenant didn't have her helmet on, soot and flecks of blood covered her face.

"Where's your helmet?" He asked and the Lieutenant shrugged.

"It got fucked after I took a glancing hit from a mace so I ditched it." She explained.

"Deòir is dead by the way." Madeg jerked his head back a little then nodded after a moment. Deòir was the commander of 2nd Platoon and probably the most experienced man amongst his officers.

"Who else is dead?" Madeg asked and Shimman shrugged.

"Giolla voxed in saying she's hunkered down on the south east end of the Outpost with most of her platoon and a few dozen from the Defensive Company as for Menez and the rest of 3rd they're scattered or dead as far as I'm aware of since they were at the gate."

"Alright how many do we have here with us?" Madeg said looking around.

"I'd reckon we've got most of my platoon, and yours along with a decent amount of the Defensive Company so probably more than a hundred."

"Incoming!" Someone shouted nearby so Ren and Nora looked up to see something flying through the air. Men and women screamed in pain or surprise as they were struck.

Ren looked towards a screaming woman near them and could see that she kneeling on one leg with an arrow sticking out of her other thigh then she seemingly sprouted another arrow in the neck. Her screaming changed into thick gurgling as she fell back clawing at her own throat before her frantic movements stopped.

Madeg who had crouched down at the warning looked to the side to see that Shimman was dead; she had three arrows sticking out of her chest.

"Here they come!" Someone shouted and Madeg looked up to see the Archenemy charging the base of the Keep.

"Open fire!" He shouted as he raised his own rifle and lined the sights up before firing a three second long burst. Forty yards out a man toppled backwards and all along the line soldiers fired their weapons whether it was handguns, rifles, assault stubbers or even Accatran Rockets.

On the opposite side of this new fight, Jaune stopped with the others as they watched in surprise. Dozens if not hundreds of people were gunned down as they charged the Arcadian soldiers before they were amongst them hacking or slicing away. Soldiers within the Keep itself fired more Accatran Rockets or were using Heavy Stubbers.

"What are you standing there for!? Fight!" Sgèin screamed as he opened up with his own rifle. The other soldiers began to fire as well and Jaune looked down at his hands which held Crocea Mors. They were shaking and his throat was dry to the point that it felt difficult to breath.

"Jaune, look at me." A soft voice said in his ear and he looked up to see Pyrrha's vivid-green eyes looking into his own.

"I'm with you Jaune, now and always." She said softly and Jaune nodded as the two of them turned to see team RWBY hesitantly ready their weapons. Martin and Sgèin's squads along with the other soldiers that they picked up began to fire at their new enemy.

Jaune readied Crocea Mors then jogged forward then began to run with Pyrrha and team RWBY at his side as well. The closer he got the more he could pick out details, strange tattoos, talismans of animals or humans, armor, thick looking muscles, weapons and blood.

He drew his sword arm back as a man with a longsword and armor covering his head and left arm turned towards him. Jaune plunged his sword into the man's throat before kicking him off, a second man turned quickly with an axe swinging down at Jaune but he raised his shield up to intercept the blow while stabbing low putting his sword a foot deep into his body.

As the man fell back Pyrrha came in behind Jaune flinging Akoúo forward, the bronze shield whished through the air before slamming into the chest of a man with a battle axe. She winced internally as the man had neither chest protection nor Aura as she could visibly see the indentation of his broken sternum.

To her right another man came at her with two long daggers, she dodged one while simultaneously parrying the second with Miló then with the flat of her left palm slammed it upward under his chin. Again wincing as she could see something give as her palm hit him.

Retrieving Akoúo via her semblance she parried another sword as the bronze shield made its way to her arm then brought it up to block a sword strike that someone tried to sneak in behind her.

As the blade slide off the bronze surface she kicked back aiming low to hit a knee, the man screamed in pain as his knee bent completely inward only for her to silence him by twisting around to smash the flat side of Miló against the side of his head.

The man fell but two more took his place, Pyrrha parried and blocked as the two came at her. Turning aside one sword she then knocked the second sword aside with her shield before kicking at the second man's chest sending him stumbling back as the first man came at her.

She ducked his high swing then used Akoúo's edge to check the low follow up then used the flat end of Miló's blade to smash his jaw sending him to the ground. The man from before came at her and she battered his sword thrust upwards before going in with a high knee that connected with the man's solar plexus.

Jaune pulled his sword free of another opponent to see that Pyrrha had cleared a noticeable area around herself. Pausing a moment he could see that she was beating almost anyone that came at her in three hits or less.

Though he couldn't help but notice that she was purposely avoiding using her blade to actually inflict any dangerous blow which made him look at his own sword. Crocea Mors was covered in blood of dead men, was he the only one willingly killing his opponents?

As another man swung a large battle axe at him Jaune raised his sword to block the strike before his sword flashed out to cut a long gash across the man's forearm.

