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

100. Blitzkrieg

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Chapter 99: Blitzkrieg

The fierce battle raged on outside of Schnee Manor; the members of Team Beacon worked with the various Remnant Knights and Manor's security guards to fight off hordes of Grimm, Grimm Knights and Salem's agents. The Mansion's exterior was being hit by wayward lasers and bullets or slammed into by Grimm which were throwing themselves at the walls. Only a couple of the auto turrets were still standing, the others had been severely damaged or completely ripped off their bases by the Grimm Knights.

Neo dodged waves of ice and fire sent flying at her by Anastasia's chakrams, the Dust inside of them allowing her to send colliding bursts of burning ice at her. Neo flipped back agilely, attempting to swing Hush's blade at the masked woman's chest, but the latter bent backwards to avoid the blade's tip.

"Stand still, you little freak!" Snarled Anastasia, still very bitter about being bested by the girl with mismatched eyes at Mantle City. She managed to slam her boot into Neo's stomach, knocking her back. Salem's disciple then brought up her chakrams and slammed them down onto Neo's shoulders, only to shatter the copy that the petite thief had created.

Neo launched herself forward through the dying illusion, smashing her high-heeled boot into Anastasia's chest, but the blonde girl quickly wrapped her arm around Neo's leg and pulled her down. She then flipped herself around and forced Neo further into the ground, grinning darkly as she prepared to bring her Chakrams down on Neo's neck, but caught something else just entering her field of vision which forced her to protect herself.

Anastasia's chakrams raised just in time to block Gembreaker from slamming into her, but Amethyst's strength was more than enough to push Salem's disciple off of Neo. Anastasia quickly recovered, quickly flinging her chakrams around her to keep her new attacker at bay as Neo jumped back up.

"Thanks!" She told the Spring Maiden who dodged the flying chakrams easily.

"Don't mention it," Amethyst replied as she got ready to fight, "I take it this is the girl you fought in Mantle?"

Neo nodded as Anastasia snatched back her chakrams, "You! You're the Spring Maiden! Just as Anansi described!" She said, grinned wickedly as she shifted into a combat stance.

Amethyst scowled, "And I presume you're the one Salem wants to use to replace me?"

"Very perceptive," Anatasia sneered, a smirk spreading across her masked face, "I have a proposal then; Let me take your powers, and I promise to make it as painless as possible."

Amethyst responded with a smirk of her own, "Nice of you to be polite, but…"

She transformed Gembreaker into its bow form and fired several arrows at once, which Anastasia managed to block with her chakrams. Taking advantage of the opening, Neo shot forward quickly and attacked with Hush, but the blonde warded off her blows before flinging one of her chakrams forward like a boomerang. The circular weapon flew straight at Amethyst but she bent over backwards which allowed the spiraling blade to fly over her, allowing it to decapitate a Beowolf before returning back to its owner who grabbed it as she jumped over Neo before slashing the thief in the back.

Neo swiftly spun around to deal out another hit, but Anastasia's punch connected with her chin, blowing the mismatched girl flat on her back just as Amethyst raced forward with Gembreaker in its sword form. She slashed her blade against Anastasia's twin chakrams before she could finish off Neo, narrowly blocking the killing blow. Salem's maiden candidate growled in annoyance as she switched her attention to fighting the Spring maiden while Neo pushed herself back up, shaking her head. Anastasia attacked furiously, but Amethyst was more than skilled enough to block her frenzied attacks that were aimed high and low with sparks flying from their clashing weapons.

Anastasia suddenly kicked Amethyst in the knee, making her stumble before she leapt onto the nearby wall of Schnee Manor and launched herself off of it, slamming into Amethyst, "I tried to do it the easy way, but you just had to provoke me, didn't you? You arroga-"

Suddenly she was thrown off the Spring Maiden by a solid light recreation of Kyodiana Buredo, which sent her flying into the bushes a short distance away. Amethyst looked over and grinned at the sight of Velvet coming to the rescue. She leapt up, grinning widely as she said, "Thanks for the save!"

"My pleasure!" Velvet said before she turned around and used the copy of her partner's large weapon to slam a Grimm Knight away, sending it towards Coco who promptly blasted it with a salvo from Gianduja. The damaged robot fell to the ground with sparks bursting from its seams, but before it could right itself Fire Walker leapt in and decapitated it and cut it in half..

Amethyst looked over to Neo as she got up, while Anastasia pulled herself free from being tangled among the bushes, her face red with anger, "You will pay for that!"

"Really? That's the best you can do?" The Spring Maiden challenged.

"You want another go at us?" Neo told her, "Bring it on!"

"Gladly!" Anastasia snarled before she dashed towards them with a furious snarl.

In the midst of her battle nearby, Heliosia spared a glance back and smiled, knowing that her fellow Maiden could handle the masked woman. But if things got out of hand, then she would definitely intervene. The Summer Maiden turned as she used her Maiden powers to incinerate a shrieking Griffon that flew right at her, turning it into ash within seconds.

Meanwhile Sun and Blake dueled Steppenwolffe, with Blake parrying his strikes before Sun flipped himself over the Cat Faunus to kick the Grimm Commander in the shoulders, knocking him backwards. Seeing one of Salem's Grimm Commanders briefly unbalanced, Blake shot out Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form to restrain him, the chain wrapping around his body while she wrapped one arm around his neck.

"I understand your pain! I lost my parents to human oppression too, but times have changed and things have gotten better!" She tried to reason with him, "If we try to take revenge for old wounds, it will only ruin everything for everyone!"

"Do you think you can reason with me, pet?" Steppenwolffe snarled.

"Call her that again and see what happens, asshole!" Sun snapped as he brought up the staff form of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang.

Steppenwolffe bared his teeth before slamming an elbow into Blake's midriff, causing her grip on him to loosen. Forcing himself free from her grasp, the Wolf Faunus Grimm Commander grabbed Blake's arm and hurled her overhead. Sun caught the Cat Faunus as he attacked with Jingu Bang, firing off bullets from his gunchaku that Steppenwolffe managed to dodge before Blake whipped out Gambol Shroud in its pistol form to help her boyfriend, firing a series of shots and even managing to land a few hits on their enemy.

Steppenwolffe recovered and dodged Sun's attacks as the Monkey Faunus dashed forward, swinging both Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang wildly which forced the Grimm Commander to move as fast as he could in order to dodge both the swinging gunchucks and the bullets. Blake also leapt in, slamming Gambol Shroud's katana form into Steppenwolffe's blade before Sun whacked Ruyi Bang forcefully into the Wolf Faunus's chest and chin, knocking him down.

Before the leader of Team SSSN could do anything else, Mercury jumped in, landing on his hands and kicking out with his mechanical legs. Cinder's disciple unleashed a flurry of rapid kicks that sent Dust rounds flying outwards to repel both Faunus before he leapt back onto his feet with a satisfied grin on his face. It was quickly wiped off by Scarlet slamming into him from behind, which allowed Sun to flip back up and smash his foot into Mercury's chin while Blake fended off Steppenwolffe's subsequent attacks.

Not far away, Sharp Strike rode on Swift Wing, using its side mounted machine guns to blow away as many Grimm as he could. He screeched to a halt after he slid past an Ursa while dodging its claws, using Lan Feng to disembowel it in the process. Spinning Swift Wing into a smooth turnabout, the Knight Errant then opened fire on a small herd of Catoblepases, gunning them down to make sure they couldn't get close enough and vomit their toxic bile onto the defenders.

A small beeping sound on his bike's instrument display caught Sharp Strike's attention, and he saw that his vehicle's guns were running low on ammunition. Knowing that he couldn't utilize Swift Wing's dual-front mounted cannons for fear of collateral damage, he decided not to pull away and continued emptying his bike's guns which wiped out several of the bovine Grimm. He then drove off, sending flurries of snow flying into the air as he raced towards the steps leading into the Schnee Manor where Irwin and the other security guards were still shooting at the charging Grimm creatures and marching Grimm Knights coming down the main road from whatever cover they could find.

Sharp Strike knight parked Swift Wing and pressed a button on the display, activating his bike's shields. He leapt off just as small slits throughout the surface of his bike opened, shooting out thick plated shield panels that quickly locked together and transformed it into a stationary emplacement. Thin but powerful stand legs shot out from underneath the bike, slamming into the roadway while firm, strong screws drilled into the ground to keep it properly stabilized.

"Here, use this cover!" Sharp Strike called to the security guards.

"Thanks! Behind you!" Irwin shouted as he fired his assault rifle on a Lechuza that had nearly attempted to slam itself into Sharp Strike's helmet-covered head. The young knight gave a nod of thanks as he drew out Hong Long and Lan Feng from their sheaths, then sprinting to fight off the incoming Grimm.

Elsewhere in the battle, Sheer Kaa rode on an alpha Saber, directing it towards Stone Claw. He leapt off the beast as it pounced onto the knight, knocking him to the ground. The large Grimm's claws tried to slash through his Aegis Armor, but Stone Claw was quite safe from the soulless creature's claws before he managed to kick it off of him and finished the alpha Saber off with a series of punches that detonated several Dust rounds throughout its body. The Tiger Faunus soared through the air before landing into a crouch before he flung his armored fist outwards at Spear Dancer who narrowly dodged the blow, but she was knocked down by Sheer Kaa's jaw punch and sweeping kick after avoiding the knight's plunging spear.

Before he could deal the killing blow to the female knight, Neptune fired a blast of electric Dust into the Grimm Commander's back which made him roll away even as the bluenette and Sage charged him. Using his twin scissor blades, Sheer Kaa parried their opening strikes, blocking TriHard's Guandao form and Pilgrim's sword form. He easily fended them off with five well-placed parries before he ducked down and moved forward, using his blades to hold them off before he pivoted smoothly to face them. Sheer Kaa then launched the next attack; two strikes aimed at both Huntsmen but they weren't going to face him sitting down.

Spear Dancer attempted to help but was forced to fight an Ursa that lumbered in to attack her, fending off its claws with her spear. Neptune and Sage surged forward, attacking twice each and then trying to slash their blades into Sheer Kaa, but he easily leapt over their heavy swings. Landing in a crouch, the Grimm Commander sprung up and slammed his head into Sage's gut hard enough to knock the dark skinned Huntsman-in-training off his feet. As Sage crashed to the ground Sheer Kaa then attacked Neptune, parrying several of his blows before catching the guandao in a bind, the two blades spun around in a swift circular motion as they pressed together hard, Neptune grunting hard as he tried to overpower the Tiger Faunus.

Sheer Kaa unexpectedly leapt up, flipping over Neptune's head before landing behind him and delivering a kick into the bluenette's back, causing him to collide with the recovering Sage. The Grimm Commander turned, ready to cut the pair down when suddenly a few Dust bullets collided into his side, knocking him onto the cold ground as his aura flared slightly. He jumped back to his feet, looking up to see that the shooter was none other than Pyrrha.

"I won't let you hurt them, Kaa! No one else I care about will ever be harmed by Salem or her thugs as long as I can help it!" She declared passionately with a serious expression.

"Ah, our wayward sister," Sheer Kaa remarked, licking his sharp teeth.

"If you truly considered me a sister, you would never do something like this!" Pyrrha snapped before she leapt into action, slamming Milo's Xiphos form against Sheer Kaa's blades numerous times, attacking him with a surprising fervor. The redhead's strength was even more impressive than he remembered from their training sessions back when she was brainwashed, with Pyrrha moving with such speed he could just barely block her attacks.

Smashing her elbow into Sheer Kaa's face, Pyrrha managed to get both of his scissor blades in a bind, slamming them into the ground and then kicking up high, her gold boot connecting with his chin and knocking the Grimm Commander away. Neptune seized the opening by firing another bolt of electricity from Tri-Hard, which impacted into Sheer Kaa and sent him falling onto the ground once more.

Pyrrha didn't let up, transforming Milo into its rifle form and firing shots at Sheer Kaa's chest just as he pushed himself up, which sent him flying into the middle fountain of the Schnees' courtyard. He impacted heavily into the structure, creating subtle spider-webbing in the hard stone. The Spartan leapt up to knock the Grimm Commander out, but he swung both blades at her with considerable strength at the last moment. She tried to block it, but his weapon knocked her out of the air and caused her to crash onto the driveway with her aura flaring brightly.

Sheer Kaa recovered, grunting slightly as he grimaced at the female Huntress, "Admirable effort, my dear, but pointless. It's a shame I have to kill you…you were one of my finest students." He leapt towards her, aiming to slam both of his blades into her body before anyone else could intervene, but Neptune used his weapon's gun mode to blast the Grimm Commander out of the air, tumbling away from Pyrrha with a shout of surprise while Sage ran towards her.

"You all right?" Sage asked the redhead as she got up.

"Yes. Thank you both for the help!" She returned with a smile.

"Our pleasure, now let's kick this guy's butt together!" Neptune said as Sheer Kaa got back up again, running and dodging shots Neptune and Pyrrha opened fire on him. Suddenly bullets and laser rounds began to spatter around them, as the trio of hunters saw a number of Grimm Knights flying in their direction while continuing to fire their built-in weaponry. One of the robots was abruptly knocked off course, while another lost altitude quickly when one of its leg thrusters was ruptured, all thanks to Ruby's shooting skills.

Pyrrha smiled warmly at Ruby, Neptune waved and Sage gave them a thumbs-up. Ruby grinned back as she kept shooting at the Grimm Knights as well as the flying Grimm creatures. As she put down one Grimm after another, the hooded Huntress was joined by Dr. Eastwood as they both took cover behind the middle fountain in the Schnees' courtyard with bullets impacting the ground around them.

"Doing all right, Ruby?" Eastwood asked as the Six Shooter arms reached into the pouches on his belt to reload the guns with fresh rounds.

"I'm good, Dr. Eastwood!" Ruby answered as she aimed and shot at a Lechuza.

"I thought so. That reminds me; how many big battles like this have you been in?" Eastwood asked before he leaned out and emptied his guns at an Ursa that had attempted to attack Wind Runner from behind, killing it instantly.

"Uh…wow, I don't really know. Maybe six or seven?" She answered, quickly transforming Crescent Rose into its scythe form to sever the legs of a Grimm Saber that had tried to dash past the fountain to attack them. Ruby then put a bullet into its skull, before turning to look out at the ensuing battle, trying to spot her white-haired partner.

"That's a worrying number. The older I get, the more I hate seeing kids like you getting involved in this business." Eastwood remarked to her as he gunned down a Scavenger, which collapsed into fading black dust. However his gunfire caught the attention of a nearby Grimm Knight which dived towards them, spitting lasers from its arm-mounted weapons.

"Look out!" Eastwiod cried, pulling Ruby out of the way of the incoming lasers before the two quickly worked together to counter attack. The young Huntress fired Crescent Rose, managing to hit its jetpack propulsion which caused the Grimm Knight to careen down wildly, crashing down hard on the concrete behind them after it ricochet off the edge of the fountain.

"Whoo! I see you can take care of yourself!" Eastwood exclaimed with a grin before the sound of a laser shot rang out. He and Ruby both turned to see the Grimm Knight raising one of its arms and had shot the Huntsman from behind, the severely damaged robot still feebly crawling towards them. Another shot ran out, with Eastwood quickly pushing Ruby aside which unfortunately sent her splashing into the fountain.

Ruby gasped but she could tell Eastwood was more angry than hurt as he slammed his pistols together, shifting them back into their combined rifle form as he whirled around shouting, "Son of a bitch!" while firing at nearly point-blank range. The Grimm Knight's head promptly exploded into a shower of sparks and shrapnel, pinging off the paving slabs around them.

"Dr. Eastwood!" Ruby asked worriedly, "Are you all right?"

"I've had far worse, my dear!" He assured the silver-eyed Huntress as he grabbed her hand and pulled Ruby out of the fountain. As Ruby checked herself over quickly, Eastwood changed the configuration of his rifle back into its pistol forms as the mechanical limbs of Six Shooter fired at any Grimm beast that tried to get too close.

They covered each other before ducking for cover behind the tall thick columns pockmarked with bullet holes in front of the main entrance. Yang ran after them, firing away at Hazel with her gauntlets from a distance before she leapt up to join the pair.

"Hey sis, Doc! Doing okay?" She asked.

"We're doing just fine, Yang." Eastwood assured her, before glancing outside and seeing the muscular form of Hazel delivered a powerful punch which Flame Weaver barely managed to block, sending him flying into Steel Punch. Salem's agent then spun around, barely avoiding a downward sword blow from Snow Blade who leapt towards him from behind. "I can't believe it, Hazel Rainart really has joined up with Salem."

"Wait, you know about Salem?" Ruby asked, shocked that he knew about the dark queen of Grimm.

"And how do you know that guy?" Yang added in surprise.

"Damn my mouth," Eastwood muttered, and explained as he shot at the other flying Grimm near them, "Only a little, as I never got involved to the extent your family did, but I know enough to tell that she's bad news. Years ago, just after I graduated, Ozpin called me in the middle of the night and had me rush over to Beacon to perform a surgery to save the life of one of his agents who had been injured by one of Salem's assassins. I managed to stabilize the wounded agent after hours of surgery, and he told me the truth when I confronted him and demanded to know what was going on. After that, I always left my medical services open to Ozpin to save the lives of his agents, but never more than that, but it looks like I just got drafted…along with all of you young people."

"Actually, we've been involved in this since before the Battle of Beacon," Ruby answered, "It's a long story, but trust me, Ozpin didn't want us to get involved this early. Though I guess he did let me into Beacon Academy early because he likely knew that I'd be useful…"

"And if he hadn't we'd all be worse off now!" Yang reminded her younger sister as she spotted Blake, Sun and Scarlet fiercely fighting Steppenwolffe and Mercury. She pointed in the aforementioned combatants direction and cried, "They need our help!"

Yang pumped both of her Ember Celica gauntlets and promptly opened fire, helped out by Ruby and Eastwood.

"So, how do you know that big guy?" Ruby shouted loud enough to be heard over the heavy gunfire that forced Mercury and Steppenwolffe to back off, allowing Blake, Sun and Scarlet some breathing room and join up with them. "I'm pretty sure he's the one who attacked Sentinel Base!"

"Yes, Hazel Rainart!" He explained Hazel's story to them before adding "I tried to talk him out of leaving, but unfortunately he was so full of misery and rage over losing his sister and partner that he wouldn't listen. Looks like he's gone down a very dark path since then!" Eastwood explained to the group, who were all firing at the beasts, robots and hostiles.

"Help better get here soon!" Scarlet cried.

"You don't have to worry, help's already on the way!" Blake replied, pointing towards the approaching shape of the Resolute in the distance.

"Yes! Just like Winter said…speaking of which, where are Weiss and Winter?" Ruby asked, still trying to find her partner amidst the chaos. She looked around and shouted the question to Gretchen.

"They went inside the Manor, Miss Ruby!" Gretchen called out from the entryway, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that tried to get in. Her old rifle was already in her hands, ready to shoot, "They're with Klein! I overheard them talking about some sort of plan, though it's not one that I'm fond of!"

Ruby nodded, before the piercing screech of the Celaeno caught her attention. She looked up, her eyes widening as she saw the Celaeno drag a S.D.C. security patrol ship through the air with its claws buried deep into the metal. It swooped down and released the airship, sending it crashing onto the snowy ground and tumbling for some distance until it crashed into a tree where it exploded in a ball of flames.

Celaeno flew upwards, mighty wings flapping as it made its way towards Hyperion One, which was blowing Griffons, Razorwings, Vampires and Nevermore by the score out of the skies. The Elder Alpha Razorwing raced past the cockpit in a blur, taking Ross by surprise before it slammed its weight down on the top of Hyperion One, its sharp claws trying to dig into the thick black armor of the Mobile Airborne Command Ship. It screeched loudly, calling out to other flying Grimm, causing them to dive bomb against the hull of Hyperion One, slamming heavily into the huge airship and clawing against its armor plates with their talons and beaks.

One of the attacking Razorwings even landed atop the hardened glass of the airship's cockpit, opening its beak to screech angrily at the Flight Captain. "Damn pests!" Ross swore, "Ceil, have EVA blow these things off our hull!"

"With pleasure, Captain!" The co-pilot answered as her fingers flew across the holographic screens and keyboards, using Hyperion One's EVA to automatically target the aerial Grimm hordes with its many turrets and twin gatling-guns underneath the front underside of the fuselage. The various armaments of the ship were firing away nearly nonstop to blast off the swarming Grimm, instantly annihilating the ones which were on the surface of the airship or happened to be flying too close. Another alarm pinged, and Ciel tapped the controls of the main turret to vaporize the annoying Razorwing that was trying to ram itself into the cockpit after Ross managed to dodge it.

Another alarm sounded, and Ciel saw the Celaeno swooping in to attack once more. She took over control of the main turret and swung it around to aim at the Elder Grimm, which was using its wings to protect itself from the blasts from the other turrets. Ceil fired at its back, making the huge Grimm beast cry out before it flung itself over the starboard side of the vessel, its wings snapping out to the full extent of its wingspan.

"The Elder Grimm has been blown off," Ciel reported, "I'm finishing off the rest now."

"The big one won't get far!" Ross quipped as he manipulated the controls of Hyperion One, activating its missile arrays and launching four M.I.T. missiles which were armed with explosive Dust warheads arcing after the Celaeno. The missiles raced towards the Elder Grimm, locking on and banking after it even as it broke left to evade. The Celaeno caught sight of them and knew exactly what to do, likely because it had lived for many decades and encountered missiles similar to the M.I.T.s before. It allowed the flying munitions to get close before it suddenly corkscrewed upwards which caused the missiles to spiral as well until two of them collided into one another and exploded, but the remaining half survived the intense heat of the blast and continued following it.

The Celaeno screeched, calling to its fellow Razorwings, which responded by mindlessly flying towards the remaining M.I.T.s and giving their lives so the larger Grimm could escape. Suddenly, a series of intense laser blasts hit the Elder Grimm's side, causing it to lose altitude and fall towards the ground below. Just before it smashed into the roadway below the Celaeno managed to recover and swooped back up, spotting the arriving reinforcements.

The Retribution emerged from the thick gray clouds and reduced its speed to cruising levels, with four black VTOL transports carrying twenty Atlas Elite Troopers each flying right behind it. In addition, eight more fighter-transports carrying a full squad of Atlesian soldiers and ten Atlesian Knights-300s brought up the rear, while two squadrons of Altas Eagles making up Alpha and Omega Squadrons which totaled twenty fighters altogether, all flew in an arrowhead formation and raced into battle even as the Resolute hovered above the expansive fields of snow and scattered groups of trees of the Schnee estate.

"Oum above! That's a big one!" Jammer exclaimed from the Retribution's weapon controls, firing away at any Grimm creature that flew into the vicinity of the Strike Corvette's weapon range. Normally the ship's EVA could handle the various weaponry, but Raider disliked relying on AI in a combat situation, and so insisted for a reliable Omega Trooper like Jammer to stay behind with him, which she was more than happy to do.

"It'll die just like all the rest." Central assured her.

"Yeah, but it's gonna be one hell of a fight before all of them are stains." Fieros remarked.

"A fight we'll come out on top of, as always." Javelin commented.

