Back at it again with yet another chapter. This one is actually a product of the last segment of the last chapter being a bit too long, that being the first part you're about to read. The other two segments are obviously meant to be only this chapter, but that's beside the point. Also, super sorry for this being as late as it is. I've been really busy over the last few weeks. I can't promise that something like this won't happen again, but I'll try to make sure it doesn't.

However, before we get into the chapter, we must first get to my response to reviews/comments!

[My Response to Reviews/Comments]

(Qoutev) TACO SENSEI: Salem did, in fact, touch the child (not like that-)

(Ao3) AidenJacksonSmithDSBB: I see. That sounds like a lot. I'm glad this fic helps you get through with it, but in all seriousness, maybe that's something you should get checked out? Just a thought.

(Ao3) Tymaddux: I'm glad you know understand why I despise HIM. It's about time, too. Not you, I mean, but other people, realize that He is a problem. Like, some of his fics are okay, but the fact that the first thing you see when you look at Gamer Fics on FF is stuff from him gives people bad vibes. ESPECIALLY if you read any of his earlier stuff. FUCK that shit is HORRENDOUS. I don't know what story it was of his that you read, but I pray it wasn't one of his many RWBY ones. Like… fuck man, the stuff he does to those characters is just plain evil. The less I talk about that one fic where the MC rapes Jaune's little 7-year-old sister, the better (It's more than once, mind you, and in gratuitous detail)….

(Guest) Reader 451: I mean, canon RWBY doesn't help with how inconsistent their character's writing is (the less we talk about Team RWBY, the better) so I don't blame you. Also, I don't think I've ever read any fics by Coeur Al'Aran. Is his stuff any good?

Kolt999: The Gryphon is going to be what we see when it comes to Grimm Evolution. Obviously, I wanted to do something like that with Tyrone, but the issue with that is what I have planned for him necessitated that he become his fully evolved state now, rather than later. It was more of a "padding versus necessity" situation that I had with Tyrone.

Also, Jolyne's stay is going to be extended for plot reasons we'll see in this Arc. A lot happens that makes her HAVE to stay at Beacon, and most of it, of course, has to do with The Twins. I know I haven't shown a lot about Jupiter and Titan, but they are going to become heavily plot-relevant as time goes on. There are also two more characters that are introduced in this Arc.

As for Beastkin/Soulless, those are natural levels they start off with. They are insanely powerful and are soldiers for ADAM. Think of them as late guy Elden Ring enemies that do half your health bar in one swing if you're prepared to deal with them. In other words, very, very dangerous, and very, very annoying.

Salem has made a big mistake, that much is for sure. But her comeuppance won't be for a while. Anyway, have a wonderful day, Kolt!

Now, onto the chapter!

xxXXxxXXxx

[?]

She stood just outside of the meeting place, just as she had been instructed to do by her father. Normally, whenever her father wanted her to do something, she typically gave it a day or two before she actually did what it was he asked. This time, however, it was urgent. So, she had to step away from her project and do as he asked. Not that she was hesitant to do so—she would do anything for her father, within reason of course.

But that was beside the point. The point was that her father stated that what she was meant to do was to protect a certain human that had, for some reason or another, come into contact with a fraction of her mother's soul. If that human were to die, then so would that part of her mother's soul. And that just wasn't an option.

While she and her mother had a… strained relationship, to say the very least, that didn't mean she was going to just shrug off something like this. That, and if things went according to plan, she could get back into her mother's good books. It had been well over 200 years since she had done that, and she figured protecting and safeguarding her new vessel, the woman believed it possible to do just that.

Besides, unlike the rest of her kind, she liked humans. Humans were an interesting species. Especially when they were left to their own devices. If there was anything that she would give credit to the big oaf in the sky, it would be that his decision to keep his hands away from humanity and let them evolve into whatever they wanted to become was a smart idea.

Her only issue with humanity was their tendency to be very, very xenophobic to other species. It was kind of scary just how integrated the "us versus them" mentality was hard-wired into the collective consciousness that was humanity. But, she figured hundreds of millions of years of being traumatized by bigger and scarier monsters did that to a species. Hence she decided to change from her natural-born form to a human disguise.

In her human form, which sharply mimicked her true form, the woman in question was tall. Like, abnormally tall for a woman. At least, in the world that she had found herself in. She was 5 feet 8 inches, and it showed. How? Because the tallest woman she met in this place known as Vale was only a measly 5 feet 1 inch. Granted, she had only been here for about 30 minutes collectively, so she was most likely going to find someone of equal height to herself at some point.

Much like what she normally wore, she was wearing a red suit top, with an open chest revealing a white shirt and black tie underneath. Her tan skin was her most notable feature when she wasn't in her home realm. Her hair was a bright ashen blonde, and her eyes were a sapphire blue. For the rest of her clothing, she was wearing black button-up pants with a golden-coloured leather belt along with a pair of workplace high heels.

Typically, she would've changed her outfit before leaving, but she was in a rush. So, she said goodbye to Vaggie and Angel, before stepping out of the door and in through the portal her father created. And immediately, when she stepped through it, she noticed something that was far too hard to not feel.

Aside from the fact that the world she stepped into was both technologically advanced and not at the same time, there was one another thing that she noticed upon first arriving here.

