New Remnant: Odyssey

by Ben10Extreme

Ruby Rose dreams of becoming the Demon Queen, in a more benevolent nature than one would expect from such a title. She begins her odyssey in a revitalized World of Remnant, alongside her beloved Jaune Arc and friends, as she gradually amasses the influence and power to realize her dream. Ruby's goal soon picks up speed when they encounter a ferocious Dragon...Cinder Fall.

12. Remnant's Worst Enemy

Things take another turn for the worse. Surely it'll stop eventually?

Vale is battered to and fro from attacks both outside and in, the Glass Unicorn bearing down on everyone thanks to the blood-crazed and powerful Grimm Devil, Lilith.

She's aired a chunk of Salem's past villainous deeds to the world at large. While some may be lies and slander, or truths made worse in order to further destroy what remnants of sympathy could be made for her, there's just enough actual truth in her past as a villain for that to not matter.

As you'll see in this chapter...

---

It has been approximately forty minutes after the widespread broadcast that 'Salem' sent around the entire world. Which for all intents and purposes, was interpreted as a declaration of war against humanity at the least, life itself at the worst.

Forty minutes, for the world of Remnant to attempt to process what it's just seen.

---

[Mistral]

"Did you see that?! That immense power?! All of those monsters and Grimm?! They're swarming Vale all over!"

"That was Salem?! That is the witch whose name has been spoken in horror stories?! She really exists?!"

"She just decimated an entire quarter of Vale's city in a matter of seconds...and that was to show off?"

"Is she going to make her way here next?! This is really bad! We need to leave for somewhere safer!"

"She said she had monsters and Grimm hidden back to build up our false confidence, then tear it down. There might not be any safe place in the world..."

Leonardo Lionheart was listening to these constant worries and more throughout Mistral, with everyone descending into panic and uproar over something that wasn't even happening at their current location, pushing and pulling in order to find some sense of safety, whenever it may be, if it existed at all. But it's not like he could blame them. The terrifying display of power had done it's job of striking his heart and now he couldn't help but tremble before it all. The very iota of an idea that such devastation shall soon turn it's eye towards the world beyond was a horrifying thought. The simple thought of it might have already happened and Salem was just giving her hidden legions of demons and monsters to strike at their leisure, was even worse. As one had already sad, there might not be a single safe place to hide in the world if her reach was truly that vast.

He hadn't been able to contact Ozpin, either. So he had already assumed the worst and that he had been defeated by Salem. The very image of her being on top of his tower had already made that lingering thought claw its way into his mind, and now he was wondering what his next move should be. At the very least he hoped Oscar was still alive amidst all of that chaos. It was a strange thing to wonder and hope for and it might even be an unequal balance of priorities, but he couldn't help it, he was concerned for the boy. As Ozpin's apprentice he was certain to get caught in the crossfire due to his mentor's defeat, which will be interpreted as a failure of preventing this nightmare.

Alas, he had little time to worry about him at the moment. For Leo had his own problems to deal with thanks to this uproar. Thus, he turned towards the gathered assembly before him. Representatives from the territories of Kuchinashi, Shion, Higanbana, Oniyuri, Kuroyuri, and Argus convened in Haven, and he was in charge of the meeting and what they were discussing. It was a hurriedly gathered meeting at that, due to the circumstances.

He did not have a fun time organizing it.

"You've seen what we've just seen, haven't you, Leonardo?"

The lion Faunus sighed and swiped sweat from his forehead with a towel. "I would have to be blind not to see it. In fact, the entire world has seen it. It would be quite difficult to miss something like this unless you're deliberately hiding under a rock. I'm not entirely sure how to properly handle the current hysteria going on at the moment, for not many will be in the proper mindset for seeing reason."

"That seems to be the tactic here. Few will be in their right minds after witnessing such a display, and it's highly doubtful to think that she won't follow through on her threats. She's had all these years to prepare and has chosen her moment. And now look at what simply announcing herself and her intentions have caused." Leonardo didn't need to look too hard, for he could see and hear them throughout the displays going about, as well as the shouts being uttered from outside.

"We're done for if things stay like this!"

"That's exactly the problem, what do we do?!"

"They'll come for us sooner or later."

"Somebody has to do something about this before it's too late!"

"If we allow this panic to build, they're going to start lashing violently. But we can't act blindly. We need a direction..."

"Lionheart. We need to ask her a question." One of the others said to Leonardo. He sighed quietly while scratching his head, before closing his eyes and reopening them somewhat firmly.

"Jinn."

Somewhat spontaneously, a cloud of blue smoke billowed into existence. Something slowly began taking form within it, until the form slowly uncurled itself and fully came into existence. A large blue being, clad in various jewels and accessories, with luscious blue hair, with a curvaceous form somewhat hidden behind all of the heavy blue smoke surrounding her. She yawned briefly, stretching outwards, before rubbing her eyes and humming at the audience before her. Some of them remained somewhat straight faced at her visage, but some of them were still somewhat flustered and looked away.

"Ah, Leonardo. Might you have a question for me?" Jinn tilted her head. "This is your last one before our connection is severed and I appear someplace else, so think carefully. What knowledge do you seek?"

Lionheart turned towards his gathered assembly in thought, before turning back towards Jinn and nodding. "The various images that were broadcast across the world. What we've seen. Is it true that Salem terrorized Remnant during her crusade against the hero, Ozma?"

Jinn slowly lost her smile at this, and let out a solemn sigh. This will not end well for whom this information damages. It would be damning on multiple accounts and affect people and perspectives everywhere. Regardless, she was asked a question, and thus she had a duty to answer.

"It is true." Jinn lightly placed her blue hands together as a cloudy image floated over her head, before expanding and showing in detail the events she describes. "At a time during the Barren Age, when the world barely had any magic, Salem and Ozma were hand in hand as they tried to unite the world through their rule. However, Salem was not always benevolent, having occasionally targeted her Grimm towards those who were not completely obedient to her. She was impatient with their progress, and pushed forth the idea of erasing the current humanity of the time in order to replace them with more like their daughters. Ozma opposed both of these ideals, and the resulting clash ended up destroying their entire Kingdom...and their children. Salem was merciless as she destroyed the dying Ozma while he was left helpless and bleeding from his wounds...and their millennium long war began."

Salem's reign of terror in her war against Ozma could be seen across the centuries, with one particular incident involving a group of faith known as the Circle, which had grown across two incarnations, in which he was coined the Infinite Man. Ozma at that age tried to keep telling them that he was not someone to worship, but they simply thought he was being humble. Before long, a woman came along demanding to fight a 'god', and he stepped up to meet her. He made her swear she would leave the Circle alone should he comply and allow her to kill him, and she agreed...

But it was a deceit.

When he returned once more, the Circle had been completely destroyed, with all but one member remaining. The very first. Her arm dismembered and her eye gouged out, she could only bitterly reflect on how they never should have placed their faith in a single man...not even a very good one.

The woman who massacred the Circle turned out to be a member of Salem's syndicate back in that era, sent to completely sever his support system under her orders. And several incidents such as this continued throughout the centuries.

As the clouds dispersed and the onlookers discussed among themselves, Jinn could only close her eyes in solemn silence. There was more to this story, she knew this rather well, of course she would, given what she represents. But she was asked whether Salem was guilty of terrorizing humanity in her crusade against Ozma, and thus she provided them that knowledge. They did not want to know, nor did they care, for the full story. Only if that she was guilty of the crimes that most heavily damaged their world. She knew very well that an incomplete conclusion would be drawn due to this. All of this was the truth, but it was not whole, as they didn't ask for the specifics of these circumstances.

It did not matter. She could sense it among some of them. They've already decided.

"So there we have it. She tried to enforce her rule on this world before, and now she seeks to do so again. And she'll have creatures etching from all over the woodwork to do it."

"If that's truly so then I must echo the concerns of our citizens, what can we do?"

"Gather up our strength and prepare for when the witch's armies come en masse!"

"Wait! We can't rush this! Or else we might make preemptive mistakes that will make this all worse!" Lionheart tried to voice forward, but it was drowned out somewhat.

"Everyone, calm down. This isn't going to get us anywhere!" A young woman closer in position, Arrastra Skye, agreed with him, bit so far it was proving pointless.

"We can't hesitate, nor can we afford to! It's necessary to use everything at our disposal t-"

There was a pause in the air, as something gracefully passed them all by. They stopped their thoughts for a moment as they turned towards the direction of the leaped, seeing them turn around to everyone. It was a large and majestic fox with gold fur, black tips on the end of its tail...the end of all nine of its tails. Aquamarine blue eyes gazed at everyone for a short moment.

"Please calm yourselves. Allowing hysteria to consume us as well will not do us or our fair citizens any favors."

Everyone immediately quieted down as most of them lowered their heads. "Empress Miyako!"

The fox soon hums, before a swirl of mist surrounded the canine. Before long, emerged from the most stood a statuesque, graceful woman who kept the fox ears and the nine tails. She wore a golden kimono with a black interior that was open at her shoulders, slightly exposing her ample breasts. Worn around it were red obi, a set of blue beads, and a silver blue necklace with orange designs of a fox. She smiled serenely at everyone and gestured for them to lift their heads.

"Now then, we have on our hands the masses who have been panicked by the announcement that has been set out across the world. Of course, our first objective is to calm them." She advanced as she had a fan on her which she waved towards herself. "Their faith in their protectors has been shaken. Our soldiers and our warriors work in unison in order to ensure their safety and welfare, and we shall see to it that they are reminded of this. We have to make our presence known to them during these turning times." She closed her fan and pointed it towards Lionheart. "Leonardo."

"M-Ma'am!"

"Call upon your warriors and send a notice for Sanctum to do the same. I shall send a notice across to our soldiers. We will need everyone to cooperate. Whether the danger comes for us today or any other day, our duties remain the same, and that is safeguarding the people of Mistral and their welfare." She opened her fan and paced back. "We can't let ourselves be consumed with discord. It will ruin our ability to fulfill our duties properly. No matter what happens, our visions must be clear and unhindered. You are my eyes and ears for places in Mistral I cannot reach alone. The citizens concerns and plights are relayed to you, which you report to me, so that I can address them. I need you all to be coherent and clear headed when you do so." She stopped while turning to everyone. "If I don't know what's going on, I can't help my people. That's why I need you all to stay levelheaded."

It took some time for things to sink in, but everyone eventually nodded. Being the Empress, she could have simply ordered them to stop panicking and it would somewhat technically do the trick. But framing it as a sincere request, however firm, puts things in a different light.

"Now then." The Empress smiled. "It's also rather important that we send a notice to the denizens of Kuchinashi as well. Especially there. Difficult times are upon us, and it's likely to be more than they're used to."

"I still don't understand why you bother with that filthy hole, Empress. It's not worth your time."

She shook her head in disagreement. "If I'm unable to face the uglier side of these lands that I oversee, then I have no business turning my eye towards it's beauties. Whether it be shining ideals or cruel realities that run through them, I must be informed of both sides of the coin, or even the balance on the edge, if I am to continue being an effective ruler. And that's why I need your help, all of you. Please remember that your cooperation means a lot to me."

After another extended pause, Arrastra stood up with a nod. "I'll handle things over at Kuchinashi! You can count on me, ma'am!"

"Skye!" One of the others balked, but Miyako simply smiled.

"I'll be relying on you for a bit then, Miss Skye." The Faunus woman nodded to the fox as she turned and exited the meeting first, not wanting to wait longer than necessary.

"We have our roles on that part. But are we going to leave Vale alone in this?"

"Unfortunately. This is Vale's battle, not ours. If we cannot reestablish order in our own lands, then we will be worse than useless trying to help another land. But considering what their forces are made of, I have confidence that they can endure this hardship on their own." Miyako shook her head. It probably sounds callous, which displeases her. But with her people suddenly in turmoil due to this vast panic, she had to focus on them first. She turned towards Jinn, who oversaw everything with a saddened look. "You've provided the answers to the question...but that doesn't mean the whole story's been told, has it?"

"...I am sorry, but I can no longer answer questions from these lands for now. I must depart."

