RWBY RE:colored

by Royal-Harmonica

This is a re-imagination of the story of RWBY given as a pitch, a review, and a scene-by-scene style of writing. It's purpose is merely to adapt the series into a more cohesive and simple series for teenage and mature audiences. If you're not a nerd, your cringe discretion is advised. I post primarily on AO3, so this might be not be up to date.

11. Volume VIII (Shadows Strike Back, pt 1)

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VOLUME VIII (part 1)

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Volume VIII takes place one year and a few months after the end of Volume VI. All characters have aged into adulthood, and so the show will mature in terms of story and character arcs. Raw violence and death will become more common, as the show officially transitions into a purely Shounen battle anime, without any high school or slice of life shenanigans that it once had. Rwby Shippuden, if you will. This volume will be the biggest, probably of the whole series, considering I have fewer plans for the last two, and way less character arcs to manage. For that reason, this volume will likely be split into two parts, since the site only allows half a million characters per chapter. First of all, let's get through the very first episode.

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It starts with a very calm opening, as we see guards posted at the west gate of Vale. The city was fully rebuilt after months of work, and so was the wall. The guards were looking out into the plains and yawning every few minutes, because it was very early in the morning. Ever since the invasion, things went quiet for good. But to their surprise, they see silhouettes approaching the city from a distance. They turn on the new automated defenses and wait, just as the guard uses his binoculars to see what it is.

One white figure, and a red one.

Suddenly, the red one stopped, grabbed the white one by the arm, and started moving towards the city at phasing speed. The guard watching them couldn't even realize, but in a matter of seconds they were right in front of the gate. They leaped to the top of the wall, making the guard and his friend fall on their butts from surprise. They look up, and we see Ruby and Weiss again, for the first time in two to three years since volume VI. She waved them hello and then jumped off again, using Rose Dash to jump into the city. Weiss was really mad at her, telling Ruby to let her go.

The guard says, "Thank goodness… it's just Ruby again…"

Now we follow their perspective as Ruby continues dragging Weiss through the city rooftops on the way to their home. Their clashing personalities are made evidently clear through their bickering — they haven't changed at all. Ruby is excited to return home after so long, and she is just dragging Weiss through the air as she screams.

Ruby now dresses in her final outfit from the original show. The design is just tight enough for us to realize she suffered a considerable growth spurt — she's no longer the kid with the big scythe. Now she's well dressed for battle, and looks like a short adult woman. Notably the same happened to Weiss, except that I don't like her final design from the original, so I'm sticking to my idea of her battle gear being a clear nod to Nikolas's armor, with a small red cape. The rest of their team is seemingly gone, but let's see the other ones for now.

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Next we see Jaune again, dressed in an adorable pajama, looking out the window as he eats a sandwich. Just then, he sees Ruby rushing through the rooftops of the city, and decides it's time to get moving as well. He's supposed to take his team on a mission this morning, making a visit back to his hometown. Now at the age of twenty, Jaune looks much more like a man. His muscles are incredibly defined, the scars in his body are faded, and he covers it all up with black spandex shirt and gloves that goes under his armor and blue jeans. The only other notable difference is a bit of stubble that he started to grow, and also his hair, which is long and tied as a wolf tail on his nape.

He goes outside of his apartment and meets Pyrrha in the corridor. They literally live as neighbors in the same small building. Pyrrha also got older, and by here her design returned to a bit of what it used to be, but with more armor pieces on her arms and legs so she can use her Semblance for all it's worth. If you need a reference, search post-fall Pyrrha — that's it. Pyrrha grows all flustered once she sees Jaune, even dropping her key as she tries closing her door. The two go out to meet Ren and Nora, who live in the house right beside them.

Nora insisted that they go back to the orphanage after graduating the academy, and so Ren had no choice in the matter. In turn they became sort of the official caretakers, just like the old man. They only have a single bedroom to themselves — 10% belonging to Ren, 10% belonging to Nora, and 80% belonging to Nora's garbage, not to mention that they still sleep on the same mattress. Nora changed next to nothing, just her ginger hair became slightly longer, and her battle outfit is also new. Ren meanwhile let his hair grow, now being long and smooth like silk — like his Fixing Rwby design. Nora wakes him up with her song and dance, and also the other twenty children who sleep in the rooms beside theirs. The orphanage grew significantly since we last saw it in volume III, now that it accommodates most of the kids who lost their parents in the invasion. Ren makes pancakes for everyone, and finally he and Nora can grab their weapons and go. They meet with Jaune and Pyrrha outside, and they immediately depart for their mission to Charlot.

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Next we see a scene happening in the downtown of Vale City. A lot of cops were sneaking in from the shadows and surrounding the back doors of a warehouse. They received a tip that a gang of wanted criminals smugglers had their base down there, but they couldn't enter without the official Huntsman detective taking the front, since the suspects could be awakened warriors. And so it is revealed who's wearing the trench coat and badge now; it's Tai Xiaolong. Now that both his daughters are working adults, he can pick up a life of action again now that his warrior spirit was reawakened.

He enters the place with hands in his pockets, ready to end the fight in a few seconds. However, once inside this secret bunker, he finds goons scattered on the floor. A further look up would reveal Yang, his daughter, sleeping on their couch. Tai frowns comically as the officer beside him says, "It looks like Miss Yang beat you to the punch again, sir."

He goes ahead and smacks the sleeping Yang with all his might, shaking the ground and waking her up. She says, "Uh? Oh! There you are, old man! I've been waiting for you all night, but you didn't show up! Didn't you read my messages?"

"I remember saying that I would take care of it, didn't I? Why are you even doing this — it's not your job!" Tai said.

"What do you mean this is not my job?! I got the hat and everything!" Yang said. Not only does she still have the brown fedora, but she kept her hair short even a year after it was cut. In terms of her design, she's just wearing her long brown coat and the black leggings from the original volume V of Rwby..

While she had some fun knocking out these guys, she came to know that something was smuggled inside the city through the docks. It wasn't any black market shit as she suspected, but just a group of people — maybe wanted criminals from Haven or something. They were already gone from the bunker once Yang arrived, and that's all she could gather. Tai orders his boys to put everyone in cuffs while he grabs Yang by the ear and pulls her out of the building, ending the scene.

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The castle of Beacon was still in the process of repair, while some parts of it were outright discarded, such as the overly flamboyant headmaster tower. No new students signed up this year, so Ozpin, Glynda and Oobleck aren't working as teachers anymore. Thus, Glynda went back to being retired, and Oobleck reunited with his team and now goes on missions again. Miss Lucy continues being the general manager of the castle, but now she has dozens of other maids working under her. Ozpin balances his time with paperwork of the Huntsman Guild, and studying the Relic. He's not sure at all if the power of knowledge is still on cooldown, or if it needs some kind of secret code or language to be unlocked. He only hopes that uncovering a bit of ancient history might give him a clue.

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After all this we finally cut back to Ruby and Weiss again, who returned to Tai's house in Patch woods. Despite earning quite a lot of money from their missions, they refuse to move away from their father's house. Weiss also lives there now, having been disinherited from the Schnee family and having no better options. By this point she could've bought her own apartment, but she would rather spend all her money to reacquire some of her previous luxuries, like clothes and beauty products. She constantly has to clean after Ruby and scold her, still retaining some character traits she developed while in Mantle. Soon Yang arrived, and the three friends shared a back-snapping hug.

Here it is explained what Ruby and Weiss' mission was. They were sent to investigate weird Grimm behavior in the countryside. Apparently, a great portion of them simply disappeared without any scouting mission being performed in the road areas. It was a whole week without Grimm, and that simply does not happen. Ruby and Weiss spent a week in the wild, but they couldn't find any Grimm either, nor the reason behind their absence. It was all too bizarre, but certainly the most bizarre moment happened during their return. They thought about resting a bit into a nearby village called Oaktown, but when they got there, it was empty. No one in sight, and no notes left behind. There were Grimm tracks nearby, but no blood or dark ooze, so no one was killed. The villagers left everything they owned behind — not even the horses or the wagons were taken. Weiss already made the report on her scroll phone, but it seems that the guild doesn't have any answers to it either.

The three then lunch together. They seem to be in high spirits at first, but soon the mood turns slow and silent. The three start looking at each other, until Weiss points out that it has been another month since their last visit, and they can go see her again. They finish their meal and go out together into the city.

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Their destination was the Prison of Vale. It is located inside the mountain, requiring visitors and staff to go through a huge tunnel in order to enter. There was an area for average human prisoners, but they were there for the maximum security hall. The guards write down their names and give them masks to enter the place.

The maximum security hall was no different than the normal one, except for this thick smoke floating above the floor. Yang explains that this is where awakened individuals are put once they do enough bad stuff. The inner caves of the mountain release this natural gas that is a powerful pacifying drug. The prisoners are put in a dazed state, thus weakening their Aura and Semblances to the point they are just like normal humans. A huge amount of White Fang members are in this place, and they are just sitting in their cells silently. Eventually they find the person they were looking for.

It was Blake.

She was sitting in the middle of her cell in a fetal position, dressed in a pure white shirt and pants. Ruby, Yang and Weiss call out to her, but she barely looks up. Blake is drugged out of her mind and seems to be in cold apathy. They ask how she's being up to, but obviously not much. Ruby and Weiss fail to make any useful conversation, and so Yang goes ahead and says what she really wanted to say. "Say, Blake… What do you say I bust you out of there, right now? The guards will be no match to us, I'm sure I can take you out of the city before anyone in the castle hears anything about it. Come on, it will be a piece of cake!"

"Yang… I'm here because I want to… I still did a lot of things that I must pay for… I would be happier knowing you three could move on without me… instead of coming here every month… with these sad faces…" Blake said.

Apparently team RWBY stood together for a whole year after the battle against Cinder. Blake helped a lot while the city was rebuilding, but once the recovery was finished, she turned herself in. She went to trial and confessed all she's done, willingly or not. Even if she was an ex-White Fang member, she was the only culprit that the justice of Vale could arrest… and so she got blamed heavily. Even with all the help she did to repent for her crimes, Blake was still sentenced to 10 years in maximum security. Since she has an Aura, they put her in this hole where she won't see the sunlight for years. She was tossed along all the other White Fang as if she was just another irredeemable crook like them. Despite that, she was okay with her fate.

"Aw COME ON, Blake! Do you really think spending a decade here will make anyone happy? Does it make you feel any better at least?!" Yang asked.

"No… No it doesn't… but I'm not supposed to… I'm tired of living on the run… I can never say that I feel regret… if I don't accept the punishment that was given to me." Blake said. She thanked them for coming this time, but urges them to just forget about her, and move on. She loves them, but she doesn't want to weigh them down forever. She doesn't want them to get in trouble for her either. In the end, it is what it is.

Yang, Ruby and Weiss leave with this lingering feeling of defeat, close to sobbing. Blake is left sitting there alone, and waits for the huge door to close before sinking her face in between her legs and crying again. We continue seeing her wails, until we hear a voice of a man. "Even after all that, they still adore you… Adam wasn't wrong in giving you that mission."

The camera slowly pans to the right, revealing that the cell right beside Blake contains the defeated Commander of the White Fang, Bane Saw — the S-class gorilla Faunus of the White Fang. He grew a sick beard this time, just so then animation-wise he looks less like Yatsuhachi. Shadows cover his face, so we can't see his eyes yet. He continues, "Even after you got caught, you still manage to toy with their hearts, and destroy them little by little… how priceless. I can't say I'm mad at you for betraying us. After all, so did I…"

"Shut up…" Blake said. "Don't think even for a second… that we're similar."

"No. We're really not… but even so, here we are, thrown into the same hole. I hope you're happy siding with the humans… You may think this is all simple, but it isn't, Belladona. Regardless of your morality, there's one final question that you have to answer. At the end of all things… who will you choose? Who is more important to you? Who will you fight for? Your precious friends, or your family?" Bane asked.

"The third option…" Blake said, making Bane stop himself. He giggles and abandons the conversation. With that the scene ends.

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Now we follow the girls walking through Vale City's streets again, still expressing grief at the thought of losing Blake for years to come. Before they can dwell on that any longer, they happen upon a truck that was passing by the road. We don't see who it is yet, but he seems to stop once they see the girls. A man said, "Hey, Ruby, Weiss, Yang! It's been a long time!"

We never heard this voice before, but by here we can recognize who it is. He gets down from the driver's seat, dressed in a white shirt, brown jacket, brown pants, big heavy boots and iconic bright orange gloves. It's Oscar Pine. It's only been a year, but he suffered the most notorious growth spurt out of everyone in the cast. He went from a little teenage twink with the same height as Ruby, to a big boy who towers over her, similar to Jaune. His hair grew shaggy and he looks to be in good shape from all the farm work he does, plus he upgraded his old wagon for a small truck.