"Don't get cocky, Omega Four. All Omega Troopers get ready to deploy, except for Omega Two and Three! The rest, final weapon and comms check! Omega Two, take us down to a suitable landing site and drop us off," Central instructed.

"Understood and acknowledged," Raider replied before speaking into his helmet's communication system, "Alpha and Omega Squadrons, Retribution's heading down to drop off Task Force Omega and accompanying ground forces, requesting covering fire."

"Can do, Retribution," The leader of Alpha Squadron replied, "Alphas 3 through 6, cover the Retribution and pull up once they've unloaded the Task Force."

"Same goes for you Omegas 6 to 9." Added Omega Squadron's leader.

"Roger that!" The pilots acknowledged.

"We're right behind you, Retribution. Just lead the way." The pilot of the lead VTOL transport said.

"You guys better be in one piece once this is over," Jammer quipped from the main weapon controls.

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. That's why High Command always gives us the fun jobs!" Javelin replied, grinning under his helmet while the Retribution descended, flanked by the other VTOL transports and covered by eight Atlas Eagles.

"Just make sure you two don't do anything too risky," Shocker commented, "I'd hate to lose either of you or this ship."

"Hey, if anyone's gonna worry about our ship, it's me." Raider remarked with a chuckle.

Jammer shook her head before she looked over at N1CK3L and said, "Hey, Nick? Do me a favor and try to keep an eye on these guys. You might have to save more than one of their hides."

"I will do my best to look out for them, Omega Three." N1CK3L promised her.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jammer." Fieros laughed.

"Cut the chatter and get ready! Has everyone gone through their final weapons check?" Central ordered sternly as he looked around the deployment bay at his team and the forty heavy variants of the Atlesian-Knights 300s standing behind them. Javelin, Shocker, Invictus, Fieros and N1CK3L all sounded off that they were fully ready for combat. "So am I. Lock and load, we're entering a warzone once we hit the ground!"

The Retribution came to a near halt and hovered several feet above the snowy surface, its disembarkation ramp opened and the six Omega Troopers ran down, jumping off onto the snow-covered driveway with N1CK3L being the last since he was wearing his Mark II Full Armor Defense System. Once they cleared the ramp, Central shouted into his helmet's communication pickup, "Task Force Omega deployed! Retribution, take off!"

The ramp closed and the strike corvette rose up while the Atlas Eagles opened fire at any flying Grimm creature that tried to get close. Any Grimm beast that was unfortunate to be close enough to be blown away not only by the Atlas Eagles, but by the group of six Omega Troopers. Central was shooting with his assault rifle with N1CK3L letting the double-barrel gatling guns on the right right arm of his combat suit fire away seemingly with abandon, aided by Shocker picking off other targets with his hybrid stun batons/machine gun pistols and Javelin with his close quarters dual pistols.

Fieros and Invictus covered their flanks, the former using his plasma energy rifle to blow the Grimm away with intense blue blasts of hot plasma while the latter used his rocket launcher to blow up a Griffon that tried to dive bomb them.

Behind them Atlesian Knight-300s and armed Atlas soldiers disembarked from their hovering VTOL transports, moving into their battle formations and ready to charge into the enemy from behind. However a few of arriving reinforcements were met by a surprise, premature end as the VTOLs began unloading the Paladins.

The Celaeno Grimm swooped down, its huge talons latching onto one of the fighter-transports and swinging it forward into the front of the first VTOL transport before it could unload its Paladin battlesuit. The two airships smashed together with a deafening rending of metal before explosions ripped through the VTOL transport as it fell towards the ground below.

The Atlesian Soldiers and Atlesian Knight-300s already on the ground aimed their guns upwards and fired just as the Elder Grimm pulled away, its screeching cries attracting several Nevermore and Griffons to attack the newly arrived reinforcements. Some of the aerial Grimm were already fading away in heaps, wounded by the defensive fire of Task Force Omega and the other squads from the Atlas military. A Nevermore charged towards Task Force Omega from behind, sliding sideways so its right wing sliced through the engines of Alpha 6, causing the Atlas Eagle to fall smoking towards the ground, tearing up the beautiful lawns and dragging forwards for several meters before it finally came to a halt.

The corvid Grimm intended to attack the six with its razor sharp talons and wings, but N1CK3L's sensors picked up on its trajectory. "Incoming Nevermore on our six!" He warned the other Omega Troopers, turning around to open fire with the gauss cannon mounted on his left shoulder and the missile pod on his right. Invictus helped him out, his multi-missile launcher expelled a huge payload that raced up towards the raven Grimm's head, blowing it up while N1CK3L's munitions tore apart the rest of the body in a spectacular explosion.

"Push forward! Group up with any friendlies and do your best to maintain both offense and defense!" Central ordered over the carnage around them as he fired on Anansi, who leapt for cover behind the large trees flanking the driveway.

"That Atlas Eagle's down! The pilot needs our help!" Shocker shouted while firing his pistols that punched several holes in a nearby Boarbatusk. Despite being an assault specialist he has also received medical training which made him the de-facto combat medic of Task Force Omega, and he couldn't stand to see anyone else in danger.

"Go! Omega Four, go with him and do what you can to cover us from behind that wreck!" Central commanded.

"Got it!" Javelin replied, his voice dead serious for once.

As the two ran for the wreckage, the rest of the group, along with the Atlesian Knights and accompanying soldiers as well as two upgraded Paladin battlesuits, fought their way towards the Schnee Manor. They immediately engaged in a fierce battle with the Grimm Knights, Grimm hordes, and any other hostile they could see.

Emerald fired on them before ducking for cover behind the thick treeline even as bullets whizzed past her. She looked up towards the sky, which was covered with various flying Grimm and Atlesian airships, trying to spot any sign of Cinder and their reinforcements. With the arrival of the Atlesian military forces, Emerald couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable about their chances.

"Come on, Cinder! We can't do this without you…" She muttered, leaning out again and fired once more.

Anansi and Sherizawa both saw the approaching Atlesian military reinforcements and grimaced. "Looks like we've got some party crashers, Doctor." The Spider Grimm Commander remarked as he reached out with his powers and diverted a sizable amount of Tarantula Widows and other Grimm creatures towards them.

"Let's show them the consequences of such rudeness," Sherizawa replied, a subtle smirk on his pale face as he worked on the Atlas Armor's interior controls to activate the Grimm Knight's advanced combat protocols.

The flying Grimm Knights were redirected and charged towards the Atlesian Knights while opening fire with the small wrist-mounted machine guns on their armor. The white and gray robot foot soldiers managed to defend themselves with their arm-mounted shields before the Grimm Knights dropped down from behind, smashing into the Atlesian Knights and punching their metal fists through the robotic soldiers' bodies. Other Grimm Knights simply slammed their arm-mounted weapons into the faces and torsos of Atlesian Knights, opening at point blank range and reducing them to scrap.

Sherizawa engaged the Atlesian Knights, their weapons fire easily bouncing off his upgraded Atlas armor. He knocked the rifle away from one of the Atlesian Knights-300, and with a groan of straining effort tore it in half before flinging two pieces of the ruined android machine at the charging Atlesian soldiers. A number of them returned fire at him, while others continued to blast away at other Grimm creatures and at Salem's agents.

One of the Atlesian soldiers ran towards Sherizawa, blasting away with his shotgun but the heavy bullets only phased the scientist. Sherizawa grabbed the firearm when the soldier tried to slam the butt down at him, and bent it just before the soldier could fire it once more. When the weapon fired it exploded in his hands and blew the Atlesian soldier backwards, and before he could recover Sherizawa grabbed him by the leg and slammed him bodily into an Altesian Knight, damaging his armor and cracking some bones.

The unfortunate soldier cried out in horror and pain as he felt his aura breaking quickly due to how violent Sherizawa was but the demented scientist didn't let up, smashing him against the incoming Atlesian Knights and breaking more bones. After reducing the soldier to a broken, bloody mess he dropped the near-dead body before finishing him off by stomping onto his chest, instantly crushing the soldier's ribs and heart.

Meanwhile N1CK3L fired with his usual precision at the most threatening Grimm, blasting away their heads and limbs or totally in half before he spotted his sister fending off a trio of Grimm Knights that were engaging her in close combat, which she was doing her best to avoid.

"Commander, Penny is under attack," The enhanced tactical android reported, a slight edge in his voice, "Permission to render assistance?"

"Granted!" Central shouted as he fired at a Razorwing that flew overhead, causing it to splatter against the side of a tree.

N1CK3L jumped up high on his booster-assisted legs, coming down upon the nearest Grimm Knight and tossing a few claymore mines at it. The munitions automatically magnetized onto its armored form, before detonating in a mighty blast that badly damaged the robot which collapsed after losing three of its limbs. Before it could do anything else, N1CK3L raised the twin beam rifle and blasted through its head.

Invictus was never one to let a teammate go in alone, he launched a fresh salvo of rockets at the second Grimm Knight's legs, blowing them off and leaving it a scrambling torso

Penny grinned at the sight of her brother coming to her rescue and turned, using her arm cannon to blast a hole in the third Grimm Knight's chest before she summoned up the swords of Floating Array. With quick and efficient movements, she whipped the blades through the machine's joints and sliced it into several sparking pieces. Invictus grabbed the crawling torso of the remaining Grimm Knight and tossed it into the air with a heave, where N1CK3L finished it off with a blast from his shoulder-mounted gauss cannon. Charred components landed all around them.

Penny didn't waste any time and flung herself into her brother, hugging him tightly, "N1CK3L! Thank goodness you and your team came! Somehow I knew you would!" She said cheerfully. N1CK3L looked down at her and gently hugged her back, while scanning the vicinity for any remaining threats with his sensors.

"Penny, I do not think now is the right time for gestures of affection," N1CK3L replied, as Invictus allowed a faint chuckle to escape his helmet.

"Oh! You're right," She said, before she used her arm cannon to blast a Grimm Jackalope that tried to dart by.

"Nice to see you again, Penny," Invictus said as he led the androids into battle.

"I hope you are not too badly damaged." N1CK3L said to her as they ran towards the manor too, the armored stabilizers of his battlesuit leaving deep prints in the gathered snow.

"I'm operating at peak efficiency!" Penny answered back, "I know we'll win this easily now!"

N1CK3L allowed himself a little smile behind his advanced helmet.

The reinforcements were a very welcome sight for Team Beacon, as one of the armored Paladins blasted a large Beringel to pieces while unloading its back-mounted missile launchers at the other Grimm hordes.

Qrow dashed past Central, "Nice of you to show up!" He joked as he slammed Reaper down on a Boarbatusk that tried to attack Central from behind.

"Sorry we're late to the party, least we didn't miss it!" Central replied as he blew away a Catoblepas to stop it from spewing its toxic bile onto them.

Suddenly there was a loud, thunderous roar from the east side of the Schnee Manor's estate. It was a roar that sent terror running through the bodies of many who heard it, especially those who were veterans of the Battle of Beacon.

"Th-that's a-!" Neptune stammered.

"Oh Oum!" Velvet cried as her brown eyes widened.

"No!" Pyrrha screamed in horror as she realized what was coming, making Jaune, Nora and Ren all look at her with concern. It was the sound of her steed, bigger than it had been when she was Fotia Drakos and she could feel pure rage emanating from its imposing form.

The awful sight of a Grimm Wyvern appeared over the forest to the east, followed by over fifty winged Manticore Grimm, and was flying towards the Schnee Manor at high speed. It was visibly larger than it had been before, yet still smaller than the one that had attacked Beacon Academy, but that didn't make it any less terrifying.

"Oh fuck!" Qrow swore.

---

On the bridge of the Resolute, General Ironwood abruptly stood up from his command seat, a visible look of horror on his face as he recalled the horrible things a Wyvern was capable of, especially what it did to the airships during the Battle of Beacon.

"Sir, it's on a direct path straight towards us!" A bridge officer called out.

"Divert all available weapons to open fire on that Wyvern and the Manticores right away!" He ordered before Clover Ebi's voice came over the priority communications channels for Ace-Ops.

"Sir! Harriet's looking out with her binoculars. She says she sees five figures riding on the Wyvern. But they're too far away to identify!" The leader of Ace Ops reported.

"It could be a strike team," Ironwood remarked gravely, "Spotters, get me a visual of the Grimm Wyvern on the main screen!"

Soon enough the large viewscreen showed what the sensor devices on the edge of the ship's bow showed; five figures, and although they were vague Ironwood nonetheless recognized four of them right away. A horrible feeling twisted in the pit of the Atlesian general's gut as he saw Cinder Fall, Tyrian Callows, Thorn Branch and unmistakably the Grimm Commander known as Ziz, if her black wings were anything to go by. The fifth figure, whose body was completely covered in plated black armor with a helmet that resembled the Wyvern after a fashion, was one he didn't recognize, but something instinctive told him that it could be the mysterious warrior known as the Son of Salem who had wiped out Borealis Base.

" Ebi, get Ace-Ops back inside now!" Ironwood commanded, "The Resolute's guns will do what they can to blow them out of the sky."

"Sir, we can take them!" Clover objected.

"No, you can't. You'd all be killed! Get inside, that's an order!" Ironwood barked sternly, "Together you might be able to fight against Callows and Branch, maybe even Cinder Fall if she was alone, but not against all of them and that Wyvern. There's only one way we can kill that monster."

"Understood sir, and my apologies," Clover offered a little awkwardly, "I'll get my team back inside, and if the enemy tries to breach the Resolute we'll be more than ready to fight them. Over and out!"

Ironwood cut the communications channel, before speaking into the public address speaker built into his command seat, "I want all available firepower focused on the Wyvern! Secondary guns, target the Manticores and keep them away from the ship!"

The Resolute's turrets and cannons opened fire immediately, forcing the Grimm Wyvern and the Manticores escorting it to swerve out of the way as heavy laserfire whipped past them. The Wyvern roared as Ziz did her best to keep it under control, directing it towards the Atlesian military's huge flagship.

"You guys hanging in there?" Ziz shouted over the chaos to Cinder, Tyrian, Thorn and The Son.

"I'm fine," Cinder answered, gripping on tight to the giant saddle Salem had had made for the huge dragon Grimm, having just enough room for the five of them to sit in small, pit seats that had built-in straps to prevent them from falling off, "Just make sure the Grimm don't attack or damage the nacelles until we're off the ship."

"Can you hurry it up?! I don't want to end up as target practice!" Thorn shouted as she gripped harder onto the saddle. It had occurred to the pale-skinned woman earlier to ask why they didn't do their best to make the Resolute go down permanently, but Salem had explained that the flagship's heavy armor and safety protocols meant that not only the crew and the prisoners that were their targets would probably survive with light injuries. They had to guarantee that Odinson would be killed to cut off a source of useful information for Ironwood, and also eliminate Crawford and his associates as well.

Tyrian let out a crackling cheer of excitement as the Wyvern pulled up and banked left to avoid an incoming salvo of missiles. The Son of Salem remained silent as always, making it impossible to determine if the wild ride was having any effect on him.

"We're going in!" Ziz shouted before looking at Cinder, "Take out the guns!"

As the Wyvern flew past the port side of the Atlesian flagship, it spat out a powerful ball of fire that collided into the closest gun, making it explode. Cinder added to the carnage by using her own powers of flame, enhanced by the powers of the Fall Maiden and the energy that she had stolen from Raven. The corrupted Maiden flung fireballs that caused a number of other guns to explode, before summoning her bow to shoot off arrows at any missiles that managed to get too close for her liking.

The dragon Grimm continued flying along the Resolute's portside, dodging cannonfire and merely groaning at what managed to graze its intimidating form. It turned at a slight angle, its wing slicing the barrels off of a cannon and causing the payload to detonate prematurely. However, the intense fire of the other cannons and secondary guns managed to successfully hit the attacking Manticores, blowing them to shreds. Some of the dying Grimm used their bodies to suicide bomb the remaining cannons, managing to destroy a few in the process.

"We're taking hits, sir! Our cannons and turrets are being eliminated by the Wyvern, its riders and Manticore escorts!" A female bridge officer reported.

"Damn it!" Ironwood swore as he gripped the armrest of his command chair, "Where are they likely headed to?"

"The portside hangar!" Another officer looked up from his console, "It's the only hangar large enough for that thing to get inside of!"

Opening a communication straight to his elite troops, Ironwood barked, "Ace-Ops, get to the portside hangar now!"

Outside, the Wyvern's mouth opened wide and bit down on a cannon that was swerving to aim at it. With a snarl it tore the whole cannon barrel off of the ship, ripping out a sizable hole and causing its operators to fall out and down to their deaths below. A few unlucky ones were also caught and devoured by the Manticores.

Tyrian laughed that mad cackle of his at the ensuing carnage, "Oh this is good! This is too good!" He cheered psychotically as he took useless potshots at the Resolute's hull, while Cinder kept flinging more devastating fireballs that destroyed more turrets and cannons, even blowing one of the rear drag fins in two, while two more weapon emplacements were smashed off by the Wyvern itself.

With the port side of the ship now rendered mostly defenseless, Ziz made the Wyvern make an swift aerial U-turn and they repeated the process on the starboard side. They took out as many cannons as they could, with the Son using Chaos Edge to cut off some of the secondary turrets' gun barrels as they passed by.

"There's the hangar! Get ready!" Ziz shouted as she directed the Wyvern towards the portside hangar, the blast doors trying to slide closed even as they neared it. The dragon Grimm gave a reluctant snort and growled loudly, not wanting to get inside a place it didn't know. It wasn't a matter of being too big, as it was still a juvenile in terms of a Wyvern's age, so it could still fit just fine into the hangar. Even so, this was the first time the Grimm Wyvern had been deployed in combat. It was both angry and scared, and the fear it sensed from all around was on the verge of making it lose control.

Ziz managed to direct the Wyvern inside of the Resolute's hangar, smashing aside the closing blast doors. The soldiers posted on guard weren't prepared for the sight of the draconic Grimm flying inside, slamming into a fighter-transport that was preparing for the next wave and sending it smashing into a row of Atlesian Knights-300s. It roared and spat out another fireball, bursting against the wall and causing several Dust canisters stacked nearby to explode. Several soldiers and support staff were sent flying by the simultaneous explosions, while a number of other fighter-transports within the hangar also detonated in balls of flame when their fuel tanks exploded.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Thorn teleported away and appeared in the middle of a group of soldiers, she performed a spinning bird kick, her booted feet slamming into their helmet-covered heads and taking them down. She then pushed herself forward, wrapping her legs around the neck of a soldier who had managed to keep out of her reach and flipped over, slamming his body into the wall with a crunch before she began shooting the dazed soldiers with her pistols, albeit mismatched since one was still in Sharp Strike's possession.

Tyrian leapt into action, ramming his prosthetic tail through a malfunctioning Atlesian Knight as he slit the throat of a technician whose aura had broken in the initial attack. He then wrapped his tail around another maintenance officer and tossed him into the burning wreckage of the fighter-transport.

Cinder used her Dust arrows to take out the Atlesian Knights, her powerful arrows piercing their visors and setting their metal bodies ablaze. One soldier ran at her, firing away with his rifle, but the Fall Maiden easily deflected the shots with her blades before she shot forward and grabbed him by the throat, punching her fist into his chest and face numerous times before she slammed him on the floor and finished him off by plunging her sword through his chest.

The Son of Salem made quick work of any who dared to approach him; those soldiers who opened fire on the masked assailant found him running at them, darting this way and that, jumping over and ducking under the gunfire before he attacked with his usual deadly prowess. With quick slices from Chaos Edge to damage their aura and deal deep wounds, in addition to using his superb martial arts skills to ensure that he wasn't swamped and finally finishing them off with his Elder Grimm-infused sword.

Within moments, the hangar bay was awash in flames and littered with corpses. "Good luck, I'll take off and deal with their aerial forces!" Ziz called out as she had the Wyvern rush out of the hangar, taking flight once more.

Cinder looked over at Thorn and the Son of Salem, "You two, go and eliminate Odinson."

Thorn put a bullet through the head of a heavily wounded Atlesian soldier who was crawling towards a discarded rifle, then looked up at the Fall Maiden, "And where would you be while we're doing all the-"

She was cut off mid-sentence when the main doors to portside hangar four opened and the five members of Ace Ops ran in with their weapons at the ready. Their faces briefly took on looks of shock and horror as they saw the horrifying sight of the massacre before them.

"We're too late…" Marrow gasped, looking at the four intruders while gripping Fetch tightly.

"Stop where you are and surrender right now!" Clover shouted with a firm, commanding voice, having quickly regained his composure as he stood firm with Kingfisher.

"Does that ever work? Thorn sneered with a smirk before she teleported behind them and kicked both Elm and Marrow in the back of the head, then flipping away as Vine slashed at her with his huge shuriken which happened to share the assassin's name. She narrowly dodged it and clubbed her robotic arm into his face, making him spit a little before she ducked the rapid punches thrown at her by Harriet before getting a surprise kick to the gut from the dark-skinned woman.

The Son of Salem ran directly at Clover but the leader of Ace Ops didn't flinch away and met the mysterious assailant head on, slamming Kingfisher against Chaos Edge. The warrior clad in black pushed him back and struck again, but Clover immediately fended off the follow-up attack and managed to pin the dark blade down before he leapt up and kicked at the Son's masked face which staggered him a bit. Salem's warrior was undeterred, sliding quickly behind Clover and struck out once more, but the brown-haired man defended himself with a well-timed back parry before slamming his elbow into the Son's torso as hard as he could.

He twisted around speedily, only to be met by the Son furiously attacking him with several fierce strikes that forced Clover back. The dark-armored warrior ducked under a swing of Kingfisher and slammed his gauntlet-covered fist into Clover's gut, making him fall to his knees but still he managed to block the swinging blade Salem's agent had aimed at his head. Clover grunted with effort as he strained Kingfisher's length against his opponent before surging forward with all his might, forcing the Son back for a few brief moments.

Thorn rapidly avoided Harriet's punches and the weight of Timber and Fetch as Elm and Marrow both swung their weapons at her, before looking back at her associates and saying, "Hey, let's not waste time with these idiots! We've got a job to do!" She ducked and slid under Timber, the large hammer nearly hitting Harriet but thanks to her powerful gauntlets she was able to prevent it from smashing into her.

"Hey! Watch where you're swinging that thing!" Harriet cried.

"Sorry, Bree!" Elm replied.

"After her!" The dark-skinned female Ace Ops member shouted as she, Elm and Marrow followed the teleporter. The Son chased after them, fending off attacks from Clover and Vine, the latter swung the blades of his shuriken at the dark armored warrior's neck but he cartwheeled past them easily, swinging Chaos Edge in quick, forceful cuts to keep them at bay as he sprinted after Thorn.

A scream echoed through the hangar, causing Clover and Vine to turn towards its source. They were greeted with the sight of Cinder and Tyrian, the Fall Maiden currently holding a flight tech hostage with her arm locked around the hapless officer's neck. Tyrian put himself in between the two Ace Ops members and the remaining survivors of their brutal attack, his arms already raised and pointing his wrist-mounted weapons, named The Queen's Servants, at them, while the tip of his deadly mechanical tail caressing a female engineer's face who had her legs pinned underneath a piece of broken fighter-transport fuselage.