If there was one thing the human realm of this world and the human realm of her world had in stark contrast to one another, it would be the profound negativity surrounding it. Furthermore, she could also sense that two of The Seven were in this world. Perhaps they were warring? It wasn't unusual for that to happen during an extended downtime such as this.

Honestly, she wished the members of The Seven wouldn't battle one another. It wasn't a shame to admit it, but the Gods and Demonkind relied on them. If not for them, the concept of Life would have been erased eons ago. So when they got into petty squabbles with one another, it was often hard to get them to cease it.

The last clash they had to break up was between the Greek System and The Roman Catholic System users respectively. Yet, despite everyone's collective effort, the two were still at war with one another. There was nothing that anyone could do. The only thing that changed was the frequency of battles. They were more spaced out, and mostly in the vast cosmos to not cause any nearby destruction to any of the worlds they were on.

The last fight that had caused the total eradication of the Andromeda Galaxy in Universe 240081. However, that was mostly thanks to the Greek System user more than the Roman Catholic one. That still didn't mean that it was anything worth celebrating. Besides, she could feel the Roman Catholic System user's presence here, and it had VASTLY changed since she last saw him.

It had been well over 400 years since that incident. So perhaps it was time to visit the stubborn man.

Either way, it hardly mattered. She would do that later. Right now, Charlie Magne leaned against the wall of the foyer of a rundown hotel. This was supposed to be where she met up with Ruby Rose, her mother's current mental warden, as it would seem. According to Father, Mother went limp during an important dinner, which meant something had to have happened. It took a while, but she was pinpointed to this realm.

And… it just so happened to be a realm controlled and maintained by two Brother Gods. Said Brother Gods had long since abandoned this world, much like The Almighty had with humanity in The Main Universe—Universe 000001. Unlike The Almighty, where he had abandoned humanity so they could prosper on their own, The Brother Gods seemed less than happy with their creation. She couldn't blame them, but still… letting them fend for themselves, and not saying anything either.

That was actually one of the big problems she had with her Grandpa. Sure, he had done what he had done to make sure humanity prospered, but as it appeared, they still clung to him like a needy child. They would never let him go, no matter how hard he tried to divorce himself from his creation. He should've told them that he was leaving, instead of trying to leave in silence.

"Although, perhaps that was for the best…." Charlie thought as she crossed her arms. What was taking this Ruby Rose so long? Was she in danger? No… she would've known by now.

Her hand's grip around her weapon tightened as she narrowed her eyes. The weapon in question was a starch white gun with demonic symbols etched into the metal. Red rose decals were painted around the barrel of the gun, with green stems twisting and turning around it. It had a 16-round magazine—extended, just how she preferred it—and the bullets it fired were enhanced by both Demonic and Holy Magic.

And it wasn't alone.

It was paired with another gun of similar make and model. The only difference was the fact that it was black, and the etchings in the metal were holy symbols, and instead of red rose decals, they were white roses.

These two weapons had names. One came from her Grandfather, the other, from her Father. They were called Shining Wrath and Hellish Abandonment. Both weapons were used by their respective creators when times got rough, and they had to defend their realms from The Soulless. However, considering the new wards protecting the respective realms were strong enough to defend against even attacks from Ye Olden Ones, it was clear that the weapons wouldn't be used for a long time.

So, seeing as she was going to a place where The Soulless roamed, they thought it a good idea to give her the ancient weapons for her use. They also placed a Binding Law on her, locking away most of her destructive magics so she didn't accidentally tear a hole in the fabric of space and time. The only things she could rely on right now were her guns, the Hellflame Manipulation, and Black Flames.

It wasn't dignifying to her, but in order as to not alert anyone too powerful to her presence, it had to be done. Her father was overprotective of her, and it showed in how he liked to coddle her. But hey, at least it was done out of love. That was the only real shining outlook on the situation.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Ms. Magne!" A chipper voice caught her attention, as Charlie looked over in the direction of where the voice came from. When she saw who it was she had been meant to look after, her eyes widened in shock. Not because of who it was, but because of just how young she had been.

Ruby Rose could not have been any older than 16 years old, and that was if she was being generous. As a matter of fact, she looked younger than that! And it didn't stop there. Not only was she young, despite her young age, she looked… how could she put this in such a way where it didn't make her sound like a pedophile? Mature? Yeah, that was the best way to put it.

Regardless, moving past that—because she was not going to stare, forget that. She was into women her age. If they weren't 2,000 years old—or the human equivalent of 20 years old—she was not interested. Anyway; what Ruby was wearing was… well, at least it covered more than it showed.

Ruby was currently wearing a red two-piece pinstripe suit—much like her own—with a black shirt underneath and white tie underneath. For footwear, she was wearing lace-up black boots with red laces, and framing the whole outfit was a black feather mink coat that clung to her shoulders. She hadn't known whether or not it was intentional, but her outfit looked strikingly similar to a certain human from universe 330913.

The only two things different about her attire compared to that certain human were that she didn't wear those ridiculous sunglasses and her mink coat was black rather than pink. Aside from that, though, it was almost a perfect cosplay. It was… eerie. But then again, it wasn't like she was going to turn out like that certain human. So, in the end, she assumed it wasn't all that problematic.