Weiss stood there as he began chatting with Ruby, and soon she took the hint. She forcefully grabbed Yang and dragged her away, saying, "Anyway Ruby, me and Yang are gonna go ahead and do that thing we talked about (wink). See ya!"

Ruby realized what she was trying to do and blushed, "I- Uh- what?! We didn't- hey!"

She and Oscar were left there alone, so he awkwardly invites her for a coffee and she accepts. As they go, Ruby becomes more and more nervous. Now as an adult she has a lingering idea of romance that she never had before as a teenager. It pretty much reverses the roles they had at the start — now Ruby has a crush on him, while Oscar has fully accepted that their lives are too different, and can't see them being more than friends. Ruby even questions herself in her own thoughts, asking "Why am I overthinking this — it's just a coffee break, nothing more! We had dozens like this before, get a hold of yourself, Rose!"

Though Ruby continues to overthink things, soon it becomes clear that Oscar had a very simple reason to wanna talk with her. Apparently his farm received a request for supplies of a size that he never saw before. It will be an amazing deal that will make him quite rich, but he's afraid of doing the delivery. It's not because of the Grimm — it's because the delivery is for the city of Planice itself, requested by their mayor. It's something that never happened before, and he sees it as a bad omen. Oscar is aware of the city's absolutely horrible problem with crime, and fears it's some kind of trap. He almost jumps at the mere thought of going back there. This showcases perfectly that despite looking badass now, he's still a huge coward. Oscar wants Ruby to tell him what he should do.

Ruby scratches her head from embarrassment. She was ogling Oscar just a minute ago, but seeing that he's still the same cowardly boy, it ruined the mood quite a bit. She tells him that he should tough it up and go. They are both getting older, and so they need to start being braver about their lives. People in Planice must be starving after the winter, so he as a farmer has an obligation to help. She basically pressures him to do it in order to prove that he has grown at all, and Oscar ends up accepting the challenge, still visibly shaking. Just in case something happened, Ruby told him to give her a call, and she would be there in a split second to kick the butt of any crook that messes with him.

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Yang and Weiss walked away, but they still had some things to do. Weiss was going to the communication's tower to give a call to his little brother, and see how his studies are doing. Meanwhile, Yang wanted to meet with uncle Qrow. They have business to take care of together.

Weiss' scene is more laid back — she just has a video call with Whitley to showcase a bit of his new design, now at fourteen years old, and being prepared to take a high position in the Schnee Mining Company soon. Winter was supposed to be in the call as well, but she was also investigating the sudden disappearance of Grimm in Atlas territory. We also see Weiss doing the mature thing, asking that Whitley tell their parents that she loves them, and that she wishes to see them again soon. Her father was overly cruel and her mother was overly cold and distant, but Weiss doesn't want their family to continue being the pit of misery that it is. She will put up the extra effort to make sure their bond isn't ruined forever.

Now to Yang's scene, she meets again with Qrow in the middle of Vale Park, and we are introduced to a completely new version of the character. He's not drinking himself into unconsciousness as he often did — he's just using a pen and a notebook to sketch little birds who come near him. He's rocking the college professor look — a gray blazer over a black shirt and trousers. Most surprising, he's wearing the nerd glasses that he hated so much. To put it simply, Qrow already let go of all his past traumas that we saw in the previous volume. Cinder was dead, he got his revenge against her and the Manticore, Ruby and Yang were safe and ready on their own, and so he could finally lower his sword, quit drinking, and become a human once again. He retired on the same note as Glynda.

His drawing session is interrupted once Yang comes in, scaring the birds away. They have a small chat where she compliments his new look, until she asks the question that brought her here. She wanted his help to find another hideout of the Branwen tribe.

Apparently, this is all Yang has been doing for almost the entire year, which explains why she doesn't go hunting with Ruby and Weiss anymore. Now she's taking missions where the Branwen tribe was close by, in a desperate attempt to rescue Vernal and stop Raven. For reasons that Qrow doesn't understand, Yang feels it's her fault that Raven turned out evil the way she did, and has the responsibility to end the Branwen tribe by herself. Unfortunately, Raven's stupidly acute astral senses always help her predict whenever Yang is approaching, and her Semblance can make them flee to the other side of the map in five seconds. It's a hopeless effort, but Yang does not want to give up. She made a promise to Vernal, and she wants to rescue her no matter the cost.

This time Qrow will make an excuse to get out of retirement, and personally help her find Raven. Peace is nice, but he's missing some action in his life. They will leave next week, and this time he has the absolute best strategy to destroy the Branwen from the inside.

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Of course, none of that would ever be an actual problem. The girls were allowed far too much peace. This world is a world of fighting, monsters, and evil plots. What begins next cannot be stopped. One side must win — humans or monsters.

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A few days have passed since the girls visited Blake. In the middle of the night, when not a single soul is out in the streets, we follow a group of shadowy figures in hoods. They say that now it's the perfect time to strike, and they can't fail to rescue their comrades. And so, they make their move. By the fit and masks, they are obviously White Fang. Not only that, but they seem to be those smuggled outlaws that Tai and Yang were after in the beginning of the episode.

Their goal was the prison underneath the mountain. They silently break in, kill all the human guards as well as some noisy prisoners, and proceed to the maximum security hall. Note that the White Fang soldiers seem much stronger than we saw them in volume II, not to mention their clothes and weapons now have adhered the color red instead of white.

Once inside, they take a bunch of those anti-gas masks and begin freeing all the dozens of other White Fang members who were locked up in there, including Bane. They even brought his visor and weapon along with them; the chainsaw greatsword. They were ready to leave, but one of the goons unknowingly released Blake from her cell, seeing her cat ears and thinking she was yet another one of them. Blake received a gas mask and calmly waited for her senses and Aura to return in full. Once they did, she started beating the fuck out of the White Fang — stealing a sword from one of them. This is the first fight of the volume, taking place in the huge prisoner hall while a hundred prisoners keep banging on the bars and cheering. Blake single handedly managed to defeat quite a number of them, but in the end there was Bane and his sword.

Even after two years, Blake still doesn't seem like a match to him one-on-one. Just to remind the changes made on the original White Fang Lieutenant — Bane Saw is a high-ranking White Fang warrior part of the Elite Squad. His Faunus trait is Gorilla arms, which gives him absurd levels of strength, and a dense coat of fur in his arms that serve to block deadly slashes. Blake would have trouble beating him just with that, but thankfully she developed a lot of abilities from her "Shadow Twin" Semblance since their last encounter, and they can even the playing field. At least, until Bane also decided to use his Semblance.

"Assimilation" gave Saw the power to absorb objects, and imbue them in his body parts at will. He used his Semblance to absorb his own weapon, and once Blake got closer again, he turned his arm from the elbow down into a chainsaw, instantly. It got her by surprise, breaking her sword in half and delivering a nasty bleeding wound that put her down. Bane was in position to finish her off, but she got saved by the city's detective.

Either one of the guards managed to raise the alarm or Blake herself did it — either way, the police were notified of the breakout. Tai arrived at the nick of time and was able to send Bane staggering back with a flying kick. He realized that many other Hunstmen were coming, so he had to flee with the other White Fang members.

We continue following them as they are chased by police and Huntsmen alike through the streets, until eventually they are cornered at the docks of the city. There was a single hooded guy waiting for them there, and seemingly he was the leader of this rescue mission. There were a dozen lights pointed at them, and a dozen Huntsmen slowly walking up — one of them is Qrow, by the way. It seemed like they would all be arrested again, but then the leader stepped in. His face is obscured by shadows, but we can clearly see tusks coming out of his mouth. "Don't worry, Bane… This is all part of the plan."

"But-! How are we going to-" Bane was saying.

The man raised his hand. "The fang is no longer the pushover it once was, my friend. Now we've gained the final piece we needed to win this war."

And so the police officers and Huntsmen of Vale watch in silence, as a loud and distant shriek echoes around them, seemingly coming from the sea. The water starts to ripple, and suddenly… a Grimm erupts from the water. It looks monstrous — a manta ray fused with a gigantic Megalodon. The huge monster peered its head up, scaring everyone shitless, except the White Fang soldiers with the red hoods. Once the Huntsmen had backed away, the monster submerged into the water again, leaving its flat back on the surface. The Grimm simply wasn't attacking, even though the gang was in close range.

The hooded White Fang guys jumped on top of its back, urging the prisoners to do the same. It took some convincing, but eventually they did. Once everyone was on top, the leader said, "Take us home." And so the monster started moving off into the sea.

Qrow was watching it all, and when he saw that, it turned a switch in his brain. He grabbed Harbinger tightly, and rushed in to stop them. Suddenly other Grimm jumped out of the water — weird lizards that could also walk on land. Qrow slashed through them and jumped off the edge to reach the fleeing prisoners in the waters. He was about to deliver a devastating downwards slash at the leader with the tusks, but just then Bane used his chainsaw sword to block Qrow's attack, protecting his teammate. The clash caused a gust of wind, pushing off his red hood and revealing him to be a red-head man with long hair and orange eyes. By the tusks, he was a boar Faunus. It wasn't the person Qrow was expecting to see, making him look puzzled.

"Enjoy your final days, you ugly creatures," he said.

Qrow lost all momentum and was stuck in the air. He looked directly into the man's eyes, and some kind of strange power made Qrow feel paralyzed, and he couldn't attack again. This guy made him feel fear, which is certainly rare. The Megalodon Grimm simply used it's long tail to slap Qrow like a whip, sending him flying the fuck away back to the docks, and crash through a warehouse. And so, riding the giant shark towards the dark sea, the White Fang successfully rescued all their fellows from prison.

The other Huntsmen tried to help Qrow get up, but he was unresponsive, still paralyzed by a wave of fear that he couldn't comprehend. In his mind, he realizes that the hooded person wasn't Cinder Fall… but he still managed to command the Grimm to defend him. What the hell is going on?!

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Back at the prison, Tai still had something to do. The first guy that Blake took down, the one who freed her from the cell, was left behind after the scuffle. Tai and Blake now hold him with a blade to his neck and demand answers. Why were these guys rescued only now, and what does the White Fang want with this? In response the goon simply smiles. He says:

"You actually don't have a damn clue what's happening right now, do you? It seems we were stealthier than we had imagined… Well, let me break it down for you then, as an official messenger. From this day onward, the White Fang is no more… We are now the Dark Fang. And as representatives of the Faunus race… We declare war on humanity."

Tai and Blake look at each other with deep confusion and dread.

With that, episode 1 concludes.

Commentary (spoilers): This episode serves to reintroduce characters, do a lot of foreshadowing for what happens next, and immediately begin the volume arc. The Huntsmen of Vale versus the entire Dark Fang… and apparently, the Grimm as well. If you are one that skipped the last volume entirely because of the filler, I'll summarize it for you. We're in the final arc, and Cinder didn't die at the end of Volume VI. That explains all you need to know so far — everything else will come naturally. Actually, Cinder might not even appear in this volume outside of flashback and mentions, since I wanna focus all the antagonism on Adam. Also, remember when I said Blake's action's have consequences in this series? Well, there you go — offscreen prison time. Obviously I still need the character for the story, so she won't be there any longer. It doesn't interfere in the plot but it's still there, and it says a lot about the worldbuilding and Blake's character.

By far my biggest point of contention is about making Ruby and Weiss hot or not. I fear making Ruby more attractive might ruin her marketable Shounen MC appeal, or just simply make her design too similar to Summer. I searched hell and back for other alternative fan redesigns for Ruby, but I couldn't find a single one that was better than the plain original one. It's such a weird case too — her final outfit looks really good or really bad depending on the artist. In the end my only input was to keep her with the same haircut from previous volumes. As for Weiss, I forced myself to think of a new design — I really don't like her volume 7-8 look. Her new one is just a better version of the outfit I described for volume VI (here's a close approximation). I like her without a ponytail because I believe her tied/braided hairstyle with the crown was a character trait that is linked to her princess status. With her character arc, her design naturally transitions to more of a knight aesthetic, as she finally took the last step to claim independence and become a warrior. Yes, she still flat as a brick. It's endearing to her character, so I won't change that. Team Juniper changed next to nothing. Nora is the same, Pyrrha is no longer alive in canon so I can only use fan designs, Ren is going for the chinese prince aesthetic, and Jaune is going for the king Arthur aesthetic. I hoped you like seeing them here — now it's gonna take half of the volume until they are back.

The White Fang was a faction that I barely explained anything about, and we never went much in depth with its characters. So far we have Adam, Sienna, Bane, Corsac, Fennec (dead) and Ilia. The White Fang Lieutenant (commander in this version) was named Bane Saw. It's his fan name I suppose, and since there isn't a canon one, might as well. I gave him way more shit and he still has a part to play in this volume; I might even throw in a character arc in there. He was simply evil in volume II, and the only small piece of humanity that I gave him was a connection to Tuxson, just to explain his motivation to attack vale. I left it open if I wanted them to be best friends, brothers or gay lovers for this season, and I'm still not sure which road to pick. I didn't want a Bury Your Gays scenario, so I'll leave that up to the finale.

