A/N: Volume 3 OP: "The World" by Jonathan Young
Chapter 18
The Royal Test
Weiss Schnee watched her partner, Ruby Rose, until the closing hatch blocked her from view. She had absolute faith in Ruby but that didn't mean she wouldn't worry about her. She had a vague idea as to what Ruby planned on doing and it was completely insane but it was also brilliant. Ruby had been right in her statement that they needed to split up so all she could do was pray for her best friend's safety.
Putting those matters aside, Weiss turned to take stock of the gathered students who were diligently checking their weapons and muttering things to their teams. It was inspiring to see representatives from all four kingdoms coming together in a common goal. If only it wasn't such dire circumstances that had done it.
"Alright, everyone, we will need to act quickly and decisively in order to save as many lives as possible," Weiss said in a commanding voice. She was pleased to see that everyone was giving her their undivided attention and was mildly amused to see the Atlas students snap to attention. "Most civilians are likely to be concentrated at the main grounds but it will be too dangerous to land there or to airdrop in. Instead, we will be landing on the roof of Beacon's third dorm building." From up in the cockpit, the pilot gave her a thumbs up. "It isn't too far from the main grounds and should give those of use who attack from range a good vantage point."
Weiss paused to take a breath and swallow her growing nerves. She could feel her father's disapproving gaze as though it were a physical weight. She wasn't good enough to lead these people. She would only make mistakes and get them killed. She didn't have the charisma of Ruby or the tactical acumen of her older sister. She was just a foolish girl trying to reach above her station.
Almost instinctively, Weiss' hand moved to the wayfinder charm attached to her clothes. The imagined words of support from her friends echoing in her mind was enough to push back the image of her father. She could do this and she would do this. Her friends had made sure of that.
"Not all of us need to head to the main grounds; we'll only get in each other's way and also in the way of the defenders already there. Instead, we'll need to split up. I want the finalists and their teams to spread out and focus on any major Grimm; Team CFVY, you'll be doing this as well. I want those of you who made it to the second round to start combing the grounds to find as many stragglers as possible. If you're from Beacon then search inside the school. Everyone else will head to the main ground to provide backup for any defenders there.
"Our goal is to get as many people to the bunker as we can. Here's the path you can take to find it." Weiss then proceeded to give simple directions to the bunker that should be easy to follow even in the dark and bedlam. "Does everyone understand their assignment?" After everyone assented, Weiss nodded grimly. "Everyone… Hold firm. Don't let fear or panic take you. You've got this— we've got this— and we'll all make it through to see tomorrow." Weiss paused briefly as a certain phrase came to mind. It was very much unlike her and very much like Yang Xiao Long but she couldn't help but feel like some of Yang's energy was needed here. "If any of you die, I will bring you back to life and personally kick your ass, got it?" This actually sparked a fair bit of laughter once the shock had passed. Weiss silently thanked Yang for helping her to ease the tension.
"Oh, and one last thing," Weiss began as they made their approach. "Good luck."
OoOoOoO
Weiss couldn't believe what she was seeing when the ship landed. The fairground where they had enjoyed themselves so much the other day was now more like a burning hell. There were corpses strewn about the place and the air was thick with smoke tinged by blood. The survivors and their defenders were gathered near the main area and were fighting with everything they had despite the wounds on some of them.
It made sense, if Weiss thought about it. The Grimm had come quickly and in great numbers. While the people in the colosseum had the barrier to protect them for a time, the people on Beacon's grounds did not. What's more, they also didn't have nearly the same amount of protection due to not having all of the fighters. This was the only logical conclusion even if it took all of Weiss' willpower to not be sick.
Seeing the horrified expressions on the faces of her peers, Weiss was actually grateful for her harsh upbringing as she mastered herself and said, "Nothing has changed! The people need us and they need us now! Let's begin the operation!"
Without waiting to see how anyone reacted, Weiss dove off of the roof and quickly made a ramp of near-frictionless glyphs beneath her before skating as fast as she could go towards the main ground. She pushed past the corpses and effortlessly skewered any Grimm that got in her way as she cycled the Dust in Myrtenaster. She needed to snuff out the fire and clear out as much debris as possible so that the civilians would have a clean line to the bunker. Thankfully, a situation vaguely similar to this had been well within Ruby's calculations and thus Weiss already had a solution.