"Ah-ah-ah! Come one step closer, and their blood will be on your hands!" Tyrian said with a manic grin wide on his face, "We have some business with your dear general, so get lost! Go harass Thorn and the Son for all I care!"

"He won't negotiate with the likes of you." Vine replied, frowning, "I suggest you let the hostages go."

"We only wish to talk to him," Cinder added with deceptive calmness, "Consider the hostages our insurance policy."

Clover was about to launch himself forward when Vine laid a hand on his arm, both Ace Ops members sharing a quick look before the team leader reluctantly backed away, "I'll go help the others, you stay here and keep an eye on things. If any of them so much as make a single wrong move, you know what to do." Vine gave a single nod of his head, before Clover ran off to support the rest of his team.

Cinder looked directly at the security cameras situated at the hangar bay's ceiling, and shouted, "I know you see and hear me, Ironwood, so listen carefully. I want Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos and both Maidens here as soon as possible. If they don't come soon, well…" She held one of her Dust swords to the neck of the flight technicians, "I guess a few more deaths wouldn't weigh too much on your conscience."

Back on the bridge of the Resolute, the general was both furious and horrified by the one-sided fight in portside hangar bay, and felt a sense of melancholy for the loyal soldiers and staff who had just lost their lives. He glared daggers at the image of Cinder and Tyrian, his robotic hand almost crushing the armrest of his command chair.

After several tense seconds of careful thought, Ironwood sighed before looking over to one of the comms officers, "Contact the Retribution or one of the Task Force Omega members deployed on the ground! Inform them that we need Rose, Arc, Nikos and both Maidens up here asap!"

"Sir, are we really going to just give in that easily?" Specialist Yin asked her superior.

"No. But if I've learned anything about Rose and the Maidens, it's that they are not to be underestimated. Rose and her friends have defeated Cinder before, and I have faith they can do it again. Once the hostages are rescued and out of the way, bring in the reserves and we'll make sure that none of these enemy agents leave this flagship unchained." Ironwood said quietly, but angrily.

---

Down below, Shocker ran for the Schnee Manor with the injured pilot slung over his shoulder while Javelin covered him, firing at any Grimm that came close. They were helped out by Irwin and other estate guards who provided cover for them.

Anastasia landed roughly on her back, groaning in anger and pain as her aura flared on her chin after receiving a punch from Amethyst. As the Spring Maiden and Neo engaged nearby Grimm Knights, Mercury ran over to check on Salem's maiden candidate, crouching down as he quickly pulled her behind the trees.

"That was some punch you took. Are you ok-"

"Take your hands off me!" Anastasia snapped, outraged. She stood up, glaring at the silver-haired young man who quickly held up his hands, "Never touch me, Mercury. I'm above you."

Cinder's assassin wanted to retort with something snappy, but knew it was pointless. He muttered something unsavory before running with the arrogant woman to rejoin Emerald who was firing on Fox and Coco as they withdrew, while being covered by Sage and Neptune's weapons.

Hazel slammed a fist infused with lightning Dust into Snow Blade, making the Winter Templar cry out as he was thrown several meters onto the icy pavement with electricity crackling over his armor. The muscular man whipped around to grab the attacking Spirit Dreamer before throwing her right at Argentius who managed to catch the Prognosticator before bringing up Iconoclast and firing some bullets at him. As Hazel raised his other arm to block the incoming bullets, Sharp Strike charged straight at him with Hong Long and Lan Feng ready to cut into his arms. He leapt high and brought both longswords down, but his blades crashed into the heavy-set man's fire Dust infused limb and bounced off. With an angry grunt, Hazel grabbed the Knight Errant and swung him around bodily before throwing him like an athlete. The young knight flew away, but he twisted rapidly in the air before landing in a crouched skid just inches away from one of the large pillars in front of the main entrance.

"Sharp Strike!" Heliosia cried as he ran over to him, "Are you all right?"

He looked up, wincing in pain slightly as he felt how hard Hazel had gripped his left arm but thankfully nothing was broken, "I'm fine. Just wasn't expecting him to be that powerful." The Summer Maiden helped him up as Central, N1CK3L, Penny, Invictus and Fieros arrived and brought up their weapons, opening fire on Hazel and forcing him to cover himself with his arms. Bullets, laser bolts and plasma discharges bracketed him, but he was seemingly impervious to damage.

Argentius, Snow Blade and Qrow; the latter two shouting mighty battle cries, all charged and slammed their weapons into Hazel once there was a brief pause between the continuous weapons fire. Hazel growled before he smacked the back of his hand into Qrow's face, sending him hurtling towards the manor's main entrance. He then blocked a series of lightning-fast blows from Argentius' twin scythes, although suffering a series of cuts on his arms in the process, then dishing out a brutal kick into the silver-eyed Knight's torso which made Sharp Strike's master grunt in pain despite his thick armor. Snow Blade dodged the next Dust-infused punch, hitting the flat of his huge sword against Hazel's face before smashing the pommel heavily into his nose which caused some blood to fly out. Hazel staggered a bit, before blocking the Knight Vanguard's next blow, grabbed him, then threw Snow Blade across the entire length of the driveway where he landed into one of the large trees on the left side.

"Are you okay, Qrow?" Penny asked as she helped him up, red flickers of aura glowing bright on his face.

"GO! We'll cover you!" Central barked as he and the rest of Task Force Omega did their best to provide covering fire, shortly rejoined by Javelin as Shocker went with them, still carrying the moaning Alestian pilot.

"Get inside! Go!" Eastwood ordered, gesturing towards the open doorway, attacking the oncoming Grimm with numerous bullets fired by Six Shooter, assisted by Irwin and the other Schnee security guards.

Yatsuhashi shut the doors as Eastwood, the five members of Task Force Omega and the various Remnant Knights did their best to defend the front of Schnee's manor while Team Beacon and Qrow recovered and Shocker tended to the wounded.

"Is she gonna be all right?" Scarlet asked, looking at the wounded pilot as the close range specialist of Task Force Omega laid her on a nearby marble table after sweeping off the expensive trinkets from its top.

"She's hurt badly, but it's nothing I haven't dealt with before," Shocker replied as he went to work with the medical tools and supplies he kept in the pouches on his belt, "I'll do what I can to make sure she survives. And just make sure no Grimm gets in through that main door."

"I don't believe it!" Pyrrha cried as she smashed a fist against the wall in frustration. Jaune quickly went over to his girlfriend, giving her a comforting hug from behind "They're actually using the Wyvern!"

"It was only a matter of time, Pyrrha. Don't blame yourself." Coco told her as she reloaded Gianduja.

"Do you think you can stop it?" Ruby asked the Spartan.

"I'm not sure, but I can try…" Pyrrha replied, a tad uncertain.

"What about you?" Scarlet reminded the silver-eyed Huntress, "You managed to kill the last one, right?"

"Hey, the last time I went up against a Grimm Wyvern I put myself into a coma!" Ruby exclaimed.

"And it would also kill the Wyvern!" Pyrrha pointed out, which confused Gretchen who wasn't privy to most details of what the group had been through.

"No offense, Pyrrha, but we don't exactly have a lot of options," Yang countered, with Neo and several others nodding in agreement.

"Yes we do," The redhead countered, "If I could get close enough to the Wyvern, maybe even get on it, I can turn it against them."

"That's it! That's exactly what we have to do!" Jaune said, his voice confident. Gretchen, on the other hand, was now totally lost and so decided it would be best to not question it.

"Have you two lost your minds?" Fox asked, one gauntlet-clad hand touching his forehead as he looked at Jaune and Pyrrha.

"I'm with Fox, that's suicide." Blake agreed.

"They're right. Even if you are the Aura Crystal's guardians, that Wyvern will vaporize you two in a blink of an eye!" Heliosia told them bluntly.

"I mean, I'm all for crazy plans but even I have standards." Amethyst agreed, "It's way too risky even for my taste."

"Sorry sweetheart, but we're gonna have to put your pet dragon down. Somehow." Qrow added.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby gaped at her uncle.

"No, the Wyvern isn't like the other Grimm," Pyrrha told them, her voice desperate to convince the rest of the gathered group, "There's a living, breathing, feeling creature under all that darkness. I felt it before when I was Fotia. I know I did."

There was a short pause as the others all looked at Pyrrha carefully.

"I believe you," Nora answered firmly, "And if anyone can do it, it's Pyrrha. We just have to get her up there."

Ren sighed as he nodded, "I believe you too, Pyrrha. It's insane, but when has that ever stopped us?"

"Sadly, I can't really argue with that," Sun muttered, his comments making Yang smirk.

"Hey,!" Shocker called out to them as he finished making sure the wounded pilot was stabilized, before calling a nearby servant to put pressure on the patched-up area, "I'm getting a message on my communicator, and it's for you kids!"

"Us?" Ruby asked, surprised.

"It's from Ironwood. Here, let me patch you in," He said. Penny offered him her scroll and the Omega Trooper quickly patched it to the channel wavelength for the Resolute's communications network.

General Ironwood's voice came through Penny's scroll, a little choppy but still coherent, saying, "If anyone down there can hear me, this is General Ironwood requesting assistance! An enemy strike force has just boarded the Resolute; Cinder Fall, Tyrian Callows, Thorn Branch and the Son of Salem. The latter two have engaged Ace Ops in battle but Fall and Callows are currently in the main portside hangar and holding multiple members of my crew hostage. They've demanded that Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos and Spring and Summer Maidens be brought to them or they will kill the hostages. I don't want to give in to them so easily, but I see no other choice, and I know Miss Rose and her friends are the only ones who can defeat them, especially with the power both Maidens possess. We need emergency assistance, especially with the Wyvern attacking us! I require your help to help save my crew and stop these attackers! If you are receiving, please acknowledge!"

"Well, I guess that settles it," Neo deadpanned.

Ruby nodded and let out a heavy sigh, "You're right. It's time for a rematch."

"I'm with you, sis. We still need to get up there somehow." Yang said with her non-robotic hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Not without me you're not!" Qrow added, "I'm coming with you!"

"Seriously? You're not gonna try to talk us out of it?" Yang asked her uncle.

"Knowing you two, there's no point talking either of you out of it. Heh, never did any good before so might as well go with it." The last Branwen remarked, "Plus, we can't let Cinder kill those innocent people and besides, you're already in a life-or-death situation. Might as well do everything I can to make sure you two survive, or else Taiyang'll kill me."

"Plus, those soldiers don't know Cinder and the others like we do." Jaune pointed out, "So no one stands a better chance against her than us."

"Jaune's right. Maiden Heliosia and I have dealt with Thorn before and Ruby and the others are the most experienced with fighting Fall. You yourself defeated Callows at Vacuo," Sharp Strike said firmly, gesturing to Yang and Qrow, "If anyone can deal with them and stop the Wyvern, it's us."

"Yes, but I will help fight Cinder Fall. No offense to you Ruby, but with her Maiden powers and all the months she has had to train after your victory over her in Haven, Cinder will likely be more powerful than the last time she had faced you. It's time for a real Maiden to put Cinder in her place." Heliosia stated firmly.

"And you won't face her alone," Sharp Strike looked at the Summer Maiden, "I'll be fighting at your side."

Heliosia's cheeks briefly tinged a little red, before she gave a small smile and answered with, "I'll be grateful to have you with me. Amethyst, you might not like it, but-"

"You want me to stay here and help out, right?" Amethyst finished for the taller Maiden, "It's okay, I get it. After all, can't risk letting Salem's cronies get both of us and besides, I'll be happy to help defend the manor and the refugees. Just promise me two things."

"Anything." Heliosia replied.

"Come back alive…and put the hurt on Fall. For Amber and Elsa." Amethyst said in a serious tone.

Heliosia smiled at the Spring Maiden before hugging her, "I'll be sure to do both. You take care of yourself as well, and don't get into any unnecessary danger as well."

Jaune looked at his team and said, "Well, if it's a fight Cinder wants then Team JNPR is all going." Pyrrha, Nora and Ren all smiled back at him.

"Good luck, because if anyone has a chance at stopping the Wyvern, it's definitely you guys." Velvet told them.

"Wait, I get that you and Pyrrha are going," Neptune looked at Team JNPR, "But why do Nora and Ren need to go?"

Nora looked uncomfortable as she said, "Because Cinder and the others are probably going to try to kill Odinson. Even after all that he did, I don't think he deserves to die." She felt Ren grab her hand to comfort her, and their eyes met briefly before she nodded.

Blake shook her head and said, "I still don't like it. It's too dangerous."

"I know, but we all knew that danger was always going to be a major part of our lives the day we decided to become Hunters," Sun mentioned, "So now that we've got all that settled, how exactly are you guys gonna get up there?"

Penny smiled as spoke up, "I think I have an idea…" She took back her scroll from Shocker and quickly contacted someone, "Ciel, I know you're busy right now but we need you right now! The Resolute is under attack and Cinder Fall has boarded the ship. Can you please use Hyperion Minor to come pick us up?"

Ciel didn't answer right away, but after a few seconds her voice came through the scroll, "...I'll be down as soon as I can. Make sure to clear a landing zone for me."

"Yes! Thank you Ciel!" Ruby cheered.

Suddenly the manor's main doors banged open which caused everyone present to raise their weapons instinctively. They lowered their weapons when they saw that it was the Knight Vanguard Fire Walker, who was panting slightly and his Aegis armor scratched in numerous places, "We need you out there! The Grimm are about to surge towards us again, and we need everyone to help fend them off!"

Coco immediately got to her feet, hoisting up Gianduja, "Well, let's not disappoint them. Let's clear an area for Ciel to land!"

Everyone quickly reloaded their weapons and refilled their Dust chambers, while a number of Schnee security guards soon arrived running with riot shields to reinforce the main entrance hallway. They all made one last check and were soon more than ready for another fight.

After she checked that Crescent Rose had been replenished with bullets, Ruby looked around at the various doorways she could see from the main entrance hall, hoping to catch a glimpse of Weiss or Winter. What could be taking them so long?

The various members of Team Beacon, plus Qrow, Neo and Shocker, left the main hall of Schnee Manor and regrouped with the Remnant Knights, Eastwood, and the other five members of Task Force Omega who were already fighting on the ground, along with the remaining Atlas soldiers and twenty-two Atlesian Knights that hadn't been destroyed in combat, along with the remaining two Paladins.

Down the driveway was a whole mass of Grimm clustered together; Beowolves, Ziraphs, Beringels, Boarbatusks, Ursas, Jackalopes, Tarantula Widows, Goliaths, Catoblepases and Sabers, with yet more with Razorwings, Nevermore, Vampires, Lechuzas, Griffons and Manticores flying overhead. Grimm Knights carried an varied arsenal of dangerous weapons and were divided between engaging in dogfights with the airships or waiting for their attack protocols to initiate the charge. The various beasts were snarling at the manor as they paced menacingly, just barely holding back, driven mad by the fear of the refugees inside.

Sheer Kaa, Steppenwolffe, Anansi, Emerald, Mercury, Sherizawa, Anastasia and Hazel stood among the horde, the Grimm Commanders keeping their human companions safe from their soulless beasts.

Sharp Strike stood in between Argentius, Soul Seer, Fire Walker and the two Maidens, quickly telling the three veteran Knights about the situation on the Resolute and what they were planning.

"I don't like this, I should go with you and help deal with the false Maiden." Argentius said as he kept his twin long scythes ready.

"No, Cinder might kill the hostages if anyone else other than who they've demanded show up," Heliosia refuted, "Besides, Ruby and the Aura Crystal guardians have beaten her before. I'm confident that we can defeat them for good this time with her powers and my own."

"We've already made up our minds, and it might be the only way to stop the Wyvern. Besides, I doubt you can talk us out of it when the situation is already so dire. Especially not them," Sharp Strike informed the senior Knights while gesturing to Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha, "I don't understand what Cinder and her associates are up to, but we have to try to bring them down."

"Let me go with you," Fire Walker insisted as he turned his helmet towards them, "You'll need as much help as you can get, while Flame Weaver takes my place down here. Besides, I'm the Knight Vanguard responsible for the Summer Maiden's safety."

"We're happy to have you, Fire Walker," Heliosia nodded with a smile.

"Very well," Argentius relented after some careful consideration, "But if Soul Seer senses anything untoward, we'll make it up there and help."

Suddenly Sheer Kaa pointed an arm out, one blade pointed towards the mansion and let out a roar, commanding his army to charge.

The Grimm hordes raced across the smoke-wreathed ground towards them, eager to rip into anything that stood in their way. Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Sun, Neptune, Scarlet, Sage, Coco, Velvet, Sharp Strike, Heliosia, Amethyst, Qrow, Penny, Eastwood, the Remnant Knights, the Paladins, the Atlas soldiers and the remaining Atlesian Knight-300s immediately opened fire, and an incredible barrage of Dust bullets and military-grade munitions utterly annihilated the Grimm charging in front and several rows behind them.

It wasn't enough, they just kept on coming, especially the older ones that were able to shrug off such devastating attacks. The Grimm Commanders rushed forward, followed by the rest of Salem's agents, with Hazel moving surprisingly fast as he climbed up the legs of a Goliath, using its tail to haul himself up, then running along its body before jumping off of its head. The heavy-set man came down and slammed his right fist into one of the sergeants commanding the Atlas soldiers, sending him flying backwards with a crushed chest plate.

Hazel punched his left fist into the nearest soldier and knocked him back several meters after sending bolts of electricity coursing through his form, while using his right hand to crush the head of the closest Atlesian Knight. The Goliath behind him was killed by explosives courtesy of Nora, N1CK3L, Invictus and the Paladins, while Qrow and Argentius rushed the huge man.

Argentius leapt up and stomped his armored boots into Hazel's face while Qrow slammed Reaper's sword's form into the muscular man's chest which only bounced off, making their adversary's aura flare up briefly but doing little to drain it. As the Knight Champion swung Iconoclast downwards, Hazel grabbed him with both hands and tried to slam him down into Qrow. Argentius reacted quickly, blasting Hazel in the face with his weapon's assault rifle configuration which made the huge man drop him. Qrow brought Reaper round to hit Hazel once more, only for Salem's agent to kick Argentius into him.

Seizing his chance Eastwood ran forward, opening fire at Hazel as everyone began fighting Grimm and Salem's other agents individually or together. "Hazel!" He shouted as pointed his guns with Six Shooter at the muscular man, "It's me! Wayne! Remember me?"

Hazel turned his head to look at Eastwood, his eyes widening a little as they lit up with recognition. "Wayne? What are you doing here?"

"Trying to do some good, which is more than I can say for you! What the hell are you doing?!" Eastwood demanded.

Hazel glared at him, "Get out of my way, Wayne. You're not involved-"

"I wasn't, but you and your buddies forced my hands!" Eastwood shouted, the robotic hands of Six Shooter gesturing to the ongoing battle around them before they all took aim at him. "I know it's been a long time but I still consider you my friend. Aren't we still friends? If you became my enemy…I don't think I could bear it." He finished with a threatening edge in the last sentence.

"I do what I must." Hazel stated simply.

"So I see, then I'll do the same," Eastwood noted before opening fire with Six Shooter, the bullets making Hazel's aura crackle before he punched his former friend. Eastwood was sent hurtling backwards only for both Qrow and Argentius to attack once more, using their weapons to cut across Hazel's thick coat and body, trying to cut his surplus of aura down.

Meanwhile across the fierce battle Pyrrha reached out with her Grimm Commander powers and took control of a Razorwing, causing it to fly down into a Catoblepas which prevented it from vomiting its acidic bile onto some of the soldiers before she whipped Milo around to eviscerate a Saber that had lunged at her. Her eyes widened at the sound of engines getting dangerously close, and when she looked up and saw an Atlas fighter-transport with its engines trailing flames and black smoke falling towards the battle. A pair of Razorwings were flying away from it, ripping the body of the unfortunate pilot in two.

"Jaune, cover me!" She called over to her partner.

Jaune did so without question, cutting down anything that tried to get to Pyrrha or using his Semblance to create a shield to protect her as she used her Semblance to take hold of the falling dropship and then with a strained grunt, flung it right at the Goliaths in the rear, the resulting massive explosion taking out two of the Elephant Grimm and engulfing over a dozen other Grimm creatures in flames.

Heliosia immediately took advantage of the fires and used her Maiden powers in tandem with her Semblance to call the flames to her before she jumped up high into the air, appearing as though she was flying, then coming down and slamming Flameguard in the center of several dozen Grimm, sending out huge waves of fire that incinerated them instantly.

Sharp Strike and Scarlet happened to be close by as they witnessed the Summer Maiden's impressive attack, and the Knight Errant could see that the ex-pirate's jaw had dropped.
"Wow…makes you think she doesn't need any protection, huh?" Scarlet commented as he slashed off a Beowolf's hand with his cutlass.

"Indeed…" Sharp Strike murmured as he finished off the beast with a swing on Lan Feng.

Both Paladins were blazing away with their arm-mounted cannons, blasting the more dangerous Grimm to dust but the rest of the soulless monsters just kept on coming. Several managed to get past their dying brethren and attacked the armored battlesuits' legs, but both Javelin and Fieros made quick work of them.

Sherizawa used the inner workings of his Atlas Armor to command some of the more heavily-armed Grimm Knights to attack the Paladins. The dark-colored robots flew towards the Atlesian battlesuits, avoiding their blasts and shooting at their joints until Sherizawa himself crashed into one of them. The Atlas Armor's powerful hands gripped onto the left arm of the Paladin as it struggled to get free, while the other Paladin was shooting the exoskeleton from behind but its armor was too thick for the few shots to do any serious damage before a Beringel swung its fists into the back of the second Paladin from behind, causing it to stagger.

Sherizawa allowed himself a sadistic grin as he kicked the leg of the first Paladin hard, making the metal rupture with the terrible groan and with a hard shove he managed to topple it over. With a mighty yank he tore the cannons of the Paladin's left arm off before he began opening fire on the downed battlesuit before he was forced away from it by Central, Fieros, Invictus and N1CK3L all opening fire with their heavy weapons.

Yang leapt over a Boarbatusk and landed on top of it, quickly slamming her robotic arm into its head and firing Ember Celica into its head with enough force to crush its skull. She jumped off of its fading body and flung herself towards the Beringel that was attacking the second Paladin. The blonde brawler punched the right side of its chest, making it howl out as it dropped off the Paladin, but the gorilla Grimm wasn't done yet.

The Beringel grabbed Yang when she threw her second punch, before its other fist slammed into her side with enough force to knock out a chunk of her aura. It then threw her so hard that she spun through the air and landed flat on her back, cracking some of the steps before Schnee Manor. It charged forward and brought a huge punch down before Yang could recover, smashing her head deeper into the damaged steps.

"Yang!" Blake cried as she watched the huge Beringel continue to rain punches down on her partner. The Black Cat Faunus tried to get close to her partner by dodging and slicing any Grimm that got close to her, when Mercury's mechanical feet suddenly kicked into her side and sent her sprawling. Cinder's disciple grinned, glancing at the Beringel as it punched Yang wherever she tried to roll out of the way and even slapping away her arms as she tried to shoot it.

"No!" Sun cried as he tried to run over and save her, but was unfortunately cut off by a few Lechuzas attacking him.