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Next episode opens with a flashback.

We find ourselves in the throne room of the White Fang — where Sienna is sitting on the big chair, just like every other time we've been here. However, the person who comes to meet her this time is actually Adam. He still dresses in the classy-ass suit. This scene we will purposefully keep his face out of shot, in order to build up a climatic reveal.

I don't think I ever spoke of his design since the original was just too good to change, but there is one clear difference that I didn't mention. Adam looks very buffed and tall in RE:colored — something that is obscured a lot by his suit. Doesn't change him much from his original sleeker design, but it helps him look older and more threatening. I just don't want him to be confused as a teenager.

His talk with Sienna is immediately confrontational. She asks where he's been for the whole week, since he went missing without giving any new reports. Adam begins going on this small tirade about the discovery of the century, and monologues about abstract concepts. The gears that shape this world have been changing ever so slightly for several dozen years now. He believed those shifts ultimately led to attack on Vale City, which was a success to Fang. While Vale's main city was forced to recover, the White Fang was able to implant the domain in the countryside — in every village of every region. Their numbers have never been so large and their collective power might actually have a shot at standing against the Huntsman Guild…

However, those shifts did not end there. They were merely building up to something much greater — a war. Not between nations or factions, but between all the creatures who roam this earth. A long and maddening battle for survival where only one can remain. Adam can't stop it… he can only try to guide his people to survival with the best of his ability. That is what he will do.

The camera finally goes to his face. A small beard and a stern expression seem to indicate that the last year has been fucking raw for him — losing Blake to the enemy and all that. His unkempt face immediately contrasts with his fancy suit, like a washed up Yakuza boss. His visor still covers his eyes though, giving an inhuman look. He continues:

"If I'm not mistaken, it was always in your best interest to let me succeed The Fang after you were done. You were probably hoping for that to happen in ten, maybe twenty years… Well, excuse me, Sienna… I would like to claim leadership today." Adam said, drawing his sword slowly.

Without any proper prompt, the two start to fight. This is the first Sienna fight of the series, and no, you don't get to see her Semblance yet, just her weapon. She only uses her chain whip, and fights Adam with killing intent. It's a fight between two speed masters in close quarters, so it's immediately raw and disorienting. Eventually Adam wins, cutting her weapon in half and knocking Sienna to the ground. He reappears with phasing speed, putting the tip of his sword to her neck. She was done for.

"Now… I talked this over with the council already. The few who aren't on my side won't be able to make a difference. You can have the leadership again once I'm done with this war. Now you only have to make a choice. Will you help me, or will you die?" Adam asked calmly.

The camera lingers on Sienna's shocked expression… before cutting to black.

…

We take back to an interview room at the police headquarters of Vale. The goon who was captured by Blake was now locked in a chair by a dozen chains. Apparently he just finished telling Tai all that we just saw — though he doesn't have the details. Adam Taurus took over the White Fang, renamed it to the Dark Fang, and began his plan to destroy humanity. He refused to speak anything else about it, but soon the news of the war would arrive, one way or another.

We cut to Ozpin in his new office, just reading through a short report about the news, when suddenly Miss Lucy enters the room. She only brought bad news, so Ozpin sat quietly as she spoke.

Firstly, the emergency call that he requested with the council of Haven has been postponed, due to problems at their communication's tower. Either this is a huge coincidence, or Haven was already attacked. The latter is most likely, since the White Fang have their main base somewhere in their nation, where also the highest number of Faunus in the entire world live. Many of the Huntsmen are also Faunus, so a lot of them might ally with the White Fang sooner or later. Worst of all, Ozpin is keenly aware that Leo will not move a finger against the White Fang for personal reasons. It will be up to Vale alone to deal with this war. That's not actually the worst news by the way.

Apparently, the war already began. A single man, severely wounded, arrived in the city on horseback a few minutes ago. He came to notify that a lot of the villages in the countryside have been attacked in the last couple of days. The citizens were kidnapped, and the Huntsmen guarding the towns were slaughtered or captured as well. The Dark Fang simply had too many numbers, even if their soldiers were weaker overall. No one has any clue where the villagers were taken to. That wasn't the worst news either.

Somehow, the Dark Fang is controlling the Grimm. The monsters for some reason are listening to their commands — it's a phenomenon that was observed in every village they attacked. They could even order Grimm to stop attacking if they wanted to. It matches with what the police and Huntsmen had witnessed last night during the prison breakout, and it also explains how they were able to go about the countryside without being noticed. Upon hearing that, Ozpin looks down in an ominous way. There was a clear boiling anger appearing in his face. To think all that hard work and sacrifice to stop Cinder was only able to buy them one year of peace. Now the monsters have found a new master, and the whole cycle begins anew. Ozpin eventually looked back at her, and ordered that a reunion takes place in the castle main hall this instant, among all the Huntsmen left in Vale.

…

We cut to Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Qrow at their house. Qrow just finished telling them what he experienced, and what it might imply. They believed Cinder was dead as dirt, but it seems that her cause didn't die with her. Her godmother already picked a new champion to help destroy the world, that being the Dark Fang. Nothing else explains their ability to control Grimm. As the three were talking, suddenly they got a notification on their scrolls, telling them to come to the castle immediately. Weiss summoned an ice nevermore, and took them there by flight.

We see a quick montage of the same nature, as dozens of figures pop from the city and start running across the rooftops on their way to the plateau, eventually arriving at Beacon castle. Several teams were already standing at the castle's main hall once the girls arrived, and soon Ozpin came to announce what was going on. Basically, the White Fang are doing some evil shit. He plans to completely eradicate their faction once and for all, due to their participation in the attack on Vale — something that he couldn't do previously due to their illusive and cowardly nature. He eventually comes to reveal that the enemy has the ability to control the Grimm to their will, which noticeably makes everyone really nervous. This greatly increases the threat of the Dark Fang, and forces the Huntsmen to play it as smart as they can.

Ozpin then starts assigning random squads to key points on the map. Some had the objective to protect the villages, others were told to investigate and search for the people who were kidnapped. Some were sent to check up on Menagerie, while a great majority were sent to check up on the situation at Haven. Many Huntsmen questioned this decision, but Ozpin affirmed this is a much different situation than a war between nations — it's a war between races. They have already failed at protecting most of the people in their countryside, so they can't allow Haven to follow the same fate. At the same time, a specific group of strong folk, like Glynda and Ozpin, would stay in the city. If the Dark Fang can control Grimm on the same level of the invasion, they can't forget to defend themselves. That was pretty much it.

Everyone starts rushing out of the castle at phasing speed. Just when Qrow, Ruby, Weiss and Yang were about to move out, Ozpin gives them a look and signals them to wait a minute.

…

Later they meet at his office. Turns out that team RWBY had a specific mission this time, and so did Qrow. The girls were meant to investigate the whereabouts of team CRDL. They last reported in the city of Planice, when suddenly the connection of their scrolls was cut off. Their last message spoke of some kind of crisis that was happening in the city. Ozpin fears that the Dark Fang have already taken over their second main city, and so team RWBY is ordered to go there and report back about the situation. As for Qrow, he had the simple but important quest to go investigate the whereabouts of teams that are currently missing, and send them back to Beacon. While he's at it, he has to keep an eye on the Dark Fang and chip away at their forces as much as he can. Surely they already got plenty of abnormals like that shark monster last night, and he needs to put them down if he finds them. Sounds good for everyone. Ruby and Qrow hug as they say goodbye, demanding each other to not get hurt while out there. Ruby is pretty confident, after all they were the ones who defeated the White Fang all the way back then.

Before the girls left with Qrow, Ozpin told them to wait. He has something else to give them, but didn't want to spoil the surprise. It would surely arrive at their house before midnight, so for now they just had to wait at home.

…

We hard cut to Blake as she walks silently down a corridor. There are Atlas shackles on her arms and legs, so she literally can't do anything but walk. Eventually the big doors open, and she's at the courtroom again. This would be a special trial regarding her involvement in what happened during the prison break, and the war that just started. Her key witness was Tai, and her lawyer was… Glynda? Well, it checks out.

This whole scene just revolves around Glynda explaining the tactical purpose of having Blake out of jail. Yeah, she leaked their information and had her part in the invasion plot, but time and time again after that, she came back and aided her friends and the nation in order to repent for her crimes. Now the perfect opportunity appears for her to prove herself.

If she joins the front of this war and destroys the Dark Fang, it will ultimately prove her loyalty. She will be destroying the beast that she helped create, not to mention that she has tons of information about the Dark Fang that can help Vale win. Glynda ends her speech, and quickly all the council folk discuss among themselves for a short while. They have come with a verdict.

…

The girls were just sitting around in the house, wondering why Ozpin wanted them to wait. Soon enough the front door opens, and Blake comes in. She's now properly dressed, using a full black coat that makes her look like a Matrix character, with a few tones of purple in her belt, boots and undershirt. She just apathetically says, "hey…" before the other four girls jump in to hug her.

After a sweet musical cue, we see team RWBY reunited for the first time.

This is technically the first time in about three years that we see these characters together again, considering the production time of volume VII and this one. We follow them getting ready in this Batman & Robin suit up sequence, where we can see their new tech for the first time so far. I decided to slightly update their weapons for this version, except for Myrtnaster of course. They are functionally the same, except they will be upgraded with a few new features so then the girls can pull off new techniques on their fight scenes. Yang's gauntlets now cover her arms all the way to the elbows, giving the vibe of a cyborg arm like the original. Crescent Rose now has a few new sections made of a golden material that make the weapon pop out more. Finally, Ruby hands out Blake's Katana back to her. Its brand new function is the hookshot. Now Blake can fire her grappling hook like a gun instead of tossing it. By the way, Blake has her bow back, but it doesn't cover her ears anymore — it's small, purple and cute.

They leave together in this awesome, energetic sequence of them doing parkour through the city rooftops, eventually jumping over the city walls and scaring those same two guards again. Just like that, they disappear under the cover of night. The guard says, "Hey look… it seems they got their friend back. How many months has it been since we saw those four together?"

"Why do you care?! Let me tell you something, whenever those four go, everything seems to turn for the worse! The next time we see them, we will be running for our lives — just you wait!" his friend replied.

…

We continue following the girls as they run through the plains, talking about what they know of their enemies. It's a bit of exposition just in case the audience forgot about previous volumes. Blake explains that she wasn't a friendly person ever since she ran away from home. Her only friend inside the Fang was Ilia, who was the person who convinced her to join. Of course, there was Adam, but their situation was… complicated. She doesn't know either of their whereabouts, but there are many other people for them to worry about.

The White Fang was divided into many different squads, but its most notorious one is the Elite Squad. Ilia and Blake were part of them for having awakened their Auras naturally, and even so they were the two weakest and youngest members of them all. Blake never properly met with the rest, but they were considered the White Fang's strongest soldiers, capable of matching to the Huntsman Guild's strongest warriors. She only recognizes one of them during the prison breakout, which was Bane. He was just one out of several powerful warriors from the elite squad.

Once done with this basic exposition to hype our villains, Blake makes one final request for her friends. They were sitting around a campfire to get some rest, and eventually she just said it. "Girls… If and when we find him… if we find Adam… please, let me be the one who fights him… It's my burden to stop him before he can hurt anyone else."

The other three are left silent, until Weiss remarks, "So you really don't have any more feelings for him?"

"The person I fell in love with… was never the real him." Blake replied. They all remain in silence for a bit, looking at the fire, and noticing the somber eyes on Blake's face.

But then, Yang started to laugh, which broke the heavy mood. Then she got up, and started walking towards Blake, menacingly. And so, suddenly she threw a punch at her face, of which Blake was able to barely dodge with a roll to the side. Yang continued to chase after Blake in an attempt to strike her, missing her punches and breaking trees in half by accident. Weiss tried to stop them, but Ruby held her back. Blake fails to keep up with the pace, gets juggled, and ends up on the ground, with a killer punch just an inch away from her nose. Yang says with a weirdly menacing tone, "Sorry, Blake, but I don't think you're in condition to stop anything. Those months in the slammer rusted you out. Until you can prove to me that you can beat him, the one who will deal with Adam is me." she finished, pulling onto her hat.

Just in case the audience forgets, put a quick memory flash of when Adam killed Marrow Braun, Yang's third father figure, right in front of her. She's not consumed by vengeance as she once was, but it absolutely didn't escape her mind. Being the only one to fight him, she knows how dangerous that motherfucker is. It won't end well if the others fight him.

