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

80. Salem Strikes Part IX: Victory

Please check out the prequel to this story, I Never Even Told You, as I have written a new, revised edition of it, and check out DOR's Summer Special.

Chapter 79: Salem Strikes Part IX: Victory

In the huge building known as Vacuo City Elementary School, a blur of black, red, and white zoomed through every hallway and every classroom, even the restrooms, leaving red petals in its wake as the young red-hooded Huntress made her way back to where she originally started.

Ruby came to a halt near the entrance to the school's shelter, leaning against the wall and lowering Crescent Rose as she took deep breaths as the fatigue from using her semblance and silver eyes began to visibly affect her. Having just ran through the entire school, personally making sure that each and every part of it was clear and had also taken out any straggling Grimm she had found to make doubly sure they would not spring an unexpected ambush on the Rangers who were bravely fighting the hordes at the school's main gates and courtyard.

From the looks of things, they had only just managed to eliminate the latest wave of Grimm but scouts at the nearby buildings in the vicinity have reported another bigger horde was only a few street blocks away. While everything was all right for now, the situation might change in a matter of minutes to come. There was also an earth-shaking explosion that sounded from far away which nearly knocked Ruby off her feet, but she managed to recover while hoping that the outcome of that explosion was not something that would make the battle worse than it already was.

When coming across small groups of Grimm roaming around the empty hallways of the school, Ruby had switched to using her speed semblance and trusty weapon to wipe them out instead of using the power of her silver eyes since it could potentially sap too much of her remaining energy, which she remembered as one of Argentius's warning during their training in the mindscape.

"Oh boy, never thought I'd say this, but maybe I need to slow down." Ruby murmured to herself before she pushed off the wall and walking down the stone steps to the shelter's entrance. After checking that there were no Grimm in the nearby areas, she hit the external control panel for the shelter's intercom and spoke, "Principal Rujos, it's me! I'm done checking the school, there are no remaining students in any of the rooms!"

"Oh thank goodness." Rujos's voice came through the intercom system, "So we're safe for the time being?"

"Looks like it." Ruby replied, "Are all of the students and teachers inside?"

"We did a roll-call just a few minutes ago." The principal's voice came again, "Everyone's been accounted for…except for the janitor that poor girl saw earlier…"

Ruby gave a nod and looked down solemnly for a moment as she replied, "Well, that's good to hear. Let's just be thankful that there weren't any more deaths."

She was about to say more when her scroll beeped and the scythe-wielding Huntress answered it to hear Sergeant Ismail's voice, "Miss Rose, the Grimm are still coming! We need your help urgently at the school's main atrium!"

"Understood, I'm on my way!" Ruby answered before ending the call and tapping the intercom's panel again, "The rangers are still in trouble, I need to go help them. Just make sure the doors remained locked and tell everyone to stay calm. Once the Grimm have been wiped out, I'll tell someone to come get you all."

"I understand, Miss Rose. Fight well and stay safe." Rujos spoke with a voice full of gratitude.

Ruby felt herself smile as she finished with, "Thanks! I'll see you all later!"

She clicked off the intercom and quickly rushed towards the main entrance of the school. When she arrived, Ruby found that it was under heavy attack by the Grimm, and the surviving Rangers defense the school from them as much as they could. From the safety of improvised barricades and mounds of debris and rubble, the rangers had managed to force the beasts swarming through the courtyard into a bottleneck of sorts in the main atrium with hails of bullets taking them out.

Ruby ran to where sergeant Ismail was, adding her firepower by shooting bullets from Crescent Rose at any visible Grimm she could find and helping to thin the horde a little. The ranger sergeant was sliding in a fresh magazine into his assault rifle while the other ranges hiding behind cover with him continued to return fire.

"What's up?" Ruby asked as she racked the slide on Crescent Rose.

"Thank Oum you're here!" Ismail shouted as he leaned out and fired a burst from his assault rifle before quickly took cover again, "The Grimm have broken through the main courtyard, and we need to hold them here before they try to breach the shelter. Have you taken care of the students?"

"Yeah, they're all in the shelter and all Grimm inside have been wiped out." Ruby nodded.

"Good to hear!" The sergeant answered as he shot down a roaring Beowolf and continued, "I have called for reinforcements from the main precinct, they'll be here in five minutes or so. We just have to hold off the Grimm until they arrive, and we'll wipe them out together with air support!"

"Sounds like a plan!" The daughter of Summer Rose agreed and added, "I'll get to an upper level and start sniping Grimm. You just make sure they don't manage to breach any of the barricades."

"That's what I intend to do." Ismail gave a wry smile as he gestured for Ruby to get going as he shouted for another ranger to use his grenade launcher while the others kept up their punishing rate of fire. She saw some egg-shaped objects went flying overhead, and even one of the rangers let fly with his grenade launcher, and saw those grenades landing among the most tightly clustered Grimm creatures. A series of explosions shredded through the first few ranks of Grimm completely and wounding the others, some hesitated while others still continued to charge into the bottleneck corridor without heed of their own casualties. One of the grenades' detonation smashed into an Ursa and its accompanying Beowolves, seriously wounding the beast while killing the latter group. Ruby saw her chance and put a bullet through the weakened bone armor covering the Ursa's head, reducing it to fading dust before using those precious seconds bought by the grenade blasts to search for a better shooting location.

She zoomed up the staircase, running past rangers sniping off the monsters until she found a vantage spot overlooking the atrium. Planting Crescent Rose on the steel railing and using it as a support, Ruby fired round after round into the near-endless onslaught of Grimm, each time vaporizing a soulless beast out of existence. As she had a limited amount of remaining ammo clips on her, not to mention that her previous fights with the agents of Salem had consumed quite a number of her bullets so Ruby carefully aimed each individual shot before pulling the trigger, blasting the more dangerous Grimm while the rangers below kept the majority of the hordes at bay with relentless weapons fire.

Her latest magazine clacked empty once Ruby sent a bullet flying straight into the forehead of a roaring Beringel which was just meters away from reaching the nearest of the barricade. She hit the release and quickly swapped a fresh one while the rangers nearby provided covering fire, searching for the larger and more dangerous beasts to put down even as the rangers at the lower levels continued to put up heavy resistance against the surging Grimm assaulting the school.

Even though she managed to shoot down some of the Beowolves, Creeps, Ursas, Boarbatusks, Hellhounds, even a couple of other Beringels, but there were always more Grimm charging in right behind them. It was actually quite terrifying to see such a teeming horde pressing the assault, since Grimm were always attracted towards the sounds of conflict and negative emotions. Ruby briefly wondered if she should use the power of her silver eyes again, but quickly decided against it since she knew she was considerably exhausted already. Besides, if she didn't manage to kill all of the Grimm in the immediate vicinity she would become quite vulnerable since she wouldn't be able to defend herself properly if she was too weak to move after using her aforesaid powers.

It was as though a near-ceaseless torrent of gunfire was competing with the sounds of dying Grimm around her now, so much that Ruby almost didn't hear the insistent ringing of her scroll as she shot down another couple of Beowolves from her chosen vantage point. She ducked into the nearest cover and answered the call once she saw the emblem of the Hyperion Minor on the scroll's screen.

"Ciel? Is that you?" She had to shout over the cacophonic sounds of combat.

"Yes, Ruby. I'm piloting Hyperion Minor right now." The clipped voice of the Avenger Gunship's pilot came back through the crashing gunfire from the Vacuo Ranger's guns and terrible sounds from the Grimm about Ruby, "Where are you, and what's the current situation at your end?"

"Okay! Long story short, I've been helping out the Vacuo Rangers who are protecting the students of city's central elementary school…" Ruby spoke quickly as she watched Ismail call for the rangers under his command to toss frag grenades again. There was a series of loud blasts followed by thick grey smoke, and then the gunfire resumed once more against the remaining Grimm that hadn't been killed, "The teachers, students and other school staff are safely secured inside the shelter underneath the school, but the Grimm are still attacking the place and they've already broken through the main courtyard!"

She dared a look over the barricades and saw the next wave of Grimm charging forwards, and witnessed that it was only narrowly pushed back by punishing waves of bullets and a torrent of grenades coming from the Vacuo Rangers. However, one unlucky ranger screamed as he was suddenly pulled from behind the barricades by a howling Beringel and torn bloodily into half whilst the gorilla-like Grimm was being showered with bullets by the rest of his comrades.

"Hang on, Ruby. I've traced your location through your scroll." Ciel's voice spoke again, "Now diverting route to your location to provide backup. E.T.A. Five minutes. Just do what you can to prevent any more Grimm from getting into the school. We'll be there soon."

"Got it, just get here as fast as you can!" Ruby replied before ending the call and checking her remaining ammunition before sprinting out back into sniping position. She took aim, snapping off a precision shot with Crescent Rose which severed one of the clawed arms of a howling, giant Beowolf while the other rangers shot it to death with their assault rifles' gunfire.

While the Vacuo Rangers shot with as much precision as they could manage, making each shot count to blow away the oncoming tide of Grimm, the soulless creatures nevertheless came charging through the hails of bullets and shells they were throwing out endlessly. Even with Ruby's help, for every Grimm that fell there were two or three more to take its place, and they were swiftly closing the courtyard's cracked ground towards the rangers who were blasting at them from behind the barricades.

"Grenades!" Sergeant Ismail hollered and half of the rangers below palmed oval-shaped frag grenades and tossed them into the areas within the courtyard where the Grimm hordes were the thickest while the other half covered their comrades by continuing to blast down any other Grimm that got near. Seconds later there were a number of explosions which ripped through the onrushing Grimm, blowing limbs and roaring creatures through the air. Incredibly, several of those Grimm creatures including Beowolves, Ursa, Boarbatusks, and Hellhounds, dragged themselves mindlessly forward. Ruby narrowed her eyes as she and a couple other rangers blasted them to oblivion since even an injured Grimm can still pose a threat.

Between her and the rangers' weapons fire, they managed to thin the Grimm ranks for a brief moment. They wavered for a second or two, the cohesion of the horde seemingly on the verge of breaking, but then a mighty roar from another Manticore at the far end of the courtyard put an end to that. The wavering immediately stopped, and the Grimm picked up momentum again by jumping or simply crushing the wounded underneath their feet as they surged forwards once more, determined to slaughter the fighting Rangers and the red-hooded Huntress sniping away at any Grimm she could find.

"Come on…come on…where are you, Ciel?" Ruby muttered to herself as she continued to put down Grimm after Grimm, until the leader of Team RWBY heard the whining sounds of multiple airship engine turbines flying overhead the slightly damaged roof of the school. A couple of seconds later a trio of Bullheads belonging to the Vacuo Rangers blazed into view in the smoke-choked skies above, their mounted machine guns already opening fire at the Grimm invading the school and wiping out a significant chunk of them.

Cheering loudly with the rest of the Rangers around her, Ruby then saw the stunning sight of the sleek black and grey-colored Avenger Gunship Hyperion Minor which roared into her sight while spitting crashing gunfire from its underside-mounted twin multi-barreled gatling guns into the remaining Grimm. Self-targeting rockets whooshed from the missile arrays stationed on either wing, decimating the Grimm creatures even further as the advanced aircraft flew in a sharp curve around the school without inconveniencing its pilot and passengers thanks to its exceptional flight capabilities.

The Grimm fought on heedless of their own casualties, but with the arrival of Hyperion Minor and its accompanying Bullheads the outcome of the battle was already decidedly in the defenders' favour. After the Manticore was directly taken out by a pair of high-explosive missiles from Hyperion Minor, the rest of the Grimm lost almost all of their cohesion and were easily destroyed by the newly-arrived reinforcements. The smaller, unlearned creatures continued to throw themselves at the manned barricades, but quite a number of larger, more experienced Grimm quickly turned and fled in other directions down the empty streets, chased by salvoes of machine-gun fire and missiles.

Ruby waved enthusiastically at the hovering form of Hyperion Minor before looking around to look for Sergeant Ismail. She spotted him not far away, standing near the main barricade shouting out orders for the other Rangers under his command to evacuate the students and teachers from the school. When she caught his attention the ranger sergeant gave a grateful nod at the young Huntress which she returned and gave a thumbs up in his direction. She could hardly believe it herself, they had won the battle against near-overwhelming odds and managed to survive the attack.

She suddenly remembered that she had to check on Principal Rujos and everyone else in the school, and so the red-hooded girl made her way back inside the school once more. It wasn't long before she reached the thick armored doors of the protective shelter's entrance, pressed the intercom and spoke, "Principal Rujos! Most of the Grimm have been wiped out or have run off, and reinforcements from the Rangers have arrived! The school's safe!"

The shelter's doors clunked open and the school's principal, escorted by his assigned pair of ranger privates, stepped out to meet with her again, "That's good to hear. Thank you so much for your invaluable assistance, Miss Rose. You've saved the school and the lives of almost everyone in it. We are forever in your debt."

"Hey, it's no problem." Ruby replied a little sheepishly, "It's just what I do."

"If what you do is save lives, then you're very good at it." Principal Rujos replied with a grateful smile on her face as she gestured to the huge crowd of students who were crowding around the shelter's entrance. Some of them still look a bit scared and worried about their safety, but many of the young students were gazing at Ruby admirably.

Just then, one of the young kids shouted out, "Let's hear it for Ruby!"

In a matter of seconds, Ruby was nearly overwhelmed by a huge, rousing round of applause and cheers which was all made in celebration of her heroic contributions in the defense of the elementary school. The scythe-wielding Huntress had been thanked before, cheered on before, praised before quite a number of times, but never to this huge extent. Seeing that she had managed to keep them all safe, she couldn't help but feel some sensible pride at her brave defensive efforts.

Shouts of "You're the best!" "Thank you for saving us!" "You're awesome!" "I wanna be like you!" filled her ears, and Ruby even shook hands with some of the teachers who stepped forward to offer their own thanks.

Ruby smiled as she felt tears forming in her silver eyes. Although she was clearly tired from all the fighting and the use of her eyes' special abilities, but seeing all of these kids and their teachers alive and well, letting her know that she had bravely saved their lives, made it all worthwhile.

After accepting and thanking the huge crowd of students and teachers for their lavish praise, Ruby decided that it was time for her to leave and get back out there into the city to help more people and leave the Rangers to protect the school. However as she looked back towards the empty school courtyard she noticed Hyperion Minor was coming in to land in the street away from the Bullheads that were evacuating the school's occupants. The Rangers began directing the students in small groups towards the open passenger bay of the idling transports, even as other Bullheads flew overhead in patrolling patterns to provide aerial cover with their weapons against any airborne Grimm.

Running up the staircase and outwards into the busy school courtyard, Ruby bypassed the Ismail and the surviving members of his squad who were assisting in the evacuation efforts. As she ran past him, the sergeant called out, "Thanks for your help, Rose! Stay safe!"

"You're welcome, Sergeant!" Ruby answered back as she came out of the school's main exit to where she had previously seen Hyperion Minor. As she walked out onto the debris-strewn courtyard in front of the school, she could see other rangers and even a few Huntsmen and Huntresses moving in to secure the area while the airships hovered overhead protectively while Hyperion Minor made one last pass around the courtyard. The silver-eyed Huntress found herself smiling when she saw a pair of familiar figures among the reinforcements which had arrived to help the school.

"Sharp Strike! Heliosia!" She cheered as she ran over to the Remnant Knight and Summer Maiden, the former of which was still seated on his custom bike with the weapon systems ready to blast any Grimm in sight.

They both looked over to her, Sharp Strike giving a small wave while the Summer Maiden ran over to meet Ruby and capturing her in a warm hug, "Ruby! We were in the neighbourhood when we noticed those Grimm moving down the streets and decided to help out by taking out as many as we could." She took a look around and added, "Looks like we've arrived when the battle had mostly ended…are you all right? What about the teachers and children inside?"

"I'm fine, and so are all the kids and the staff! There were a few injuries and one of the janitors didn't make it, but all things considered it could have been a lot worse." Ruby told the brown-haired Maiden, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"I've spoken to some of the rangers; they told us you bravely escorted and protected all of the classes who were trapped inside their classrooms, and even slashed open a Manticore while freezing it with the power of your silver eyes," Sharp Strike remarked with approval in his voice, "A fine piece of work, all said."

"Thanks, Sharp Strike. What about you guys? Since you are still here, Heliosia, I guess you still have…your gifts." Ruby spoke a little quietly, careful to not explicitly mention Heliosia's Maiden powers, "Fight off that teleporter?"

"We did, but she got away." Sharp Strike reported.

"But we managed to teach her a rough and unforgettable lesson, and we also confirmed what your Uncle said about how Salem's maiden candidates steal the powers of the Maidens." Heliosia informed Ruby.

"Well, I guess that's good. Uh, have you guys seen Jaune and Pyrrha?" Ruby asked as she looked around them although expecting to see the aforementioned couple, "I got split up from them during the chase when I tried to fight Emerald, but that was what led me here."

"I'm afraid we haven't." Sharp Strike answered, "Hopefully they've retrieved the crystal by now-"

The Knight Representative was cut off by the approaching sound of airship turbines as the trio's attention was caught by the sight of Hyperion Minor touching down. They watched as the gunship spun around smoothly on its maneuvering thrusters to hover a small distance from the ground before descending slowly, its back ramp unsealed and began to lower itself.

"I presume that ship's with us?" Heliosia inquired while gesturing at the aforementioned descending airship.

"Yup, that's the Hyperion Minor, and it's smaller one of the two airships we have." Ruby mentioned as Avenger gunship came down to land. The lowering ramp's edge hit the battle-damaged surface of the school's courtyard just as the matte black and grey-coloured gunship landed, its powerful engines causing dust and dirt to fly upwards and swirl around the aircraft.

The engines' pitch lowered but didn't cut out, and Ruby beamed widely when she saw the familiar the figures of Jaune and Pyrrha standing at the open ramp, both of them smiling and happy to see their friends safe and sound.