The man grunted but Jaune didn't want to give him breathing room so he pressed forward. However he was surprised that the man was able to push back as hard as Jaune even with the injured arm.

Jaune could feel his back foot slipping as the ground was starting to grow a little wetter than it was before. So he stepped aside letting the man come forward, off balanced as there was no force to counter act his own.

Wasting no time Jaune slashed down cutting across the back of the man's leg before following him to plunge his sword into the man's back. Jaune felt sick with himself as he took note of the resistance the man's body had against his sword.

Something smashed into his back but Jaune didn't have the chance to pull his sword out as a large hand grabbed his right shoulder and pulling him backwards. Remembering what Areto told him from what seemed like so long ago he made sure to keep his grip on his sword and it came free of the man's body as he was twisted around to get a struck in the chest with a flanged mace.

His Aura flashed as it protected him but Jaune still felt the impact and some pain from the force but coupled with his chest plate he knew he was fine.

The man that had grabbed him had loose shoulder length hair that looked greasy and tangled with scars adorning his face. Jaune knew he was strong as tried to pry the man's arm off by pushing up with his shield arm but failed.

The man gave a gapped tooth snarl before head butting Jaune and a flash of white went across his vision. As it cleared he could see that the man's forehead was split with blood trailing down it but he paid no heed as he reared his head back to head-butt him again.

Jaune tried to angle his sword so he could jab it at the man but he saw what he was doing and brought his mace down on Jaune's hand. This hurt a lot more and Jaune gritted his teeth as the man's forehead slammed into his nose.

At that moment someone's foot came into view smashing into the side of the man's head sending him to the ground and Jaune struggled to stay upright as the man still had a decent grip on him. Looking around he could see that it was Yang that had come to his rescue again.

The blond brawler didn't say anything as she kept her guard up then moved in ducking a sword swing then twisting out of the way of another man's strike then sent a high kick that took this man in the head before backhanding the first man sending him to the ground with relative ease.

Ruby, Blake, and Weiss were there as well taking out opponents one by one. But Jaune noticed something off about how they fight but couldn't figure it out.

"Jaune! Get out of there!" Martin voice came through his ear but he had no chance to respond as another man came at him this time with a sword and shield combo.

Jaune struck first but the man blocked it with his round shield but sent a thrust out at him however Jaune knocked it aside with the edge of his shield then sent an overhead strike making the man raise his own shield to block.

With that Jaune pushed forward using his shield to jump forward into the man sending him stumbling back. Though he was able to bring his sword up in time to turn aside Jaune's overhead strike before using the edge of his shield to strike at Jaune but he stepped aside then hammered the edge of his shield into the man's face sending him stumbling to the ground.

With his guard open so Jaune swung down, Crocea Mors cutting deeply into the man's side but it wasn't a fatal blow it was enough to insure his death.

"RUN!" Martin's voice screamed in his ear and Jaune finally realized what she was trying to tell him. He hadn't noticed that the enemy had thinned out before falling back away from the Keep. If he took the time to look he would see that there were hundreds of dead or dying people while most of them were this unknown enemy Jaune knew that a good number of them had to be Arcadians.

Yet that wasn't what had his attention, the defeated enemies were regrouping by the gates but there was already another group there. An unknown amount of heavily plated warriors were arrayed before them, Jaune could see that they looked a lot like the two riders from before.

Behind them however were the three hulking forms of the monsters that had defeated the tanks in the field outside.

"Jaune!" A familiar voice called out, he looked over his shoulder to see Nora and Ren running up to them. The two of them looked exhausted but they eyed their new foes with caution.

"We're glad to see the two of you are safe." Pyrrha said from the side and Ren nodded.

"Yea it was pretty close a few times there." He said.

"Look." Blake said drawing their attention, the ranks of armored plate warriors parted to let a tall warrior, in bluish armor with gold swirls that seemed to move like an optical illusion, forward. He had no weapons on him but Blake's instincts screamed at her that he was dangerous.

Glancing around she could see Yang and Pyrrha shifting almost nervously which just reinforced her instincts since the arguably strongest and best fighter amongst them both looked nervous then something was wrong.

"You have fought valiantly!" A booming voice said but Jaune winced as a pulse of pain erupted from his mind.

"Do not worry, I know that for most of you this may feel uncomfortable but forgive me as I would rather not yell my own voice hoarse in order for your scattered people to hear my offer." Jaune realized what he meant by that as he looked at his friends.

"Wait a minute, is he, in our heads?" Yang asked in confusion as she looked around.

"Let us put an end to this fighting, send forth whoever you call a leader so that we may talk in a civilized fashion." The voice said sending another way of pulsing pain through his head. As he looked down he noticed he had one foot on a man's hand around him were a number of lifeless bodies.

Then it occurred to him as he looked at the blood soaking the ground that they were the reason why he had trouble with his footing earlier.