Blake is immediately taken by a bit of outrage and anger, but she quickly recomposes. She looked at her hand grabbing the sword, and realized she might not be as strong as she believes herself to be. She needed to start training again if she hoped to fight Adam, as he absolutely kicked her ass the last time they fought. Maybe Yang had a point.

…

The next day, as team RWBY approaches the eastern side of the nation, suddenly the climate begins to change. The region of Planice is constantly covered in gray skies, drab colors and a dense fog. It was noon, but it looked overly dark thanks to the heavy clouds. It took them a while to cross the foggy woods, but eventually they spotted the city from over a steep hill.

The girls didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't… that.

The city resides in one big square of huge walls, quite like Vale, but without a mountain. A huge river connects to the west side of the city, giving them sail to the outside world. Naturally it's just an ugly city, but now it looks horrifying. The city seems calm, what doesn't match with the scenery outside its walls. The girls saw hundreds, maybe even a thousand Grimm just circling around the city walls. Not trying to get in, but simply scouting endlessly around it. It's something completely unreal to them. Obviously, Planice was already in the Dark Fang's hands. Out of everyone, Ruby seems the most shocked. She was trembling, covering her mouth with her hands. She said, "Oscar… I… I told him to… to come here… He… he can't be-"

Weiss tried to snap her out of it, but Ruby was freaking out. She refused to believe he's dead, but the thought of him being stuck in there is even worse. Weiss took point and called Ozpin on her scroll, explaining the situation to him. They figure out that most of the Dark Fang and the Grimm must be residing here, given the number of Grimm. It didn't make sense though — why here? Ozpin immediately updated all the Huntsman forces with this information, and moved his warriors to create a long-range siege around Planice — too far to fight the Grimm horde, but just enough to stop any reinforcements to come in. The girls' new orders are to infiltrate the city safely and call him back once they do.

They could fly in with an ice nevermore, but everyone in there would spot them immediately, including those real nevermores standing atop the wall. They could try to fight their way to the main gate, but it would cause too much of a ruckus, and the Fang would notice. The most clear route was the city docks by the huge river. They just needed a boat, and so a boat conveniently appears within the fog. Actually it was a big ship, and by the design, it was from Haven. The girls are able to sneakily board it by using Ruby's Semblance to carry everyone in a bundle of petals.

The ship had a couple dozen Dark Fang soldiers, who now sport red and black clothing instead of black and white. They find a secluded and quiet room at the bottom of the ship in order to hide, but soon realize they weren't alone.

It was a holding room, and they found several dozen people, lined together and chained by their hands and feet. It was a fucked up sight — you couldn't tell which side had the most shocked expression, the girls or the prisoners. Team RWBY tries to come up with a way to save all these people, but the ship stops at the docks before they could think. They hide away when a soldier comes in, and starts yelling at all the humans to stand up and walk on a line.

…

Outside the ship, the girls are able to sneak through the docks and into the dark alleys, having a clear path to enter the city. However, they decide to stay and watch what happens to the human people who were kidnapped. The guards gather them around, and state what will be their new roles in a place called The Factory. They were spared from suffering the same fate as most other humans, but in exchange for their lives, they will have to work for the Faunus race. Their leader has chosen this city as their future capital, and so they will work here for the rest of their lives. Everyone looked really scared already, but to fuck things up, a young man suddenly speaks out. Their plan is absolutely insane — some people here are kids and elderly folk, not to mention that his wife was right behind him, and she was pregnant. They couldn't possibly work as slaves in these conditions. The soldiers' faces remain completely apathetic. They proceed to pull him in and mercilessly beat him in front of everyone, and that's when Ruby decided it was time to jump in.

In a matter of second the girls manage to beat the fuck out of every single soldier — they don't even use their weapons, just punches and kicks to the face. They are able to free the hostages and send them back into the ship, urging them to sail back to Vale City. However, Grimm suddenly start emerging from the river behind them, taking over the ship again. The people had nowhere to go, so they just stood back while the battle continued. Soon enough, team RWBY realized they were in an ambush.

They heard a familiar voice that made them slowly turn around, "I didn't expect you would be the ones to arrive here first, but I was somehow sure it would. I was kind of hoping for it."

It was Bane Saw again, in a new red and black fit. He welcomes the girls to the new capital of the world — where the Faunus nation shall begin, once all humans were subjugated. There was no reason to extend the talk for much longer, and the episode was soon about to end. They had to fight, but Bane wasn't alone. Suddenly the girls feel a shiver down their spines and look up. There they were — several figures with red hoods flowing in the wind, as they stand over the rooftops. It's the entire Elite Squad of the Dark Fang, a group of highly trained assassins and warriors. We don't see any of their faces or get to know them at all, but they will appear one by one over the rest of the volume, so I'll talk about them then. For now they are just a bunch of shadow people with red eyes.

What follows is a complete and utter destruction of team RWBY. First they are separated by the elite's special powers, and then they are ganged up on. They have absolutely no shot at winning this — eventually it turns into a simple and violent beatdown. I'll just describe their four fates as the girls are split up.

Blake was defeated first due to her sheer lack of practice, but wasn't murdered on the same level as the other three. Despite everyone seeing her as a filthy race traitor, Adam specifically valued her a lot, so their orders were to spare her. They simply knock her unconscious and take Blake away.

Weiss followed the same note, except her defeat was more horrible. It seemed like everyone hated her. In RE:colored, the Schnee don't exploit Faunus any more than they do normal people in their business, so they don't have much reason to hate Weiss other than her being a rich bitch — a symbol of human dominion. However, they couldn't actually take her down easily. She could create ice monsters and knights to fight by her side, what leveled the playing field in terms of numbers… up until he showed up.

Finally we see that guy from the first episode again — the warrior with the red hair, and the tusks coming out of his mouth. He's the first one to have his appearance uncovered, and he told the others that he will defeat Weiss alone. His weapon was a big kite shield strapped on his arm, and he was dressed in elegant asian clothes. His codename is "Lord of the Flies", but I'll call him just Lord from now on.

Lord appeared before Weiss, brandishing his shield. She looked at his face, and for just a few seconds, Weiss let her guard down to him. His character is designed to be extremely beautiful and dashing — his only abnormal feature being the tusks on his mouth, that make him look cute if anything. His good looks managed to turn off Weiss' brain for a moment, but she quickly recomposed. Lord seems to notice it, as he is familiar with the gaze of women who fell for his beauty. Still, being a human just makes her a filthy creature like all the others, and thus unworthy of his praise. He comes off as a guy somehow more vain than Sky, with a layer of racism on top. That's pretty much his whole shtick — he hates humans because he thinks they are ugly, and thus deserve to die. He and Weiss would go on to fight, but… there's no fight.

As Weiss gave a step closer to him, she received a shock in all her senses. Lord was emitting an Aura that distorted his own appearance, and everything around him. Everything was turning into a horrible nightmare, and Weiss's brain couldn't process it. Was this his Semblance?

Next time we see her, she's crawling on the floor in fear, like a child trying to escape. Whatever Lord's Semblance did, Weiss couldn't bear to see it again. In inner monologue, she complains about feeling so much fear that she literally can't think of anything, or use her Semblance. She let go of her sword and didn't realize until it was too late. Lord came back, making her crawl away even more. Now we see the effects of his power again. The world surrounding them grew dark. Weiss could only see Lord, and his body was taking a bizarre and eerie shape again. His voice was distorted, and Weiss could hear her heart beating faster. To summarize the visual of this ability, Weiss is being forced to watch hardcore analog horror and gore, evoking an uncontrollable fear.

Lord's Semblance was "Boogeyman" — the power to create ultimate fear in the heart of his opponents. He won the fight without even making a move, as Weiss simply passed out from sheer terror after long exposure to his ability. They wanted to kill her as well, but Lord explained that their main strategist wanted her alive, as she can be more valuable than the other three. With her life on the line, they can ransom a lot of help from the richest elite of Atlas. That's it for Blake and Weiss, however Ruby and Yang weren't so lucky.

The sisters were able to team up momentarily, but that only increased the amount of enemies surrounding them. By then Blake and Weiss were already defeated. Their only plan now was to split up and disappear, so then they can reunite later and save the other two. They run, they get chased, and in the end they can't outrun their enemies. Yang ended up fighting three elite members on her own and getting wrecked, while Ruby managed to foil most of them with her speed, and ended up being chased by just one. The two were left at two remote points of the city — wounded and surrounded by fog. The odds were stacked against them. The elite squad members had orders to just kill the two useless ones.

But in the end, Ruby and Yang ended up being saved.

Yang had the most mysterious rescue. She was left beaten and bruised on the floor after a long battle, in which her opponents did not skip the opportunity to attack her at the same time. The three elite members, including Bane, were wondering who would get the honors of putting her down. Suddenly, they were startled by a strange buzzing in their ears. They couldn't hear anything because of it, and their vision started going dark on its own. Some kind of magic was messing up their minds, but there was absolutely no sound coming from anywhere. As they were struggling to sense their surroundings, they saw a figure snatching the unconscious Yang from the ground. A strange assailant with a green robe just saved her, and ran into the dark alleyways. The three elite members regained their senses, but weren't fast enough to follow. She escaped.

Lastly, Ruby was running from her sole remaining chaser. For a second she tried to rest around a corner, thinking she shook him off. Just then the enemy came from above, and she got slashed in the stomach by surprise. She jumped away and wielded her scythe for battle, but she wasn't prepared for how ugly the enemy would be. He was an elite squad member under the codename "Lost Prince". He was an overweight Faunus frog, with a frog head and green skin, a fencing foil for a weapon, but no other abilities beyond that. He was surprisingly fast and didn't allow Ruby to fight back, firing his extended tongue to literally snatch her scythe away like a fly. Without her precious weapon Ruby was in a good position to be murdered, but is saved at the last second… by a very familiar man.

The Prince jumped to deliver another blow, but was met with a punch in the face. A huge figure suddenly appeared behind Ruby, and defended her. The punch was so strong that the frog man was launched through the cobblestone wall of a house, making it crumble on top of him. Ruby looked up as she heard the person speak, "You're having trouble with freaks like these, Ruby? That doesn't sound like you…"

It was Cardin.

In his new design he looks like a badass heavy knight with lots of overbearing armor that are more stylish than useful. He still has a scar in his eye, grew a little beard, and he changed his toupee to look pointy instead of smooth — like a rhino horn. He just snatches Ruby by the scruff of her red hood and takes her into the dark alleyway with him. "Don't worry, I know a safe place," he said.

Cardin then proceeds to stop in front of a huge opened manhole, and he jumps in without warning. Ruby screams from falling into the dark, and her voice slowly fades off, ending the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): And we're finally at the city, where the entire rest of the story will take place in (except the Haven episodes). The design of this place is the most important thing about it. For the entire volume, it will remain in a shitty dark gray weather with a noticeable fog everywhere. Like I mentioned before, Vale City is made to mirror the best of european design while Planice is made to mirror the worst. Streets made of dirt, house placements that make some roads crooked and impossible to drive through, and a decaying aesthetic to walls and rooftops. Basically, Vale City is modern Europe, Planice is gothic europe. There are no sunny days in Planice — the weather permeates a feeling of seriousness that never ends, complementing the tone of the war. It's not supposed to be happy or bombastic.

By the way, sorry for splitting team Ruby ONCE AGAIN (don't worry, it ain't for long). I just gotta be very careful from now on, because I established team RWBY as being strong enough to take down S tier characters like Cinder when fighting together. For that reason I have to split them off consistently to create stakes, and only bring them together when it's absolutely necessary for them to win. Solo battles are better than team battles anyway; I'm sure everyone can attest to that. I'm also not gonna do a cheap one and have the four gang up on Adam at the final battle. Now that I think about it, team interactions are practically going extinct for a long while now. No one has more differences to settle, no more character arcs to go through together or something of that nature. We're perfectly keen on their backstories too, so no more mysteries. All they can talk about is the immediate plot, and we're pretty much done with filler. For that reason, I forced myself to squeeze out something from the few characters I didn't talk about already, namely team SAJ (Sun, Aslan and Jobi), Emerald and Mercury, team CFVY and CRDL, as well as the main villains of the volume. Hopefully I don't forget anything.

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The next episode starts very ominously. We hear slow water droplets pouring over a puddle, and finally we cut to a POV of someone slowly opening their eyes. It's Blake. She seems to be in a prison cell, strapped by shackles as if yesterday was a big dream she had, and she was back in maximum security. But then she looked ahead, and saw a person at the other side of the bars. He was sitting down, holding his hands together while intently looking at her.

It was Adam.

She gasped as she saw him, but he remained motionless. He was wearing his visor again, hiding the upper side of his face. She noticed how his hair and horns grew, making him look quite like a bum and a devil at the same time. He says, "It's been a long time, Bee."