Charlie cracked a small smile at the nervousness that Ruby's voice exuded when she apologized for being late. She holstered her guns, before ruffling Ruby's hair, making the teen shrink into herself. "No need to apologize. 'Sides, it's still early in the morning. 6 AM to be exact. Bullhead to Beacon's campus won't be leaving until 9 a.m., and the walk won't take long. If anything, you're early."

Retracting her hand, Charlie slipped them back into her pockets as she straightened out her posture. Ruby looked at the floor, before rolling her neck to the side. "So… uh… what are we going to do to pass the time? I-I can, uh…. Go back to bed, yeah?"

"And why would you do that?" Charlie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was… uh… "working" late into the night. Ms. Lilith was rather adamant I… "filled up" before my days at Beacon began so I wouldn't have to worry about it for at least a few months," Ruby said, her face flushing red as Charlie flinched. She forgot that Ruby wasn't just any Cambian, she was a Succubus.

"To be such a young succubus… Dammit Mom, what were you thinking?!" Charlie thought, shaking her head. "I see… very well. I'll wake you up at eight so that at least you have an hour to wake up, brush your teeth, and maybe even take a shower. No offence, but you smell like man sweat and spunk now that I pay more attention," Charlie said as Ruby nodded, rubbing her upper left arm nervously.

She said nothing and turned to leave. Charlie watched her run upstairs as the Princess of Hell felt a migraine coming on. Not even Angel would approve of Ruby's… work. But, then again, what other choice did she have? Being a succubus was a special kind of hell. If you didn't "feed" every now and again, the body would begin to break down, and it would kick into overdrive.

And when that happened… well, any poor sap stuck between her and her "meal" would be first up on the menu. And it wouldn't just be pleasure she would be after. Succubi fed off of more than just pleasure and semen. If they got truly desperate enough, they'd simply rip the soul out of their victims and eat it whole. It wasn't their desired method of hunting, and it hardly filled them more than doing it the traditional way, but it was their base survival instincts that allowed them to live should something like that happen.

"Still… I don't see why Mother would care all that much about picking such a young vessel. I don't know if she plans to completely overwrite her consciousness and soul with her own by the time she matures or not, but the fact of the matter is that by the time she matures, by job will be done. I'm really thankful time in Hell moves differently. Three years up here is only 3 months down there…." Charlie lamented as she looked over to the front entrance of the hotel.

When she did, a blonde-haired woman with purple eyes, stormed into the building. She was dressed in a dark brown, puffy short-sleeved shirt with an open chest area that showed off not only her rather large bust but also her other bright yellow shirt that had a burning heart icon resting overtop her right breast. Neither shirt seemed to cover up her belly button, which Charlie could only assume was on purpose.

Over her waist was a pair of black shorts, held up by a dark brown belt with a golden buckle, thigh-high dusters and a long white cloth that drooped down to her knees. Just going past her knees were a pair of orange stockings, and on her right leg was a purple bandana. To complete the outfit was a pair of near-knee-high boots that looked like they could stomp someone out with ease.

"RUBY! Please tell me you're here!" The woman's voice was dripping with worry as Charlie sighed. Either that was her friend, her mother—because she looked rather old from a distance—or a sibling. However, if she was Ruby's sister, they looked fairly different to be siblings.

Regardless of that, Charlie couldn't let her approach Ruby unless she had expressed permission to do so—such was the life of a bodyguard, after all. The girl was making a beeline for the stairwell, which Ruby was probably still walking up to head to her room. Charlie stepped forward, blocking the woman's path, which seemingly got the woman angry.

"Move out of my way, I need to talk to my sister!" The woman said as Charlie shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but Ms. Rose is asleep. As her bodyguard, I can't let anyone see her right now. Not even clientele. You'll either have to wait until 8 a.m., or you'll have to wait until we arrive at the Bullhead station to go to Beacon. Otherwise, I'll have to ask you to leave," Charlie replied in earnest, though the blond didn't seem to buy it for even a moment.

"I said to move it!" The blonde spat, her eyes flashing red for some strange reason, as Charlie narrowed her eyes. In the period it took for someone to blink, Charlie whipped out Shining Wrath and fired a single round point-blank. It did enough damage to not only cause the blonde to stumble and fall to the ground, but it instantly shattered her Aura.

The woman groaned, trying to sit up, but failing to do so. Her father was right Shattering one's aura, had they not been well trained with it, made them lose all will to move, or give them the energy to fight. Of course, someone trained in Aura could probably shrug off a shattering or two, but that was beside the point.

"And I told you, ma'am, that your sister is sleeping. As her bodyguard, no one is allowed to see her. Family included. Not unless she specifically states otherwise. Now, do yourself a favour, and pick yourself up and leave. I'm sure you have other, more important things to do," Charlie said, holstering Shining Wrath as she did.

"Y-You—"

"Do you really want to risk being shot without your Aura protecting you?" Charlie interrupted as the fuming woman glared up at her. Despite having been staggered, it seemed that she was still more than capable of speech. "If you really want to speak to your sister, come back later. She will be more than awake."

She watched the woman did just as she was told. She stood up after a minute of lying on the ground and began to leave. But, not before she glared at Charlie with a striking amount of hatred. She didn't get in that woman's good books. Either way, it hardly mattered to the princess of hell. While she might have liked humans, that didn't mean she wasn't willing to put up with their nonsense.