Miyako nodded understandably. "So, it shall be. We will have to make do with what we have." Miyako turned as Jinn eventually vanished into blue smoke, her entire presence gone. It was unfortunate for Vale, but Miyako had to focus her efforts inwards, towards her own lands, until the chaos and confusion passes. Vale has capable people within its lands, she was sure that they would prevail over this crisis. She hopes the others were as compassionate to their plight.

Either way, she wasn't about to allow Mistral to fall into another Dark Age if she could help it.

---

[Atlas]

It was vague, very vague, but Winter had heard a story or two about Salem.

The word of mouth about her described her as some sort of bad dream on the world, more than anything. And for a long while she didn't particularly believe most of them. They sounded pretty much like old tales of the past that were simply for the sake of scaring going children from misbehaving. It sounded harmless at the time other than that, so she never truly took much stock in them. The darkness she spreads can reach the farthest corners of the world. Bringing about an endless age of discord and devastation? It seemed a bit too far out there sometimes, so for the most part she simply brushed them off as mere stories.

Winter was somewhat forced to reevaluate her opinion on the matter, when she was shown that the very enigmatic Salem that she's heard of only vaguely, just wiped out a quarter of Vale's central city in an instant. With a single attack. Regardless of the horror stories surrounding her, that destruction was far too real for her to deny. She couldn't even imagine the number of lives that have already been lost from that attack alone, never mind the horde of monsters assaulting everything from within Vale. And then she was hit with the fear striking thought that Weiss was somewhere in Vale. And she hasn't answered her calls. Which means she's either urgently preoccupied at the moment, or...

No. Winter couldn't think like that. Weiss was going to be fine.

Unfortunately, Winter herself was much less fine from a mental standpoint, due to what she's being put up to.

"You can't be serious." Her superior, Arch-Star Sentinel James Ironwood, questioned in exasperation and unable to believe what he was hearing.

"To our great dismay, I think he is, sir." Star Sentinel Winter Schnee sighed dejectedly.

It wasn't all too long ago that denizens of Mistral have passed along a bit of information regarding the current events and have mostly confirmed that Salem is a being who existed and wrought devastation upon the world before. Jinn is not a spirit that lies, due to her role in the world. So it was to be taken with utmost seriousness that a large assortment of the tales of Salem's wrathful war across Remnant were true. And with that information on hand, it was a call to action to act on said info.

The problem was, Ironwood wasn't exactly in agreement with what solution was being presented to him. And once she was brought up to speed, Winter wasn't hesitant in agreeing with him.

With the escalating crisis going on in Vale that threatens to spill into other lands, a suggestion was made to end that spread before it begins by razing Vale to the ground. Obviously, this was met with backlash.

"We can't do such a thing! That's far too drastic!" A woman known as Robyn Hill slammed her hands on the table, outraged by the mere suggestion. The image of her wearing a formal suit and skirt, with her nicely tied hair, did not match her current heated mood. "Are you out of your damn mind, Glass?!"

I see she still hasn't calmed down much. Ironwood mentally sighed. It was exhausting for him to admit that this was actually decent progress for her.

"I have to agree with Hill on this, such a response will likely have consequences that will affect not only how the rest of the world sees us, but how our own citizens see us." The woman next to her, Camilla, also agreed with a firm nod.

"I know it may seem like an extreme course of action, but if Vale falls completely due to this, who knows which of us is next? Atlas might be in danger of this happening. They might direct their wrath towards us." Sleet uttered while clasping his hands and sighing. "We have to at least take it into consideration. We can't risk Atlas sharing Vale's current fate."

"At least one more of us is able to see reason, Sleet." The next one, who was slightly more overweight than the others, confidently declared while pushing up his glasses. Robyn simply glared at him, which caused him to flinch back a bit. "N-No need to look at me like that, Hill! It's just the unfortunate truth of it all!"

"And yet you don't seem all that upset about things potentially coming to that." Robyn narrowed her eyes at the man, whilst he simply scoffed. "Is this really a move that Atlas is prepared to suffer the ramifications for?"

"We'll suffer even more if we let that infestation within heir borders just run free everywhere else. We have to fill it before it manages to get any worse."

"...Furthermore, the very fact that this disaster was building up within Vale of all places..." Another sitting in the far right, Pearl Wistier, gently shook her head, with a necklace of bright shining pearls around her neck, and a wisteria flower in her hair. "Vale seems to have a history of misfortune when it comes to potential incidents such as this."

"Ever since the tragic failure of the Vytal Peace Accords all those years ago, Vale may very well have been ravaged the worst by the consequences." Ivy Brown deduced while lightly shifting through her Scroll viewing the events relayed to all of them. "And it would seem that their misfortune continues."

"Yes, it does. And their misfortune is about to spread to the rest of us. Something we cannot let stand." Amoncio Glass nodded firmly and quickly. "We must safeguard the future of Atlas, from the clutches of the 'Worst Wicked Witch of them All'."

"So, what? To do that we have to put Vale on the chopping block, and their future suddenly doesn't matter?" Robyn barked, though she reined herself in a bit with a breath and a sigh before continuing. "We can't just assume that Vale is finished after this. We haven't even given them a chance to pull themselves out of this. Hell, why not give them a hand?"

"You've seen what's out there for yourself, Hill. Vale is already beyond saving. There's nothing that can be done for them." Amoncio's glasses flashed. "Protecting Atlas and the rest of the world means Vale must be wiped clean."

"I can't condone this." Camille uttered as she looked to her associates, only to realize with mounting dress and frustration that they were in agreement. "Oh goodness, you're all agreeing to this..."

"It's unfortunate, but we can't take the chance if it means Atlas will be protected from the consequences of Vale's failure and fall." Amoncio shook his head dejectedly, though Robyn's eyes remained trained on him as she didn't see any actual regret in his eyes. "Majority vote seems to be in favor of this decision. I'm truly sorry Camille, Hill."

Winter looked towards Ironwood for a guide, only to see that he was holding back his own distaste with the decision, having already made it known. His stance was tense, the glare in his eyes focused. He was utterly against this, but with the majority vote the decision was now out of his hands. He had been turning to get into contact with Ozpin but received no response, which spelled possible doom for the current status of Vale's borders. The die has been cast, and now all he could do was silently await the final judgement.

"We can't! My sister is there!" Winter of course, could not stay silent with this knowledge on her anxious mind. She couldn't possibly condone this decision in any possible way, but knowing that her sister was still in Vale while this was happening only made her reject the decision even more. "We don't have to resort to this! Surely there's another way!"

"Winter..." Ironwood uttered to her, but she had already made her voice known.

Sleet was the one who shook his headfirst with a sigh. "We're sorry, Star Sentinel."

"But we can't postpone something like this, not even for a member of the Schnee family." Ivy agreed.

"It really is regrettable." Pearl lowered her head in sincere dejection.

Amoncio, on the other hand, simply looked to the side. "It's highly unlikely that she's alive by this point. But nevertheless, her sacrifice will not be in vain, Star Sentinel. With any luck, your upstart attitude might just die along with her."

"Winter, stand down."

Ironwood had to quickly order, for he could already see the ice-cold glare within Winter's currently glowing eyes, her Aura generating a dense cold air, and knew she was about to do something that would land her in prison or worse if he didn't stop her. Knowing her current mood at the moment, she might very well consider it a worthy trade-off. It wasn't much of a secret that many of Ironwood's subordinates didn't particularly care for Amoncio occasionally being the most disagreeable of the Atlas Assembly, but Winter is certainly the only one who's bold enough to act on it. Which can be seen with how the man visibly flinched at her much harsher glare, Ironwood's order just barely holding her back.

"The only one of us acting like an upstart is you." Winter seethed through her teeth. The man tried to glare back, but he was shaking slightly from the frigid look the woman was giving her.

"Ironwood, get your subordinate under-."

He stopped as his eyes widened in surprise. As did everyone else, with them all turning towards the entrance of the room. The cold frigid air that Winter was giving off was replaced by a different kind of cold air. Still somewhat cold, but more so on the tolerably cool side. It wasn't biting or harsh like complete ice, but more-so soft and gentle, even comforting, like the snow. This complete turnaround of the room's mood matched the arrival of someone as they wobbled through the doorway.

"Oh dear, what is everyone fussing with each other about?" An elderly woman in a dark blue and cyan blue dress, white hair tied back, and a pale blue necklace around her neck, spoke out to the entire room, who all immediately addressed her as soon as she did them.

"Saintess Fria!" Everyone collectively greeted, with Amoncio's being the most panicked to the point where he nearly tripped over.

The Patroness Saint of Atlas is here as well?!

"As I continue to say, just Fria Noelle will do." Fria smiled as she continued making her way inside with her walking stick created out of ice. "Now may I ask again, what is it that everyone here is fussing over? I was having a rather pleasant dream when the agitated sensations of your Auras suddenly stirred me from them. I take it that it has something to do with what's gotten you all in such tense disagreement?"

"It's about Vale, Lady Fria." Ironwood softened considerably around her as he gestured her to her own chair, helping her seat herself into it, as she was poured some warm blueberry tea-'thank you dear', she smiled-as he began catching her up a bit. "It's come under immense attack from the inside, and the situation appears to be critical and not letting up. I wasn't able to get into contact with Ozpin."

"The Atlas Assembly has agreed that we need to raze Vale to the ground in order to suppress this threat before it becomes a problem for everyone. Sending support will do them no good at this point." Amoncio attempted to reaffirm. "This is their own fault for allowing this to happen to them, we can't let the consequences of their folly reach anyone else beyond them. We have to put a halt to it all immediately and without respite."

Camilla shook her head. "This is actually being agreed to..."

"Because it makes sense! Vale has utterly failed everyone during the Dark Age and the entire world paid the price! We must do everything in our power to make sure that never happens again! And the only way to ensure that is to firmly cut away this problem at the source." Amoncio soon turned towards Fria as she was serenely sipping her tea, then towards Ironwood with a sigh. "Ironwood, surely you understand by now how necessary this is, for the future prosperity of Atlas to not be threatened by this dangerous threat, we have to cull it right here and now. You out of all of us are steadfast in ensuring Atlas's future."

"I would rather not ensure Atlas' future by attempting to end Vale's." Ironwood uttered while clasping his hands tightly behind his back.

Fria soon ceased drinking for a moment as she turned her gaze towards the entire room, which managed to silence everyone and have their immediate attention. A rather somber expression graced her as she looked down towards her cup. "There's a certain point in Atlas's history. A point where it's people were hardened during the Dark Age and decided to try and ensure its future by any means necessary, even if it meant completely freezing their hearts." Fria closed her eyes while lowering her head. "Being a little girl at the time, I was still utterly horrified by Atlas' choice to consider Menagerie too far gone due to the immense Grimm hordes overrunning it's population...so they razed it into the ground and destroyed it."

The silence was impalpable at the moment, the gravity of the reminder stunning most people in the room. Amoncio looked around in confusion, before turning towards Fria again. "But Lady Fria, as cold as the decision was, surely you consider it understandable at least? There was nothing that could be done by that point, so it was only logical for that choice to be made, tragic as it may be. That's the same situation Vale is faced with, and we will unfortunately have to repeat that history."

"...Atlas had already crossed an unforgivable line that day. I dread the day where we allow our hearts to grow any colder, to the point where they become brittle, and shatter into nothing." Fria uttered while reopening her eyes, as cold blue flames briefly danced atop her head. "It is far too soon to be making such a drastic decision. I would suggest that you hold off on that, for a little while longer, everyone. You shouldn't count Vale as down and out, just yet."

"That's what I was saying!" Robyn insisted with a nod, while Camille sighed in relief at the sound of a reasonable judgement on the matter. Ivy, Pearl, and Sleet also looked somewhat unsure about Fria's faith, but nevertheless decided to concede on their point and stand down from the decision for the time being. Amoncio looked at everyone with slowly widening eyes, then towards the nodding Ironwood and utterly relieved Winter. The man quickly turned towards Fria once more.

"Saintess Fria, are you sure this is the proper judgement?! This could backfire horribly if things end up the way I know they will!"