Blake took a while to reply. "Sure it has… You look like garbage."

Adam giggled. "I'm sorry if they were rough with you. You could've just come in through the front door if you wanted to get in so badly. Anyway, how have you been-"

"You know damn well that I don't like chatting…" Blake interrupted. "If you're here to kill me, you can come and try already."

"Kill you?... Why would I ever do that? If I wanted you dead, I could've done for the last two hours you were asleep. I never meant to hurt you, I just want to…" Adam replied. He then hunched down, staring at the floor. All other noises around them ceased, and Blake ominously waited for what he was about to say next. Adam seemed conflicted, but in the end, his facade broke. Whatever corny evil speech he had in mind, he just couldn't pull it off anymore. He had to be honest, and so he said:

"Actually… I'm here to apologize."

...

Blake's eyes opened wide, as she couldn't believe what she just heard. The sad music slowly builds up, and now she listens solely to his echoed voice in the dark. She replies, "You… you what?"

"When I sent you to your mission at Beacon, I knew you would be forced to interact with the humans on a daily basis, more than you ever did before. I knew it would take years to complete your task, and you would have to constantly prove yourself in battle against monsters… But, the thing is, I wasn't worried for your safety… I was worried that… you would learn the truth." Adam said. He took a long break, let out a sigh of frustration, and continued. "I knew you would eventually realize that the humans were never truly as awful as we made them out to be. Even if some of them are utter garbage, most of them don't deserve our hatred… I don't think your friends at Beacon were bad either. That blond one… she came back to fight me in order to save you, even knowing that you sold them out… That is a true friend…

That night… I wasn't mad that you turned against me. I was mad because… you had done it. You learned to forgive them, and forget the past… You were able to do what I couldn't… No matter how long or how much I tried… I could never forgive humanity for what they did to… us… This rage that I have for them… will never be buried…

And so, you became better than me. You made friends, and loyal ones at that. You stood against us when we were being unfair, even though we were allies. And finally, you abandoned us, and found something better to fight for…

I realized that, on that night, I was being selfish and immature. I tried to bring you back to us, because I feared what would happen to you… Because I knew the path you took was much, much harder than mine… and that you would suffer unimaginable pain and sadness for trying to do the right thing… I wanted you to continue being the same fool as I was…

I'm sorry, Blake… I'm really sorry." Adam finished.

Blake's angry gaze slowly fell apart as he spoke. She truly couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was almost as if… she was speaking to the Adam she knew. The Adam who welcomed her, who trained her, who befriended her, who worked with her, and whom she fell in love with. His voice, his tone, and the genuine sadness in his soul were clearly noticeable to her. Memories of them from the past started to pour in, and she couldn't help but hold tears. He was back.

"Adam… Why is this happening? What is this war about?!" Blake asks.

"It's complicated… you wouldn't believe it if I told you… I'm sorry, but I can't stop it. I only started it ahead of time for our own good. Regardless of who's right or not, Faunus or humans… one of them has to go. If we don't fight, we will all die for nothing. I have already chosen my side. I will protect my people…

You don't have to forgive me, Blake. I don't want to tear you apart again like I did before. I will keep you here until it's over, so you don't have to choose. Once it's done I'll free you, and you can take revenge on me if you want. With the Grimm now under our command, we can't possibly lose this war. That is what will happen."

Adam gets up and slowly walks away. Blake couldn't understand what was going through his head — it was one big puzzle. Questions were running through her mind, but in the end it clicked to her. She had to get out no matter what, and so she gathered all her Aura and activated her Semblance. Her shadow reunited into a single spot on the ground, and suddenly shot towards Adam like a spear. She was hoping to tag onto his shadow and control his movements to free her, but it didn't work. He was already keen on this technique, and was prepared.

All this time Adam was sitting on top of a box, but it wasn't actually a box. He flipped a switch on it, and suddenly a blinding light shot out, and cleared the room around them. It was a huge spotlight, and it immediately sent Blake's shadow back against the wall. She couldn't see through the blinding shine aimed at her. Adam said, "This should counter any of your tricks. I'll see you later, Blake."

"ADAM!" She shouted. Being beaten and tired, Blake couldn't summon enough energy to pierce through this light. She was as good as trapped. "MY FRIENDS! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!?" she asked, but Adam didn't answer. Just then, we cut to black.

…

Weiss was somehow in a bigger bind. She was blindfolded and strapped to a chair by her arms and legs with metal locks. She was probably the most dangerous prisoner you could possibly have, since she can summon a monster to break her out of jail at any point, even without her weapon. However, it seems that they found her perfect counter — a single round room with no space for anything, and a blindfold over her eyes. Apparently, since her power works on imagination, knowing her surroundings is strictly necessary for her to create anything. She needs to know the space, position and scale in order to turn her thoughts into reality. Without any power to free herself, she keeps on screaming for someone to come and take these things off her.

And someone eventually opens the door. The slow creek makes her go silent.

And so we're introduced to Desper. He walks in with hands behind his back, dressed in a red lab coat and full black underneath. By his snout, nose, whiskers, ears, and pink tail dragging on the floor behind him, we understand he's a rat Faunus.

He was glad to know his new subject had plenty of fire in her. He instantaneously comes off as a creepy — not in a threatening way, but a perverted and arrogant way. He declares himself the head strategist of the Dark Fang, and was the one who personally designed her cage. Since she is still here after so many hours, it seems to have worked. Desper was apparently the one who got every single bit of knowledge about the Huntsman Guild that Blake had leaked, and thus he was able to formulate perfect strategies to defeat each of them, using dirty tactics, blackmail or exploiting weaknesses of their powers — such is the case with Weiss right now. This room was prepped for her in mind.

Of course, Weiss was a vital part of the plan since the beginning. With her life on the line, her family will probably be willing to give away tons of resources to keep her safe, and her sister might even help prevent Atlas from intervening in their war against Vale. She was the perfect tool he needed. Desper says, "For now we will begin with a demand of one thousand tons of refined Dust and weapons to boost our offensive, in exchange for your survival. It should be a reasonable deal. But before we can talk to your parents, we will need some motivation. Don't worry, miss Schnee, I will just take some photos now. It is important that you're awake for it, as it will make the message more effective."

Suddenly she felt Desper grab her shoulder. "What are you-!"

"Don't worry, miss, this is strictly business. Now, would you be a darling and start crying already? I have several appointments planned, and I don't want to waste my time forcing you to do it. My methods are harsh, but they are effective." Desper said, with a nonchalant tone that shows no concern with what he's about to do. Weiss felt her cape being unclipped from her neck, and soon Desper started pulling down her blouse… He was trying to take off her clothes.

Weiss says in her mind, "Oh, hell no."

Just as Desper pulled her shirt enough to see the skin of her chest, he saw something magical happen. A glyph suddenly appeared there, glowing blue. And so, almost instantaneously, a spike of ice emerged from it. It was so fast that he couldn't react. It pierced through his hand and even impaled a bit of his shoulder. He immediately jumps back, screaming in pain and squealing on the floor like a pussy. He was bleeding a lot. "ARH! GAHH! You… YOU BITCH! HOW DID-"

"I don't need to summon things off the ground — I can do it from any surface. I don't know what this room looks like, but I know my own body very well. All I had to do was wait until you were in range, and imagine a spear coming out of my heart. Now, mister strategist, if you try anything funny again, I'll make sure the next one goes through your head." Weiss said.

"YOU–! YOU–! UGH! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!" Desper said, leaving the room and slamming the iron door. He then immediately flipped a hand switch outside. Weiss could feel the chair grip her arms and legs tighter. Suddenly, a thick gas started filling the room. Weiss couldn't hold her breath forever, so she would eventually inhale the sleeping gas and fall unconscious. Desper tells two guards to keep watching until she's awake again, while he goes to patch himself up — throwing a fit like a child. That ends the scene.

…

After that, we cut to Ruby. She seems to be lying on her back with her eyes closed, occasionally snarling to fight the pain. Eventually we pan back, revealing that the wound in her stomach is being patched up by Sky Lark. Design wise, he already considered himself perfect since day one, so he didn't change a damn thing besides getting a cool set of armor like his bros. He finished up stitching Ruby and said, "Alright darling, don't tug on that and don't stretch too much, and you should be good in a day or so."

"Thanks, but… I can't. I have to go find Yang and rescue the others." Ruby said, getting up from the table. We can finally get a reveal of The Cardin's Crew hideout — the place they lived on before heading to Beacon. Literally, just think of the sewer lair from TNMT. It has a bunch of cool shit, several empty rooms, a lot of pillars, horrible smell, but it has plenty of furniture and space.

Cardin was hanging close to them, leaning against the wall. "I'm sorry to knock you down, petal brain, but you can't go out like that. The only things walking on the streets now are Grimm at every corner, not to mention all those strong guys. They just appeared out of nowhere and threw the people of my city into a prison, and we couldn't do a damn thing to stop it!… There were too many… Damn it, WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE TWO IDIOTS?!" Cardin said.

And so, with perfect timing, the only hatch leading out of this place opens, and down the ladder descends Dove Bronzewing and Russel Thrush.

Dove, surprisingly, grew a sick goatee, and his hair became so shaggy that it covered his eyes, so he doesn't need to squint in order to hide them anymore. Russel changed his punk hairstyle again to something long with silver highlights — I don't know how to describe it, but it's like this. Just to sum it up in case you forgot, the whole team's armor and gear is made to represent four different basic archetypes; Cardin is the heavy paladin, Sky is a spear knight, Dove is a rogue and Russel is a barbarian.

Apparently they were tasked with rescuing Yang from the fight, but they arrived too late, and only managed to witness Yang being taken by someone in a green robe. They failed to keep up with her, and she escaped. It didn't look like Dark Fang or a Huntsman, so it seems that they aren't the only rogue element in this city. As for the other two, Dove and Russel were able to hear the Dark Fang elites talking from the shadows, and discover what happened to them. Weiss was sent to the special confinement in the city's armory, while Blake was taken straight to the Bastille.

Ruby questions, and Cardin explains. At the center of the city lies this huge fortress known as Bastille. It's meant to serve the same function as Beacon castle in case of emergency or invasions — a safe hideout that is heavily protected. The Dark Fang were clever enough to take it over first before anyone could notice, and then move in with the Grimm. With just that, they were able to siege the city in a few short hours. Team CRDLfought while they could before hiding, and haven't made contact with anyone in a week. There's some kind of jammer stopping their scrolls from receiving signals from the communication tower. Thankfully, team RWBY managed to warn Ozpin of the siege before entering, so they might get some help later on. Basically, they probably won't be able to rescue Blake, since she's at the heart of the Dark Fang's base. For now Ruby is really pissed and worried. After a long discussion, she convinces them to at least help save Weiss, and so they depart.

We get this quick montage of them leaving the small bunker, going through a hatch that led to the city sewers, and eventually the surface. They had to move with absolute stealth. Ruby watched as random Grimm hounded the street like it was nobody's business — roaming aimlessly through the fog. At the same time, a woman appeared on the sidewalk, and one of the Grimm spotted her. Ruby was about to step in, but Cardin held her back and told her to watch.

The Grimm and that woman met. The monster snarled, and so the woman pulled her hair back, and showed dog ears coming out the sides of her head. She looked absolutely terrified. The Grimm recognized her as a Faunus, and simply walked away. The woman rushed out of there.

Cardin explains that the Grimm inside the city simply won't attack Faunus. When the people started being rounded up and imprisoned, all Faunus were allowed to roam freely in the city until the war was over, though none of them usually did because of their fear. The Dark Fang was forced to send food carriages to their houses so they won't starve. Ruby notes how the only way for Grimm to behave with intelligence is through orders, but the only person who commanded them was Cinder Fall.

Finally, Ruby decides to rush ahead and climb a tall place to take a good look at the city, and so we're treated with our first sight of it. We see the houses down below mixed with the fog, shitty weather up above, and the Bastille sitting there in the distance — a fortress of red tiles. There are a few other remarkable spots in the distance that we will visit next, like the upper boulevard, the docks, the factory, and the armory which they are going to right now. Ruby makes her mission to find her friends alive, especially Oscar, and free this city. What the Fang has done now is unforgivable, and she has to take them down before anyone else gets hurt. And, so she jumps down.

…

The rest of the episode is pretty much just that. Ruby and team CRDL make a plan to infiltrate the special confinement dungeon under the armory, and free Weiss. The whole place was a square building with many floors, which acted as the police headquarters before the siege. The five warriors found an advantageous position, and made a quick plan. Ruby and Dove would get in from the top floor, while Cardin, Sky and Russel stay outside to cause a bit of ruckus to draw attention. Cardin's side is simple — they just flip cargo trucks and blow shit up while staying in the shadows.

