CHAPTER 31: OPERATION MAGICAL ACQUISITION

1737 Hours, December 1, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas, Village of Watertown

The Master Chief was in his element fighting the Grimm. For nearly thirty years, he had fought against the Covenant, an inhuman threat that endangered everything that he had been raised and trained to protect. Despite the brutality of the war on both sides, in a way, he was grateful for what it gave him: purpose.

Fighting Insurrectionists and even the White Fang, while useful also carried a somewhat uneasy feeling in the back of his mind. At the end of the day, they were people he was killing, and it was his duty and honor to fight and protect Mankind. The Faunus might not be human, but they were close enough that he would gladly fight to protect them.

The little girl Lilac was proof of that. She had animal ears, but at the end of the day, she was a little girl who felt the same as any human in the UNSC. His hidden soft spot for children aside, the spartan had no quarrel with protecting Faunus. Personally, he did not understand the prejudice and racism that they faced, nor did he agree with it.

That was why, right now, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered by the Grimm, he did not flinch one bit. All the monsters of the world could come to him and he would gladly put himself in harm's way to protect the people of this world. UNSC none of these people were, but they were still people. That was enough for him.

John carried his battle rifle at the low ready and charged ahead, taking full advantage of his augmentations in conjunction with MJOLNIR to cross the distance and strike at the beast who wanted to destroy this small, but peaceful village. The first contact, a Beowolf, was met with a three-round burst to the face, the rounds enough to penetrate the soft sections not covered by white bony armor.

He then twisted his torso to fire another burst at an Ursa, the rounds catching in its paw, causing it to fall back in pain. He then quickly holstered his weapon on his back and went in to kick it in the legs, causing the bear-like abomination to collapse on its stomach, leaving him able to stab in the back of the neck.

A trio of Beowolves tried to take him from behind, but he narrowed and ducked several claws slashing at him, rolling to the side in order to slam his clenched first into one midsection with enough force to cave in the chest and send the foe into the air. He then brandished his BR55 and dispatched the second by firing into its nose cavity, causing "blood" to pour out. The third met a swift end by missing a swipe and getting three rounds to the bottom of the head.

The Master Chief only took a microsecond to assess the multiple enemies converging on him. He quickly dashed to an incoming Boarbatusk, avoided a ram, and used the butt of his weapon to smash it off course, causing it to collide with another of its kind. With the undersides exposed, two more faded into dust.

His perception of time was slowing around him, his Spartan Time senses engaging on instinct. With every target that he perceived by his own senses or by MJOLNIR's systems, he was systematically assessing each one and calculating the fastest method of dispatching them all; he would need to be conservative with every kill.

The armored man readied a frag grenade, pulling the pin, but not letting go of the spoon. He then dashed forward, intercepting a group of four Creeps. Being much smaller Grimm, they were much more nimble, but it was nothing he could not handle. He aimed his battle rifle, downing all of them with four bursts, switching between targets within microseconds. They were not dead yet, but a quick grenade lobbed into the ground changed that quickly.

The spartan then narrowly dodged several large feathers raining down on him, weaving between the projectiles. Looking up, he saw a Nevermore. For a moment, he looked between the airborne threat and then back to the horde that was still surrounding him. As much as the ground Grimm was a problem, air superiority changed things.

It was unfortunate that he didn't have the Pelican programmed for autopilot action so that he could focus solely on ground combat, but now wasn't the time to think about what he could have, only what he could do right now. Despite his situation being unfair and stacked against him, there were ways to win. There always was.

So he was about to try something new: summoning weapons mid-combat. He'd never done it before because quite frankly, he was able to make what he had on hand work and there wasn't a need to use any more force than necessary, but there was a time and place for everything.

John began to visualize an M41 SPNKr and as he did so, his battle rifle that he carried transformed into the weapon that he needed on hand; the process was quick, taking only a few seconds. He would've marveled at the miracle before him but now wasn't the time. He had an enemy to knock out of the sky.

