RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

77. Salem Strikes Part VI: Counter Attack

Please note that this chapter and the last one, as well as the next, are happening at the same time.

Chapter 76: Salem Strikes Part VI, Counter Attack

In the twenty-odd minutes since she had arrived, Odinson had answered Winter's insistent questions in a mostly professional manner, with the occasional vulgarity slipped in here and there when he had to answer a question regarding someone he hated such as some businessperson who had crossed him in the past or some criminal scum from the Mistrialian underworld causing him troubles. Winter had to admit he was quite good at acting, because while she didn't doubt in the slightest Odinson was indeed hiding something, to the untrained eye or mind he would most likely come off as a decent man with some morally questionable moments from his past or questionable ethics in terms of his business.

But given what a man of his reputation had to be capable of, Winter saw past the friendly façade easily and knew that there was something he didn't want them to know about. Back before she had trained to be a Specialist, her father had been grooming her to inherit the S.D.C. and had taught her to recognize the body language of certain people, to see the true faces behind the veils. The reputation of Garrett Odinson was that of a shrewd, somewhat ruthless businessman who had used dominating tactics to create his own company and the accompanying businesses it owned, along with some not-so-secret connections to the criminal underworld of Mistral if one knew where to look.

And one had to wonder if any of those connections extended to the Dark Queen herself.

"…and so, that's all I have to say, Specialist." Odinson said as he answered her final question regarding his last association with Damien Ante, professional or otherwise, "I haven't seen Ante in half a decade, and other than some rumors about his relocation to Vacuo, I've no idea what he's up to now."

Winter nodded as she turned her head a little to glance back at Central who was standing behind her. The leader of Task Force Omega studied her gaze for a moment before inclining his helmet a little in reply: He wasn't completely buying Odinson's act either. While there was some truth in the answers Odinson had provided to them, it was also clear that he wasn't being completely truthful with her, he was definitely hiding something.

The virtual interface of Central's helmet suddenly pinged with an inbound emergency message, and it was tagged with the highest security clearance that he had ever seen. Knowing that it definitely wasn't from Shocker since he had already received a small message just seconds earlier that the secondary objective had been achieved, the task force commander was about to blink-click the message when Jammer spoke up urgently, "Commander Central, incoming emergency call from Omega Two!"

"Put it through. Authorization: Alpha Two-Five-Nine." Central allowed, and Jammer transferred the urgent transmission through to the advanced communication devices in the helmets of all five Omega troopers standing around in Odinson's office.

"What in the name of the Four Gods…oh no…" Central spoke as felt his heart rate spike alarmingly while Jammer, Javelin, Invictus and Fieros all reacted with horrified shock behind their faceplates.

"What is it, Central?" Winter asked as she turned her head slightly to look at him carefully, "What's wrong?"

"Omega Two reports that an emergency transmission has reached all available Atlesian military units that Atlas is currently under a Kingdom-wide assault." Central informed her, "And that the capital of Vacuo is under siege as well!"

Winter's normally stoic face instantly changed to one of dread as her mouth dropped slightly for a moment, then she spun towards the shocked Odinson and demanded, "Turn on that television. I need to see what's happening!"

Odinson immediately obliged, pressing a few buttons on his table which turned on his holographic television to display what was currently happening on a news channel. Upon its screen was shown a live aerial feed of the attack on Mantle City, where various types of Grimm and multiple Grimm Knights were rampaging throughout the Atlesian metropolis despite meeting serious resistance from law enforcement officers, Atlas soldiers, as well as Huntsmen and Huntresses from Atlas Academy.

"What you are seeing now is the horrific sight live from Mantle City in Atlas, just one of the many Atlesian cities now suffering attacks from the creatures of Grimm and what looked like killer robots. For those of you just joining us, we've received additional reports of full-scale Grimm incursions in many other cities and towns all throughout the northern Kingdom." The voice of the well-known news anchor of Mistral, Barry Brick, sounded through Odinson's personal office, "We have also been informed that Councilwoman Maximilius of the Atlas Council has issued a statement saying that all available Atlas military units have been mobilized to repel these awful attacks and save as many lives as possible, but unconfirmed rumors coming from various anonymous sources have shown that several of those military bases and outposts have come under Grimm attack as well!"

"Good Oum…" Fieros muttered in shock.

Central quickly opened a private communication channel to the Retribution, "Omega Two, contact Atlas military headquarters and ask them if they want us to fly back. It'll take a while but we can't stand around here while our homeland is in danger!"

"Mr. Odinson, switch to another channel." Winter snapped at Odinson, who was shaking a little by now, "Find something about what's happening in Vacuo right now! My younger sister is there!"

Odinson nodded and tapped the surface of his table once more, changing the channel to yet another news station with this one showing the black smoke-covered skyline of Vacuo City, with Vacuo Ranger and Desert Guard airship flying above the Vacuoan capital and blasting away flocks of Nevermore, Griffons and swarms of Lancers. Winter felt her eyes widen when she caught sight of the Hyperion One execute a series of evasive maneuvers while its many armaments continue to put out tremendous amounts of firepower into the aerial Grimm flocks, providing covering fire for battling Vacuo Ranger squads on the streets. Civilians and soldiers ran in every conceivable direction while a giant Deathworm smashed its way through the capital's streets and demolishing everything that's in its way, and explosions seemed to be happening everywhere at once.

"-'ve gotten reports that students from Shade Academy are working in tandem with the Vacuo Rangers, the Vacuo City police, and the Desert Guards to push back against the monsters wherever. There are also unconfirmed sightings of several unknown armored warriors fighting alongside the Vacuoan military forces at the East and West Walls, Council palace buildings, and the major downtown areas." A female Antelope Faunus reporter spoke tersely from the rooftop to her cameraman, both of them safely hidden behind cover, "We also have further confirmation that a large terrible battle which initially began at the gates of Shade Academy, but has since dispersed into different areas of the capital city. Casualties at this point are unknown…"

There was a deafening roar that suddenly split the air, and the camera angle switched to see over the lip of the roof to reveal a gigantic Deathworm thundering its way through the sandstone buildings of Vacuo City in the distance, with the female reporter speaking again, "Oh gods above, what kind of Grimm is that?" She was abruptly cut off when there were tense shouts from a Vacuo Ranger squad which had barged onto the rooftop nearby and was hollering for the news crew to evacuate the area immediately.

"They've made their next move." Winter muttered with a voice filled with dread, and Central nodded in silence. A clearly distressed-looking Odinson hit another button on his table to mute the television, although the horrific images from the news report continue to play across the holographic screen.

"Commander, we need to leave. Now." Invictus spoke up through the task force's private communication channel, taking a step forward.

"Without the proper authorization from Ironwood or anyone from the Atlas Council to scrub our current assignment, we need to continue the mission." Central replied firmly.

"With all due respect, Commander…screw permission, we gotta go!" Jammer insisted, looking at the task force's leader directly, "The Kingdom is in terrible danger!"

"We still have a mission here, and even if we do leave now we probably wouldn't make it in time." Central pointed out grimly to his team. He felt his gauntleted fingers tightening into fists as he spoke, knowing that he hated the facts facing him at the moment. Right now he needed to be back in his Kingdom, protecting the people he had sworn an oath to protect when he joined the Atlas military force. He prayed his mother would be safe and sound, but then again knowing her she would definitely be prepared for such a dire situation.

Unexpectedly the sounds of gunfire were heard outside Odinson's personal office, which got everyone's attention. Almost instantly each Omega Trooper drew his or her own weapons into their hands, with Central doing the same thing as he brought his customized multi-purpose assault rifle into a guard stance while Winter laid a gloved hand on the wide, crescent-shaped guard of her dueling saber.

"What the hell is happening?!" Odinson cried as the noise got closer. Winter shared a look with Central, the latter giving her a nod. The Atlesian Specialist and her assigned Task Force Omega commander both had a fairly good idea of what was currently happening with another member of Central's team.

The huge office doors were suddenly flung open by one of Odinson's panicked guards, stumbling into the room with a bruised face. He turned just in time to get an armored fist hitting him right in the face, dropping to the ground in a lifeless heap before the unconscious body of Seymour Barnes was thrown onto the meeting table in the middle of the room, accidentally activating the console on the side and projecting a holographic map of Mistral's capital over the beaten, electrically-shocked man.

Winter, Odinson and his four guards, and the rest of Task Force Omega all looked over to see Shocker standing in the doorway, somewhat a little battered from the fight he had just been in. The Omega Trooper still had his sparking shock baton in one fist, and Central almost felt sorry for any of Odinson's guards who had met the business end of Shocker's signature weapons.

"What…what is the meaning of this?!" Odinson demanded furiously, fresh sweat beading on his forehead.

"What does it look like? I got your little assistant here to talk, old man," Shocker pointed his shock baton at the unconscious form of Seymour even as his other teammates kept their individual weapons trained on Odinson's other bodyguards so they couldn't make a move to fight back, "Odinson's in league with the enemy, he pointed them to Meredith! He's also been supplying them with Dust, weapons, intel and money in return for rewards and power, and he's been supplying weapons to criminal gangs in cities like the Mistrialian capital and Haven City so that they could hit certain businesses he owns for insurance money!"

"What about Ante?" Central asked quietly.

"Got that covered," Shocker continued a little smugly, "Seymour informed me that Odinson had been in contact with him quite a few times in the past few couple of years, along with the juicy details of what they have discussed between them. Looks like the connection between them isn't as severed as he lets on."

"Good work, Omega Five." The Atlesian Task Force Commander complimented while keeping his customized assault rifle pointed at Odinson, "So, Mr. Odinson…looks like it's your move."

"This…this is outrageous! And highly illegal!" Odinson spluttered, his mustached face turning as red as an apple, "Arresting me with such ridiculous accusations will cause an international incident that will end with all of you in prison with several life sentences!"

"I highly doubt that, Odinson. Omega Three, if you please?" Central tilted his helmet in the direction of Jammer who spoke up.

"During your conversation with Specialist Schnee, Mr. Odinson, I successfully and wirelessly hacked into your personal databanks and found all the necessary incriminating evidence that we needed bring you into custody. With that in mind, looks like you should have spent more money upgrading your security system's firewalls, because they were way out of date." She chuckled a little at the criminal businessman's stunned face, and added, "Looks like you have a lot of accumulated dirt in there, and it's more than enough to put you in prison for a long, long time."

"So with that in mind, I advise you to surrender peacefully and come with us." Winter said as she drew her dueling saber and pointed it at the aged businessman, "In the name of the Four Kingdoms, Garrett Odinson, I'm placing you under arrest on charges of conspiracy, treason, supplying and aiding terrorist organizations, and several other crim-"

"You'll never take me, Schnee!" Odinson spat angrily as he discreetly reached under his office table and pressed a panic button, "Back-up plan boys! Kill them all!"

Winter moved to grab Odinson; when all of a sudden the stands supporting of some of his vases which were scattered around the office chamber revealing small automated turrets, all aimed and ready to fire at her. Central managed to push her onto the carpeted floor just in time as a barrage of Dust-infused bullets sprayed out at her and the accompanying troopers from Task Force Omega. Javelin protected himself by grabbing one of Odinson's guards, using him as a shield to absorb the bullets while Shocker dove back into the hallway outside with Invictus right behind him. The latter two Omega Troopers soon found themselves facing more of Odinson's guards, who came rushing at them from both sides of the main corridor wielding guns and blades.

"I'll take the right, you take the left." Shocker suggested as he shot a pair of onrushing guards with his twin machine pistols.

"Works for me!" Invictus agreed before they both set to work fighting the criminal's guards off.

Back in Odinson's office, Central, Jammer and Fieros had taken down the remaining three guards, with Jammer slamming the butt of her energy rifle into the face of one before taking cover by the holotable. Fieros shot one guard down with his plasma repeater before taking a few shots from the turrets which his armor thankfully withstood, even as he fell backwards where he managed to hook his boot around one of the padded chairs and flip it over to give him some cover. As all this happened Central grabbed the final guard who was trying to shoot Winter in the back in a powerful sleeping hold before flipping him over, slamming the unfortunate guard into the floor hard before finishing him off with a painful punch to the face.

Seeing one of the automated turrets turn towards him, Central quickly ducked behind a bookshelf as a salvo of armor-piercing rounds whistled by him and missed by mere inches. "Specialist Schnee, are you all right?" He called, his helmet-amplified voice easily cutting through the sounds of gunfire in the room.

"I'm fine! Take out those turrets!" Winter shouted.

"On it!" Jammer shouted as she tossed a sturdy-looking chair over to the side of the holotable so she could shoot at the turrets, while Fieros also pushed himself up from a nearby smaller reading table to aim his plasma repeater at the chattering turrets.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you all but I'm afraid I must say farewell!" Odinson taunted as he made his way quickly to the bookcase on the wall flanking his desk. Entering a code onto an electronic panel hidden behind one of the heavy books, the shelf folded back to reveal the entrance of a secret passage. Central brought up his assault rifle to fire but was forced back when Odinson produced a grey revolver and fired a few rounds at him. The criminal businessman then fled into the secret passage, and the shelf began to close back over the entrance.