"Jaune! Pyrrha!" Ruby cried out as she dashed forward and hugged both of them, happy to see them safe, "Are you okay? Did you get the Aura Crystal back from Trooper and Fireball?"

"Hey! Good to see you too Ruby." Pyrrha said with a giggle as she returned the hug.

"Yeah, we're scuffed up but good and the Aura Crystal is back where it belongs." Jaune confirmed as he smiled at his fellow co-leader of Team Beacon, gesturing to the interior of the ship where the crystal's case was securely strapped into one of the passenger seats.

"It looks like the battle's over for this part of the city," Pyrrha remarked as she looked at the sorry state of the damaged school, the countless bullet and shell casings that nearly carpeted the ground, and the scattered small fires that were still burning around the courtyard, "…and it seems that we didn't get here fast enough to help. Is everyone all right?"

"Well, the Grimm were pretty relentless, but I managed to take out most of them and got all of the students to the underground shelter." Ruby assured them before looking at Jaune and Pyrrha, "What happened when we split up?"

"We'll tell you all about it later, but after the fight was over we received a message from Ciel who was scouting the area." Jaune told Ruby as he guided her into Hyperion Minor's passenger bay, "She spotted us thanks to the fire caused by our battle with Trooper and Fireball, and picked us up from the roof of another building down the street." He gestured to the complicated-looking cockpit where the dark-skinned Specialist-in-training sat, her head covered by a white high-tech looking helmet with a polarized blue visor.

"Thanks a lot for the help, Ciel! How did you find me?" Ruby asked as she watched the Specialist-in-training turn her head from the controls, her visor depolarizing to show her eyes.

"I intercepted some radio chatter on the Vacuo Ranger channels about your heroics, and I decided to come here and, if necessary, give you a hand." Ciel replied as she flicked away a few blue holograms, "It just so happens that Arc and Nikos got my attention while en-route to your location, so I was fortunate enough to bring them along."

"We have more new passengers, Ciel." Jaune said as he jabbed a finger over his shoulder at the Remnant Knight and Summer Maiden who had entered the passenger bay through the back ramp, "Sharp Strike and Heliosia are coming on board too, that okay?"

"This gunship has enough space for two fully-equipped teams." Ciel replied calmly.

"Thanks again!" Ruby grinned, "So Heliosia's Maiden powers are safe, the school is safe, and the Aura Crystal has been recovered back to its rightful guardians' hands! I hope everyone else is doing okay."

"Me too, did you hear that big explosion earlier?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, we heard it as well," Heliosia gave a nod, "Does anyone know what it was?"

"I believe I can answer that," Ciel reported to them, "From the radio chatter on various channels I picked up, that massive explosion you all have heard was the destruction of the Elder Deathworm that was crashing its way into the city. I don't know how it was killed, but at least it's gone."

"Huh, looks like everything is turning out oka-" Ruby began to say before a much louder version of the Manticore's roar echoed throughout Vacuo City, grabbing the attention and startling all who had heard it.

"Whoa, what was that?!" Jaune cried.

"That's definitely the roar of a Grimm Manticore, but it sounds much bigger than the one I killed earlier." Ruby remarked as they all looked through the cockpit canopy of the gunship into the city's horizon, just barely able to make out the shape of a Manticore. A really huge and menacing-looking Manticore.

"Jaune, do you feel that?" Pyrrha looked at her partner as her green eyes widened.

"Yes, I felt it too…that feels like an Alpha!" He replied, and surprising everyone present.

Sharp Strike grimaced under his helmet and had his lenses' built-in vision enhance and magnify the distant sight of the huge Manticore. Thankfully his helmet didn't sustain too much damage during the fight with Thorn, and after he saw the newly-arrived Grimm's features and attributes it swiftly confirmed the suspicions of the two young guardians of the Aura Crystal.

"That's an Alpha Manticore, all right!" He informed them.

"And it's heading towards Shade Academy!" Ruby cried out in mild shock.

"Where did it come from? Where has it been this entire time?" Heliosia wondered aloud.

"Probably hiding in all those tunnels the Deathworms created, I think." Pyrrha speculated before looking at the assembled group around her, "It goes without saying we're going after it, right?"

"Of course!" Jaune said.

"We have to, at least to prevent it from reaching the more populated areas." Sharp Strike added.

"Wouldn't miss it, but it's not gonna be easy. From what I've read about these things, they're real nasty!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Then we'll have to do our best to kill it." Heliosia said before she turned and strapped herself onto one of the passenger streets, "Get this ship moving, Ciel!"

"Way ahead of you." The Specialist-in-training replied as she brought the gunship's engines to full power and began to close the back ramp, "Everyone, find a seat and secure yourselves! We're going back to Shade Academy, and it's going to be a tough fight."

While everyone else got to their own seats, Sharp Strike wheeled his bike deeper into the passenger bay before activating its magnetic locks to properly secure his mechanical steed to the steel floor plating, while the back ramp closed automatically behind him.

Just before the back ramp closed, Ruby ran over to the opening and called out to the evacuating rangers below, "Take care of the teachers and students for me, will you? Thanks!"

"Will do, Miss Rose!" Ismail shouted back at her as he gave a salute which Ruby returned before the back ramp shut fully as the Avenger gunship slowly rose into the air through maelstroms of buffeting air currents.

As Hyperion Minor switched from hovering to its flight mode, the five passengers strapped themselves in and replenished whatever supplies they need from the on-board armory, preparing themselves for yet another battle.

As the latest magazine of bullets in his rifle ran out, Strider charged forward and slammed into the masked Red Fang thug and bashed his face with the butt of his rifle, the force of the blow shattered the mask and knocked out a few of the trooper's teeth. As the enemy reeled from the devastating blow and dropped his clever, the Vacuo Ranger drove his fist in an uppercut that sent the Faunus flying onto his back in an unconscious heap.

Strider didn't even spare him a second look as he drew his backup pistol and combat knife before moving on, with eight other rangers of his squad following in a hurried sprint in an effort to flank Red Fang agents and Vacuoan thugs which had a number of Ranger squads pinned down in the lower levels.

The next thug he met was knee-capped in both knees and dispatched with a vicious kick to the head while the one behind him was soon leaking blood from his chest when Strider grabbed him in a headlock and drove his combat knife into the gap between the armored chest plate he wore. The other armed hooligans were shortly taken care of by the rest of Strider's squad even as he kicked the legs out from another shouting Red Fang member, stomped a boot on his weapon-wielding arm and fired a couple of bullets into his head to silence him.

"Damn, how many more of these Red Fang punks are there?" The Vacuo Ranger Commander put to Corporal Rahman who was running a step behind him.

"Several dozen, I think. That's the best guess I can come up with." The ranger corporal brought up his shotgun and fired three times, sending another Black Viper falling over the level railing and screaming down to her death, "Don't forget about the Grimm Knights."

"How can I?" Strider gritted his teeth as he ejected yet another empty magazine from his assault rifle and slamming in a fresh one.

The commander and his squad emerged onto one of the upper levels of the airship terminal, having left behind the other half of his squad who gave him covering fire and a token group of rangers to relocate and find a way to flank the Red Fang agents and gang members. They all moved low and in at a crouching run, rounds and shells flying above them and spattering into the walls and ceiling around them.

As the other rangers hunkered down and watched for any unexpected enemies, Strider gestured for Rahman to cover him as he cautiously poked his helmeted head out from behind a pitted slab of broken concrete and took a quick look at the raging battle taking place below between the Vacuoan defense forces and the Red Fang.

The arrival of scores of Grimm Knights from seemingly out of nowhere had tipped the battle for Ramses Station in favor of their adversaries, since the killer machines sent sheets of enfilading fire streaming towards the Vacuo Rangers and police who had managed to regroup with them hiding behind cover, while the Red Fang and various gang members took the opportunity to counterattack in force. Strider could see quite a number of troopers lying lifelessly throughout the main atrium, and knew that if the 55th Wolf Hunters of the Desert Guards didn't arrive in the next few minutes a great number of rangers wouldn't be alive for much longer.

At least the dozen or so enemy agents and gang members they had sneaked up on were focused on suppressing the other rangers who had been taking cover behind some damaged shopfronts on the lower levels with rapid gunfire, unaware of the incoming danger that was approaching from the shadows of a nearby empty corridor on the level above. Not that it would matter though, as the cacophony of the firefight had swallowed up the sounds of the trooper squads' booted feet.

"What's our plan of attack?" Rahman inquired.

"Frag grenades." Strider spoke quickly, "On my order, toss them down below. Follow up with assault rifle and shotgun fire." He gestured to the pair of rangers wielding grenade launchers, "I want you two to lob as many grenades as you can onto those balconies and viewing platforms the Red Fang are using as cover. We clear this level first, then we move on to the next batch of enemies."

The other Rangers nodded grimly as they readied their weapons. "On three." Strider commanded as he held up his assault rifle and checked that a fresh magazine was in place. He was already down to his last few clips, and if this battle dragged on any longer he would soon be picking up weapons from the dead to use in the firefight.

"One…Two...Three!"

They all lobbed frag grenades over their cover, explosions of shrapnel accompanied screams as the explosive projectiles detonated among the unsuspecting enemies. Blood, debris and an occasional severed limb flew into the air and spattered the floor as the wounded screamed in shock and pain. A few Grimm Knights lost their mechanical limbs as well, but they still kept shooting, turning their weapons on the now-revealed Vacuo Rangers.

"Now!" Strider shouted as he pulled the trigger of his assault rifle, spraying the level below with bullets, with the rest of his squad following suit. Privates Eltaib and Helal raised their grenade launchers and fired arcing parabolas of frag grenades which bounced into the neighbouring balconies which blew them up in short order, causing alarmed shouts and pained screams to emit from those places alongside fresh waves of smoke and debris.

Strider heard angered shouts coming from elsewhere, and quickly sprinted across the level of shops while bullets, shells and wayward grenades came flying at him. He fired his rifle as he rag, keeping the Red Fang soldiers' heads down while he tossed another grenade into one of the lower balconies which took out a couple of gangers who were pouring gunfire onto the rangers fighting in the atrium below. There was a cry of pain as Private Sami was hit in his shoulders and chest, which sent him sprawling onto his hands and knees but another ranger quickly hauled him up and sought the nearest cover while bullets pinged around them.

As the other rangers of his squad covered him, Strider saw another Red Fang soldier running up the escalator at the far side of the level which he was currently running to. The enemy agent cursed as he raised his rifle to shoot, but Strider proved faster as he threw his combat knife which lodged itself into the faunus's shoulder which sent his gunfire awry and stitched the wall instead. Strider smashed his fist into his latest enemy's face, put two rounds from his assault rifle into the opponent's body and then kicked him bodily backwards into the other enemy troopers running up the escalator behind him, toppling them like a line of bowling pins all the way down.

However that didn't stop other gangsters from openly shooting at him, and more than a few rounds bounced off the armor and helmet of his combat suit but luckily none managed to penetrate. Strider took a quick look down and saw that more enemies were running up the other escalators to get to grips with his squad while others continued to flank and shoot at the rangers and cops fighting their way through the sprawling atrium and the Grimm Knights marching towards them.

He might not be quick enough to kill them all, but he could thin them out.

"Cover me!" He shouted to the rangers shooting behind him, with Corporals Rahman and Mahmoud shooting downwards at the plethora of enemies below as Strider holstered his assault rifle and snatched up a fallen pistol from a dead gangster. He drew his other pistol and vaulted onto the smooth slope of metal plates that ran down between the two escalators and braced himself with a leg on either side of the banister, pushing himself off from the upper level and slid down between them, blasting away at any enemy in sight. With so many targets in sight, each bullet was bound to hit something and quite a number of thugs were blown down, sending them screaming while spinning to the marble floor. One expended round even hit a grenade that a Back Viper was about to throw, blowing the entire balcony he was in up a cloud of smoke and hot shrapnel.

Strider shot every enemy he could see, trying to cause maximum damage as he slid down. He put a couple of bullets into the pair of gangers at the bottom of the escalator who fell easily, braced himself and hit the ground rolling, still firing with both pistols as the remaining enemies turned their weapons his way. When his roll came to an end, he ducked behind one of the thicker and more sturdy pillars, dropping the empty enemy pistol while drawing his assault rifle again, returning fire at the other Red Fang agents and gangsters he didn't manage to shoot at during his quick journey down.

As he shot at whatever targets he could, and managed to blast the head off another Grimm Knight, Strider could see that the battle wasn't going in their favor. He pulled a wounded private into cover beside him when the latter took a number of shots in the shoulder, and glanced around to see Rahman and the others already returning fire the best they were able to do so. But it was clearly a one-sided battle as they were too badly outnumbered after the sudden attack by the Grimm Knights.

He ducked back into cover while opening his communications channel again, "This is Commander Strider, where the hell are the Desert Guard reinforcements?"

He heard a simple reply, "Reinforcements Incoming." through the static before dome-like skylight above the main atrium shattered into a million pieces of broken glass and metal. The debris rained down on the combatants below, impacting hard on anything and anyone who didn't immediately seek cover. Three heavily armed and sleek-looking Bullheads were seen in the smoke and tracer-filled air behind it, hovering in place through the choppy winds while several armored figures leapt from the open passenger bays of the airships.

The assault troopers of the 55th Wolf Hunters of the Vacuo Desert Guard had arrived.

Dropping down on ropes tethered to their combat harnesses, the Wolf Hunters were clad in desert camouflage fatigues layered over armor plates of matt-black and ochre with mirrored visor helmets that were apparently crafted with the likeness of snarling wolves on them. As they descended rapidly through the broken dome, their weapons were already spitting hails of bullets and grenades. Their stunningly-accurate fusillades tore through scores of the enemies, hitting their targets with such speed and ferocity that many adversaries were simply killed outright within seconds of their arrival.

One of the descending Wolf Hunters took a lucky shot to his torso and shoulders, the ricochet severing the rope he was hanging onto and he fell the rest of the way, slamming onto the marble floor with an audible crack while the other seventeen assault troopers hit the ground and snapped free of their ropes while still firing their weapons. In smooth synchronicity that would have impressed Atlas Specialists, they pulled frag and smoke grenades from their belts and threw them into the throng of Red Fang agents and gangsters, then spread out swiftly through the atrium to secure their objectives.

A particularly brave (or foolish) Black Viper tried to charge one of the assault troopers with a machete from his compromised cover, only for the elite guard to knee-cap him in both legs and knock him unconscious with a kick to the face. The Wolf Hunter hadn't even bothered to unsheathe the curved sword belted to his waist for the fight, deeming the gangster's blood unworthy to stain his blade.

The other assault troopers broke themselves into smaller groups while covering each other, and began adding their firepower to the Vacuo Ranger squads and police who were now pressing the counterattack against the remaining members of the Red Fang. As he shot a female Black Viper with snake tattoos on her face in the shoulder and watched her topple out of sight, Strider witnessed a Wolf Hunter drill bullets with uncanny precision into the enemy agents, shooting one in the thigh and then another in the hip before charging forward and bludgeoning yet another with the butt of his assault rifle.

"Charge!" Strider shouted and the squads of Vacuo Rangers under his command quickly surged from their cover and joined in the counteroffensive which was now spearheaded by the Wolf Hunters. He directed a few of the rangers to run over and drag the wounded elite trooper to cover, while the others provided a storm of blistering cover fire with their assault rifles, shotguns and grenade launchers from the safety of their cover.

As the other rangers and cops ran past him to harry and eliminate the remaining Red Fang and other associated criminals, Strider knew that the battle for Ramses Station was almost over. Most of the Grimm Knights were already eliminated by the Wolf Hunters, and the majority of the gangsters who had sided with the Red Fang were either wounded or dead while others had simply escaped. He waved away a medic who tried to administer some medical attention to him, directing her to save the more seriously wounded who were now limping down the escalator not far away.

Strider turned in time to see an armored assault trooper carrying a personally-customized heavy machine gun in his thick gauntlets moving briskly over to him with a pair of armed Desert Guards in tow. Judging from the distinct difference in his uniform and the bars of a commander on both of his shoulder pads, Strider knew he was looking at the commanding officer of the 55th Wolf Hunters, who went by the name of Wolfram.

"Commander Strider." The Wolf Hunter Commander greeted, "Still alive, I see."

"Commander Wolfram." Strider greeted politely with a polite salute, "Thanks for your team's help. I thought with all the…chaos happening around the city, there'd be other places requiring your team's combat skills."

"We were in the vicinity when the Sandcastle picked up your distress call," Wolfram returned the salute with one gauntlet, "And since we were the nearest available unit with airship support, I decided to come and give you a hand."

"Nonetheless, I appreciate it," Strider replied with a nod at acknowledging the Desert Guard commander's explanation, "How's the situation looking outside?"

"Saying that it's bad would be an understatement." The commander of the Wolf Hunters sighed, "The capital is besieged by the Grimm without and within, and the Kingdom's military and civil police forces are just barely holding it together even with the help of the Huntsmen and Huntresses. And that's not counting the Elder Grimm-"

"Wait, what?" Strider raised a hand for the other commander to pause mid-sentence, "I heard over the communications channel that there are significant Deathworm activity, but there wasn't any mention of an Elder Grimm."

"There was a confirmed presence of an Elder Deathworm, if you must know." Wolfram's deep voice showed his utmost seriousness despite his helmet, "My team was initially sent as part of the response team to support the Vacuo Defense Forces to kill it, but it was somehow defeated by a group of quick-thinking Huntsmen, Huntresses and even a civilian with a bunch of explosives on a train…or that was what I heard since we were fighting for our lives against Nevermore."

"That explains the delay" Strider mentioned, before he heard a panicked transmission cut into the communication channel within his helmet.

"This is Squad Eight of the Vacuo Rangers! The Red Fang sleeper agents have deployed a Spider Droid in the West Wing of Ramses Station! I repeat, we have an active Spider Droid in the West Wing! Target is heavily armed and armored, request immediate reinforcements!"