We follow mostly Ruby and Dove, and Ruby is being carried pretty hard in this section. She has good stealth, but doesn't have any skills like Dove does. He knew how to bust doors silently and how to navigate, since he constantly broke in this place years ago as a teenager. While slithering through the corridors, they came to meet an old friend of Ruby — that old frog bastard who slashed her, the Lost Prince. It seems that he was the boss of this building, given by how the soldiers addressed him. Dove manages to get close and swiftly snatch a ring of keys from him, just as he was passing by a corner. With that, they are able to find the locker rooms with weapons and clothes, and disguise themselves with Dark Fang gear in order to reach the underground unnoticed. Ruby found an old duster and shoved it under her skirt to make it look like a tail, and Dove painted his nose black to look like a snout. Perfect Faunus disguise.

Once arriving at the special prisoner hall, which is one big corridor of metal doors, they find two guards on watch. They couldn't sneak in, because the doors were locked by safe dials. The guards simply weren't talking — they couldn't figure the code through them… if it weren't for Dove. One of the guards was poking his finger against the arm of his chair. Dove was able to use his Semblance to identify that he was hitting his finger at a certain rhythm, which reminds of the passwords of the doors. With that, he was able to magically extract the door codes from the man's mind. Eventually the guards are called out to deal with some mysterious new threat that has entered the armory, so Dove and Ruby are able to open all the doors.

They kept searching for Weiss in every door, but all they found were normal people in chains, looking miserable. It seemed obvious, considering this type of cell could never keep an awakened warrior like Weiss for too long. It only became evident who these other people were once they found a dark-blond girl in a light purple dress. She sparked up with joy once the door opened, and it seems she recognized Ruby.

"Everyone, just calm down, we have to take you guys out of here-" Ruby was saying.

"You're… you're Ruby Rose, right? Oh my god, it's really you! I can't believe it! For a second I thought no one would come to rescue us. Did my brother come with you?… Ah, sorry! I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Violet Arc. It's nice to finally meet you!" She said, bowing to Ruby. The name Arc instantly rang a bell to her, and she figured this must be one of Jaune's six sisters. But why? How could she be all the way here?

With that, Dove quickly understood that this place was imprisoning family members of Huntsmen from Vale, probably in an attempt to blackmail them into giving up arms. That will be important for later. Unfortunately for Ruby, Oscar wasn't there either. They must have thought he was just some joe and threw him with the other common folk somewhere. Ruby can only bite her finger and continue believing he's alive.

Dove and Ruby try to guide the prisoners out of there, but somewhere in the building (preferably in a big wide room with a lot of room for fighting) they end up finding the Lost Prince again. He was looking for his missing keys this whole time, and lucked out by finding a new set of intruders. Now he gets to finish Ruby off, and win all the spoils from doing so. Dove is there to help Ruby, but she refuses to fight two on one. She wants to humiliate this guy and beat him on her own, now that he doesn't have a dozen people to back him up. Dove just goes on and escorts everyone out of there while she stays behind.

The fight that follows is pretty basic. This is the first somewhat decent challenge for Ruby so far in this volume, and it mostly just showcases her growth. At this point she became so fast that she learned to do that same Batman shit of appearing behind the enemy with phasing speed — that same trick Qrow and Ozpin often do. As for her enemy, he doesn't even use his Semblance, if he even has one. Prince just uses his naturally-slimy body to slide around the room for better mobility, and to shrug off some of Ruby's attacks. In the end, she just beats him with her signature move of dashing with Rose Burst and spinning her scythe like a saw blade. She gave him an equal slash in the stomach to the one he gave her, except this one might take two volumes to heal. He falls unconscious, and so concludes the obligatory fight scene of the episode.

Ruby is able to reunite with the boys outside, and together they all guide everyone to the nearest sewer entrance. Just like that, all the twenty or so prisoners managed to escape the armory. The only Dark Fang member who saw anything was the Prince, and he's lying half dead under a pile of rubble, with a giant gardening tool slash on his belly. They succeeded.

But just before they left, they heard an explosion somewhere else in this huge complex, and got a bad feeling. Team CRDL took upon themselves to guide the people back to their sewers hideout, while Ruby went to check what happened. As she ran with her scythe, she remarked how she could feel Weiss's Aura somewhere inside. She was fighting.

…

The episode ends as we finally get an idea of what happened to Yang. She took the worst beating out of the other four, and so took the longest to recover. She found herself in a simple ugly bed with a few bandages over her. She looks around until she spots… Mercury Black, sitting in a chair and looking straight at her. He looked really ominous. "So… how does my bed feels like, goldilocks?" he says, and so we dramatically cut to black.

Commentary (spoilers): Something I realize now is how Ruby will likely take a big backseat for this and the next volume. This is more a Blake story than anything. Of course she will still have stuff to do and people to fight, but it probably won't be the most interesting out of everyone. Next volume isn't any better — she will be relegated to companion in the B plot of volume IX. It's like volume II all over again. Fucking Oscar gets a better character arc than she does, granted she already got hers back in volume V.

If you haven't cracked what this volume is about, it's basically a guerrilla war against the Dark Fang. Episodes will focus on going to a place and liberating it from the enemy, until eventually arriving at the big bad castle, where all the final enemies reside. We will also peer into other stories until everyone is gathered and ready for the final battle. Let's continue.

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We pick up right where we left off.

Yang and Mercury were looking at each other, with tension slowly rising. One thing to note is Mercury's clothes. I never really talked about it during volume II because I didn't care as much back then, but I believe Mercury's clothes shouldn't resemble a battle gear whatsoever. His black and gray jumper get exchanged for a simple gray hoodie and black pants (and cute pink slippers). I want to convey this idea that Mercury subconsciously rejects the idea of being a warrior — that's why he doesn't use a weapon, and doesn't try to look like one. He fights to survive and to profit, but he rejects fighting for any other cause.

Yang immediately jumps out of bed. Naturally it's still fresh in Yang's mind who this guy is, and he didn't change much in appearance. This is their third encounter so far, and so they immediately begin their third fight. Yang starts swinging slowly and takes a lot of hits on purpose, just to kick off her Semblance and get herself energized. And now finally, after two tries over the last years, she actually starts beating him. She's a lot stronger and she isn't blinded by anger anymore, while Mercury always remained at the same high level without ever improving, and might even have gotten weaker. It's a small room, so Mercury doesn't have much room to maneuver. Before the fight can evolve from bruisy to bloody, someone stops Yang.

Just as she had Mercury ready for a haymaker to the face, she hears a little girl shouting "STOP!" and suddenly jumping in front of her. She looked unkempt, with clothes bigger than her, and dragging along a little princess rag doll. By her height, she was about eight years old. "I'm not gonna let you hurt uncle Mercury!"

"What-?!" Yang exclaimed, but then suddenly she felt something grabbing her from behind. About five different kids jumped on her back and started pulling her down by the hair, arms, pants — whatever they could hold on to. One of them went so far as to hit her with a plank of wood, but nothing did any damage. She refused to continue the fight in the middle of them, and focused on keeping them away. At that second, Mercury saw an opening, so he pushed the little girl to the side and gave Yang a stabbing kick in the stomach, and sent her flying against the stone wall of the room. Everything shook upon impact, and Yang was left on the ground. Mercury slowly approached and jumped for the killing stomp… but then Emerald showed up.

"CUT THIS SHIT OUT!" Emerald shouted, slapping Mercury away. The serious fight in a dark room suddenly loses all the gas, as Mercury flies to the opposite side of the room and crashes on the furniture due to a single comical slap. "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO IF THEY FIND US BECAUSE OF ALL THIS STUPID NOISE, YOU MORONS!" she shouted furiously, probably making more noise than they did.

Emerald is now a year older and dresses in her full white costume, with the white pants and jackets. Her hair is way longer than last time as well. She helps Yang stand up, and welcomes her to the Cherrywood Orphanage for abandoned brats. Emerald just came back with food, and so all the kids crowd up together and leave the room in a hurry to eat. Apparently Yang has been out since late yesterday, and Emerald is not the best at first aid, so she's still not in top form. The least she can do is offer Yang a meal. Mercury just sits at the corner of the room and scowls the two girls.

Yang is guided through this rundown basement with decaying walls and drab colors. The place was a hidden bunker, located underneath the orphanage itself, so the kids and Emerald could hide from the Fang. The only light came from candles that were scattered around the place, as most of the city lost its power supply. Yang kept going through the corridors until arriving at the supposed kitchen, where all the kids eat away from this bundle of random food.

Every kid in here shouldn't be older than thirteen, and Yang, being a naturally-motherly figure, is able to befriend them instantly — especially that little girl with the doll from earlier, named Little Joanna. She explains that Miss Emerald goes out every day to steal food from the Dark Fang in order to give it to them. In fact, she has done so way before the Dark Fang came about, so nothing really changed apart from not being able to play outside anymore. Emerald's influence makes the kids think of themselves as a famous band of thieves, which makes Yang laugh. Lastly, we see Mercury just pass by them and snatch a bunch of stuff from the bundle, before leaving the bunker through a staircase. Emerald told him not to, but Mercury said, "Sorry grandma, but if the money ain't coming in, I might as well leave. I'll come back when I feel like it."

He left and closed the trapdoor. Yang immediately thought he was the biggest jackass she ever saw in her life, but Emerald just accepts it. There was something wrong with Mercury that she never was able to figure out. He has no love for anything, he never smiles, and he hasn't been in a good mood ever since she met him. He's way stronger than her, so he's more useful than not. Of course, Yang wanted a private talk with Emerald, and so they sent the kids back to their room, and the two were left with the kitchen to themselves. Now it was just Yang and Emerald staring at each other across a table.

"So… why did you help me?" Yang asked.

"You guys came to destroy the Fang, right? They're after me too. I figured that helping your squad survive was my best shot at pulling through this. Of course… I couldn't save all four of you." Emerald replied.

"Where are they? Ruby, Blake and Weiss?"

"Sorry, I don't know, but a little birdie told me I'm not the only one in this town who wants to help you. I'm sure your friends are still kicking, you just have to find them. You can leave now if you want. I just… I just have a request to make of you." Emerald said. Yang kept looking at her with doubt, so Emerald continued. "You don't really trust me do you? Well, it's fair… The only things I did in Vale City was kill someone and then run away. Who am I to ask for help?… But, I bet you want to know why I did it, don't you?…

I've been taking care of this place for a good several years now. I know I'm the worst person for the job, but there is no one else who wants to do it. Nobody gives a damn about a few dumpster babies in this city. The only thing I can do is use the few skills I know to keep this company alive, and… hope those kids turn out better than me.

Two years ago, one of the kids got sick… She was a Faunus, and her particular trait made it hard to treat her. She was getting weaker with each passing day, and I didn't know what to do. That's when the White Fang first came to me… They promised me a lot of money, and a doctor to cure the girl, as long as I ran a little errand for them. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about… They kept their side of the bargain, and I kept mine. A random bloke died so then that girl could live. It was the first time I did anything like that. Even if it was evil, I do not regret my choice of going through with it… I'll just have to live with the guilt, until the consequences catch up to me… Until then, I'll keep taking care of these kids as best as I can. That is how I choose to repent, I guess...

Now, with all that said… I need help to save that same girl again. Mercury and I weren't around when the Dark Fang invaded — we were wasting time, doing stupid crap as usual… She was the eldest, so she was in charge of taking care of the rest. They were meant to be taken to the prison camp like all the others, but her big sister fought to protect them. She was more like Mercury than me — always looking for an excuse to show off her strength. She was a strong little warrior, but sadly not the best… and she was captured. I searched for her, and when we met… I don't know, there was something wrong with her. She was always a little troubled in the head, but this time… she really didn't remember who I was. And in the end…"

Emerald takes off her white jacket and pulls down her shirt so Yang can see a big scar on the side of her neck. Emerald continued, "She almost killed me… I don't know what they've done to her, and I don't know how to fix it… again…

So, Yang… Yang Xiaolong, right? I beg you, if you find her… please don't hurt her… she just needs help, and I'm too weak to help her… Her name is Khira. She is around sixteen, she's quite tall, has four legs and… well, I guess you will know when you see her." Emerald finished her long monologue.

Yang crossed her arms and closed her eyes. After a few moments she said, "If there's some poor girl out there who needs saving… then I guess I have no choice but to help. That's why I'm here, after all."

Yang took off her brown fedora and put it on the table. She got up and made her way to the door outside. "I'll come back for that hat, and when I do… I promise that Khira will be with me. You have my word. After that, we will be even." Yang said with a wink, making Emerald smile. However, as she touched the door handle, she turned her head and asked a final time, "By the way… How do you know my name?"

Emerald giggled and finger snapped at her. "I'll tell you when you're older."

And so Yang left. Emerald sits back in her chair with relief. Some time passes, and she says, "Miss Rose… I wish you could've seen the knockout of a girl she turned out to be."