"No!" Winter cried out as she drew her saber even as she jumped up and leapt forward, which unfortunately brought her into the range of the nearest turret which rotated to aim its rotating barrels at her.

"Winter, stay down!" Central shouted as the Specialist stabbed her saber into the door's electronic panel to prevent it from fully closing. As she forced her way inside the remaining gap the turrets on the right side swung to fire at her and went off, blasting Winter square in the back. She cried out in pain as she fell forwards into the hidden passageway, the hard rounds taking out part of her aura. A couple of bullets expelled from the other turrets, either by automated protocols or just bad luck, knocked Winter's saber out of the bookshelf so it clattered onto the ground beside her. Without anything else to stop it, the door of the secret passage shut itself without a sound preventing Central or any other member of his team from reaching her.

Central was lunging for the closing door when he was hit by the turret's blasts, and while his armor protected him it didn't make him invincible, so he was forced to stay down while he fired at any automated turret he could see. Jammer, from behind the overturned table, took aim at the turret blasting away at Central and fired her energy rifle, destroying it via a blue bolt of azure energy. Javelin and Fieros then terminated the remaining few turrets with high-caliber bullets and plasma blasts from their sniper rifle and plasma repeater respectively.

Working together, Jammer and Central reduced the remaining turret to a shattered ruin before getting back up.

"Specialist Schnee, can you hear me?!" Central called as he got close to the bookshelf.

"I…I'm fine, Commander…just winded. I'm going after Odinson, you and your team need to cut off all possible escape routes should I fail to catch him." Winter instructed as she looked down the circling concrete staircase that went into the dark passage hidden within the huge building's walls.

"You're hit, Specialist Schnee." Central reminded her, "You won't be functioning at your best."

"Yes, but my aura absorbed the worst of the pain for me. I'll be fine Commander, but we cannot fail this mission. If we can capture Odinson we might have a trail to the enemy, so now moving soldier!" Winter ordered before she took off down the steps and into the darkness.

"Understood, Specialist, I'll get to it." Central shook his head and muttered softly to himself, "Always had her mind on the mission." He turned to see Fieros getting up and checking his chestplate where a couple of rounds had hit him, "Omega Seven, are you good?"

"Nothing I haven't suffered before, sir. I'm ready to kick some ass." He reported as Jammer and Javelin both got up and looked out the broken doors to see that Shocker and Invictus had taken out most of the guards, while the rest had all speedily retreated knowing that they were seriously way over their heads in fighting an Atlesian task force. Bleeding and broken, unconscious bodies choked both sides of the wrecked corridor in addition to shattered statues and other artifacts littering the floor, with one last Faunus guard moaning painfully before Shocker walked over and knocked him out with a booted kick to his face.

"We better do what Specialist Schnee said, Commander. If we can't rush back to protect Atlas right now we might as well do our job here." Jammer suggested, a minor tremor in her voice hinting that she was slightly nervous about her family and friends back home. Central knew her worry especially since the electronic warfare specialist was born and raised in Mantle City..

"Right, we better do our part then. The sooner we catch Odinson, the sooner we can find out what else he knows." He placed a consoling hand on Jammer's shoulder and added, "The defenses of Mantle City are strong enough to repel a Grimm incursion, Omega Three. Can you focus on the mission at hand?" She nodded and he patted her reassuringly on the shoulder before walking out to meet up with Shocker and Invictus, "Contact Omega Two and have him get the Retribution over this building asap. Bring in the reserve squadron of rapid-response airships too, I want the entire place sealed up and searched completely! Let's get to it people!"

As the Omega Troopers of the Atlesian Task Force sprang into rapid movement and filed out of Odinson's ruined office, Jammer swiftly switched channels and disseminated an additional command, "All Atlas forces in the vicinity, Operation Takedown is green-lit. I repeat, Operation Takedown is a go!"

Down below in the escape tunnel Odinson dashed through the passageway, going down more concrete stairs and through narrow corridors. He had memorized these escape passages in the event of something like this, and hopefully the money he spent of the secret addition of this escape route would be well worth the price. All he had to do was to make it to the fork in the path and head for the miniature tram that would take him through a narrow underground tunnel that would end underneath one of his safehouses in the Mistrialian woods, where he would make his getaway in a handy airship stashed away at that safehouse. From there, it would be a simple matter of using one of the various aliases he had set up for himself in case things got bad enough that he had to flee. If worst come to worst, Odinson knew he had accumulated enough special favors and if necessary, blackmail material over the years with quite a number of powerful people across the Kingdoms who he could hopefully persuade to grant him safe sanctuary and protection from those who wished him harm or were looking to arrest him.

It always paid to be prepared, after all.

He grimaced at the thought, muttering, "Had I known that Schnee bitch was bringing an elite task force, I would have just ran in the first place! Damn meddling Atlesians!"

"Odinson!" Winter's shout reverberated down the escape tunnel from behind and above him. The crime lord looked back to see a small blue light at the top of the stairwell which was descending rapidly and then coming to a stop a couple of hundred meters away. Winter landed in a crouch and stood up, her dueling sabre glowing brightly thanks to the fire Dust within it.

She brandished it directly at him, calling out, "Stop running! Don't make this worse!"

"Trust me, Schnee! It can't get any worse!" he shouted back.

Odinson turned and kept running for his life, knowing that he had to get away no matter what. It was either start a new, quieter life elsewhere, or spend the rest of his life in prison while waiting for whatever punishment Salem had in store for him. And knowing what she could do, he knew that death would simply be a blessing compared to the terrifying torments she could inflict on those who failed her.

The first option was obviously the most preferable.

He rounded a bend and saw that the door leading to the miniature tram control room was right in front of him. Whipping out his keycard, Odinson slid it through the door and forced his way through in a breathless rush. He quickly turned to close it, just as Winter's figure came into sight.

"Stop this pointless-" He slammed the door shut and locked it before she could say another word, and prayed that six inches of reinforced steel plates would hopefully keep her out.

Odinson ran over to the control console and input the command to seal the tunnel once the train was out of the underground station, before yanking open a nearby weapons locker to take out a large shotgun and making sure that it was loaded with fire Dust-infused shells.

"Sure pays to be prepared…" He muttered to himself as he felt the train slowly began to power up, and mentally wished the charging process would go faster. His head snapped up when he heard the door being forced open with a powerful slam of metal and concrete. Odinson snarled angrily as he ran out and opened fire on the narrow hall leading to the door, and once his shotgun was empty he gradually realized that nothing was there. He comprehended that he didn't actually hit anything but the concrete brick walls of the hall outside, all except the target he intended to shoot down.

And there was something shining white out in the hall…

Odinson felt his eyes widen and gasped in fear as he backed up and tried to reload, only for a large Beowolf with snow white fur and pale blue eyes and markings to erupt out of the tunnel entrance and into the tram room, snarling furiously at him as it charged.

"What?! No!" Odinson cried as he tried to defend himself with his empty shotgun by trying to slam its butt into the summoned beast. However, it easily snatched the weapon in its mouth and ripped it from its hands before smacking him into the side of the escape tram with a swipe of its clawed fists, leaving a sizable dent.

Groaning in pain, Odinson tried to crawl towards the tram's control system only for a gleaming silver saber to stab down into the metal floor of the tram, mere inches away from his nose, making him cry out in both fear and panic.

Just then, a boot stepped onto his back while another thinner sword was pressed tightly against the back of his neck. "That's enough. As I was saying earlier; you are under arrest and you have the right to remain silent, Mr. Garrett Odinson." Winter's stern voice cut through the silence as she kicked his revolver away, while her Beowolf summon stood obediently to the side.

Knowing that he had no chance of escaping anymore, Odinson smashed a spiteful fist on the metal floor before Winter hauled him up roughly and let her Beowolf take hold of him, keeping him pinned so she could take out some handcuffs to bind the shady businessman's hands behind his back.

"No! You don't know what you're doing!" Odinson hollered while Winter reached out and retrieved her primary sword.

"On the contrary, I'm bringing a criminal to justice, one who has evaded it for far too long. Don't worry about your company, I'm sure the Mistral Council can appoint someone far more trustworthy to run it for you." Winter told him as she ordered her Beowolf summon to let go of Odinson and turn him around with a clawed hand, "Now, I believe you owe me some more answers since my security escort has broken your database wide open. You obviously know who Cinder Fall, Damien Ante, and all the rest of those 'associates' answer to, because you work for her as well. Don't you?"

Odinson hung his head in shame, but he replied, "I…I'm not saying anything."

"If you fear her wrath, I assure you that we can keep you safe." Winter told him as she pulled him up and began leading Odinson out of the underground room.

"Keep me safe? Bah!" Odinson scoffed in contempt, "You couldn't even keep your precious warships safe when they attacked the Vytal Festival! And the current attacks you saw in both Atlas and Vacuo? Those are mere skirmishes compared to what they can really do if they go to all-out war with the Kingdoms!" He slowly shook his head as though severely disappointed with the female Specialist.

"You may have fought these people before, Miss Schnee, but you don't know them like I do! I might as well be dead, because once they learn of my fate they will come for me, and no matter what you do the instant they find me I would still be met with true, hellish suffering." He told her darkly, his voice shaking with fear for his life, and Winter could tell that he was definitely telling the truth now.

The face of the elder Schnee sibling tightened a little, before she glared at the recently captured agent of Salem and said, "Then we'll have to make sure they don't find you then. I'm sure my superiors would know of a few places, and if you want to live until the authorities could give you a fair and proper trial I highly advise you to cooperate with us, since the severity of your crimes entirely depends on your capacity to assist us in finding out who else reports to her."

She pointed her sword at his back and added, "Think about that during our trip back to the surface. Now get moving before I knock you out and order my summon to carry you the rest of the way." As Odinson trudged forward sullenly, Winter produced the specialized communicator Central had given her earlier during their briefing and transmitted a short message to inform him of Odinson's capture and call for extraction.

Inwardly, she wondered how he and the rest of his team were faring in the battle back on the surface.

---

With a loud shout, Weiss shoved her weapon into the mouth of a roaring Beowolf and then swung it aside even as it disintegrated. As two more charged towards her she performed a high leap and swiftly beheaded the first beast that leapt towards her. Spinning around gracefully in mid-air, the heiress used her white glyphs as stable platforms to allow herself to leap from one to another in order to close the distance between her and the second Beowolf. When only a few meters separated her from her target, Weiss used another glyph to shield herself from the creature's slashing claws as she punched the driving point of her sword through its head.

Backflipping away from the dying Beowolf, Weiss heard more roars coming from around her and spun around quickly, slamming the pointed blade of Myrtenaster through a trio of Beowolves and impaling all of them on her rapier blade. With a flick of her fingers, red flames quickly leap up the length of her weapon, causing them to howl and flail helplessly for a few seconds before they faded away.

"Hey! A Grimm-Kebob!" Amethyst joked at the sight before stabbing her own sword backwards to disembowel an Ursa before leaping above it to spin-kick the Grimm in the head.

"Amethyst, I don't think now is the time for jokes!" Weiss mentioned as they made their way through the devastated streets of Vacuo City, while helping the Vacuo Ranger squads, police enforcers, Hunters, and others Hunters-in-training fight the Red Fang soldiers and Grimm hordes that had spilled onto the streets.

"It's just how I deal with things!" Amethyst defended as she launched herself at a machete-wielding Red Fang thug who she caught with her legs in a headscissor lock, twisting him down before he could scream and smashing his head hard into the pavement.

"Well, I suppose I should be used to it by now…" Weiss relented, as she considered how Yang, Ruby, Nora, Sun and other members of Team Beacon tended to banter and joke during battles. But now didn't seem to be the right time, considering the grave situation the capital was presently in.

Within moments they reached the Path of Perseverance of the city, which was a large square of the city with a decently-sized area filled with boulevards of green grass and multi-colored flower beds. There was also pond encircled by life-sized statues of a number of renowned Huntsmen and Huntresses, and the entire area was also surrounded by sidewalks and well-maintained so that the flora would survive in the Vacuoan landscape. In the middle of the square was a statue of a beloved historical figure who had been vital in bridging the racial gap between humans and Faunus in Vacuo so early compared to the other Kingdoms, now lay ruined on the ground in several pieces after the Elder Deathworm had smashed through it after emerging from a giant underground tunnel earlier.

The radius of the Deathworm-created hole took up a significant portion of the square's park and most of the street next to it, large amounts of debris and abandoned civilian paraphernalia littered the streets, and clouds of dust and smoke wafted into the air, slightly obscuring the visibility of the streets much to the discomfort of the responding Kingdom's military forces.

Hordes of Grimm had flooded into the square from the gaping tunnel and poured into Vacuo City, despite the combined efforts to hold them back by the Kingdom's Hunters, Vacuo Rangers, Desert Guards and police. Frightened civilians thronged the remaining streets leading away from the square, inadvertently obstructing the armored vehicles and tanks of the Vacuo Rangers whose drivers and gunners were reluctant to fire their weapons for fear of causing collateral damage.