The Beringel punched Yang in the chest and was about to slam both of its fists down on her when suddenly a large, white animal burst out of the closed doors of Schnee Manor. Yang couldn't believe it as she saw the black striped tail sail over her head, the body slamming into the Beringel which rocked back a few steps. Lefko the white tiger roared before tearing out the Beringel's neck, the ape-like Grimm howling in pain before it died when its head was severed from its body by the tiger's powerful bite.

Winter was riding the family's pet white tiger like a noble steed, one sword held out and ready to fight. Yang scrambled to her feet a little unsteadily, looking back to see Weiss, Klein and Gretchen running out, weapons at the ready.

"'Bout damn time! That's your plan?" Yang asked, gesturing to Lefko.

"It saved you, didn't it?" Weiss asked with a smirk, "Did I neglect to mention that our father had Lefko trained by some of the top animal trainers in Atlas? Father wanted to have an exceptional guard animal to defend us, should something like this ever happen."

Yang smirked, "We have Zwei, you have a freaking tiger."

She then turned around and flew straight at Mercury who had been stunned by the large animal's sudden appearance, punching the left Ember Celica into him. The silver-haired assassin grunted as he was knocked backwards, retaliating with a roundhouse kick which Yang dodged and returned with more punches. Blake followed it up by wrapping Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form around his body and then flinging him into Sun, who slammed the combined form of Ruyi and Jingu Bang into his chest, causing him to cry out before Yang grabbed him by the arms and sent Cinder's disciple flying unceremoniously into one of the trees flanking the main driveway.

Everyone looked at Lefko, hearing his powerful roars as Winter jumped off, using her swords to slice off the arms and head of a nearby Beowolf while the tiger used its sharp claws to fend off a Saber. With another roar, Lefko reared up on his hindlegs and slammed bodily into the Grimm version of his species, his strong claws ripping across the Grimm's bone mask as the other set of claws sliced its neck open.

As the Saber faded away Lefko ran off, colliding into an Ursa and quickly ripping into the beast with his powerful claws and teeth, while Winter used her Semblance to summon a flock of small Nevermore that she sent to attack Anansi, forcing him to bat them away and use his Grimm Commander powers to make all nearby Grimm help defend him.

Anastasia watched the beast in visible astonishment, 'They had a bloody tiger in there? A white one at that?!' She thought before she flung her chakrams at it, only for them to be deflected by Amethyst, who wagged her finger at Salem's maiden candidate.

"Tsk tsk, attacking an animal? That's really low, babe." The Spring Maiden scolded before she ran forward to attack the blonde assassin, who had already recaptured her bladed discs and used them to fend off Amethyst's rapid attacks.

Ruby quickly ran over to Weiss to inform her of the situation and their plan, while the Schnee heiress used her glyphs and the Dust vials within Myrtenaster to send arcs of electricity over to electrocute a Catoblepas.

"I knew the Wyvern was here, that roar was unmistakable," Weiss replied, "But I don't think going up to face Cinder is a good idea. She's bound to hold a grudge, and last time we only just defeated her by combining all our efforts."

"Yeah, but last time we didn't have a Remnant Knight and a Maiden to back us up," Ruby defended as she shot down a Vampire.

Weiss nodded as she quickly used Mytenaster to impale a Beowolf's head before she said, "That would definitely level the playing field, but I still don't like it."

"Neither do I, but we don't have a lot of options." Ruby pointed out quickly.

Weiss sighed before relenting, "Fine, Ruby. Just come back to us alive, okay?"

Ruby smiled at her, "I always do. Will Lefko really be okay out here?"

"He's got a lot of people looking out for him, and Winter and I will be sure to keep him in line." Weiss assured her partner as she used another glyph to shield them from a Grimm Knight's red lasers, "It won't be easy for you to get up there, but I think I can help."

"How?" Ruby asked.

"When we killed that Sphinx in Vacuo City, it joined the Arma Gigas as one of my summons. I'll ride it up as support and protect Hyperion Minor from anything that tries to attack it. Ciel will have to hurry though, I won't be able to keep it up for very long." Weiss explained.

"She'll be here soon," Ruby noted, as she watched her allies pushing the attacking Grimm and agents of Salem further from the Schnee Mansion. She then looked back at Weiss, not bothering to hide her concern, "And once we're onboard the Resolute, you get back down here as fast as you can! I don't want this to drain too much of your aura."

"All right, I will. Just stay safe, okay? I'll get to work summoning it, cover me!" Weiss said.

Ruby nodded and quickly whipped around, just in time to cut down a Scavenger that had attempted to dive bomb them. Klein and Gretchen quickly joined her, making sure the youngest Schnee was properly protected while she channeled her newest Summon.

Weiss closed her eyes, forming a glyph as she managed to clear her mind despite the insanity around her and her concern for everyone. She blocked it all out and began channeling her aura as she visualized the Alpha Elder Grimm that had attacked Vacuo City, but a version less frightening and less hideous than the original Sphinx.

As she focused on summoning her own Sphinx, a howling Beowolf ran towards her with its claws ready to slash, only for Lefko to protect the youngest Schnee by colliding into it. Lefko pinned the Beowolf down and finished it off by ripping its neck open with a ferocious bite.

Weiss took a step back, waving her weapon around gracefully in the air as a bright blue-white light at the very tip of Myrtenaster began to shine radiantly. She suddenly reversed and then brought her rapier down hard into the center of the glyph and the Summoned Sphinx appeared, taking almost everyone there by surprise. It bore a great resemblance to the original Grimm, with the bull-like horns, the mane of horns around its neck, sharp fangs, deadly scorpion-like tail and mighty wings, but it was glowing a bluish-white and looking far more elegant than fearsome.

The Sphinx roared fiercely and leapt over the various combatants, ramming into a Goliath and shoving one of its horns into the Elephant Grimm's side, goring it brutally and making the Goliath bellow out a deafening cry as it faded away while the Sphinx Summon swung its tail around to bat away Scavengers, Lechuzas, Vampires and Razorwings that immediately swarmed it.

Ruby looked back at her partner and whistled, "Nice! Maybe you should have done that to begin with."

"Oh, lay off," Weiss replied with a sly smile, "Looks like your ride is here."

Sure enough, the Hyperion Minor descended swiftly, managing to steer clear of any Grimm while blasting away others with its two gatling guns, as the much larger combat airships were keeping the rest of the flying beasts occupied.

Ciel looked out of the Avenger Gunship's cockpit, her face one of cautious surprise as she saw the massive Grimm Sphinx Weiss had summoned, especially when Weiss mentally called it back. It whipped around speedily, its tail sending many Beowolves flying before it lifted up with its great wings and flew over, kneeling before the white-haired girl who had summoned it and allowing her to climb up.

"Our ride's here, let's go!" Nora shouted after smashing a Jackalope with Magnhild.

Team JNPR, Ruby, Yang, Qrow, Sharp Strike, Heliosia and Fire Walker made their way towards the Avenger Gunship through the battle, climbing aboard as fast as they could. Steppenwolffe was nearby in the frenzied battle, having just defeated a number of Atlesian soldiers, he caught sight of the group and quickly realized what they were trying to do. He sprinted towards the airship, only to be stopped by Winter who intercepted him and struck out with her swords which forced him to parry hurriedly.

"I may not know what they're up to, but I won't allow you to stop them!" She told the Grimm Commander fiercely as they exchanged a series of rapid cuts and counter thrusts.

"Very well, one Schnee is as good as another!" Steppenwolffe snarled as he pushed her back, slamming his sword into Winter's rapier. She sliced back at him, leaning back sharply as the Beowolf Grimm Commander's sword swung close to her head. Their blades met again and the two combatants struggled for control before Steppenwolffe feinted, making it appear as though he was giving in before he grabbed Winter's shoulder and slammed his knee into her gut and then flung her onto the ground. The Faunus managed to get a few forceful kicks in before Winter jumped back up, fending off his next sword attacks but she wasn't fast enough to avoid a sudden punch as the back of his fist impacted into her nose.

Winter cursed and struck back by smashing her forehead against Steppenwolffe's, making the Grimm Commander stagger back a few steps before she kicked him in the stomach. She attacked with her blades several times and he parried them just as quickly despite the recent injury, before Winter suddenly lifted up one leg very high and twirled around like a talented ballet dancer while her boot struck the Grimm Commander painfully in the face.

The Specialist didn't let up and struck several times with her two long blades, just before Steppenwolffe dodged one attack and jumped past her. He then kicked his legs out to strike Winter's back before twisting his body to swing his sword into her side in a powerful blow, making Winter's aura flare brightly as she fell onto her back after deflecting it. The Wolf Faunus brought his sword down quickly, but the older Schnee sister rolled away from his large blade just in time.

Weiss watched her sister fight the menacing Grimm Commander from the Avenger Gunship's closing ramp hatchway, she wanted so badly to help Winter or try to convince Steppenwolffe that the Schnees had changed, but she had another far more important task to do. Besides, Winter wasn't alone in her fight, as Sun leapt into action from another direction and slammed Ruyi and Jingu Bang across Steppenwolffe's back.

"Good luck up there!" Blake called as she used her katana to kill a Jackalope that tried to bite at her leg, "Please look out for each other, and come back to us safely!"

"We will! I promise!" Yang shouted back before she blew a kiss to both Blake and Sun, the latter giving a brief wave as he avoided a punch from Steppenwolffe before delivering a reverse roundhouse kick to his torso.

"We're ready, take us up!" Jaune told Ciel, who nodded as she pulled hard the Avenger Gunship's joystick and controls. The Hyperion Minor took off rapidly, closely followed by Weiss riding the Sphinx, holding tightly onto its mane-like horns as its powerful wings flapped to keep a steady pace alongside the ascending Avenger Gunship.

As the unique hybrid-wing airship climbed higher into the sky, it soon attracted the attention of the flying Grimm. A screeching Nevermore flew towards them, but Weiss had her Sphinx Summon collide into it, its horns cutting a long gash up the bird Grimm's body.

The Celaeno screamed as it flew after them, its huge wings flapping hard to race ahead and catch up to them. Weiss directed the Sphinx Summon over and it crashed into Cealeno, its horns creating large gashes along the left side of the huge Razorwing's body as they struggled in the air. Weiss quickly had it pull away as Celaeno's unnaturally long neck allowed its head to get uncomfortably close, its hideous beak snapping at her, but the Sphinx slashed its claws across Celaeno's body and bone armor before it pushed itself away and flew off, getting closer to the Resolute.

The Elder Grimm didn't give up and resumed its chase again, screaming loudly as it flew after the Hyperion Minor, until the Retribution and several Atlas Eagles entered the scene, firing on the Celaeno.

Within the Retribution Jammer operated the gun controls, firing away with the strike corvette's many armaments while Raider launched salvoes of missiles. The Celaeno bobbed and weaved away from the attacks, calling up Razorwings which mindlessly sacrificed themselves to intercept the incoming missiles.

"Hyperion Minor, this is Retribution. I take it you're delivering the reinforcements General Ironwood requested? Over." Raider spoke into his throat mic pickup.

"You guessed correctly, Retribution. Thank you for the assistance, over," Ceil told him.

"Our pleasure, we'll cover you. Good luck taking the fight to Fall and her strike team, over." Raider wished her as the Celaeno screamed out again, calling Manticores away from attacking Atlas Eagles and quickly flying over to help it. They shot past the Hyperion Minor and Weiss' Sphinx Summon, but Weiss was sure to have the Sphinx grab one of the roaring beasts within its huge claws, its sharp teeth biting down forcefully and crushing the struggling Grimm's head.

The Manticores bashed against the hulls of the Atlas Eagles, knocking them off course, but many were able to use their built-in guns to force the deadly Grimm away, multi-barrelled gatling guns blasting continuously against the bony armor of the Manticores. Some armor-piercing bullets even managed to rip through their wings, sending them plummeting to their deaths.

One of the Atlas Eagles wasn't so lucky, as the Celaeno went right for Alpha 2, its huge talons breaking the wings of the small airship even as it smashed its head through the cockpit, its beak shattering the glass before closing around the screaming pilot's body and ripped him out of the Atlas Eagle, allowing the attack ship to fall away. The Celaeno bit down on the struggling pilot, severing his legs from the rest of his body, allowing them to fall and be caught by Scavengers.

The Celaeno moved to chase after the Hyperion Minor, but became wary upon seeing the Wyvern. Since Alpha Grimm don't like to be close together, it gave the larger draconic Grimm a considerably wide berth. The other Elder Grimm banked away, avoiding beams of laser fire from the Retribution and flew back to engage with the other Atlesian Fighter-Transports that were blasting away and getting into dogfights with the flying Grimm.

"We're almost there," Ciel told her passengers as the Hyperion Minor approached the Resolute, its few remaining cannons firing on the Manticores and the Wyvern, which was still flying around and sending balls of fire at the flagship, while the Atlas Eagles that were still attempting to destroy the Grimm Dragon.

"Pyrrha, can you take control of the Wyvern from here?" Yang asked the redhead.

Pyrrha looked out the window, squinting as she realized she spotted a figure riding the huge Grimm.

"Ziz is riding it, commanding it. Maybe they were able to break its will…" The redhead said, closing her eyes and reaching out with her mind. Jaune kept his hand wrapped tight around her hand as he could feel his partner attempt to commune with the Wyvern.

Ruby looked out the cockpit's windows and saw the Grimm Wyvern react to Pyrrha's efforts, it lashed its head towards the Hyperion Minor and let out another echoing roar. Pyrrha gasped and opened her eyes again, which had visibly turned blood red.

"Oh Oum!" She said, tears forming in her eyes as they faded back to their normal color, "I looked into its mind…it's furious…they tortured it, filled it with hate for me…"

"So does that mean we'll have to kill it?" Ren asked carefully.

Pyrrha shook her head, "No. No! I can get through to it. I felt something inside of it; doubt, uncertainty. Ziz is riding it and she helped us to escape. Maybe she'll help me again, or maybe I can help her and the Wyvern." Pyrrha voiced before her eyes widened and she shouted, "Ciel, it's coming!"

Sure enough, the Wyvern barged towards them through the contested sky and spat a fireball in their direction. Ciel remained calm, despite a few beads of sweat forming on her face behind her helmet visor as she shoved the joystick downwards and made the Avenger Gunship suddenly drop to avoid being hit. The Wyvern thundered by overhead before the co-pilot resumed having the Hyperion Minor speed towards the Resolute.

"Doesn't feel like a sure thing to me, Pyrrha. If Salem filled that thing with overwhelming hate for you, it'll probably devour you the first chance it gets." Qrow told Pyrrha, bracing himself against the side of the airship.

"It won't…it's a living being, not a mindless Grimm. It will be very dangerous, but I have to try." Pyrrha answered.

"Be careful, Pyrrha," Jaune said to her, "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"Don't sweat it. I know you can do it, Pyrrha," Nora told her taller friend, "I believe in you."

Pyrrha smiled at her as Ren gave her another supportive smile, adding, "You can do it."

"Just don't get burned, okay?" Yang joked.

"Everyone get ready, we're approaching the hangar!" Ciel called out to them as the Hyperion Minor flew into the Resolute's hangar, its engines maneuvering smoothly as it descended to land on a wreckage-empty space. Weiss wasted no time and quickly rode her Sphinx Summon back towards the Schnee Manor, narrowly avoiding a wing attack from the Wyvern as it swooped past her.

The Avenger Gunship swerved around while its armaments searched for any threats, the ramp hatchway opened to allow its passengers to disembark. The group of ten ran down onto the hangar deck and were immediately met with the sight of Cinder Fall, Tyrian Callows and their wounded hostages standing among the ruined shells of wrecked airships.

Ruby gasped when she saw that the scar she had given Cinder during the Battle of Haven was still on her face.

"Ah! I was beginning to wonder when you'd finally show up." Tyrian remarked with a smirk, his prosthetic tail brushing over the tops of the hostages' heads.

"It's been far too long," Cinder glared at the group, running a finger along the scar on her face, "Admiring your handiwork, Ruby Rose?"

"If you ask me, she didn't do enough damage," Yang spat, seething with anger for the one who killed her mother, "We're going to stop you today, Cinder. For my mom."

"For Elsa, for Kaifin," Jaune spoke up, pointing Crocea Mors at her, "For Ashe. For us, for everyone else you've ever hurt."

"Silence!" Cinder snapped as her eyes began to glow with the Fall Maiden's power, "I don't understand what miracle allowed you to survive my arrow, Arc, but this time I'll make damn sure to finish you off. And don't talk about my brother to me! None of you would understand me or why I do what I do. You can't hope to comprehend the extent of my pain, the regret I feel because of the necessary evil I've forced myself to do."

Heliosia let out a bitter laugh, her gloved fingers tightened a little around the haft of Flameguard "Really? You really feel regret? Don't try to fool us, Fall. Nothing you've done can be considered necessary, but evil is very accurate. You've clearly shown yourself to be an unrepentant monster, why else would you be doing this?"

Cinder turned her head from Jaune to glare directly at brunette-haired Maiden, "So you're the Summer Maiden, Heliosia Ainea. I thought you'd be taller."

"And I thought you'd be prettier," Heliosia shot back.

Tyrian snickered at the barb, while Cinder glare hardened, "Enough talk, where's the Spring Maiden?"

"You think we're really dumb enough to just hand over both Maidens?" Qrow snarled as he pointed the blade of Reaper straight at the false Maiden.

"Then they die!" Tyrian shouted manically, who went to thrust his mechanical scorpion tail into the nearest hostage, only for it to bounce off of an aura shield Jaune had projected. "What-?" The assassin was cut off abruptly when Nora leapt over and slammed Magnhild into Tyrian, sending him flying some distance away.

Cinder tried to unleash a blast of fire at the remaining hostages, but Jaune expanded his Semblance's field of protection to shield them. He grunted slightly as the hungry flames licked against the shield, but was helped by Heliosia drawing most of the roaring fire towards her, absorbing the thermal energy of the flames using her Semblance while Pyrrha quickly put a stop to Cinders attack by jumping over and slamming Akouo into the corrupted Maiden who blocked the attack. However, she was knocked back a few steps in Ruby's direction who immediately attacked with Crescent Rose.

Cinder summoned her Dust Swords and parried a number of Ruby's strikes before she quickly began retaliating furiously, but Qrow, Sharp Strike and Fire Walker all leapt in to assist the young Huntress, forcing the corrupted Fall Maiden to intensify her attacks with rapid sallies and forceful swings of her blades.

"Get out of here!" Jaune shouted at the hostages, who wasted no time and quickly got out as fast as they could while their rescuers protected them.

Cinder shouted as she activated her Maiden powers, strong winds rushed into the hangar with nearly the strength of a tornado. Ruby, Qrow, Yang and Sharp Strike were knocked off their feet, but Fire Walker was able to withstand it, he slammed his sword into the deck to anchor himself. After bracing himself against the howling winds, the Knight Vanguard of Heliosia's Knight detachment rushed towards the corrupted Maiden and attacked with strong swings of his double-bladed sword. Cinder retaliated by slashing her swords at him, which Fire Walker fended off before she leapt over him, kicking the Knight in the back of his helmeted head with enough strength to make him stumble forward. She pivoted and unleashed a powerful fireball into Fire Walker's back, causing him to cry out as he slammed into a piece of wreckage from one of the destroyed fighter-transports. He swung around his shield to block some fireballs thrown his way, before Cinder used her Maiden powers to bring a large piece of debris crashing down on the Knight Vanguard, trapping him.

Before she could do anything else, Heliosia ejected Flameguard's kusarigama chain, ensnaring the false Maiden's arm. She yanked her weapon and pulled Cinder close for a punch right at her face, but Cinder threw a punch at the same time, her fist impacting into Heliosia's chest, making her aura flare briefly.

The Summer and Fall Maidens glared at each other, maroon-red eyes matching amber ones as Cinder noted, "Thorn's right, you are a strong one."

"You might've beaten Amber and Elsa, but this time you've met your match," Heliosia retorted, pulling on Flameguard's chain, "I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

Cinder immediately launched into action, swinging her swords repeatedly against Flameguard while Heliosia defended herself with well-timed parries.

As all this happened, Yang, Jaune and Pyrrha engaged Tyrian, keeping the Fusion Faunus occupied. When Nora and Ren tried to circle around a flaming airship wreck to attack Salem's assassin, the leader of Team JNPR shouted, "Go! Find Odinson and stop the others from killing him! We'll be okay, go!"

"Be careful, all of you!" Nora shouted back as she and Ren sprinted out of the hangar through the large open doors at the far end. As they ran through the doors they unexpectedly saw the familiar figure of Vine who was waiting to strike with Thorn, his collapsible shuriken, with a number of wounded Atlesian soldiers bringing up their assault rifles as they protected the handful of hostages hiding behind them in a partially-full storage bay just off the main hallway.

"What are you two doing here?" The Ace Ops Specialist with deathly pale skin and light blue eyes asked.

"Our friends are dealing with Cinder and that psycho Tyrian," Nora told him, "Where's the rest of the Ace Ops?"

"They're trying to stop Fall's other associates." Vine replied.

"We can help, can you take us to them?" Ren asked, but the tall Ace Ops Specialist slowly tilted his head a little at them as though in consideration. He should have refused, but something within his thoughts told him that helping the two Hunters-in-training was the right thing to do.

"Do you know why Salem sent a strike team on the Resolute?" He queried, briefly kept glancing back at the former hostages.

"To kill Odinson, what else?" Nora cried, "They're already on their way to silence him!"

Vine's calm composure briefly broke for a second as he realized the implications, then he said, "Follow me. We'll take shortcuts to head them off."

Tyrian was close by and overheard them. "It's too late!" He growled, "Thorn and the Son have probably already killed him by now!"

"Oh, shut up!" Yang shouted as she grabbed his mechanical tail, stopping it from stabbing her before she swung Tyrian towards Pyrrha. The Spartan quickly bashed him in the face with Akuou and then Yang released him, letting Salem's assassin crash into the nearest wall.

Jaune charged the cyborg assassin, but Tyrian opened fire on Jaune with the Queen's Servants, which Jaune blocked with his shield. Salem's assassin then jumped up and kicked Jaune's chest, knocking him back far enough that he was nearly hit by the blunt end of Flameguard as Cinder and Heliosia fought aggressively, but he quickly recovered and swung Crocea Mors right at Cinder, who blocked it with her other blade.

Tyrian shot past Yang and Pyrrha, shooting back at them before he spotted the recovering Ruby and Qrow. He snarled as he ran towards them, bullets flying from the Queen's Servants, making Ruby leap into action and deflect his shots with Crescent Rose before he jumped up and kicked the young silver-eyed Huntress in the shoulder. As Ruby fell backwards, Qrow leapt in to slam Reaper into the insane assassin's chest, but Tyrian blocked it with his the Queen's Servants, surging against the Branwen brother.

"I owe you for my tail, Branwen! Since you don't have one, I'll just cut off your head and call it even!" Tyrian snarled with a sadistic grin.

"Try and take it!" Qrow snapped back as he forced Tyrian off of him before transforming Reaper into its shotgun form and blasted his adversary in the chest. Ruby followed up with the next attack as she smacked Tyrian with the blunt end of Crescent Rose, sending him towards Yang who punched him right in the face. The Fusion Faunus flew back several feet until he impacted into a stack of munition crates, knocking several over and spilling their contents all around him.