"Jaune." He lifted Crocea Mors and saw the blood staining it.

"Jaune!" Was someone calling for him? He looked up and gave a startled yelp at seeing the bloody face of someone in front of him.

"Whoa! Easy there man." The face said as a pair of strong hands gripped his arms and he blinked realizing the bloody face was Madeg. He had a nasty looking cut across his forehead that bled down his face.

"Madeg?! Are you alright?" Jaune asked and the man frowned.

"I could ask you the same thing but this isn't the time, you and I need to go have a chat with this guy." He said and Jaune frowned.

"Are you sure that's a wise move?" Pyrrha asked from next to Jaune.

"No but it's a necessary part of my plan. There's a hole in the western wall, I've already told Martin to start leading the others out through there while Sgèin is leading the rearguard over by the Keep. If they get past us right now then they'll massacre the others out in the field." Madeg explained.

"And what do you want me to do?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll do the talking but if things go tits up I'd feel a little better knowing you're there with me as backup." He said and Jaune sniffed before nodding.

"Alright, I'll help, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora go help the others escape. Ruby you should go as well."

"Bullshit." Yang said and Ruby nodded.

"Jaune, it'd be better if we went with you, if they attack you then we'll be there to help you both." The young team leader said.

"She's right Jaune." Ren added and Jaune just sighed. He didn't have the patience to argue against them and a part of him was glad to know that they would come so he looked at Madeg.

"Alright then, lead the way."

---

Elsewhere…

The Tactical Operation Center located within the central Keep of Toutatis was a mess of activity. Reports had filtered in that one of the Outposts in the far west was under siege by the Archenemy.

Brigadier General Alrun Meidner stood with her hands behind her back looking at the large digital topographic map of the region. The map was covered in marks of all known military assets along with their objectives, heading and strength with hourly updates.

"Have you reestablished contact with our forces at the Outpost?" Meidner asked one of her attendants.

"No ma'am, the last report we received came from Captain Amand Madeg from Wiscard's Battalion stating that the main gate had been breached and that he was rallying his company around the Outpost Keep." Meidner gritted her teeth as she studied the map. Wiscard had been the first to hear of the news and was reacting by deploying two companies as a southern screen while he was rallying the two tank platoons at his disposal. Then he was planning on pushing south to either relieve the defenders or avenge them but it would take at least a few more hours before he'd reach there. So she had ordered him to hold off from moving in force to meet this foe.

Even then they didn't know the full extent of this incursion nor do they know where they came from at all. As far as Meidner knew the only active rift was in Irkalla but the region was stabilizing at the moment so there's no way that a force of Chaos Warriors and Marauders could be on Sanus of all places.

Meidner knew that she needed time and breathing room as the Air Force was still marshaling their strength before attacking the Grimm to the north. Until then Meidner knew that Wiscard's only support would be in the form of the few Vulture Flights still in the valley along with the Earthshaker batteries of the western wall.

"Damn it; send word to Hauck that he's to send three Companies south to assist Major Wiscard he'll have to make do with two Companies." The original plan had been for Hauck to deploy his Battalion to pin the Grimm down while the Air Force bombs them as the northern valleys were narrow enough that it wouldn't take much to hold the passes between them. Now though he'll only be able to hold one passage against the Grimm.

"Ma'am we have a problem!" Someone called out and one of the staff officers came up to her before saluting.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Another transmission just came through." The officer said before holding out a paper transcript which Meidner began to read.

"Fuck." She snapped as she balled up the paper before throwing it aside.

"Someone get Governor Kagiris on the line."

Meanwhile…

Madeg armed with a rifle along with Jaune, the rest of his team and team RWBY walked up to the blue plated warrior before stopping ten feet away from him. He was easily over seven feet tall and was massive though whether it was because of his armor Jaune didn't know.

"Ah, greetings, you must be the leaders of this camp." The tall plated warrior said.

"This is Arcadian Territory, state who you are and your reason for this unprovoked attack." Madeg called out and Jaune could practically feel the shift to anticipation from the array of warriors before them, save for the one that spoke. It was difficult to get a read on the guy in his full plate armor but Jaune felt as if he was thinking of what to say.

"Do you really not know who we are or why we're here?" The warrior asked tilting his strange horned helm to the side but before anyone could say anything he began to laugh, first it was a soft chuckle that grew louder and louder till it made him sound hysterical.

"It doesn't matter I suppose, you attacked us in an unprovoked manner."

"Unprovoked you say?"

"Yes, you're standing upon the bodies of my people, all of whom were slain by your hands."

"We didn't start this fight but we'll defend ourselves in whatever manner we see fit against any threat to us." Jaune called out and Madeg glanced at him.

"My, you don't look like a soldier but aside from this other one; you're the only one that smells of blood. I watched you fight and it surprises me that the only two that willfully or at least knowingly killed are the ones that support this sigil." The warrior said pointing at Jaune's shield.