Meanwhile the Grimm Commander Anansi stood atop the damaged portion of the largest building facing the square, a courthouse, and fought off any attempt made to get at him while he controlled the terrible hordes of Grimm that invaded the Kingdom's capital. Even though the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards threw everything they had at him, the Grimm Commander cleverly manipulated the various Grimm to shield him from the worst of their weapons fire while a squadron of heavily-armored and clearly upgraded Grimm Knights acted as his bodyguards.

"Weiss! Amethyst! Over here!" Neptune shouted as he, Scarlet, Sage and Teams BRNZ and NDGO had taken cover behind an overturned bus and some quickly-thrown together barricades among the still-intact buildings at the southern side of the square, having helped the passengers trapped within get out and let Vacuo Rangers guide them to the nearest shelter.

Weiss and Amethyst made their way over to the others and took cover as the battle raged on, and the Vacuo Ranger squads nearby fought back with every weapon they had, even rocket launchers. Humans and Faunus in scuffed-up ranger uniforms fought from behind their barricades, from the windows and shattered shopfronts, and also from the weapon turrets of their armored jeeps and personnel carriers, shooting down as many Grimm as they could, while providing cover fire for the other retreating rangers and police officers who were carrying or urging civilians to run faster while turning to fire at any Grimm chasing after them.

As they slid into the barricade the members of Team SSSN were sheltered behind, a Vacuo Ranger lieutenant shouted out, "Throw Frag Grenades, now!" A number of rangers quickly stood up and lobbed several grey circular objects which sailed through the air and into the embattled square, bouncing among the assorted Grimm creatures rushing towards them. Loud thundering blasts were heard, and a number of Grimm were taken out by the detonations while those wounded were also put down by renewed fire coming from the Desert Guards.

"Glad you made it, things have definitely gotten crazier in the past few minutes." Neptune told the girls while May used her sniper rifle to shoot down airborne Grimm flying overhead, occasionally even taking out a few which strayed onto the neighboring rooftops.

"Is that even possible at this point?" Amethyst quipped.

"Yes! So, don't tempt fate!" Weiss scolded as she replenished Myrtenaster's revolving chamber with fresh vials of Dust, before adding, "If there's anything I've learned since I became a Huntress, it's that the situation at hand can always get much worse and weirder when you least expect it."

"Point taken." Amethyst acknowledged with a tilt of her head, and then turned to the gathered group of Huntsmen and Huntresses, "So what's the situation?"

"Long story short, that creepy Spider-Grimm-Man thing has made this place his stronghold." Nebula reported as she slid a fresh fire-Dust tipped arrow into her crossbow-sword weapon, "From what we've heard, the Vacuo Rangers and other students are using Earth Dust to seal up the tunnels these Deathworms made all over Vacuo City, but this tunnel here was made by the biggest of them all."

"And the thing that made it is currently wrecking its way through the city while leaving untold destruction in its wake. The cops, rangers, Desert Guards, and Hunters are doing their best to slow it down but we don't know if they're making a difference." Brawnz told them tersely, while behind him May shot a Vampire through the head which screeched as it fell to the ground.

"And to make matters worse, we can't seal that big tunnel off because of the massive amount of Grimm guarding this place!" Nolan finished up just before a large Beowolf appeared atop the overturned bus and roared threateningly at them, only to have its head decapitated by a horizontal slash from Octavia's kris dagger and the fire energy it expelled.

"Where's Penny and N1CK3L?" Weiss asked over the constantly sound of gunfire, "I thought they went with you?"

"Yes, they're not far! They went down that street to help protect the trapped civilians from the Grimm and killer robots!" Sage told them as he pointed down a neighboring street, where Grimm Griffons, Vampires and Nevermores could be seen flying through the air. There was a flash of familiar green energy, and a few of the Griffons were shredded to fading dust as they exploded in mid-air, and Weiss briefly caught a glimpse of Penny's flying swords slicing up a Nevermore.

"I guess Sun's still with Yang and Blake?" Scarlet asked.

"Uh-huh!" Amethyst answered quickly.

Neptune slid a fresh energy cell into his weapon and said, "There's no need to worry, we can handle ourselves without Sun! For the most part!"

"Then I hope you're up to it. We need to take Anansi down, wipe out as many Grimm as possible, and seal that tunnel up." Weis summed up their task and the gathered group of Huntsmen, Huntresses and Spring Maiden all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, that sounds real easy!" Gwen shot sarcastically, "In case you haven't noticed, we have a literal army of Grimm coming down on us!"

"I never said it would be, but it has to be done if we want to save the city. I'm not backing down from this fight because of two things; if we don't do our part more civilians will be killed and it's our duty as Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect the innocent." Weiss shot back coldly with a fierce commanding look in her light-blue eyes, "So if any of you wish to fight somewhere else, be my guest."

Neptune smiled at his one-time girlfriend's determination while Teams NDGO and BRNZ looked at the Schnee heiress with somewhat surprised looks on their faces. He had heard of Weiss's 'take-charge leader' part of her overall personality from Sun before in the past, and it most definitely showed how serious she could be during particularly dangerous situations such as the one they're facing now.

"Why start running away now?" Nebula stated with a smile, "I guess when we agreed to go to Haven to help you guys, we practically signed up for more fights than just that."

"Same here!" Roy declared fiercely, "No one's gonna call Team BRNZ cowards!"

"Okay, so we gotta take that spider guy down before things get worse. May's taken some shots at him, but he always has his Grimm or robots covering his very ugly butt, so if we're going to take him down we'lll have to face him head on." Brawnz surmised quickly.

"And keep a lot of those Grimm busy, which won't be easy." Dew added as they saw another fresh horde of Grimm climb out of the tunnel's huge opening, "And to make matters worse, we don't know how many more are on their way."

Neptune, Scarlet and Sage all saw the careful look of planning on Weiss's face as a strategy gradually formed in her careful and analytical mind. Even among the members of Team RWBY, she always remained calm and tactical during any Grimm encounters and always fought with admirable precision and coordination with Myrtenaster.

"You're thinking of summoning the knight again?" Neptune asked the white-haired girl.

Weiss offered a small smile, "My aura's considerably drained, but I think I can have him make an appearance. With your team's help though, I can use my knight summon to battle the larger Grimm-"

"And me plus a few others can take on Anansi." Amethyst interrupted the ice princess abruptly.

"What? No! Amethyst, if he finds out who you really are it could mean big trouble for all of us!" Neptune objected.

"He's right. It's too risky." Sage agreed with Scarlet nodding.

"Look, I'm the most experienced one here and I'm also one hell of a good fighter. I know I might seem all bubbly and cheerful, but I can really get vicious if I need to, just ask Wind Runner when you have the chance." Amethyst assured them before looking at Weiss and continued speaking, "Besides, I know of a way to give that eight-limbed freak a hell of a beating."

"And how, exactly, are you going to do that?" Scarlet asked incredulously. The faces of the other members of Team NDGO and BRNZ around them weren't trusting either when they heard Amethyst, and if anything else they probably thought she was crazy.

"Simple. I'll use my Semblance." Amethyst answered smoothly.

"Uh, I'm sorry but who the heck are you?" Dew asked cautiously, "I don't remember seeing you around Shade."

The Spring Maiden smirked and replied, "Me? I'm just a girl visiting an old friend who I think you've met already."

"If you mean Adara, or the Summer Maiden, or whoever she really is…I guess so." Nebula admitted.

"I still can't get over the fact my team actually fought the Summer Maiden…" Brawnz remarked quietly.

"So what exactly is your Semblance?" Scarlet asked Amethyst before standing up to take a shot at a running Beowolf which tried to jump over the barricades the Vacuo Rangers had put up.

"Let's just say it turns me into a completely different person, and that's gonna make me the boot to crush Anansi. Anyone want to help me fight him?" She asked around to those present, "Or at the very least keep the Grimm off my back as I fight him one-on-one."

"I've had some experience with him, so I'll help." Sage volunteered.

"So that means I'm in as well." Scarlet declared selflessly, "Partners for life."

"Count me in too. Okay, we'll buy you time to gather your aura up Weiss." Neptune informed Ruby's partner, "And once you summon the knight, we'll help Amethyst take out Anansi together."

"Sounds like a workable plan to me." Nebula agreed, "Everyone, let's get ready for one hell of a fight."

"Hey, hey! You teenagers there!" The Vacuo Ranger lieutenant not far away shouted loudly to get their attention, "If you're done with choosing your dates, we need help right now!"

"Alright, meeting's over!" Neptune quickly told the rest of them, "Nebula, your team will protect our right flank. Brawnz, your team will cover the left side. Me, Scarlet, Sage and Amethyst will buy Weiss the time she needed before helping Amethyst deliver the beatdown to Anansi. Everyone clear on that?"

"Got it, Neptune." Nebula and the rest of her team nodded their heads respectively.

"Crystal, but since when are you giving the orders?" Brawnz crossed his arms with a raised eyebrow at the bluenette.

"Well, since no one else has a proper plan I guess it would have to do!" Neptune pointed out, "Just do your part and we'll all get through this just fine!"

They all speedily checked and readied their individual weapons, also making sure that their aura aren't broken since they all knew it had to be all or nothing to win the square back from the Grimm hordes. And not a moment too soon, as several shouts of alarm came from the cops, Vacuo Rangers, and Desert Guards who were fighting in the vicinity that the Grimm were gaining ground once more.

Weiss walked back a few meters and crouched down on one knee before closing her eyes and began to breathe calmly, placing Myrtenaster in a reverse two-handed grip with its tip meeting the cracked road beneath her. Remembering Winter's words about her semblance and the art of summoning, she focused on her surroundings and the aura within her body. She had to shut out everything else on her mind: her concern for her friends and her team, especially Ruby. The dreadful notion that they could lose and Amethyst's real identity as the Spring Maiden might be discovered and she'd be captured by Anansi. The people who had died because of this awful attack, robbing the potential futures of so many people that could change the world for the better. The children now orphaned or possibly killed themselves by the Grimm raging through the city. The many homes and places of worship destroyed. The lives ruined…

The Schnee heiress had to force all of that out of her kind as she concentrated on her aura and mentally visualized the ideal summoning form she wanted to use to summon her mighty warrior. Then in one swift movement she stepped back, twirling around with her rapier waving gracefully in the air, a stream of bright blue-white light coming from the tip of her sword. At the close of her elegant twirl, she held her weapon aloft before striking the tip to the pavement below her. Instantly, a huge Summoning glyph appeared and she poured her aura into it to bring forth her Knight Summon to life once again. It wasn't as easy as it normally would be since she had already summoned the Boarbatusk earlier, but it was her best bet to help out with the current situation so she had to make sure it works.

Weiss's eyes were shut as she concentrated deeply, the power of her Summoning causing a small wind to blow the white hair around her face as she did so. She kept her focus on the Summoning and her breathing steady while carefully channeling her aura into the Summon. The words of Winter and the various other fighting tutors who had instructed her over the years had taught her passed through the thoughts in her mind as she pictured the early form of Atlas medieval armor, which she had dubbed 'Arma Gigas', in her head and did her absolute best to summon it back into the real world once more.

"Will she be okay?" Octavia asked with concern in her voice as she looked to where Weiss was while Amethyst simply lowered her head to prepare for the moment her Semblance kicked in completely.

"She'll be fine! I'll keep her covered until she's done summoning the knight!" Neptune said as he witnessed the huge, armored outline of Weiss's chosen Summon slowly began to appear. As the glyph glowed more brightly and spins even faster, more of Arma Gigas emerged from the glyph's epicenter.

"Enough hiding." Amethyst said as she suddenly snapped her head up, with her violent eyes that had been vibrant and full of life moments ago now cold and devoid of emotions as her face turned hard with a stoic expression that was impossible to read properly. In an icy voice in which the only emotion betrayed was calm rage, she added quietly, "Let's show these creatures what real pain is."

"Now that's odd. Why is she…" Scarlet managed to say before Amethyst suddenly jumped onto the top of the overturned bus and then leaped into the fray as a group of Grimm Beowolves, Boarbatusks, Hellhounds and even a few Ursas rushed towards her. By the time Sage, Scarlet, Team NDGO and BRNZ fought off the Grimm at their respective assigned sections, they all turned and saw that the Spring Maiden had already obliterated most of them and she hadn't even broken a sweat.

Amethyst expertly swung and maneuvered Gembreaker about, slicing apart attacking Grimm and Grimm Knights with a cold, methodical ease and near-unbelievable grace. The purple-haired Maiden sliced off limbs and heads effortlessly, carved up various Grimm beasts horizontally at the torsos, stomachs, groins and even lengthwise. It was as though a switch had been flipped in her as the bubbly, energetic and kind girl had been instantly transformed into an emotionless killing machine.

"Holy crap!" May exclaimed when she saw Amethyst used a dying Ursa as a springboard to jump into the air, transforming Gembreaker into its bow form as she pinwheeled gracefully above the roaring and snarling Grimm creatures, and shot a carbon-impact arrow with a cord attached to it through the air where it punched deep into a Griffon's torso. Landing smoothly on a nearby abandoned car, the serious-looking girl yanked it down with her surprisingly powerful might and sent the screeching Griffon flying towards Sage who cut it into two dissolving halves with his longsword.