Strider looked to Wolfram who gave a nod to signal that he heard the contents of the transmission as well.

"My team and I will handle this," The latter commander spoke curtly, "You and the rest of the rangers can secure the station, and make sure it's clean of any Red Fang agents, Black Vipers or Grimm."

"My squad and I can still fight." Strider pointed out.

"And you will." Wolfram answered as he checked his weapon one more time, "There are still other battles happening around the city besides this one, so it's best to conserve your strength for now since you'll probably be needed later. With all due respect, you've fought hard and well, but it's time for others to do their part. Just regroup and watch our backs. We'll be back here shortly to report back to you before you know it."

Strider carefully gave a nod, "Make sure you don't kill them all. We might need to interrogate those Red Fang agents so we can find out who was giving them orders."

"I'll inform my troops to take prisoners if they surrender, but no promises." Wolfram gave a nod of his visored wolf-like helmet.

"Thank you, Commander." Strider said quietly as he saw more rangers disembarking from armored personnel carriers outside Ramses Station to secure the airship terminal, "Good Hunting."

At the eastern part of Vacuo City, specifically LZ-Thlath, the varied military forces of the western Kingdom were fighting an increasingly difficult battle against the howling swarms of Grimm that were flooding in from yet another gaping Deathworm tunnel which the Hunters hadn't sealed yet. Due to the soulless creatures' sheer numbers and the narrow width of the streets, no one had been able to get close and thus the Vacuo Rangers pulled back their remaining forces while collapsing the empty buildings in the other streets to cut off the spreading Grimm incursion in the area.

With most of the roadways choked with rubble, the Grimm hordes were eventually funnelled into a long, open gilded street with tall sandstone buildings on either side that ran almost directly towards LZ-Thlath. Unfortunately, it also led them to join up with a significant amount of Grimm which were already attacking the main entrance where serious resistance was thrown up against them by the Vacuo Rangers, Desert Guards and the police behind barricades comprising of large piles of debris.

Explosive shells from tanks and cannons detonated among the onrushing throng, throwing debris and dying Grimm into the air while machine guns and autocannons raked the waves of approaching beasts that charged down the main thoroughfare towards LZ-Thlath. Despite the incredible amount of firepower being thrown at the roaring swarms of diverse Grimm, the defenders might just as well have been throwing stones into a rather river for all the good they were doing, even with the Desert Guards' assault tanks hurling massive shells into the tide of howling black death that was closing in.

Due to his role of coordinating the variety of military and civil personnel who were fiercely defending the area with everything they had, Captain-General Canis Bailey managed to secure an elevated vantage point for his tank Desert Wrath in the form of a gentle slope of debris not far away from the towering pillars that held up a long stone roof of sorts that depicted heroic images of Faunus tribal warriors fighting bravely in the terrible battles of the Great Wars. From there he could have an unobstructed view of the three entrances that led into LZ-Thlath, as well as the battles that were taking place at each entrance in which rangers and troopers alike fired their weapons at the Grimm while taking cover behind defensive barricades.

Canis had faced Grimm before, but never so many and it didn't take him long to realize that looking at the incredible tide of Grimm coming towards the landing zone through radar scans on his console and actually seeing the real sight with his own eyes were two very different experiences, of which the latter was definitely more bowel-loosening to less-experienced officers.

Fifteen tanks. Ten armored personnel carriers. Six heavy artillery cannons. Less than five hundred men and women from an assorted amount of military and civil units. With the nearest troops occupied with defending the East Wall to prevent the hordes of Grimm from breaching the city, that's all of his available resources against a near-unstoppable tide of Grimm.

Defending LZ-Thlath was going to be one extremely difficult task even for a man with a lengthy and eventful military career.

"Keep firing! Keep up the pressure on the northern avenue!" Canis shouted into his communicator unit while his eyes carefully scrutinized the radar scans showing on his turret console's screen, "Sand Lord and Stone King, pull back to Piety Street and provide covering fire for the withdrawing Ranger squads!" He briefly poked his head out of the turret's lip with a pair of binoculars and saw the troops in the aforementioned area moving swiftly to the barricades of the secondary defence line while their comrades provided heavy covering fire.

As a squad of rangers carrying heavy weapons and a portable mortar weapon ran past Desert Wrath heading for the eastern entrance to LZ-Thlath, the Mexican Wolf Faunus turned his binoculars to look at the besieged area. His jaw clenched hard as he witnessed packs of Beowolves and Ursas overrunning the outer barricades while waves of scything gunfire brought down dozens of them every second. Even with the help of the tanks thundering out shells and gunfire they were only barely keeping the approaching Grimm hordes in check.

"Block the road now!" Canis ordered and the tanks moved up quickly, still firing their weapons and killing some Deathstalkers, Sabers and even a Manticore which had just climbed up from the ruins of the outer barricades. Another wave of artillery dropped from the sky and slammed heavily into the swarms of Grimm assaulting the eastern entrance, the full fury of it impacting on the Grimm-crowded streets and blasting Grimm creatures and debris everywhere with equal abandon, while showering the fighting defenders with bits of flaming rubble.

"Lieutenant Ramirez, pull your squads back to the secondary barricades but keep fighting!" Canis then swapped communication channels and bellowed, "Artillery cannons, change targets to northern entrance and bombard the larger Grimm there until they're nothing but ashes!"

"Orders acknowledged. Withdrawing to secondary barricades once the last few squads are out of the way." The Vacuo Ranger sergeant's voice came back through, "But sir, we're barely holding the eastern entrance! The Grimm are going to break through soon!"

"I'm sending a few more squads and another two more APC's over to your location. Lieutenant, I don't care how you do it, just hold the Grimm back for as long as possible until reinforcements arrive!" Canis shouted.

"Understood sir! But sir, what about the western entrance? How are the troops there faring at the moment?"

Sparing a careful glance across the wide expanse of featureless concrete and plant-covered boulevards that would soon serve as one of the three primary landing zones for the arriving Atlesian forces which a group of Remnant Knights were currently defending against the Grimm, and replied quickly, "The Remnant Knights are already there, protecting our left flank!"

As the Mexican Wolf Faunus watched from the turret of his personal tank, he could clearly see that the Remnant Knights were fighting hard to hold the vast Grimm hordes back at the western entrance of LZ-Thlath, their weapons dealing out swift death to the soulless creatures. Although they were less than two dozen in number, yet in the Desert Guard officer's eyes, the Grimm were the ones at a disadvantage as they were failing to break through the line of silver-grey with red trim armored warriors.

While the ranger tanks, armored vehicles and troopers defending the western entrance added their covering fire and did their best protecting the flanks of the resolute wedge of Remnant Knights upon which the waves of roaring Grimm broke themselves upon, the abominations throwing themselves endlessly at the knights instead being ripped to shreds aggressively and unflinchingly by the formidable knights who made sure that not even a single Beowolf could get through the western entrance. All of the Grimm that charged at them died at their feet, brutally taken apart by the crackling blades of curved swords, huge halberds and sturdy warhammers held within their gauntleted fists while claws and fangs proved useless against their thick armor.

Canis, despite himself, felt his mouth drop slightly at incredible skills shown by the Knights who were battling with movements that could have been described as artistic perfection in the ways of war. Their various unique weapons devastated scores of Grimm left and right with every blow while blazing with a bright light that caused the Grimm to recoil away from them even as they drove deep into the forthcoming Grimm hordes. He looked again and spotted another group of Remnant Knights clad in silver-grey armor plates with blue trim of another Knight Legion he didn't recognize, shooting specialized Dust-infused bullets and other uniquely-crafted projectiles from the barrels of their firearms as they dealt with any of the straggling Grimm that had somehow made it past the formation of aggressively-battling warriors at the front.

At the tip of the aggressively fighting wedge of Remnant Knights was a mighty warrior sheathed in thick armor plates etched with ancient script expertly wielding a double-bladed sword and shield in his gauntleted fists. Canis recognized Fire Walker of the Relentless Crusaders Knight Legion, his long rune-inscribed silver blades cleaving and hewing through one roaring Grimm after another effortlessly with broad sweeps while turning aside decapitating blows with his ornate shield. A huge Beringel tried to smash him into ruin by sweeping its massive fists left and right, which the Knight Vanguard rolled underneath before coming up and slashing his sword twice at the gorilla-like Grimm's chest and then driving the pointed end of his weapon through the Beringel's gaping jaw.

On Fire Walker's left another knight fought by spinning her lengthy double-bladed dust-enhanced lance in complex arcs of shining forge-crafted steel, cutting through and removing limbs and heads from incoming Beowolves, Ursas, Boarbatusks and Sabers without difficulty and sending sprays of black blood fountaining into the air. Spear Dancer's movement was akin to those of professional artistes, weaving through the beasts trying to surround her and avoiding their clawed swipes and bites easily. She shadowed her Knight Vanguard in terms of her actions, skewering an Ursa's on the tip of her lance before withdrawing quickly and cutting off the claws and stinger of a medium-sized Deathstalker that tried to creep up on Fire Walker.

Over to the Knight Vanguard's right was Steel Punch whose thick gauntleted fists punched and slammed into the various Grimm creatures that sought to kill him, his devastating blows sending Beowolves and Ursas flying back into other Grimm to knock them over or in some cases, killed outright through wide bleeding holes inflicted into their bodies when the powerful pistons within his gauntlets hammered Fire, Ice and Earth Dust rounds into them. He delivered an uppercut that blew the head off an older Ursa, before using its slumping corpse as a jumping board to deliver a trio of rapid punches into the chest and face of a howling Beringel which died shortly due to having three burning holes replacing its vital body parts.

Last but not least was the prognosticator Flame Weaver displaying his formidable combat prowess by slicing apart various Grimm with one of his twin curved swords and sending out waves of burning fire that immolated them from the red Dust Crystal on top of his own force staff.

As the Knights fought with both such determined fury and immaculate precision that they would have easily shamed the Desert Guards, Canis couldn't help but realize that he along with the rest of the defenders fighting at the western entrance of the appointed landing zone were bearing witness to warriors of near-unbelievable sanctity and incredible nobility. To witness this particular group Remnant Knights in their element fighting against the Grimm was an unforgettable sight that was a rare privilege and opportunity.

Suddenly the grounds of LZ-Thlath rumbled pugnaciously as though an earthquake was sweeping through the area, throwing rangers and others off their feet while overturning jeeps and APC's scattered throughout the area. Canis was about to shout for Murad to drive Desert Wrath to a more stable location when another Deathworm broke out from the weakened concrete slabs near the heavy assault tank and its accompanying armored vehicles. It wasn't anywhere near as massive as the Elder Grimm which had been killed by Team Beacon, but it was still big enough to cause damage to the defenders.

"Deathworm! Twelve o'clock!" Canis roared into the communications unit within his helmet, "Dune Warrior and Pious Retribution, new Grimm target at your ten o'clock! Use high explosive rounds! Acquire target and engage!" He ordered as the twin 150mm cannons of the Desert Wrath's turret roared its fury and sent a pair of high explosive shells impacting near the Deathworm's head and causing explosions to bloom there. More shells impacted and explosions covered the roaring Deathworm's body while gunfire from the troopers of the Vacuoan defense force added to the crashing storm of firepower being directed its way.

"Sir! It's coming right towards us!" Murad called out to him from the driver's compartment of the tank as he looked through the vision blocks.

"Full reverse, now!" Canis shouted as the Desert Wrath reversed as quickly as it was capable of going, while blasting shell after shell at the incoming Deathworm which crushed anything that didn't get out of its path in time.

"We're not going to make it!" Another member of the tank crew yelled as they all heard a deafening roar as the Deathworm charged towards Desert Warth, sweeping waves of bullets and shells peppering it relentlessly from the troops within LZ-Thlath.

"Damn it! All troops, keep firing!" Canis cursed as he swung the turret-mounted machine gun around to add to the murderous fusillade even as the approaching Deathworm opened its fanged mouth wide and looked as though to swallow the entire tank and its crew whole.

Something suddenly impacted onto the ground several meters behind Desert Warth, and there was a whining of heavy hydraulics followed by the audible whooshing. A huge barrage of missiles slammed into the Deathworm in an enormous explosion, sending its head abruptly to the side and blowing a large chunk of it off, killing it instantly. It was then followed by the sounds of multiple airship engines roaring overhead and filling the air above LZ-Thlath with the promised deliverance.

Canis turned around in his tank turret and saw the gigantic form of an Atlesian Colossus casting a shadow over his command vehicle, its right arm aimed at the disintegrating Deathworm which protruded a number of missile batteries around its massive cannon. The colossal mech has a stocky build, and sported a rectangular cockpit with long, thickly armored legs. Its left arm had a joint and a grasping hand comprising of two fingers and a thumb. In addition to its cannon with rotary slots, a large combat blade was fitted to its back. Its name was emblazoned on the armored plates underneath the cockpit in militaristic writing, 'Hunter Battler'.

The mech lowered its right arm as the missile pods there retracted back into their housings, and brought its right arm up in a gesture approximating a salute at the veteran Desert Guard. "Reinforcements have arrived, Captain-General." The Specialist pilot's voice blared from the Colossus's external speakers while dozens upon dozens Manta airships, fighter transports and gunships filled the sky above the landing zone along with the welcoming sight of the Atlesian battlecruiser Allegiance.

"Please convey my deepest gratitude to Captain Samson, thank you." Canis replied tactfully into his communicator unit as he breathed a sigh of relief. He then watched as the incoming airships from the Allegiance descended onto the concrete grounds of LZ-Thlath, their passenger and cargo bays opening wide to disgorge multiple squads of Atlesian soldiers along with their commanding officers in charge of each individual squad and several ranks of Atlesian Knights-200s and 300s.

Other, heavier, airships soon landed and deployed titan main battle tanks which sported four vehicle treads that can double as legs to cross impassable terrain and obstacles, APC's and even mobile artillery cannons to further reinforce the landing zone. Squads of Atlesian soldiers were soon running to the various entrances and adding their firepower to push back the Grimm, while other teams carrying heavy weapons quickly selected their locations and set up their powerful weapons which soon added overwhelming amounts of bullets and cannon fire into the creatures.

The other two landing zones were also being swamped by the airships and gunships of the Atlas Expeditionary Fleet as well, with armored soldiers and vehicles occupying them with their numbers and rallying to take the fight to the remaining Grimm hordes within the city. It wasn't very long before the heavier airships of the support fleet also made landfall, bringing with them upgraded variants of the Atlesian Paladins that would make quick work of the Grimm.

Bolstered by their newly-arrived Atlesian reinforcements, the defenders charged outwards from the landing sites and began to take back Vacuo City from the Grimm, one street at a time.

Blake and Yang kept firing from behind cover as the Sphinx continued its rampage through the streets near Souk, the capital's marketplace, aided by heavy firepower coming from multiple Vacuo Ranger squads, Desert Guard rapid-response units and their armored vehicles. The right wing of the huge Grimm ripped through the fourth floor of an elaborately statue-crowned building down the main street as it roared loudly, the strong winds caused by its large wings sending the debris flying towards the defenders as it tried to move towards the city park despite being hammered by weapons fire.

Sun, who was taking cover nearby behind the ruins of some market shops, used his Semblance to send out another clone as bait after he shared a knowing nod with his two girlfriends. The clone jumped and sprinted through the half-destroyed Souk, and its glowing yellow colour was easily spotted by the Sphinx. It loped towards Sun's running clone, smashing aside abandoned vehicles and market stalls until it opened its hungry mouth wide and chomped down onto the ground, only to tear a chunk of the street's surface as the clone burst into nothingness.

A huge blast from a ranger tank's nearby wreathed its head in a haze of smoke for a brief moment, and with a roar the Sphinx charged straight at the offending vehicle even as it fired again. The crew of the tank hurriedly jumped out just as the Sphinx landed on it, crushing the armored vehicle under its huge paws and ripped the turret from its chassis. It then flung the wreckage of the tank at the rangers shooting at it, the troopers quickly scattering even as the crushed chunk of twisted metal narrowly missed them and slammed into an empty flatbed truck.

The Cat Faunus and blonde brawler, as well as the rangers and other troopers present all opened fire, but the Sphinx simply lifted its head and backed away while waving its wings to protect itself, and what blasts that managed to hit its head had little effect. However, the fireballs it sent flying at the defenders were very much dangerous and so Blake, Yang and Sun had to sprint from cover to cover to avoid them while shooting at the Sphinx.

"Ugh! Can't believe I wasted my rocket!" Yang bemoaned as she shot at the Sphinx with her gauntlets.

"There's always next time," Blake soothed her as she took some shots at the Alpha Grimm's paws with Gambol Shroud's pistol form, "Maybe you can try punching it in the face?"

Yang's face turned thoughtful for a moment, and Blake's eyes widened in shock, "Please don't tell me you're actually thinking about doing that!"

"Maybe...if the opportunity presents itself, of course!" Her partner answered with a smirk as she picked up a hefty chunk of debris with both arms, threw it up into the air and when debris piece came down she punched it right at the Sphinx which impacted it on the right side of its face, managing to sting it. The huge Grimm growled in pain as it staggered while shaking off weapons fire coming from the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards, whipping its head around to glare at Blake and Yang's location.

"Move!" Blake cried as she tried to shoved Yang aside as the Sphinx leapt towards them. Yang instead grabbed her partner and pulled her out of the way scant seconds before its paws slammed down upon the car they had been hiding behind, ignoring the bullets and shells smacking into its form coming from the weapons of the police, Rangers and Desert Guards.

Sun ran over and helped them get into an adjacent alleyway to avoid another fireball thrown in their direction. They ducked back as much as they could as the fireball impacted a few meters away, the explosion throwing small balls of fire into the air and raining all around them. Thankfully Sun used his clones to grab an awning that had come off its building in the battle and used it to shield them from the worst of the Sphinx's fireball.