Charlie knew that she was overstepping her role. Or, well, not really. It was a bodyguard's job to protect their ward. That also meant that she had to enroll in Beacon. Or, at the very least, get the okay from the Headmaster to stick by Ruby. School or not, she didn't trust them. Not with her mother. Especially considering she could feel Holy Energy coming from the school.

There was something about Beacon that had connected them to Holy Magic. Succubi were weak to Holy Magic, just like most Demons. But Succubi especially. Succubi weren't exactly well versed against magic. They were extremely weak to any kind of magical attack. Sure, their skin is hard to pierce with weaponry, and they are far more durable against physical combat. But magical defence? It was next to none.

And with the abundance of Holy Magic surrounding Beacon….

Charlie shook her head, looking over her shoulder. The receptionist had most likely ducked underneath their desk. The princess of Hell frowned. This was going to be an annoying job, wasn't it? Crossing her arms, she went back to leaning against the wall, looking down at her watch. It was 6:45 a.m. An hour and 15 minutes until she had to wake up Ruby.

If all goes well, then they would be at Beacon with five minutes to spare. After all, it was better to be early than to be on time.

[Titan Plutos]

Side-stepping to his left, Titan barely avoided the hastened swipe of an Ursa that he had randomly stumbled across during his hike through the mountainous regions near the Valean Wilds. His long sword glided across the beast's thick hide, causing blackened ichor to spew from the freshly opened wounds, a pungent aura radiating off of his Rotted Blade as he attempted to inflict the beast with a deadly disease that his father had imbued his weapon with.

The blade was made out of pure Damascus Steel, and it was curved like that of a Katana. The tip of the blade down to the right edge of the sword radiated with a putrid smell like that of a rotting corpse. Its hilt was plated out of gold, with red gems on each side of the pommel. The guard was forged out of gold as well in the shape of a flower, with red gems in each "petal", the whole of the blade radiating demonic energy.

His eyes narrowed, as the Ursa roared in pure rage, slamming both paws down in the area where Titan was. Or, well, he would've been had he not flash-stepped out of the way. As far as the Ursa was aware, in one second Titan was standing just in front of it, and in the next second, Titan was nowhere to be seen.

The clanking of his bulky armour alerted the Ursa to where the dark-haired boy was. Before the Ursa could attack, Titan slashed downward with his Rotted Blade, hitting the Ursa in the head and leaving behind a large open wound across its face. The wound was leaking out a blood-like substance, and it was at that point that Titan knew that he had gotten what he wanted.

He had infected the Ursa with Scarlet Rot.

The Ursa collapsed where it stood, its legs failing almost immediately, as it let out one last pitiful roar. It was overcome by the incurable disease, and in the time it took for Titan to sheathe his blade, the Ursa began to crumble away into black dust.

At first, Titan was against the whole idea of heading to Mt. Glen, but his sister had insisted that it would be a great spot to hunt for sport. She needed to stretch her limbs before they began their journey at Beacon, and considering they wouldn't find a challenge like the ones that their father had offered them for years to come, Titan agreed with her.

Unfortunately, what wasn't in the plan was to begin the stupid game of theirs. Originally, they were supposed to be travelling together, but she had enacted The Hunting Game the moment they made it to the snow-covered forest of Mt. Glen.

It wasn't an ideal situation, but it wasn't if Jupiter was going to let him say no. And thus, that was how he had encountered the Ursa. It only made him wonder just what exactly Jupiter sensed to make her want to start the hunting game. Titan just hoped it wasn't anything toodangerous.

A large, purplish hue expanded out from further west, where his sister was. If Titan had to guess, she had found herself up against a Grimm of her own. Although, he had to wonder, just what spell had she used that time. Was it Comet Azur? No, it wasn't flashy enough. So it was probably something more contained like Adula's Moonblade.

According to their father, all of this magic that he had gained was a direct result of him coming across a co-worker who gave him a few spell scrolls, all of which he gave to Jupiter. The way their father trained them was to benefit each other in combat. He was the melee, and she was the ranged. Even when separated, they were forces to be reckoned with either way.

"YOU GOOD OVER THERE, JUPITER?!" Titan called out, waiting for a response. It took a minute or two, but eventually, he got a response back.

"I'M ALRIGHT!" Jupiter replied as Titan sighed. He was glad he didn't have to jump in to rescue her again. The last thing he needed right now was to have her whine at him about "stealing her kill" or whatever. Not that he cared. All he cared about was making sure that his sister was okay. This game of who can kill the most Grimm or Soulless was a fun game and all, but it was a dangerous one.

And that was when Titan heard a very loud, very powerful roar. And it got his neck hairs to stand up on end. That didn't sound like a cry of defeat, but a cry of victory, and it came from something massive. "Fine my ass, goddammit, Jupiter!"

Titan clapped his hands twice in a row, and in the time it took to blink, he was standing next to his sister. The moment he showed up, was the moment he had to dodge roll out of the way, narrowly avoiding a giant three-toed claw from slamming down atop his head, which would've turned him into a fine paste.

When Titan came to his senses after narrowly avoiding death, or at the very least, his Aura being shattered, the elven teenager had no idea what the hell was going on, but what he did know was that was not normal. When he finally found himself gathering his footing, he stared up at what could only be considered a Dragon.

Because it fucking was.

It was a goddamn Grimm Wyvern.