"Must I take it that you are a people that seek violence to solve all your problems?"

"This from someone that murdered someone in cold blood, we saw you string out the body of an innocent woman!" Ruby shouted and the warrior cocked his head to the side again.

"Innocent? She was not innocent at all, she attacked us first and we merely defended ourselves."

"Then why did you string her body up like some sick trophy?" Yang asked heatedly and Jaune couldn't help but notice that it looked like her hair was glowing.

"To warn off any more would be attackers but it obviously didn't work, when my scouts found you spying on us what did you do? You fought and killed a number of them then ran off to avoid justice which we then tracked you down here. I could only assume you and everyone else that would reside in such a place must be the same as such we took a preemptive strike against those that would do us harm in spreading the Truth."

"Truth?" Weiss asked and the man held his arms open as if he was basking in the applause of an unseen audience.

"Yes, the Primordial Truth."

"The what?" Jaune asked and caught the meaningful glance from Madeg. It was clear that he didn't like that question but the blue armored warrior chuckled.

"Why young one, it is the one and only truth. It is the end and the beginning as it represents the cycles of all things. Without it there were be a void of darkness so deep, so suffocating that nothing would exist anywhere or when." The warrior said calmly but Madeg stepped in front of Jaune.

"That's enough of your bullshit." This seemed to get a more visible reaction as the warrior's great helm seemed to jerk back as if stricken.

"You think I would lie mortal?" Jaune frowned at the choice of words as the armored warrior stepped forward with a crunch as the warrior stepped on a dead man's head covering the ground in gore.

"I think you should leave before I put you down." Madeg said evenly but Jaune could see the man sweating and so did the warrior as he chuckled.

"I can smell your fear, it emanates off you like heat from a fire though do be careful as you may draw back those fouls creatures from before." In a flash however the warrior surged forward before grabbing Madeg by the throat, lifting him clear off his feet. Jaune and the others readied their weapons but the warrior held out his free hand to stop them.

"I can break his neck before any of you could stop me." He said in a rather matter of fact tone.

"What do you want!?" Ruby called out and the warrior sighed.

"It's simple; I want to show you the Truth." He said they watched as Madeg started to squirm harder and harder. Jaune could see the man's face turning dark red then purple as he suffocated.

"Stop!" Jaune called out but there was a sharp crack as the warrior broke his neck and Madeg twitched a little but soon even that stopped.

"You'll never get away with this." Jaune called out and glanced over at Nora who met his eyes. He gave her a subtle nodded which she returned before whispering to Ren.

"And what makes you think that young man?" The warrior asked and Jaune grinned.

"This." At that moment Ren brought up StormFlower and opened up on the warrior. As the warrior brought his arms up to shield himself from the light caliber rounds, Nora charged forward with Magnhild raised.

"Fools." Was the only thing Jaune managed to hear before Nora was blasted backwards by a fiery explosion and Jaune raised his shield to protect himself. As the smoke cleared Jaune lowered his shield to see the warrior standing tall with his hands covered in purplish blue fire.

At the same time the three monsters that had been standing still in the background roared as they came forward. They ignored or were oblivious to the fact that they were tossing aside their own warriors.

The bestial monster charged Blake who stood at the farthest end of the group. The Faunus girl ran forward firing Gambol Shroud then jumped high using a shadow to bait the beast like creature to lower its head to impale the shadow on a tusk.

Blake landed on the creature's back and struggled to stay on for a second then began to lash out with Gambol Shroud cutting grooves into the creature back hitting the exposed parts between the naturally growing red plates. Though she wasn't expect blood to spray up into her face as she made a two foot long laceration into it.

Yang who saw Blake on the beast like creature raced to support her partner, yelling she leapt forward with a boost from Ember Celica to propel herself into smashing a fist into the side of the creature's face.

The thing roared in anger or pain no one could tell but it jerked its head to the side but Yang had already jumped back out of its reach only to dash back in with hands held at ready as she sent an upper cut straight to its jaw.

At that point small arms fire resumed from behind the Beacon students as at least a few of the Arcadian soldiers had stayed behind to provide support. Assault and Heavy Stubbers took a noticeable toll on the plated warriors as the gunfire killed at least one out of every five plate warrior.

The smaller caliber rifle rounds however at range were proving to be unreliable to breech the thicker portions of the plate armor however the few marksmen amongst the rearguard took note that the joints and helmet were the primary targets to hit at a ranges over six hundred meters. This would hamstring most riflemen as their weapons had the hardest time of penetrating or even hitting even these weak points.

As Yang and Blake teamed up on the bestial monster Ruby and Weiss went for the tentacle monstrosity. The two of them tackled it fairly well as Ruby would zoom in cutting deeply into its side then getting out of reach before it could react while Weiss stayed back providing Glyphs to assist Ruby in changing directions or boosting her speed while pelting it with ice.