When he deemed it safe enough Sun tossed away their makeshift shield, and they witnessed the Sphinx flapping its wings and rising into the sky, flying off onto a nearby building where some Vacuo Ranger bullheads opened fire with their chin-mounted machine guns and missile launchers. Meanwhile, the Manticores accompanying the Sphinx kept the rangers and Desert Guards busy while the Sphinx continued to do as much damage to Vacuo City's surroundings as possible.

"That's some smart thinking, Sun." Yang complimented him, adding a little kiss on his cheek, as she pushed herself up.

"You're welcome." Sun replied and then commented, "It's gonna take some serious firepower to stop that thing!."

"Tell me about it. I wish Ruby or Uncle Qrow was here." Yang agreed before adding, "I hope they're all right. I don't even know where Ruby or Weiss are."

"Wherever they are, they're probably having more luck than we are." Blake remarked as she watched the Sphinx let loose another roaring blast of fire from its open jaws at the circling airships, blowing one of the Bullheads out of the sky with an explosion.

"So…any ideas on how to kill it?" Sun looked at his lovers.

"You're a team leader, you technically out-rank us. Plus I thought you're the one with all the bright crazy ideas?" Blake jabbed a finger at the Monkey Faunus.

"True, but right now I don't think I can come up with something other than 'hit it until it dies' which I'm pretty sure ain't gonna cut it." Sun sheepishly admitted as he shrugged his shoulders, making the feline ninja roll her eyes.

"Well, you can always tell the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards to distract it while I punch it to death." Yang suggested, "Maybe I can smash its eye?"

Blake almost groaned, "No offense to your fighting skills, but that's a terrible idea if you ask me. We'll only enrage it."

"Wait...a plan is forming. I can use my semblance to distraction it again." Sun suggested, "We get its attention while Yang gets onto its head and dishes out some punishment on the eyes, she can blind it and then let the gunships finish it off."

"Glad you still got it, monkey boy!" Yang grinned while Blake sighed as she considered it and then nodded.

"All right, I guess that's a workable strategy. But if things get from bad to worse, I suggest we get to safety as quickly as possible and try to regroup with the rest of Team Beacon. Agreed?"

Sun and Yang nodded and the three of them readied their respective weapons to get back into the fight when they suddenly saw a number of rockets and gatling gun fire slamming into the rear flank of the Sphinx, making it stumble slightly on the building's rooftop and prematurely ending its scorching blast of red flames against the shooting police officers and rangers on the streets below.

"Look!" Sun exclaimed as he pointed to the rapidly approaching form of the Hyperion Minor, which flew by the menacing Elder Grimm while still firing its weapon arrays. As they watched, the gunship let loose another pair of rockets which impacted onto the roof and knocked the Sphinx Grimm crashing down onto the streets where it roared in anger and pain. After shooting a fireball at the advanced airship which it easily dodged, the Sphinx came under heavy attack by the rangers and their armored vehicles once more and retaliated, forgetting about the trio of Team Beacon members for the moment.

Thankful that the Elder Grimm was temporarily distracted; Yang fired a number of Dust rounds into the air to get the attention of Hyperion Minor's pilot, and succeeded as the small airship quickly and nimbly maneuvered itself to their location. Hovering near the rooftop of an adjoining sandstone building, the back ramp opening up to reveal Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, Sharp Strike and Heliosia who all jumped out and promptly made their way to street level to meet up with the trio.

"Ruby! Guys!" Yang cheered as she ran forward to her little sister, yanking her off the ground in a big hug, "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Me too Yang!" Ruby replied, sounding a little tired but she hugged her elder sister back and even hugged Blake and Sun when Yang released her, clearly relieved to see them unharmed.

"So what's up? Everything okay on your ends?" Sun inquired.

"Well, the Aura Crystal's back in our possession and the teleporter has been defeated." Pyrrha explained as Jaune and Sharp Strike looked up to the cockpit of the ship.

"Ciel, can you get the Aura Crystal back to Hyperion One?" Jaune told the Specialist-in-training.

"And my bike as well, if you don't mind." The Remnant Knight added.

"Understood, are you sure you don't need further assistance?" Ciel inquired carefully.

"We'll do our best to take that monster down, but given how that flame breath attack blew up a Bullhead with a single blast, we don't want to risk losing you and the Crystal." Jaune informed her.

The dark-skinned pilot considered it for a few moments before replying, "You have a point. I'll rendezvous with the Hyperion One and make sure the relic is properly secured in one of the armored storage rooms.."

"Thanks." Jaune responded with a thankful nod.

"Wait, how are we going to take on the Sphinx and those Manticores when we're low on Dust ammo?" Sun asked as he looked around them, "I don't see anywhere we can resupply…"

"Not to worry!" Ruby piped up and looked to Sharp Strike, gesturing to him that she needed to borrow his scroll. He passed it over to her and she requested, "Ciel, can you launch the Weapon Rearmament Capsules for us?"

"Right away." Ciel wished them before the ramp clanked shut and the Avenger gunship lifted off again, after launching the five resupply canisters from its belly in sequence which slammed down onto the street's surface and their protective covers popped open, revealing fresh ammunition stocks gleaming in the weak sunlight as their secure clamps disengaged.

"Now we're talking!" Yang grinned as she ran over to the nearest weapon capsule and pulled out some belts of ammunition for her Ember Celias, quickly loading them into her personal gauntlets. Blake and Sun also quickly followed suit and swapped their empty Dust cartridges for fresh ones as well.

"Ciel, I recommend you get yourself out of here before you become the Sphinx's next target." Sharp Strike spoke cautiously as he glanced at the terrible battle taking place at the far end of the main street.

"I concur, Sharp Strike. Best of luck, Team Beacon." Ciel wished them before she flew Hyperion Minor away into the distance, but not before she had let loose another few missiles and bursts of gatling-gun fire at the Grimm Sphinx and its Manticores from the gunship's armaments.

"That's a...really big Grimm…" Ruby murmured, slightly alarmed at how utterly huge the Grimm Sphinx actually was. She hadn't seen another Grimm creature that big since the Wyvern back at the Battle of Beacon.

"Don't worry, Ruby." Jaune assured her, "If we all work together, we can bring it down. It's like Professor Port said; the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"My fellow blond's right, we've had worse situations before. Since we survived those I'm sure we can also make it out of this just fine!" Yang declared boldly with a smirk on her face as she slammed her robotic and organic fists together.

"Not that I disagree, Yang, but even with us all fighting it together this won't be easy!" Blake reminded her partner as they watched a Manticore leap off the top of a building and onto the city streets, sending the squads of Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards opposing it scattering even as they continued to shoot at it from multiple directions while desperately avoiding the fireballs it shot at them.

"Really? We've got a Huntress with silver eyes, a mystical Maiden, two Grimm-hybrids, a Remnant Knight, and the three of us!" Yang said as she gestured to everyone present one by one, "Are you seriously telling me we can't kill that thing?!"

"Yeah!" Sun agreed as he pointed at the Grimm Sphinx and looked at Ruby, "Why don't you use your silver eyes to, I don't know, turn it to stone?"

"Uh, you see…I kinda tired myself out using the power of my silver eyes to help save a school," Ruby informed the monkey Faunus, "I'm tired out, so I'd have to be careful using it on that Sphinx, or else I'll fall unconscious like what happened before."

"Crud…Jaune, Pyrrha, have you two tried using your abilities to control that thing?" Sun asked the couple.

"Yeah, we're working on it! Alpha Grimm are difficult to control, especially when they're decades old! I think this thing is an Elder, which makes it even harder to do!" Pyrrha hurriedly explained as she and Jaune both looked in the direction of the Sphinx, their eyes subtly shining red.

For a moment they seemed to be having some effect, as the Sphinx's movements visibly slowed down and it growled as it shook its head slightly, as though trying to throw off their influence. Then it let out a booming roar as its large dark red stinger tail waved this way and that, smashing into the remaining ranger armored vehicles trying to shoot it from behind. Vacuo Rangers were flung screaming into the air along with their damaged vehicles, while others ran for the safety of better cover while returning fire at the Sphinx and its accompanying Manticores.

"You have to understand, that thing has a lot of pent-up energy and rage inside of it! And with all the dread, panic and anger in the City getting it excited; that makes it even harder for us to control, especially with how worn out we are from the chase and fight with Ante's Enforcers!" Jaune told the group.

"Then we just have to take it out the old-fashioned way," Heliosia suggested rationally, "We might be pretty worn out but if we work together we can still deal enough damage to defeat it and the Manticores."

"And how are we going to defeat the Sphinx, plus the seven - no - eight Manticores?" Sun asked a little doubtfully, "The Vacuo Rangers are already throwing everything they've got at those Grimm, and they're still getting their butts handed to them! I don't mean to sound like a defeatist, but those are the facts we're facing!"

"If I can make a bold suggestion…" Sharp Strike spoke up and everyone else all looked at him, "How about we 'divide and conquer'? Given what we're facing us, it might be a possible solution."

"That sounds like a good suggestion, Sharp Strike!" Ruby replied, nodding a few times.

"I agree, but there's still one more problem." Jaune gestured at their current number, "We're gonna need more than just the eight of us for this plan to work."

Just then Blake's ears twitched and she turned her head to look at one of the major other roads branching off from the sizable park not far away from Shade Academy, and a smile came to her face, "Actually, I don't think we'll be alone for long. Look." She gestured with an outstretched finger and they all turned to see what the cat Faunus was pointing at.

.

A transport truck belonging to the Vacuo Rangers roared down the debris and wreck-covered street, before screeching to an abrupt halt not far away from the assembled group. From the open passenger compartment and doors spilled out the familiar figures of Weiss, Ren, Nora, Neptune, Sage, Scarlet, Amethyst and Team CFVY with their weapons at the ready.

"Looks like we have just gotten the necessary reinforcements we needed in the upcoming fight." Sharp Strike commented to the others as he looked right at them through the blue lenses of his knight helmet.

"It's Amethyst and almost all of the rest of Team Beacon!" Pyrrha cheered.

"Almost? Who's missing?" Ruby asked.

"I don't see Penny or N1CK3L," Pyrrha told Ruby in a concerned voice.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're fine and fighting the Grimm elsewhere." Sharp Strike assured her as he unsheathed both of his swords.

A brief look of worry spread across Ruby's face before she said, "Okay, let's go!"

Before anyone could say anything else Ruby raced away in a red blur, leaving rose petals in her wake.

"For someone who claims to be tired, she's still quite energetic." Heliosia remarked as she joined the others in following Ruby.

"Oh, you have no idea!" Yang laughed.

As the individuals of the two separate groups reunite with each other once again, Ruby landed in front of Weiss which caused the heiress to shout, "Ruby!"

"Weiss!" The silver-eyed Huntress called out with concern as she came to a stop inches away from her partner, and reached out to hold her by the shoulders, "Are you all right? Is everyone okay? Where's Penny and N1CK3L? What happened to the Elder Deathworm?"

She was abruptly silenced by Weiss quickly putting her hand over Ruby's mouth, muffling her speech, and saying, "Ruby, stop. Calm down."

"Sorry!" Ruby apologized as they all took cover behind one of the multi-storied apartment buildings facing the huge park, and not a moment too soon as they narrowly got out of the way even as a Vacuo Ranger APC was impaled by the Sphinx's stinger tail and was sent hurling into the park, where it landed upside down and exploded, sending hot shrapnel flying.

"You guys hangin' in there?" Sun asked his team as he reunited with them.

"Just barely!" Neptune answered as he high-fived his partner.

"You should've seen these guys, Sun! They really did a number on Anansi and those Grimm," Praised Amethyst, "You should be proud."

"Already am." Sun told her with a smile as he bumped fists with Sage.

"So, what did you guys get into?" Yang asked Coco as the group of nineteen varied individuals got together.

"We could ask you the same question!" Coco remarked even as they heard the Sphinx's roar echo through the streets around them, followed shortly by the rattling and thudding sounds of weapons fire.

"To recap: Pyrrha and I got the crystal back from Ante's Enforcers, Sharp Strike and Heliosia defeated Thorn, and Ruby saved a school." Jaune quickly brought the other half of Team Beacon up to speed.

"And we managed to kill the Elder Deathworm with some unexpected help from an old pal," Coco said as she shared a knowing look with the rest of Team CFVY as well as Ren and Nora since they all know who she's talking about. Before Ruby could open her mouth to ask, the fashionista quickly held up a hand, "As for who, I think that can wait until the fight's over, capice?"

"Anyway, moving on…" Yang continued, "I kicked Mercury's butt, Sun humiliated Hui, and Blake defeated that Red Fang gir-"

"There's a bit of a long story regarding her, I'll tell you all later!" The Cat Faunus chimed in suddenly.

"Sure thing, Blake. And now from what we know the majority of the fighting has moved away from Shade to the other parts of the city." Yang continued to explain as fast as she could, "Speaking of fights, Uncle Qrow fought hard against that Tyrian guy and managed to wreck his freaky butt, but he also got hurt while doing it."

"What?!" Ruby cried out in shock, "Uncle Qrow's hurt?! Is it serious?"

"Relax, Rubes. The last I saw him the teachers at the academy are getting him to the healers." Yang assured her younger sister, although Ruby didn't look very relieved, "Don't worry, he's in good hands."

"What about Penny?" She then asked concernedly.

"Penny's fine." Weiss promised her partner, "She's fighting with N1CK3L and working with Teams NDGO and BRNZ to wipe out the remaining Grimm at the Path of Perseverance."

"That's a relief." Ruby said with a thankful sigh.

"So, you managed to kill the Elder Deathworm?" Sun asked with an interested look on his face.

"Yup. We blew that ugly mother up. Explosively." Coco stated smugly.

"Yeah! You should've been there, it was so awesome! Except for the part where it threw up rocks and acid and ate people, but when-" Nora began to tell the rest of Team Beacon enthusiastically before Ren cut her off.

"Nora, now isn't exactly the best time to tell them everything." He said to his partner who rubbed her head, embarrassed.

"Okay, now what's most important now is stopping the Grimm Sphinx and the Manticores before they destroy much more of the city." Heliosia stated firmly as she pointed a finger out at the major fight taking place in the city park. The rest of Team Beacon watched as the Sphinx landed on a pair of Vacuo Ranger armored jeeps, crushing them entirely before leaping onto the front of an APC, ripping open the roof with its sharp claws while ignoring the heavy caliber bullets coming from its mounted turret gun. It tore the armored vehicle apart as though it was nothing more than a toy, sending wreckage flying everywhere while ripping the turret from its mounting to silence the ranger vehicle's continued defiance.

Soon horrible screams were heard as the Sphinx slammed its head into the wreckage to devour all those troopers who were trapped inside or too injured to flee, while the other police officers, rangers and a small number of Desert Guards continued to blast at it with whatever weapons they had.

"Uh, guys?" Sun raised his voice, "We better do something fast before more people gets killed by that Grimm!"

"Well, now that we're all together…give or take a few missing members, we might actually stand a chance against the Sphinx and the Manticores." Sage summarized before inquiring, "Any ideas?"

"I…have something of a plan." Jaune spoke up a little hesitantly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Velvet inquired.

"Means that it's half-baked." Fox commented snarkily.

"Pretty much." Jaune admitted after sharing a quick look with Pyrrha, "It's risky, but if we work together we'll definitely be able to pull it off."

"Get to the point, what do you got?" Yang asked as she tilted her head at the blond knight.

"Okay, listen up everyone!" The Arc son's voice turned serious as he slipped into his commanding leader persona, "Our main target is the Sphinx and the Manticores, but first we need to contain them in the park to avoid any more collateral damage. If any of them try to break free of the park, we force them back in with whatever firepower we got!"

The gathered members of Team Beacon and their allies all nodded in agreement.

"Ruby, see that clock tower overlooking the city square? I want you to get up on its roof." Jaune looked at the silver-eyed Huntress, "Use Crescent Rose to keep track of everything taking place below, and contact us immediately if you see any weird movement or additional Grimm coming in or straying out of the vicinity."

"Can do," Ruby replied cheerfully, "I'll lay down cover fire as well whenever I can."

"Good. Velvet, I need you to create light copies of Penny's swords and use them to hold it down. Yang, Blake and Sun will help you out by keeping the Sphinx's attention on them."

"Can do, Jaune!" The Rabbit Faunus gave him the thumbs up while the other three members of Team Beacon nodded their heads.

The leader of Team JNPR looked to Team CFVY's leader and said, "Coco, I want you to lead take Ren, Nora, Neptune and Scarlet. Help the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards by keep the other Manticores busy so they cannot come and help the Sphinx whenever it roars and protect our flanks as well."

"Provide a distraction to lure them away, you mean?" No problem, Arc." Coco smirked as she reloaded her minigun with fresh belts of Dust-infused bullets.

"Good. We need to clip its wings so it can't escape or wreak more havoc! Amethyst and Heliosia, that's where you both come in! While Velvet's holding it down, I need you two to use your powers to remove its wings!" Jaune requested of them.

"Just clipping the wings?" Amethyst almost scoffed as she crossed her arms, "You don't want me to put some arrows in its eyes while I'm at it?"

"Amethyst, just do what he says. You can shoot as many Dust arrows as you like later." Heliosia admonished lightly before she looked to Jaune and nodded before responding, "Sounds like a good enough plan to me."

"Quick question though, what about the Sphinx's stinger tail?" Amethyst pointed out, "It's gonna be pretty hard to ignore that deadly little feature."

"I'm getting to that. I'll need Velvet to use the strings of the light swords to keep it tied down, while Blake, Yang and Sun try to cut off the stinger. Sage and Yatsuhashi, if you can get close to the Sphinx, help them out as well." Jaune told the various named members concisely, "And if I'm remembering Port's Grimm Studies correctly, a Sphinx's stinger is apparently supposed to be do deadly that even a small poisoned graze from it can result in death within minutes, so everyone stay out of the stinger's reach and remove it by whatever means necessary as fast as you can."