The beast roared, shockwaves calling out from the gigantic Draconic monstrosity, causing trees to shake and the ground to rumble. Boulders cracked, and rocks crumbled. Wildlife ran as far away from the area. It wasn't a summoning cry—thank god—but it was one of victory. Why, he had no idea. At least, not until he noticed what it was it was doing.

It was staring down at Jupiter, who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily as her silky dress pressed against her body, sweat seeping through her face was bloodied, and her arm looked worse for wear. She had taken a physical blow, and around were the remnants of what appeared to be a massive footprint, meaning that she had been stepped on.

Had it not been for her Aura… she would've been killed.

Titan felt his blood boil. If this had been any other kind of beast, the monster would've been killed on the spot, but this wasn't any kind of Grimm. This was a Legendary Grimm. But, it wasn't The Wyvern. It seemed more like an offspring of Ragedaemon, one of the four named Grimm of Remnant that their father had been searching for for over 20 years, three years before their birth.

Even still, the Grimm Wyvern was not anything to be laughed at.

Its 50-foot-long wings were folded to the sides of its 200-foot-long body, covered head to toe in scales strong enough to resist even Light Dust. Its mask covered almost all of its face, and it was tough enough to ignore any sort of physical pain. However, Titan did not the cracks, meaning its facial armour had taken significant damage. Its piercing red demonic eyes bore holes into the very landscape as it towered the twins. Its mouth was open as it roared, and it had teeth the size of small trees, and they were no doubt just as sharp as what a spear made of a tree would be.

Again… If Jupiter's Aura hadn't been there to protect her, she would've died…. And he would've lost his twin sister.

Speaking of Jupiter, she was slowly standing up as she held her left hand to her forehead, blood trickling down as she coughed.

"Jupiter! Your Aura!" Titan exclaimed as the teenaged Elf stood there, dazed as she was, didn't notice the fact that her Aura had been shattered. A downside of all of the training their father had forced them to go through was that they were strong enough to mostly shrug off the effects of Aura Shattering. Titan had already used up a chunk of his Aura from using his Clap-and-Flash Semblance, so he needed to conserve as much as he could.

Titan and Jupiter were special. Because they were Elves, unlike humans and faunus, seeing as they were naturally magical beings, they could control and manipulate mana to their will. Aura's were separate from their Mana pools, thank God, but that didn't stop them from being as vulnerable as a human. They might have been elves, and they might have had heightened pain tolerance, but that didn't stop them from being as mortal as every other person around them.

They might've been able to live till 550 years old, but that didn't mean they were immortal until that age.

The Wyvern sucked in a breath, as flames began to gather at the base of its mouth, aimed directly at Jupiter. Titan grabbed the back of Jupiter's dress and ran like the wind, jumping up into the tree line and snapping his fingers, creating an air barrier underneath his feet with his Instant Platform spell he had taught himself.

The Wyvern just barely missed where Titan had created his platform, and seeing as the Monstrous Grimm was locked in place with its beam of immense flame, Titan capitalized on this. Instead of bringing out his Rotted Blade, because it would've been useless against such a behemoth, he instead brought out something else.

The blade he pulled out from his secondary sheath was less of a blade and more of a spear. It was perfect for overgrown reptiles such as this thing. It was long, easily double the height of the 6-foot-tall Titan, and resembled more of a spear than a sword. Its shaft was made out of carbon steel, and its blade looked to be forged out of an unknown metal, even unknown to Father. The blade was three-dimensional, making it stand out as a spear rather than a sword.

The sheath on his back was made specifically for this blade, and as soon as he drew it out, the blade began to glow a bright white. It was reacting to the presence of such a great beast. Good. That meant that this would end quickly.

The Wyvern finished its attack and looked over to where Titan was standing, and prepared to fire yet another beam of fire. But it was far too late for that. Titan gripped the shaft of the spear tighter than needed, as the light aura began to charge around the blade, as a massive sword made of light, tall enough for even those in Vale to see, touched the sky.

Titan grunted, the heft of the weapon becoming twice as much as it usually was, as he crashed the light blade down on the massive Wyvern. It tried to get its body off of the ground to get out of the way, but due to its weight, it couldn't so much as even flap its wings before the massive sword of light divorced the head from the neck, black ichor spraying into the air as the light blade retracted back into the Sepernt-Hunter.

Titan watched as the creature began to disintegrate, looking over his shoulder and seeing his sister stare in awe at what he was able to do. Titan flashed a smirk, before grabbing his sister and creating a bunch more Instant Platforms, making a staircase they could walk down.

On their way down, Titan was perplexed. Grimm Wyvern only showed up when there was an immense amount of Negativity in the area. Either that, or there was a Mother Wyvern nearby giving birth to other Wyverns. Mt. Glenn was notorious for the disaster around it, and even though he and his sister were trapped in a castle until recently, that didn't mean that their father completely neglected to tell them about the outside world.

The Mt. Glenn disaster was known worldwide as one of the most prolific failures of Beacon Academy and the Atlisan government. 30 professionally trained hunters, along with over 300 soldiers and 200 worker droids were sent to set up a mountainous region to not only expand the reach of the CCTV Towers but to also lay claim to more of Southern Sanus and its mountainous regions for the Kingdom of Vale.

And then, it all ended in disaster.