First was dealing with the fire. Weiss created a ramp to soar high into the air over the raging inferno and hung there for a moment, her form silhouetted by the black moon, before throwing Myrtenaster into a glyph on the ground. Ice shot out like a wave beneath her as she called Myrtenaster back to her with a gravity glyph. With a yell, Weiss shot toward the ground and impaled Myrtenaster into a fire glyph causing the ice to instantly melt under a torrent of fire. As the water hung in the air for a few precious instants, Weiss pulled out her rapier and did a spinning slash through a thin glyph, the resulting explosion of wind aerosolizing the water to douse the fire while simultaneously blowing the debris away.
While Weiss hadn't cleared away all of the debris or completely put out the fire, it was more than good enough as she heard people on the other side of what remained shout in excitement. There were a couple of loud explosions and the path out was now fully clear if a little tumultuous. The clear path meant that Weiss could now properly see the combat which led to her being very confused as the White Fang seemed to be fighting to protect people.
"Weiss! Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes! And you brought the cavalry!" Yang said as Weiss ran up to her to help take some of the heat off of her. Weiss couldn't help but notice that Yang looked a little haggard and grim despite her attempt at cheerfulness.
"Sorry I'm late. We had a slight bird problem," Weiss said blithely as she unleashed a wave of fireballs at some nearby Griffons.
"I'd say you're right on time," Yang said as she bashed away a Boarbatusk before rounding on a Knight. "Where's Rubes?"
"Taking care of our robot problem," Weiss said vaguely as she spared a glance at the offending airship. She knew that being too specific would only cause Yang to lose focus. "Where's Blake?"
"We split up a while ago. She's running around trying to find people in the forest." By this point, enough of the other students that Weiss had assigned to protection detail had shown up to let Yang pause to catch her breath.
"Why is the White Fang here and why are they helping us?" Weiss asked as she gave one of the White Fang goons a suspicious glance.
"Dunno and dunno. But, hey, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, what's the plan?"
Weiss paused for a moment to think before answering. There was a sufficient pause for her to pull out her Scroll and check the team Aura app. Ruby was currently uninjured, Blake Belladonna had taken some hits but was otherwise fine, and Emiya Shirou was also uninjured. "Head to the school and try to find anyone hiding in there. I sent who I could but there aren't enough people who know the school's layout."
"On it, boss," Yang said with a smirk and a lazy salute. Her expression then became serious as she looked her teammate in the eye and said, "You stay safe."
Weiss smiled and nodded, "You, too."
OoOoOoO
"Where are we going?" Jaune Arc asked as he rode an elevator down with Professor Ozpin and Pyrrha Nikos. When the two of them had caught up with him, the Professor had simply spared Jaune a glance before silently leading them to the elevator.
"We are going," the Professor said slowly, "to the place where perhaps one of our greatest hopes resides."
At Jaune's confused look, Pyrrha explained, "Do you know the Story of the Seasons? That story is real. The Maidens are real. The Fall Maiden is being kept alive in the basement after some bad people nearly killed her and took half of her power."
Jaune's eyes widened in understanding, "And they want you to become the new Fall Maiden. Is that what was eating you yesterday? What was it you were saying about you not being you anymore?"
"In order to transfer what remains of her power to me, they'll need to transfer what remains of her soul to me."
"What remains of— But that— Okay. Okay. Yeah, that explains yesterday."
"One of the goals of the attackers is clearly to take the other half of the Fall Maiden's power," Professor Ozpin said. "What we asked of Pyrrha was something that is unfair to ask of anyone and was not something that we asked lightly."
"I hate that it's come to this," Pyrrha muttered as she looked off to the side and grabbed her left arm. Jaune could only force a reassuring smile and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Out of curiosity, had things not played out this way, what would your answer have been?" the Professor asked.
"I was going to refuse. The risk was too great for so little return. But that's not true anymore. There are lives that can be saved only if I become the Fall Maiden and that's not counting the potential consequences if they were to get their hands on the other half."
"It's just not fair," Jaune said morosely. "Pyrrha has her whole life ahead of her and now she has to risk not being her anymore? She's already dedicated her entire life up to now training to become the best Huntress and only just recently started really living. And you really asked her to risk that?" As he spoke, some heat crept into Jaune's voice.