"Jaune's strategy is sound," Sharp Strike added carefully, "During the fight, avoid the Sphinx's stinger at all cost if you want to live. I hope none of you all are poor runners."

"Sounds incredibly dangerous." Blake commented as she looked at Jaune.

"So is everything else we've faced in the last few years, but since when has that ever stopped us?" Yang remarked optimistically, and the Black Cat Faunus eventually nodded in acknowledgement that her partner had made a valid point.

"What about the rest of us, Jaune?" Weiss asked quietly.

"Weiss, I need you, Fox and Sharp Strike to stay with Pyrrha and me. We attract the Manticores' attention and keep the fighting here in the park as much as possible." Jaune told her and the remaining fighters, we help out wherever we can until the Sphinx is brought down. Once it's down, we attack it all at once and do as much damage as we can. Hopefully all of this will weaken it enough for Ruby to land a killing blow with both Crescent Rose and the power of her silver eyes."

"Well, I guess that's a better strategy than just 'hit it until it dies'." Sun joked.

"Are you sure this will work, Jaune?" Ren asked his leader.

Jaune looked down briefly before facing the rest of Team Beacon and their allies once more, confessing, "Honestly? I don't know. But we do whatever we can and hope for the best."

"If I may offer an additional observation?" Sharp Strike suddenly mentioned and they all turned to look at him, "Jaune has a workable plan, but I must inform you all that we also need to lure the Sphinx away from the other Manticores and attack it with our strongest members, while the rest can help to keep the Manticores busy while we focus on fighting the Sphinx."

"What about the rangers and Desert Guards?" Sage inquired, "There are still some troopers from the Vacuo Defense Force fighting in the city square."

"In the meantime, the remaining Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards can help with preventing the rest of the Grimm in the surrounding areas from reinforcing the Sphinx and Manticores." The knight representative remarked calmly while gesturing with his swords, "That way they can watch our backs and get into better fighting positions to support us if necessary."

"Sharp Strike has made a fairly good point there, Jaune." Heliosia agreed, "Divide and conquer. That can make things a little easier in our favour."

"I guess that works as well." Jaune nodded, "So we go with my plan, with Sharp Strike's suggestion added in. Everyone clear on that?"

The assembled members of Team Beacon and their allies all nodded their heads to signal their assent.

"Sharp Strike, can we expect any help from the Remnant Knights?" Ruby asked cautiously.

Sharp Strike shook his helmeted head after quickly checking his scroll, "Unfortunately, no. Every single available knight from the Relentless Crusaders and Eternal Warriors detachments are currently engaged in other fights throughout the city. But you have my word that I will do whatever I can to help you."

There was a brief moment of silence within the gathered group as they briefly let the sounds of the Sphinx and Manticores' rampage as well as the shouts and cries of the defenders of Vacuo City trying their hardest to kill it fill the air. Somewhere far off another explosion blew upwards into the air in a ball of orange flames and black smoke, adding to the already smoke-choked skies crowding across the western Kingdom's capital.

"Guys, I know it's not a good enough plan…" Jaune began but Ruby held up a hand to stall his words.

"I know it can work, Jaune." She looked directly at her co-leader, making some of the other Team Beacon members look at her.

"I believe in you, Jaune." Pyrrha smiled at him. "We all do."

"I like this plan!" Amethyst declared enthusiastically, "It's crazy! And I'm happy to be a part of it!"

"Me too!" Nora cheered as well, "You can count me in to smash those monsters down, fearless leader!"

Blake shrugged a little, "Far better than nothing, I suppose."

"And I thought I'm the one with all the crazy ideas…" Sun joked as he shared a look with Blake who nearly rolled her amber eyes.

"Why start being careful now? Let's do it!" Coco voiced as she cocked her gatling gun.

"Alright! Come on Team Beacon! Let's do this!" Ruby jumped to her feet as several others did so as well, getting into their smaller separate groups which was outlined in Jaune's plan.

"Let's get moving." Sharp Strike urged, "The Sphinx and the Manticores may not be here for long, so everyone get into position now!"

"Weiss, Blake, Yang…be careful!" Ruby called out to her teammates. Weiss and Blake smiled back at her, while Yang gave her younger sister a thumbs-up.

"Same goes to the rest of you, stay safe." Yatsuhashi added while looking specifically at Velvet and Coco.

"Good luck everyone!" Pyrrha called out to the team members and allies present, and nodded to Jaune who drew Crocea Mors and his shield into a combat stance again.

"Velvet, Blake, Yang, Sun, Sage, Yatsuhashi, all of you take the left street!" Jaune commanded quickly, "Coco, Ren, Nora, Neptune, Scarlet, you all take the right thoroughfare over there to flank the Manticores! Amethyst and Heliosia, go with them! Weiss, Fox and Sharp Strike, you three follow me and Pyrrha closely and we take the main road into the park! Ruby, get to the clock tower and start providing cover fire as much as you can!"

"All right, Team Beacon…move out!" Ruby shouted as she racked the slide on Crescent Rose's sniper rifle form, while the separate smaller teams scattered to perform their individual parts in Jaune's plan. Velvet and Coco's groups all sprinted onto the fire and debris-covered street, unseen by the roaring and howling Sphinx and Manticores as the Grimm creatures had their attention occupied by the remaining squads of desperately shooting Vacuo Rangers, fighting Desert Guards and their armored vehicles.

Before the individual groups within Team Beacon separated themselves, Sharp Strike watched as Heliosia moved quickly to join up with the others along with Amethyst, Flameguard already gripped within both of her fingerless-gloved hands, the sigils covering them glowing slightly in the stray beams of sunlight. While he was concerned about her safety and should have requested to accompany the two Maidens, Sharp Strike knew he couldn't do such a thing or else it would draw any unnecessary attention to himself. Given how closely he had worked with Heliosia after meeting her, it wouldn't be long before someone would eventually become suspicious of how he behaved a little differently around the Summer Maiden than with others.

And Oum forbid if anyone, least of all Heliosia, discover his true identity…

The brown-haired head of the Summer Maiden turned back for a small moment, and Sharp Strike unexpectedly caught her glancing at him. He wanted to say something to her, but decided against it and settled for a small nod instead. To his surprise she smiled and nodded back, and vanished with the rest of her assigned group, and he quickly turned back to his own group comprising of Weiss, Fox, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby herself.

"All right, let's get going. Ruby, when we get to the road beside the city park, you make for the clock tower as fast as you can." The knight reminded Team RWBY's leader who nodded with a smile as they started running.

Jaune and Ruby quickly led the others into an alleyway behind the nearest statue-covered sandstone apartment buildings where, luckily, there was a thin series of stone steps leading up to the rooftops above them.

"Everyone, up!" Ruby shouted as she ran ahead, zipping upwards in a blur of whirling red petals towards the rooftops while the others followed behind he, struggling to catch up.

Jaune and Pyrrha brought up the rear, and as they ran up the steps the blond knight sighed at the thought of more running after chasing Ante's Enforcers just a short while ago, saying, "I sure hope this works. I mean…what if someone gets killed because of my plan? Maybe I should rethink this…"

He felt Pyrrha place a hand on his shoulder and forced him around to look him in the eyes firmly, "Jaune, I believe in you, and so does everyone else. So stop second-guessing yourself, and just do your best and be the leader we need you to be. The leader I know you are."

Jaune looked into the green eyes of his partner and lover before nodding and replied, "I understand, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha nodded before they heard Weiss call out, "Hey, love birds! Care to join us?"

The couple felt their cheeks blush for a split second before Jaune turned back and said, "Right, right! We're coming!"

They ran up to join with the others upon reaching the nearest rooftop, where they could see the Sphinx tearing destructively through a retreating squad of Vacuo Rangers who were firing at it with whatever weapons they had. With one swipe the Sphinx sent one of the ranger's armored jeeps crashing into a shop front even as it landed on a transport truck, crushing the entire vehicle underneath its huge bulk. It roared again loudly before it launched a scorching stream of fire from its open fanged mouth that turned the fleeing rangers into screaming and failing figures made of fire before snatching up a severely maimed ranger who was trying to crawl away and ripped his screaming form bodily in half, splattering the flagstones with his blood. The remaining Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards withdrew, putting as much distance between them and the massive Grimm creature, and an armored personnel carrier which didn't manage to reverse in time was impaled by the Sphinx's stinger and then flung the wrecked vehicle at another squad of rangers who were trying to flank it. The armored vehicle smashed through a number of Faunus warrior statues and reducing them to pieces of shattered marble before impacting onto the roadside with its wheels still rolling in the air in a flaming wreck, crushing a pair of luckless rangers who unfortunately didn't manage to get out of the way in time.

Several rangers and Desert Guards were sent flying by the powerful winds caused by the Sphinx's wings while their armored vehicles were sent hurtling and crashing onto the frontage of the neighboring buildings along with various pieces of debris and rubble. Somehow a couple of rangers managed to flank the Sphinx and fired a few rockets which knocked it out of the sky with a large explosion, bringing the gust attack to an abrupt end. In retaliation, the Sphinx recovered and instantly unleashed a flaming blast of orange flames which reduced the apartment building the rangers were taking cover within into a collapsing pile of flaming rubble.

"Guys, we better help the out!" Ruby turned to Jaune and Pyrrha after picking herself up from where she had anchored herself to ride out the Sphinx's gust attack, "Can you use your Grimm Commander abilities to distract it? Or maybe lure the Manticores away?"

Jaune nodded while Pyrrha simply replied, "We can try our best, Ruby."

As they both tried to gain control of the Manticores, but were unsuccessful due to the Sphinx's influence on them.

Ruby looked over to Weiss who was crouching near her and was breathing a little heavily while using Myrtenaster as a makeshift crutch to prop herself upright. She reached out and laid a hand on her partner's shoulder, asking with concern, "Weiss, are you all right?"

After taking a couple of breaths to steady herself, Weiss lifted her head up to look back at her partner and said, "Honestly? I'm pretty winded but despite everything I've been through today I'm holding up okay. I just need a good long rest after this battle is over. How about yourself?"

"I'm tired too, but I'm still ready to kick butt." Ruby answered with a smile, which Weiss returned.

"I guess we're more or less in the same boat…" The Schnee heiress remarked and the leader of Team RWBY nodded, "…so I think we probably need to fight smarter against that Grimm."

"Yup, you read my mind." The red-hooded Huntress gave her partner a smile as she took up Weiss' hand. "I'm really happy you're okay."

Weiss blushed slightly

"I'm glad to see you'r-"

"Ruby!" Weiss was interrupted by Sharp Strike, the scythe-wilder turned her head to see knight gesturing at the clock tower not far away from the roof the group was using as cover to observe the battle taking place below, "Get to the clock tower and start laying down cover fire!"

"Sure, Sharp Strike! I'll see you later, Weiss! And stay safe, all of you!" Ruby gave a small salute, which Weiss returned with a nod before she used her semblance to vanish in a blur of whirling petals.

Down below along the left street that ran parallel to the city park, Coco's group ran together with a small number of Vacuo Rangers as they dashed across the debris-choked street, firing their weapons as they moved from cover to cover, trying to shorten the distance between them and the trio of Manticores that were giving another group of rangers a hard time.

Coco dodged a thrown flaming car and ducked behind a pile of rubble from the fireballs spat at her by the three Manticores, while Ren, Nora, Neptune and Scarlet returned fire along with the rest of the Vacuo Rangers fighting alongside them. When she judged the time was right, the fashionista aimed her gatling gun at the nearest Manticore and pulled the trigger, her intense weapons fire chewing up broken trees and ruined bushes as she tracked the closest roaring winged-lion Grimm as it tried to escape her shredding fusillade.

One of the other Manticores speedily took flight into the air, blasting fireballs from its mouth at the rapidly dispersing defenders. Where those fireballs impacted, flames and molten asphalt spewed into the air while melting the burnt-out wrecks of abandoned vehicles the rangers and a few Desert Guards were using as cover. Tracery lines of machine gun fire from the rangers' remaining armored vehicles continued to throw bullets at it, while the less severely undamaged tanks hammered shell after shell which impacted explosively into the areas where the Manticores were fighting in to buy time for other ranger squads to withdraw to a safe distance.

As Coco continued to dish out salvos of gunfire against the Manticore in her sights, Ren and Nora both opened fire with Stormflowers and Magnhild's grenade launcher simultaneously, diverting the second Manticore's attention from the exhausted rangers to them as they split in two different directions while still shooting at the roaring Grimm. A short distance away Neptune and Scarlet were fiercely engaging the third Manticore which was tearing and ripping its way through a group of unfortunate rangers.

The leader of Team CFVY quickly dashed out of the way when she saw a fireball heading her way, sprinting for the nearest safe cover she was able to find. Just as she got behind another pile of debris, the fashionista ducked her head down as another large fireball passed above her head, smashing into the front of the row of shophouses some meters away from her and destroying the sizable boutique store selling expensive fabrics and fashion accessories completely. Burning debris and pieces of burnt clothing showered all around her as the gatling gun-wielding girl pressed herself deeper into cover to avoid the worst of the explosion.

Seeing good fashion choices destroyed before her eyes often caused Coco to get rather furious. The Grimm hordes invading Vale learned it the hard way when they destroyed her favorite clothing store, facing her anger firsthand in an unforgettable encounter that led to their terrible and immediate demise.

"All right, now I'm mad." She spat out between gritted teeth as she climbed to the top of the rubble pile, hoisted her enormous gatling gun into the proper position and aimed it right at the Manticore facing her. The Manticore opened its fanged mouth again to spit out another fireball, but Coco simply pulled the trigger of her weapon at full power at the beast, perforating the flying Grimm entirely, ripping apart with the huge amount of bullets she blasted into it, spraying chips of bone and black blood into the air around it.

As the beast was reduced to fading clouds of black dust, Coco turned and saw a pair of Vacuo Rangers who were hiding behind a transport bus that was lying by its side openly gaping at her. She rolled her dark brown eyes a little and shouted at them, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go do your jobs!" The pair of stunned rangers quickly obeyed by getting back to shooting at the nearest Grimm creatures with their assault rifles once more.

Over at the other side of the devastated park, Yang shot rounds from both Ember Celias on her arms at the Sphinx which had just shouldered aside a ranger armored jeep, stamping and slashing the screaming rangers who were trying to run for their lives to avoid a horrible death. After taking a few hits it turned and roared menacingly at her while its whiplashing stinger tail rose up threateningly.

"Blake! Sun! Get its attention!" Yang shouted as she continued unloading more Dust rounds at the Sphinx while avoiding the other fiery fireballs flying in her direction.

Blake and Sun both ran past a couple of constantly shooting Desert Guard officers in separate directions as they fired rounds from Gambol Shroud's pistol form and Ruyi Bang and Jinju Bang respectively, hitting the Sphinx multiple times and causing it to roar loudly and turn its head slightly to allow the thick plates of white bone of its masked face to take the worst of the barrage's punishment. At its command two of the fighting Manticores turned and spat several fireballs at the Cat and Monkey Fauni, who jumped and rolled out of the flaming projectiles as nimbly as they could through the piles of debris and wreckage, while the rangers and Desert Guards fighting alongside them scattered to find better cover while returning fierce gunfire at the huge creature, pouring magazines of bullets at it.

Blake dodged a fireball and narrowly avoided the Sphinx's stinger tail as she sprinted towards it, Gambol Shroud firing in her outstretched hand. After taking a number of nunchaku shots from Sun in its face and torso, the Sphinx spun as it tried to swipe its claws at Blake, only for her Shadow Clone to vanish as she swiftly executed a running leap and landed on its head, grabbing onto its crested mask and firing repeatedly into the Elder Grimm's face as it howled in pain. It immediately began to buck and sway drunkenly like a rioting bull, ignoring the other combatants shooting at it while it smashed through broken trees as it furiously tried to throw Blake off its head.

"Okay, maybe this isn't such a good idea…get out of the way!" Blake shouted in alarm as she gripped onto the Sphinx's head crest for dear life as it barrelled into a couple of Rangers' armored vehicles despite taking horrendous amounts of shells, throwing them into the air along with their unfortunate occupants and overturning others while fighting troopers ran for safety as they avoided the rampaging Elder Grimm in their midst.

Over the loud cacophony of crashing and crunching sounds she heard Sun and Yang yell out, "Hang on Blake! We're coming!" and "Blake, let go so I can get a clear shot!" one after the other and tried to comply, but she knew she couldn't get away from the Sphinx's deadly stinger tail quickly enough since she was right on top of the Grimm. She quickly swung her body sideways as the dangerous appendage missed her narrowly, repeating it a few times while she hung desperately onto the side of the Grimm's head and continued to shoot into the side of its screeching face, cracking its bone mask a little.

All of the sudden the Sphinx gave a violent jerk as it swerved to avoid the large shells coming from the turrets of a pair of ranger APC's and tearing off their turrets with its long thick stinger tail in the process, Blake cried out as she nearly lost her grip on the bone crest which she was holding tightly onto as the Grimm smashed itself against an empty passenger bus. Luckily, her aura took the brunt of the blow and Blake fell off the Sphinx's head and back rolling across the rough and damaged road surface. Her head was spinning from the short-lived and uncomfortable ride and as she took a few seconds to regain her senses. She recovered just in time to see the Sphinx roar and turn its head to glare at her, and the Faunus deftly rolled a few times to her right side just as a clawed paw came crashing down on where she had been just mere moments before, Gambol Shroud still firing away at the underside of the Sphinx as it tried to crush her.

Just as her pistol clicked empty, a hail of bullets pounded heavily into the Sphinx's face and it swiftly shielded its head with its wings, backtracking a few steps. Blake pushed herself up and was immediately yanked to her feet by Yang who was still blasting away at the Sphinx and pushed into the nearest cover, and she turned just in time to see Sun bravely jump into the air towards the Sphinx with Ruyi and Jingu Bang firing in both hands, until a whipping swipe from the Elder Grimm's stinger tail sent him crashing and tumbling through a number of damaged hedges and thorny bushes for a short distance until he came to a rest in a flickering heap in the dirt and stones as his aura took significant damage.