Tyiran wiped some bloody spit off his chin, grinning maniacally at the trio, "Well, well…looks like I get almost the whole family to myself!" He chortled before jumping at them, avoiding Qrow's shotgun blast. Tyrian fired on Qrow and Yang as he kicked Ruby in the chest, his prosthetic tail wrapping around Crescent Rose but the silver-eyed girl kept a firm grip on it as she yanked back suddenly, managing to haul Tyrian down so that Qrow and Yang could attack at the same time.

While the cyborg assassin was able to dodge Qrow's sword, he wasn't quick enough to avoid the brutal kick to the knee from Yang. Ruby rolled and jumped back up to stand as Tyrian quickly unwrapped his tail and used it to block a diagonal swing from Reaper, before he blocked Crescent Rose's blade with one of the Queen's Servants while he spun around and discharged the gun barrels on the other arm at Yang, forcing her to bring up both Ember Celicas to block.

The entire structure of the Resolute suddenly shuddered. None of the combatants within had any way of knowing, but the Wyvern had just used its fire-breath to blast a hole where one of the turrets had once been, and now the Grimm Manticores were clawing their way inside to attack the crew.

Sharp Strike, Pyrrha and Jaune all charged towards Cinder as she was kept busy fighting Heliosia. The Fall Maiden slammed her elbow into Heliosia's face before she quickly formed her weapon Midnight into its bow form, and fired several arrows at them. Jaune and Pyrrha used their shields to block the incoming arrows while Sharp Strike sliced a midair arrow in half before Cinder blasted herself forward, kneeing Pyrrha's chest as she used her Fall Maiden powers to call forth strong gales to blow Jaune and Sharp Strike back.

Cinder got on top of Pyrrha by levitating herself with her Maiden powers, aiming arrows at Jaune's partner. But before she could unleash them Heliosia ensnared the dark Maiden once again with Flameguard's kusarigama and yanked her back down before throwing a flaming fist forward. However, Cinder wasn't totally unprepared and slammed her own fiery fist into the Summer Maiden's own, sending hot embers flying as they collided.

Pyrrha got up and looked outside the hangar just as she saw the Wyvern swoop down on an Atlesian fighter-transport that was flying nearby. The Dragon Grimm bit into the right wing of the airship hard, ripping it off and causing it to fall away as the pilot managed to eject. Pyrrha acted quickly and used her Polarity Semblance to take hold of the metallic parts on his flight suit and pulled the stricken pilot into the relatively safety of the hangar.

"Thanks!" He said with a shaking voice, "I thought I was dead for sure."

Pyrrha nodded at him with a smile before he ran to the safety of the open doorway where the other Atlesian soldiers beckoned. She turned to look out of the hangar to see the Wyvern before locking her eyes with Jaune with a serious look on her face. The intent was clear; she had to go stop the Wyvern.

The blond nodded as he got close to her, "Go! Stop the Wyvern and get it under control! We'll handle Cinder and Callows!"

"I'll be back, I promise," Pyrrha said as she took hold of Jaune's arm, and gave him a quick kiss right in the middle of the action. "That won't be our final kiss, I swear it." She promised.

"I'm counting on it. Go!" Jaune told her, a loving look in his blue eyes before he turned and charged at Cinder, intending to ram the blade of Crocea Mors into her as she was preoccupied with Heliosia and Sharp Strike. The Fall Maiden saw him coming though, and instantly pulled away from the other two, pivoting and sending two arrows flying straight at him. Jaune managed to block the fire arrow with his shield but the ice arrow hit his chest armor, making him grunt in slight pain as ice shards went flying, but he managed to endure and he tried to slam his sword down on her. His momentum was reduced slightly, which allowed Cinder to parry Jaune's sword strike with her own sword before she narrowly avoided a swing from Heliosia's Flameguard.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha reached out with her Grimm hybrid abilities, taking control of a nearby Manticore and having it fly over towards the hangar. The redhead ran and jumped onto the Manticore, taking hold of its horns as she directed it to fly after the Wyvern.

"What is she up to?!" Cinder demanded to know as she rapidly defended herself from Heliosia, Sharp Strike and Jaune.

The blond knight smirked and replied, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Cinder snarled as she kicked up high, landing a blow on Jaune's chin while fending off Sharp Strike's swinging swords and dodging Heliosia's weapon. She forced the young Knight back before dodging a couple of fireballs thrown at her by the Summer Maiden, then summoned her wind powers to send intense fire blowing at the other Maiden who in return activated her pyrokinesis powers to control the fierce flames before it sent her crashing into the wall.

The Fall Maiden turned just in time to block both of Sharp Strike's blades, their respective pairs of swords clashing hard enough to send sparks flying. "So you're the young knight I've heard so much about," Cinder remarked as she pressed hard against Hong Long and Lan Feng, "Do you really think you can make a difference?"

Sharp Strike didn't answer her, he kicked out with one armored boot to free his swords before he struck at Cinder once more. The Knight Errant and Fall Maiden traded a number of rapid blows in quick succession, the entire exchange happening so quickly that the untrained eye wouldn't have been able to keep up with them. Sharp Strike pointed Lan Feng at Cinder as she circled him, flourishing her blades around. She feinted left but he met her by charging head on, and they traded four more rapid blows before the Knight Errant found himself nearly pressed against the wall with the bladed edge from one of Cinder's swords blocked mere inches from his helmet lenses.

He released a low growl and used his dual longswords in a scissor formation to catch her blade before twisting it aside, forcing Cinder to hurriedly back away before Jaune crashed into the Fall Maiden, kicking at her hip whilst he swung Crocea Mors in another overhead blow. Cinder quickly threw a fireball which Jaune blocked with his shield, then dodged Sharp Strike's cutting and thrusting blades before jumping back to put some distance between them. Both Huntsmen and Knight Errant shortly charged and launched their follow-up sword strikes, each exchanging fifteen blows in a lightning-fast series of attacks at Cinder which she either deflected or blocked rapidly, before Heliosia reentered the fight by slamming her boots into Cinder's back, causing the amber-eyed woman to drop onto one knee.

Cinder snarled as she leaned to her right to avoid being hit by Jaune and Sharp Strike's swords before she did a sweeping kick that the Knight Errant dodged but the blond was unable to avoid, sending him crashing onto the deck. Cinder then flipped back up, kicking out with one of her shoes into Heliosia's cheek which caused her to wince a bit as the blow impacted on her aura, and then shot out several fireballs at both Jaune and Sharp Strike to force them back.

The Summer Maiden then struck back with a vengeance, breaking through Cinder's swords and then struck the hooked end of Flameguard into Cinder's stomach. Before Cinder could recover, Heliosia grabbed a fistful of her raven hair and slammed the corrupted Maiden's face down onto her knee. The Fall Maiden wasn't done however, grabbing Heliosia's knee and flipping her onto her back with a loud thud, snarling in pain as she was about to throw a flaming spear at the other Maiden when Sharp Strike unloaded a number of bullets from the built-in revolvers of his twin swords at her, making the last Kasai switch to the defensive.

As Cinder fought them off, Tyrian was kept busy with Ruby, Yang and Qrow, the Fusion Faunus assassin moving quickly and smoothly to avoid the curved blades of both Crescent Rose and Reaper while also trading blows with Yang. He suddenly sprung at Ruby, propelled forward by his mechanical tail, elbowing her right in the face, laughing madly as he swung a Queen's Servant down on her. Ruby managed to dodge out of the way, but the wickedly sharp blades did slice open the arm of her black jacket but thankfully didn't cut any deeper.

Yang launched herself into attack from behind with Qrow charging from the left, but Tyrian ducked under Reaper's blade and lashed out with a Queen's Servant at Yang's face which she blocked with one of her Ember Celicas. She tried to punch Tyrian but he dodged and jabbed his prosthetic tail into her midsection, which made Yang cry out and fall back as her aura flared brightly to protect her. Salem's assassin then spun around just as Qrow slammed Reaper into his side and pulled the trigger, the weapon's shotgun barrels going off and getting a shot into the side of Tyrian's face while also kicking him painfully in the gut. Qrow reversed Reaper and smashed its pommel into Tyrian's nose, the strike sending the latter flying across the wreckage-strewn hangar. Tyrian crashed into the wall next to an active control panel, growling in annoyance and pain before a shot from Crescent Rose impacted on the wall mere centimeters from his head.

"Headmistress Luna is going to be really happy when she hears we've taken you down," Ruby stated, glaring at him.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Tyrian saw that the control panel was labeled 'Emergency Stairway to Surface Control'. He grinned at Ruby and smashed his left gauntlet onto the control panel, causing some emergency lights to come on and a klaxon to blare as an area in the hangar's ceiling began to open as stairs that blended into the rafters and catwalks began to shift and unfold, lowering as the hatch opened up. It was a way for crew members to go out onto the exterior deck and it also served as an emergency exit just in case the flagship was ever forced to make an unexpected landing.

Ruby ran at Tyrian, but he dropped down and swept his legs to trip the leader of Team RWBY. Yang shouted as she charged at him, throwing out powerful punches that Tyrian swiftly avoided while also dodging Qrow's attacks with Reaper. He threw out a kick that connected with Yang's gut before using one hand to grab hold of her hair and yanked her sideways, making the blonde brawler crash into Qrow just as he was about to slash at the assassin.

Tyrian turned as his mechanical tail blocked another shot from Crescent Rose, before rushing straight at Ruby with the blades of the Queen's Servants already unfolded. The silver-eyed Huntress jumped clear of his attacks and struck at Tyrian's prosthetic tail, but he parried easily before grabbing her by the neck as he hooked his tail around the scythe, ripping it out of Ruby's hands. Salem's assassin had a maniacal smirk on his face as he crowed, "Oh, Mistress Salem will be so pleased when she learns I've finally killed you!"

"Y-y-you-" Ruby forced words from her mouth around Tyrian's tight grip.

"What's that, little rose? Speak up!" He taunted.

"You touched Yang's hair…bad mistake…" Ruby choked out, before the blonde brawler's mechanical fist punched the side of Tyrian's head with all her might, making him cry out in pain as he was sent flying, releasing Ruby in the process.

Tyrian landed some distance away, groaning as he clutched the side of his head as flickers of purple aura crackled over his body. He looked up just in time to see Yang press her attack, slamming punch after punch into the Fusion Faunus' head and chest while shouting, "You don't touch my hair! And you DON'T TOUCH MY SISTER!" She screamed at him before she pulled back her robotic fist, hair and red eyes shining as her Semblance activated and she punched his chest, sending him hurtling into the now fully-lowered emergency staircase.

Tyrian let out a high-pitched whine as he scrambled onto his feet, quickly crawling up the staircase. Cinder spotted him moving to the surface and decided that it would be better to have a fight outside. She dodged a flame-wreathed punch from Heliosia and sword swings from both Sharp Strike and Jaune before throwing out a blast of hot wind that knocked them away from her as she retreated up the stairs.

"You're not getting away this time, Cinder!" Heliosia shouted as she raced after the woman who had murdered two of her Sister Maidens.

Ruby jumped up to join the Summer Maiden, closely followed by Sharp Strike, Jaune and Qrow. Luckily the stairs were wide enough for them to run two abreast, with Ruby sprinting towards Cinder who used her swords to block the silver-eyed girl's attacks and Heliosia's swings with Flameguard. They traded several blows as they fought back and forth atop the stairs, while Jaune blocked any fireballs with his shield even as Qrow discharged shotgun blasts with Reaper from behind him. Tyrian howled as he opened fire on his pursuers, with Yang and Sharp Strike shooting back as they quickly took the steps nearly four at a time after Ruby and Heliosia.

"So, you both want revenge?" Cinder remarked with a condescending smile, "I suppose that makes you not so different from myself."

"You're insane if you think we are anything alike!" Heliosia shouted as she blocked a blast of fire from hitting Ruby, before absorbing the thermal energy and discharging it back at Cinder who avoided it narrowly which singed a small portion of her outfit.

"And it's not revenge that we want, it's justice!" Ruby added hotly, "You killed your own family, murdered your own brother in cold blood when you didn't have t-"

Cinder let out an angry scream as she forced Ruby back with her blades. The leader of team RWBY skillfully swung Crescent Rose to counter the Fall Maiden's strikes, while Heliosia didn't let up as she also fought fiercely with thrust and parries with Flameguard. Ruby dropped down as the Fall Maiden's swords whistled overhead, swinging Crescent Rose at Cinder's legs. Cinder avoided the scythe by jumping high and landing several steps ahead of them as she deflected a fireball from the Summer Maiden.

Cinder fended off their attacks with incredible skill, spinning her own swords and parrying their attacks almost effortlessly even as they approached the top. Blocking a downward slash from Flameguard, she kicked Heliosia in the chest which caused the Summer Maiden's feet to leave the steps as she fell backwards with a cry, but was fortunately caught by Sharp Strike as he vaulted over in one swift movement and caught her.

"Are you all right?" He asked her while making sure Heliosia's booted feet met the steps again.

"I'm fine! It's not going to be easy, but we have to keep fighting!" Heliosia replied as she recovered. She ran back up the steps with Sharp Strike to join up with Qrow who was already sprinting ahead of them to help Ruby.

Ruby pressed on, jumping onto the same level as Cinder while swinging Crescent Rose in various cuts and slashes repeatedly before the Fall Maiden captured Ruby in a bind and elbowed her right in the nose, making Ruby cry out in pain. Cinder then grabbed her by the neck and tossed her up and out onto the Resolute's exterior.

Ruby landed on her side upon the surface of the Resolute, slightly winded. She tried to get up and barely got her weapon up to stop Tyrian's blades from slamming into her. The young Huntress quickly pushed herself up and slid away from Salem's assassin, speedily blocking his follow up attacks and parrying the deadly strike of his mechanical tail.

Behind them, Cinder jumped out onto the surface followed by Qrow and Heliosia. Yang dashed past them to assist Ruby, while Qrow knew his place was with his nieces despite wanting to give Cinder a good thrashing. When the Fall Maiden dodged another sweeping strike from Heliosia, the veteran Huntsman delivered a backhanded smack to her face before cartwheeling away from the Fall Maiden's blades. He landed in a crouch, drew Reaper and ran to help his nieces just as Sharp Strike and Jaune burst out of the steps and ran after the battling Maidens.

Yang bounded over to hit Tyrian once more but he quickly got out of the way, and as the assassin tried to land a high kick on the blonde she grabbed his boot tightly and tried to hold him in place for Qrow to slam Reaper down on the Fusion Faunus' knee. Tyrian snarled before he twisted his body slightly, tearing himself free and flipped backwards, with his prosthetic tail striking out to make sure none of them exploited the chance to land another hit on him.

The pale assassin quickly mashed a button on a small watch-like device on his right wrist, which activated certain protocols of the nearest Grimm Knights in the vicinity to come to his aid. He grinned madly at Qrow, Ruby and Yang who were panting slightly and aiming their weapons at him, "You three are really annoying! This time I'm out for blood! Especially you, Branwen! You've crossed us too many times and it's time you paid for your transgressions!"

"Sorry to be such a pest, but that's part of my job. And you're gonna have to work hard to kill me, and even that might not be worth it," Qrow retorted angrily, "And if you think I will just let you harm either Ruby or Yang, then you've got another thing coming!"

"Sounds like a challenge! Well then, let's see if I can kill you all!" Tyrian hissed before he leapt at them with a furious roar.

---

The bridge of the Resolute was filled with frantic activity as personnel either reported what they were seeing on their screens or rushed from one section of the bridge to the other. General Ironwood, however, had his eyes fixed on the main holographic screen that was displaying a live feed from external cameras which displayed Ruby, Yang and Qrow fighting Tyrian while Heliosia, Sharp Strike and Jaune battled Cinder.

"General, our spotters have noticed Pyrrha Nikos riding a Manticore and chasing after the Wyvern!" An ensign turned her head and reported, "Your orders?"

"Nikos had some sort of bond with the beast when she was brainwashed by Cinder and her associates. If she could use her Grimm Commander abilities to reconnect with the Wyvern there's a slim chance that she may be able to turn it onto our side," Ironwood brought up a hand to his chin as he thought carefully, and then said, "Order all Atlas Eagles and other airships to cease their attacks on the Wyvern, and have what turrets we have left focused on the other flying Grimm."

"Sir, what about those members of Team Beacon currently fighting on the top deck? Shouldn't we send them reinforcements?" Specialist Yin spoke up.

"I want to, but what Cinder and her boarding party did to the troops in the hangar is not something I want to see repeated," Ironwood replied tersely, "As much as I hate to admit it, we're outmatched when fighting against an enemy agent with Maiden powers but at least we have a chance with the Summer Maiden. We have to have faith that they can pull this off where we can't. Status on the Manticores that managed to breach the hull?"

"Our troops are having a hard time dealing with them, general." Another officer reported as he read the information on the holographic screens in front of him, "They can't use explosives in close-quarters, which means they have to slowly wear them down with assault rifles and shotguns! We've got five Manticores on Deck eight, another four on Deck nine and three more on Deck seven. Ace Ops are still preoccupied with the other intruders, they are unable to assist!"

Ironwood scowled before he stood up from his command chair and looked at Specialist Yin, "Yin, you have the bridge. I'm going down there to help my soldiers deal with the Manticore problem."

"General Ironwood, I must object." Yin replied cautiously, "You're needed here, and we can't exactly have a commanding officer missing from his post in the midst of battle."

The Atlesian general looked her in the eyes before saying, "Specialist, there are days where a commanding officer needs to take an active role in the battlefield. I refuse to sit here while my soldiers are fighting for their lives, possibly even dying. You have the bridge, and alert me if there are any serious developments."

Yin nodded solemnly and took the command chair as Ironwood marched off, flanked by four heavily-armed and armored Atlesian soldiers.

---

Elsewhere in the flagship, Clover, Harriet, Elm and Marrow did their best to defeat the Son of Salem and Thorn. The leader of Ace Ops launched Kingfisher's grappling hook, wrapping it around the Son's left arm and yanking hard, managing to slam him into the wall so that Harriet could rush him with Fast Knuckles. Quicker than the eye could see, the Son parried against the gauntlets with Chaos Edge before she managed to duck under his sword and punched the armored figure a few times in the chest.

The Son of Salem swung his legs upward and wrapped them around Harriet's waist even as Clover charged in for another attack. He then forced the dark-skinned woman around, causing her to take the punch from Clover right between her shoulder blades. Harriet snarled as she elbowed the Son's helmet-covered face, but he kicked out with one armored foot which impacted with Clover's face.

The leader of Ace Ops staggered but pulled the Son with him by wrapping his arm around the dark-armored warrior's neck. The Son freed his arm from the grappling hook, knocking Clover backwards before swinging Chaos Edge at him, but the veteran Specialist/Huntsman met him head on instead. He swung back with gusto and blocked the sword blows coming at him even as the Son punched Harriet in the face, sending her flying into a nearby wall.

After a few more exchanges the Son slid past Clover and he quickly turned around while spinning Kingfisher with impressive skill to block his adversary's next strike, as Harriet recovered and renewed her attack on the Son which forced him to dodge her quick punches as he dueled Clover.

Not far away Thorn dashed and teleported at Elm as the muscular dark-skinned woman swung Timber, her hammer and rocket launcher hybrid weapon at Salem's maiden candidate, dodging the deadly blow. The pale-skinned woman flipped over the bigger Ace Ops Specialist who threw out a large fist to hit her, but Thorn teleported in front of her and slammed both her booted feet into Elm's forehead, causing her aura to flash slightly from the impact. Marrow gritted his teeth and flung Fetch at the female assassin but she teleported yet again. Elm, though dazed, was still aware enough to bat the boomerang away with Timber just as Thorn reappeared behind Marrow, knocking out his legs from underneath him with a sweeping kick before putting a boot up into his right shoulder which made the Dog Faunus cry out, before she ducked to avoid being hit by Fetch.

Harriet leapt up, grabbing an air vent in the ceiling and swinging her legs forwards, kicking the Son in the chest and making him stumble back. The silent warrior was nonetheless able to parry Clover's thrusts as he moved away from the Ace Ops leader's blows, before spinning around and elbowing Clover's chest and face and then swinging his sword at the brunette who managed to parry it in time. However, the strike was still strong enough to make Clover slide back.

Elm ran at Thorn, but she used her twin pistols to fire at the larger woman's legs and feet. While not causing any serious damage other than making her aura flare up, it was enough to make Elm trip and fall onto her stomach. Thorn then ducked under the swing of Fetch as Marrow swung the bladed edge at her, but she teleported and reappeared at his legs, twirling into them and causing the Dog Faunus to fall to his knees as she leapt up, teleported again and then reappeared in front of him, boot colliding into his chin and knocking Marrow on his back. Elm pushed herself up and charged, aiming to slam Timber into the teleporting assassin, but Thorn abruptly vanished, causing the hammer to crash into the wall, denting it. She popped back into existence and slammed into Elm's side, shoving the brawny Specialist into the wall with a grunt.

The Son slashed his sword at Harriet but she managed to avoid him, jumping from wall to wall to get close before raining punches on him which Salem's warrior blocked before he whacked her in the face with the pommel of Chaos Edge. The dark-skinned woman spat out a wad of bloodied spit and quickly blocked her face and chest with Fast Knuckles just as the Son went on the offensive, allowing her mechanical gauntlets to take attacks which were strong enough to knock her onto her back some distance away down the hallway. The Son spun his sword and walked menacingly towards her, only to turn when Clover returned and jabbed his secondary collapsible sword at the mysterious figure which forced the Son to switch rapidly to defense.

Thorn reappeared behind Elm and Marrow, but Dog Faunus had already transformed Fetch into its rifle form and opened fire, forcing the female assassin to duck and roll. She unloaded some bullets from both pistols, teleported and ended up behind Elm. Before the large Specialist could do anything, Thorn grabbed hold of her shoulders and activated her teleporting Semblance which caused them to vanish. Marrow frowned, looking everywhere for them before Thorn dropped Elm right on top of Ace Ops' youngest member. Elm grunted as she pushed herself up, only for Thorn to spin-kick her in the face before vanishing again.

The Son blocked Clover's attacks before leaning back to avoid Harriet's powerful kick, then he leapt over Clover and traded another clash of swords even as he landed behind them. The Ace Ops leader nonetheless pressed on, Kingfisher clashing against Chaos Edge four times before he slid his collapsible sword hard against the Son's dark blade which sent a small rain of yellow sparks falling onto the deck plates. The Son dragged his blade downwards before pulling back, backflipping as his leg lashed out. Clover narrowly avoided the kick as the warrior clad in black-armored plates backflipped away from them just as Thorn appeared out of thin air right next to him.

"Errgh! These two are starting to piss me off!" Harriet shouted angrily, wiping her aching chin.

"You can't keep this up forever!" Clover told the intruders.

Thorn was about to retort when suddenly the hallway space in between them exploded, knocking them all back. Clover forced himself up to see a snarling Manticore appearing through the flames, dragging a dead Atlesian soldier by the arm.

Thorn and the Son took advantage of the distraction and made a run for it as Marrow opened fire on the Manticore. Clover used Kingfisher's grappling hook to wrap around the right front leg of the Grimm as it launched its deadly scorpion tail at them, but Harriet caught it while Elm hammered Timber down on its head with an rocket-assisted boost which smashed the Manticore's head into the floor, instantly killing it.