"Jaune…" Pyrrha said sadly as she looked at her boyfriend, desperate to find the right words to say.
"You're right, it isn't fair," the Professor said in a stern voice. "One thing that you need to learn quickly is that this world isn't fair; it is the exact opposite. We fight for every shred of happiness we can possibly get and cherish it dearly for it can be taken away in an instant."
Jaune wasn't cowed by the Professor's tone as his ire only grew, "But why ask Pyrrha to do it? That just isn't right! This is supposed to be the greatest Hunter academy on Remnant in one of the safest cities in the world! Why make her do this instead of just doing your fucking job and protect the Maiden and choose someone else‽"
"Because I want to," Pyrrha said resolutely. Jaune spun around to look at her in disbelief as she continued, "This is my choice, Jaune, and this is what I choose to do. I don't want to stop being me but I won't let people in front of me die just because I'm being selfish."
Jaune searched Pyrrha's eyes for a moment before sighing in defeat, "Fine. In that case, I just won't let you stop being you. Even if the Maiden's soul takes over, you'll still be in there somewhere and I'll drag you out kicking and screaming if I have to."
Pyrrha smiled at her boyfriend as tears stung at the corners of her eyes, "Thank you, Jaune. For everything."
OoOoOoO
Things were going surprisingly well, all things considered, Weiss had to admit as she was leading the civilians to the bunker. Sure, the current turn of events were beyond even her worst nightmares but the defenders were steadily getting their feet back under them and were even gaining ground. Once Ruby got the robot situation under control, the tides would finally fully turn and they would be able to fully rout the Grimm.
Weiss had evidently jinxed herself even without saying anything, however, as the group was forced to stop when they spotted a group of Grimm that were in their way that was simply too large to dispatch while also keeping the civilians safe. Weiss' mind quickly ran through all of the options she currently had. Trying to reroute to the bunker would be too dangerous as they'd have to either go into the forest, go into the school, or double back to go all the way around the school. She needed to take them someplace that was relatively small and easy to defend.
"Everyone, follow me!" Weiss commanded as she turned away from their previous path. There was exactly one place in the entire school other than the bunker that was made to withstand combat and it even had further safety features. It was easily the best option that they had.
Once they reached the sparring hall, Weiss began to usher the civilians in while the other students and White Fang members fended off the Grimm. Thankfully, their mood had improved somewhat so they weren't attracting as many Grimm as they were before but, with the number of Grimm present, that was a very small blessing.
Once everyone was inside, Weiss started giving out further instructions. "I want everyone to split up as evenly as you can and stand in the arenas! Once everyone is in, I need two students to also enter and start a duel! That will cause the force fields to activate and give everyone further protection!"
As everyone started following her instructions, Weiss turned back around to the door as she heard the sounds of Grimm grow louder. The sparring hall was easily the sturdiest normal building on the campus but the fact remained that it wasn't designed with a siege like this in mind. The Grimm would need to be thinned out if they wanted the walls to hold.
There were six defenders left that were free and still able to fight; four students and two White Fang. One of the students was looking really haggard, however, and Weiss was uncertain how much fight they had left in them. "You," she pointed to the haggard student. "You stay here and rest so that you can serve as our last line of defense. The rest of you, follow me. We need to keep the number of Grimm in the immediate vicinity low."
Not even bothering to see if anyone agreed to her orders, Weiss marched out the door with grim determination. There were still things that needed to be said, no stratagems had even been so much as considered, and there had been no solemn goodbyes. Simply put, Weiss Schnee wasn't ready to die but if she had to lay down her life to save those of the civilians then sobeit. She only hoped that her friends would forgive her weakness when they reunited in the next life.
Despite the relative calmness of the civilians, the concentration of Grimm was so high that even that much was like a signal fire. They had been fine enough before due to moving quickly but, now that they had stopped, the horde of Grimm was upon them. They numbered beyond counting on their own and the large number of Atlesian Knights simply raised that number further. But these weren't the worst odds that Weiss had faced. This much would be easy.
(A/N: Play "Capabilities Unseen" by Void_Chords)
Weiss didn't bother waiting for the first Beowolf to reach her and instead charged at it in a flash of movement, Myrtenaster cutting lines of quicksilver through the air as she brought it down in the blink of an eye. She sent a wave of fireballs at the Griffons circling nearby before stabbing her rapier into the ground to send a spike of ice through the soft underbelly of a Boarbatusk.