He readied the rocket launcher, letting its targeting systems lock onto the Nevermore before he pulled the trigger, watching the explosive projectile hone in on the target, and for good measure, he fired another rocket, the weapon now empty.

The first rocket met the bird-like Grimm to its side, punching a hole through its body, enough to cause the monster severe damage, but now enough to kill it. Still the flying creature began to lose control of its body. Then the second rocket stuck where the right wing met the body and the ensuing explosion resulted in a one-winged enemy that quickly fell from the sky in an uncontrollable descent.

The Master Chief quickly placed the spent M41 on his back and brandished his sidearm, pushing the limits of his augmentations and MJOLNIR so that he would have space enough to avoid the falling Nevermore. For the most part, the Grimm didn't change their demeanor, but they appeared less organized and more feral. It looked like the Alphas were out of play, leaving the small fry to fend for themselves.

Or at least for this horde.

He fired off several headshots, the HE rounds enough to pop some heads clean off in a black mist. He then followed up with a savage kick to the limb of a Beowolf with enough force to dislocate the appendage. He then put a bullet through one ear and out the other.

The carnage that he had created was enough to create a very thick cloud of black mist that was going up into the air, but despite seeing their brethren being taken down in droves, none of the Grimm hesitated to push forward and try to kill him. Their limitless capacity for violence was almost something to respect.

But if there was one thing that the spartan, it was this: violence without reason was pointless. It accomplished nothing and anyone that used it as a first and last method was nothing more than a mindless entity. Anyone could become aggressive under the right circumstances; it was the individuals who could control these dark impulses that would ultimately win the day.

The Grimm, now aware of the threat that the spartan posed, now seemed to abandon their hunt for the village in favor of tearing him apart, which suited the mission just fine. Limited or no civilian casualties were always better. That was why he was here and that was why his team was here.

Still, they did not abandon their sheer desire for death and destruction as they single-mindedly began to focus on him. He merely responded in kind. Remaining in motion was now his number one priority and one shot one kill was going to be his go-to right now. So long as he remained nimble and deadly, he would be fine.

But a little firepower would not hurt, and in this case, he believed he had the perfect weapon in mind for a little close-quarters combat.

John had never gotten much use from the Type-2 Energy Hammer, having only encountered Brutes during the final months of the war, but he could not deny its deadliness in clearing out large groups of enemies quickly due to the sheer amount of power and force that it output in a single swing.

He leaped onto the back of an Ursa, then used the false bear as a springboard to jump even higher. As he became airborne, he relinquished his spent M41 and replaced it with the melee weapon in mind. As he came back to the ground, he swung the Gravity Hammer down, the force enough to knock down all enemies within a ten-meter radius.

The man clad in MJOLNIR armor then proceeded to assassinate all of them using the back end of the weapon. In less than five seconds, he had managed to kill some twelve enemies.

The Master Chief squared up to his next enemy.

Halo - - - RWBY

1742 Hours

Four against one. Usually, such odds would be considered unfair in society. After all, the Vytal Festival pitted four-man teams against each other in combat to find the best of the best and crown them champion, but there was one thing that society forgot about; combat was about life and death and the only victors were the living; the prize for second place was death. That was why Ruby had no qualms about taking her team and engaging the lone enemy that stood before them, glowing with… magical power.

It definitely wasn't magic because the entire fucking sky was changing before their very eyes and the woman floating in the air surrounded by a power that definitely wasn't aura was plain to see.

Ruby saw what she could only describe as a buildup of power, which prompted one word to come out of her mouth.

"SCATTER!"

Everyone didn't hesitate to follow her order and use whatever means available to put distance between themselves and the crazy bitch that was trying to get them killed. A moment later, an explosion rushed out of the flying female. All of them managed to avoid the blast, but not all of them managed to escape the shockwave.

Red managed to evade by using her semblance to go up into the sky, then back to the ground, landing on two feet.