As the Manticore slowly faded away, another roar caught their attention as a slightly larger Manticore appeared through the flaming hole. It immediately lunged at Harriet, using its wings to knock Clover and Elm away. Its stinger tail whipped into Marrow, making him cry out as his aura took a hit and knocked his aim askew.

Harriet was slammed against the wall, but she acted fast and used Fast Knuckles to hold the roaring Manticore's drooling maw open and away from her. "Little help here?!" The Atlesian Specialist shouted as she gripped harder onto the beast's jaw as she tried her best to keep it from closing on her head.

The sound of gunfire echoed through the air as bullets began ripping into the side of the Manticore, which caused it to release Harriet who glanced over and saw Vine running onto the scene along with Ren of Nora, the former of whom was shooting at the Manticore with both StormFlowers. Harriet smiled a little as she quickly kicked her legs out into the front legs of the Manticore, causing it to fall sideways just as Vine leapt into the air and brought down his Shruiken to slash away its left wing before Nora slammed Magnhild into its side.

Harriet wasn't done with it, however, as she gripped both gauntlet-clad hands onto the Manticore's lower jaw and with a cry of exertion, ripped it off. The Manticore howled in pain before Clover put his collapsible sword through the side of its head, finally killing it.

"Wow, thank the Brothers and Sisters you showed up when you did," Marrow said, smiling at the pair as Clover helped Elm up.

"Your thanks are appreciated, but unnecessary." Ren replied.

"Still, we're grateful," Clover mentioned, "Vine, what's the situation in the hangar?"

"The Guardians of the Aura Crystal, Rose, Xiao Long, Branwen, two Remnant Knights and the Summer Maiden have come onboard to confront Fall and Callows." Vine explained calmly, as though he's giving a lecture, "But the flagship has been breached in several locations and Manticores are prowling around the hallways."

"Ugh, this just keeps getting worse." Elm muttered.

"It won't get any better unless we do something about it. Come on, we need to stop them!" Clover told his team before he looked at the two Hunters-in-training and added, "We'd be happy to have you along, just stay behind us."

"Try and stop us," Nora smiled as the group began running down the halls of the Resolute in pursuit of Thorn and the Son of Salem.

---

Pyrrha gripped onto the Manticore tightly, its wings flapping as hard as it could as she mentally commanded it to go faster as it flew after the Wyvern, which was now soaring over the forests and countryside, leaving the Schnee Manor and the battle behind. However, the outline of the Resolute and the manor itself were still visible in the distance.

Pyrrha glanced down at the snowy countryside and despite the grave situation she had found herself in, allowed a small brief smile to form on her face. Not all of her memories of being Fotia Drakos were painful and traumatic, she had always cherished the memory of riding the Wyvern high in the night skies above Haven, feeling the wind caress her face.

She had genuinely missed this feeling.

Ziz glanced back from the Wyvern's back, and saw Pyrrha catching up on her Manticore. The winged Grimm Commander slowly gave a grim smile, murmuring, "Okay, this should be far enough…"

She mentally commanded the Wyvern to turn around and it soared towards Pyrrha with a powerful, bellowing cry. Pyrrha saw her chance and took it, she had the Manticore fly up and, making sure she would get her timing right, she leapt off her temporary steed and landed down into the pit of the saddle on the Wyvern's back.

There was a brief stare-down between Pyrrha and Ziz before the redhead finally inquired loudly, "So…are we friends or enemies?"

"I hope we can be friends," Ziz answered, slowly cracking a grin, Pyrrha herself couldn't help but laugh.

"It's nice to see you again, Pyrrha. It sure feels weird calling you by your real name," Ziz remarked as she tried to keep the Grimm Dragon steady. The Manticore Pyrrha had begun circling slowly around the Wyvern, making sure to keep its distance from the huge Alpha Grimm. The winged Grimm Commander glanced back at her, "So, are you doing okay with that Jaune guy? I bet you two make a cute couple."

"Ziz, as happy as I am to see you again and to know you're not my enemy, this really isn't the time for a conversation like this! Can you tell me what Salem is up to? Lives are at stake!" Pyrrha demanded, but not too harshly. Ziz looked down briefly and sighed, then she began to talk quickly, explaining what her associates were up to and once she was done the female Spartan answered with, "Well, as awful as it might sound I wouldn't be too opposed to Crawford and the others getting their comeuppance, I can't let any of that happen!"

"Course no-AH!" Ziz cried out as the Wyvern unexpectedly swooped down, roaring as it struggled under her control. Pyrrha dropped into the saddle's pit, holding onto the belts for dear life. Ziz shook her head, "Looks like this thing's really pissed, Salem tried to fill its head with hate for you, trying to make it think that you abandoned it."

Pyrrha looked down at the roaring Wyvern, with a guilty expression, "I did abandon it…"

"Not willingly," Ziz assured her, "You should know that Salem tortured it pretty bad, then had me and the other Grimm Commanders help brainwash it to make it think you were personally responsible for its pain because you abandoned it."

"I can still sense its hate for me, do you think we can undo it?" Pyrrha asked as she grabbed Ziz's arm with her free hand.

"I was getting to that!" The female Grimm Commander turned her head to look at Pyrrha, as the Wyvern straightened out a little, "I planted some seeds of doubt in the Wyvern's mind, so that should be enough for you to get through to it and take control! You still have the power to control Grimm, right?"

"Yes! Thank you for your help, Ziz!" Pyrrha cheered, leaning over to hug the winged Grimm Commander.

Despite herself, Ziz smiled and said, "You're welcome, Pyrrha. You might not remember it, but when you were Fotia, you inspired me to look further into what happened to my team. I found the answers, and that was when I realized Salem had lied to me about what happened to manipulate me, that's why I'm betraying her."

Pyrrha offered her a smile as the Wyvern abruptly performed a barrel roll in the air, forcing Pyrrha to grab onto the straps so she didn't fall out. "Shit! He's really fighting me, he wants you bad!" Ziz told her, "Come on! We've got to try and get you in control of it!"

Pyrrha nodded and carefully crawled up to the head of the saddle as Ziz quickly made room for her, grabbing hold of a chain that would prevent her from totally falling off should the belt straps break. The Spartan strapped herself in and leaned forward, planting her hands on the Wyverns' scaly black skin.

Upon feeling her touch the Wyvern began thrashing about, trying to throw her off, but Pyrrha held firm, her eyes turning deep red as she tried to take control of the Dragon Grimm again by establishing a link into its mind.

"Please listen to me!" She cried out, "I'm so, so sorry I left you behind! Everything happened so fast and my friends and I were in terrible danger, so I did what I could to save them! If I could have gone back for you, I would have! I would have wanted you to help us in our fight against Cinder, but we just couldn't!"

The Wyvern roared in response as it tried to force her off again, but Pyrrha held on tightly, using her Grimm Commander powers to make the Wyvern remember. She wished Jaune was with her, he could use the same power he had used to restore her back to her true self, but this was unfortunately something she had to do herself. She might not have that Semblance, but she could remind the Wyvern of their time together. It was worth a try.

"Come on! You remember me, right?! You trusted me!" Pyrrha shouted as she struggled to keep her link with the Wyvern's mind from breaking, "I know our bond was strained when Jaune saved me, but I can still mend it!"

The Wyvern bucked violently underneath her like a disobedient horse, and Ziz was barely keeping it from throwing them off completely, "I can feel the rage and fear within you! The darkness they filled you with is worse than it was when we first met! I know I hurt you, but I never meant to and for that, I'm so sorry! Please, calm down and listen to me so that together we can truly be a force for good! We can save my friends and those innocent people!"

The Wyvern roared deafeningly as it struggled under her hands, bright red and orange flames building up in its mouth despite Pyrrha hoping that her Grimm Commander powers were still strong enough to sway the Wyvern's mind. The female Spartan was momentarily alarmed by the growing flames, until she remembered what Cinder had previously told her; that once someone became bonded to a Wyvern, its flames could never truly burn them.

Pyrrha could feel through the weak bond that the Wyvern's mind was a chaotic mess of fear, pain and confusion, what she had glimpsed horrified and sickened her The flashes of terrible torture inflicted on it by Salem and Cinder, the latter assaulting it with roaring fire attacks and the Son of Salem cutting out its burned flesh while the corrupted Maiden watched made her want to throw up. These terrible flashes and the chaotic state of its mind reminded Pyrrha of an abused animal that didn't know what was going on or what it had done wrong.

"Please don't fight me!" Pyrrha pleaded as the Wyvern kept struggling against her, but its defiance wasn't as hard as it had been earlier.

"You really think you can do it?" Ziz shouted over the Dragon Grimm's fearsome roars, "I don't want to hurry you, but even with my help the window of opportunity is closing fast!"

"Yes! I can do it! I know I can!" Pyrrha answered as she tightened her grip on the saddle straps, while pouring all her mental strength into the link she had established with the Wyvern's mind, "Our bond is still there! Yes, I left you to suffer alone, but I'm here now! I'm here!"

The Wyvern let out yet another roar, but this one wasn't one of rage.

It was one of sorrow and fear.

"I'm here, I'm here," Pyrrha said gently, her mind slowly making sure her link to the Wyvern's wasn't going to break, "I'm sorry, but I'm here for you now. Salem is your enemy, not me! You're better than Salem. Better than being a Grimm enslaved to her control. You're no monster, you are a dragon! And I promise I will find a way to restore you to your original self! I will!"

Pyrrha didn't know how she would be able to do that, but by the Brothers and Sisters she would do everything in her power to make it a reality. After all, if her friends had taught her anything, it was that nothing was impossible.

---

Down below the other battles were still raging fiercely. Hazel grabbed Wind Runner by the head, smashing him against the center pillar of the Schnee's fountain which caused large cracks to form in the stone before the muscular man pulled the Knight Vanguard out. Despite this, Wind Runner kept pulling the trigger of Cyclone Caress, blasting round after round into Hazel's torso. The huge man roared as he punched the Eternal Warrior's armored stomach twice and despite the protection of the Aegis Armor and his aura, Wind Runner couldn't help but grunt loudly in discomfort before Hazel finally tossed him against the charging Stone Claw and Spirit Dreamer, knocking them both down while Argentius dodged, simultaneously firing salvoes from Iconoclast.

Yatsuhashi sprinted forward as fast as he could and with a mighty swing he slammed Kyodiana Buredo into Hazel's chest, making the brawny bearded man grunt in annoyance as he was suddenly forced back by the strong attack that caused his aura to crackle.

"Impressive, you're quite strong, Daichi." Hazel glared at the samurai.

"So you know who you're dealing with," Yatsuhashi replied as he steadied himself.

"More than you do, boy." Hazel replied as he began to move towards the largest member of Team CFVY.

A golden magical circle suddenly appeared underneath Hazel's armored boots, and the heavy set man suddenly felt himself rooted in place just before Argentius attacked from Hazel's right flank by swinging Iconoclast hard into his torso. He managed to slice off a substantial chunk of Hazel's aura before he grabbed the Knight Champion by the upper right arm and slammed him to the ground before stomping his left boot onto the small of Argentius's back. Yatsuhashi shot forward and attacked again, but Hazel caught the blade of Kyodiana Buredo and then forced it downwards before his other arm shot out and grabbed Yatsuhashi by the neck, squeezing it painfully as he managed to lift the tall young Huntsman off the ground. Seeing her elder brother in danger, Soul Seer waved her gold staff and several more magical circles appeared above Hazel which launched bolts of magical blasts at him which caused Hazel to hurriedly block a yellow beam with his free arm which nearly hit his face.

Nearby, Klein saw Gretchen ducking behind a pillar from stray lasers and bullets which rained around her from the Grimm Knights. While she was far from a weakling, the Schnee butler knew she wasn't prepared for an all-out war like this. At worst, she'd be outright killed.

"Gretchen!" He shouted over to her, "Get back inside!"

Hazel, upon hearing that name, hesitated briefly with his grip on Yatsuhashi's neck loosening. Then a chance blast of energy from Soul Seer's staff Life's Requiem impacted him heavily on the chest, knocking him back slightly.

Sage suddenly leapt into action, shoving Pilgrim's rifle form into Hazel's face and pulled the trigger, emptying nearly an entire clip of ammo into the head of Salem's agent with his aura flaring brightly with each impact. Hazel dropped Yatsuhashi, who rammed his right leg into Rainart's gut even as Coco, Velvet, Neptune, Eastwood and Hawk Shot opened fire with their weapons, blasting him off of Argentius, who rolled out of the way and got back to his feet with Iconoclast in its twin scythes configuration.

"What just happened?" Velvet wondered, "Why did he freeze up?"

"That name, Gretchen? It was his sister's name, he blamed Ozpin for her death," Eastwood explained, mentally piecing together what was driving his former friend to take part in such evil. He moved forward cautiously, all six arms of Six Shooter taking aim at Hazel along with the others, "That's it, isn't it, Hazel? You sold your soul to avenge your sister? What would she think of you now?"

Hazel shot up, grabbing two of Six Shooter's arms and ripping them off, the robotic nubs of the arms spewing sparks as the remaining four, plus Eastwood's own revolvers, fired into Hazel's chest. Argentius and Wind Runner both leapt at him with their weapon striking Salem's agent hard, but their blows didn't do any other serious damage than slicing and damaging chunks of his aura which protected Hazel's face and body.

"Hazel, stop and think!" Eastwood shouted, "Would Gretchen want this?! Would Brielle?"

Hazel growled, those names forcing painful memories to flood into his mind. He suddenly charged forward and grabbed Eastwood by the neck, his voice simmering with quiet rage as he growled at the mustached surgeon, "Mention their names to me again and I'll end you, Wayne."

"You're a daisy if you do…" Eastwood rasped out before Six Shooter's remaining mechanical arms opened fire at Hazel, and then Velvet jumped in with Anesidora creating a large copy of Magnhild while Yatsuhashi lobbed Fox over at the same time. Fox's foot collided into Hazel's face while Velvet slammed her recreation of Magnhild into the huge man's side, freeing Eastwood as Hazel was knocked onto his side.

Argentius, Snow Blade, Wind Runner and several other Remnant Knights charged Hazel as he got back up, dodging his Dust-charged punches and kicks while Velvet and Fox helped Eastwood get clear.

"Looks like everyone's piling in to fight him…I almost feel sorry for Hazel." The surgeon muttered.

"I haven't seen anyone take so many brutal hits and still be standing!" Velvet looked at Fox, "Can he even feel pain?!"

"Maybe invulnerability is his Semblance." Fox replied as he saw Hazel punch Stone Claw in the stomach, sending the Eternal Warrior crashing onto the ground while Spear Dancer smashed the pommel of her spear into Hazel's neck.

"Concentrate your attacks! He's not invincible!" Snow Blade shouted to the other Remnant Knights as they engaged Salem's agent, "I let Salem's pawns get the better of me before. Never again!"

The Knight Vanguard drove himself forward, slashing his sword against the muscular man. He managed to get some painful hits in before Hazel suddenly grabbed Snow Blade by the shoulders and despite the weight of his Aegis armor, performed a stunning suplex and slammed the Winter Templar into the pavement hard before both Argentius and Soul Seer forced him off their fellow Knight by blasting him relentlessly with bullets and magical projectiles, with help from Wind Runner and Hawk Shot.

"I wouldn't want to go up against him in a one-on-one fight!" Velvet mentioned as she and Fox pulled Eastwood into cover with the remaining arms of Six Shooter. Sage and Yatsuhashi blocked any stray bullets and lasers coming from the nearby Grimm Knights with their large blades, while Coco reduced any Grimm or black and red robots to scrap with powerful salvoes from Gianduja.

"No one ever did, and he was one of the strongest students to ever attend Beacon." Eastwood told them as he wiped away a trickle of blood from mouth.

"What happened to him? Did he lose someone precious to him because of the Grimm?" Fox speculated.

"I'm sorry to say that's the truth. Hazel lost his sister and some friends on a mission and he blamed Ozpin for it. Life hasn't been kind to Hazel…and life can be quite cruel. I mean, take those refugees in there, the recent attacks were quite a nasty shock, most people in the cities had never even seen a Grimm in the flesh before, probably thought they never would. Then Salem launched her attacks, making those nightmares a terrifying reality. Life can be hideous, you know; it eats, it spits, and if you'll pardon the expression, my dear," Eastwood quickly said to Velvet before he continued, "It shits…life can be a very ugly thing, but it can also be beautiful."

"I suppose you have a good point, Doc." Velvet remarked, before she and Fox were suddenly kicked down from behind by Mercury with his dual ranged shotgun boots. He jumped over Eastwood and turned to fight, only to be faced with six guns being pointed straight at him.

"If you so much as whistle, I'll blast you to hell, boy." Eastwood said calmly with a glare.

Mercury smirked, "Big words coming from an old geezer."

Eastwood's eyes widened as Velvet and Fox got up, "Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!"

Six Shooter's remaining guns fired all at once, Mercury quickly zigzagged away from the bullets whizzing his way before running forward. He shot off a front kick which hit Eastwood hard in the latter's chest, shouting, "No one calls my mother a bitch!"

Eastwood crashed into the snow, with the silver-haired assassin about to deliver a downward ax kick on him when Velvet attacked with a copy of Flameguard which forced Mercury to switch targets. Fox leapt over the Rabbit Faunus, lashing out with Sharp Retribution which Cinder's disciple barely dodged.

Mercury glared at Eastwood while the surgeon sat up, one hand over his chest. "You can insult my father all you want, but leave my mother out of it!" Mercury shouted

Eastwood smirked as he saw Mercury block Velvet and Fox's attacks and nodded, "Very well, you have my sincere apologies! Son of a bastard, then?"

Mercury couldn't help but grin back, before he was sent flying by Velvet punching him with her copies of Ember Celica.

Not far away from them Winter engaged Steppenwolffe in a fierce duel, the latter relentlessly swinging his sword into Winter's blades. The elder Schnee sister expertly parried strike after strike from the Grimm Commander before she managed to get behind him, spinning around to kick him between the shoulder blades. Steppenwolffe whipped around and smashed his fist into her cheek even as Winter parried another swing of his sword.

They traded eight more blows of clanging swords before Steppenwolffe charged past Winter and pivoted lightning-fast, attempting to slash his sword up her back, but the Specialist quickly back-parried it with both her weapons before delivering an elbow jab on his chin. Steppenwolffe then dropped, kicking out with both legs as he did so, one sweeping Winter's legs out from under her.

Winter fell onto her back and Steppenwolffe charged forward to drive his sword into her, but she parried it while rolling into his legs which caused the Grimm Commander to collapse on top of her. The two wrestled for control, with Steppenwolffe using his free gauntlet-covered hand to claw at Winter's face while snarling at her. She cried out in pain when the Grimm Commander's sharp fingernails scratched down her cheeks, before driving a knee into his torso. She quickly flung herself backwards, getting up and turning aside a thrust from Steppenwolffe that was aimed at her neck. She shot forward and inflicted a roundhouse kick, bringing the Grimm Commander to one knee, just as he flipped over and retaliated with kicks to her chest and face.

Winter went on the defensive, fending off more of the Grimm Commander's forceful attacks before she sidestepped his lunge and then whirled around, slashing her rapier up his back which made Steppenwolffe roar out in pain.

"Rrrghhh… You're a respectable fighter, Schnee. I've dreamt of effortlessly slaughtering your family for years, but I can see that it won't be so easy." He growled at her.

"No it won't," Winter answered, "I can't apologize enough for what my ancestors did to you, but I can tell that you're not interested in forgiveness. Nevertheless, I won't let the old sins ruin what we're trying to build here."

At that moment, several Beowolves jumped in to attack Winter from her flanks and behind. The Specialist instantly bobbed and weaved away, slicing at their limbs, bringing down a couple of them. Steppenwolffe seized the opportunity and lunged forward with his sword, exchanging a number of sword blows before cutting his blade across Winter's waist which made her cry out in pain. Before she could summon a glyph, the Grimm Commander grabbed a fistful of Winter's ashen hair and punched her in the face, causing her aura to crackle. Winter managed to force herself free by slashing at Steppenwolffe's face and neck, getting some hair strands ripped out in the process. She used her two blades formed from her bifurcated saber to cut down the other Beowolves charging at her, before fighting Steppenwolffe again as more Grimm moved to support him.

Steppenwolffe growled fiercely as he charged at her with several Grimm at either side of him, and Winter ran to meet him after stabbing the ground with one of her swords which formed a glyph that formed a flock of medium-sized Nevermores to fly alongside her, no visible of sign of fear in her eyes.

"Specialist Schnee!" Central called out through his helmet's external speakers, his multi-purpose assault rifle expelling bullets into a number of Grimm creatures that were charging at her, giving Winter a slight reprieve.

"There's no need to worry about Specialist Schnee, Commander!" Penny said from nearby as she used her arm cannon to fire a bolt of green energy that blasted the head off of a Catoblepas, "She can handle the Grimm Commander on her own!"

"She's right, you don't get to be a Specialist if you can't hold your own in a fight," Fieros told his commander as he helped Penny out, using his plasma repeater rifle to shoot down the bovine Grimm.

N1CK3L didn't say anything as he was focusing on taking out several dangerous Grimm and the heavily-armed Grimm Knights, the gatling guns and twin beam rifle of his Mark II Full Armor Defense System wiping out over two dozen Grimm beasts within a matter of seconds. Swerving around, the android fired off missiles from the shoulder-mounted missile pod on his right shoulder to blow off the wings of a Griffon that was flying down towards them. Central mag-locked his assault rifle before drawing out his sword, triggering its laser cutting edge, he sprinted up a piece of nearby debris and leapt upwards at the falling Griffon, slicing it in half before landing down and repeating the process on an Ursa which fell apart in two halves severed diagonally.

Central stood back up just as his helmet sensors pinged an alarm, informing him that some Boarbatusks were attempting to rush him. Thankfully N1CK3L and Javelin made short work of the boar-like Grimm, blasting most of them to fading black dust. Central casually sidestepped the alpha Boarbatusk before shortly decapitating it with a quick swing of his claymore.

"Grimm Knights at one o'clock!" Fieros cried out through the squad communication channel as a group of five Grimm Knights flew by, their weapons spitting out waves of bullets and lasers at the various members of Task Force Omega. Central ducked away, sliding his claymore back into its sheath and taking aim with his assault rifle, he squeezed the trigger in short bursts, shooting at the jetpack of the nearest Grimm Knight. The robot's jetpack exploded in a burst of flames and it fell to the ground with a loud crash and before it could get up, Penny slammed all of her swords into its damaged back and limbs before ripping it apart, reducing the robot to a pile of scrap.

The other Grimm Knights began firing at Penny, who quickly returned fire with some of her swords changing their configuration into guns. Central drilled bullets into one Grimm Knight, but became curious once he noticed they were more or less ignoring him.

"Something's not right, they're not shooting directly at me," Central noted as his bullets punched into another Grimm Knight, "It's like they're avoiding me."

"Maybe they're scared of you. I mean, you do have one hell of a reputation." Javelin quipped as he sniped the head off another Grimm Knight, but the robot's body still walked forward while firing its weapons at full-auto.

"Not enough of one to send those killer robots flying away from me," Central replied, before a small idea came to his mind.