Just then, the camera pans over the wall, where there is a picture from twenty years ago. There were a bunch of orphan kids in it, eating ice cream together. Most notably, it showed a young Emerald, the old lady who used to run the orphanage, and at the center… was Summer Rose, being the one who bought them the ice cream cones. It seems like she kept that promise from volume VII. With that, the scene ends.

…

We go back to the special containment dungeon underneath the city armory, where Weiss was being kept. The guards kept checking her through a small glass on the door, but she hasn't woken up since she talked with Desper. Actually she has, but was pretending to sleep in order to buy time. She needed to wait for her strength to come back, and find an opening to free herself. And soon that opportunity came, due to an unexpected help. She hears something happening outside.

The two Dark Fang soldiers guarding the door suddenly become surprised, because they see Desper coming back into the room without saying anything. His hand and shoulder was somehow already healed, and they questioned him about it. However, Desper wasn't there for a talk — he looked annoyed and angry. Suddenly, he grabs the two of them by the shoulders and slams their heads together with violent strength, knocking them out. Then he throws them away from the door, like they were two rag dolls.

After that, a familiar face also enters the room. It was Roman Torchwick, smoking his cigar. He said, "Wow, you didn't try at all this time, huh?"

Suddenly Desper starts to crack as if he was made of glass. The pieces fall out magically, revealing it to be Neo in disguise with her Semblance. She was frowning, and so Roman said, "You really don't want to help them, do you? Well, I don't like it either, but sometimes we gotta do things we aren't proud of, Neo. We tried to kill each other quite a lot last year, but now we have a common enemy… They will be useful."

Roman stepped up, pulled out his cane, and broke down the steel door with a single swing. He and Neo peered inside, and found Weiss stuck to a chair and seemingly unconscious. They pull some switches from the panel outside, releasing her from those shackles. Roman was about to wake her up… but then, the next thing he saw was a sword made of ice coming towards his face.

Weiss used her Semblance to create an ice sword out of her hand in a split second, and immediately jumped to attack as soon as she was free. Naturally Neo blocked the attack for Roman, and Weiss jumped out of the room. The two immediately started to sword fight, and once both swords got too close to each other's necks, Roman stopped them by holding their wrists. "Woah-woah-woah, ladies, no need to fight over me, okay? We wouldn't want to kill the person we came to rescue, right Neo?"

"Roman Torchwick, and his pink wench… What a surprise. As if I'm EVER just going to let myself be saved by scum like you! Why are you even helping me, anyway? We're enemies!" Weiss said.

"I suppose we are… But we both want the same thing. I want Fang out of my city, and why would I ever put my neck on the line to beat them, when I can let you twats do it for free? Of course you're welcome to stay in that cell if you want, if annoying me means that much to you. Otherwise, I suggest you follow us to the exit."

For a second Weiss was going to say something, but she had absolutely no comeback to that. She's pretty screwed. In the end she goes against her better judgment and teams up with Roman and Neo. However, Weiss demands to find Myrtnaster somewhere in the facility before leaving, which complicates things a lot, but Roman is willing to oblige.

The scenes following these three would take a rather comedic tone. The place was massive and Weiss found herself at the absolute bottom of the final basement level. Roman leads them stealthily through the place, while Neo and Weiss spend the entire time just hating each other. Neo was pretty mad at how Weiss was treating Roman, and Weiss kept preventing them from killing the average joes of the Dark Fang, and kept wasting their time to look for her stupid sword. Neo couldn't talk, but she kept mimicking insults at Weiss — she even used her Semblance to make a little ugly puppet of her. Weiss fought back in the same vein, now having found the one girl in the whole world that somehow has smaller breasts than her. She got to use the whole selection of flat jokes that were once used against her, and it was refreshing.

In the end, Weiss manages to do several other things before finding her sword. She ended up finding the big computer that the Dark Fang was using to contact all of their forces across Haven and Vale. She managed to learn most of their plan from messages belonging to Desper. Their focus was to take down Huntsmen individually by using the Grimm and subterfuge. While they were being taken down, a special team in the forbidden north was assembling Grimm together, in order to create an intelligent legion to lead against Vale City — essentially destroying the nation in a single sweep. Haven was already under their control, and as for Atlas, a special plan involving a certain "Weasel" was already taking place, and it would ensure total victory over them. Weiss wasn't able to do shit without a lot of passwords blocking her every step, so her last idea was to just destroy the computer.

It turns out Weiss was locked away in the exact same huge building complex that Ruby and CRDL were raiding, except they were at opposite floors. Eventually we get introduced to the three ladies who supposedly work in this place, and are considered higher ups within the faction. These three sisters all have blond hair, pig noses, pig ears and spring-like tails — their only different traits come from their hairstyles and clothes, as the youngest dresses akin to a farmer, the middle as a lumberjack, and the eldest as a mason. They sport the same aggressive and impatient personality, often fighting with each other. Just from that, they stand out from the cold assassins of the Dark Fang. Just like the Lost Prince, they are inspired by animals from fairy tales, and are codenamed "The Three Sisters". Individually they are 'Straws, Sticks and Stacks" respectively.

They get notified of Weiss' escape, but only find her once she gets a hold of Myrtnaster. They wait for the three fugitives in a huge hangar room on the ground floor, knowing they will be forced to leave through there eventually. But instead of seeing the battle, let's shift focus for a bit.

…

Yang made her mission to find Weiss first. She wasn't sneaky about it at all — she literally just jumped the Dark Fang squads who roamed the city, beating the fuck out of them, up until she found one who knew of Weiss's fate. She then proceeded to walk in through the front door of the armory like nobody's business, and start beating up everyone there as well. This synced up perfectly. Everyone, including Ruby and CRDL, all invaded the armory complex at the exact same time. Turns out she was the mysterious new threat that we heard from the last episode.

Yang's parts are mostly snippets of her being a badass and fighting a lot of people alone, intercut with scenes of Weiss making discoveries and having comedic scenes with Neo. In the end Yang, faces a squad of twenty soldiers, and beats all of them offscreen with minimal damage taken. Next time we see her, she's dragging one of the soldiers across the floor, making the poor guy point to the direction that Weiss is in — with his broken hand no less. Meanwhile, Weiss's match with the three sisters had started.

They met at the Armory's hangar, where a really big machine was parked in the middle of the hall. The sisters weren't actually awakened warriors, but they had a trick up their sleeve that was hiding in the armory. Once upon a time, these three were able to steal an Atlas Mecha armor from the military, and modified it to make it stronger, bigger and allow three pilots. Apparently, these three are genius mechanics of the Dark Fang, being the ones who craft the elite's personal weapons and technology for the last several years. The battle was on, and Roman and Neo decided to hang back in order to see if Weiss was worth the trouble.

The sisters manage to actually defeat Weiss with their big robot, mostly using several tools to constantly stop Weiss from using her Semblance, like sonic blasters, taser shots, teargas and flashbangs. From then on they just had to keep slamming her with big claw arms, shower her with machine gun bullets, and fire a dozen rocket missiles at her every minute. The mecha was incredibly overpowered, despite being ugly. Weiss was down for the count, but thankfully for her, Yang showed up. Finally she lets go of the Dark Fang goon she was dragging, allowing the poor bro to pass out at last.

For a second she doesn't even care about the 30ft tall robot in front of her, and just goes to squeeze Weiss out of relief. Neo saw that Weiss was back to her team, and so she wanted to leave, but Roman held her in place, not wanting to miss this next fight.

Yang versus the Mecha serves mostly to showcase her new gauntlets that were personally modified by Ruby. As I explained previously, the new model goes all the way to her elbows and has three new features. First: closing her fists tightly causes spikes to pop out of her knuckles, making her punches more deadly. Second: now she can shoot bullets out of the gauntlets, but she specifically needs to make finger guns in order to fire, for the coolness factor. And third: now she has a small rocket propeller on her elbow that, quite like Nora's hammer, can add jet power to her haymaker punches. Aside from that, she still has the bomb charges that allow air movement. She and Weiss together manage to fight well enough against their Mecha armor, but what truly wins them the fight is the enemy itself.

Despite being downright genius mechanics, the three sisters can't seem to work alongside one another without scuffing. Weiss uses her sharp tongue to praise the older sister's side of the robot, making the other two jealous and start arguing. The three didn't seem to have much combat experience, and fell for the bait. The fight ends as the three destroy their own robot while fighting each other. Don't worry, this is the only stupid victory we'll get.

After the big boom, the three sisters come flying out of the explosion with clothes burned and black smudges all over them. Yang catches all three in the air, placing them right next to one another. They were terrified, and expected to be killed, but Yang didn't sense any kind of evil in them — they were just pawns who build stuff because they find it fun. The three girls hugged each other tightly while bracing for death, apologizing for having fought so much through their lives and causing their defeat. That cute reconciliation was all Yang wanted to hear, so she bonked them in the heads and knocked them out cold, leaving them in the hangar to be rescued by other Dark Fang soldiers.

Just then, from the other side of the hangar, Roman starts approaching them while clapping loudly. Yang puts her fists up, but Weiss calms her down, explaining that they helped her escape. Roman praises them for the win, but leaves them with a warning. If this is all that they are capable of doing, her team won't stand a chance against the top dogs of the elite squad. Roman and Neo had tried to take down one of them, but they failed, and can vouch for how strong they really are. "Ice Cold, Tits McGee, remember what I'm going to tell you now… Watch out for the dragon man… It won't be an easy fight, but if you take him down, the war is as good as over. That's all I have to say to you. Now, if you excuse us…" Roman said, going to leave.

But then, just as he turned around… He saw a red scythe coming for his face.

He managed to duck in time, watching slowly as it cut a few strands of his bangs. It was the little red again, and she looked furious. She managed to kick Neo away by surprise and continued clashing against Roman, who drew his cane and backed away as she continued pushing against him. "I KNEW IT! I knew that I would find you here somewhere! I wouldn't expect any less from my oldest rival! What do you want with Weiss and Yang?!"

Roman was launched back by her swing, and regrouped with Neo at the corner of the room. "Just my luck… It's stupid little red again, just swinging that crap left to right. How long has it been — almost two years now? Goodness gracious, I see you grew a nice pair of-OW!" he was saying, but Neo immediately elbowed him in the liver before he could finish that thought. "Anyway, I wish I could give you an ass kicking, but I'm on the clock right here, so I'll have to bounce."

Ruby pointed her scythe at him, "What, you think just because you're not with the Fang that I'm just gonna let you go?! Give me a break! I know a jail cell here that has your name on it!"

Roman scratches his chin, "You know, I really can't figure out if you're really smart or really dumb. But don't worry, we still have plenty of opportunities to meet in the future. Think of little old me as your guardian angel while in this town, okay?"

Suddenly, pure white smoke started steaming out of Roman's face, which clearly confused Ruby, since she's not aware of how strong he's become. Neo flips them off one last time as she and Roman are engulfed in the smoke he creates, quickly filling the entire hangar. Ruby goes really fast to slash them, clearing the smoke with her swing, but they had already disappeared like magic ninjas. "Hmph! You jerk! I know you can still hear me! Next time I'll get you, mark my words!" she shouted.

Finally Weiss, Ruby and Yang are reunited, and after a short hug they immediately discuss about Blake. Ruby knows her whereabouts, but doesn't know how to get her out of there. They can focus on that after regrouping with team CRDL at the sewers, and so team RWBY makes their way outside the base. Though Ruby's team managed to sneak by unnoticed, Yang caused too many explosions and alerted all the elite forces to their location. The city armory was completely surrounded by the Dark Fang soldiers, but luckily they were able to escape into the sewers — dragging Weiss into the smelly dark hole as she screamed in terror. Once the elites stormed the building, the girls were gone.

The episode ends as Ruby finds her way back to CRDL's sewer lair, where they found the place packed with all the people they saved from the special confinement. Cardin is just lying against the wall with his eyes closed, clearly pissed off to have his place used as a shelter. Though they saved these people and the Huntsmen who are part of their families, they don't have a way to move anyone out of here, nor do they have many supplies to keep them. Team RWBY was still raring to go after Blake, even knowing she's in the most dangerous place possible. Cardin seems himself forced to play babysitter of the refugees, and gives Ruby a map of the city sewers. "Don't be found, and come back alive, with or without Blake, understand?"

"Sorry, but without Blake… we are not coming back." Ruby said, as she along with Weiss and Yang left into the darkness of the sewer tunnels.

…

Actually, before ending we get one last scene at the end with Desper. He came back to the armory and found the place destroyed by battles. The three pig baddies were defeated and their Mecha were destroyed, leaving flames all over the place, and emergency buzzers ringing. He holds the bandaged wound on his shoulder and says, "So she escaped?… Shame. Without her, we have lost some leeway with Atlas. It all rests on Weasel's shoulders to complete his mission, now… As for the intruders… we must eliminate them before they pull any further tricks. I'll have to appoint an emergency meeting between our strongest warriors."