Though that didn't mean that they didn't have problems, the two girls couldn't figure out how to kill it fast enough.

As Ruby had to back out from getting sick at being covered in more blood and gore than she had ever seen or thought of was possible Weiss noticed something crucial. Unless the wounds were rather significant, the cuts or swallow punctures they inflicted on it would be healed. While the creature did have some noteworthy injuries it was still fine.

For Nora and Ren the two of them struggled with the largest of the three monsters. After a few minutes of moving in and out of its reach Nora found that nothing seemed to slow it down. The two of them became aware that almost instantly it would repair the damage done to it.

Jaune however faced off against the warrior as he stood over Madeg's body. Behind him the other plated warriors seemed to flow around the fight to assault the rearguard inside the Keep.

Pyrrha stood next to Jaune with her weapons held ready as did he, for the first time in recent memory her hands shook. Yet it wasn't fear that made them shake, that was something that her grandmother had trained out of her when she was little.

No, it was excitement.

For the first time in months, she had found a truly worthy opponent. Sure Beacon had allowed her to meet skilled fighters such as Yang or Nora with their brute but calculated strength. There was Blake and Ren with their evasive combat styles. Then there was Ruby and Weiss with their speed or vast tactical options along with Jaune in his stoic swordsmanship.

Yet she had beaten all of them whenever they sparred, some of it did have to do with her semblance but she more often than not didn't need it as she had learned how they fought, that she understood them to a point that she only deployed her semblance if she was stuck in a two versus one or fell for a feint.

Though that wasn't to discredit her newfound friends but to her the facts were clear. She had to wonder if it was arrogant of her to think that.

Maybe but to her it still didn't necessarily mean she was wrong.

Shaking her head she saw Jaune dash forward though she didn't follow him, instead opting to wait and circle the warrior.

Jaune gritted his teeth as he slashed in a downward motion at the warrior but unsurprisingly he shifted to the side avoiding the strike. However Jaune knew that if he let up then he may very well lose so he followed through with the motion spinning counter the warrior bringing Crocea Mors back around in a vertical slash aimed for the midriff.

The warrior however jumped back so Jaune followed him with a thrust but the warrior knocked the blade aside by punching the flat of the blade making it narrowly miss his armored form. Jaune was barely able to twist at the waist avoiding the uppercut of the warrior.

He hammered the edge of his shield against the warrior's elbow and felt vibrations travel painfully up his arm as he struck. While he did in fact move the arm it had felt as if he had punched a solid wall instead of a plate armored forearm.

Not letting up Jaune slashed with Crocea Mors then followed up with backhand swing but the warrior simply avoid him which made Jaune feel angry both at himself and at his opponent.

As he came in for a high swing again Jaune stopped halfway through with the motion instead lunging forward with his shield putting his weight behind it but the next thing he knew he was on his back looking up at the plated warrior who had Jaune's shield in his hand.

"It's smart trying to take your foe by surprise but when he's stronger than you don't rely on the surprise to make up the difference." The warrior said evenly but Jaune could picture the smile he might have inside the strange helmet but then something odd happened as the warrior kneeled over Jaune. This gave Jaune a closer look at the warrior and noticed that he couldn't actually see anything about the guy inside the slits of his helmet.

"Now I want you to listen carefully as I could snuff out the life of everyone I see here as if it was nothing seeing as I'm a true servant of my masters; as such I have been granted gifts in their honor that would make you scream in agony as I break not only your body but your mind and soul as well. So believe me when I say that I'm letting you live not for your own good nor because I want too but because it's necessary." At that moment the warrior looked up only to get the bronze shield to his face. Pyrrha came in with a yell using her javelin to smash the outside of the warrior's knee as he tried to stand up.

With roar of his own the warrior surged to his feet, blue fire emerging from his hands before flinging something that looked like a ball of congealed lava only except it was blue at Pyrrha who jumped over it. However as the ball struck the ground Pyrrha was flung forward as it exploded.

The warrior surged forward and slammed a fire covered fist into Pyrrha's stomach. She let out a gasp of air as she fell to the ground then immediately rolled over with Miló in hand switching it to its Xiphos form then moved forward.

Unlike before the warrior moved to engage her but Pyrrha ducked underneath a blow before coming up slashing Miló across his chest though it didn't even look like it was close to penetrating.

Pyrrha started back stepping as she turned aside the warrior's fists with the flat side of Miló or simply ducked in and out of his guard while striking at a different section of armor in hopes of getting a weak spot.

As she ducked under a right hook then stepped back avoiding the upper cut that followed she moved in, spinning low to the right and jabbed Miló forward aimed at the back of his left knee. Here her blade found purchase as it dug into the exposed leg between the poleyn and cuisse.

Here Pyrrha was expecting the warrior to cry out in pain or fall down or something. Instead when she looked out she could see that he had another congealed ball of that blue lava looking thing in his hand that he flung down at his own feet.