"Sun!" She shouted while reloading her weapon and shortly began firing again at the Sphinx, "Sun! Are you okay?!"

A second later, the Monkey Faunus's hand shot up from the bushes and gave her a thumbs up from where he had landed some distance away, "I'm…fine! Some new bruises, but I'll live!"

"I have to give him credit." Yang mused to herself, "That move was pretty cool!"

"Yeah, tell him that later!" Blake watched as the Sphinx turned its attention towards the rangers still shooting at it, "This is getting way harder than I expected…"

"No kidding." Yang agreed before looking at Blake and saying, "How was your ride on the Sphinx, by the way?"

"Honestly? It's very bumpy, don't want to do that again." Blake said as she and Yang ducked into cover as the Sphinx unleashed a fireball or two at them.

"Looked like fun." Yang smiled at her and Blake fought the overwhelming urge to roll her amber eyes, "Mind if I give it a try?"

"Sure, if you want to get yourself killed faster." Blake replied wryly as she leaned back out and fired some more rounds at the roaring Elder Grimm.

"I'm just joking with you," The blonde brawler chuckled as she cocked her Ember Celias on both robotic and organic arms once more, "Let's go teach that thing the meaning of pain, shall we?"

"Right behind you," The ex-White Fang operative smiled as she charged into battle again with her golden-haired partner and lover.

Across the embattled city square Velvet sprinted towards a pair of Manticores which were keeping a squad of Vacuo Rangers pinned down behind their debris cover by spitting fireballs at them. At her side were Sage and Yatsuhashi, both hacking and slashing their huge blades furiously through the other nearby Grimm so as to clear a straight path towards the two Manticores for her. Additional heavy gunfire pounded into the Manticores from separate directions, the scattered Vacuo Rangers doing their best to distract the Grimm as the Rabbit Faunus ran near her targets.

Out of the corner of her brown eyes, Velvet noticed both of her teammates smiling a little as they already knew what she was about to do in the next few moments with her personal weapon, Anesidora.

"What the hell is she doing?!" A ranger sergeant hiding behind cover shouted at Coco in alarm.

A knowing smirk came to Coco's face as she replied, "Don't worry, just sit back and watch the show."

Nimbly dodging the fireballs coming her way, the smallest member of Team CFVY leapt into the air and activated her weapon at the same time to replicate a light copy of Crescent Rose. She swiftly imitated Ruby's overhead spin and opened fire at the Grimm before landing on top of the nearest Manticore. As it tossed its head violently in an attempt to throw her off, Velvet held on as she continued to empty rounds into the Manticore's face at point-blank range and causing it to howl in pain as chips of bone sprayed outwards.

The other Manticore, seeing that its companion was in trouble, quickly opened its wings and took to the sky with a roar, ignoring gunfire from the rangers. Velvet, while still gripping onto one of the Manticore's horns underneath her, saw the incoming danger and speedily backflipped off the first Manticore in a perfect somersault to avoid a fireball that was expelled at her from the other Manticore. Spinning in mid-air once more, she then replicates StormFlowers in her hands and emptied them both at the hovering Manticore which swung its head left and right before raising its clawed paws in an attempt to shield itself from her attack.

Velvet then landed on the top of a nearby abandoned bus and ran to the far end, replicating a light copy of Nora's Magnhild in its hammer form even as she did so. When the second Manticore landed onto the ground and spotted her once more, Velvet jumped high through a running leap and brought her copied hammer weapon down squarely onto the Manticore's crown-like mane and fierce face with a horrible cracking sound that was akin to a pile of bones being crushed. The impact was so powerful that a number of spikes on the Manticore's mane were completely sheared off by the Velvet's copied hammer, and a significant portion of its face was caved in with bone fragments and shattered fangs spraying everywhere.

Without missing a beat, the Rabbit Faunus then replicates Myrtenaster to deflect a swipe from the first Manticore's clawed paw and retaliated with a series of rapid slashes and cuts which knocked it back a couple of steps with great bleeding wounds opening up in its face and mane. She then charged in close and dished out additional punches and kicks with Ember Celia's imitation while avoiding the Manticore's sharp claws. After managing to land several shots, Velvet executed a sliding combat roll in the nick of time to avoid the wounded Manticore's stinger which cannoned sharply towards her, replicating Gambol Shroud in her hands and threw it outwards towards the second stumbling Manticore. With it firmly latched onto the Manticore's mane, she quickly used its string to trip over the roaring Grimm beast after sprinting around the wounded Grimm creature and tying up its four legs. Hearing another fierce roar right behind her, Velvet fell prone immediately just as the scorpion stinger from the second Manticore which nearly impaled her head hit the street's surface scant inches from her face. She then lopped off the deadly appendage with the bladed edge of her Gambol Shroud's copy, and then threw the cleaver which lodged itself into the howling Manticore's fanged maw with an audible crack.

Shaking its head furiously to dislodge the offending weapon, the second Manticore was unable to recover from Velvet's latest attack before it was immediately peppered with imitation bullets from a light copy of Coco's minigun. Slamming its head into the cracked street ground, the Manticore finally tore the cleaver copy out of its face in a spray of black blood and charged forward towards Velvet while roaring wrathfully. Instead of showing fear, Velvet sprinted briskly forward as she switched to using a light copy of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in their staff form as a reference, swinging her latest weapon left and right rapidly as she fended off a series of sharp slashes from the Manticore's clawed paws. She managed to land a few good hits until the Manticore shot a fireball straight at her which Velvet avoided by leaping to the side behind a pile of rubble. She then jumped into the air and landed another devastating downward blow from above with a copy of Neptune's weapon in gundao mode, slicing several chunks of the Manticore's bone-like mane away and finally severing its tail which laid on the ruined streets for a few seconds before fading away to black dust, eliciting a horrible howl from the wounded Grimm beast before she blasted it across the street into some rubble piles with several electrical shots with her copied weapon's rifle mode.

As the first Manticore attempted to recover by shaking its half-crushed face, Velvet spun around and immediately copies Penny's swords which unfurled themselves from the light copy which appeared on her upper back. Moving quickly, she sliced apart the top halves of the huge statues the Manticore was lying underneath diagonally which caused them to topple and pin down the roaring creature. Not wasting another second, she commanded her copies of Penny's swords to form an identical spinning cylindrical cannon which charged up within moments before blasting it at full power, finally killing the first Manticore by vaporizing it completely with a wide beam of azure light.

"Velvet, look out!" She heard Yatsuhashi call out and turned around in time to see the second Manticore with the severed scorpion tail leaping towards her. It expelled a fireball which she avoided by rolling away once more, and when Velvet recovered from her impromptu rolling movement she was seen wielding a light copy of Yatsuhashi's Kyodiana Burendo in both of her hands. The Manticore roared in challenge and charged forward to attack the rabbit Faunus, and she ran to meet it without any hint of fear on her face. With a sweeping upward slash she sliced off its front legs before clipping one of its wings with a quick downward cut which caused the Manticore to crash onto the street, roaring painfully. Velvet then jumped high into the air and with a loud cry of effort she came right down and slammed the entire length of her light copy sword through the Manticore's neck, beheading and instantly killing the second Manticore.

As the Grimm's corpse faded away to swirling black dust, Velvet pushed herself up using Kyodiana Burendo's light copy as a support while breathing a little heavily. She then glanced around to see both Fox and Yatsuhashi nodding at her with smiles on their faces, while Coco raised her minigun in salute from some distance further down the street. What the Rabbit Faunus found rather amusing were the looks of awe and disbelief from some of the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards who had witnessed her fight with the Manticores, as though they couldn't believe what they just witnessed.

She gave them a thumbs up before getting back into the fight again.

At another region of the city square's park, Ren reloaded the StormFlowers as he used his Semblance to mask his presence from the Manticore that was tearing its way through a number of rangers vehicles, despite Nora's grenades and Scarlet's flintlock pistol shots. With his partner and the ex-pirate keeping the Manticore busy, the green ninja ran and leapt from cover to cover as he tried to sneak up on the unsuspecting beast until he was close enough to hopefully land a fatal blow.

Making sure that the Manticore was sufficiently distracted, he waved to catch Scarlet's attention who raised his flintlock pistol and fired the grappling hook which stabs right into the Manticore's body which caused the Grimm creature to roar in pain as it tried to tear itself free. Scarlet stands his ground firmly, pulling at the impaled grappling hook until the Manticore opens its mouth to shoot a flaming fireball at him. Before it could expel the flaming projectile, Ren landed onto its back and drove the fire blades of his weapon into the Manticore's wings and sliced clean through one of them which caused the lion-like Grimm to howl and blast a fireball into the air harmlessly. Holding onto the thrashing Grimm as securely as he could, Ren opened fire with StormFlowers and riddled the back and head of the Manticore with bullets while avoiding the scorpion tail which was trying to stab him.

He saw Nora running towards him with Magnhild in its hammer form, and in one swift movement he sliced through the scorpion tail which plunged right into the top of the Manticore's head before leaping away from it. With a whooping cry his orange-haired partner brought her hammer's head arcing down and punched the stinger right through the top of its skull and out through its fanged jaw, smashing the Manticore's head into the street with a loud echoing crack.

Landing onto the street in a combat crouch with his weapons raised and looking for other targets, Ren recovered and smiled at both Nora and Scarlet who grinned back at him in return as the dead Manticore disappeared into dust.

"Nice work, Nora." He complimented, "You too, Scarlet."

"You aren't so bad yourself, Renny!" Nora praised with a wide grin on her face.

Not far away from Velvet and under the covering fire of a number of Vacuo Rangers, Sage and Yatsuhashi sprinted towards another Manticore which was spewing several fireballs at a couple of police officers who were hiding behind their half-melted police vehicles. "Hey ugly! Over here!" Sage shouted as the Manticore turned its head towards them and roared a challenge, before bounding forward rapidly with its fanged mouth opened wide and shrugging off gunfire coming from the isolated rangers.

The green-haired boy and the armored samurai dived in separate directions to avoid being trampled by the Manticore, and Sage brought up his sword just in time to deflect the stinger tail coming his way. The curved blade of Kyodiana Burendo lashed out like a whip, severing chunks of the Grimm creature's mane as it roared in pain even as Yatsuhashi continued to hack and slash at it. Driving it back step by step, the largest member of Team CFVY gave a shout of effort as he severed the front two limbs of the Manticore and causing it to try and take flight with its wings. That was until Sage impaled one of its wings with his own sword, rendering it unable to fly, and Yatsuhashi swung his weapon downwards to cut through the other wing and kick the disintegrating limb aside.

Between the two Huntsmen they quickly and methodically cut the Manticore apart, literally tearing it to pieces with their swords until it was more or less an unrecognizable heap. With a final grunt, Yatsuhashi finally chopped off the Manticore's head and silencing its weak roars forever as it died and disappeared into a dispersing cloud of black dust.

Sage and Yatsuhashi looked at each other and nodded, just as they heard screams coming from somewhere close by. Drawing their swords, both Huntsmen ran towards the screams and saw another Manticore smashing its way through police vehicles as it quickly decimated the officers shooting at it. After killing an unfortunate cop by chomping him in half in a shower of blood, the Manticore turned its head towards both Huntsmen and roared loudly before flying down straight at them both. Sage and Yatsuhashi stood their ground, shifting their bodies into combat stances as they spun their swords and got ready to fight the newly-arrived beast.

When the Manticore smashed into the street before them, its stinger tail whipped into Sage, sending him flying through the air and slamming painfully into a statue before a scream could escape his lips and partially burying him in a pile of debris. Yatsuhashi ducked under a swipe from its clawed paws, then thrusts Kyodiana Burendo's blade forwards and stabbing it right into the Manticore's face which caused it to let out a deafening howl of pain. Pushing the blade deeper with both gauntlets and all of his strength, the largest member of Team CFVY ripped his weapon through the open jaws of the Manticore, cutting into its face deeply and sending black droplets splattering the ground. Ignoring the beast's pained roars, the samurai forcefully dragged his sword downwards and its long blade cut through muscle and bone slowly but painfully, spraying him with bits of black blood and broken bone fragments.

With a shout of prodigious effort, Yatsuhashi tore the entirety of his huge sword through the whole beast which was completely shorn in half lengthwise through Kyodiana Burendo, the two separate pieces thudding to the ground on either side of him in a wash of black blood. As its corpse slowly dissolved away, Yatsuhashi pushed himself back up and ran over to where Sage lay among the debris, throwing away pieces of cracked marble as he pulled his fellow Huntsman upright and checked for any visible wounds.

"Are you okay?" He asked while breathing a little deeply from his recent exertions.

"I'm…okay, my aura held luckily." Sage checked himself over, dust falling from his clothes, "Where's the Manticore?"

"I cut it in half." Yatsuhashi revealed bluntly.

"Really?" Sage's gold eyes widened in awe, "Man, I really wanted to do that!"

They both heard sounds of intense fighting taking place and looked over to see the Spring and Summer Maidens locked in combat with another pair of Manticores in the open patch of grass in the middle of the park. Side by side, Amethyst and Heliosia fought with enviable combat skills and uncanny precision as they avoided every attack thrown at them by the Manticores while retaliating with forceful blows of their own weapons.

The movements of the two Maidens flowed seamlessly with each other as they pressed forward their combined assault; with Amethyst unleashing bolts of white lightning from her hands after shooting a trio of arrows formed from the fire Dust vials within Gembreaker, while Heliosia parried and thrusted with Flameguard even as she formed balls of scorching fire which she launched at the Manticores whenever she had the chance. Both Maidens alternated and interweaved as they switched roles without hesitation, trusting one another to protect the other as they adapted swiftly to the flow and ebb of battle.

They spun about each other like two dancers performing a complex performance, directing their considerable combat skills and Maiden powers on each Manticore before swiftly switching roles, stepping so completely in time with absolute synchronicity so that when Heliosia ducked, Amethyst had already cocked a fresh trio of Dust arrows to fire at the Manticore's head, and as the Spring Maiden dodged a clawed slash from the second Manticore, the Summer Maiden instead unleashed a torrent of extremely hot fire waves.

None of the Manticores' vicious slashes nor fireballs managed to hit the Maidens, while their every attack instead found its own mark easily which caused the pair of Manticores to howl in pain. As the battle progressed, the two Maidens still managed to deflect or turn away most of the creatures' blows, but one or two fireballs managed to score glancing hits which thankfully Amethyst and Heliosia's substantial aura reserves held strong, and so other than a sleeve and a jacket cuff being slightly scorched there were no grander wound inflicted upon the both of them.

After delivering another series of formidable attacks which left the two Manticores wingless and wounded, Amethyst backflipped smoothly through the air to dodge the latest fireball which was spat her way. She landed in a crouch a few meters away from Heliosia and gave her fellow Maiden a nod, and the Summer Maiden strode confidently forward towards the growling Manticores as she twirled Flameguard within her gloved hands which the etched sigils on their surface glow slightly brighter than normal.

Then, to the astonishment of everyone watching, Heliosia's eyes glow brightly with her Maiden powers as she skillfully spun Flameguard in a wide circle in front of her and quickly conjured up a giant ball of flaming fire which she jumped some distance from the ground and then launched it right at the two Manticores. The huge ball of writhing flames shot through the air like a missile and slammed straight into the pair of Grimm beasts, utterly consuming them before leaving a significant area of the open green field within the park scorched black and smoking with a sizable crater embedded right in the middle of the entire place. Here and there dispersed flames still burned cheerily in the various charred debris laying around the park, while the spectators were too stunned or shocked to say anything as to what they have just witnessed with their own eyes.

"Now that's one neat trick!" Amethyst complimented with a bright smile.

"Thanks." Heliosia willed the flames covering her gloved fists to die down slightly, "You aren't so bad yourself."

"Guess we still have the Sphinx to fight huh?" The Spring Maiden gestured and Heliosia nodded in agreement.

"Let's go help them out." She replied before running in the direction which the largest battle was taking place, with Amethyst following her closely.

With the Manticores and the majority of the accompanying Grimm already taken care of, the Sphinx itself was the only threat left in the immediate locality. However, its massive size and considerable range of deadly abilities nevertheless made it an incredibly dangerous Grimm to fight against even with the advantage of numbers.

"Head's up everyone! They're moving into position!" Sage, who had joined Pyrrha, Jaune, Yatsuhashi, Fox and Sharp Strike on the rooftops, called out as he spotted Velvet, Blake, Yang and Sun running towards the Sphinx, which luckily didn't notice them due to both Jaune and Pyrrha's latest attempt to control it with their Grimm Commander abilities and the efforts of the regrouping Vacuo Rangers to kill it by spraying the huge Grimm with relentless gunfire.

The Sphinx snarled and hurled a number of damaged vehicles at the scattering rangers while its stinger tail swooped down, nearly knocking into the Monkey Faunus who leapt over its whiplashing tail with ease and quickly gave a signal to the other arriving members of Team Beacon. He fired at the Sphinx's face with Ruyi and Jinhu Bang, whereupon it roared menacingly and began to chase the leader of Team SSSN towards another part of the city square's park where the planned trap was set.

Coco, Ren, Nora, Neptune, Scarlet, Amethyst and Heliosia were all hiding among the debris and alleyways surrounding the park from all sides, and once they saw the signal Sun gave as he put as much distance from the angered Sphinx as possible, they all leapt out and unloaded their weapons at the Elder Grimm or in the case of the Maidens, releasing their powers, with Amethyst summoning another burst of white crackling lightning from her hands while Heliosia used the heat energy she had previously built up thanks to her Semblance to back the back and rear of the Sphinx.