She roundhouse-kicked a Beowolf so hard that it was sent flying almost all the way across the street and impacted into a couple of Creeps and Boarbatusks, before sprinting forwards and removing the clawed arms of another pair of Bewolves with Gembreaker's cutting edges at its outer arc. The Spring Maiden then effortlessly dodged the smashing fists of a Beringel and removed its head from its shoulders with a horizontal slash, then running towards a large Deathstalker which tried to kill her with its stinger. Smoothly sidestepping the yellow stinger that hit the road inches away from her, Amethyst shot a fire Dust arrow into its face and ran up the tail of the Deathstalker, leaping airborne once more while letting loose a trio of Ice Dust arrows which froze a couple of Beowolves which were charging towards her. Somersaulting off the screeching Deathstalker, she landed atop another Ursa which tried to shook her off with a roar but its terrible cry was cut short when she shot another carbon-impact arrow into its head.

Everyone, including the law-enforcement officers, Vacuo Rangers, and Desert Guards all looked at Amethyst in surprise, but she said in a monotone voice, "What are you staring at? We have work to do."

Before anyone could reply she then whipped around and shot another fire arrow right into the eye of a howling Beowolf, and it went zipping out of its head and sailed through several other Grimm creatures until it was finally stopped in the chest of an Ursa which blew a rather large smoking hole in it. While the other Grimm flailed about while being consumed by the flames, the Ursa was further finished off by several arrows from Nebula's crossbow.

"Now!" Neptune shouted and charged out with the rest of his team alongside Amethyst, while Team NDGO and BRNZ sprinted to their respective sections and began to assist the sorely-pressed Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards who were busy killing the approaching groups of Grimm creatures as much as they could.

"Okay girls, let's do it!" The leader of Team NDGO agreed as she led her team into battle by taking the right flank, whereas Brawnz and the rest of Team BRNZ reinforced the left side, along with Scarlet, Sage, Amethyst joining in the group of Vacuo Rangers, Desert Guards as well as some other students who were making a concentrated push into the city square.

"Whoa! Amethyst sure has one unusual Semblance…" Neptune remarked as he watched her slice off a Boarbatusk's head and drop-kick a Beowolf in the groin, then neatly cut it in half. The bluenette heard a warning shout from a nearby ranger, and turned just in time to fire an electric blast into another Beowolf while Scarlet fired his grappling hook into one of the nearby residential buildings and flew up into the air where he came down upon a medium-sized Deathstalker and fended off its stinger tail with his cutlass. Dodging aside from the dangerous appendage, he unloaded a number of rounds directly into its head, killing the Deathstalker with the help of Brawnz who kept its pincers busy.

Dew used her Semblance and spear to create a miniature whirlwind and Gwen jumped into it, sending her soaring into the air where she sent out a barrage of her knives. Dozens of small throwing knives, each having a small amount of Dust inside, stabbed into the various Grimm beasts and robotic Knights, managing to destroy most of the Grimm they had hit while simply damaging the killer robots' thick armor.

Gwen landed crouching on both feet and one hand before she flipped up and kicked a charging Beowolf in the chin, sending it tumbling into Octavia's dagger's flame blast which obliterated the Grimm. The two girls then dashed out of a way of a King Taijitsu's white head as it slithered towards them, hissing intimidatingly with its fangs bared. The large serpentine Grimm moved quickly, jabbing its enormous head towards both female members of Team NDGO, trying to snatch them up and devour them whole, only for Dew to climb onto a nearby truck and took a flying leap towards it with her shouts getting the snake Grimm's attention, which caused its upper body to shoot up quickly just as blonde girl was coming down.

It tried to catch Dew in its mouth, only for the Grimm's head to snap abruptly to one side when Nebula shot it in the face with a trio of arrows while a number of Vacuo Rangers also let fly with their assault rifles, pouring whole magazines of bullets into the King Taijitsu. Thankfully, the distraction was enough for Dew to fall past its mouth and stab it below its jaw with her spear weapon. She slid down its belly, pushing the spear deeper as she cut it open like a knife taken to a slab of meat. Black ichor spewed out in a disgusting flood as the King Taijitsu fell twitching onto the broken road surface, shrieking in pain before it slowly faded away.

"Ugh! Thank Oum its blood didn't ruin my outfit!" Dew quickly retreated from the puddle of black ichor, unaware that the black half of the King Taijitsu was creeping up behind her.

"Nice moves, Dew!" Nebula praised as she reloaded her weapon quickly.

"Thanks!" Dew replied when she saw her team leader's olive-green eyes widen suddenly and her mouth shouted a warning even as the Vacuo Rangers beside her shouted at the same time, "Dew, behind you!"

Upon hearing the warning, Dew spun around just in time to see the black half of the King Taijitsu lunge towards her with its fanged mouth wide open. Despite her training she let out a frightened scream and fell backwards, dropping to the ground just as a fusillade of assault rifle and shotgun gunfire punched into the other head of the snake Grimm along with another trio of arrows. It let out a dying hiss before toppling onto its side, twitching as it also vanished shortly after.

Nebula rushed over to Dew and quickly extended a hand which the girl accepted and pulled her upwards to her feet, "You okay there, Dew?"

The blonde girl mentally checked herself over before replying, "Yeah…I think so. Thanks for the warning."

"You're welcome." The indigo-haired leader smiled as she watched Dew create another small tornado with her spear and sent it at a pack of Hellhounds and Boarbatusks, tossing them up into the air where they were blasted into nothingness by the gunfire coming from the nearby Vacuo Rangers.

Roy Stallion used his saw blades to slice and dice every Grimm he could get himself to close to, severing a Creeper's tongue while Brawnz pummeled its side with his claws. The young man with conrow dreadlocks tipped in gold clasps then pivoted around and sliced the arms off a Beowolf before spin-kicking it in the head but as he came to a halt he found himself face to face with a Tarantula Widow's many red eyes, its mandibles clicking hungrily at him as it lurched forwards.

"Whoa!" He cried out as he ducked underneath the Spider Grimm, slamming his left hard outwards to score a deep cut into one of its four left legs. This caused the Tarantula Widow to screech shrilly in pain and slam its arachnid body down on him, trapping him under its weight.

Roy grunted as he felt some of its legs wrap around him tightly and felt them moving him towards the web spinner. "Guys, help! Don't let this thing kill me!" He shouted as he struggled, just as Brawnz tossed Nolan onto the head of the Tarantula Widow which he stabbed with his cattle prod, sending hundreds of volts of electricity coursing through the Spider Grimm.

The Tarantula Widow screeched in pain once more as Nolan continued to stab it repeatedly, causing more electricity to surge through its body while Roy freed himself by cutting off the legs that held him in place before bringing them up into the wounded Grimm's abdomen. Now free, he dashed out from the space where its two left legs had once been just as Nolan's cattle prod came down one last time by impaling it through the Tarantula Widow's head, finally killing it.

Nolan jumped onto the ground as Roy ran alongside him, the Spider Grimm dissolving to dust behind them. "I really owe you one, Nolan!" He said as he parried a claw strike coming from a Beowolf, holding his saw against its bone-plated elbow before slamming his free hand's saw blade into its gut, then bringing up both saws in one swift motion to cut its head off.

Nolan smiled as he shocked a Hellhound and replied, "Anytime, man!"

Brawnz dashed by them and called out, "Hey, save the pillow talk for later guys! Right now we have a city to save!"

Team BRNZ's leader ducked under an Ursa's slashing claws and eviscerated it, which Nebula finished off with a headshot, on his way to one of the buildings across the road and allowing a Boarbatusk to chase after him. Brawnz leapt up the wall of the building and ran up it a few paces before launching himself via flipping over the Boarbatusk as it collided with the wall. He landed behind the hog-like Grimm, slammed his clawed gauntlets into both of its flanks before using all of his strength to lift the screeching Grimm creature up just as another King Taijitsu slithered up behind him.

With a great heave Brawnz turned around and slammed the squealing Boarbatusk into the mouth of the snake Grimm, taking it by surprise as it chomped down hard on a fellow Grimm and rendering it to dust. Mindful of the other head, he looked around and was glad to see the white one currently being distracted by gunfire coming from a number of Vacuo Rangers who were shooting at it while hiding behind their barricade.

Hissing furiously in anger, the King Taijitsu's black head struck forward at him, and the leader of Team BRNZ just barely managed to catch it. He grunted in effort as he strained against the physical power of the Grimm snake, its sharp fangs getting closer to his head before a number of bullets ripped through the side of its head. As the King Taijitsu faded away, Brawnz looked over to May who had taken cover by some rubble and was doing her best to pick up as many Grimm as possible.

He gave her a thumbs up and she saluted him before calling out, "We got trouble! That alleyway over there!" She quickly pointed to an alley in-between two of the business buildings that stood across from the square, "A Tarantula Widow's got some civilians caught in its web, you gotta help them! I'll cover you!"

"Gotcha, I'm on it! Thanks, May!" Brawnz shouted back as he dashed for the alleyway, slashing down some Grimm along the way while a trio of Beowolves began chasing after him. May managed to shoot down two, but her clip emptied before she could blast away the third one. Brawnz wasn't worried since he knew he can take on a single Beowolf, but he ducked just as Amethyst swung Gembreaker at him and sliced the leaping Beowolf apart.

"Thanks! That was a sweet move!" He called to the purple-haired girl as he continued running.

Brawnz had expected something in reply, but Amethyst said nothing and simply went back to killing Grimm and reducing Grimm Knights to scrap metal. He didn't have time to muse on the violet-eyed girl's strange and inexplicable change of personality as he got close to one of the buildings and jumped up quickly, his metal claws stabbing easily into the walls made of sandstone. The black and grey-haired Huntsman scaled the building and made it into the alleyway, and from his elevated position sure enough there were at least a dozen or so cocoons made of sticky strings of webbing, the terrified civilians inside struggling and panicking.

"Hang on everyone! I'll get you out!" He promised as he looked around for signs of the Tarantula Widow that had done this. He frowned when he saw no sign of it and wondered; had been vanquished in the battle already?

Then the large, eight-legged shadow that jumped above him, with its legs holding it aloft in the space between both buildings, put an abrupt end to that optimistic thought. The leader of Team BRNZ glanced up and saw a huge Tarantula Widow bigger than any he had ever seen hissing threateningly at him, its mandibles clicking hungrily and droplets of drool pouring out of its mouth.

"Shit." Brawnz muttered to himself.

With a loud screech the huge Tarantula Widow let itself drop, but he jumped off the wall as well and landed on the ground, rolling onto his feet just as it came on top of him. Brawnz cried out in horror as its terrifying face got unbearably close to his, its eight compound yellowish-red eyes staring deep into his own dark purple ones, its mandibles opening wide to take a bite out of him when he delivered a two-handed punch with his clawed gauntlets into its face.

It let out a painful screech of pain as it reared back, standing on its back four legs, but before Brawnz could get away from it, the Tarantula Widow slammed down on him yet again, and he let out his own cry of pain as the stinger-like claws on the ends of its legs scratched him slightly. Feeling a numb feeling spread throughout his arms, he looked up fearfully into its ugly face as its mandibles opened up again, only for the Tarantula Widow to stop suddenly and jerked backwards, screeching audibly in pain as Dew's spear stabbed through its abdomen.

"Hey there handsome, thought you could use some help." Dew said to her boyfriend as she twisted her spear and brought it down again, this time punching through the Spider Grimm's head and causing it to slump down mere inches from Brawnz.

"Dew, you're always the most beautiful sight but now I appreciate you even more!" Brawnz said to his girlfriend as he quickly reached up into the Tarantula Widow's open mouth, unfolding the larger blades in the middle of his clawed gauntlets and punching them deep into the Grimm's face, and with a great amount of effort he ripped the giant spider's head apart with both hands.

As the Tarantula Widow gave off a final keening death cry and disintegrated away Dew jumped off and helped Brawnz up, "You all right?"

"I'm fine, but those people it has strung up aren't having a good day." Brawnz replied as he shook his arms to get the temporarily numbness to go away, and pointed to the writhing cocoons, "I'll cut 'em down, you use your whirlwinds to catch 'em."

"Sounds good to me." Dew answered before he began climbing up the walls again, while gesturing to Octavia to cover them from the outside just to make sure that no more Tarantula Widows or any other Grimm tried to stop them while Amethyst, Sage, Scarlet and various others fought against a recently-emerged Deathworm, which had been joined by yet another which was quickly coming under fire from the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards.

Back with Weiss and Neptune, the bluenette blasted away every Grimm that came as Weiss, transforming his weapon into the guandao form or trident form when needed. He had already lost count of how many Grimm he had taken out since there were so many it seemed pointless, as for every Grimm he put down it seems as though there were two or three more that took its place.

"How's it coming Weiss?!" He shouted as he removed the claws from a lunging Beowolf and whacked it full in the face with his weapon's haft, shattering the Grimm's sharp fangs.

"Almost…almost done!" the Schnee heiress answered, her voice showing signs of strain as the Summon slowly came into existence.

"I hope so, because I don't know how much longe-" Neptune was roughly cut off as a Grimm Knight which had twin laser blasters in place of its arms landed right in front of him, grabbed his jacket and hurled him into a nearby brick wall, "Argh!"