Fria blinked and curiously tilted her head. "Oh? You know? I wasn't aware that you could see into the future, Mr. Glass."

"N-no, that's not what I... I mean, way back then-."

"Back then was back then. Times change. What worked yesterday won't always work today. If you rashly make this decision, you may just mistakenly erase so many lives for nothing. I would like to hope that Atlas won't go back to the days where our hearts were even colder than ice, even if it was because that's what we needed to be to survive. I would like this era of Atlas to be more welcoming to alternatives. To be softer, gentler, and empathetic to others plights outside of our homeland. Our possibilities are vast. So, we should seek the possibility of not having to resort to such extremes anymore." Fria softly nodded. "An Atlas that could even bring joy and cheerfulness to others outside of our borders. That's the future I've hoped to bring, during my days of fighting during the Dark Ages, and even during those days, I've fought alongside people from different lands. And I'd like to take measures to ensure that this new attitude and mindset is maintained. We all deserve a chance to thrive." Fria turned towards Ironwood and Winter with a smile. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes' ma'am." Both of them uttered quickly, standing straight. Though Ironwood seemed especially at ease that he wouldn't be forced to order his forces to raze Vale down to the ground. He didn't think he could possibly consider himself worthy of his title at that point. Doubly so if his decision becomes undermined at the possibility of him refusing to go through with it. Thankfully, Saintess Fria was able to wake up and put a stop to this tension before it escalated further.

Fria placed her cup down and got up from her seat. "Now then, with that being settled, let's give Vale some time to recover from this. Support might be viable, especially for the possible recovery during the aftermath. They will need that gentle soft touch to reassure them after such a difficult time." As Robyn and Camille looked more relieved than ever that they managed to hold off on such a decision, Ironwood softly releasing a breath he didn't know he had, while Amoncio scoffed and muttered about things going wrong eventually and that he'll be justified in ensuring the order goes through Fria walked up to Winter, who stood up straight in her presence. "I understand that you're worried about your sister."

"...I am, Sai-uh, Lady Fria. I am. Very much." Winter admitted with a somewhat stoic disposition, now that time has been bought for a little bit.

Fria gently reached forth and took Winter's hands into her own, surprising the younger woman slightly and making the former smile. "She was mentored under you. You know more than anyone what she is capable of, and that she's capable of breaching beyond those capabilities. You will be needed here for the time being in order to reassure our citizens, so have faith in your sister that she can come out of this situation alive and well, as well as faith in those who stand by her." Fria nodded as she released Winter's hands and went about her way, ice walking stick in hand. "Especially since your sibling student is amongst them. There's a reason I prefer both of you as the inheritors of my will."

Winter briefly paused at the mention of a successor, and turned towards her Scroll as she pulls up an image of certain training days over the years. Particularly the ones involving herself and Weiss, their mutual friend Ruby whenever she visited Atlas, and yet another friend, whom Fria has graciously chosen and personally hoped would succeed her one day alongside Winter herself. For Atlas needed more than one shining star to keep guiding it towards a benevolent direction. Her sibling pupil under the Patron Saintess of Atlas.

Penny...

---

[Vacuo]

Word has met with Vacuo as well, and just as expected, many of the citizens have not been taking the suddenness of their dangerous situation very well. Albeit, quite a few of them were stuck in a panic, while others were set on preparing to battle whatever might come their way, seeing as many have been returning to their homes in order to prepare and gather their weapons. Whatever means of combating the threats to come, they were making sure they had on hand at any time.

Over at Shade, things were getting somewhat heated, as personnel were also swift to begin preparing for what may come ahead, equipment and training and all.

"Looks like the nice and peaceful times are about to be behind us. That definitely seemed like a big challenge to me!" Rowena Sunnybrook cooed, having just seen through the broadcast and was now meeting up with the Vacuo Royal Guard in order to decide on how to proceed. She was rather casual at the moment while wearing a sundress, with her hair in a tight braid. "Rumpole, you were late! What do you have to say for yourself, huh?!"

"I'd like to, but that would be rather coarse." Xanthe Rumpole deadpans while gazing out to the shimmering Oases that surrounded shade, as well as the greenery that spread across several patches of Vacuo itself as far as she could see. "I had a gut feeling that something like this would happen, sooner or later. And it appears that it'll be the former." She uttered with utmost seriousness, which was somewhat undeterred by her short stature compared to everyone else standing around her. She likely didn't notice or care much about it all, though.

"Hey, calm down, both of you. You don't wanna give Queenie a fuss, she's got a lot on her mind right now. A woman known as Carmine Escaldos dictated, her long and wavy auburn hair flowing in the wind. Golden eyes looked out towards Vacuo as she folded her arms. "It looks like something is going to be coming our way whether we want to accept it or not. Best we stay focused on engaging it when that time comes."

"I'll keep on gathering the others, like the Queen ordered!" Rowena raised her hand enthusiastically, before she set off in her own direction.

"I'll take some time to make sure our equipment is in order. We can't allow ourselves to be caught lacking in supplies once the potential battles start. It's always best to prepare for the worst."

"You said it." Carmine huffed while watching them depart, folding her arms as she walked up to the person she was speaking about.

"...Everyone's in such a panic. The words of an ancient being from the distant past can have that sort of effect, I suppose." The Queen uttered.

"Sheesh. I think the people are going to freak without you being there to console them, and whatnot." Carmine uttered as she eyed the rest of Shade personnel trying to reassure the citizens that everything would be okay, though it was going to be more difficult than they could admit. Though combined forces from Shade and Oscuro making up the Vacuo Royal Guard, they were more than prepared to live up to their words, even actively readying for a fight if it happened to come to them. "But don't worry, Queenie. Doesn't matter what happens to come our way, none of them are ever going to touch you so long as I'm around."

Her dear friend sighed, clasping her hands as a coming breeze soon passed through her hair and blew against her long dress for several moments. She looked at her hand for several moments, which had a crown shaped birthmark on her wrist, before turning to Carmine with a nod. "Come what may, I will crush anyone who tries to bring devastation upon Vacuo. I will never let such a thing happen while I rule these lands." She soon turned towards a statue slightly to her right, facing up towards it and placing her hands together with a graceful nod. The winds around her grew more gentle and somewhat kind, as the splash of the massive yet soothing and cool oasis could be heard right around her. "Grand Summer Maiden. One who represents the light of the sun, the ripening of fruit, and the blazing heat. Watcher over lush greenery and abundance, the hard work of those working the land, and rest for others. Please, continue lending the people of Vacuo your strength through these new trials, and help us sustain the fertility and restoration of our oases and flourishing flora."

As Queen of Vacuo, Gillian Asturias has made sure that it's people never forget what they've once lost, and how badly they've suffered due to their complacency being the cause of it. So long as she ruled, she would continue nurturing Vacuo's mindset of never taking their gifts for granted ever again. This piece of history she researched was very important to her. And whether the parts about the Summer Maiden blessing Vacuo to be restored were truly factual or not, what she did know for sure was that eventually, Vacuo's former glory had been restored, and she would ensure that desolation would not be its fate again. It would continue to flourish. Whatever threats this Salem would send her way, she would be sure to crush them for Vacuo's continued prosperity. She had already sworn to herself that she would never allow Vacuo to fall into ruin again. She wouldn't let anyone, or anything bring these lands into reliving that harsh fate.

"Let's get going, Carmine. We have much to do."

And as she turned around and left the statue with her friend by her side, she briefly passed by an image of a familiar face portrayed on a Scroll. Her eyes narrowed as she waved her cape and continued on her way, diligently making her way back to Shade so that she could properly plan on what to do next. It didn't matter who it was, where they came from, what they were, or why they were doing what they did. Nobody would get in the way of her duty of protecting and sustaining Vacuo's restoration.

Not even family.

This isn't the end, backstabbing whore! THAT CROWN AND THRONE WERE MEANT TO BE MINE!

Especially not family.

---

[Vale]

Pyrrha lunged forth with her short sword as Lady Beat continued sending more of her subordinates out to soar over various parts of Vale through the blood portals, only to crash down somewhere and detonate in various places after landing. Pyrrha honestly couldn't get any angrier at this woman's callousness if she tried, and it's rather difficult for her to get blindingly furious. She dodged past several sharped blades of hardened blood as Lady Beat attempted to cut and slice at her from where she stood. Pyrrha's short sword soon turned into a rifle as she shot at the woman attempting to keep her distance from her.

Lady Beatrix attempted to deflect the bullet but found herself unable to, as the bullet's repulsive force suddenly increased, completely knocking her off balance and confusing her. Pyrrha immediately throws her shield in a disc like fashion, slamming it right into the vampire's side. She pulled herself along with it and kicked the woman in the face with both her feet, further pushing her back. Pyrrha jumped back as the forces around her pulled Beatrix back towards her, leaving her to be smacked in the face with her shield again.

"I can't allow you to progress further than this." Pyrrha narrowed her eyes as she slashed her short sword downwards, with the magnetic energy around it solidifying and extending. It managed to slash Beatrix across the chest slightly, before immediately emitting a repulsion force that smashed the vampire against the wall. She gritted her teeth as more of her subordinates dashed towards Pyrrha and each exploded around her in explosions of glowing red blood, impacting Pyrrha and sending her hurtling back from the sheer force.

"So, are you willing to crush me in order to accomplish your own perspective on harmony and balance?" Beatrix hummed as she sent even more waves of sharpened glowing waves of blood towards Pyrrha, who didn't bother dodging this time and Instead expanded her Aura around her in a sphere. Her magic channeled through the Aura shield, and the waves swirled around her as a result.

"I suppose so." Pyrrha noted as she pushed everything orbiting around her back towards Beatrix, as she began flying around each of the projectiles heading her way. "My best instincts are telling me to conquer you for the sake and glory of my guild. And my worst instincts are currently telling me that any and all threats that endanger them should be quelled." Several spears made of magnetic energy manifested around her. She points forward with her short sword as they soared towards their target. "And the expectation of my guild is that I emerge victorious. That is my balance, now I shall destroy yours."

The magnetic energy spears shot towards Beatrix, as more of her subordinates attempted to fly towards her to detonate. But to her shock, the spears sparked and pulsed, as they pulled onto the flying vampires during their flight. She made an attempt to shield herself in a barrier of glowing blood energy, knowing full well what was about to happen. Most of her subordinates suddenly exploded around her, almost instantly shattering her shield to pieces and battering her with the force of each of them all around her. Before she could fully recover from that, Pyrrha swooped in through the smoke, and stabbed her right through chest with her short sword.

"Tch. You believe you can maintain your sense of balance, your harmony, with such a group of fledglings?" Beatrix coughed while pulling the blade from her chest and blasting Pyrrha with a wave of blood she was too close to to dodge properly. "Always considering others before yourself. With no balance of caring about your own wants and needs, no true harmony between your mind, your soul, and your body? The desires Your desires from each part of tou clash, and yet you also try to appeal to supporting everyone else first." Beatrix moved towards Pyrrha as multiple knives constructed from glowing blood energy all soared downwards towards the young woman. Pyrrha narrowed her eyes as she held out her hand, her Magnetic Aura stopping the blood knives as they all twirled around her.

"We all have something that brings balance and harmony to our lives. And I know what would bring peace to my own. And maybe it'll change as life goes on. But right now?" Pyrrha charged forth as she pushed all the knives back towards Beatrix, who dissipated them with a swipe of her hand and manifested a sword in an attempt to stab Pyrrha back. Pyrrha immediately uses her shield to deflect the blow, them swiped her own short sword across the vampire's chest. And just that slash alone was enough to send a repulsive force to push back further. "What brings me balance is fighting on behalf for the Red Riding Hood Guild. And what brings me harmony is bringing glory to them and being with them. I'm dedicating all of my training, talents, and instincts to securing their futures, whatever they may be. That's what brings me balance and harmony." She soon struck down with much more repulsive force to send Beatrix flying further back. "So you all can keep your expectations to yourselves, we did not ask for them. Nobody shall decide our lives and futures for us." She then lifted her short sword as it shifted into a javelin, as she pulled back with a focused glare. "And if anyone or anything threatens those lives and futures, I will not hesitate to strike them down. This currently applies to the Glass Unicorn. Thus, you all will be crushed."