The Elder Grimm weathered the attacks as it tried to fight back, roaring out in surprise and rage at its opponents while crackles of electricity and flames wreathed its entire form for several seconds, such was the heavy amount of Dust ammunition and Maiden power thrown at it. While it was momentarily distracted by the large number of enemies Blake used the earth Dust cartridge within Gambol Shroud to trap its rear left leg in a heap of rock, managing to trap it briefly while Velvet ran directly under the large monster's chest while agilely avoiding its slashing clawed paws and stinger tail.

Rolling underneath the Sphinx's body, and with a mutter of, "Okay, here goes nothing," she activated her camera and seven light copies of Penny's swords shoot out from under the Elder Grimm. As the rest of Team Beacon continued to shoot and blast away at the Sphinx, distracting it from the growing danger and keeping it in place, Velvet expertly manipulated all the blades, directing four of them to wrap around its legs, two around the bases of its large wings, and one more around the stinger tail, trapping the immense Grimm further while Blake speedily continued to encase the rest of its paws in earth Dust-formed rocks with additional help from Yang who had loaded up on some earth Dust-infused shells in both of her Ember Celias' ammo chambers.

Roaring loudly, the Sphinx realized far too late that it was trapped and struggled aggressively to get free before opening its fanged jaws and letting out another torrent of blistering flames which smashed into the shops on the streets ahead and wiping out a squad of Vacuo Rangers who had been using the accumulated debris there as cover while returning fire at the Elder Grimm. The few rangers and police officers who had managed to escape the avalanche of broken concrete, glass and masonry quickly pulled their wounded members into more sturdy cover, discouraged from continuing their attack against the Sphinx.

"Jaune, time to do your part!" Ruby informed him through the scroll as she sniped at the Sphinx's head from her vantage point on the roof of the city square's clocktower, aiming to take out the Sphinx's eyes. Weiss stood next to her, ready to make her move.

"Now or never, let's go!" Jaune cried as Weiss created a number of gravity Dust crystal-power glyphs that sent her and Ruby flying onto the Sphinx's back, directly behind its expansive bone-mane. Jaune, Pyrrha, Sharp Strike, Fox, Yatsuhashi and Sage all joined them in jumping and landing onto either of its wings or back before recovering to steady themselves. Yatsuhashi had landed on one of the wing joints and due to the Sphinx's violent movements he nearly fell through the feathers, only to be grabbed and hauled back onto the back by Sharp Strike and Sage.

"My thanks." He told them as he got on, grabbing onto one of the bone spikes jutting out of the Sphinx's back.

"Let's not waste any more time!" Fox said as he began slicing through the Sphinx's black skin with his arm blades. Ruby and the others quickly followed his example, stabbing into the back of the Elder Grimm repeatedly with their weapons, with Yatsuhashi managing to hack off most of the bone spoke he had leaned on with a mighty swing of Kyodiana Burendo. Pain erupted through the Sphinx's body as it bucked and thrashed like a runaway horse, shorts bursts of hot flames escaping its mouth as it howled piercingly.

"Keep shooting! Don't let up!" Coco ordered as she, Ren, Nora, Sun and a small number of Vacuo Rangers kept firing at the Elder Grimm.

"Here, have a grenade!" Nora shouted as she fired an explosive canister into the Sphinx's underbelly, "Have two, or three! Heck, have all of them!"

The Sphinx struggled even harder, trying to slap its wings and swing its stinger tail out of the light strings generated by Velvet's camera, the inhuman force of its struggles nearly knocking her off her feet. Over the screeching and howling of the Elder Grimm, the Faunus heard a familiar beeping sound on her weapon and called out, "Guys! My weapon's Dust supply is running out! Whatever you have to do, do it fast!"

"The tail and wings need to be taken care of! Cut 'em off!" Sun shouted as he saw the stinger tail whipped about and then lashed out at Neptune, Nora, Ren and the others who quickly scattered while still firing their weapons.

The Summer Maiden looked to her sister and said hurriedly, "He's right, it's high time we took those wings off."

The purple-haired girl smiled and replied, "Love to!"

Unlatching Flameguard's kusarigama chain, the two Maidens leapt out of the way as the Sphinx blasted a gush of flames in their general direction, avoiding it as they both jumped up into the air and readied their latest attacks. Amethyst used her wind powers to keep them afloat as their eyes began to shine, with the bright yellow shape resembling the sun forming around Heliosia's eyes and the shapes of green leaves forming around Amethyst's violet orbs.

The two let loose with their respective Maiden powers, with Heliosia sending blasts of fire at the Sphinx's wings and Amethyst attacking it with the crackling lightning bolts of a spring storm. The Elder Grimm roared in pain as its right wing was engulfed in flames while the left wing was zapped by lightning, and the two winged limbs were further weakened by the additional heavy gunfire coming from Coco, Ren, Nora, Scarlet and Neptune hitting them.

The Summer Maiden then drew upon her Maiden powers to rocket herself forward with a powerful blast of flame, whipping out Flameguard and using its kusarigama form to slice off the right wing of the Sphinx. Amethyst, on the other hand, whipped the sharpened limbs of Gembreaker through the left wing and severing it sharply as well which elicited a renewed howl of pain from the Sphinx.

"Whoa!" Sage cried as the wind from Heliosia's fire blasts rushed by him and licked at his coat, which luckily didn't catch fire, "Cutting it way too close! Wait a minute…how are we gonna get down from here once we kill this thing?"

"I improvised this! I couldn't plan for everything! I guess we'll have to jump!" Jaune cried as he drove Crocea Mora into one of the bone-spikes that made up the Sphinx's mask mane, chipping away another few chunks of bone armor.

"Fantastic!" Weiss muttered as she used an ice Dust crystal within the hilt of her rapier to freeze the bone spike in the center mane, which Ruby and Sharp strike jumped up together and shattered with Crescent Rose and Hong Long's blades.

The Sphinx roared furiously as its struggles intensified, managing to use the stinger of its tail to cut free from the light string holding it down, allowing the appendage to strike out at the Team Beacon members nearest to it.

"Look out!" Amethyst cried out as she used her wind powers to blow Ren out of the way of the stinger, while Heliosia spun through the air and kicked the stinger away with a roundhouse kick.

Before the stinger could twist around and stab at the group attacking the Elder Grimm's back, Blake threw out her weapon's black ribbon and snagged it around the base of the stinger, and with the combined strength of herself, Yang, Sun and two of his clones, managed to pull it down.

"Someone cut off that tail!" Yang hollered.

Yatsuhashi decided to take charge, and so moved over to the thrashing tail and brought up his sword in both hands and slashed down multiple times, each time cutting deeper into the black flesh where the stinger tail joined to the body of the Sphinx but wasn't able to properly cut it off. He followed up by dashing down the tail before jumping off and using his weapon to land two very deep cuts into both sides of the Sphinx's tail, nearly severing the stinger.

The Manticore roared deafeningly once again as Yatsuhashi landed on his hands and feet, shouting, "Shoot the tail off!"

Acting on his advice, both Yang and Coco aimed their weapons upwards and let loose, blasting away at the severely weakened part of the stinger tail until they finally cut through the tail, blasting the stinger off and causing it to fall and stab into the ruined streets below, making the Sphinx yowl in pain.

"We're doing it! Keep at it!" Jaune shouted as he stabbed Crocea Mora deep into the Grimm's black flesh beneath the mane spikes.

He then ripped it out in a spray of black blood amidst the pained roars, just as Ruby held up Crescent Rose and cried out, "Everyone! Together, all at once!"

All of the members of Team Beacon followed Ruby's example and lifted up their weapons.

"Now!" She shouted.

All at once, the remaining warriors on the Sphinx's back all stabbed their weapons into the bleeding black fur all at once, driving deep into its body. Ruby, Sharp Strike and Pyrrha even fired off their weapons to increase the damage they were inflicting on the Elder Grimm.

The Sphinx let out a staggering roar of pain as it began to slam its body left and right violently, trying to free itself from the trappings that held it in place. There was a couple of sickening cracks it fought to disentangle itself from the rock formations which encased its primary four limbs Blake had created, and with an outwards swipe of its clawed paw it sent Velvet off her feet even as she struggled to keep hold of it. Before it could disembowel the Rabbit Faunus, Yatsuhashi leapt towards his smaller team partner and pulled her out of harm's way while deflecting the Sphinx's next few blows with his longsword.

"Oh, I think we really ticked this monster off now!" Yang remarked as she jumped into the back knee of the Elder Grimm's right rear leg and slammed her Ember Celias into the damaged limb repetitively.

Up on its back, Sage wasn't prepared for the crash into an adjacent building as the Sphinx knocked over a street lamp, causing the dark-skinned Huntsman to lose his balance and fall off of the rampaging Grimm.

"Whoa!" He cried as he fell, only to be caught by Scarlet and Neptune.

"You okay, mate?" Scarlet asked him while holding onto one of the Sphinx's remaining bone spikes.

"I'm fine! Just fine!" Sage replied just as he glanced up and saw the other side of the street coming rapidly towards them, "Heads up!"

Up above, the Sphinx flung itself into the opposite side of the street in an effort to get rid of the annoying pests on its back. The aggressive action nearly threw Ruby off just as she was about to use Crescent Rose to chop off the Sphinx's head through its neck, and just as she felt her feet leave the back of the Elder Grimm she felt rather than saw Weiss grab hold of her outstretched hand.

"I got you!" Weiss shouted as she hauled her partner back up.

"Oh thanks!" Ruby told her gratefully.

"Thank me later! Fight now!" Weiss reminded her as she drove the tip of Myrtenaster into the bleeding skin of the Sphinx's upper back.

"Ruby! You have to land the killing blow!" Jaune called to her as he gripped tightly onto another bone spike, Pyrrha doing the same right beside him.

"Right!" Ruby agreed with a nod. She looked to Weiss and grinned, "Want to help?"

"Together?" The Schnee heiress guessed.

Ruby smiled as she gave a nod of her head, and Weiss returned it with a knowing smile of her own.

Just then, the Sphinx managed to leap upwards, shivering its entire body in an attempt to get them all off and breaking free of Velvet's remaining light bindings in the process. Before anyone could do anything about it, the latest sharp movement sent both Pyrrha and Fox flying off.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried as he managed to keep a grip on one of the Sphinx's bone spikes along with Sharp Strike who had stabbed one of his swords back into the beast's flesh to help himself keep balance, while Weiss and Ruby had done the same with their respective weapons. Luckily Fox managed to grab hold of Pyrrha within his arms as he shielded her from impacting hard onto the street, where both of them quickly rolled clear of any danger.

Now finally free, the Sphinx began to stride forward as it growled angrily at the warriors who had been hurting it. Undeterred at the impending threat, Coco, Ren, Nora, Yang, Neptune, Scarlet and Amethyst all continued shooting at it with whatever they had in their hands, while Heliosia and Blake tried in vain to keep the Elder Grimm bound with their kusarigamas, but it was no use as the Sphinx tore itself free within seconds. The Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards abruptly ceased their shooting, not wanting to hurt the warriors on the Sphinx's back via friendly fire.

Ruby kept a tight grip on both Weiss and the handle of Crescent Rose as she opened her silver eyes which were now faintly glowing as she prepared herself for her next move. Remembering Argentius's warning in her mind, she then looked to Weiss and called out, "We need to get onto the head!"

Jaune, who was still holding onto the uppermost back spine with Sharp Strike, nodded and said, "We'll get you up there!"

"Here, I'll help you!" Sharp Strike was already extending his free gauntlet towards Ruby.

Ruby quickly reached out and grabbed Sharp Strike's offered gauntlet and was pulled up along with Weiss, a grunt of effort coming from behind his helmet's stoic faceplate. Jaune then took Weiss's other hand as he and the Remnant Knight then guided them towards the gap in the mane where they had destroyed a sizable bone spike earlier, gripping onto both girls so that they could take hold of a mane spike on either side.

Suddenly, the Sphinx stopped in its tracks and reared up to let loose another blast of flames at an airship that was flying by. It stood on its hind legs and let out another huge roar, its forelegs running through the air and black blood splattering the streets underneath it from multiple wounds.

Ruby and Weiss managed to hold on tightly, but the unexpected movement caused Jaune to lose his grip and fall off the Sphinx's back, yelling in panic. "Jaune!" Ruby cried as Sharp Strike lunged outwards to grab hold of Jaune as he fell past the knight errant, relinquishing his hold of the bone spoke while still grabbing hold of his sword Hong Long which was still embedded in the flesh of the Grimm monster.

The tips of Sharp Strike's gauntlet-clad fingers brushed against Jaune's for a brief moment, but missed the most crucial second as gravity won and drew Jaune downwards towards a bone-crushing landing. Even with his aura protecting him, it was still clear that the Arc son would most probably be seriously injured from such a dangerous fall.

Jaune fell towards the distant ground, he braced himself for a painful crash landing, expecting to feel his bones break on impact, only to be unexpectedly slow down just in time and he felt himself caught by a familiar, gentle pair of hands just before disaster. He opened his eyes to see that Pyrrha had caught him and was now holding him bridal-style.

Jaune felt himself smile as he wrapped his arms around Pyrrha's neck and lovingly said, "My hero."

Pyrrha smiled back at him while the other members of Team Beacon ran to catch up with them.

Some distance up ahead, the Sphinx slammed down on its forelegs and continued down the streets towards Shade while shaking off bullets which small groups of Rangers, Desert Guards and cops were throwing at it. Despite sustaining so many ruinous wounds, it refused to die and made a swift turn right to avoid an incoming shell from a tank which missed and tore a crater out of the road, causing Sharp Strike to lose his grip as his embedded sword unexpectedly came free. He tried to grab hold of another bone spike but to no avail, eventually falling off as well but he recovered by grabbing onto a streetlight to prevent any further injury. Swiftly drawing his revolver Vanquisher from his thigh holster, the Remnant Knight cursed as he realized that the Sphinx was already out of range.

"Sharp Strike!" Ruby shouted in concern.

The knight yelled back, "I'm fine! Finish that beast off!"

"Ruby! Focus!" Weiss's voice came from beside her and Ruby turned back to meet her white-haired teammate's light-blue eyes, "We need to stop this Grimm!"

"Ruby, finish it!" Weiss called.

Before Ruby could do anything, the Manticore flung its head up, tossing Ruby into the air. The silver-eyed Huntress came down and grabbed onto the monster's snout, hanging it front of its open mouth. Her faintly glowing silver eyes looked right into its eyes of orange and red.

The Manticore's eyes widened upon seeing and feeling the silver energy, so tried to throw Ruby off its head, only for Weiss to stab Myrtenaster directly into its right eye, using the ice Dust within to begin freezing its head.

"I know!" She tried to sound optimistic, although she knew that she was actually a little scared since they were on their own now, "Okay, we got this!"

The silver-eyed Huntress released her grip on Weiss's hand and carefully clambered onto the cracked bone-mask of the Sphinx's face, her booted feet inches away from dropping down onto its yellowish-red eye. She turned to look at Weiss, who had now balanced herself by grabbing onto a pair of mane spikes near the gap to steady herself. Both Huntresses were trying their hardest not to get thrown off as they desperately tried to find a way to enact the final part of their plan to kill the Sphinx for good.

"Ready?" Ruby shared one last look with her fellow teammate.

"Always!" Weiss shouted as she lifted Myrtenaster in her other hand.

They both glanced up to see the damaged open gates of Shade Academy at the far end of the street, and already a number of armored vehicles from both the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards were already rolling onto position as the defense troopers brought up their various dangerous weaponry. A couple of huge armored tanks pointed their cannons upwards, clearly intending to bombard the Sphinx in the hopes of killing it, while yet more rangers hid behind hastily-erected barricades as they shouldered their assault rifles and shotguns. Despite the daunting amount of visible firepower arrayed before the gates of the Huntsman Academy, neither Ruby nor Weiss would want to bet that it would be enough to stop the Elder Grimm they were currently riding on.

"It's now or never, Ruby!" Weiss yelled, "Finish it!"

Before Ruby could do anything, the Sphinx abruptly flung its head upwards and tossed the red-hooded Huntress into the air. The silver-eyed girl came down and grabbed onto the Grimm monster's snout, hanging right in front of its open mouth. It was at this moment that her faintly glowing silver eyes looked right into the Sphinx's eyes of orange and red.

The Sphinx's eyes widened upon seeing and feeling the effects of Ruby's silver eyes, and so tried to throw Ruby off its head. However, Weiss thwarted its attempt by stabbing the sharpened tip of Myrtenaster directly into its right eye in a spurt of black blood and using the ice Dust within to begin freezing its head. The Elder Grimm bayed as it continued to lope towards Shade Academy's damaged gates and the large number of troops defending it, but its long strides were getting weaker by the second.

Using her Semblance, Ruby jumped high into the air and used a blast from Crescent Rose to rocket downwards towards the Sphinx. Her silver eyes shone even brighter, enveloping the Elder Grimm in a powerful blast of silver light that dazzled everyone who were watching the battle. And with a scream of effort and exhilaration as well as a powerful swing of her scythe, in combination with Weiss freezing the Sphinx's head and weakening it, Ruby slammed her weapon onto the head of the Sphinx and pulling the trigger several times, causing it to explode into several hundred frozen chunks that flew in all directions into the air and onto the streets.

The headless body of the Elder Grimm stumbled and thudded to the ground just a hundred meters or so from the assembled group of Vacuo Rangers, Desert Guards and their armored vehicles which were protected behind their barricades. Ruby landed in front of the Sphinx's headless corpse with Crescent Rose held behind her back, then crouched down and breathed in and out to calm herself as the light of her silver eyes dimmed and returned back to normal. She looked up to see Weiss standing in the gap of the mane spikes of the now headless and very much dead Elder Grimm, its color now dimmed out and turned into grey stone due to the power of Ruby's silver eyes.

Both Huntresses looked at each other, letting a moment of silence reign between them. Even the troops of the Vacuoan defense force were unusually silent as well, as though they were rendered completely speechless by what had just happened right in front of their eyes.