In a freak accident, no one could've expected, several avalanches happened at once. Not only that but due to the panic, a horde of Grimm so vast and so powerful came and destroyed everything. Millions of Lien were wasted, and those who did survive turned into Soulless before long.

Needless to say, it was a shitshow. Mt. Glenn was considered a place for people to go if they were insane enough to try and loot what remains of the facilities there. Every day, greedy hunters who go up there are claimed to have gone missing. And, day by day, the Soulless grow in numbers. Whether it was a curse that lured people there or not was still a mystery, though it hardly mattered.

As far as the government was concerned, what happened happened, and there was nothing that could be done about it. It was shameful, but there wasn't much anyone could do. It even got to the point where when people asked Headmaster Ozpin about the tragedy, he simply replied "What tragedy, no one has ever explored Mt. Glenn."

It was outrageous. But then again, that was years ago, and the memory of the tragedy on Mt. Glenn, while still present, wasn't as intense.

However, even still, if the negativity around here wasn't as strong as before, then that begged the question as to why Wyverns were still here. It shouldn't have been possible, and yet, here they were, having just finished killing one of the bastards, and now they were going to go see what was down there.

However, when they did reach the ground, the twins didn't expect to see what it was that they had seen. When they reached the ground, and more specifically, when they got to the spot where the Wyvern had died, lying in a pool of the slowly disappearing black ichor were two people.

The two people in question were what appeared to be faunus. They looked to be wolf faunus, and they both looked to be related—probably siblings, one male and one female. Both siblings had feathers protruding out of their arms, so they were some kind of avian Faunus. They were both covered in digestive juices, but it seemed as if no real damage had been done to them. So the Wyvern must've swallowed them whole.

Their clothing, on the other hand, was anything but undamaged. The woman's clothing was the least damaged, but some patches lacked cloth. It would need to be re-sewn shut. The white fabric shirt was tattered, and the sleeves were cut to crap, as was the waist, but aside from that it looked just fine. Her pants were mostly fine, with the exception of the cuffs and the knees, along with her mostly destroyed shoes.

The man, however, was a different story. His shirt was gone, revealing his rather muscular physique. His muscles were well-defined, although he looked a little sickly, meaning he probably hadn't eaten in a while. His pants had been reduced to what appeared to be shorts, but aside from that, clothing-wise he was all good. His boots were fine, and his socks went up to the edge of his knees.

"B-Brother, what should we do?" Jupiter asked as Titan sighed.

"What do you think we're gonna do? I'm gonna take them with us to Beacon. I already set a transport location there. You carry the woman, I'll lift the man over my shoulder. You hold onto me, and I'll Clap-and-Flash us out of here."

As Titan said that, he already began to lift the big guy over his shoulder. Jupiter eeped and did as she was told. When Jupiter had the avian-faunus woman in her arms, she rested her head on her brother's arm, and then, once the big man was holstered over his shoulders safely enough so he wouldn't fall off, Titan activated his semblance, and just like that, they were no longer on Mt. Glenn, but rather at the docking bay of the academy.

The transport left Jupiter a little dizzy, but that was all that really happened. Titan slowly put the guy on his shoulders down, as Jupiter did the same. He was at a loss for what to do. At first, he kind of thought about just leaving these guys here for the Beacon Staff to find. But it didn't sit right with him.

He then considered that maybe he should get one of the other students' attention and have them take the two unconscious faunus to the medical bay. But when he saw that no one was in the courtyard yet, meaning he was probably extremely early, he decided against that one really quickly.

He was starting to run out of options and was considering the first one his mind came up with. Well, at least that was until he stood up, and knocked into someone, bumping their shoulder and hearing a grunt coming from his immediate rear-left. When turned around to see who it was….

[Jolyne Brooks]

…She was shocked to see an interesting-looking armour-bound teenager staring at her with an apologetic gaze. He had short dark hair, golden eyes, and slightly tanned skin. The armour he was wearing was as white as icing, and he had two crosses on his armplates. The boy had two sheaths, one on his hip, and the other on his back.

One weapon was smaller than the other, but despite that Jolyne had a feeling that he could wield both effortlessly. He looked no older than 17, and there wasn't much else to make of the guy, other than that he was tall—easily at least 6 feet tall. But aside from that, there was nothing else about him that made him feel any kind of special.

Then, there was a girl who matched his appearance, facially anyway. The main differences between herself and the boy was that she had long white hair, red eyes, and paler skin than her partner. She was wearing a silky white dress that went down to her knees held together by a black ribbon, and had short black straps on her shoulders. She had armour on her lower arms and legs, alongside a pair of leather boots with spikes around her cuff. Atop her head was a witch's hat, though instead of black it was white, and it had a golden buckle around it.

Beneath their feet were two more people, both of whom looked to be in horrible condition. Just by looking at them, it was clear that they had survived being swallowed whole. Or, at the very least, narrowly drowned in some sort of liquid. They were partially clothed—well, the guy was anyway—and any clothes they did have on were torn.

"Yo, Rantaro, can you—"

"Don't even need to say anything," Rantaro said, getting down on his haunches and activating his healing magic. The two teens looked shocked at just how fast Rantaro was to act, which only made Jolyne smile.

"So, care to tell me how you got into this situation?" Jolyne asked, before stopping herself. "Oh, wait a minute, that's rude of me. Sorry, my name is Jolyne Brooks. Dragon Faunus. A pleasure to meet you!" Jolyne said, outstretching her hand to the two teens. The guy met her handshake, his grip surprisingly powerful as they shook hands.