He looked up as the Grimm Knight aimed its guns at his face, about to blast him when all of a sudden a massive armored leg slammed into it like a striker with a ball, sending the black-and-red armored robot flying into the sky where it collided with a Griffon and promptly exploded in a ball of flames.

Neptune grinned as he looked up to see the giant Arma Gigas suit of armor, standing tall and vigilant as it rose up to its full height with its longsword which was nearly the same height as the Knight Summon ready for war. It's entire figure shimmered with an ethereal-like light blue glow, which seemed to radiate off from the various plates of thick armor that covered its whole form.

"Now it's ready." Weiss remarked as she walked forward and helped the Team SSSN member up.

"Worth the wait!" Neptune quipped back.

"Everything perfect usually is." She bragged a little before ordering the Arma Gigas to spring into action, with its first target being the largest Grimm in the vicinity. Which turned out to be the two Sanus Deathworms that were giving the armored vehicles of the Vacuo Rangers a hard time.

The glowing suit of armor ran into the warzone, trampling Grimm underneath its feet as it charged towards the Deathworms. The sudden appearance of such a massive armored knight caused many of the fighting law-enforcement officers, Vacuo Rangers and Shade Academy students to momentarily pause as they had never seen a glyph summon fight before, let alone one as big as Arma Gigas.

"Everyone back off! The cavalry's here!" Sage shouted as he and the others quickly retreated from the incoming Deathworms just as Weiss's Knight jumped over them and landed, longsword first, onto the midsection of one of the Deathworms. The huge blade punched deep into the main body of the Deathworm, and it let out a roar of agony before the Arma Gigas brought its weight down on it, effectively cutting the monstrous Grimm in half with a horrible sound like fresh meat being shredded apart.

"Oh yeah! That's what I love to see!" Scarlet cheered approvingly as the Deathworm disintegrated, only for its cohort to rise up, its gaping, tooth-filled mouth bellowing at Weiss's Knight Summon as it lurched forward, trying to either crush or severely damage the Arma Gigas. It lunged forward and knocked the longsword out of the Armored Knight's hands, but the Knight Summon grabbed the second Deathworm's head in one gauntleted fist and squeezed hard as it used its left hand to reach down and with almost all the aura Weiss had poured into it, hoisted the Deathworm above its helmeted head and flung the enormous earthworm-like Grimm towards the courthouse where Anansi was.

Anansi ducked as the Deathworm went flying overhead, and while the Grimm Knights that had been protecting him tried to shoot it down, but the Deathworm's body collided with them and obliterated most of the squadron as it was blasted into oblivion by the Vacuo Ranger and Desert Guard's tanks.

The Grimm Commander snarled in annoyance as he whipped around to see the students of Shade Academy working with the Knight Summon as it destroyed even more Grimm after retrieving its longsword, even as Weiss and Neptune both entered the fray once more. The Arma Gigas delivered a devastating uppercut to a Beringel that sent it crashing into a couple of abandoned civilian vehicles across the square, before using its longsword to disembowel the elephant-like Grimm. A couple of Sabers tried to leap onto its body and shoulders, but the Arma Gigas simply batted them away with its gauntlets before stamping them to death underneath its feet.

Unbeknownst to him, Amethyst decided now was the time to strike as she ripped some long grass out of the garden boulevards in the square and stuffed the green organic blades into her pocket. She ran towards an Ursa, jumped and cut off the top of its head as she leapt off its shoulder and landed on top of a streetlight. Once she made sure that she was properly balanced, the Spring Maiden transformed Gembreaker into its bow form, and swiftly fired another arrow with a cord attached which embedded itself into the elegant design of the courthouse's front and triggered the grappling mechanism to swing herself up.

"No!" Anansi shouted furiously, "This can't be happening!" He snarled in frustration as he witnessed the Huntsmen and Huntresses, along with the Rangers and the Desert Guard, slowly but surely turning the tide against the Grimm hordes under his command.

Just then, Amethyst shot up into the air, somersaulted and landed a meter away from the Spider Grimm Commander atop the roof of the courthouse, Gembreaker in hand as it turned back into a sword.

"What-?" Anansi only just managed to turn before the Spring Maiden smashed her fist into his face and then slammed her knee into his gut, causing the Grimm Commander to be knocked all the way across the courthouse's roof until he was just shy of falling off, with small bits of the roof falling away behind him.

"I'm sorry, but you're just too disturbing to live. So, it's my duty to crush you." She said in an intimidating yet calm voice as Anansi pushed himself back onto the roof on his spider legs.

"Okay, this is new." Anansi muttered as he got ready to fight, "I don't know who you are girl, but if you think you can win in a fight against me, you're sadly mistaken."

"Funny, you seem to believe you can beat me. Care to test that?" Amethyst asked before inviting him forward with the slight curling of her gloved fingers.

"Gladly!" Anansi snarled as he began striking at the Spring Maiden with his hands and feet, while being held up by his spider-legs. Amethyst effortlessly intercepted or turned aside his blows, while dishing out rapid punches and kicks in return that the Grimm Commander found himself hard-pressed to match up.

Down below, Weiss and Neptune met up with the others as the Arma Gigas continued to lay the smackdown into the Grimm hordes around them, swinging its longsword left and right in wide slashing arcs that killed Grimm creatures by the score as it provided as much support as possible for the Huntsmen and Huntresses. The partner of Ruby Rose was considerably tired but she didn't let that stop her as she ran Myrtenaster through a Beowolf and then used a blue Dust crystal in combination with her glyphs to put out a fire that was threatening to consume a nearby administrative building.

"Wow Weiss, that's pretty impressive! No wonder it took some time to summon that Knight!" Gwen complimented as she, Sage, Scarlet, Nebula, Roy, Nolan and other Shade students gathered around Weiss and Neptune, fighting off the Grimm together.

"Thanks, has anyone seen Amethyst?" Weiss inquired as she looked around for the Maiden.

"Uh yeah…I think she went up to the courthouse roof to fight the spider guy." Nolan informed her as he jabbed his cattle prod weapon into a Beowolf.

"Alone?!" Weiss cried out as she and the three present members of Team SSSN quickly looked up to the top of the courthouse to see the intense battle taking place between the Spring Maiden and Spider Grimm Commander. As they watched, Amethyst dodged Anansi's spider legs which jabbed out towards her repeatedly, sliding underneath the Grimm Commander before spin-kicking her adversary in the face.

Weiss looked to Neptune worriedly, and he nodded in agreement. The bluenette looked to his fellow teammates and said, "Come on guys, let's give her some backup!"

"We'll cover you, go!" Nebula advised urgently.

"Much appreciated!" Neptune answered back, "Keep them away as long as you can!"

As the three boys of Team SSSN made their way to the top of the courthouse as fast as possible, Weiss looked back at the giant hole in the ground created by the Elder Deathworm and the Grimm streaming almost non-stop from it, and she instantly knew that they had to seal it before something else more terrifying came through. She also knew that when the battle was over, she would really need a significant amount of sleep.

Up on the courthouse roof Amethyst cut down or dodged the sticky wads as Anansi charged at her, jumping over the swing of her sword before suddenly slamming his left arms and spider legs into her side as he landed behind her, knocking the purple-haired Maiden down. Before Amethyst could recover, he quickly used his webbing to stick her to the roof and laughed, "You gave me quite a fight, but you're way too arrogant thinking that you had a chance at defeating me."

"Not quite." Amethyst retorted before her violet eyes suddenly began glowing a bright green, the shape of green leaves forming around her eyes as she used her Maiden powers to rip herself free of Anansi's webbing and launch herself upwards, her fist smashing into Anansi's face and sending him tumbling back once more until his spider legs kept him from falling off the roof completely.

Anansi recovered and looked at Amethyst, noticing the brightly glowing green outline around her eyes as she brought up Gembreaker in a guard stance again. He blinked as though to make sure what he had just witnessed was real, and the Grimm Commander's red eyes widened as he understood what was happening.

"You're the Spring Maiden…" He whispered in mild shock, his mouth gaping slightly.

"What do you want? A prize?" Amethyst stated dryly

The Grimm Commander let out an evil laugh and hissed, "Well now, this is a pleasant surprise! I won't get to kill you, but I'll definitely be rewarded handsomely once I bring you to Mistress Salem! Your capture will shoot her plans way ahead of schedule!"

"That's not happening, freak-show!" Neptune shouted as he and Sage climbed up onto the roof, "You're outnumbered!"

"Am I?" Anansi scoffed before Scarlet suddenly flew by him from above, scoring a kick across the Spider Grimm Commander's face before landing between him and Amethyst. Anansi snarled as he wiped some black blood away from his jaw, "You're gonna pay for that, Huntsman!"

"Really? Then why don't you come over here and fight me then?" Scarlet declared with a smirk, "If you want her, you'll have to go through us!" He brought up his cutlass sword and flintlock pistol in a fighting stance, while Sage carefully shifted his position around Anansi who did take notice of the dark-skinned teen's relocation.

Growling in anger, Anansi lifted himself up on his four spider legs and snapped, "You make that sound like a difficult thing, boy!"

Neptune didn't waste any time and quickly used his weapon's gun mode to blast an azure bolt of electricity at Anansi, who cried out in pain before spinning around and lashing out with two of his spider legs, hitting Sage who was charging right at the Grimm Commander with his sword raised in a two-handed grip and nearly knocking him off the building. Before Anansi can turn and attack Neptune, Scarlet's grappling hook wrapped around his human legs and the pirate boy worked with Amethyst to yank the Grimm Commander down onto the surface of the roof, which was followed by Amethyst jumping up and tried to slam Gembreaker into his stomach, only for Anansi to roll out of the way and use his webbing to stick her blade to the roof.

"Nice try, kids!" He shouted as his spider legs launched up and knocked Amethyst away, and headbutted Scarlet in the gut when he charged forward, bashing the red haired boy down so he could free himself from the grappling hook, "But this will not be an easy battle!"

As soon as he had finished saying that, Neptune unloaded several energy blasts into the Grimm Commander which stunned him for a few moments. Seeing her chance Amethyst grabbed the grass blades in her pockets and threw them up into the air, shouting, "Get clear now!" Neptune and Sage threw themselves aside and she used her Maiden powers to take control of the thrown grass and reshaped them, turning the harmless greenery into small, but sharp projectiles that she sent flying straight at Anansi.

He howled in pain as the small blades sliced through his flesh, tearing through his clothes to score dozens of small paper cut-like wounds on him. Anansi spun around and tried to hit Neptune, only for the bluenette to duck aside and blast the Grimm Commander a few more times.

"Enough!" Anansi screamed as he launched himself forward to strike at Neptune, and the latter boy barely managed to transform his weapon into its guandao mode before Salem's arachnid-human hybrid kicked him off the building.

"Whoa!" Neptune cried out as he managed to stab his gundao into the side of the building at the last possible second, hanging on firmly with his legs swinging amidst empty air. He sighed in relief and looked up just in time to see Amethyst charging back into her fight against the Grimm Hybrid, having ripped Gembreaker out of its web trap.

The Spring Maiden fought fiercely against the Grimm Commander, a formidable force of good pitted against a force of evil in a battle for the capital. Amethyst capably maneuvered Gembreaker in a wild but graceful and oddly-controlled fashion as she parried the stab attacks coming from the stingers on the ends of Anansi's spider legs while also evading his incoming punches dexterously.

"Fight all you want, girl!" Anansi barked as he pressed his attacks, "By the end of the day, you'll be lucky to be a slave for Salem instead of just being dead!"

"I highly doubt that." Amethyst worded before dodging one of his spider legs which plunged towards her, and when he overextended himself she swiftly retaliated with a careful swing and sliced off the end of Anansi's upper-right spider leg.

The Grimm Commander screamed loudly in pain as the leg, severed from the metatarsus, twitched on top of the courthouse's roof with dark blood pooling out around it. Anansi stumbled a little, his balance thrown off due to one side being slightly heavier than the other with the recent loss of a substantial part of one of his four spider legs.

"YOU BITCH!" He shrieked before a recently-recovered Sage saw his chance and ran forward, slipping under his guard and bashed Anansi painfully in the chest with the hilt of his sword, sending him stumbling back a few steps with an awful snapping sound that spoke of broken ribs.

"Now, now…that's no way to talk to a Maiden!" Sage scolded at the downed Grimm Commander.

"Thank you." Amethyst commented dryly to him as she walked forward and kicked Anansi in the face, sending Salem's Spider Grimm Commander onto his back and groaning in pain.

Neptune clambered back up onto the roof as Scarlet approached the Grimm Hybrid as well, his flintlock pistol trained on its new target. "Don't even think about moving, you walking nightmare." The latter ex-pirate warned.

"I will do whatever I damn well please!" Anansi growled furiously as his eyes shone red.

Almost immediately, an large Beringel landed on the far side of the roof and roared aggressively at the three members of Team SSN and Amethyst, and it was followed by several Beowolves and Tarantula Widows climbing up the exterior walls of the courthouse to help protect their Grimm Commander.

"Damn." Sage muttered as he got his sword ready, with Scarlet doing the same with his own weapons.