The subsequent explosion sent both of them flying and as Pyrrha got to her feet she recalled Akoúo with came sailing back to her hand. Jaune was also on his feet now and held his weapons ready as the plated warrior stood up.

Nearby an explosion rocked the Keep as the defenders inside fought off the plated warriors while Blake helped Yang away from the bestial monster which was laying still on the ground though Yang's Aura had been broken in the process which led to her getting cut across her midriff.

Ruby and Weiss had also beaten their monster but they didn't kill it. Instead the two of them had cut as many limbs off as they could before Weiss hammered it with as much ice as she could before heading over to help Ren and Nora.

If someone had a chance to get a top down view of the Outpost they would have also seen that aside from the Keep they were the only ones left standing. Everywhere else the enemy had killed and butchered the defenders without remorse.

Outside though Martin lead a little more than a hundred soldiers northward for little while till they reached a few hills that gave them a good look at the burning mess of the Outpost.

Though they immediately were found by what seemed to be the remnants of the cavalry that had been the first to breech the Outpost there they would engage in various skirmishes to fend off the harassing force.

Back inside the Outpost Jaune and Pyrrha fought the plated warrior. Though Jaune had to admit, it was mostly Pyrrha doing most of the heavy lifting as Jaune was getting thrashed. Every other swing the warrior knocked aside before hammering a gauntlet or knee into Jaune and if he did block it was strong enough to send him stumbling back.

"I've had enough of this." The warrior said after Pyrrha slammed Akoúo into his chest then unloading a dozen near point blank shots into his chest before trying to aim a thrust in the soft spot between his chest plate and pauldron only to have him slam his flame engulfed hand against Pyrrha sending her flying a dozen feet back.

The two of them didn't get a chance to respond as the fire around his hands went out only for sparks of electricity or power danced across the metal surface of his right gauntlet. Jaune watched almost in slow motion as he raised his hand up towards him, he tried to raise his shield but it felt like everything was moving too slow.

A bolt of lightning surged out from his hand and Pyrrha watched in terror as it struck Jaune before she could even shout a warning. Jaune flew back at least a dozen meters and while Pyrrha would have assumed he was fine she could instantly see that this wasn't normal lightning.

Jaune was convulsing violently on the floor so she rushed over to him, she could see Jaune's face contorted in pain and his mouth was open as if he was screaming yet no sound came out.

"Jaune!?" She called out putting a hand on him but she instantly let go as pain shot up her arm.

"Don't ignore your foe in a fight!" The warrior called out and Pyrrha brought up Akoúo in time to deflect his fist then stabbed upwards with Miló. She grimaced as he held out his hand, as her weapon pierced the less protected palm of the gauntlet he pushed his own hand further down the length of Miló before grabbing her hand.

"You're strong child but to me that strength means nothing as you do not have conviction." The warrior nodded his helmed head at Jaune who twisted in pain.

"He may not be strong or as skilled as you but he has conviction and if he lives that will see him to victory where you will only find death." He began to lift her up till she was clear off her feet at face to face level with him.

"Though he will never live to meet that potential and neither shall you." He said as he pulled back his other hand. At that moment Nora came in hammering Magnhild into his side sending him flying back.

"Jaune!?" Ruby called out from behind her and Pyrrha looked up to see the others forming up around them.

Weiss gestured with Myrtenaster forming half a dozen floating glyphs that shot out beams of energy that struck the warrior as he tried to stand up sending him onto his back again then rotated the chambers of Myrtenaster. She then stabbed down into the ground forming a small ice wall that barely protected them.

"I'm out!" Weiss called out as she backed away from the ice wall.

Blake, Yang and Ren watched the sides however keeping the warriors back as long as they could. It was clear to see that it wouldn't be long as Yang looked like she could barely stand while Ren and Blake couldn't contend with the wide front.

"We need to get out of here." Ruby said.

"We can't pick up Jaune, whatever that's hurting him hasn't let up yet." Pyrrha said.

"I can take him." Nora said from behind them and before any of them could say anything the short girl stooped down then picked up Jaune.

Pyrrha could see Nora grinning as the electricity passed over to her, she threw Jaune over her left shoulder then shifted Magnhild into its compact form so she could still use it.

"Come on!" Ruby called out as Pyrrha collected Crocea Mors as it had dropped from Jaune's hands then ran with the others, the plate warriors not far behind them. As the group ran towards the hole in the wall they watched as the main Keep exploded, Pyrrha hoped that the rearguard had pulled out before but something told her that wasn't the case.

As they reached the wall, something bright arced overhead. A bolt of lightning struck the wooden wall leaving a meter wide crater with a glowing red core that wafted smoke into the air.

Glancing over her shoulder Pyrrha could see the warrior they had fought on his feet coming after them. His left arm was a crumpled ruin yet he didn't seem to pay it any heed as he shot another bolt of lightning out from his right hand.