Pyrrha tossed her javelin with immense force, tearing through the air. Beatrix grunted as she tried to deflect the incoming javelin. Though seconds before contact, she noticed too late that the javelin slowly began to glow, until sparks began appearing all over it. Electric sparks. And the fact that when she hastily flew upwards to move out of the way of it when deflecting quickly proved a perilous mistake, it immediately followed her without losing momentum.

It's not just magnet magic...it's electromagnetism!

The javelin struck her in her chest and pinned her against the ground, and immediately after a blast of electromagnetic energy engulfed her and everything currently around her, taking a few ghouls along with her. Not only that, but even more enemy vampires were pulled into the blast magnetically as it expanded and grew, further vaporizing them along with their leader.

When the smoke cleared, Pyrrha eventually landed right in the crater where her attack at hit. She eyes the spot where Beatrix lied unmoving, burned immensely due to being right in the center of the blast radius. Pyrrha reached down to pull her javelin, which still surged with electromagnetic energy, from the deceased vampire's chest. As she did, said vampire soon began disintegrating into ashes and scattered by the wind. Her regeneration couldn't stand up to the power that overwhelmed her Pyrrha nodded at this, then turned and left to find another spot in the battlefield to contribute.

Across the area, as the Glass Unicorn was beginning to give in slightly from the strain of the multiple battles within and outside it, two others were engaging with the enemy.

Penny was flying about the complex with a somewhat humming expression, looking about to see her pursuer. Carmel Vanille was on her tail, with the cursed humans chasing her down. Penny lowered her eyes at the sight of them, seeing how much agony they were in with their current states. Completely and mercilessly drained and yet still forced to fight against their will, simply because Carmel willed it to be with the blood curses, she placed on them. Her thoughts sadly pondered this as she dodged persistent attempts at them trying to shoot her out of the sky, along with Carmel herself. Multiple spikes of blood manifested from multiple directions and attempted to pierce her, with Carmel herself throwing several sharpened blood knives her way.

"Why do you insist on taking this route? It only leads to pointless suffering." Penny asked while deflecting some of the knives with her manifested swords, with each of them. "You cannot go and senselessly mess with the lives of people who have done nothing to earn your ire. These people were just living their lives, and you keep messing with them without a care." Penny asked curiously as she moved out of the way of several blood bombs going off around her due to the cursed humans creating them around her. She formed a green bubble around herself to protect against a majority of them.

"I've already told you; we all have our roles to play in life. They were not in the position to be able to shape their own roles, so those above decide them for them. Those of superior status such as I." Carmel threw even more bloodied knives that multiplied and split off in different directions before they shot towards Penny. None of them proved sharp enough to pierce through her enhanced shielding. "Humanity only has its own fragile disposition to blame for their current states. They were born into their station in life, they have no chance of leaving it no matter what they do, which leaves them to be easily manipulated by others."

Carmel sent out a much larger wave of spiraling blood that increased in pressure, which pushed back against Penny's barrier. Within the spiral, Carmel fired a much more focused and channeled beam of blood energy right through the center, which served well in piercing through Penny's barrier and hitting her dead on, sending her crashing into the ground. The blood soon exploded all around her, along with several more cursed humans that dived in to make it all even larger. Carmel balanced herself on a energy blood platform.

"Humanity as a whole are peasants, destined to be ruled over by their supernatural betters. They were born beneath us all, and that's where they'll forever stay. They will never have the potential to move beyond their position in life. They will never be worth anything more than cattle to be culled or consumed."

There was silence for the briefest of moments, and Lady Vanille briefly wondered but immediately shot down, if Penny had taken her words to heart and gave up. No, she was the naïve sort, she'd never give up so easily.

She was right.

"I am sorry. But I am afraid I cannot agree with you."

The smoke clears almost immediately, with a gust of wind. Carmel was pushed back slightly as she tried to see through what had just happened. Over in the center, Penny stood with her eyes glowing green, a similar aura of magic surrounding her, with her dress having extended slightly and flowed into something of a snug and green, witch-like gown. She levitates majestically into the air, with Carmel watching her with caution. There were glowing circuit-like lines running across her body and dress. It further fit with the recognition that Penny's body was a powerful cybernetic one, filled with immense magical power. Though what got a stranger look out of Carmel was the green glowing, digital-appearing ring hovering over Penny's now hatted head.

"Magitek Maiden: Witch Circuit." Penny softly declared.

Some of the subordinates and cursed slaves under her command attempted to fly up to her to attack, only for the sheer pressure and density of her Aura, to forcefully knock them back into the ground. And they didn't get up due to glyphs appearing under them that kept them restrained in place.

"I am who I am now to the influence of several very important humans in my life. So even though you may look down on them, I cannot agree with that." Penny lightly tipped her digitally manifested hat. "And furthermore, so long as I am near, I will not idly stand by while helpless humans, or anyone who's helpless in general, to be mercilessly preyed upon." Her eyes softly glowed once more. "Which means you'll have to be eliminated. Apologies in advance."

She soon vanished before Carmel's eyes, who flinched as several constructed swords manifested from multiple angels around her, which she managed to dodge them all as they dug into the ground around her. Though she was not expecting several wires to appear from the ends of the blades and proceed to ensnare the vampire where she was. She couldn't break free from them as things were, as the wires themselves were reinforced. She came to the realization that Penny was channeling her Aura through both the blades and the wires attached to them, without having to physically interact with them.

"I can't break free..?!"

Penny raises her hand as orbs of lightning, fire, ice, and wind spiraled around her, while what appeared to be technological cannons were constructed by her sides, four of them all around her. The orbs soon went into the cannons, arming them. They were prepared to launch, with Carmel struggling to free herself from her reinforced bindings. "I had to restrain you so that you cannot avoid this. With your healing capabilities, as a vampire of your caliber, I will have to terminate you thoroughly."

Carmel grimaced as she attempted to do something, anything to escape from this predicament, but it was no use. The gathered blood she tried to use to free herself was immediately dispersed by the pressure pulsing from the swords. "How are you capable of such things?! And why would you dedicate that power to this rabble!?"

"In a vast world like ours, there's an equally vast amount of possibilities. With my skills and powers of magic and science, I can access paths to those possibilities, in which many can potentially choose to become even more than what they are or born was. I open those paths leading to endless possibilities so that our true potentials can be reached." Penny's eyes flashed as she held out her hand. "That is my role."

All four armed cannons launched their projectiles towards the trapped and bound vampire lady, and they collided onto her in unison. A swirling, cyclone like mix of all the elements had engulfed the entire area, before it soon detonated in a sphere of destruction that took out many enemies that were unfortunate enough to be too close by, and it even succeeded in blasting a huge hole in the side of the Glass Unicorn's walls.

Penny's eyes continued glowing for a moment, overseeing the wreckage left over in case Carmel was still out and about. A thorough scanning over the area confirmed to her that she wasn't able to escape at the last moment, and was taken out along with the others.

"Confirmed." Penny noted with a nod, detecting even more heading towards her. "I should help the others soon."

A bit off, in a more enclosed area.

Clashes of intense heat and lightning bounded throughout the space. Yang landed in her feet while lightly sailing her thumb across her chin, while Levina cackled while rolling her neck and cracking her fingers. Even further off, Weiss's ice clashed briefly with Bianca's, with the two Marzikeen's doing what they could to interfere with their opponent's progress. In the meantime, Blake parried another blade from Neo as she closed in on her, sparks spraying from their grinding. Blake's ears flicked slightly as she easily avoided another blade to her neck, before slipping away in a shroud of shadows. She landed on a pillar nearby, on all fours.

"Neo, I'm guessing you can sense that, right?" Blake wondered, and she was right to guess, as she could see something wavering in Neo's eyes, particularly confusion. It was leaving her unfocused and her power slightly disrupted, which allowed Blake to dash towards her and kick her in the stomach. She was knocked onto her back, and large shadowy paws formed around her and clamped down to immobilize her. "You don't have to keep doing this anymore, Neo. I have a feeling you're not anywhere near as far gone as your mother wants you to believe. I've said it to you already, didn't I? You may not be able to speak, but that doesn't mean you don't have a voice."

Neo grimaced slightly, before she pulsed her power and broke free from the shadowy restraints. She dashed towards Blake and attempted to stab her with the blade on her parasol, which Blake swiftly deflected the blade, which caused sparks to fly around them. Both of their hair blew across their faces as this brief clash happened.

"I see. It seems we will have to eliminate the entire Glass Unicorn leadership so that you'll be able to reconsider." She holds Gambol Shroud with renewed focus. "But for now, I can't let you claim victory. I'll have to incapacitate you quickly."

Weiss and Bianca meanwhile landed on opposite pillars from each other, completely carved from ice. Weiss extended Myrtenaster in her hands, having just diced a large block of red and black ice from the vampire in front of her. Both of them were breathing their own variation of an icy mist, their Auras having their own cold atmosphere to them. Weiss breathed softly as she held up her sword towards the vampire. Said vampire breathed coldly for several moments, her fangs briefly visible when she took a breath herself, patches of frost on her face.

Weiss soon slashed diagonally, while Bianca flew upwards to dodge. The slash left a line of ice shards launching outwards where she initially stood. Black and red ice shards pierced through the normal ice Weiss conjured, and her Glyphs shielded her against them, though she was forced back against the wall with a grunt. She soon leaps upwards while a larger shard of ice pierced through the wall. She narrowed her eyes as she parried a swipe from Bianca, both of their eyes locked onto each other, their blades grinding.

"I've already told you, your ice is inferior to mine. I'll turn you into a pretty sculpture. I might place you in my room." Bianca softly uttered.

"I'm not interested in being an ice sculpture, thank you." Weiss declined sharply, as a smaller glyph appeared on the tip of Myrtenaster, and she slashed diagonally, with the push force increased. Bianca was launched halfway across the room before ultimately stopping herself. "You seek to cage your sister in suffering. That is not how older sisters should treat their younger siblings."

"You know nothing about us, and you know nothing about Cinder."

"It does not matter. From what I observed, she's neither safe or happy with you. That's all I need to intervene." Weiss declared as she placed herself on top of another Glyph, and held out Myrtenaster as she slides her fingers across it. "And I especially can't ignore you after your attack on us."

Even further off, Yang and Levina punched one another across their faces, as they both pushed each other away. Levina launched herself against her with a lightning infused fist, with Yang catching it with a flame infused hand, with the impact causing flames to erupt from the ground and lighting to crash from above. Yang narrowed her fiery red eyes as Levina's eyes flashing with lightning.

"You seriously don't see anything with how you're treating Cinder? That ain't how sisters are supposed to treat each other!" Yang exclaimed as she blocked several lightning swift claws that attempted to cut into her face, with her managing a right hook to her temple. She spits against the ground with a grunt, as the accusation was fought against with a light infused fist to return the favor.

"You might wanna knock that off, Blondie. Our minds are already made up, and your perspective don't mean shit!" Levina grinned as she kicked upwards, nailing Yang in the chin. "If you're gonna fight me then fight! Disagreeing about how we go about things is pointless!"

"...Okay, fine." Yang muttered slightly, before she took a breath, then swiftly smashed her head into Levina's with a flash fire headbutt, nearly knocking her into her back. "I thought I'd give reason one last try for the sake of patience, but I really am gonna have to beat some sense into ya to get the message across. And I'm gonna make sure you remember it."

Much higher up in the complex, things were somewhat less chaotic, but that's because the numbers were focused on the floors below. Over near the top, the events were just as heavy, if only because of who was up there.

Jaune had just moved himself in front of Oscar and reinforced his shield to defend, as Mara slammed her fist right into it in an attempt to attack Oscar. The impact resounded around them, with the two of them being pushed back slightly, but otherwise remained intact. Multiple spirals of blood manifested around them and nearly crashed in too of them. Aura reinforced Jaune's shield and expanded the Aura around it, improving it's defensive further and protecting the both of them against the onslaught. Though his knees nearly buckled due to the amount of force out behind the attacks. He nearly wavered under it, but he managed to stand tall regardless, and made it attempt to push Mara back with gritted teeth.