"As I said, this won't be an easy battle for all of you!" Anansi shouted as he pulled himself up while glaring heatedly at Amethyst, "And once Mistress Salem is done draining your powers, I'll turn your body into an egg sac!"

Amethyst suddenly sprung into action again, transforming Gembreaker into its bow form as she leapt and fired a quartet of fire-wreathed arrows which slammed into the chest of the Beringel. It tore out the flaming arrows on its chest and let out a booming roar of fury before it began charging at the Spring Maiden. Neptune and Scarlet quickly blasted away at the incoming Beowolves and Tarantula Widows while Amethyst and Sage scattered away from the Beringel as it slammed its mighty fists down on the spot they had just vacated, sending shattered roof tiles flying everywhere.

Acting quickly, Sage swung his sword and landed a deep cut against the femur of the Ape Grimm before Amethyst bounded onto its back and fired more arrows into its head. She fired another pair of ice Dust arrows downwards which froze the Beringel's legs, allowing Sage the opportunity to disembowel the beast and killing it.

Neptune cried out as he stabbed his trident into the eyes of a screeching Tarantula Widow crawling up the side of the courthouse and then loaded a blast of blue energy, blowing up its head while Scarlet shot through the skull of another Beowolf which was sneaking up on his fellow team member. All of a sudden Sage's partner heard an awful clicking sound behind him, which prompted him to turn around quickly and brought his flintlock pistol up but thankfully the Tarantula Widow that had crawled up successfully to attack him was already impaled by the giant longsword of Weiss's Arma Gigas.

Neptune and Scarlet waved their thanks to the white-haired heiress, who waved back as she impaled a Creep with her own rapier's blade. The Knight Summon shook the impaled Tarantula Widow off its longsword and stomped it flat before moving on to wipe more Grimm creatures out of existence.

All the while Neptune, Scarlet, Sage and Amethyst fought the Grimm reinforcements, Anansi reached out with Grimm Commander abilities and gathered a trio of Tarantula Widows at the back of the courthouse roof. He crawled atop them as they formed a grotesque cluster, ready to pounce and attack anything that came close just as the three Huntsmen and Spring Maiden took notice of him.

"So, not running away this time?" Amethyst asked.

"I'm not leaving until I have you as my prisoner!" Anansi spat.

"Then I guess you'll be staying then." Neptune added as they all got ready for another bout, when unexpectedly a massive explosion went off somewhere else in Vacuo City. Several of the battle participants below in the square were nearly thrown off their feet while some outlying damaged buildings slowly collapsed into yet more rubble and ruins.

It was as though time stood still as everyone, even the Grimm, all stopped to look at the sight of the immense ball of fire rising into the air above the capital city and slowly fizzling out. The loud roar of the huge explosion also echoed down the tumbledown streets, shaking the ground and debris around the square.

"What the hell was that?" Sage wondered before he noticed some of the Grimm slowly withdrawing.

"Argh!" Anansi cried, "No…the Elder Deathworm…it's destroyed?! How is that possible?!" He shouted vehemently as he did his best to keep the majority of the Grimm hordes in the area from retreating. The destruction of an Elder Grimm always caused the Grimm aiding it to revert back to their base instincts, but he was still relatively in control for the time being.

"Well, it certainly looks like we're winning." Amethyst remarked casually, seemingly taking no joy in the situation turning in their favor.

"Wanna bet?!" Anansi screamed as he shot straight towards her with the Tarantula Widows racing at Neptune, Sage and Scarlet who quickly brought their respective weapons up.

The three members of Team SSSN met the arachnid Grimm head-on, with Neptune blasting away at his while Scarlet ran underneath the next Tarantula Widow trying to cut and shoot it while Sage fended off the legs of the third with his sword. Meanwhile Amethyst used Gembreaker which was now back in sword form to block Anansi's remaining stingers as they came down hard, the Grimm Commander behind them sporting a mask of absolute fury.

The two combatants glared at each other, furious red eyes against dull violet ones.

But despite Amethyst's emotions vanishing, her combat prowess was just more capable than ever as she struck back against Anansi, matching him blow for blow. Swings, jabs, lunges, kicks, punches, shooting webs and bursts of Maiden energy…literally everything they could throw at one another, both Maiden and Grimm Commander proceeded to do so as they fought back and forth across the rooftop.

With a shout of exertion, Amethyst jumped off the edge of the courthouse's roof and flew into the air as if riding the wind, before rocketing down and smashing her boot into Anansi's chest, pushing the Arachnid Commander back. Realizing that she overextended herself, Amethyst quickly brought her guard up, only to grunt in pain as he landed several scratches on her left arm and leg before he was blown backwards by a burst of energy coming from the Spring Maiden.

Anansi flipped up suddenly, scoring a kick on Amethyst's knee and knocking her down before he moved forwards and tried to grab her by the neck. However, as he did so he cried out having his hand bitten into hard by the youngest Maiden before she smashed her head into his chin forcing him to release her, and blocked another incoming sting attack with Gembreaker. Snarling in frustration and anger, Anansi swept Amethyst's legs out from under her with another of his spider legs, grabbing her hair and slammed her face-first into the roof, then throwing the purple-haired Maiden who tumbled to a halt a short distance away.

"I'll give you this brat, but I really did underestimate you." He said as he clacked after her, unchallenged by the trio of Team SSSN members who still had to deal with the large Tarantula Widows which made them unable to help the Spring Maiden, "Now if you can just lie down and surrender already it would be so much better for me!"

Amethyst merely pushed herself up and said, "Shoulder wounds."

"What?" Anansi questioned, only to get his answer when she whipped around with Gembreaker in its bow form and shot a fire-Dust arrow which thudded into Anansi's shoulder painfully. Cursing in frustration, the Grimm Commander ripped it out before the flames could spread onto him.

"Shoulder wounds are an effective way of hurting the enemy. They cause maximum pain but not enough to be lethal." Amethyst clarified before shooting forward and attacking again, and was met head on by a ragingly furious Anansi who met her renewed attacks with punches and stabs coming from his stingers.

As he ducked under another passing swing from Gembreaker which removed some of his hair, the Grimm Commander knew he had been correct when he said this battle wouldn't be easy.

---

The Sharaf Colosseum was one of the oldest remaining structures in Vacuo City, and had played host to many of the western Kingdom's notable national commemorations such as the Vytal Festival event when it was held at the capital. It was utterly massive in size, dwarfing the other sandstone buildings that surrounded it on all sides and therefore had more than enough space to accommodate the most of the capital's population rather comfortably.

Being a national monument, periodic restoration and repair works were often carried out to make sure that the stunning and titanic piece of architecture was kept in the best shape possible for various national events and fighting championships in the future. Scholars of the Kingdoms had debated endlessly on the societies that had raised the colosseum in the distant past, since the immense structure had distinct influences of various cultures in its overall construction. But all of them had reluctantly agreed that whoever had constructed the Sharaf Colosseum possessed both the resources and skill that few humans or Faunus could match in the past.

Heliosia walked past the construction barricades and into the main construction site within the colosseum, where some heavy and thorough restoration works were underway before the entire area was evacuated due to the city-wide emergency. Judging from the hastily abandoned tools and other construction equipment strewn around the place, it seemed that the workers and their supervisors undoubtedly all left in a hurry.

Although the Summer Maiden didn't know the exact reason why her adversary would choose this location, it seemed to Heliosia that Thorn had something to prove against her. That, combined with her overconfidence and continuous usage of her personal Semblance, might become the thief's downfall if properly exploited at the right moment. Nevertheless, Heliosia reminded herself not to underestimate her opponent since the latter was one of Salem's agents who was tasked with stealing the Maiden powers.

While it goes was obvious she was walking into a trap, inwardly Heliosia wasn't too worried since she already had a plan in place. As for herself, the brown-haired Maiden had absolute confidence in her own abilities, and she would be more than happy to impart some lessons to Thorn about the consequences of attacking a Maiden.

She walked past a pair of heavy-lifting cranes, one holding up a heavy load of steel girders while the other's chains hung lazily in the air, as well as some transport trucks loaded with a variety of building materials, and piles of bricks as she looked around carefully for her enemy, even glancing behind herself just in case Thorn tried a sneak attack again. After a moment she decided that it would be best to get to higher ground, and so she activated Flameguard's kusarigama function and swung it upwards to snag on a protruding steel girder above her on the third level of the colosseum. In a series of skillful movements that would have impressed a professional gymnast she maneuvered herself upwards by climbing and jumping to one of the steel-clad upper platforms where workers would be standing on while performing repair works for the colosseum's weather-beaten frescoes.

As the Summer Maiden came to a stop with Flameguard at the ready, she heard Thorn's voice, "All alone now? What's wrong? Did you lose your shining knight along the way?"

Heliosia turned around to see her opponent standing on another platform which extended out to an unfinished section of the colosseum, casually leaning against a support beam with her arms crossed and a cocky grin on her face.

"I sent him away where he can do far more good than chase after a thief like you." The Summer Maiden replied calmly, but a tangible yet subtle anger colored her voice, "In case you haven't noticed, innocent people are suffering greatly due to your associates' cowardly attack."

"I guess that can't be helped, since you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. A sad thing, but I guess it's inevitable that some of those people will have to die for the sake of the new world. It's all done in the name of progress, not that you would understand." Thorn mentioned haughtily.

"If there's anything I don't understand," Heliosia countered back, "It's how you would actually believe the lies of Salem that by killing innocents it would bring about a better world. If that's the perfect version of the world the dark order you serve wanted, that's not a world I would want to live in."

"That's fine by me. Besides, I don't recall Salem inviting you." Salem's Summer Maiden candidate spoke as she strode towards the edge of her own platform while facing Heliosia, "Anyway…if the knight survives this battle, he will regret letting you fight me alone."

"I don't need his help to beat you." Heliosia stated as she shifted the positioning of her white and red boots. With a flick of her wrist Flameguard telescoped outwards to its full length, forming a long elegant staff with a curved sharp hook at one end which contains a gently shimmering Fire Dust crystal. She spun it like a windmill and adopted a fighting stance, ready to strike.

Thorn laughed as she drew her two pistols from their holsters again, "Was that supposed to impress me? Never mind, I'll relish stealing the Summer Maiden's power from you."

"You can try." The Summer Maiden snapped, "I could use the challenge."

Thorn chuckled darkly as she broke into a run towards the end of the construction platform, and when she neared the end she suddenly vanished into thin air.

Heliosia held her ground, listening to the sounds of battles and carnage being wreaked outside the colosseum and how the wind blew through her coffee-brown hair. For a split second, her heightened senses picked up that there was suddenly something different about her surroundings. Taking in a quick breath, the Summer Maiden whipped around swiftly and slammed Flameguard outwards at Thorn, hitting her in the face and causing the pale woman to shout out. Her enemy stumbled back and Heliosia surged forwards, swinging her weapon once more but Thorn ducked under the second blow and kicked her in the gut before teleporting away.

She grunted from the blow and nearly fell off the edge of the platform, but kept her balance and recovered just as Thorn reappeared a short distance beside her, with both pistols drawn and ready to fire. Heliosia twirled Flameguard quickly to deflect the shots coming from Thorn, and braced herself when the latter came charging forward with her fists raised.

She caught the first blow and deflected two more, but Thorn's other fist hit her square in the chest and knocked her a step back. The Maiden bounced back quickly by upper-cutting her opponent and causing her to cry out, then she delivered several rapid-fire punches to Thorn's chest and stomach, effectively staggering her enemy. Thorn struck out with a roundhouse kick aimed at Heliosia's face, and was met with a painful whack from Flameguard on her knees which was followed by a devastating reverse-roundhouse kick from the Maiden that sent her skidding to the other end of the platform.

With a fireblast, Heliosia forced Thorn back before she dodged some shots from the closely-shaved woman's pistols until the latter teleported right in front of her. Salem's Maiden candidate thrusted both her pistols right at Heliosia's face, only for the Summer Maiden to catch her arms and forced them upwards as she shifted her head slightly to the side when Thorn pulled the triggers, letting the expelled bullets go flying into the thick wooden planks above them. Splinters of wood rained down on both combatants, stinging any exposed skin.

Thorn threw a punch that Heliosia evaded, but when the Summer Maiden tried to get in a return punch of her own Thorn slid quickly beside it, grabbed the extended fist as she got behind Heliosia, and used her other arm to grab Heliosia's neck so she flipped the Maiden over and slammed her hard into the steel platform they were fighting on. Before she could get another hit in, Thorn cried out as her opponent kicked her in the face with her boots, before twisting her arm and also bringing the pale-skinned woman crashing to the ground beside her.

Heliosia felt Thorn's hand loosen and hence quickly rolled out of the way of the latter's incoming body slam, but her relief was temporary as Thorn teleported herself on top of the Maiden and slammed her combined fists into the back of her head. "Ah!" Heliosia cried out as her head met the surface of the platform, but her legs lashed out reflexively into Thorn's stomach and sent her stumbling back a few steps with a pained grunt.