Then Ruby gave Weiss one of her bright smiles, a tired but triumphant one, before she said, "W-we did it!"

Weiss offered a smile of her own before saying "I can't believe that worked…"

Just then, the stone body of the Sphinx fell forward when its legs finally gave out and crumbled into smaller pieces.

"Whoa!" Weiss cried out as she was flung forwards, only for Ruby to jump up and catch her in her arms. The snow princess's weight forced Ruby back and the two girls landed atop a half-crushed car, which fortunately did no damage to them.

Weiss opened her eyes, only to blush slightly when she realized her face was buried in Ruby's neck and that her partner was hugging her to her body. The Schnee heiress pushed herself upwards, now hovering directly over her team leader, and saw that the latter was lightly blushing herself.

Then the moment passed as Ruby began to laugh cheerfully before reaching up and pulling Weiss back down into a proper hug. Despite herself, Weiss couldn't help but return the hug and let out a joyful and relieved chuckle of her own as they both basked in the achievement of killing an Elder Grimm.

The spell of silence over the gathered Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards broke and they also descended into jubilant cheers and screams, shouting their endless gratitude and admiration of the pair of young Huntress who had managed to finish off the Sphinx which was literally just moments away from smashing its way into Shade Academy to wreak further havoc.

Ruby soon stopped her giggling before saying, "Now that wasn't so hard, right?"

Weiss groaned and answered, "If I had any energy left in me I'd smack you."

The silver-eyed Huntress laughed some more before asking, "Weiss?"

"Yes Ruby?"

"I'm really, really tired." She said softly before flopping back onto the car's roof.

Weiss smiled and replied, "So am I."

They both decided to get off the car, sliding down the cracked windshield and climbed off its smashed bonnet. Weiss got off first and then helped Ruby down, the former helping her weakened partner to stand upright.

"I'm so happy that's over and done with." Weiss mentioned as she tried to support Ruby, only to collapse sideways. Thankfully Ruby managed to keep hold of her partner, the two girls supporting each other to stand as steady as they could.

"No, I don't think so. There's still Grimm in other areas of the city," Ruby pointed out, "It's not over yet."

"Not exactly." The calm voice of Sharp Strike reached their ears over the cheering of the Vacuo Rangers, Desert Guards and police officers not far away.

The two girls looked over to see a number of members from Team Beacon, Sharp Strike, and the two Maidens approaching them. Most of them had suffered small bruises and cuts here and there, and Pyrrha was supporting Jaune with one arm over her shoulder while Yatsuhashi was lending one of his armor-plated arms to support Velvet who was leaning against him as she exhausted due to her role in the fight with the Sphinx.

"Jaune and I have been using our Grimm senses and from what we can tell, the Grimm that haven't been destroyed are already fleeing the Kingdom and looking for places to hide. At least in the immediate area." Pyrrha told them.

"I have been informed through communication with other Remnant Knights that the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards have already secured the major streets, and other squads are currently mopping up the remaining Grimm all around Vacuo City." Sharp Strike added, "Additional reinforcements from a neighbouring Atlas military fleet have also arrived as well to secure the Kingdom's capital."

"And with everyone on alert, the Grimm will be hunted down in no time." Amethyst finished.

"Well, that's good to hear…" Ruby gave a nod before requesting, "Now can someone please help us stand? I think both me and Weiss are way too tired to walk."

Yang and Blake, the former laughing a little, came forward quickly and supported their teammates, helping them to stand upright.

"So...what now? Where are the others?" Ruby inquired softly.

"Sun took some of the others to go get Penny, N1CK3L, as well as Teams NDGO and BRNZ." Nora explained, "Good job on killing the Sphinx!"

"Oh, that's good." Ruby said in a tired voice, "Actually Weiss and I managed to land the killing blow together. We all fought the Sphinx together, so everyone helped to destroy it."

"Well…technically that's true." Jaune agreed, "We all actively contributed to the big fight anyway. As for what we do now? We help out wherever we're needed, while those who were too tired to fight stay with the Vacuo Rangers to recover their strength until they can fight again."

"That's a good idea, Jaune." Heliosia voiced in agreement, with the others following shortly.

"Well, what are we all waiting around for? Let's get back to work." Sharp Strike gestured with one of his swords and nodding to both Amethyst and Heliosia who returned his gesture of acknowledgement.

"You heard him, let's go!" Jaune informed the assembled group and they all scrambled to help the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards in securing the surrounding areas around Shade Academy.

Less than half an hour later, the separate groups of Team Beacon were reunited with each other back at the busy main street right outside Shade Academy once more, not far from the severely damaged main gates that might need months of repair to attain the original majesty it once held.

Yang and Blake were still supporting Ruby and Weiss respectively as they walked slowly towards the broken gates of the Huntsman Academy, along with Teams JNPR, CFVY, SSSN, NDGO, BRNZ, Sharp Strike, Amethyst and Heliosia following close behind them as they made their way steadily past regrouping Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards alike. The whole group of assorted warriors all headed towards Shade Academy, where some of the city's wounded were being taken if they couldn't reach hospitals or the Grand Temple.

Despite the battle of Vacuo City being more or less over, a significant number of military troops were still present in the immediate area outside Shade Academy. Armored personnel carriers and heavy tanks belonging to the Vacuo Rangers were parked behind thick concrete barricades at both ends of the main roadways that led to the fortress-like building, in addition to huge tripod-mounted autocannons and machineguns which were already set up behind sandbagged emplacements manned by vigilant rangers. A trio of ranger Bullheads flew past on patrol in the smoky-grey skies above, their engines whining as they changed direction in their flight pattern smoothly as dictated in their assigned patrol routes.

A pair of heavy assault tanks with the colors and markings of the Desert Guards were parked at either side of Shade Academy's main gates, their huge cannons pointed unswervingly down the main street as though in anticipation of another Grimm attack. As the whole group walked past the pair of Desert Guards manning the turret-mounted machine gun on both tanks respectfully gave them a salute with a smile on their brown tanned faces, which was returned by quite a number of Team Beacon members as they walked past the huge armored tanks.

"Hello again everyone!" They all heard Penny's voice followed by the roaring of thrusters from somewhere above them, and looked up to see the larger and bulkier battlesuit-clad form of N1CK3L descending slowly to land with a loud clanking sound on the debris-strewn floor of the academy's main courtyard, while carrying his sister in his arms. There were quite a number of wide eyes and dropped jaws as the gathered Huntsmen and Huntresses took in the impressive-looking form of N1CK3L's Aile Integrated Armor Pack battlesuit, especially its thick black and grey with blue highlights armor and high-tech weaponry.

The android battlesuit's wings retracted smoothly back to their inactive forms as N1CK3L knelt down to allow Penny to hop off his arms and cheerfully say, "It's good to see everyone here safe and sound!"

"You too, Penny!" Ruby beamed back at the android girl.

"I trust your battles went well?" Penny asked curiously.

"It's been quite…a hard day, but we managed to win in the end," Pyrrha answered before asking, "What about you and N1CK3L? How did you fare?"

"My mission parameters have all been met." N1CK3L replied as he straightened back to his full height once more, his helmet looking down at everyone present, "All primary and secondary objectives are also complete. I have also managed to keep collateral damage to a bare minimum as per my programming parameters."

"What N1CK3L said!" The orange-haired female android agreed with a beaming smile.

"They've definitely been helping out a lot by a lot of help by keeping the Grimm hordes at bay while we're busy sealing the Deathworm tunnel." Octavia mentioned, "And they've saved quite a few lives by killing the bigger Grimm too."

"That's not counting killing so many Grimm that there were barely any left for us!" Brawnz said as he looked at N1CK3L who was silently observing the looks of awe and a little shock directed at his incredible battlesuit, "This guy went through four Manticores like a knife through butter! I almost couldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!"

"You aren't the only one." Weiss sighed, "I was honestly shocked when I saw him in action."

"Not that I'm jealous or anything, N1CK3L…but can you take it easy out there?" Nebula raised an eyebrow as she saw the masculine combat android's helmet turned to look at her, "No offense, but you're kind of making us Huntsmen and Huntresses look bad."

"I am merely executing my primary and secondary objectives according to my programming." N1CK3L replied as he gestured with an open gauntleted hand, "It was not my intention to cause feelings of discomfort nor outperform any of you in battle as I am simply prioritizing the Grimm creatures with the greatest threat level in the vicinity to be eliminated before they cause irrevocable damage to the surroundings."

"That sounds pretty reasonable to me." Jaune nodded his agreement, "After all, we were always taught to eliminate the big ones off first as quickly as possible in class right?"

"I'm just joking with him, Jaune." Nebula chuckled as she tapped N1CK3L in his battlesuit's right arm, "Robo-boy here is quite the awesome warrior, and he's also very caring to his sister too."

"Why thank you, Friend Nebula!" Penny grinned at the Team NDGO leader.

"Thank you for the compliment." N1CK3L also replied in his synthesized voice as he inclined his helmeted head a little in Nebula's direction, "I shall endeavour to perform to the best of my abilities in battle."

"We're gonna have to get this guy speaking like a normal person." Sage remarked.

"Something I will gladly help him with!" Penny announced.

Sharp Strike chose that moment to step forward and report, "If I may speak, from the reports I'm presently getting on my scroll it appears that Wind Runner and Firewalker have returned back to Shade Academy after helping fend off the Grimm incursion on the Grand Temple of Vacuo."

"That's indeed good news." Yatsuhashi commented, "But what were those robots doing at the Grand Temple?"

"Grimm Knights were wreaking havoc all over the place, so maybe it's just one of the many places they have attacked?" Coco guessed before summarizing with, "I suspect we'll find out soon enough."

"So, uh…anyone want to talk about the Goliaths in the room?" Dew spoke up as she looked at both Amethyst and Heliosia who were standing between Teams RWBY and JNPR.

Both Maidens evidently had uncomfortable looks on their faces as they looked away while Sharp Strike lowered his head a little, knowing that the secret of the former two individuals' true identities were out in the open.

"Observation: We are not in a room, nor are there any Goliaths in sight." N1CK3L remarked, which earned him brief looks of amusement from the others.

Penny quickly leaned in and told the battlesuit-clad android, "It's a figure of speech, little brother."

He gave a small nod as they kept walking until they all stopped at a relatively deserted part of the main courtyard within Shade Academy, away from the Vacuo Rangers and Desert Guards who were running around attending to their assigned tasks and making sure the whole place was secure as well.

"So, 'Adara'…you're a Maiden." Nebula said as she crossed her arms while looking straight at Heliosia, before turning to Amethyst and continuing with, "And given some of the weird powers purple hair here was showing off earlier when fighting that creepy Grimm spider-man thing, I'm guessing she is too."

"Wait what, Maidens?" Nolan gasped, "Someone please tell me this: Did I get a head injury recently?"

"Maidens?" May echoed quietly.

"Yeah, we're Maidens. What of it?" Amethyst retorted brusquely, eyeing the indigo-haired leader of Team NDGO.

Heliosia placed a hand on her sister Maiden's shoulder and said "Calm down, Amethyst. We are part of the reason why this disaster happened after all. And to answer your question Nebula, yes we are both Maidens."

The purple-haired Maiden sighed and replied, "I…I guess you're right. As freaking usual…"

"And uh…who is this?" Octavia asked, gesturing to Sharp Strike with a pointed finger.

Ruby spoke up quickly to answer for the Remnant Knight, "He's our newest team member, Sharp Strike. He's our friend."

"Okay, but…what is he?" Roy questioned as he and the rest of team BRNZ looked at Sharp Strike closely, taking in the exquisite details of the intricately carved armor plates covering his body and helmet, along with the two long swords sheathed at his back and the relic blade that hung in a third sheath at his left hip and custom-made revolver which occupied another holster at his right thigh.

Ruby shared a nervous look with Jaune who chose to remain silent, and they then turned to look at Sharp Strike who gave a small cough to get everyone's attention.

"I suspect that question is going to be on the minds of a great many people in this Kingdom, given how many members of my order were exposed by going into open battle today." The knight errant commented as they all heard the sounds of multiple booted feet marching in their direction from the open gates of the school, where the rangers and other military personnel quickly parted way for them to walk through without any impediment.

They all turned in time to see the astonishing sight of Fire Walker and Wind Runner walking briskly towards them, both of whom were at the head of a detachment of other Knights following them. As usual, Flame Weaver, Steel Punch and Spear Dancer followed Fire Walker while Storm Bringer, Stone Claw and Moon Hunter shadowed Wind Runner himself. They clearly had been in battle themselves since their armor suits have suffered quite a number of scratches, dents and splatters of blood, mud and Oum knows what else.

Stopping a respectable distance from the gathered group of assorted warriors, Fire Walker and Wind Runner walked forward and saluted Sharp Strike by clashing their gauntlets to their chest plates which the knight representative of Team Beacon immediately returned. The other Remnant Knights all stood at attention, waiting for their respective Knight Vanguard's given orders despite their visible and other unseen injuries.

"The Maidens are safe! Thank Oum and the Four Gods!" Fire Walker visibly breathed a little easier behind his own helmet.

"We meet again, Sharp Strike." Fire Walker and Wind Runner spoke curtly.

"Well met, Knight Vanguards." Sharp Strike answered smoothly, "It's good to see you both as well."

"I will fill you in with a detailed report as soon as I'm able-" Sharp Strike began before he was suddenly cut off by Yang.

"Hey!" Yang waved her robotic hand to get their attention, "My sister and I need to see our Uncle Qrow! Those recaps can wait for later, don't you think?" Beside her, Ruby's face was possibly the utmost expression of deep concern.

"I have news on Qrow Branwen." Wind Runner turned to look at the blonde bombshell, "He's currently in Shade's main medical facility with many others who were injured in the battle, and I'm gratified to report that after receiving the best medical attention the nurses there could give him he's clearly out of danger and healing well."

"Whew, that's a relief." Ruby said thankfully as she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding within her. She had her heart beating close to her throat when she was informed by Yang that her uncle had been wounded by Salem's assassin, and it took almost all of her willpower not to grab Crescent Rose and hunt that aforementioned assassin down for what he had done. The silver-eyed girl eventually reasoned with herself that maybe one day she can settle that score for real.

"Fire Walker, Wind Runner." Sharp Strike continued speaking, "The teleporter who attempted to steal the powers of the Summer Maiden was defeated by Maiden Heliosia and myself. We attempted to take her into custody but she escaped, despite our best efforts. Damien Ante and his Enforcers have retreated as well after losing one of their number, and Jaune and Pyrrha were successful in their attempt to reclaim the Aura Crystal. The Grimm Commander known as Anansi was also soundly defeated and severely wounded, but unfortunately he summoned a Grimm Sphinx and several Manticores to distract us while he escaped through the underground tunnels to evade capture."

"Well, we have received some…troubling news from the Winter Templars Knight Legion and I suspect we'll need all the details from you and the rest of Team Beacon can give us later, but for now we should be thankful that this attack wasn't any worse." Wind Runner said carefully.

"Reports coming in from other Knights fighting in other parts of the city have confirmed that most of the Grimm within the city have been eliminated, while those Grimm attacking the Kingdoms' walls have already been decimated by repeated airstrikes." Fire Walker added, "With the Atlesian military forces now arriving from the battleship Allegiance and its support fleet, Vacuo City is more or less secure for the time being."

"That's good to hear, but-" Whatever Heliosia was about to say was interrupted by the arrival of a dropship flying over the Academy, moving to land in an empty area of the court yard.

"That Headmistress Luna's personal dropship. They landed pretty fast." May noted.

Fire Walker and Wind Runner turned to look at Sharp Strike, the former saying, "I have a feeling that we might be getting those answers we dreaded sooner than we think."

The door opened and a distressed, somewhat miserable looking Luna Aria stepped out of the ship and hurriedly walked over to the group.

"You're all here, thank Oum. Team Beacon, Heliosia, Amethyst, N1CK3L, Knights, I need to see all of you in my office immediately." She told them, her voice giving away how on edge she was.

"Hey, what about us?!" Nebula called out as almost everyone else began to walk across the rubble-choked courtyard towards the intact inner doors of Shade Academy, "Should we come?"

Luna considered for a few seconds before answering, "You may come as well. But remember to remain silent unless you have been given permission to speak." The team leaders of the Vacuoan Teams promptly agreed as they ran to catch up with the rest.

Everyone shared a glance. It was obvious that something very bad had happened.

It wasn't long before they reached the office deep within Shade Academy, which was protected by security systems so complex that none other than those with the highest clearances know about them.

They all watched as Luna leaned against the large marble meeting table that dominated the private chambers. Something about the look of woe upon the older woman's face struck worry into the hearts of everyone present, although some among them were already knowledgeable of certain recent…developments.

"Headmistress?" Heliosia eventually spoke up, "Is…is everything all right?"

"And where is your assistant?" Fire Walker inquired a little suspiciously.

"Headmistress, what's wrong?" Dew asked hesitantly.

Luna looked up dejectedly and surveyed the entire group, deciding that with this huge battle that nearly destroyed Vacuo City already causing more than enough trouble for her and the Vacuo Council, there was no point in keeping the Maidens a secret anymore.

She slowly seated herself on one of the empty chairs and began to speak in a low voice, "The news on Cedric can wait. I've just gotten word from both Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood some time ago, and they have informed me that the Winter Maiden has been…"

To Be Continued...

This chapter was co-written by Relentless Crusader with help by Cosmic Fiction and Paul Xion.

So sorry for the wait.

Story suggestion: The Knights of Grimm saga by Cosmic Fiction. A long, epic series that I've gotten into and, though far darker than my own, doesn't have nearly enough recognition.

Man, was Avengers Endgame amazing or what? Detective Pikachu was fantastic and cute, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters was really good.

If you liked this story fave, follow, and review. Some feedback on what's good and what's not would be appreciated, thanks for everything guys.