White activated her semblance, which appeared as a snowflake on her feet and she bounced up and around.

Black could not evade in time and it was only thanks to yellow flaring up her aura and grabbing the former by the hand that she didn't go flying away.

Ruby aimed her weapon roughly at the enemy and took a shot. While the black-haired human woman appeared to intercept the shot, she was caught off guard by the speed and the force behind the round, causing her aura to flare lightly, although not as much as her dead and unconscious minion.

Belladonna fired her SMG in a spray-and-pray fashion, not exactly a great way to engage, but given the unusual situation they were in, standard training was going to need a few modifications to work. Plus, they were more specialized in unconventional combat anyway seeing as they lacked numbers.

Yang didn't hesitate to follow up with a volley of 40 mike mikes, forcing the airborne woman to dodge the first two, but she didn't account for the fact that the CQC specialist had read her movements and adjusted her fire so that when she dodged again, she couldn't stop her movement and therefore was an easy target for the third shot, which hit her square in the chest with enough force to send her flying back to the ground, a small cloud of dust resulting from her impact.

"GET ON LINE!" Ruby called out. "KEEP YOUR SPACING!"

The former terrorist and her sister understood what that meant and they immediately spaced themselves out some fifteen meters from each other. Schnee watched what was going on and managed to pick up on what to do quickly, even if she didn't necessarily understand why they were doing it at first.

Until the enemy began to rain down literal fire on them, the resulting explosion scattering all around. All of them didn't break formation while evading the blows meant for them while firing back with their respective weapons, a rain of fire of their own. Again, while the individual weapons fire didn't have much of an effect, their combined efforts were rewarded as the lone female's aura began to glow brighter.

Then seemingly out of nowhere an explosion of power came from her body, rendering any incoming fire useless, melting into slag. Then she extended her hand out, resulting in what appeared to be some sort of mark on the ground, like a shadow outline of an eye. Regardless, none of them were interested in sticking around to find out what they did. Once again, they dispersed, this time breaking formation, but they didn't relent on the return volley of fire. If anything, everyone was getting an itchy trigger finger.

With all of them more or less doing the same thing, none of them could be targeted specifically because none of them presented any unique skills that were worth taking out first, so the magical woman once descended to the earth and then charged forward. Her speed was surprising.

She first went for Ruby, to which the sharpshooter instantly retreated, turning into a tunnel of rose petals. Close-quarters combat wasn't her strong suit and chances were this woman was better than she was; there was no point in fighting a battle that she was going to lose. She was all about being at a distance.

When the ashen-haired human had no one in front of her, Blake and Yang immediately moved in to attack her. The two-on-one proved quickly that their lone enemy was indeed very skilled in fighting. She was somehow able to hold them off without appearing to struggle. That being said, both black and yellow were unrelenting in their assault, not allowing a single moment of counterattack.

Meanwhile, the sharpshooter quickly trained her scope on the battle. She couldn't get a clear shot without potentially clipping either of her girls. All she needed was one clean headshot and this would end in an instant. If only she could alter the battle just a little bit so that she could get the opening she needed.

"Schnee, go behind, try to get her there!" Ruby pointed her non-trigger hand behind the action.

The white-haired girl nodded. Then she began to move at speeds that seemed unnatural, even for an aura user. It took a moment for the sniper to realize that the girl was using what appeared to be glyphs to enhance her own movements, her semblance most likely. She would need to ask for the details at a later time.

Blake activated her semblance and began to "attack" in multiple directions, a ploy that was seen through by the lone fighter, who simply channeled more fire into an area attack, leaving only a trace of gold to indicate that the clones were once there, but it was enough of a distraction for Yang to knock her in the back of the head. The blow was enough to cause another glow in the aura, this one brighter than the last.

That got some rage in the ashen-haired human's eyes as she then began to hurl her hands out with pure jets of flame. Everyone took evasive maneuvers.