The Summer Maiden got to her feet to see Thorn charge forward again and throwing out another punch which she blocked easily and retaliated with a sharp haymaker that knocked the latter's head back. She avoided a pistol whip to her face from Salem's maiden candidate and turned aside a few more punches, only to be hit in the face when she countered the thief's kick towards her abdomen.

Thorn enjoyed Heliosia's cry of pain briefly before the Summer Maiden's maroon eyes opened wide, glowing like the sun with the shape of said star forming around the outline of her eyes. She tried to put distance between them but a powerful energy blast sent her flying into the ceiling of the scaffolding above where she crashed through several planks of wood and caught herself on one sturdy piece before teleporting to the fourth level in a pained crouch.

She watched as Heliosia recovered and retrieved Flameguard, then launched herself to the next level using fireballs that formed in her hands to blast the wooden planks making up the scaffolding in half, letting Thorn fall. The would-be Maiden teleported again and appeared on the hook of the nearest crane where she opened fire with one of her pistols at Heliosia. The Summer Maiden dodged her gunfire and deflected away a few rounds with a quick twirl of her weapon, before throwing a surprisingly powerful blast of fire created by both her Semblance and her Maiden powers, at the thick steel chains of the crane above Thorn, burning them to the point of near-molten state. Faster than Thorn could react, Heliosia whipped Flameguard's kusarigama form outwards and sliced through the melting metal, effectively severing the chain links.

Thorn teleported again before the chains and hook, along with the payload of building supplies, crashed to the ground far below and scattering bricks, pipes and metal panels everywhere. She reappeared on the other side of the fourth floor, still firing at Heliosia who weaved between crates and stacks to avoid Thorn's gunfire as she made her way towards the planks of wood that served as a bridge between the adjacent steel scaffolding and the one she was presently on. When the Summer Maiden realized what Thorn was heading for, she inwardly gave a smile as she kept on running towards the same location.

Seeing the bridge was canted a bit at an angle while being supported by some extra heavy crates to presumably allow construction workers to move to and fro without difficulty, Heliosia ran up an additional level just as Thorn neared the makeshift bridge while still blasting at her. Just as Thorn stepped onto the bridge, Heliosia slashed Flameguard's hooked end through the ropes that were wrapped around a medium-sized crate on the floor above and kicked it over. The would-be Maiden felt her eyes widen as the crate dropped onto the other side of the bridge and the laws of physics immediately took over, sending her flying into the air as the difference in weight at both ends was compensated.

The thief managed to fire some shots at Heliosia, who managed to deflect most of them thanks to her defensive usage of Flameguard although one managed to ricochet off a nearby wall and graze her, but didn't do much damage due to her powerful aura. Thorn was able to grab onto a nearby steel pole and swung herself around, narrowly avoiding getting her face unceremoniously smashed into a thick steel beam, before kicking herself away and landing on another scaffolding covering a warrior statue nearby.

As twin-pistol wielding woman rolled to her feet and jumped up, she called out, "You're good, but I'm better!" She then ducked quickly as a couple of fireballs went flying by her, the heat coming from them making it clear that the Summer Maiden wasn't messing around.

"Really? I think your fighting skills need a lot of work." Helisioa replied as she formed a few more balls of crackling fire which she sent flying at the thief.

Thorn quickly picked up a chain that had been left on a tool table and jumped off the warrior statue's scaffolding, heading straight for Heliosia, swinging it around to strike until she suddenly teleported again and appeared right in front of the Summer Maiden. She managed to deal a glancing blow with the padlock at the end of the chain to the Maiden with coffee-colored hair, knocking her into one of the support beams. Thorn laughed as she avoided a series of rapid jabs from Flameguard as she spun around to whip out the chain again, but Heliosia leapt out of the way and landed onto another girder before she threw out Flameguard's kusarigama chain once more just as Thorn whipped her own chain outwards.

Thorn's steel chain and padlock snagged Flameguard's own chain with the sun-shaped metallic circle, binding the two lengths together. With a sharp jerk Heliosia abruptly pulled Thorn off the girder she was currently on, only for the female teleporter to vanish and then reappear a few meters from Heliosia, chain still in her hand.

Pulling hard, Thorn brought Heliosia in close and delivered a series of quick kicks, which the Summer Maiden was able to endure by turning around so her back took the brunt of Thorn's kicks. The Maiden then slammed Flameguard's staff end into Thorn's chin before strongly ripping the chain out of her hands and breaking the connected parts, letting Thorn's improvised weapon fall below.

Undeterred, Thorn struck back with a series of ferocious kicks and swift jabs while trying to find any kind of weak spot on her opponent. While many of her attacks impacted hit the Summer Maiden, her opponent's aura held and Heliosia did manage to block the rest and also got in a few painful hits of her own.

Bright flames formed on Heliosia's hands once again and she moved to deliver a burning palm strike on Thorn, who ducked down and teleported behind Heliosia, ramming the heels of her boots into the Summer Maiden's back knees, knocking her down halfway down to the ground. The Summer Maiden threw out an elbow jab in return, smashing to Thorn's torso and winding her a little, before sweep-kicking her opponent who teleported once more. Heliosia managed to block the next kick, but her head was wrenched backwards as Thorn pulled on her hair and slammed the Maiden's head hard into her knee which would nearly have broken her nose if not for her aura.

Thorn then grabbed Heliosia's sleeved jacket and tossed her through a half-finished drywall where she landed with a loud thud on stone floor. The Summer Maiden tried to push herself up, and was brought down again by Thorn's boot connecting with her forehead and knocking her flat onto her back, Flameguard spinning to a stop a small distance away. Thorn chuckled as she slipped on a white glove onto her right hand and knelt down on top of the groaning Summer Maiden, locking her arms to her sides and drew a pistol with her left hand to point at the tanned girl's head while her now glove-covered white one was aimed at Heliosia's face.

Despite feeling pain flaring across her face, Heliosia saw that a strange tattoo made of red ink was on the palm of her enemy's hand, and it was made of an intricate design with an eye in the center of it. She had never seen it before, but just laying eyes on it filled her with dread and anxiety since she realized that Amber must have seen the exact same thing before her Maiden powers were stolen by Cinder Fall.

"Say goodbye to your precious powers, bitch! Don't worry, they'll be in good hands. Better than yours!" Thorn told her wickedly as a small portal began to open up in the flesh of her gloved palm.

Heliosia's eyes widened in disgust and horror as some kind of insect Grimm began to wiggle its way out of the portal, aimed directly at her face. Despite having fought against many different types of Grimm during her journey across Remnant as the Summer Maiden, Heliosia couldn't help but feel a small stab of undiluted fear in her heart when she saw such a repulsive Grimm bug with her own eyes.

Thorn laughed evilly as she moved her hand closer and closer to the Summer Maiden's face, but was thwarted when Sharp Strike slammed an armored gauntlet right into her face which sent her staggering back with a pained shriek. Before pale-skinned woman could recover, an equally armored boot delivered a powerful kick to her stomach sent Thorn careening off the steel girders and smashing through several wooden planks towards the ground far below, but she teleported away just before she crashed to the first level of the colosseum.

Extending an open gauntlet towards Heliosia who took it, Sharp Strike pulled her upright and mentioned, "That was too close for my liking."

"The feeling's mutual, but at least we now know for sure how they could steal the Maiden powers." Heliosia said as she ran over and picked up Flameguard by the haft, while readying herself for another bout, "It's some sort of Grimm parasite, I think I once read about it in a book somewhere…I also remember that Fire Walker mentioning that Qrow Branwen reported the same thing to Ozpin when Cinder Fall stole Amber's powers from her."

"If we can capture it from Thorn, that may allow the Knight Order know more about how Salem's agents operate. We can get answers later." Sharp Strike answered before Thorn reappeared between them with a furious snarl, her fists slamming towards their faces. Sharp Strike leapt aside while Heliosia twisted separately, the knight errant bringing his sword down in a backwards slash while the Summer Maiden launched another fireball from her fingerless-gloved hand. Thorn teleported away from their blows, reappearing and jumping up to kick Sharp Strike right in the helmet with her boot, knocking him back a step before she vanished once more from an overhead blow coming from Flameguard.

"Back to back!" Heliosia shouted, and immediately the two fighters copied their strategy earlier and turned away from each other while keeping an eye out for Thorn's reappearance. Sure enough, she suddenly appeared some meters away from Heliosia, rushing and gunning at her before teleporting away when the Summer Maiden struck out in her direction. She then reemerged running in front of Sharp Strike guns blazing, forcing him to spin his swords in an effort to deflect her pistol rounds, then vanishing once more and reappearing atop one of the huge construction vehicles not far away. Sharp Strike sent some bullets from his customized revolver Vanquisher flying at Thorn, who jumped high and teleported again, this time appearing right above the Knight and Maiden, firing bullets at them which Sharp Strike skillfully deflected for the Summer Maiden with his swords.

Heliosia ejected Flameguard's kusarigama chain upwards which snapped around Thorn's foot, and with a heave she slammed the chain downwards with Thorn giving out a surprised yelp. Seizing this chance, Sharp Strike dashed forwards with his sword arcing down at the thief, who teleported again before suddenly appearing in front of Sharp Strike and pistol-whipped his helmet with both her guns, then tried to spin-kick him but the silver-blue armored knight dodged aside while firing a couple of rounds from his revolver in an effort to either deafen or force Thorn back.

She jumped and teleported again, this time appearing in front of Heliosia and kicking her in the shoulder, nearly knocking her off balance before changing position to Sharp Strike again where she successfully dodged eight slashes and roundhouse kicked him in the side of his helmeted head. She teleported again and tried to punch Heliosia again, but the Summer Maiden was adequately prepared and caught her fist, bending over backwards and flung Thorn off the gaping hole in the drywall and down the levels in one smooth motion. The teleporter came back again, but suffered a painful kick in the gut from Sharp Strike that caused her to crash onto the back a small distance away with her aura flickering. She fell back while shooting at them, teleporting once more and showing up in front of Heliosia again with two punches aimed for her head, which the Summer Maiden ducked and sent a crashing knee in her opponent's stomach and twin whacks with Flameguard's staff form into both of her knees before she vanished yet again.

Both of them looked up to see Thorn sagging a little while leaning against one of the statues decorating the upper levels of the colosseum, one arm wrapped around her stomach and having a pained wince on her features. Nonetheless, there was still defiance in her expression as she glared at both combatants who glared back at her with their respective weapons drawn.

"Had enough?" Heliosia said, "Or shall we hurt you more?"

"Teleporting so many times at one go…" Sharp Strike quietly mentioned, "It's going to wear you out pretty quickly. I presume you're getting tired already?"

"I'm not tired! You're both more tired than me!" Thorn retorted hotly as she pushed herself away from the sword-wielding Faunus statue while catching her breath, "I…I can do this all day!"

"Somehow, with you panting heavily like that, I doubt that's the case." Heliosia said.

"You are not in a favorable position, Thorn." Sharp Strike said, "However, if you surrender now I will ensure that you will be treated fairly and given a fair trial for your despicable actions."

"Did you both think I didn't have a backup plan?" Thorn sneered and fired a red tracer round into the air while shouting, "Boys and girls, go get them!"

When only silence met her ears after several seconds, the enemy agent looked around quizzically when no reinforcements came to assist her in taking down the Remnant Knight and the Summer Maiden, "Wh-wha-?"

"If you're wondering about your dozen or so Red Fang members who were hiding around in this colosseum." Sharp Strike pointed his sword at her, "Don't bother, I've already taken care of them while you were fighting Heliosia. Let's just say they're too busy licking their wounds to be of any help to you."

Thorn simply shouted a number of colorful curses in return as she panted, then faster than the eye could blink she vanished again. There were several tense moments of silence as Sharp Strike and Heliosia prepared themselves for the next attack. They didn't say anything to each other as they required all of their senses to be on high alert, for fear of being taken by surprise.

Sure enough Thorn appeared again, rolling underneath Sharp Strike's horizontal sword blow as she slammed one pistol into the knight errant's armored torso and emptying a round into him. However, the Aegis armor plates covering his body held firm, but it didn't stop the pain and kinetic impact from the impacted round and he was pushed back a step. Thorn jumped up and teleported in mid-air above Heliosia, who she caught with a headscissor takedown. The Summer Maiden nearly fell off the far end of the current colosseum level but managed to grab hold of the ledge to push herself back up as Thorn teleported again and slammed bodily into Sharp Strike so she could grab his head and slam it into her knee. She managed to do it only once before a sweeping slice from the armored knight's sword forced her to give distance or have her intestines coming out of her torso. The latest blow threw him back but Sharp Strike fired a round from Vanquisher which impacted near Thorn's head and caused her aura to flicker briefly. In retaliation she drove a fist into his chest plate, dodged a couple of vicious jabs from Flameguard, and then jumped onto his chest so that she could kick herself off of him before teleporting again from Heliosia's strikes.

Heliosia spun around speedily and was knocked onto her side as Thorn appeared and swept the Summer Maiden off her feet with a sweeping kick before vanishing again. She then returned in front of the recovering Sharp Strike, landing a spin kick on his helmet hard enough to crack the azure lenses a little while avoiding his rapid cuts, slashes and thrusts.