In one continuous movement, Weiss spun around and slashed Myrtenaster through a Glyph to send the approaching Beowolves flying before backflipping over one that lunged at her. A quick thrust through its skull was enough to kill it and she had just hit the ground before thrusting her free hand out to the side to catch a diving Griffon by the beak, her hand protected by a spectral gauntlet.
Weiss slammed her new weapon into a Creep that had leaped at her before skewering both on Myrtenaster. A quick Glyph was created to block the stingers fired at her by a few Lancers but she paid the wasp-like Grimm no further attention as the other members of her impromptu "team" arrived to gun them down in a hail of bullets. Instead, she turned her attention to the Beringal charging at her with frightening speed.
Moving with perfect timing and graceful precision, Weiss waited for it to pull back its massive arms for a mighty slam that would no doubt have done serious damage to stab Myrtenaster into a yellow Glyph, lightning shooting out of it to punch clean through its upper body before safely dissipating into the sky.
Weiss grit her teeth as she suddenly found herself in a storm of bullets and was forced to take quite a few hits due to her still recovering from her last attack. Four Knights had entered the fray and had deemed her the greatest threat. A hastily created Glyph was enough to stop her from taking more hits but the Knights were state-of-the-art combat robots for a good reason. One of them kept up the rain of bullets as the other three were quickly moving into a flanking position. While it would be easy to just create more Glyphs, more Grimm were approaching her from behind. She couldn't afford to stand still.
With a deep breath, Weiss dropped her Glyph and started to weave through the gunfire with hastened movement. The Knights kept the pressure up while keeping their distance from her but this was just what she wanted. It took a bit of positioning but the bullets that she dodged were going on to strike the Grimm. When they were sufficiently culled, Weiss disappeared in a bust of ultra high speed movement before reappearing behind the nearest Knight and lashing out with Myrtenaster to pierce its power source. After the encounter with the Paladin, Shirou had used his Structural Grasp on one of the Knights to identify its location on the off chance they had found themselves on the wrong side of them.
Some considered Shirou to be a bit paranoid with the way he tried to prepare for everything but that caution was proving to be invaluable. Weiss would have to get him something nice after all of this was over.
Without removing Myrtenaster, Weiss grabbed the Knight and threw it at the next one, blocking more gunfire in the process. While the Knight easily moved out of the way, hitting it had never been the goal. She dodged another burst of gunfire as she switched Myrtenaster-α to its bullet mode and fired a bullet of fire Dust at the Knight she had thrown. Despite the small size of the Glyph, Weiss' aim was true and the resulting explosion not only obliterated that Knight, it sent the other flying into a tree were it broke into pieces.
Not slowing down for even a moment, Weiss lept high into the air to grab a larger Griffon by one of its talons before flipped over it and onto its back. It wasn't strong enough to support her weight but she didn't need it to. She slapped its back before firing a pointblank wind bullet, the resulting explosion flinging her back while simultaneously dropping the Griffon like a meteor onto the third Knight.
Weiss switched Myrtenaster-α back into casting mode as she twisted through the air before slashing through a blue Glyph to send a series of ice spikes into a distressingly large Lancer. She didn't know if she had taken it down since she didn't have time to check, focused as she was on landing on the back of an Alpha Beowolf. It bucked wildly to try and throw her off but her grip on its bone-like protrusions held firm as she thrust her rapier into a gap in its armor before coating her blade in fire to burn it to death from the inside.
Hitting the ground in a roll, Weiss took a moment to glance at her allies only for her eyes to widen in shock as she saw one of the White Fang be impaled by the stinger of a Lancer, her lifeless body falling like a puppet with its strings cut. The other White Fang member called out her name in despair before charging at the Lancer but his grief and anger blinded him to the Alpha Boarbatusk charged him from the side. Weiss reached out to try and create a Glyph to protect him but she was too slow as it hit him with the force of a runaway truck. Even from this distance, Weiss could hear the sound of several bones cracking.
Distracted as Weiss was by the deaths she just witnessed, she was caught completely flatfooted by a Beowolf clawing her side and knocking her to the ground. It pounced to try and finish her off but a hastily created gravity Glyph pinned both it and her to the ground. The Glyph existed only for a fraction of a second so that she could roll out of the way of a Beringal trying to crush her with a mighty slam. As Weiss quickly rolled to her feet, she grimaced at the crater it had left.