Mara's eyes glowed, and another wave of blood managed to blast them back, with Jaune crashing on the ground and Oscar tumbling for several moments, with Ren appearing behind Jaune to catch him, and Nora doing the same for Oscar. Both of them helped them up, with Mara immediately sending another wave of blood to crush them. Ren stepped in front of everyone and pushed out his palm in a thrust, with the Aura enforced thrust blasting a hole in the wave and having it harmlessly disperse away from them.

"She's not letting us catch a break..." Jaune grunted as he managed to pick himself up fully. "Yeah, she's the boss alright. Not much like the ghouls and succubus we fought before her, which she ordered then others to send after us."

"The malice she's exhibiting alone is extremely dense." Ren uttered, sensing the creature's dark Aura and how vast it truly was. "And we've been interfering with her indirectly for some time. It's only natural she won't let us off easy."

"Yeah, well she's still a big jerk that's gotta knocked down a few pegs!" Nora pressed as pink lightning surged around her, as she leaned forward. "We'll see how she likes it when I knock her right into the ground!"

Oscar was unnerved by the space around them, as Mara proved she could manifest and attack them with blood energy with relative ease, without having to move around much. It left them a much shorter time frame to read her tells and quickly thinking of counters. She was relentless enough to do this even when they were wary, as she's also attacking using her bare hands. He had thought she considered getting her own hands dirty to be beneath her, but she very quickly proved that wrong in rather brutal and ruthless fashion.

Multitudes of blood spears shaped themselves over Mara's head, and she sent all of them hurtling towards the group in rapid succession. They scattered quickly while trying to avoid and dodge the spears, and were met with slightly panicked shocks as the spears exploded several seconds after they made impact wherever they landed. It left Jaune deciding that trying to defend against those with his shield would no doubt be a risky endeavor.

Oscar was able to find his own way of countering this, though. For the few far too close times that a spear nearly manages to graze them, he was able to place brief circular barriers around them that sent the spears back to sender. Though of course she easily disperses them before they could entertain the idea of hitting her, much less actually damaging her.

Then it fell apart quickly.

Nora had launched a grenade from Magnhild, sending pink explosive projectiles towards Mara and having it detonate in her face. She narrowed her eyes at the hit appearing too easy to lands only to gasp and jump to the side as a slice of blood nearly cut into her. Though a slight splotch of it managed to get on her face.

It was all that was needed, for not too long afterwards, the blood on her face detonated, and she ended up flying back and crumbling into a heap. Most harrowing was that the blast was powerful enough to blow her right eye clean out of its socket, before it similarly disintegrated.

"NORA!" The three boys exclaimed in horror and outrage.

"Pitiful." Mara stated nonchalantly.

The boys turned around, but they were soon swiftly separated by multiple blood spikes jutting up from the ground, and even more spikes shooting outwards in an attempt to cut and impale them. Ren grimaced as several of them managed to graze him, though he managed to deflect and crush the rest of them with his Aura-infused palms. He turned immediately and slammed the ground, with the shockwave dispersing the hardened blood and pushing them all away from him. He immediately sensed Mara appearing by him, and turned towards her, narrowly dodging a spike heading towards his head. His grimace only furthered as he braced himself, for she took the opportunity to knock him away with a kick to his side, harshly slamming through the wall.

"Pathetic."

Oscar froze slightly when he realized that both Ren and Nora were down already, and Jaune was being pushed back by the multitudes of vampires bearing down oh him at their Lady's behest. One of them screeched at Oscar and launched themselves towards him while glowing, and he only had moments to react before it crashed against his barrier and detonated, sending him falling under the lower floors.

"Puny."

Jaune grunted as he slashed against the vampires mounting against him, the brief flash of light forcing them back as they crashed against the wall behind them. He sighed as he realized that his other friends might be down for the moment, and rushed to give them healing. But Mara landed right in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. He glared and attempted to cut at her, which she simply caught the blade in-between her fingers.

"Piddling." Mara condescendingly declared, most of all to him, as he pulled Crocea Mors to the side with one hand, and backhanded Jaune with the other. Crocea Mors was soon tossed to the side as she steadily made her way towards him. "Jaune Arc. Cinder has always been somewhat defiant of me, but it got even worse when she became associated with you. That slobbering mongrel you're mated with falsely claiming ownership of her was bad enough, but you in particular have been stoking the flames of Cinder's rebellious nature. You've become an inconvenience to me, and I cannot tolerate that."

"Nobody was asking you to. And don't talk about Ruby like that! Just back off and leave Cinder alone already!" Jaune grunted as he turned around and held up his shield, another blast of blood nearly knocking him off of his feet.

Though some of the droplets of blood turned into extended needles that briefly drenched his arms and heated quickly. The sudden burning was enough for him to yelp in pain and nearly drop his shield. He lowered it but managed to not drop it, though it managed to be similar in consequence, for Mara took that opening to kick him right in the chest and knock him down. He was forced to drop his shield when a blood spike pierced through his arm. Jaune winced greatly at it, enough for another spike to pierce through his other arm. Two more were driven through his legs, and one was jammed right into his back. His grimace worsened with each blow, until he dropped to his knees, still trying to keep himself together. Mara glared down on him, head even slightly tilted as if wondering what to do next, before she harshly kicked him upside his chin and knocked him onto his back. He barely had time to register the ringing in his head or his senses being completely knocked out of order, before she clamped a choking hand around his throat.

"I heard you have seven sisters." Jaune nearly froze at this, not like it mattered to Mara. "What a wonderful large family you have. I won't kill you right away. I'll leave you there battered and helpless as I kill them, each in a worse manner than the last. Which sister is your favorite?" Mara tilted her head. "Is it the older ones you counted on to protect you as you grew up? Or your younger ones who look up to and admire their big brother? Who's deaths will feel worse? I don't mind working my way up or down, depending on your answer. Or maybe I'll just have them all turned into vampires and make them eat you and your parents, before claiming them into my ranks." Mara narrowed her eyes as she tightened her grip, calmly ignorant of his choking gasps. "Whatever the method, I'll personally ensure that the Arc Dynasty and everything it stands for is eradicated, for the sin of bringing an irritant like you into existence."

"Ugh...!"

Mara blinked as she heard something, like a crackle of lightning. A wall of hardened blood manifested by her side, though it still wasn't enough to completely protect her against the blow that exploded with lightning. She flew away several feet, flapping her wings a few times as Nora landed right in front of Jaune, pink lightning surging all around her. Mara could hardly believe that she was able to get up so soon after having her eye blasted out of the socket. Though despite this, Nora giggles madly and lifts her head, sparking lightning surging from where her eye used to be.

"Joke's on you, ya bitch! I always wanted to be a pirate!"

Mara couldn't even process just how nonsensical that declaration sounded-though to be fair, not many could-before she was suddenly struck with a mighty blow from Magnhild, sending her reeling as she held her face in shock. She was incredibly fast, somewhat even more so than previously. Then she noticed that Nora's entire body was now coated in sheer pink lightning, almost as if it itself was the armor. Nora appeared again, sparking with lightning, smashing Magnhild downwards onto the Vampire leader with a stronger blow. Mara was prepared for it this time, managing to block it with another barrier of blood.

It left her open, for Ren came up to her from the side. And with a focused strike to the center of the barrier, and pierced through it and shattered it almost instantly with an Aura-infused palm. And several seconds afterwards, Mara coughed blood as there was a delayed emitted strike right afterwards, which nearly pulverized her side and caused her to collapse onto her knees. She refused that undignified posture, and stayed on her feet. Then she had to immediately make another blade to parry the slash that had come from in front of her, seeing Jaune having come up and attacked her while she was seemingly down. Seeing how he, Nora and Ren were able to recover so soon, she snapped her head towards the only one left.

Oscar was warily looking at her as he held himself up with the Long Memory, sighing as he tried to keep his vision clear. He had taken the moment to help Jaune up after Nora managed to knock her away, and had already finished helping Jaune recover at least a little bit of his strength. Now they were all back up and preparing to go at her again, with a much more prepared state of mind this time.

'Dear contractor. I'd hate to spoil your fun, but you probably shouldn't let these morsels distract you for too long. Fetch your slave. Oh, by the way, Carmel and Beatrix are very dead. Kay thanks bye!'

Mara heard Lilith mentally speaking to her, and she agreed with her sentiment. Barely paying mind to the detail that her acquaintances have been slain, she held a hand out, a blood portal forming before her, and she began stepping inside.

"Running away?" Jaune grunted while picking up Crocea Mors.

"Hardly. I am just on my way to reclaim something. I'm not waiting another moment." Jaune immediately realized what she spoke of, and moved to run and stop her. Several ghouls stopped them from proceeding and smashed the ground where they were standing, leaving them unable to pass due to the outburst of power. Jaune looked to see that the portal had already closed.

She's going after Cinder.

"Chase her down, Jauney! We're gonna hold the fort here!" Nora exclaimed as she smashed her hammer down, arcs of lightning surging forth and blasting through all that stood in front of her. It left Ren enough of an opportunity to punch the ground as another shockwave of Aura blasted them further back.

"There's no time to waste. Go with him, Oscar! No matter what, we can't let her get what she wants!"

"C'mon, Oscar!" Jaune didn't have time to worry about the others, leaning onto his faith in them. Oscar didn't waste time himself following after Jaune quickly as they blasted their way through the walls of the Glass Unicorn, and jumping through one of the many blood portals that kept opening and closing to try and distribute their forces as swiftly and unrelentingly as possible.

Hopefully they weren't too late.

---

Ruby and Cinder.

There were plenty of things going through the minds of these two right now, but currently they put a majority of them to the side. Everything else, while still closely on mind, was currently set away for the time being, in order to face the current ordeal that they were facing. Which, unfortunately, would be especially difficult, more than most of the ordeals that came before them.

Because the current ordeal at hand was each other. They were currently opposing one another due to their disagreement over how to handle the current situation, and Cinder didn't feel like falling in line in accordance to the authority of her Guild Leader. Ruby didn't really consider herself the kind of person who would want to assert her authority and would rather just leave her guild mates to their own devices, letting them be independent and such when it came to their decisions. But she had to take this seriously.

Of course, it wouldn't be enough for her to make it clear to Cinder that she was indeed her leader, but she was also going through her own share of turmoil that was causing her to make rash decisions. Ruby can't very well ignore that, and she was choosing to act on it before she crossed the point of no return. Which is why she was currently standing in her way and attempting to prevent her from making a truly grave mistake. And she would only be able to get through to someone like Cinder, who tends to place special emphasis on superiority through strength and power, through a fight. It wasn't ideal, but it was also the fastest way they could resolve this.

She wasn't about to just let her walk away and surrender her freedom, when they both had a gut feeling it wouldn't do any good.

Both of them had readily charged at each other, and their first move was lashing at each other, which led into a grapple hold. The spiraling flames, winds, and rose petals rose high around them and nearly pushed back everything that surrounded them, the falling leaves of Forever Fall being either blown away by the winds or incinerated by the flames. Silver eyes locked with golden eyes as the pressure of their Aura flared strongly against one another. Though after a several second stalemate between the two of them, Cinder attempted to lash out at her with her scaly tail. Ruby immediately ducks under the swipe and blasts a spiral of rose petals right against Cinder and launched her across the forest and leaves a brief trench behind in her wake. She skies across the ground and stops in place as Ruby lands a few feet in front of her, her wolf ears flicking for several moments, her eyes focused and sharpened. Cinder growled as she propped herself up on all fours before flapping her wings, hovering over Ruby for several moments. For an instant she did consider flying away and being done with it and was on her way to make the attempt at it.

Ruby, as expected, intercepted her before she could even begin to think about getting that far, appearing before her in a spiral of rose petals and kicking her back into the ground, then spiraling towards her and kicking her further into it. Cinder growled in outrage as she grabbed her ankle and forcefully threw the wolf off of her. Ruby, being sent flying, reached out her claws and grabbed onto a tree, her grip and momentum both serving to help her spin around the tree in an arc before launching herself back at Cinder with a other kick. This one came with a burst of wind that knocked Cinder back again, making her flap her wings in order to regain her sense of balance.