Ruby transformed into petals and flew high into the air.

Schnee leaped to the right, using her semblance to aid her.

Blake channeled her aura into her legs and leaped back as far as she could.

Yang didn't let any of it hit her, instead dodging and going on the counteroffensive.

It felt like this fight was working like how her sister used to fight in the old days: hit her harder, she would go on the offensive harder. Basically, it was going to devolve into a slugfest to see who could kill the other first with overwhelming force. It was far from what huntsmen and huntresses would do in their fights. Elegance and being cool were what mattered, sometimes even more so than being practical.

"What's the plan?" Schnee returned to her side, her M6D at the ready.

The silver-eyed girl looked at her compatriot and contemplated what to do. Seconds mattered and she wasn't about to stick around and find out what happened when this particular animal was backed into a corner.

Ruby gritted her teeth lightly. "Ice Queen, what's your semblance?"

"Glyphs." Schnee appeared somewhat annoyed. "I can provide support as well as assault."

Support was a broad term. "Explain."

"I can… augment abilities, manipulate time, summon familiars-"

Ruby cut her off. "Good enough. I've got a plan. And you're going to help me execute it."

Truthfully, it was a long shot at best, but they weren't in a position to come up with an ideal plan. They'd have to make do with what they had now and adjust their fire on the fly. They could only pray that the Gods gave them luck, not that the sniper was much of a believer in the first place.

"BACK!" She called out to the two fighters on the field.

Black and yellow immediately retreated from their attack, albeit with a confused look, and rejoined the team.

Yang gave her own two lien. "Plan?"

"Plan." Ruby mirrored her sister. "Alright, here's the play…"

Just as she suspected, it was a crazy plan and the looks on the others' faces confirmed just as much.

RWBY - - - Halo

1745 Hours

Weiss wasn't sure if this was going to work. She knew that these people were insane when she first met them, but now their insanity had just crossed into new territories. The fact that she was even going along with it meant that she too was crazy. Then again, given her circumstances, a little break from sanity was probably to be expected.

That being said, despite her reservations, she had to admit that it was a bold plan if nothing else. It certainly was not anything that she could concoct on her own. Her instruction in combat relied upon more conventional huntress methods, things that were established and proven to work thanks to experience.

But the heiress was wise enough to recognize that conventional methods could easily be exploited given enough study. The White Fang was the perfect example of what unconventional fighting could do. That was why she had said nothing about this plan; it might go against what she knew, but what she knew was not likely to be of much help in this scenario. Much as she did not like it, she had to back down.

The Master Chief had put his trust in this Ruby girl. Weiss had her doubts as to whether this girl, the youngest out of them all, was capable. So far, she had not lost her calm, but she could not be that experienced. The way she moved, how she talked, it all spoke to someone trying to be confident, but not quite being truly so.

A part of her pride wanted to take over; this situation was becoming too chaotic and the heiress was trained and educated to lead. It was her birthright and her heritage, but more than that, she was in a situation where in terms of herself, control was all but nonexistent. She despised that feeling of lacking control.

The problem was that the Atlesian native was working with people who fought and worked much differently than she was trained. Whether she understood it or not, they worked well together and she was the outsider in this situation. She was prideful, but she was far from brain-dead. Rebellion here would serve no purpose but to cut her off from perhaps the only people who could help her return home.

So Weiss decided to swallow her pride and play along. Maybe there was something worth gleaming from all of this madness. She was nothing if not an opportunist; she would be a fool to not try and exploit this experience. How often was it that she found herself in a life-and-death situation? Perhaps this would prepare her.

If she survived, that is.

At this point, the only thing left to fall back on was the grace of the Gods, and if They were willing, this fight would end in victory.

"Scheme all you like," the woman whose name they still didn't know declared haughtily, "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

Lovely company, their adversary was.