"Well met, Ms. Brooks. Name's Titan Plutos. And this," he gestured to his left where the girl was standing, "Is my twin sister Jupiter Plutos. Also, Dragon Faunus? Are the rumours true then? Are we moving closer and closer to the end times?" Titan asked as Jolyne raised an eyebrow. The end times? What the hell did that mean?

"I have no idea what that means, but I'll go ahead and say no. Because whatever these "end times" are, they sound pretty shitty," Jolyne quipped as Titan shrugged.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. I've never been one to believe in the spiritual nonsense those bigots spew anyway," Titan replied, before muttering something under his breath. She was able to pick it up because her Listen skill, the one she barely ever used was randomly activated for no reason. "Not even the stuff my father spews, either…."

"Shitty Dad, huh…" Jolyne thought, shaking her head. "Well, that's good. This place needs fewer racists," the Dragon Faunus replied, before crossing her arms. "And on both sides of the spectrum, too…" A brief visage of the White Fang's banner appeared in her mind, as she narrowed her eyes. "Anyway, what brings you to Beacon?"

"I could ask the same for you," Titan replied as Jolyne smirked.

"Touche. For me, it's personal. To spare the details, I lost someone important to me thanks to the White Fang. I'm going to use Beacon to get to them," Jolyne replied, placing a hand on her right hip as Weixue took a step forward, tapping Jolyne on the shoulder. The Dragon Faunus looked over her shoulder and down at Rantaro, who was standing up, dusting his hands off on his pants.

"I did what I could," Rantaro said giving a passing glance to the twins. Jupiter flinched at his stare, whereas Titan flashed him a smirk. "I think they'll need more professional attention, but I was able to heal their minor wounds. I'm running a bit low on stamina today, my bad." As Rantaro said that, he crossed his arms before standing behind Jolyne.

"Well," Titan began, before turning around and picking up the muscular bound body. It was only now that Jolyne realized that the two bodies were Faunus of some avian kind due to the feathers poking out of their arms. "I think I should take these guys to the infirmary here. I hope to see you again, Ms. Brooks."

And with that, Titan and Jupiter were gone, but not before Jupiter bowed to them before scurrying off with her brother. Jolyne sighed, before glancing over at her partners. "So… What are you gonna do Rantaro. You gonna come with us?"

"I'm going to go into the city and try and find a place of work," Rantaro began rubbing the back of his neck, a small smile on his face. "Like I said, I'm not a fighter. I'm more of a healer and a background type of guy. And being a Hunter just isn't for me. But I'll be in touch."

"Do you have any specific place you want to work at?" Weixue asked, speaking up for the first time since they touched down in Vale. Rantaro cupped his chin with a thoughtful look in his eyes, before shrugging.

"Well, I don't know. Although, I do know a place called Tukson's Book Trade is hiring. Maybe I'll check out there," Rantaro said before beginning to walk off. Jolyne watched as Rantaro made his way toward the main entrance of the campus, dipping around the corner, and disappearing from sight behind the massive white castle-like wall that kept everyone within a closed-in space.

Jolyne frowned but respected Rantaro's choice. Almighty knows they would've needed a healer, but at least here they had medical professionals. Rantaro could only do so much, and he had his own life to live. She knew that, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed. The whole reason as to why he came with them was that he could look after Weixue.

"Oh well, I guess I keep forgetting that this is a city and not a town. I mean, for Christ's sake of course he wouldn't have to actually breathe down Weixue's neck…" Jolyne thought, before lightly patting Weixue on the shoulder. "Alright, let's make our way to Headmaster Ozpin's office. Since we don't have any transcripts to prove our ability to fight or our competency, we're going to have to do something else, no doubt."

"Either that, or he'll outright reject us," Weixue countered as Jolyne frowned.

"That's a defeatist mindset, don't think like that," Jolyne replied as the two began to make their way to the front doors of the school. As they made their way there, the pair were stopped by a floating sign that said, quite literally, stop. It was coated in a pink aura, and when Jolyne looked to see who caused it, she was greeted by, presumably, a member of staff.

She had ashen blonde hair, green eyes, and pale skin. Her hair was tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. On her face was a pair of ovular glasses, and she had a pair of dangling teal earrings that, as Jolyne looked at her with a narrowed eye, matched her pendant that hung just off of her long-sleeved pleated blouse's collar.

Speaking of her collar, it was shaped like a keyhole, and it had a much bigger neckline than most shirts that Jolyne had seen before. The cuffs of her blouse looked more like gauntlet cuffs, which suggested to Jolyne that perhaps the woman's blouse acted more like armour than just clothing. It was a possibility, but she highly doubted it.

Her lower body was covered in a black high-waisted pencil skirt that faded into brown stockings. She also had a pair of black boots with bronze-coloured heels—which looked a little weird, but who was she to judge?

To complete the look, she had on a purple cape with a black interior. The ends of the cape were a little stylized, looking like the edge of a flame. Also, another little detail that Jolyne noted about her outfit was a strange tiara symbol on the loop of her black diamond-encrusted cape hole. The Dragon Faunus took note of it, incase she saw it somewhere again.

And then, came what she was holding in her hand.

It was a whip.

A BDSM whip.