"You can't beat me, Ruby!"

"That's not why I'm here!"

Ruby dashed towards Cinder and kicked at her again, with the latter raising her arms in a bid to block the blow. Cinder was once again sent spinning wildly out of control due rh the burst of wind that pummeled her with winds and completely upset her balance. Snarling, Cinder flapped her wings in a forceful enough manner to disrupt the gale offsetting her, and when Ruby went to strike again, she immediately turned around and punched her across the face, sending her tumbling across the ground until she came to a stop against a tree. Cinder was upon her in a matter of moments as her claws went to slice at her. Ruby ducked under them as they cleaved clean through the tree, making it fall over.

Cinder dashed at Ruby with a swing her scaly tail, which Ruby ducked under again, and leapt over when she tried her another whip around, then dashed forward in a burst of wind to punch the fiery dragon across the face, staggering her for several moments. Ruby clenched her fist tightly while growling quietly in agitation, lips somewhat pulled back to show her fangs.

"You need to open your eyes, Cinder! This is not going to go the way you're hoping it does! I see it coming a mile away!"

"You don't know anything!" Cinder slammed her hands into the ground as waves of fire erupted all around Ruby, forcing her to abandon her spot by jumping. Cinder immediately took the chance as she flapped her wings to close the difference between them, and spun to slam her tail into Ruby's midsection, sending her hurtling across the ground and crashing into a boulder. She slumped for several moments, before her eyes widened and she leapt out of the way of a fire ball which immediately destroyed the rock she was sitting in front of. "You think you know best because you're the leader of this little band?! You think you've gained total command of me just because I've allowed myself to be associated with you all?!"

"You're not happy with this decision you're trying to force yourself to make, Cinder." Ruby uttered, as she began running on all fours while avoiding a constant barrage of fireballs trying to hit her, some of them even letting off several explosions that wrecked the area around them to a slight degree. "If this was really such an easy decision for you to make, you wouldn't be fighting this hard!"

"Quiet!" Cinder swiped her claws as five fire slashes soared towards Ruby. She managed to evade all of them via ducking and weaving around them all, until Cinder flies right into her via a tackle and slammed her harshly into the ground, pinning her down. "Don't make assumptions about me! My decisions are my own! No one else! I fly where I want and walk where I want, run where I want! I DO WHAT I WANT! Who the hell do you think you are, telling me where I can or can't go?!"

Ruby just looked back at Cinder, seeing her wide and angrily glowing eyes glaring back into her silver ones. Ruby narrowed her eyes as she gripped one of her wrists with her hand. "...Someone who cares about you."

"You don't care about me."

"I wouldn't be fighting so hard to keep you from leaving if I didn't care about you."

"You're fighting to make me stay because you don't want to lose such a powerful asset! That's it and that's all! None of you care about me! Nobody's ever cared about who I am, just what I am and whatever and however my power can benefit them!" Cinder snarled as plumes of smoke left her nostrils and mouth. "I'm nothing more than a weapon in everyone's eyes! An attack dog to set on anyone who pisses them off or opposes! I haven't met a single person who sees me as anything beyond that!"

Ruby paused briefly, seeing Cinder getting more and more agitated, angry...and distressed. Ruby lowered her eyes softly at this. "...What about Jaune?"

There was silence.

...

"...What about him?" The fire in Cinder's eyes and tone suddenly vanished. Her eyes stopped glowing.

"He seems to care a lot about you."

"No, he doesn't."

"Oh, he doesn't?" Ruby tilted her head. "Is that why he took the time to learn what your favorite foods were to be could make them off of memory? He does the same for me, too. Or when he's come to your defense more than once despite knowing full well you could handle yourself just fine? Him always standing up for you when someone badmouths you. Swearing he'd keep you safe if you faltered somehow? Encouraging you and supporting you when you want to try and be your best self?" Ruby calmly listed off, in contrast to Cinder's further distressing expression. "Yeah, you're right. Someone who does all of those things doesn't care a lick about you. That's what you're trying to say. Does that make any sense at all?"

"Those are things he does for every one of his friends, what makes me any different?" Cinder uttered, not quite as confident as she was before, now looking anywhere that wasn't into Ruby's eyes. She was being awfully stubborn right now.

That was fine. Ruby can be stubborn too.

"You mean to tell me that you didn't have any immense feelings towards him the more you two encountered one another? Or that your instincts have been telling you that he would make for an ideal partner?" Cinder's eyes widened slowly at this, but Ruby wasn't quite done, her stride unbroken. "You didn't feel happy whenever he made you your favorite made foods? You didn't feel warm and cozy around him when he bathed you as a dragon and you both cuddled in the warmth of the moment? You don't feel elation and pride at fighting side by side with him?" Ruby listed off one after another, and Cinder slowly turned towards Ruby as shock and surprise forced her to confront Ruby's words. "You're really going to try and deny these things as if they don't matter to you? As if you weren't in love with him?"

There it was. She could see the distress dissipate into shock, her jaw dropping and her entire body still, as what remained of her composure shattered instantly.

"...How...how did you...I never...when...?" Cinder tried to find the words, still in disbelief over the fact that Ruby was being far too accurate with her words. She growled and shook her head. "Just shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

Ruby clutched tighter onto Cinder's wrist. "Think about this, Cinder. You know Jaune would do everything in his power to help you with whatever you can't handle on your own. With that in mind, do you have any idea how it would make him feel if you just chose to up and walk away from all you two have been through together, just for his sake? Just stop. Stop this before you make a decision you can never come back from. You're going to hurt everyone back at the Guild thing to do this, including Jaune. You definitely don't want that, do you?"

Ruby could see it within her eyes; the fact that she sees right through the charade that Cinder's trying to put up, and how they both know that the foundations for it were far weaker than she expected once she tallies up her experiences with everyone, Jaune in particular. She's desperately trying to come up with something, anything that could justify her being willing to walk away from the new life she's become a part of. A life where she could actually feel happy with herself as a person. She realized that she has so few legs to fall on here and were running out of more of them by the moment. She was making a huge mistake, and she knew she was.

Unfortunately, Ruby could also see the flash of fear and uncertainty across her eyes. And due to the sheer immensity behind them both, that was all it took for her to bury this realization before she could act on it, and thus she doubled down.

"...He doesn't dictate how I act. He has no control over me. Nobody controls me." Cinder uttered and seethed.

"Cinder, you know that's not what I-"

"NO!"

Cinder began breathing a beam of fire point blank, insistent on stopping Ruby before she could say more. Ruby was significantly quicker on the draw, kicking Cinder upwards before she could launch her ball of fire right at her. It ended up flying towards, utterly torching everything that was in its path.

"Listen to yourself! After all this, everything you've been through with us so far, you're just going to turn your back on it all?!" Ruby exclaimed at her while jumping over another torrent of flames, then sliding to duck under another that was headed for her.

"That's right! As of now, none of you mean a damn thing to me! You're all just nuisances to a superior creature such as I! I should have freed myself from you all well before this!". Cinder exclaimed back whilst blasting the area with even more fire. "You all can take your happy go lucky selves and go burn in hell!"

Ruby rolled about a bit, then began running on all fours again as Cinder fired a continuous stream of flames in an attempt to try and burn Ruby where she stood. Having gone in a full circle she was able to completely avoid it, her foot cracking the ground as she dashed towards Cinder in a full-on tackle, forcefully knocking her off her feet. She held out her hand to blast more fire, but Ruby immediately kicks at her wrist to disrupt her balance, sending the orb crashing elsewhere and decimating other portions of Forever Fall. Gritting her teeth, Cinder immediately punches Ruby across her face with a heated fist. Reeling yet undeterred, Ruby had already swiftly punched Cinder across her face as well, which sent the both of them stumbling away from each other for several moments.

"I know you don't really think that!"

"You don't know me at ALL!"

Snarling viciously, Cinder stomped her foot hard enough to utterly crater the area with blasts of fire, which Ruby avoided by leaping high into the air, her cape and tail rustling with the wind. Cinder flapped her wings and flew towards the air with a fireball building and firing from her maw. A gust of wind surrounded Ruby's wolf tail, and she swatted the fireball away with it. The detonation was powerful enough to briefly ignite the sky around them for several seconds, enough time for Cinder to close the distance and attempt slashing at her with her claws. Ruby swerved in midair and used a burst of wind to launch her into Cinder's back, sending her hurtling back onto the ground once more, further cratering the ground around them and knocking several trees down in the process. Ruby attempted to keep her down, but Cinder's scaly tail came about and smacked her right upside the head, leaving her vulnerable to Cinder slamming a fiery fist into her side, which exploded and sent her hurtling across the field.

Ruby eventually righted herself as she landed on all fours, before lifting her head to see Cinder's blazing eyes, as she was tugging on her scarf flowing in the coming breeze. Narrowing her eyes, eventually stands back up again while shaking off the dirt on her, with her lightly tugging on her own cowl. The area around them was becoming further wrecked, with it being torched by flames or torn apart by winds. The current area they were standing in was nearly destroyed. They were edging closer to some of the more mountainous parts of the area, where the leaves blew across them both.

"Cinder. You don't have to do this." Ruby insisted again.

"Shut up! I don't care what you say! This is the path I've chosen, and I fully embrace it! You can't tell me otherwise!"

Ruby sighed and shook her head. "I don't need to, because not even you really buy what you're saying. You're desperately trying to, but you can't fully commit to it. And we both know why that is."

"NO I DON'T!"

Enemy vampires and ghouls, along with their Grimm associates from the Glass Unicorn, could sense and even hear their conflicting battle from their position. With each of them a hundred strong, they decided upon their next prey and went on to their location to attack them.

Their attempted interference proved to be very unwise.

Ruby narrowed her eyes as she saw Cinder stand her ground, cracking it with a stomp to prepare herself, as she charges another fireball from her enlarged maw, and launched it towards Ruby once more. Ruby swiftly dodges under it, and the quickly growing fireball soon detonated, utterly obliterating half of the forest area they were in within a fiery explosive blaze. The remaining flames flickered and spreading even further around them in smaller explosions. The vampires and ghouls caught in the blazing inferno screeched with agony if they were still intact from the fireball utterly destroying everything in its way, and then succumbing to the powerful flames shortly afterwards.

Eyes furrowed, Ruby held out her hands to quickly form a scythe made out of rose petals, and horizontally slashed towards Cinder, sharp winds and petals rapidly building around it and growing larger by the second. Cinder flaps her wings and leaps high above the targeted area, as the winds and petals cleaved through everything in it's path, along with utterly flattening the other half of the forest area they were in with the debris picked up during the onslaught. Vampires and Grimm on their way were rather swiftly slashed into pieces from the razor winds and petals before they could even react, and crushed under the debris of rocks and large tree trunks carried by those winds if they could react to them at all.

They barely noticed that their duel was about to be interrupted, nor that they themselves have stopped it in its tracks. They were much more focused on each other. And more than that, they knew that those attacks wouldn't be enough to bring each other down.

Glaring heatedly, Cinder constructed two heated blades she quickly solidified, before launching herself towards Ruby and slashing down with the both of them. Ruby channeled Aura through her rose scythe and parried the blow, which caused fiery eruptions to ignite around them, and powerful gusts and spiralling rose petals to do the same.

"You can't let her bully you into doing this! It's exactly what she wants!" Ruby exclaimed as she parried several swift slashes from Cinder, who upped her ferocity with gritted teeth and savage growls. The force behind her blows was immense and wild, incredibly powerful. Though Ruby was able to offset her and parry each of her blows she was able to meet. Her strength as a werewolf coming in handy as she was able to keep up with a dragon's strength bearing down on her. Another parry sent a plume of flames across one direction, and a slash of rose petals in the other direction. The ground around them cracked and buckled further under the force of their clashes.