He sprinted towards the nearest squad of Atlesian soldiers, just as one trooper dropped to his knees, falling over dead after a laser beam broke through his aura and tore a gaping hole through his helmet-covered head, skull and all. With a series of quick hand signals, he ordered the squad sergeant to scatter his soldiers while maintaining gunfire towards the Grimm Knights. Still pumping bullets into the robots, the commander of Task Force Omega soon came up in front of the sergeant and the soldiers that remained with him, and what happened next made Central frown behind his helmet's faceplate.

The Grimm Knights in front of them lowered their rate of weapons fire almost immediately, while the rest switched targets to other Atlesian military forces present in the field even as they began to slowly withdraw from the engagement. The Grimm still surged forward in their bloodlust to tear into flesh, only to be completely slaughtered by the weapons fire coming from the squads of Atlesian soldiers and Task Force Omega.

Switching to the communication channel used by the Omega Troopers, Central called out, "Focus on the Grimm Knights! For some reason, they're not attacking me, we can use this to our advantage!"

"Any idea why?" The sergeant asked loudly.

"No, but it sure looks like something we can exploit!" The leader of Task Force Omega replied.

Invictus, Javelin, Shocker, Fieros and N1CK3L all focused on destroying the Grimm Knights that were in the vicinity. They were quickly joined by Penny, who kept any Grimm from getting near them, even blasting some Nevermores from the sky with her lasers as they ran over to an area where Sherizawa and the most heavily armed and armored Grimm Knights were clustered.

At first sight Central knew that the Grimm Knights that stood with the scientist was likely the heaviest variant encountered, almost the size of N1CK3L even in his armored battlesuit. Invictus and N1CK3L both fired their missiles at the group, but the upgraded versions of Grimm Knights blasted most of them down. One missile zipped towards Sherizawa who leaned away, then caught the missile by the fin on its rear. He quickly swung it around, sending the wayward missile flying into a nearby group of brand new Atlesian Knight-300s, blowing the robotic foot soldiers to smithereens.

Most of the Grimm Knights flew off, but Task Force Omega didn't let all of them escape. Fieros aimed down his scope at the closest robot, letting loose a barrage of blue bolts from his plasma rifle into the Grimm Knight's torso and shoulders. As it fell towards the ground, Penny jumped in and helped to finish it off by thrusting two of her swords through its visor.

N1CK3L's shield shimmered as several rockets impacted on it from the heavy variants of the Grimm Knights, before he jumped up on his thrusters and slammed into one, knocking it onto the ground. As the Grimm Knight struggled to get back up again, N1CK3L wrenched one of its weapon arms aside and fired into its head and torso with his twin beam rifle and wrist-mounted gatling guns at point blank range, causing its head to explode. The headless Grimm Knight gripped onto N1CK3L's arm and tried to rise, so the android member of Task Force Omega tore open its armored chest and blasted into the exposed interior components of the enemy robot, making it explode in a shower of hot shrapnel and flames.

"Impressive design, but not unexpected." Sherizawa said with some admiration as he looked at N1CK3L easily dismantling the upgraded Grimm Knight. He brought up the arm-mounted laser cannon to aim at the enhanced tactical android, but a proximity warning pinged on his system's scanners which made the technology scientist turn around.

Central fired several armor-piercing rounds impacted onto his front which rocked the Atlas Armor backward a little, making Sherizawa frown in annoyance. He punched his armored battlesuit's huge fist at Central, but the Commander of Task Force Omega forced his way through the powerful blow which slightly dented the one side of his custom armor. With one quick movement he drew out his claymore in one hand and with his customized revolver in the other, Central attacked. He swung his long blade which forced Sherizawa to duck while he unloaded more bullets into the chest plate of the modified Atlas Armor. The Atlesian Commander swung his sword, trying to cut off the Atlas Armor's right hand, but Sherizawa caught Central's arm and punched him in the helmet with his metal fist.

Central grunted, thankful that his helmet protected his head from a serious concussion. He swung himself to the left and jammed his customized revolver at the helmet of Sherizawa's Atlas Armor, and pulled the trigger. There was a series of loud gunshots, the bullets impacting against the thick glass plating of the Atlas Armor's visor which caused spider web-like cracks to form. Temporarily blinded, Sherizawa inadvertently released the Atlesian Commander who seized the opening by activating the laser edge of his claymore sword and swinging it hard at the Atlas Armor's body. A long orange line appeared on the upgraded battlesuit's torso, making Sherizawa fall back as certain systems went offline. However, the scientist was still far from helpless as he retaliated with a powerful haymaker which Central barely blocked. The Task Force's commander backed away cautiously as the fist of the Atlas Armor suddenly fell out, revealing it was attached to a huge chain. Sherizawa flung it towards Central, who dodged the metal fist while returning fire.

"Mistress Salem wants you to be kept alive, but that doesn't mean I have to spare you from a painful beating." Sherizawa said through his helmet's external speakers.

Central shifted into another stance with his claymore sword angled to the side while pointing his revolver at his adversary, getting ready for another bout, "And why would Salem want me alive?"

"I'm afraid that's something you'll have to discover for yourself." Sherizawa answered as he shot out his chain fist to grab a chunk of a Grimm Knight's remains and then sent it flying at Central, who dove out of the way. He sprinted towards Sherizawa, firing his revolver at the joints of the Atlas Armor before stomping his boot down on the long metal chain and pulling on it hard to make the traitorous scientist stumble towards him.

Central swung hard, aiming to plunge the claymore sword into the helmet's visor, but Sherizawa swung his other fist up at the Atlesian Commander's head which he just managed to block in time. As Central brought up his revolver once more, his opponent kicked him hard in the gut that sent him crashing onto his back. Before Sherizawa could activate his arm cannon, a barrage of missiles fired by Invictus slammed against the back of his Atlas Armor which caused him to rock forward. A series of plasma bolts smashed into the weakened armor plates on his chest and torso, making Sherizawa cry out as Fieros came at him. Unfortunately, the Omega Trooper got too close which caused him to be grabbed by the Atlas Armor, getting his helmet smashed by the head of Sherizawa's battlesuit. Fieros cried out in pain, just as he received a mighty punch from the Atlas Armor's huge fist that sent him hurtling into Central.

Shocker and Invictus tried to retaliate, but Sherizawa kicked the team's medic hard enough that he went flying into Penny. He then grabbed Invictus' arm, yanking it down hard enough to make the Polar Bear Faunus let out a loud cry of pain. Sherizawa crashed his other fist into Invictus's chest, then stomach, followed by punching him in the face and finally kicking him away.

Before Sherizawa could do anything else, he found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of heavy firepower from both N1CK3L and Javelin, who blasted him with everything they had. Sherizawa groaned as he stumbled away while shedding pieces of ruptured armor plates, only to find himself fired on from all sides as Central, Fieros, Shocker and Penny all opened up on him with their respective weapons.

Just when they thought they had the scientist where they wanted him, a large cluster of Tarantula Widows skittered towards them with Anansi riding on top of one of them. The Grimm Commander leapt at N1CK3L, colliding with and trapping him under large globs of webbing before jumping away quickly to avoid being hit by Penny's swords.

Sherizawa retreated as the Tarantula Widows provided cover for him, their webs shooting out at the members of Task Force Omega, who did their best to shoot back and cut down the arachnid Grimm.

Not too far away, Sheer Kaa was commanding the Grimm from behind the cover of the VTOL Transport's wreckage, watching as the remaining members of Team Beacon, the Remnant Knights and the Atlesian military forces did everything they could to fight them off.

He looked up and back at the Resolute, wondering how the mission above was going, but his eyes widened as he saw something rush by overhead.

"Incoming!" Neo cried as she saw Weiss plummeting onto the courtyard transformed into a battlefield, upon her Sphinx Summon.

The white Sphinx crashed into a group of Grimm, crushing them underneath before Weiss dispelled it while jumping off towards a Grimm Knight. With all her strength, she plunged Myrtenaster downwards into the robot's visor, angling it so that her blade went down all the way to the hilt before triggering the Ice Dust cartridge within her weapon. Large shards of ice burst through the entire Grimm Knight, destroying its internal mechanisms and causing it to shatter.

Blake ran over to Weiss with Sun and Neptune, with the blond Faunus asking "Did they get onto the Resolute?"

"Yes, it's done!" Weiss confirmed as she took a few quick breaths, considerably drained from the effort of summoning the Sphinx and flying it through the chaotic battle above. She looked over, relieved to see that Lefko was all right, moving speedily and eviscerating various Grimm in the area, the soulless beasts unsure what to do with a real creature that they couldn't properly feed off of.

"Think they'll be okay up there?" Neptune inquired as he used Tri-Hard to shoot at an Ursa that attempted to bodyslam Lefko.

"Knowing them? They'll be fine and pull off some miraculous victory. Maybe this time we'll really take Cinder down." Blake remarked.

"Behind you! Red Fang!" Sun shouted suddenly, shoving Blake out of the way and striking at opponents the others couldn't see.

Weiss and Blake looked at each other, both saying at once, "It's Emerald!"

Blake quickly spotted the mocha-skinned illusionist, who was crouching behind one of the larger trees, looking directly at them. Weiss quickly used a glyph to help the Black Cat Faunus rush forward, but Emerald caught sight of her just in time and quickly blocked the swing of Gambol Shroud's katana form using the sickles of the Thief's Respites.

With her concentration broken, Emerald's illusion faded away and Sun snapped out of it as he attacked thin air with the combined form of Ruyi and Jingu Bang, "Huh? What happened? Where'd they go?"

"They were never here. It's Emerald." Neptune quickly explained as he fired on some Grimm that were turning towards them.

"Damn it! Should've known that she was messing with us!" Sun groaned before he quickly used his staff like a golf club to send a Jackalope flying into Snow Blade's sword, where it was impaled.

Emerald attacked Blake vigorously, the Black Cat Faunus had to work hard to deflect the sickles before the mint-haired thief slammed both Thief's Respites against the side of Blake's weapon hard enough to tear it out of her hands. Emerald didn't waste any time, opening fire at Blake and forcing her to duck and dodge the blasts, with an Atlesian soldier getting hit by a wayward bullet. She eventually managed to hit Blake, only for the feline ninja to burst into nothing as the real Blake threw herself at Emerald, shoving her down onto the cold pavement of the driveway and punching her face, making Emerald's aura crackle. Blake got on top of the thief to pin her down, but Emerald slashed the blade of a Thief's Respite across Blake's chest before she bashed the butt of the other revolver-sickle into Blake's forehead, forcing the Faunus off of her.

Cinder's disciple quickly got up and kicked Blake in the chest but before she could start shooting again, Weiss came to the rescue, sliding Myrtenaser's blade across Emerald's back and eliciting a cry of surprise and pain from the thief. The younger Schnee sister grabbed the back of Emerald's beige coat and tossed her towards Sun, who clobbered the mocha-skinned girl in the belly with his weapon. Blake retrieved Gambol Shroud, sprung up agilely and kicked Emerald in the side, knocking her into the snow across the driveway.

That's when Mercury arrived, covering Emerald while his partner pushed herself up and wiped her mouth of any blood and spit. He crouched down into a defensive position, ready to spring into action and assault them with a series of kicks, when all of a sudden Anastasia slid onto the scene. She extended her hands to grab her Chakrams which flew back to her, as Amethyst and Neo joined the group from the left and Klein from the right.

"Miss Weiss,thank goodness you're all right. We've ensured Lefko is safe," Klein reported.

"Thank you, Klein," Weiss replied before turning her attention to Emerald, Mercury and Anastasia "Are you three willing to surrender?"

"In your dreams, Schnee bitch!" Anastasia spat venomously before she activated the Rock Dust within her Chakrams, sending waves of dangerously thin but still hardened rocks shooting out at them. Sun, Blake, Weiss, Amethyst and Neptune used their weapons to fend off the sharpened rocks while Mercury leapt over the masked blonde, his mechanical boot hitting Sun's chest with a reverse roundhouse kick, sending the Monkey Faunus sprawling onto his back. He then spun around and delivered a spinning high back kick which impacted Blake in the gut, followed by firing into her stomach to knock the Faunus down while Emerald blasted away at Neo and Klein.

Weiss and Amethyst rushed to take on Anastasia, who smirked as she went on the offensive, having the Dust Chambers of her Chakrams rotate and send out waves of fire, ice, electricity and rock as she assaulted the pair, forcing the two young women to defend themselves. They both tried to get past the blonde's defenses, but Anastasia was moving fast enough to block their attacks. The trio of combatants moved past the trees while exchanging a staggering, rapid twenty-four blows before Weiss managed to pin down one of the chakrams with Myrtenaster.

Amethyst seized the initiative, surging forward and gritting her teeth as she took a slice of the other Chakram through her coat sleeve and taking out a chunk of her aura, but the Maiden ignored it as she slammed the hilt of Gembreaker against her enemy's forehead and shattering the mask.

Anastasia cried out, her aura shining bright on her head even as she fell back. A trickle of blood oozed from a cut from her forehead, which ran down her face before her aura healed the small wound.

"Who are you?" Amethyst demanded to know, transforming Gembreaker into its bow form and aiming a trio of Dust arrows at her.

Anastasia seethed at the pair as she rose, glaring at them both. Weiss squinted her eyes, realizing that the woman was strangely familiar but she couldn't quite place her face. Anastasia was actually quite pretty, she wouldn't look out of place among the young women of Atlesian high society…

Then it clicked. An older girl who was very pretty and would look down on her with a jealous expression or a look of obviously fake friendliness. The very same girl who had seemingly vanished after her family's company had been taken over by the Schnees, not even appearing at her father's funeral.

"Anastasia Bloom?!" Weiss cried out

"Oh, so you do remember me, I'm honored," Anastasia remarked, her voice thick with sarcasm.

"You know her?" Amethyst asked, confusion evident in her voice as she glanced at Weiss.

"The S.D.C. bought out her family's company years ago! Anastasia, what happened to you?! How did you get involved in this?!" Weiss questioned her.

"Your family destroyed mine, Schnee," Anastasia spat back with venom in her voice, "Your ruthless father and his cronies ousted my father from our company, tried to settle with a pittance! So I agreed to join Salem since she promised me the power to avenge ourselves against the other elites of Atlas like your family who ruined us and then cast us aside! Once I get the Maiden powers, I'll make you and your family suffer beyond measure!"

She aimed her chakrams behind her, blasted herself forward while throwing out a spinning attack while cutting down Amethyst's trio arrows and knocking away Myrtenaster. Anastasia brutally kicked Weiss in the stomach, making the ashen haired heiress cry in pain despite her aura protecting her. A second kick, this time a roundhouse one, knocked Weiss into the snow after her opponent dodged several thrusts from Myrtenaster.

Anastasia pressed her attack on the Spring Maiden, the two combatants swinging their blades in wild arcs, clashing over a dozen times before Amethyst ducked under the chakrams and lunged her weapon at Anastasia's hip. However, the blonde moved fast enough to parry the strike before jabbing her chakrams forward. Amethyst blocked one strike after another before she did a feint, making the revenge-driven blonde go on the defense and allowing the Spring Maiden to kick her leg up abruptly, her boot crashing into Anastasia's stomach before she swung Gembreaker in its sword form, cutting across her opponent's coat and making her aura flare.

Anastasia snarled furiously and surged forward, moving like a woman possessed. Her chakrams and Gembreaker clashed forcefully a dozen more times before the blonde tried to slam both of her weapons down on purple-haired Maiden, but Amethyst caught them with Gembreaker and pushed back as green lights in the shape of leaves shone around her eyes.

With a cry Amethyst shoved Anastasia off and then drove a powerful fist into the side of the blonde's head, making her scream as she was sent tumbling away for several meters by the brutal force of the punch.

"Amethyst, are you okay?" Weiss called as Klein helped her up, the butler scanning around with his rifle clutched in his other hand.

"I'm good!" Amethyst shouted back as Anastasia recovered, gritting her teeth and seething furiously when she saw the Spring Maiden smirking at her.

"So, you wanna steal my powers? You'll have to try harder than that!" The Spring Maiden declared before she charged directly at her foe. Anastasia did not back down and raced ahead to meet Amethyst head on.

Just as Weiss moved to help her, she saw a familiar figure crashing against a nearby tree and fell to the packed snow piled beneath her, grunting in pain as her aura crackled all over her body.

"Winter!" Weiss cried out with concern, "Are you all right?!" Klein rushed over, quickly helping the elder Schnee sister up.

"I'm fine," Winter answered before she glared at the approaching form of Steppenwolffe marching towards them with a pack of Beowolves loping at his side like loyal dogs.

"Ah good, both of the Schnee witches together in one place," Steppenwolffe snarled, "After I'm through with you, I'll force your father to look upon your corpses, so he understands my pain before I kill him."

Weiss and Winter glanced at each other, wordlessly agreeing to face him together. The Specialist gently shrugged off Klein's arm and gripped tight onto her rapier before walking beside Weiss. They both shifted into combat stances, weapons out and ready for another bout. Klein didn't back down, reloading the old rifle and taking aim at the nearest snarling Beowolf, while Lefko came to join them, growling fiercely at the one who dared to harm his owners. The tiger's luscious white and black fur was stained with black dust from the Grimm creatures it had killed.

Steppenwolffe pointed his sword at them and growled an order, commanding his Beowolves to charge. The Schnee sisters and their faithful servant didn't flinch away and met their foes head on.

---

Back on the Resolute, Specialist Blair stood with a group of eight security troopers in front of the ship's brig; and two more soldiers were inside to keep the prisoners secure. "Blair, this is Yin!" His fellow Specialist's voice came over the communicator, "I'm looking at the security feed, Branch and the Son have escaped from Ace Ops and are almost at your location! Ace Ops are on the way, but you'll be on your own for a few minutes! I'm trying to send help, but those Manticores are raising hell!"

"We'll do what we can to hold them off until help arrives!" Blair replied as he readied his weapon.

"There they are, sir!" A security trooper shouted as the pair appeared around a bend. They all opened fire, but Thorn teleported away and reappeared behind them, attacking the rear guard with a pistol shot right to the face that sent a spray of blood flying across the walls. She used the blade hidden in her robotic arm to slash him across the chest before performing a flipping kick that sent another security trooper flying. Blair charged forward bringing down his collapsible sword in a quick slash, only for Thorn to teleport away.

The Son of Salem ran forward, avoiding bullets flying his way and deflecting them with his sword as he reached for one of four small cylinder-like objects hanging on his belt.

"Grenade!" A security trooper beside Blair screamed as the Son lobbed it at them. The other guards all tried to scramble away, but the frag grenade went off and sent them crashing into the walls. Most of them were severely injured or knocked unconscious, save for Blair and one other guard who managed to hide behind a riot shield. The security trooper forced himself up quickly, just in time to use his rifle to block a downward swing from Chaos Edge, but the Son just sliced through it before slamming the hilt of his dark sword into the security trooper's helmet, shattering the visor. The soldier stumbled backward and was kicked into the wall before the edge of Chaos Edge sliced open his throat and left him gurgling blood as he died painfully.

Blair could hear Thorn fighting the other guards inside of the brig, but he couldn't do anything about that. He had to fight the Son, and try to avenge those people at Borealis Base. Blair ran forward with his sword, but the dark-armored warrior easily parried his attacks before ducking under a swing that was aimed high and then rammed Chaos Edge across Blair's stomach. The Atlesian Specialist stumbled back and tried to bring up his pistol which was unfortunately cut in half by the Son's black sword, and received a fist right into his face. He stumbled towards the ground, aura flaring as the Son's knee knocked hard into Blair's chest sending him stumbling back.

The Son followed it up with several vicious swings of his blade, knocking Blair's own sword out of his hand before he rammed Chaos Edge into the Specialist's chest hard enough to shatter his aura, making Blair scream in agony. Blood spilled down Blair's uniform as the Son shoved him closer into the wall before he released the sword, grabbed Blair's head and twisted it around in one swift movement, snapping his neck with a loud crack.

He removed the bloodied Chaos Edge from Blair's motionless body, allowing the dead Specialist to collapse onto the floor as the brig's main doors opened up to reveal Thorn with the pair of security guards lying dead behind her. The assassin's shirt and wrist-blade were stained with blood, and she flicked away a few drops before saying, "Nice work, now let's finish this up so I can get another shot at that stuck-up Maiden."

The Son said nothing and walked inside, looking at the barred and heavily shielded Hard-Light Dust cells that contained the prisoners.

"Thorn," Odinson said while breathing heavily, "I suppose it's fitting she'd send you to kill me. After all, she found you through me."

"And I'm really grateful for that, Garrett. I mean, I do feel bad about this, the good old days and all that, but a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do. You understand." Thorn replied.

Odinson nodded gravely, "I understand."

Crawford shoved Nordstrom and Kenzo out of the way, bringing his face as close to the shields as he said, "Look, I don't understand what the hell's going on, but if you get us out of here, we'll make it worth your while!"

"Yes! Please release us!" Nordstrom added.

Thorn looked at them, smirking, "Really? You're the murderous shitheads who had all those Faunus slaves slaughtered to cover your tracks, and even to someone like me, that's downright horrible. From what I understand, the Atlesian authorities have frozen all your accounts and pretty much everyone, even your own families, want you dead, so what could you possibly have to offer us?"

"Dust supplies," Kenzo said quickly, "We can pay whoever you work for with significant amounts of Dust."

"Yes, exactly! We have a couple of warehouses of Dust that's marked down as machinery storage facilities, no one else at the S.D.C. knows about it, not even the Schnees! All kinds of Dust; Fire, Ice, Gravity, Electricity, you name it! The employees who transported the supplies there thought it was Schnee's idea to keep supplies hidden from our rivals and enemies!" Crawford hurriedly explained, "We kept it around as a little extra nest-egg should we lose our jobs or our less savory activities got exposed. We can give you the location and the codes to access it!"

While this was happening, none of the three men noticed a Raven perched on the edge right outside their cell's viewport window.

Thorn smirked as Odinson spoke up, "Don't do it, you stupid bastards! If you help them, you're just digging yourselves deeper into hell, believe me!"

"Shut up, Odinson! They're here to kill you, but this is our ticket out of here!" Crawford spat as Thorn took out her scroll.

"Very well, tell us where these warehouses are and we'll set you free." Thorn told them.

The three men wasted no time, telling her the locations and the codes to the sub-basement and the various vaults hidden there. "Thank you, my Mistress will be very happy to know about this." Thorn said as she retrieved a remote-like device taken from a dead guard to shut down the shields and raise the bars.

"Thank you! You won't regret this!" Crawford said as he took one step out, only to be punched back into the cell by the Son, who casually removed the assault rifle that had been slung over his back.

"N-no!" Nordstrom cried out in fear.

"Wh-what are you doing? We had a deal!" Crawford shouted angrily.

"Idiots! I tried to warn you!" Odinson yelled, knowing what would happen next.

"You really should've listened to him. Sorry, but the Red Fang work for us and my Mistress decided to reward their hard work by executing you three for crimes against their kind." Thorn explained, a sadistic grin on her face.

"Wait, you're making a mistake!" Kenzo objected with panic in his voice, "We can make it worth your while if you let us live! We have connections, are good with finances-"

"Sorry, orders are orders." Thorn said as the Son took aim at them.