Why the fuck did she have a BDSM whip, and why the fuck was she using it as some sort of magical device to channel what appeared to be a levitation spell.

"I have… several questions right now, but I'm assuming you won't answer them," Jolyne quipped as the woman narrowed her eyes.

"That is correct," the woman stated rather plainly. "I overlooked the transcripts, along with the photo ID of the attending students for the exam. Neither of you were there. So, I must ask, who exactly are you, and what are you doing on Beacon property?" the woman all but demanded—which made sense considering she was staff—although she could've done it a little nicer than that.

Weixue steadied herself, slowly reaching her hand down to the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. Jolyne raised an eyebrow but decided against showing any kind of notion of the fact that Weixue was reaching for her sword. If this did come to blows, the last thing that Jolyne wanted was to give the woman the upper hand. But considering she was already side-glancing Weixue, it probably meant she already knew.

"Well," Jolyne began, placing her hands in front of her, making it clear that she wasn't reaching for anything to hurt her with—not that it mattered—before sighing. "My name is Jolyne Brooks. And my partner here is Weixue Sung. We were approaching the building to actually talk to Headmaster Ozpin about enrolling into the school because we have neither a school ID nor Transcripts."

The woman didn't budge, although the glare in her eyes did lessen. "And why would you have neither? If you were looking to attend Beacon, you should have gone to a combat school first. It's common knowledge."

"We lived in a backwater town, far away from any kind of Kingdom, Ma'am," Weixue replied as she dropped her hand from the hilt of her blade. "And any transport we had was not sufficient enough to make it to Mistral. The only reason we were able to get here was because of sheer luck."

"I see," the woman said, lowering her BDSM whip as the stop sign gently floated to the ground. It made no sound as it landed, and when it did, the woman holstered the whip, crossing her arms. "Very well. My apologies then. I have to be careful about who approaches the school. After all, for all I knew you meant ill will. Thank you for the explanation."

As the woman said that, she crossed her arms under her modest-sized chest and frowned. "Even still, though. I cannot, in good conscience, let you through those doors unless you prove to me you can handle yourself."

Jolyne sighed, before turning around and scooping out the nearby landscape. There wasn't much in the way of avoidable and destructible things. Although… there was a cliffside off in the distance. It wasn't surrounded by anything aside from a couple of trees, and, it was close enough to where she could hit it.

At the same time, people were starting to trickle in from off of Bullheads, most notable of which being a blonde-haired, purple-eyed woman, a red-haired woman wearing what appeared to be golden armour of some kind with leather underneath, a black-haired teenager wearing a red suit and a black mink coat, next to which was a red suit wearing ashen-blonde haired woman.

Another few notable people came in the form of a blond boy puking up his guts with a giant fuck-off sword on his armoured back, a boy with black hair wearing a green tailcoat next to a very clingy orange-haired woman who was hanging off of his arm with a dopey smile on her face, with a giant hammer hanging off of her back.

What she was about to do might have been more than a bit overreactive, but if she wanted to show this woman that she was more than powerful enough to be able to take care of herself and her partner… well, she saw no better way then to do what she was about to do.

"Alright then, ma'am. Do you see that cliff?" Jolyne said as the woman raised an eyebrow, turning around to see the exact cliff that she was pointing at with her index finger.

"Yes, I see it. What about it?" The woman questioned with a raised eyebrow, as the tip of Jolyne's fingertip began to glow with a sparking purple energy. She thought about it, then decided to raise the rest of her fingers and charge mana into those as well, just so she could get some progress done on her upgrade quest for that spell.

"Well, now you won't."

When Jolyne finished her sentence, the woman was about to say something, only for Jolyne to fire off all five Finger Lasers at once. When she did, the sound the lasers made drew the attention of all the passersby. What happened next, to everyone aside from Weixue and Jolyne, was beyond astonishing.

The moment the beams hit the cliffside, it was adorned in a massive purple light in the shape of an orb. Trees back at the academy blew with such force that some fell, one even landing right next to a bullhead, narrowly crushing it and the people within, while the rest of the trees in the area were stripped of their leaves. The ground cracked, and the sound of the explosive travelled so fast that it knocked most of everyone down in the form of a shock wave.

And that wasn't even the half of it. For when the orb of purple light sunk in on itself, in the time it took to blink, an even louder explosion came next, shattering the windshields on the bullheads while even flipping some over, and rumbling the glass on the building of Beacon, followed up by what felt like an Earthquake. The building itself shook, to the point where some of the walls even developed spider-web-like cracks large enough to fool anyone into thinking that the place had been attacked.

As soon as everyone stood back up to figure out what the hell just happened, and as the woman was mere seconds away from lecturing Jolyne about what it was she had just done, she stopped, stared, and looked on with wide, terrified eyes.

The cliff was gone. Just… gone. Completely. Almost as if it never existed. There was no debris, there was no nothing. The surrounding trees where the cliff had been were also gone, and Jolyne could only assume that any life in that area was also gone.

It was like someone simply snapped their fingers, and that part of the world ceased to exist.

And it was all thanks to Jolyne Brooks, who lowered her hand, slowly looked over to the woman with a smile on her face, and spoke four words that, while unbeknownst to the Dragon Faunus, changed the course of a well-hidden war for the foreseeable future.

"So… was that enough?"

-To Be Continued-