"I told you; this decision is entirely my own!" Cinder roared at her once more as she pushed forward with every blow, but Ruby continued to stand her ground, and refusing to lose any herself. "You're the one trying to get in my way, so take your naïve nonsense and leave me be!" Cinder roared again as her tail lashed at Ruby throughout the exchange, with the latter dodging under it, immediately following up with another breath of flames so close to her. Ruby shifted her head to the side, before another burst of flames forced Ruby back again.

"I can't do that. I won't." Ruby stared simply and to the point, as she moved forth and sliced through wave after wave of flames with her makeshift rose petals scythe, unblinking in the face of this onslaught. She twirled once and swung true, a gust of rose petals blasting forth and blowing away all of Cinder's current flames around her. They dispersed into embers, and even more petals battered against Cinder like hail, which she eventually shielded herself against with her wing. "There's no way any of us will accept it. Even if you go, we're going to follow you and fight anyway."

"That's utterly foolish!" Cinder tried to deny, unaware that she was blinking back tears.

"It's the way we roll."

"ENOUGH!"

More parries between the blades sent petals and embers all over the place, as Ruby continued parrying the fiery slashes that Cinder tent Ruby's way with her solidified dual swords. Ruby's skillful use of a war scythe allowed her to parry Cinder's blows and redirect them no matter how forceful they were. Another one was parried off to the right that incinerated the other trees behind her, where the left had gusts of wind further flatten whatever forestry was unfortunate enough to be in it's path.

Both of them clashed blades for the briefest time, before both of their weapons dissipated from forcing each other back. Cinder grits her teeth as she clenched her fist, once more smashing it into Ruby's face. Ruby didn't let up herself, having done the same and smashed her own fist against Cinder's, with both of them snarling at each other for their respective stubbornness.

Cinder bitterly growled as her flames were again blown away by the gusts of wind around her, even when they refused to go out. Rose petals danced around Ruby and protected her from wild embers around her, each of the petals channeling Aura to strengthen them. Cinder shook her head in aggravation.

Damn it damn it damn iT DAMN IT DAMN IT-

Cinder's hand shifted into her draconic claws, and Ruby's shifted into her werewolf claws. Both of them slammed their paws into each other, with the former's covered in flames and the latter channeling spiralling winds and petals. The clash ended up causing yet another burst of power that uprooted trees and cratered the ground around them, with the winds and petals almost helping spread the fires further. Within the center of the sphere of power, Ruby and Cinder were hovering slightly, with falling embers and petals surrounding them, pushed two and fro by gusts of wind. They landed and crashed into the ground.

"Ugh..."

"Guh..."

Cinder growled as she stood up, and Ruby snarled back as she stood up to. "Damn wolf. I'll finish this right-"

She wasn't given time to finish.

A bright beam of red blasted right through Ruby's chest. Due to mostly focusing on Cinder, she was given only seconds to defend herself from the sudden attack with Aura's reinforcement. Unfortunately, it was not enough to offset most of the damage done to her. She soon collapsed on her back, a sudden glowing and burning red mark on her chest, and through her back. She sputtered blood, trying to force herself back up but collapsing back onto the ground again.

"Ruby?! What ha-"

"You're taking too long. Don't you know that you shouldn't play with rabid dogs, Cinder?"

Cinder immediately turned towards the sound of the familiar and hated voice, only to be met with a vicious slap across the face. Harsh enough to knock her down onto the ground. With her energy having been somewhat spent after fighting Ruby, she didn't sense it coming. Though after she got over the initial shock, and seeing that Ruby had just been critically injured, she bared her fangs, clenched her fists and growled deeply and aggressively.

"At least you softened her up enough for my attack to be critical. Looks like you're not completely worthless, Cin-" Mara immediately caught the flaming fist heading towards her face, and she caught the other hand where Cinder's claws attempted to maul her face.

"I've had it with your talking down to me! I'm sick of it!" Cinder roared as she slammed her tail against Mara's side, making her grunt.

Mara was silent for a moment, though she furrowed her brows in irritation at Cinder's even bolder display of rebellion. "Are you certain that you wish to walk this path, Cinder? Because with your underdeveloped maturity, you will not be capable of enduring the consequences. But if you insist so badly..." Mara tightened her grip on Cinder's wrists, before she lunged forward and sunk her teeth deep into Cinder's neck.

"GRAAAGH?!" Cinder screeched/roared as her stepmother dug her fangs into her neck, and she felt some of her strength beginning to leave her. Her eyes were halfway lidded in under a minute, with her losing strength in her legs. She was on the verge of blacking out at this rate, unable to keep herself standing for much longer. She nearly blacks out entirely, unable to break free from Mara's grip.

"HRRRGH!" Mara hissed and seethed as she felt a slash against her back, and Cinder left her grip. She immediately turned towards the ones responsible, and nearly saw red when she saw Jaune holding up Cinder by her shoulder, eventually helping her stand. Again, it was that wretched human again, actively standing in her way, assisting the filthy dog in irritating her beyond belief. But it was no matter. She wiped the blood from her mouth. "You're interfering again, Arc."

"Yeah, me and my friends are known to be pretty bad with that." Jaune huffed, as he turned to Cinder. "Hey, you okay?" Cinder was just about to turn into a dragon just then. Her red scales had seeped in a bit, and Jaune blinked as he noticed another color. Obscure and nearly unnoticeable, but at least four separate scales were...white. Almost a bright, shining white. Barely noticeable beneath all the red, but he managed to catch it quickly. It didn't look like an injury, but it didn't match the rest of her scale color at all.

Did she notice?

"...She...drank...my blood..." Cinder uttered as she used his shoulder to heft herself back up, trying not to collapse where she stood. She looked to the side to see that Oscar also arrived, trying to help Ruby up. "My strength...has dwindled..."

"What?"

"I shall admit to this much, Cinder." Mara's voice got their attention again. "You've surely grown quite a bit. Matured. In body, in power...and most importantly...in blood." After this, she was surrounded in a spiral of green flames, which rose upwards towards the sky, which was already quite dark, and somehow got even darker. Plumes of smoke expanded outwards and nearly covered the entire area they were currently in.

Cinder could only gawk in disbelief at what was currently happening. Jaune was even more surprised than she was, shaking his head. "There's no way..."

"...I suppose this was the logical step to take, isn't it? I would like to believe so." A low, malevolent rumbling sounded across the area. "I was the only one among us that could handle your blood when it has fully matured. Now, we share blood. Now I really am your mother. Surely you will understand, now. You were meant to be my means of expanding my dominance and eliminating my enemies. And since you will not submit willingly, I will have to discipline you properly, as a mother should."

The green smoke and flames soon dispersed after a mighty flap of a pair of wings. The scales covering the body of the creature in front of them were nearly pitch black. It's wings have a sickly dark green underside, a similar color of it's underbelly. Each wing had a single sharp, giant talon. The creature itself had a sinister glow pulsing around it, it's neck frills and wings begin emitting a pulsating green light, its chest, front legs, and tail become covered in a dark green energy, with it's scales looking ever darker as a result. Its eyes glowed a similar color, akin to a phantom. It opened its maw for all of a few seconds, and a sickly smog emitting from its jaws, an orange tongue glistening against the razor sharp fangs. After taking a moment to bask in its newfound power, it briefly covered its body with its wings akin to a cape, and locked its eyes onto the ever stunned Cinder.

"...You're kidding me. A vampire dragon?! A dracopire?!" Jaune exclaimed in disbelief.

She said she was the only one who could handle Cinder's fully matured blood, which meant that her stepsisters drank it when it was still underdeveloped as she was a child. A vampire lady like herself, of high status and power, being the only one of her faction to even entertain this idea because she's likely the only one among them who could survive it. A massive boost of power, attaining the abilities of dragons and combining them with her present vampire powers.

This...may prove to be an issue.

"You are my weapon. That is all that you were meant to be, the moment you ended up in my clutches. You can either embrace that role peacefully without resistance, or you can suffer great agony within it for as long as you breathe." Mara laid down the law, her eyes glowing sharply. "You have no other options, Cinder. You never had an option. We are now blood bound. You can never escape me again."

"N-No...no no no..." Cinder shook her head, eyes widening as the terror gripped her again. It was worse than it ever was before, once she realized one of the key reasons why Mara kept her around. So that she could do this, if needed.

Jaune stepped up, shield in hand. "I'm not letting this ha-"

"Away with you."

Was all Mara uttered, as her maw opened and she fired a massive blast of green flames that exploded violently over the duo, and setting almost the entirety of the forest on fire and blasting away a chunk of the hills in front of them. The explosion of green flames completely destroyed a chunk of the area, smoke, embers, and flames covering everything that the eye can see. Mara soon closed her maw with smoke still billowing from her nostrils, observing the destruction around her, then she scoffed and turned towards Cinder, who was horrified.

"You know that this is all your fault. Your every thought of trying to defy and disobey your mother. All it ever leads to is pain. You'll most certainly be disciplined for wasting my time, and rebelling against me so. Eventually, no matter how long it takes, fully learn and commit to memory, the consequences of going against me, the one who allowed you to continue your existence." She turned her head towards Ruby and Oscar, and began building up more green flames. "Here's two potential consequences right now..."

"No! DON'T!" Cinder desperately pleaded, nearly stumbling over herself as she did so.

"If you care for them so that you'd allow yourself to be seen so pitifully, then you already know what must be done. If you really don't want me and my subordinates to kill them all...come here." Cinder shook slightly at first, unmoving. Then she yelped as Mara impatiently stomped hard enough to rumble the area. "Stall any longer and they die! COME! HERE! NOW!"

Cinder shook fearfully, all of her courage having vanished again. This wasn't happening, it just couldn't. She can't just allow herself to fold again, not after everything that's happened. This was something she wanted to avoid all her life, and now she was willingly going to walk back into it? Why?! What reason does she have?!

...

Cinder despondently lowered her head. She already knew the reason.

Mara watched with a glare as Cinder slowly but surely walked over to her as if she were being dragged against her will. Then she snatched her up in her giant paw and squeezed tightly, which made her yelp painfully, coughing as blood began running down her lips.

"Say it."

"G...Agh..."

"SAY IT."

"...W...Without you..." Cinder closed her teary eyes and lowered her head, as she quietly began sobbing. "I...am... n-nothing..."

Mara sighed while shaking her head. "Finally, you remember your place. You made this so much more difficult than it needed to be, with your irritating rebellion." Mara smiled as she lightly nudged her head against Cinder's, the latter badly flinching from her touch. "But now that you do remember and know what needs to be known, all shall be right with us. I'm so glad we can put this pointless feud in the past."

"Cinder...stop...she's not..." Ruby grunted as she nearly fell again, only for Oscar to catch her. She didn't think she could stay conscious with this injury if she fell to the ground again.

"I suggest you cease your obnoxious barking, dog. It is noisy and needless. We'll be leaving." Mara glared heatedly, before she slashed a blood portal open with her claws and stepped into it, quickly closing it behind her.

After several long minutes, a tree branch was pushed away. Barely managing to escape the worst of the blast, certainly not unscathed, Jaune grimaced as he was turned on his side, helpless as Cinder was snatched away in a matter of moments. "D...Damn it..." He slowly turned towards Ruby and Oscar, with the latter trying to help Ruby up. Jaune himself pushed himself off then ground and limped towards them. "Ruby...I need to at least help Ruby first...have to work together...j-just hang on... I've got-"

Oscar's eyes widened, as the space around him and Ruby was suddenly enveloped in a large glowing bubble of blood, that soon vanished from the area, stealing them away as well.

"...you...?"

Jaune could only mutter and stare in silent disbelief at what just happened. Ruby, Cinder, and Oscar have all just been taken away in different directions to parts unknown. And he, now alone in a destroyed forest, couldn't do a thing.

These thoughts plagued him, as Grimm began emerging from pools around him...

---

Before long, Oscar gasped as he ended up seeing a concrete ground right before his eyes. He easily lands on his feet, sighing from the close call. He then quickly looked up to see that Ruby was still falling. He hastily jumped forth and caught her, nearly collapsing from how sudden it was as a result. "Ruby, are you alright?"

"I've...been worse..."