Instead of giving ground Sharp Strike activated his Semblance and shot forward like a bullet, smashing Thorn hard into a nearby sandstone pillar and brought the elbow of his sword-wielding arm under her neck while grabbing her right hand. With a twist of his gauntlet he forced the enemy agent to drop one of her pistols and kicked it spinning away with one boot, then tightened his vambrace onto Thorn's neck as he swung her bodily over to Heliosia who slammed a flaming fist into the enemy agent's back. The near-bald woman cried out in pain before she dropped something and teleported to safety.

The Knight and Maiden quickly spotted Thorn yet again on the ground floor, coughing and breathing raggedly as she collected herself. They both looked down at the blinking explosive charge, realization dawning on their faces just as Salem removed the detonator from her pocket and thumbed a button.

A small but powerful explosion went off in between the two, blowing both the knight and the Summer Maiden off the platform. Sharp Strike spun in mid-air as he aimed his right gauntlet and fired a grappling hook at the nearest steel scaffolding to propel himself to safety, while Heliosia did the same thing with Flameguard's kusarigama function. She recovered quickly and used her Maiden powers of pyrokinesis to propel herself with jets of flame to land onto the ground, before spinning Flameguard in her hands to block the bullets Thorn was firing at her with her remaining pistol.

Soon enough, Thorn realized that her pistol was empty and since the other was lost among the detritus of construction materials covering the colosseum's arena grounds she had no other remaining weapon left, but she needed to buy time to reload. She sprinted for the nearest cover, only to be blasted into a front loader by a wave of Maiden energy by Heliosia. The pale woman groaned as she looked up to see Sharp Strike jumping towards her, his twin swords out and ready to stab.

Thorn grabbed a pipe from the pile in the front loader's bucket and teleported upwards, ramming into Sharp Strike and slamming the pipe into his side to knock him away forcing him to drop one of his swords. The Knight landed with a heavy thud, skidding across the arena ground to a grinding halt as Thorn teleported in front of him and stomped one booted foot down onto his chest plate and was about to ram the broken end of the steel pipe into his neck when Heliosia's boot impacted into her upper back through a flying kick, shattering Thorn's aura and sending her tumbling away for several meters before she teleported once again.

"This is getting rather repetitive." Sharp Strike complained quietly as Heliosia helped him up, "She's one dirty fighter."

"We have to keep at it. Thorn's getting angry, and that means she's bound to slip up and make a mistake." Heliosia reasoned, and received a nod of agreement from the knight errant.

Suddenly they heard the gunshots echoing above them and the snapping of chains. Both Sharp Strike and Heliosia looked up to see Thorn standing upon the other crane's loaded cargo as they began to slope downwards rapidly and slip out of the iron chains. Their opponent smirked evilly as she teleported again, just as dozens of long steel girders slipped from the crane's hold, falling straight down towards them.

"MOVE!" Sharp Strike shouted as he grabbed the Summer Maiden by the arm and activated his Semblance, putting in an extra burst of speed as he hauled her out of the way of the raining steel. Deafening crashes rang all around them as one impaled the cab of the front loader, another demolished a pile of steel piping, and another huge piece nearly crushed the two as they scrambled to safety.

"Ah!" Heliosia cried out as they ran over a drainage ditch when another steel girder slammed down in front of them, showering them with dirt and sand. "Hurry!" Sharp Strike called out as he shoved Heliosia over the girder just as the last girder came down over him even as he tried to avoid it, pinning his right leg into the ditch.

"Sharp Strike!" Heliosia shouted in concern as they saw him struggling to free his leg from the pinning girder.

Thorn unpredictably teleported in front of her again, "Just the two of us, hot stuff!"

She dodged Heliosia's thrown fireball and landed some quick but effective kicks on the Summer Maiden, but was sent flying into a support beam by a blast of raw Maiden energy that Heliosia flung at her.

The Summer Maiden whipped out Flameguard once again and sent its sickle flying at her enemy, but Thorn ducked it and grabbed the Maiden's weapon tightly before yanking Heliosia forward into the path of her boot as she kicked upwards, her knee hitting the Maiden's chin which knocked her head back. She then grabbed Flameguard and ripped it out of Heliosia's hands, quickly maneuvering the chain around the Maiden's neck and forced her down while Heliosia slammed her elbows into Thorn's torso repeatedly in an effort to get free.

While all of this was happening, Sharp Strike was still trying to free himself from the girder that was lying on top of his right leg. Thankfully his Aegis armor protected his pinned limb from any bone breakage, but there would be definitely be serious bruising. Glancing to see that Heliosia was in trouble, he quickly slid Lan Feng's blade underneath the girder and used it as an improvised lever to free his trapped leg. With a grunt he pulled his trapped leg free, and since Hong Long was lost somewhere he had no other weapon than his customized revolver and relic sword.

"Enough of this!" Thorn spat in annoyance as she tried to get her tattooed hand close to Heliosia's face as the Summer Maiden struggled to keep it away, watching as the Grimm insect slowly crawled out once more from the opening portal in her enemy's palm. It got closer and closer, but Heliosia continued to struggle defiantly, "These powers are mine now! Just…give…in!"

Knowing that he was running out of time, Sharp Strike drew his revolver and quickly slid in a special bullet crafted from brass and silver metals that he had produced from one of his waist pouches into the gun's chamber. With a quick prayer on his lips he freed his leg and aimed the barrel of his revolver at Thorn's outstretched hand, and pulled the trigger while sprinting towards at the fighting pair and drawing his relic sword from its black and gold scabbard, all the while further powered by his Semblance.

What the knight errant fired from Vanquisher was no ordinary bullet, this one was intricately engraved with tiny runes and script all over every inch of its surface, some of which were glowing faintly as it shot unerringly towards Thorn's glove-covered hand. The round was actually of a specially-modified seeker variant, cast from the finest metals that were found in the mines located close to the capital of Vacuo, then blessed by the famed Merlinus of the Knight Order, and finally inscribed with many litanies and warding sigils that were anathema to any creatures of Grimm. Less than two dozen such rounds were left in existence, and each specially-crafted round does not contain a powerful mix of volatile liquid Dust…but believed to be a tiny fragment of Silver Eye energy that was said to be derived from the eyes of the honorable Grand Knight Master Lord Emmanuel himself. Sharp Strike was gifted one such bullet by Argentius after they had vanquished a Grimm Sphinx and its Manticore horde together during one of their past missions in Mistral.

And he could think of no other situation to use it other than to save a Maiden.

Surprisingly, Heliosia smiled in the midst of her struggles instead of showing any hint of fear. Before Thorn could question it, Sharp Strike's bullet punched a hole through the palm of her right hand and into the Grimm insect, releasing an instantaneous glow of bright silver color. There was an awful intense insectoid screech as the Grimm bug writhed in the expelled silver eye energy for a few seconds before succumbing to instant petrification and dropped to the arena grounds of the colosseum harmlessly.

Thorn's mouth dropped in shock and surprise at the sight of the gaping, bleeding hole in the middle of her palm and the dead Grimm insect which was instantly petrified by the energy released from a special bullet fired by the Remnant Knight. She was close…so close to getting the powers she was promised by Salem! She turned and saw Sharp Strike grabbing her right arm and yanked it backwards, twisting it painfully and brought his relic sword arcing down.

SSSHHHNNNKKK!

The next thing Thorn knew was boiling, searing pain and she let out a piercing scream of pure agony. She dropped to her knees as her entire right arm from elbow down was completely cleaved from her shoulder by Sharp Strike's relic Promethean sword. The severed limb was sent flying away by the force of the sword blow, leaving a profusely bleeding stump glowing with aura where her right elbow would be as red blood splattered the sands of the sands of the arena ground.

The pale-skinned woman's grip loosened on the chains wrapped around Heliosia's neck, and she exploited this chance by unwrapping Flameguard's chains and let fly with a blast of Maiden energy which knocked Thorn high into the air. She then quickly dashed and leapt towards her opponent and before Thorn could react the Summer Maiden slammed a devastating flaming fist into Thorn's face which sent her crashing through several wooden planks and into a pile of building materials, upon which further collapsed some extra steel flag poles from the scaffolding above and their restraint cables gave away

Heliosia landed onto the ground once more, checking herself over and rubbing her neck before turning to look at Sharp Strike who walked to her side.

"Are you all right, my lady?" Sharp Strike asked calmly.

"I should be asking you that, my knight. You took quite a beating." The Summer Maiden voiced.

"I could say the same of you, but I'm fine. It's nothing I haven't withstood before." He told her modestly while sheathing his relic sword.

"Think Thorn finally had enough of us?" Heliosia shook her gloved hands slightly.

"Considering the lengthy beatdown we gave her, I personally think that she has bitten off more than she could chew." Sharp Strike responded as he shook his weapon of any remaining droplets of blood.

Heliosia nodded as her eyes caught sight of the relic blade, "That third sword of yours…it looks familiar."

"It should, considering from where it came from. We can discuss that later, right now we need to apprehend Thorn if my superiors want to properly question her." Sharp Strike mentioned before they saw the pile of smashed building materials and steel flag poles moving, and a wounded figure slowly rose from the debris coughing and moaning in pain as she clutched her severely bleeding right arm to her chest. Blood sheeted down her torso from the elbow stump, and when she looked up both Sharp Strike and Heliosia could see that the Summer Maiden's latest blow had scarred the left side of Thorn's face with severe burns, and her left eye looeds to be permanently damaged as well with the sclera red and the iris grey which was at odds with the original colours of her intact right eye.

"That's enough, Thorn!" Heliosia called as she approached Thorn cautiously, "You have lost this battle, you're severely wounded, and there's no further purpose for you to continue fighting. Surrender now and you have my word that the Remnant Knights will ensure that you're treated fairly for your crimes and given the medical attention."

"This is your last and final chance." Sharp Strike kept Vanquisher ready in his other gauntlet, ready to shoot should Thorn had some other hidden trick up her sleeve, "So choose carefully before you regret it."

Seething in blind rage, Thorn forced herself to stand and shouted, "You can take your offer and shove it! This…this isn't over, assholes! I…I will be back, and I will kill you both slowly and painfully for what you did to me!"

The thief then feebly managed to teleport away, finally retreating from the site of battle.

"Where did she go?" Heliosia asked as she scanned the area, and placed a gloved hand on Sharp Strike's vambrace when the knight errant looked as though he was about to pursue Thorn.

"She's running back to Salem to lick her wounds. We've beaten her for now and preserved your status as the Summer Maiden, although Thorn nearly scored a victory for the Dark Queen had I not been fast enough." Sharp Strike told her as he reclaimed his swords Hong Long and Lan Feng, "However the main point is that she failed to steal your powers, and that's what truly matters to my sworn duty as your protector."

He paused for a moment and then added, "Nonetheless, it's still a considerable disappointment that we didn't manage to apprehend Thorn for my superiors to question."

"I suppose you're right, Sharp Strike. Though it's disappointing we don't have a prisoner, we'd all like some answers right now." Heliosia mused quietly.

"We can't always have everything." The silver-blue armored knight commented as he sat down on a nearby stack of red bricks, shaking his right leg a little to make sure nothing was broken. He held his side with a grunt as he felt the effects of the punches and kicks Thorn had dealt him, but mentally told himself that he would check himself over after the battle engulfing Vacuo City was over. He then lifted his right arm and the armor plates there slid back to reveal a small compartment containing his scroll, and with quick movements of his gauntleted fingers Sharp Strike tapped the command to summon Swift Wing to their location.

"Sharp Strike…I think I found something." Heliosia's voice came from a small distance away, "Looks like your superiors would appreciate this particular item that Thorn didn't recover."

The Knight turned as the Maiden walked over and held out a slightly scratched weapon: one of Thorn's pistols, the one she had lost during the furious battle with Sharp Strike and Heliosia. He received it from her and looked the weapon over in his hands while saying, "Hmm…looks like we didn't have to leave empty-handed after all. Still, I need to get this weapon to a certain prognosticator in the Order to get some answers."

"Whatever you need to do, Sharp Strike." Heliosia smiled as she retracted Flameguard and slotted it back into its special holder at her waist.

There was a throaty roar in the air as the gleaming form of Swift Wing shot through the open main gates of the Sharaf Colosseum, skidding to a stop in front of Sharp Strike and Heliosia again.

"Shall we rejoin the wider battle now, my lady?" Sharp Strike held out his hand.

Heliosia chuckled heartily as she accepted the knight errant's hand, "I thought you'd never ask."

Not too far away, Thorn hid in a darkened alleyway away from the worst of the fighting. Leaning against the dirty wall, she clutched and looked down at her glowing, bleeding stump where her right elbow ended with only her right eye. The searing pain on her face was beyond excruciating in its intensity, and the thief knew that half of her sight was likely to be permanently gone as well.

"You-ergh-'ll both pay for that, argh!" She groaned agonizingly as she stumbled down the dilapidated alleyway, then her remaining left eye widened as far as it could go when she unexpectedly realized something, "Oh gods…I'm so, so fucked when Salem sees me like this…"

With that, she used the last of her Semblance to teleport herself to safety.

To Be Continued...

This chapter was co-written by Relentless Crusader

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