The Beringal demanded her full attention but she couldn't afford to give it as she saw one of her allies starting to get overwhelmed. Using her haste again would no doubt damage her already abused body but she used it anyway, pushing past the sharp pain of torn muscles to be by her ally's side in an instant before creating a wave of earth spikes that tore up the ground and the Grimm both. She glanced at her ally and saw that he was bleeding from several wounds. His Aura had either broken or wasn't strong enough to block some blows.
"Fall back!" Weiss ordered with a voice of absolute authority.
"I'm not leaving you alone!" he yelled back before firing his machine gun at some of the Grimm. So, the others were dead, too.
"I'm not letting anyone else die under my watch!" Weiss grabbed him by the arm and flung him with all of her might toward the door of the sparring hall before using a wind Glyph to send him the rest of the way.
She didn't have time to see if she followed her orders as her spike of anger had drawn the Beringal toward her once more. She didn't have the time to charge up another lightning blast and using such an energy intensive attack again would be foolish. She entered into a deadly dance with the beast, flowing around its attacks while striking it with lines of quicksilver while also trying to keep away from the other Grimm near her. She had miscalculated when she spun away from a Beowolf and found herself caught by a backhand from the Beringal that sent her flying through the wall of the sparring hall to collide painfully with the barrier around one of the arenas.
Weiss staggered forward, holding herself up through pure willpower as she refused to fall. Every single muscle in her body hurt and she wouldn't be surprised if something was cracked if not broken. Was this it? Was this the limit of her capabilities?
"Don't give up, Weiss! You can do this!" she heard a voice behind her say.
"Yeah, a horde of Grimm can't take the Ice Queen down!" another added.
Weiss looked behind her to see the civilians focusing on her. For a brief moment, her mind flashed back to the judgemental glare of her father but there was no malice in these people. As more of them cheered her on, she could tell that they legitimately and fully believed in her. She was a member of the invincible Team RWBY and had one of the most spectacular displays in the tournament. They had absolute faith in her and her victory. They weren't worried in the slightest because they knew that she would win.
A moment of clarity washed over Weiss as her nerves were instantly stilled and her body was flooded with renewed vigor, her aches and pains now gone. This was who she was. She wasn't the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. She wasn't the daughter of one of the richest people in the world. She was a beloved member of Team RWBYS and the partner of Ruby Rose. She was a hero to these people that she had sworn to protect. She was a Huntress.
This wasn't the full extent of her capabilities. Her capabilities remained yet unseen.
"This will be over shortly," Weiss said, her voice echoing with power as she was suddenly clad in the spectral armor of the Arma Gigas and Myrtenaster was overlain by its massive broadsword. She calmly walked out through the hole her body had created and stared the Beringal down as it charged at her. It drew one of its massive arms back to hit her with another bone-breaking punch but Weiss met it with a punch of her own. The shockwave caused the rubble to be blown away but Weiss held firm as the people cheered her on. With a roar of effort, she pushed the Beringal's arm back to throw it off balance before a slash of her broadsword cleaved it in twain.
Clad as she was in the spectral armor of her first serious foe and empowered by her Soul Surge, Weiss was invincible. The Grimm could come at her with claws, tusks, talons, and stingers but she wouldn't bend or buckle. No matter how thick their hides or how sturdy their bone-like armor, they all fell to her sword like chaff to the sickle. The Grimm stood no chance.
Things changed when the world around Weiss exploded, rattling her to her bones but not moving her. Through the dust, she saw two automated Paladins rushing toward her, the knives of one deployed while the other hung back with its guns. It had taken her entire team to just barely take down one Paladin before. Could she really take two on by herself?
Of course she could.
Weiss met the charge of the one with the knives head on, her broadsword locking with its knives as it bore down all of her with all of its strength. She grit her teeth as she started to be pushed back but she turned the Paladin's blade aside before sidestepping it and cutting a sizable gash into its side. She then created a dome of interlocking Glyphs around herself to block the missiles of the Paladin at range before dashing through the dust with a burst of hastened movement, ignoring its gunfire. She dropped into a baseball slide to pass through its legs. She quickly got back up and cut through one of its legs before jumping onto its back and bounding toward the one with the knives. It brought up one of its knives to slash at her but, with a roar of effort, Weiss threw all of her strength into an overhead swing, her power aided by a gravity Glyph. The knife was easily cut through and there was now a sizable gash in its torso but it wasn't out yet.