"Oh, truly? Mind if we experiment with that for a little bit?" Both of them were suddenly on their guard as a shadowy mass soon rose up from the blood bubble in front of them. Pulling themselves out of the bubble, they soon flapped their wings, feathery and slithery, before they landed gently onto the ground with a hiss and a hoot. Lilith stood before them with a smile spreading across her mask. "Why hello, sweet little morsels!"

Ruby grimaced as she struggled to stand her ground against the Grimm Devil, but she grasped her chest and nearly collapsed again, with Oscar keeping her from hitting the ground. "Where's...Jaune and...Cinder...?"

"Oh, Mara snatched up your dragon friend and allowed me to whisk you two away, leaving your knight in shining armor looking REAL stupid at how utterly he failed at his job of having your backs. What kind of knight fails to protect his charges? How incompetent can he be? Where'd you even find a loser like that, anyway? HAH! What a fraud! As for who's here? It's just us three." Lilith spreads her arms as the duo realized they were surrounded by Vale's defensive forces, who were just finished trying to evacuate everyone to their shelters as soon as possible, which left most of the rest to try and combat the threats around them. "Well, almost. We have a bit of an audience. You'll have to forgive me, I didn't quite stretch before shuffling us around a little bit."

Oscar narrowed his eyes, cautiously surrounding himself and Ruby in a durable green barrier. This was seriously bad. Ruby needed to recover her fighting strength and Jaune was just sent to the other side of the city with a vampiric dragon, whilst they're cornered by Lilith. It wasn't looking good for either of them, especially with Ruby being unable to keep herself standing for longer than a couple seconds. He had no idea what went down between her and Cinder, but it left her in a compromising situation.

"Don't...insult...Jaune..." Ruby snarled, visibly trying to keep her eyes focused. Lilith already badmouthed her grandmother to her face and got away with it. Spitting on Jaune's honor was only going to make Ruby even more livid, and she can't afford that in her current state. She was already fuming over the fact that she was on the cusp of getting through to Cinder, and their arrival and actions almost immediately rendered it all moot.

"What about leaving us alone if Cinder gave up?!" Oscar noted immediately.

"Ah, that. You see, she did indeed say that in regards to herself and her subordinates on whether or not they kill Cinder's friends, she's willing to honor it. I don't remember her saying anything about me, do you? Of course not, because due to our shared contract, I'm more of a business partner than an out and out subordinate." Lilith tilted her head and chuckled. "Don't you just love loopholes? Too bad Cinder's too stupid and desperate to read the fine print! Those two, her and the knight, are pretty bad friends for you, Ruby. One is pitifully inept, the other is laughingly foolish. And look where that combo got you!"

Damn it all. Ruby mentally swore. She knew this would happen, she knew. But Mara's sunken her claws too deep into Cinder's mind to allow her time or space to think about that on the spot. They preyed upon her fear and desperation to get her to submit.

"Why do you feel the need to do all of this?!" Oscar cautiously began forming a barrier around himself and Ruby as he said this. Though he panicked slightly as he could see those who were prepared to engage the creature, unaware of how utterly out of their depth they were. "No, don't do it!"

Lilith"s smile spread as she waved around the firing of multiple blasters coming from all sides, effortlessly a avoiding them all. She easily summoned several serpent Grimm to lash out and bite into some of their necks, sometimes even tearing a chunk of them out.

"Do you know why sentient/sapient Grimm look down on humanity most of all? It's not because you're weak, oh no. You're far from outright weak, you're actually quite capable. The true reason we see humans as inferior, is that you're all so EMOTIONAL." Lilith began as a larger serpent Grimm grilled around a tank that seemed to be Atlas influenced, with it firing an energy bolt that she easily deflected with her owl wing. The serpent tail soon coiled around the tank and easily crushed it, killing those inside. "You all will fuss over the stupidest and valueless things, which can sometimes escalate from petty squabbles into outright wars. 'Oh no, my daughters are dead because of me!' 'Boo-Hoo, nobody respects me despite my high status!' 'Wah! My parents and village got destroyed in a Grimm Attack!' 'My daddy beat me up, so now I'll beat everyone else up too!' 'My stepmother was abusive to me, so now I want the world to burn!' You all are just so melodramatic. Always looking for excuses to hurt each other and make others suffer, and never taking responsibility for it once the consequences catch up to you. Humanity in particular, of all species, is notorious and pathetic for this."

Lilith soon sent out several owl like Grimm to other soldiers, with them attempting to blast them out of their flight but soon found the owl Grimm amongst them as they screeched and pecked their faces, with some of them reading their eyeballs right out of disemboweling them with their claws.

"It's fine, though. because being so emotional and pathetic makes you more fantastic to eat, and devouring them as they're filled with those negative emotions furthers our evolution. It's even funnier when those emotions cause them to destroy themselves."

Lilith was barely bothered by several of the energy bolts from the gun that did managed to hit their mark, as she simply raised her paw as spikes of blood suddenly shot upwards from the ground and impaled some of the soldiers where they stood, before they could even react. Oscar could only watch in horror at the slaughter, as he didn't want to risk Lilith lashing at them once his barrier drops, and he needed to focus on Ruby.

"And oh my, you're so cute, with that absolute terror on your face! I think I'll just eat you right up! No need to worry, I'll be sure to eat your aunt, too. I'm curious as to what she'll taste like when her negativity spikes from the realization of your death." Oscar's eyes widened at the prospect of his aunt being targeted, which only made Lilith smile even more, as several more, much larger serpent Grimm happened upon the struggling soldiers that attempted to fight their way past them, with some of them even managing to destroy some of their heads. But still, they were quickly overwhelmed as they were dragged about and devoured. "Of course, it doesn't have to be painful, even though I would prefer it. The easy way is simple. You can just walk quietly into my jaws, forget everything you ever were and would be, and allow me to swallow you whole. Or, you can buy yourself a bit more time to live and appeal to what little mercy I might have to give, by feeding Ruby Rose to me yourself."

Oscar was left mortified as all the defensive forces in the area had effortlessly been either torn mauled to shreds or eaten alive, leaving them alone with Lilith once more. He shook slightly at the carnage, though he kept his eyes narrowed. "That's not happening. None of those things are gonna happen!"

Lilith smirked at this. Of course they wouldn't give up so easily. "Oh, Ruby! Still conscious? Because I'd like you to listen to something!" One of her serpent Grimm dropped a Scroll into her paw, and she allowed it to play.

"Someone's got to do something about Salem!"

"So, she's responsible for a vast majority of the world's worst hardships, the wicked witch."

"She was even cruel enough to kill her own significant other when he got in her way!"

"And worse still, she's a vile murderer of her own children!"

"Salem is the worst evil this world has ever known!"

"Oh no..." Oscar muttered as he turned to Ruby, who's eyes were hidden under her hood.

"Dearest me, it doesn't look like your Grammy has a lot of fans." Lilith's playfully coos, seeing Ruby lower her head so her eyes couldn't be seen. "But then again, she's brought that on herself, hasn't she? Now all of Remnant will know her name again, the world's worst enemy. She will be hated all over, just like she's been many millennium before. Due to the sheer danger she poses just by existing, they will bear down on her and do whatever is in their power to destroy her, and everything and everyone she's connected to...including you. You and your loved ones risk the whole world branding you collaborators in her destructive quest to oppress and terrorize life itself. Simply by being connected with her. Simply by you 'loving' her, like a naïve grandchild does. That will be your ultimate burden, if you really wish to be a true 'inheritor' of her legacy." Lilith hissed softly with a cruel chuckle. "Maybe then, you'll finally realize that you've been a rose growing in the wrong garden. The Demon Queen's garden, where everything she touches wilts and rots. And you'll truly understand, that she was never meant to love anyone or be loved by anyone."

Lilith paused for a moment. She felt something in her chest, and she looked down, only for the glowing red eyes behind her mask to widen as she saw that a glowing sickle piercing into her chest. She suddenly collapsed onto her knees and coughed, wracked with agony filling her entire being. She slowly reached her claws up to the sickle that just tore into her chest, and she, with great effort, tore it out of her chest, throwing it to the side as it dispersed. Her head turned back towards Ruby, who had her hand out.

"...I don't care about how much you talk down to me...but...my Grandmother? Like I'm going to let just you of all speak of her with such disrespect. And even more..." Ruby slowly raised her head, and she glared with her eyes glowing silver, with her pupils themselves being a pure white. Furthermore, a glowing gold-white antler/horn was protruding from her head, though it was slightly broken looking due to how weakened and tired she currently was. "Whatever she's done and whatever happened, it doesn't change a thing about how I feel. I will not let anybody tell me whether I should or shouldn't love my grandmother! That will NEVER be something for anyone to decide but me!" Ruby glared fiercely, her eyes glowing. "Say another insulting thing about Grandma, and I'll cut you in half!"

Lilith's eyes narrowed behind her mask, glaring at Ruby. Even when she's so drastically weakened at the moment, that light of hers was no trifling matter. There's a lot of people in the world with light magic, but only those who were truly touched by it, such as Ruby herself as symbolized by her eyes, could wield the type of light that she does. A powerful light that was materialized and projected from their benevolent thoughts and emotions, and Ruby's was currently powered by the sheer love she has for her grandmother. It's such an intrinsic part of their being that destroying their eyes will not make this power extinguish.

Lilith had already tried that long ago, feeling too comfortable with her superior position at the time, and it was that miscalculation and misunderstanding that nearly got her annihilated. That near death experience from such an error weakened her enough that she entered a contract with Mara to help her restore her former glory, in exchange for her assistance.

Regaining her composure, Lilith scoffed, and smirked. "Very well. In 'respect' for the love that you hold for your grandmother, I'll just focus my efforts from here on out, on killing you and your friend here and now! The entirety of Vale will be my blood garden, and yours will be spilled across the lands in your honor! Aren't I gracious?"

"Oscar...we gotta move...I can't use any powerful attacks right now..." Ruby uttered with panted breaths. Oscar nodded, as he slowly picked her up into a carry, with her still holding out her hand, grimacing as her light faded just a bit. "We have to regroup with the others...have to find Jaune and Cinder...don't slow down for a moment...let me focus on the defense...just move."

"Got it!" Oscar nodded, glaring at Lilith once more, before he turned and retreated from the area. Lilith cackled madly at this and hastily pursued them, swarms of serpent Grimm and soaring owl Grimm chasing them down alongside her. Oscar wouldn't slow down for anything, him being deadset on reaching Jaune. Healing Ruby was the only way they could turn this on its head as soon as possible. Ruby snarled to herself, echoes of her werewolf instincts beginning to slightly seep into her thoughts.

Too wounded to fight. Enemy too strong to confront alone. Must escape. Find refuge, recover. Separated from mate, isolated and injured. Return to him. They take pack member away. Rescue her. Gather rest of pack, regain strength. Mara and Lilith, significant main threats to pack. Powerful, dangerous, ruthless.

Does not matter. Make them pay.

Nobody hurts pack. Nobody insults pack. Nobody makes pack cry. Nobody. NOBODY.

Confront enemy once more.

Fangs will rip them to shreds, claws will tear them apart.

NO MERCY.

---

Everyone's kind of having a bad day. Except for Lilith, she's having a blast. She's just gotten her full power back and is just happy to be a part of all this.

Ruby obviously having it especially since her grandmother has just been incriminated for crimes she both did and didn't commit. Salem's reputation and legacy have gained a permanent black mark, due to the added testimony of the entity known as Jinn. With all the knowledge she has of the past, she knows full well what Salem is and isn't guilty of...and she's also unfortunately aware that what Salem isn't guilty of, will not matter at all.

Salem's genuinely guilty of some of her crimes against humanity. And that, on top of the stunt that Lilith just pulled with her face, body, and voice, will taint any attempts at appealing/proving the goodwill of her present day self. In terms of incriminating Ruby's Grandma, Lilith's achieved that particularly goal, quite decisively.

On top of all of this, Cinder's also been whisked away, under an agreement that's near immediately rendered pointless. The colorful topping on a day that just hasn't been the best.

Though of course, Ruby isn't about to just allow all of this without biting back. And being a powerful werewolf, her bite is every bit as vicious as one would expect.