"Scatter!" Pyrrha screamed and the group broke apart as the bolt of lightning struck where Yang had been a few second prior.

"We're almost there!" Ren called out and Pyrrha looked up to see the ruin of the west wall. Two of the towers had fallen over while; there was a noticeable gap in the center of that section making the wall droop down.

How it was still holding up was beyond Pyrrha's ability to even guess. Ruby was the first to get there of course; the young team leader turned around then began to fire with Crescent Rose.

"Go!" She called out, Weiss, Yang and Blake however stopped beside her as they began to fire their weapons as well.

As Pyrrha stepped through the gap, she found that she was on a pile of the remaining charred, broken wall pieces that had landed in the torn up ground outside of the Outpost.

"Nora!" She called out; the hammer wielder was already at the bottom of the debris with Ren next to her.

"Get ready!" Pyrrha yelled as she pointed above her at the sagging ramparts of the wall. Nora nodded but Pyrrha had turned around already.

"Ruby! Get out of there!" She called out and the four girls didn't seem to register her words but Yang was the first to move. Before long the five of them were making their way down as Nora began to fire at the wall.

Looking over her shoulder Pyrrha could see pink explosions ripping chunks out and a part of her realized that Nora's grenades might not be enough to collapse the rest of the wall. Luckily enough her fears were put to rest as the remains of the wall fell down. Though Pyrrha noted that it probably wouldn't take them long to navigate over it.

"Let's go!" Ruby called out and they ran towards the tree line where Pyrrha spotted the familiar forms of Arcadian soldiers waiting for them.

Behind them, the plated warriors ignored the fleeing forms as they simply moved through the Outpost. Occasionally they would come across a few living people which they executed without remorse as the Keep burned high and bright with the few defenders still inside no doubt burning with it.

The sorcerer watched as Tekrac and Vamrond burned as well. With Vamrond dead, killed by the golden hair girl, and Tekrac crippled beyond his ability to heal the sorcerer settled on finishing them off.

Of course Az'gelloth was furious to know that his brothers were dead as such the Sorcerer had promised that he could hunt down the four girls that had killed them.

Looking down he could see that how compromised his arm and chest plate were. The large hammer girl had broken his arm along with six ribs. Had she followed up with a second strike he might have died but now he had the chance to knit his bones and flesh back together.

However it would take both a long time and a lot of his power before he was back at full strength. Yet if he tried to stay back in order to muster his strength with such a tenuous grasp as a Lord, he would show the others his weakness which would prompt them into trying to kill him so that they could take over.

This meant he'll have to fight, in a few hours though he hoped to be moving his force north to meet up with Krimval. He had lost nearly a third of his Marauders along with more than a hundred Warriors plus most of his Knights had he not taken the Outpost it would have been a disastrous defeat.

Even still he didn't want to call it a victory. He failed to kill all of the defenders, even encountering a new force that could pose a serious obstacle against him and his masters.

He didn't like this as he knew that the Pale Witch had assured him that her Grimm would have weakened the Arcadians. Though he supposed that their technology made up for the lack of numbers which reminded him of those he had met in the artic land earlier. Their technology matched if not surpassed that of the Arcadians.

Alas they were not here nor did he believe that they would allow him to command them as their pride was high and such prideful warriors were hard to keep a leash on. Even now he struggled to keep a grasp on some of the more robust warriors.

"My lord." A voice said and he turned to see a Norsii Jarl by the name of Stryzon Bloodcaller.

"What is it?"

"One of the Knights has returned with news of where the defenders have fled to."

"Good."

---

Later that Night…

Jaune twitched hard as he woke up; opening his eyes he found that it was night out. Blinking a few times he looked up to see the soft glow of a red lensed right angle flashlight. Pain flashed through his torso making him take a deep breath before slowly releasing it.

As he looked down he realized that he was in fact on his back, he could also feel what he assumed was Crocea Mors on his chest.

"Stop." He said and whoever was carrying him halted. Jaune could hear other soldiers trudging past them in the dark. As he slowly got to his feet he nearly fell over but a pair of strong hands caught him.

"Thanks."

"It's not a problem sir." The distorted reply said from his side and he knew that it came from Arcadian infantry helmets. Looking down he could also see that it was the soldier that had the flashlight pinned to his chest.

"You don't have to call me that." Jaune said as he turned to the flashlight holder.

"Are you sure?" The soldier asked.

"Trust me, its fine, so what's your name?"

"Private Gilbert Avern, I'm at your service High Prince." Jaune winced a little at the title; it was honestly the first time anyone had actually called him that for a very long time.

"Sorry." The soldier said and Jaune shrugged as he looked around. Having been asleep it seemed that his eyes were already accustomed to the dark so he could tell that they were out of the Outpost.

"So where are we?"

"About ten klicks north of the Outpost, we've been fighting off their vanguard but its slow progress, we've got at least thirty people wounded with no one to take care of them?"