The three men screamed in horror, begging for someone to save them. Nordstrom even began praying to Oum and the Brothers and Sisters for mercy and forgiveness, even asking them to watch over for his daughter. Kenzo tried to take up the cot to use as a shield while Crawford approached the Son, grabbing him desperately and screaming "You can't do this to me! I can't die like this! Don't you know who I am?! I'm Alan Craw-"

The Son shoved Crawford away and opened fire, blasting through his chest. Due to the Aura Dampeners built into the walls of the cell, the men had literally nothing to protect them from the blasts. Odinson looked away from the cold- executions, clenching his eyes shut as he heard their brief screams being quickly cut off as the Son shot them all to death.

"Couldn't have happened to nicer assholes. That'll really make Hui and his crew happy," Thorn remarked before she looked back at Odinson. She sighed and looked away, "I'm sorry, Odinson. I really am, but if I don't do this, Salem won't be happy."

Odinson swallowed dryly and nodded, "It's okay, I understand. Just take care of yourself, and be careful. Salem will probably toss you aside the moment you cease to be useful."

"Yeah, I know, so I need to prove my worth." Thorn said as she tapped a button on the cell controls remote to open his cell. The Son stalked forward, taking aim at the imprisoned crime boss.

Odinson sighed and straightened himself up, facing his executioner calmly. He was going to face death with dignity. He only regretted that he couldn't see Nora one last time before his death, even though he knew she wouldn't want to see him at all.

The Son fired four shots at Odinson's torso, he cried out as the impact blew him back onto the cot with blood splattering all over the cell's floor and walls. The Son took aim to finish him off, when all of a sudden Fetch collided into his side, knocking him off balance.

"Stop!" A voice shouted, which made Thorn turn and look out of the entrance at the hallway leading to the brig. She scowled, seeing the members of Ace Ops, Ren and Nora all running towards them with their weapons already raised.

---

Crawford, Nordstrom and Kenzo found themselves standing over their own bodies, which were badly shot up with holes blown through their torsos with blood seeping out all over the brig's floor.

"Wh-what's ha-happening?" Crawford asked with confusion in his voice.

"You're dead," Came a woman's voice. The three turned to see a rather attractive yet stern-looking woman with dark hair that Crawford noticed bore an uncanny resemblance to Weiss' blonde teammate.

"That's impossible! There's no such thing as the afterlife!" Kenzo objected in alarm.

"Oh really? Then how do you explain the fact that you're standing over your own corpses?" Raven crossed her arms as she asked him, "I'm here to guide you three to your final destination."

"And where is that? Hell?" Crawford demanded nervously.

"Oh no, not hell. Though you fully deserve it, your actions were far too atrocious for even that place. No, you're going to a special void called the Nothing," Raven informed them, "However, you won't be alone, there's someone in there who will make the rest of eternity a living hell for you. You might remember him; Adam Taurus, the boy you three transformed into a monster. Now it's time to come with me."

"No…NO!" Screamed Crawford as he tried to run, but it was no use. There was no escaping his fate, especially not when Raven Branwen was there to guide his cold-blooded soul to the only place he deserved to be.

Despite everything Adam had done, Raven felt that he deserved a chance to punish the men who had ruined his life and had callously butchered his family and so many other innocent Faunus. One thing was for certain, Adam would have until the end of time itself to exact his revenge on Crawford, Kenzo and Nordstrom.

Over and over again.

---

Atop the Resolute, Heliosia and Cinder ran directly at each other. With a blast of fire from her hands the Summer Maiden launched herself forward, ready to land a flying kick at her enemy but Cinder flew upwards at the last moment, managing to avoid Heliosia's boot. She spun around, thrusting one of her blades at the Summer Maiden's face but received a brutal uppercut to her chin. The corrupted Maiden snarled before she grabbed Heliosia's head and slammed her down onto the flagship's surface.

Sharp Strike shot at Cinder with Vanquisher to divert her attention, so the Kasai sister turned and dashed straight at him. Sliding his revolver back into its holster, Sharp Strike swiftly drew both Hong Long and Lan Feng and thrusted them towards Cinder's face but she instantly summoned her Dust blades and blocked both strikes. The Knight Errant twisted his pair of longswords sideways and then unleashed a blistering series of strikes which put Cinder on the defensive, until Jaune suddenly rammed into her from the side with his shield while swinging Crocea Mors at her.

Cinder's aura flared as she stumbled, but she managed to block a couple of rapid swings from Jaune before Sharp Strike attacked with a high kick that collided with her hip but she was strong enough to withstand it. She dodged another overhead slash from the Knight before forcing him and Jaune back by slashing her blades up high and then smashed them down, making Jaune cry out as his aura narrowly protected him from being cut open. The blond fell back, just as Sharp Strike fired the revolvers built into both of his longswords which forced Cinder to give ground between them.

Before Cinder knew it, Heliosia flew into her with a high kick to the chest. The Fall Maiden flew back and just managed to avoid Heliosia striking at her with Flameguard. After dodging several further attacks, Cinder managed to grab the Summer Maiden's weapon and thrusted one of her blades at Heliosia's face, but the latter Maiden blocked it with one hand and slammed her knee into her opponent's midsection. Heliosia quickly used Cinder's hold on Flameguard against her, whirling her around and jabbed at her chest with the kusarigama chain end of Flameguard before Cinder managed to rip the staff from its owner's grasp and sent it clattering away.

Heliosia wasted no time, attacking the murderous woman with swift flaming fist and palm strikes that Cinder was just barely to defend from before she struck back just as hard after the Summer Maiden relieved Cinder of her blades. The two Maidens grabbed each other's flaming hands, struggling for dominance until Cinder unexpectedly used the powers of a cold, strong autumn to send Heliosia flying back and smashing into an exterior transmitter beacon.

"Heliosia!" Sharp Strike shouted while Jaune muttered a curse under his breath as Cinder flew down towards them. She levitated above them with her Fall Maiden powers, launching several arrows of fire and ice at the pair, which Jaune blocked with his shield while Sharp Strike deflected with Hong Long and Lan Feng. Cinder suddenly struck down between them, slamming an elbow into the side of Jaune's head which sent him crashing onto his back before kicking both boots into Sharp Strike's helmet hard enough to crack his lenses. The Knight Errant swiped at her with his longswords until a roundhouse kick from the Fall Maiden sent him skidding dangerously close to the Resolute's edge. Jaune pushed himself up and charged at Cinder, who casually blocked his sword attacks with Flameguard which she snatched up nearby until she received a painful shield bash to the face, Jaune Semblance managing to break through her defensive block and causing her to drop Heliosia's weapon.

Heliosia's eyes snapped open, glowing brightly with the shape of suns within them as she threw herself back up with her own Maiden powers, and immediately went to renew her attack on Cinder.

"As annoying as ever, Arc!" Cinder growled as she ducked another sword slash.

"Happy to be a thorn in your side, Fall!" He shot back as he blocked another blast of fire with his shield.

Cinder scowled at Jaune with a tranquil fury and then back flipped, one leg kicking him in the chin and the other in the gut. He stumbled back slightly, which gave Heliosia the distraction she needed and she flew fist-first into Cinder's chest. The Summer Maiden delivered a rapid series of flame-wreathed punches to Cinder's face and chest, taking out a large chunk of aura before Cinder kicked Heliosia in the torso which caused the Summer Maiden to be thrown a distance away. The Fall Maiden jumped up while executing a series of spinning kicks, which Heliosia managed to avoid the first two but the third kick whacked her in the forehead.

Heliosia was sent back by the blow and Cinder blasted forward, getting above Heliosia and smashed her combined flaming fists onto the Summer Maiden's back, once again causing her to crash onto the Resolute's surface. Cinder rocketed down, plummeting like a rock with her newly-conjured twin swords aiming to impale Heliosia, who managed to roll to safety just in time.

The Summer Maiden cautiously withdrew, moving towards the back of the flagship where the long fins extended outwards while being chased by Cinder who was propelled forward by powerful blasts of fire. Turning to face Cinder, Heliosia ducked out of the way in the nick of time to avoid being cut into by the Fall Maiden's swords, pivoting around and blasting a fireball into Cinder's back which sent the amber-eyed woman colliding into one of the huge fins.

Heliosia leapt to safety as Jaune and Sharp Strike ran towards her, but Cinder had already recovered and shot flaming arrows at the Summer Maiden. The brunette dodged the flaming projectiles but in reducing her speed Cinder caught up and performed a sliding kick that knocked Heliosia's legs out from under her. As both Maidens crashed onto the hard surface of the Resolute, Heliosia managed to regain control of the situation and pinned Cinder down before she jumped up and began slamming her boots into the corrupted Maiden's face

"This! Is! For! Amber! And! Elsa!" The Summer Maiden shouted as each impact of her boots met Cinder's face with a satisfying crunch, before she kicked her opponent in the side to send her tumbling away.

Cinder got up, spitting out bloody saliva while feeling her sore face, her aura having protected her from any serious damage, she growled ferociously at Heliosia who smoothly shifted into Mistralian combat stance. The Fall Maiden couldn't do anything to strike back at the Maiden as she quickly had to defend from the two charging sword-wielders, with Jaune carrying Flameguard underneath one arm.

"Heliosia, catch!" Jaune shouted, tossing the Summer Maiden her weapon while Sharp Strike raised Vanquisher and squeezed off a number of rounds at Cinder who hurriedly blocked the bullets with her blades.

Jaune charged, swinging Crocea Mors, while Sharp Strike switched to Hong Long and Lan Feng. The Fall Maiden blocked their attacks despite Jaune's considerable Semblance-powered swings and Sharp Strike's rapid slashes, and backed up to the charred remnants of one of the large cannons that she had destroyed earlier, its broken barrel still intact and pointed directly at the sky. Cinder leapt back, dispelling her blades and grabbing the barrel of the cannon, spinning around and kicking away both young warriors before calling upon strong gales with her Maiden powers to blow them away. She also launched several fireballs at them, which Sharp Strike dodged while Jaune blocked with his shield, but he cried out when the hot flames spilled past the edges of his shield.

Cinder leapt down at Jaune with her blades, murderous intent in her glowing amber eyes when all of a sudden Heliosia slammed into her from the side as she reentered the battle. She swung Flameguard at Cinder and managed to get a few good hits in, but the corrupted Maiden sidestepped the next few swings and hit back with her swords, making Heliosia weave aside even as she spun her weapon to block Cinder's blows.

Cinder kept avoiding Heliosia's attacks before leaping away while forming her Dust swords, which she used to parry Heliosia's next swing. The Summer Maiden lashed out with her leg, kicking Cinder in the gut again before the Fall Maiden leaned back to avoid a face-smashing swing of Flameguard before she reverse-roundhouse kicked Heliosia. The brunette Maiden read her body movement and kicked out at the same time, both Maidens' boots meeting in the middle with such force that a shockwave sent wayward debris blowing away, while the two were propelled away from each other.

Cinder twisted her body even as she fell towards the flagship's top deck, rolling away from the quickly recovered Heliosia and then springing up to stand once again before she thrust her hands palms out to create a large stream of roaring fire that she sent rushing towards the Summer Maiden. Heliosia, empowered by her Semblance, managed to hold it off and also pour some of her own energy into the inferno and tried to send it blazing back at Cinder but the black-haired woman wasn't so easily defeated.

With an angry growl, Cinder shoved her hands forward, using her Semblance with a harsh blast of wind to empower the roaring flames she was throwing at Heliosia. The Summer Maiden, despite her considerable skills, was unprepared for the forceful blast that managed to overwhelm her briefly. Nonetheless, Heliosia managed to dispel the worst of the flames but was blown onto her back by the blaze, rolling across the width of the top deck until she came to a stop, moaning slightly as her aura crackled while her clothes smoked from the blast.

All things considered, she was luckier than most of Cinder's opponents.

Before Cinder could attack again, Sharp Strike swung his twin longswords at her with one blade coming in high and the other low. The Fall Maiden snarled as she parried one of the Knight Errant's longswords and kicked away the other one, only to receive a painful elbow strike to the center of her chest. A grunt of pain escaped Cinder's lips as she recreated her Dust blades once more and used them to block Sharp Strike furious sword blows, but found herself especially pressed when Jaune charged back into the fray to support the Knight Errant. The Crystal Guardian struck with powerful swings and sallies which Cinder found increasingly hard to defend herself from, especially considering that she was being attacked on two separate fronts and she had also used a significant amount of strength to fight the Summer Maiden.

Jaune and Sharp Strike both struck out at once with their blades which Cinder caught with her own pair. They strained against each other with their weapons' edges screeching loudly, two warriors against one Maiden, until Cinder screamed again as she used her Maiden powers to generate more incredibly strong gusts to blow them both back, but Jaune forced his way through and tackled Cinder, bashing her with his shield and knocking her down.

Cinder rolled with the blow and jumped up onto her feet as Jaune, Sharp Strike and Heliosia all recovered and stood a short distance away, all three ready for another bout. She leered at them spitefully; the ambush she had set up with Emerald and Mercury had made Amber easy prey, while Pyrrha and Elsa had been worthy opponents and hence those victories were well-earned. What she faced now, however, was very different; not only was she going up against a competent and powerful Maiden who was in full control of her powers, but also a Remnant Knight and Arc, who was no longer an easily dismissed novice.

"Having second thoughts, Fall?" Heliosia asked, pointing Flameguard at Cinder while bright flames covered her other fingerless glove-covered hand.

"Not on your life." Cinder answered as she wiped away a trickle of blood from the side of her lips, her eyes glowing with orange with the shape of shimmering autumn leaves. Despite the odds, she had no doubt she would ultimately be victorious.

In the meantime, up towards the front of the Resolute, another fierce battle was taking place. Ruby, Yang and Qrow did their best to fight Tyrian, but the Fusion Faunus was proving to be a formidable opponent. Qrow and his younger niece both struck at once, forcing Tyrian to block their blows before Yang punched both fists into his chest which caused his aura to flare purple as he slid back. Yang followed up with a haymaker but Tyrian jumped over her, flipping in mid-air and landing on his hands and striking out with his tail and feet as he spun around like a breakdancer. Ruby and Qrow ducked to either side as the mechanical tail shot at them like a whip while he opened fire with The Queen's Servants at their feet, forcing them to deflect the shots before he flipped back up, smacking Ruby in the face while he surged towards Qrow who spun Reaper to meet the assassin head on.

Tyrian used his prosthetic tail to strike at Qrow four times, the dusty Huntsman managing to parry the deadly appendage with Reaper while the deranged cyborg fired at Yang to keep her at bay. Tyrian managed to score a hit by shooting Qrow's chest with his wrist-mounted guns and then plunged his tail forward. Unable to deflect in time, Qrow moved his head to the right just as the stinger shot past him, grunting in pain as his ear was cut. Thankfully his aura held, shining slightly, but the stinger did draw a little blood.

Yang threw several quick punches at Tyrian, the assassin blocking most of them but was hit in the left arm and left cheek that sent him stumbling into Ruby's direction. The silver-eyed girl slashed Crescent Rose up his right side and right arm, making him cry out in pain as his aura crackled. Tyrian pivoted, parrying another swing of Crescent Rose before he unleashed another burst of gunfire from the Queen's Servants, Yang brought up her arms to block the bullets and protect her face, as the psychopath shoved his way past her, slashing open the left arm of her coat and avoiding a diagonal swing of Reaper as he put some distance between himself and the three.

Ruby shot ahead with her Semblance, red petals fluttering in her wake, and jumped at Tyrian who spun around and parried her powerful swing before pushing her over him, but Ruby pressed on. The two exchanged six rapid blows with their weapons, with Ruby maneuvering her body from side to side to avoid being shot or sliced by the Queen's Servants. Tyrian growled as he kicked Ruby's stomach, knocking her back, and moved to slam his tail into her neck when Qrow came to his niece's rescue.

Reaper slammed against Tyrian's tail, curved blade and stinger pressing hard against one another as Qrow and Tyrian struggled for control. Salem's assassin spat an unsavory curse and moved to use the guns of the Queen's Servants to blast Qrow, only for Yang to grab the left one and yank it away while Ruby pinned the other one down with her scythe.

"Now we got you!" Yang taunted as she made sure to avoid the gun barrels on Tyrian's weapons.

Tyrian's insane yellow eyes burned into Qrow's crimson pair as he leaned forward, stuck out his tongue to lick Reaper's sharp edge, before pulling back, grinning maniacally, his prosthetic tail whipping towards Yang's face. The blonde involuntarily flinched, loosening her grip, freeing Tyrian before he whipped his tail against Qrow's legs while ducking swings from both Reaper and Crescent Rose. The assassin slammed his tail into Reaper's blade and knocked it aside before running the Queen's Servants up Qrow's chest, making the veteran Huntsman cry out in pain as his aura flared to protect him.

Ruby shouted as she brought Crescent Rose swinging towards him, but Tyrian ducked under the scythe and grabbed the pole it was attached to and flipped Ruby overhead before kicking back at her, which sent her rolling away. The Fusion Faunus pivoted to defend himself from Yang, dodging more punches from her with his tail undulating wildly before he struck out. Yang was quick enough to block, grabbing the prosthetic limb by its metallic plates only for Tyrian to kick her in the chest while shooting bullets which bounced off Yang's aura. The blonde brawler cried out as she was knocked back, Tyrian charged her again but she managed to recover and shoot at him with her Ember Celicas, forcing him to dodge or block the shots with his forearms.

His aura flared as he took the shots, until he managed to wrap his mechanical tail around her waist and arms, trapping Yang. He brought the blonde forward and whacked the Queen's Servants down on her shoulders, making her scream in pain as her aura flared intensely.

Ruby and Qrow both rushed forward with their scythes pulled back and Tyrian took notice, so he flung the blonde into her little sister before he parried Qrow's attack only to be knocked down onto his back by a shot from Crescent Rose. He sneered at Ruby, who managed to catch Yang and remain standing, before he heard a gruff growl and quickly flung himself backwards to avoid being hit by Reaper as Qrow pressed his attack.

Tyrian blocked Qrow's quick but dangerous swings before he whipped out with his mechanical tail once more, knocking the alcoholic Huntsman back as Ruby and Yang quickly caught him.

"You okay, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.

"I'm good," Qrow told her, "Can't give up until we beat this asshole."

Suddenly there was a terrible explosion above them, and the trio looked up just in time to see an Atlas Eagle with its cockpit ripped out and falling towards the Resolute, trailing fire and smoke. It crashed and skidded off of the Atlesian flagship, its engines still pushing it along until the airship went over the side and fell towards the ground below.

The terrible cry of the Celaeno gave away what was responsible for the pilot's fate as the huge Grimm flew overhead, moving back towards the battle. Its horrible neck twisted around, allowing its ugly head to look down at Qrow and his nieces.

Yang growled and opened fire on the Elder Alpha Grimm, "You're not gonna live beyond today!" She shouted as Ruby joined her, shooting at its head, but Celaeno dove out of the way to avoid the blasts.

Tyrian began laughing cruelly, "Aw, isn't that precious? The poor little girls want to avenge their dead mommy!"

Both young Huntresses turned and shot at Tyrian, forcing him to acrobatically flip away from their shots.

"Shut your damn mouth!" Yang growled.

"What would you know about our mom?" Ruby demanded.

Tyrian laughed evilly, "Because I was there the day she died! I know what really happened to her!"

"W-wh-what?" Ruby whispered, her silver eyes quivering as she lowered her weapon.

"Don't listen to him, he's just trying to mess with us!" Qrow told his nieces.

Yang ignored her uncle, stepping towards the assassin, "What do you know?!" The blonde screamed as she threw out yet another punch, but Tyrian leapt out of the way and slammed his tail into the back of her head.

Tyrian grabbed Yang's hair, hauling her up as he put his deadly mechanical tail to her neck, "I know everything! I know it wasn't really a Deathstalker that killed her! Now back off or I'll stab her throat!" Faster than the eye could blink, the young Huntress with silver eyes vanished in a sudden whirlwind of rose petals and collided into him from the side, causing him to cry out. Yang caught his mechanical tail and used it to try to slam Tyrian down onto the surface of the Resolute, but he backflipped away before Ruby could bring Crescent Rose's scythe blade down on him while he slid one of his wrist blades against her cheek which caused her aura to flare a bit.

Tyrian landed on his boots again and faced them, his face contorting into an insane expression as he laughed, "If we had known the ability of silver eyes had passed onto her daughter, we would have eliminated you too that day, Ruby Rose! It was me! I killed Summer Rose!"

Yang, Qrow and Tyrian were practically blinded by brilliant silver light.

---

Samantha nervously waited for Raven to reappear in the realm that the Guardians of the Dead called home. Today was her first day back on the job after guiding so many children to the afterlife on that terrible day Atlas and Vacuo were attacked, and she had just gotten the latest vision, the flash of the next soul she was to guide to Elysium.

She had to warn Raven, and fast.

"Come on! Hurry!" She said anxiously, wringing her hands in frustration.

Just then, a portal opened and Raven stepped out of it. "Samantha? I didn't expect you back so soon. By the way, you know those bastards responsible for that slaughter at Mt. Ausz? A couple of Salem's agents just killed th-"

Samantha cried as she ran forwards and grabbed the Guardian of Nothingness by the arms tightly, saying "Raven! Listen to me, we don't have much time! A few minutes ago I saw who my next soul will be; it's your daughter!"

Raven froze up, looking at her brown-haired friend with a horrified and shocked expression. "What?"

"It's true!" Samantha cried, tears in her eyes, "She's going to die at the hands of an assassin named Tyrian Callows!"

"No. No she won't." Raven murmured quietly but firmly, "I won't let her die."

"Wh-what? Raven, have you forgotten the rules? We can't interfere! There's nothing we can do about it," Samantha pointed out when she felt her fellow guardian jerk herself free.

"The hell there isn't!" Raven hissed quietly, hoping none of the other Guardians could hear them, "Yang's not dying as long as I can help it!"

"If you intervene you'll suffer horrible punishments! We're not supposed to save people! We can't play favorites!" Samantha told her friend in a frightened voice.

"And why not? Some rules are meant to be broken! You helped that boy who was dying of cancer, helped him leave his family with a message before he died. You didn't stop him from dying, but you still helped him!" Raven jabbed a finger at the Guardian of Elysium, "So I'm helping Yang, I have to. You don't understand, I abandoned my daughter, kept my distance for most of her life…I have to make up for it, consequences be damned. If I have to suffer so Yang can live, it will be worth it."

She turned and drew her weapon just as another portal opened up, which Raven walked towards with conviction in her eyes. Just as she was a step away from entering the portal, she turned and looked back at Samantha, "You don't have to help me, I'll take the blame and suffer the consequences. Just say that I knocked you down before leaving, and they'll go easy on you."

Samantha looked at her, not sure of what to do, but then she sighed softly and said, "It's okay Raven, I won't stop you. I'll do what I can back here to delay the others. Go."

To Be Continued…

What will happen? Will Raven save Yang? Will Cinder emerge victorious over Heliosia? Will Pyrrha convert the Wyvern? You'll have to find out next time in CHAPTER 100!

So sorry about the length, had to make this chapter long to pack in everything for chapter 100, chapters after 101 will be shorter.