The blonde girl was up first, but before she moved to attack, she took a lock of hair into her hands and pulled hard, causing some of the strands to disconnect from her head. The reaction was immediate as she lit up, a golden hue surrounding her and her eyes turning from lilac to bloodshot red. Then with unexpected speed, she charged forward.

At first, the aggression appeared as nothing more than a brute launching a fast, but predictable attack. That notion was instantly dashed when moments before impact, the brawler flipped over the older woman, using her right leg to kick the back of her head, causing the enemy to stagger forward for a moment.

Which was more than enough time for the cat faunus to use a ribbon to wrap tightly around the neck, then pull on both ends, causing a few seconds of gasping of air from the lone fighter. Then a savage kick to the back of the left knee caused the choking female to fall to the ground, still struggling to get free.

Then she realized that it was her moment to act. She quickly channeled her semblance into the ground so that she could freeze her opponent solid from the lower body up to her neck. Even in a frozen state, the Faunus did not relent on the choking motion, keeping firmly in place despite no doubt feeling the effects of the ice.

Rose then lined up her rifle, only taking a moment between aiming and pulling the trigger. In the split second before her trigger finger curled completely, the former terrorist ducked down. Then an ear-splitting shot rang out. The frozen foe, struggling between a lack of air and the inability to move, was unable to do anything as the bullet struck her square in the forehead.

The resulting headshot resulted in her head snapping back and what remained of her aura shattering with a bright glow. The four of them surrounding her, they closed in, their weapons at the low ready. She was not dead and there was no telling what she would do now that she had no aura.

They did not have to wait long; the ice containing her shattered, sending fragments and gusts of wind in all directions. Everyone immediately dodged in whatever way they could, simultaneously aiming with their respective weapons. A moment later, the sound of four weapons discharged.

One round from the sniper.

One round from her own borrowed pistol.

A burst of rounds from the silenced weapon.

One buckshot from the shotgun wielder.

What followed was the sight of bits and pieces of human coming off the body, followed by a surprising amount of blood. The only part of the body that remained relatively intact was the head, but given the blood loss that was happening in addition to the rest of the body being a mangled mess, an intact head was moot. Collapsed on her back, she appeared nothing more than a dead body.

For a moment, there was no movement and once again, the four of them closed in. Surely she ought to be dead by now.

… and then a bloodied cough emitted from her mouth followed by some globs of blood as well.

"The fuck?" Xiao Long immediately raised her weapon. "How is she not dead?!"

She either had an incredible constitution, enormous willpower, luck, or a combination of all three, not that it would matter.

And she still had the energy to gasp out some words. "I… will… not… be… de-"

There was no point in dragging this out any further.

"Didn't I tell you to shut the fuck up?" The blond-haired girl kicked the nearly-dead woman in the head. "Blake, you do it. I had my kill."

The faunus girl approached without hesitation, but she did not draw her firearm, but rather a knife.

Amber eyes narrowed with dull energy. "I… will… not… beg… Blake… Belladonna"

"Not that it would do you any good." Golden eyes simply looked back with an even expression, not flinching at her name.

And with a swift motion, a knife found itself slit across the throat, delivering the final killing blow swiftly.

Weiss stared at the sight with many thoughts. Death was nothing new to her; the White Fang had exposed her to death very early in life and her father had done little to censor the truth of the matter from her. It was an unpleasant aspect of life that everyone had to face, especially herself given her heritage.

To see the brutality of it in person and to know that she had a hand in it felt strangely different than merely witnessing it from a screen. She might not have been the one to end the life, but her actions had contributed to this endpoint. The fact that she did nothing to stop the deed from being done solidified her complicity.

But the heiress was hardly disgusted with what was going on in front of her. Quite the opposite. If she had to describe the feeling she had right now, it would be satisfaction. It felt good to rid the world of such a deranged madwoman who would control Grimm. Such abominations in human skin did not deserve to live.