Weiss sidestepped another swing before leaping into the air and bounding off a Glyph to gain more height. At the peak of her jump, her armor and sword exploded into a million pieces to form motes of stardust around her. The civilians stared in awe as Weiss' glowed white with pure power, her graceful figure shining against the black of the sky and looking every bit like a goddess descended.
"Mirror Prison:" she said, her calm voice echoing with power as she pointed Myrtenaster at the Paladins. "Astral Rain!" The motes of stardust fell like a storm of shooting stars. The armor of the Paladins that was made to withstand even a Beringal or the stinger of a Death Stalker might as well have been wet tissue paper as they were torn to shreds.
(A/N: End song)
Weiss alighted as the aura of her Soul Surge faded. Looking around, there were no Grimm in the immediate area and none seemed to be heading toward them. She had done it. They were safe.
Weiss turned to face the cheering civilians that didn't have even the slightest scrap of negative emotions in them. Channeling some of her partner's energy, she gave them a full smile and flashed them a v for victory before collapsing from exhaustion.
A/N: I really hate how this is the only character focus chapter of the Battle of Beacon that doesn't have that character's first theme song as the chapter title but "Mirror, Mirror" simply didn't really work. "This Life is Mine" also didn't feel right, either. Oh well.
I know I said this last chapter and I'll say this for the rest but I love this chapter. I kinda love focusing on Weiss in general but her really starting to come into her own is just great. Her performance all the way back in V3C7 was really just a preview of this fight. Speaking of, writing essentially a one versus hoard battle was a lot of fun. The character having to worry about attacks coming from every direction, constantly switching targets, using enemies against each other; it's just utter chaos going on and I have to make a coherent song out of that chaos. And, since I'm only focusing on one character, I can have a continuous flow unlike the hoard battle in V2C13 where I had to switch characters.
Ruby may be the best one-on-one fighter of her official team (literally none of the other girls could have taken Roman and Neo) but, when it comes to hoard battles, Weiss reigns supreme. Her fights are also really fun to write since she has more options that literally anyone on her team (Shirou technically has more but the vast majority of canon Noble Phantasms that he can actually Trace are just big beam attacks with no interesting properties) meaning I get to have her do all kinds of varied things.
Other than that, there really isn't much to say about this chapter. It's just Weiss being the best and Jaune being a great boyfriend.
Time for reviews!
spartan-140: Thank you very much! I hope you enjoyed the first taste of things on the ground.
Thunder Dragon: There'd be no point in me doing that. I've posted links to this story where possible and it's had no noticeable impact in terms of my view count. Besides, the only place I'd be able to post such a thing is on various subreddits which you're just as capable of doing as I am.
EMSreader: Shirou can't trace Excalibur. In order for a weapon to be in UBW, it needs to be made by human hands using materials that can still be found in the world. Excalibur meets neither of those criteria. It always annoys me whenever a story has the dude trace it. I'm aware of things like Excalibur Image but that was under very specific circumstances and is only a thing because the people who made Fate/EXTRA had already completed the animation by the time Nasu saw it. So, instead of having them just throw it away, he made something up.
vinayakdj1: What can I say? It's rude to do something like that unprompted. What's more, nearly all of my effort is going into writing RoF with what little I have left going into Tales of the Monkey Queen and sometimes into helping SSVCloud with Star Wars: A Binary Sunset. Besides, I've already stated in the past that I hate FGO. Of course, I kinda hate RWBY and yet here we are so... yeah.
Ruby isn't flying the ship, she just used Winter's command override in order to take control of Atlas' automated weapons and robots. Those ships can't be operated by just one person. Even if they could, Ruby wouldn't know how.
Who knows what'll happen to the Wyvern? It could be anything.
This chapter should have answered that but I'll explain anyway. Last week's chapter was Ruby's chapter. The one before that wasn't anyone's. This week's chapter is Weiss'. Next week will be Blake (19) and then Yang (20) and then Shirou (21) before the final chapter of the volume (22). The chapters are in order of the team name (RWBYS).
Well, that's all from me. I'll see you next week for Blake's chapter!