"No one?"

"None of the trained Medicae personnel made it out."

"What about Field Chiurgeons?"

"We've got a few but they don't have the tools or supplies need to actually treat anyone, literally just stopping the bleeding is all they can do." Jaune clicked his tongue before the soldier gave Jaune a light pull to indicate for him to follow.

"Come on we need to keep moving." He said and Jaune followed him in the dark for a little bit before remembering about the others. He checked his neck and found that the throat microphone wasn't there anymore.

"What happened to my mic?" Jaune asked.

"It got fried by that Lightning that the Mage hit you with."

"Mage?" Jaune asked and he could feel the confusion from the soldier before he laughed.

"Right, right, I guess Mage Warrior would be a better term." Jaune just chuckled along unsure of what he meant by that or why he was laughing.

At the same time he realized that it term did in fact make sense, as Jaune knew that whatever powers the warrior had used were not semblance based as he had no Aura whatsoever to speak of. Though Jaune had no idea how he was so strong without an Aura or a semblance.

There were so many things that Jaune didn't understand about those people like what were those weapons, the armor, the three creatures, those strange powers, who they were or even their true motives.

He had a feeling that this was something he'd need to ask Tava, Meidner or Kagiris as they were no doubt the top three individuals on the continent to talk with aside from his Aunt but he knew that was off the table as she was in Atlas custody.

"Say, where are my teammates?"

"Oh, uh, well I think they're supposed to be a part of the rear guard, though that red head came here a few times to check up on you." Avern said.

"I should have guessed that." Jaune said as he placed slowly placed Crocea Mors back on his belt. In the distance gunfire rippled out once before more of it followed like a tidal wave of crackles that seemed to overlap with each other.

"I guess Fuaráin's group getting hit again."

"Again?" Jaune asked as he gripped Crocea Mors.

"Yea, their Cavalry seems to be really intent on harassing us ever since sunset, I'd hope night would slow those fuckers down but I guess not."

"Why would they slow down? They've got us on the run and who knows what's going on with the rest of the battalion." Another voice said from nearby.

"If Wiscard doesn't send someone to us soon I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the Norsii get here." Someone said nearby and Jaune looked back into the dark occasionally seeing a flash or two. He sighed, as much as he wanted to go looking for the others he knew that it wasn't the right thing to do, his body ached and he honestly didn't think he'd be able to fight for long.

"Did Sgèin make it out?" Jaune asked after a little while remembering that Madeg has said the man was leading the rearguard at the Keep when they confronted the Mage Warrior.

"No, your group was the last ones to make it out, the blond girl with the big chest said that the Keep was taken out before they left." Aside from the apt description of what he guessed was Yang, Jaune frowned at hearing that, while Sgèin was a hard ass Jaune had liked the man in how serious he took his duty.

"So who's in charge?" Jaune asked.

"Well Lieutenant Pritchard from the Defensive Company is the highest ranking person alive but she's letting Sergeant Martin and Yren take the lead."

"Alright, do you know where we're heading then?"

"Well from what I've heard is that Wiscard's put the 2nd and 4th Companies out in a southern screen with two tank platoons assisting them. We're supposed to meet up with them then head on over to Center Valley Outpost where Wiscard is."

"Which doesn't make any sense to me; the Valkyries could have just picked us up instead." Another voice said from nearby.

"It's because we're being chased, we'd be forced to hold up in one area for the Valkyries to come and pick us up which would allow the enemy to encircle us. Even then we'd have to find an area for them to land in force to get all of us in one go if not whoever gets left behind is going to get swamped." Jaune reasoned and the other soldier just grunted as Avern chuckled.

"So how far are we from Wiscard and the rest of the battalion?" Jaune asked.

"I'm not sure actually." Avern said and Jaune hummed in response as he reached out to keep himself from walking into a tree. Somewhere behind him the brief thumps of explosions could be heard followed by the rattle of gunfire.

Jaune looked up at the night sky, it was clear of clouds and the stars shone brightly with a purplish blue smear the seemed to cut across the sky forever.

Jaune would have reckoned that it would be a lovely sight if he didn't keep seeing the dead bodies from the Outpost, the scent of blood filled his nostrils and he wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not.

He knew one thing though; more blood was going to be split before this was all over.

---

What? A new chapter so soon?

Well dear reader that's because I cut this portion off from the previous chapter because it was taking longer than expected to finish.

Now , I'm going to take the time to watch Volume 5 and 6 which I also hear is supposed to be the best Volume so far.

So while I'm enjoying my animated delight please let me know in the Review Section or as a PM what you thought of the chapter or if there's something you dislike and would like me to fix or address whether it's an interaction or story idea/concept.

I'm always open to discussing what people like or dislike about my story and clearing up any confusion that may transpire due to my inadequate writing skills.

Anyways till next time...