Her musings were interrupted as she felt something in the air change. It was as if the atmosphere itself was alive with energy. It was not like using dust; it felt like that mysterious power that the now-dead mastermind had used in lieu of her broken aura. Whatever it was, it felt powerful, almost oppressingly so, like being buried under the weight of a much larger enemy.

All eyes turned to witness with looked like Belladonna glowing with golden energy that was not her aura. Her eyes were closed for a second, then they opened, revealing something else.

If ever there was a time to expand her own belief, Weiss felt that now was the time to do so. She would not pretend to understand what she was witnessing. She could only bear witness to something extraordinary.

RWBY - - - Halo

1748 Hours

Blake was cutting her knife through a that one moment.

Now she was in a white space with no clearly defined features.

"Where am I?" The former terrorist looked around her.

The voice that responded was familiar, yet alien. "... I suppose this was destined to happen. Curse the Gods."

The faunus girl whirled around to see the woman that she thought she had killed.

"No. You're dead." Blake immediately got into a fighting stance. "I just killed you."

Her opposite laughed bitterly. "You did, but before I move to hell… or wherever I'm going, I've got a gift for you… or I should say, half of one at least."

"...what… are you going on about?" The words weren't hostile, but there was something she didn't get about them either.

The ashen-haired female stared for a moment. "You're about to inherit power beyond your wildest imaginations, but with that power comes dangerous enemies on both sides."

"The only side I'm on is HIS side." Blake knew exactly where her loyalty lay. "Everyone else isn't my concern."

For a moment, both of them held each others' gaze, amber eyes against golden eyes, the former being almost contemplative while the latter appeared uncertain.

The older woman laughed lightly. "Him… you're not referring to Adam Taurus… are you? You're talking about your new master. Tell me, what does your new master promise you that you would fight for him?"

This was a question that she had considered herself before. She knew perfectly well that she didn't have an emotional connection with the Master Chief, or at least not on his part.

"... because he is strong." Blake wasn't sure how to better explain.

A look crossed the human's face. "Well, it makes no difference to me. Whether you like it or not, you will inherit this power that I stole. Well, part of it, at least."

"What power?" The former terrorist narrowed her eyes.

A sinister grin was her response. "The power to control Remnant. I will even save you the effort of searching for answers and reveal all that I know. What you do make it all is up to you."

The cat girl had an inkling of what this might be about.

Halo - - - RWBY

1750 Hours

When the body collapsed, Blake felt a burning sensation course through her body, like her entire body coming into contact with a hot stove surface. She fell to the ground on all fours, the pain causing her to let out a scream.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"Kitty kat!" Yang was the first to respond. "What's going on?!"

The voice of the blonde wasn't enough to drive away the agony, but it was enough for the Faunus female to regain at least some semblance of control. Then the pain immediately subsided, almost as if it was never there to begin with.

The cat girl steadied herself for a moment, letting her breathing rate go down before carefully rising to her feet.

Ruby stepped up. "What was that?"

The black-haired girl wasn't sure how to explain it, but she knew immediately what she had. It was like someone had taken a scroll and hooked it directly into her brain in order to feed her the knowledge she needed.

"...this." Blake raised her left hand palm-up.

Then she willingly lit a flame into existence, an ability that they all knew she didn't have prior to this fight.

For a moment, nobody said a word as they began to process what they were currently witnessing.

Then the brawler summed up what they were all thinking, Schnee aside.

"Well... okay then... "

Whoopsies. Looks like Blake accidentally became the Fall Maiden, or at least half of one. Where do we go from here? Hmmmm...

So I said that Weiss would get her time, and it is, but just like with Blake, it's also important that she sees her future sisters in arms work and form her own opinion. Ruby and Yang aside, none of these girls are friends. The only things holding them together are professionalism, a common goal, and the Master Chief. Emotional closeness will take much more time.

Thoughts on this chapter? Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

"War is society's dirt work, usually done by kids cleaning up failures perpetrated by adults."

Karl Marlantes