The soldiers behind him leave with these orders, and the camera lingers on Desper until it eventually cuts to black, ending the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): I don't know how to structure these last two episodes. At first I thought about including all plotlines building up simultaneously, but I figured it would be too busy, so I focused on Ruby and exposition first, then Yang with Weiss second. I like this volume because it all takes place specifically on this city, and thus we are able to tell the backstory of dozens of characters that we couldn't before — Emerald for instance. I like to give her a small nuance of good as an orphanage caretaker in a city mostly taken by crime. She's not perfect — she is kleptomaniac, she's not that smart, and she is not a good influence, but she has an important role to fulfill in favor of someone else. In the original show her whole character and motivation is dependent on Cinder, and since I scratched that out, I had to replace with something else of equal value.

Originally, Khira (centaur girl) was just supposed to be a run-of-the-mill racist villain, but now that I'm this far into the series, I feel like giving all the minor villains a little bit of flair and conflict, so then our main characters can't just beat all of them the exact same way. I decided to give Yang the role to rescue her, since it fits her character best. Yang's whole shtick for the rest of the show will be just a constant quest to rescue little girls and self sacrifice. As for Weiss, she's definitely the weakest in all of this. She has a big part to play in the next volume, but here she'll end up being more minor than Ruby.

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New episode, and high time to focus on Blake.

It has been a full day for her. She's restrained, she's wounded, and she's trapped in a room of light that makes her "Shadow Twin" Semblance look worthless. All that combined led to a situation in which she can't escape — all she can do is rest and wait for an opportunity.

Somewhere in the second day, a Dark Fang member came into her cell to give her some food and water. He pulls out his hood, and we recognize him to be Corsac, a minor villain from volume V. He entered the cell and offered to feed Blake with a spoon, but with a single whiff of her super sense of smell she's able to figure out that the food is laced with sedatives, and kicks the plate off Corsac's hand. She tells him to fuck off, but the guy is quite smart and explains the situation to her. Yes, the food is drugged, but if she doesn't eat, she'll get weaker and die anyway. No matter how she looks at it, she can't escape — only survive until it's over. Those are Adam's orders in regards to her. Corsac scoops the food off the floor and leaves on the bed beside her. Blake got owned pretty hard, so she just remains silent as he walks off.

We continue following Corsac as he roams the dark corridors that are illuminated by yellow lamps. He notices something wrong, and looks back at the corridor for a long while. Nothing has changed, but for some reason he felt a presence. "Hmm… must've been the wind."

He walks along, but now we focus on the key on his belt. He used it to enter Blake's cell, and now we see it being snatched off him into the air — simply floating on its own. After he's gone for good, we keep following the little black key as it flies back into the cell room. Suddenly the switch that controlled the light was flipped down, leaving the whole room in darkness, and alarming Blake.

"Who's there? I know you're here, I can hear your breathing…"

And so we see hand slowly materialize around the key, and soon her whole body. It was Ilia, with a new red and black body suit, and long brown hair. She and Blake locked eyes, and Ilia smiled. "I can't believe I lived to see the great cat burglar of Menagerie being caught," she said. Blake smiled back, making Ilia blush, "alright-alright, I get it."

She unlocked the cell and immediately used some magnetized card key to unlock Blake's energy shackles on the wrists and ankles. Blake could move again, but didn't have the strength to fully stand up yet. She got her sword back, which was just pinned to the wall outside of the cell. Ilia was here to break her out, so she immediately starts running off into the dark corridors with Blake on her back. At that moment, she questions why Ilia was still here. Blake fully believed she wouldn't come back to the Fang after their fight, but Ilia was quick to explain herself.

After they separated, Ilia spent a good portion of her last year as a mere vagabond. She wanted to see the world instead of hearing it from someone else. Though she found troublemakers, it didn't take long for Ilia to see the same world that Blake did — a world with people who helped and fought for her, even if she was different. Though the world is cruel, she decided to make an effort to believe in good people, as few of them there are. She could begin life anew, but in the end she started thinking back about the Fang. There were still hundreds of them being kept as soldiers and being fed with lies. She hoped to change the organization from the inside, little by little. And through the last year, she managed to gather a small following within the faction who weren't as cold and radical as the rest. But then, that fateful night happened.

Ilia heard rumors concerning Adam and other elite members of the Fang, who wished to take over leadership. It seemed like everything was already in place to take Sienna Kahn out of the throne, as most divisions had already sided with Adam. Ilia rushed to their main base, but arrived too late to stop anything. She merely watched from the shadows as Adam defeated Sienna, her master, and claimed leadership of the Fang. This came as a great shock for Blake — she had no idea Adam was leading the war. She asks, "This isn't right… How?… Why is he doing all this?"

"I don't know. At first none of the council members accepted this sudden takeover… until he showed it to them. I don't know how he's doing it, but Adam had gained the power to control the Grimm, and he granted the same power to everyone in the Fang. That changed everything. The elders started calling him our savior, and they hungered for war against humans as if they were Grimm themselves. They believe this is our chance to take over the world…" Ilia said.

Ilia was running non-stop, but had to check corners often, since both Adam and the rest of the elite squad were in the Bastille with them. Eventually, she comes to meet two masked White Fang members. Blake was about to take them out, but then Ilia revealed that they were on the same team. Naturally not all of the Dark Fang agrees with this war, and the few of them who retain some sanity have decided to join with Ilia to stop Adam before either Faunus or Humans end up dead. Those guards knew a way out of the Bastille through the sewers, so they just had to get to the basement. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

There was one person inside the Bastille that day, who had super hearing way above the scale. He heard everything, From Ilia freeing Blake to their conversation through the hallways. He was just cocky enough to think he could fight them alone.

…

On their way across the dungeons, Ilia and her friends came across a pitch black room, and the lights didn't work for some reason. They went ahead thinking nothing was wrong. But just then, something came flying towards them from the ceiling. Blake could see it coming with her special eyes, and pushed Ilia down to the floor, but she was too late to warn the others. They suffered terrible slashes across their chests, and immediately fell to the floor. "Jay! Luo! Damn it, are you okay?!" she said.

A voice from the darkness spoke, "Hmph… you became weak, Lilly… if your friend had not helped you, it would be your head rolling on the floor instead of them."

Ilia immediately recognized it as one of the elite squad members who worked alongside her in the past. Codename "Bloodsucker" — a bat Faunus. His full appearance was hidden by his two arms, which enveloped his body with grotesque wings of pale skin. Outside of that, he dressed much like a ninja, covering his whole body with cloth, and had swords attached to his wings. Ilia explains that he was a psycho who enjoyed hurting people in the villages of Haven, and he was also a total creep that kept hitting on her constantly. He seemed rather offended by that last part. "NO I WASN'T, SHUT UP!" he shouted, breaking his mysterious vibe for a moment.

Blood, as I will call him for short, was extremely disappointed in Ilia, but deep down he knew she would pull this shit. It only seemed natural that the two friends help each other, but unfortunately he has been tasked with guarding this fortress, and won't allow their escape. He tells Ilia to put down Blake, or else he would kill her two friends who lie right in front of him. Luo and Jay show a lot of guts, telling Ilia to keep moving and forget about them. She and Blake have the power to stop this madness, not them — their lives are not as important. Ilia, however, wasn't willing to abandon anyone, so she puts down Blake and prepares to fight. She slowly pulls all her hair together into a ponytail once more, telling Blood to focus solely on her, otherwise he would die. She draws her whip and quickly lashes at him, but he dodges and disappears into the dark. It was on.

Realizing this is a stealth battle, Ilia camouflages to hide as well. The two keep searching each other in the pitch black darkness, but unfortunately she gets found and slashed by Blood's wing swords. With his super hearing and echolocation, not even the dark or her undetectable camouflage could save her. Ilia starts bleeding immediately, but stands her ground to defend the other three. She gets hit a few more times in a vague attempt to keep up with Blood, but his evasion is really good. Eventually Blake grows enough energy to help — she is still too hurt to fight, but her cat eyes allow near perfect sight in the dark. She hops on Ilia's back and together they are able see and defend against Blood, but couldn't attack him due to his speed and flight. The girls then make a basic plan to trap him. He swoops in to attack one final time, knocking Blake out of Ilia, but leaving himself open. Ilia managed to grab him and use her Semblance, "Sticky", to just glue him to the floor and stop his movement. However, Ilia didn't have her weapon, and was kneeling before him — completely defenseless. Blood was about to slice her head off, but just then Blake stopped him. She gathered all her strength, jumped in with her sword, and slashed him on the chest. The enemy fell on his back, and they won the battle.

As Blood lies on the floor, near passing out, he says that Ilia was always too much of a chicken to kill any humans, and so certainly she wouldn't kill him. He will now tell everyone about her treachery, and they would hunt her down until she was six feet under. Ilia's response was to just stomp him in the face. "I don't think you'll be telling anyone anything with that mouth. Dumbass." Ilia said, and so he passed out.

The battle was short, but it managed to make enough noise for several Dark Fang soldiers to come and check what was going on. Ilia was about to help Luo and Jay, but they can't help her any more than this — she has to go alone. Blood literally can't possibly tell them apart from any other soldier in case he talks, so they will move somewhere else, and will continue giving her info. They wish her good luck, and so Ilia heads for the sewers with Blake on her back.

She breaks through several doors and steel fences, eventually finding the smelly running water going down to the city sewers. However, Dark Fang goons continue chasing them in the tunnels, and neither she or Blake were in condition to fight with all these wounds. They just kept running until they saw people approaching from the path ahead of them.

"I'm sorry, Blake…" Ilia said, thinking it was more Dark Fang soldiers, and that they were surrounded. However, it wasn't the case. It was the rest of team RWBY, who immediately jumped in to fight the enemies approaching from behind. In no time flat the Dark Fang soldiers were all on the floor like a bunch of rag dolls. The three girls turn back and see Blake at long last. "My friends…" she whispers.

The team finally hugs it out together, happy to see that they survived. All of them are still pretty beaten for all the battles of the last day, without being given a chance to rest. Though they were back together, they were far from ending this crisis. Blake now knows everything. Adam is the mastermind, he's in the Bastille along the elite squad, and he's the one controlling the Grimm. Maybe if they take him down, just like they did with Cinder, then the Fang will lose their greatest weapon, and will lose this war. However, just busting in there would be foolish. They would have to take down the elite Squad one by one before they can be sure of their victory. That's the plan.

Just then Yang turns to the left and says, "Uh, Blake, who's that?"

Ilia was just standing there with a blank expression. "Oh, right, you haven't met her yet. This Ilia, she's a friend. I'm sure I've spoken about her a few times. Ilia, these are my friends from Beacon academy. Yang, Ruby and Weiss."

Ilia kept silent, just looking at them. They were confused by her sudden muteness, but then we cut to Ilia's perspective. Romantic jazz is playing on her head as she stares at the girls. Her vision is fuzzy and pinkish. She gazes at Yang's huge bust and tight abs; Ruby's small, soft and adorable figure; and finally Weiss' perfect lips, bare thighs, and her luxurious long white hair. They were so. Freaking. Hot. Ilia fell in love at first sight, with all of them.

Finally we cut out of her perspective, showing that in reality Ilia is just blushing profusely and bleeding from her nose. She slowly turned to Blake and said, "You saucy girl, I can't even blame you…"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Blake asked.

"Ugh- Nothing! Nothing at all! Ahem-!" Ilia said, waking up to reality. She laughs and then starts walking away. "Well, my part in this is over for now. I'm sure you four will take good care of her for me."

"Ilia, wait, you can't go like that! You're wounded, and they will be looking for you! You have to stick with us!" Blake said.

"Come on, Bee, you know I'm a survivor, okay? I have things to do, people to talk with, and it will be best if I do it alone. I'll assume you're all hiding along that squad of blockheads in the sewers. If that's the case, I know where to find you. I'll be there when you need me… and when I need you… I'll see you around, kitty." Ilia said, disappearing into the dark tunnel.

…

The girls returned to the CRDL sewer lair, where everyone was silently sitting around and looking gloomy. Team RWBY's arrival managed to cheer up the mood a lot. All the prisoners were raring to get the hell out of this city, but with the gates and docks being hounded by Grimm, it's impossible to escort them out. There was one hope though — Cardin knows some rumors, and there might be a different path out of the city. However, leave that to the next episode.

The episode ends as Russel and Sky arrive from the ceiling hatch, bringing an entire cart of food that they stole from the Dark Fang. Finally everyone can rest and eat for the first time in days, and begin this small banquet. Suddenly Russel stands up, walking straight up to Blake. He looked extremely serious for once. He didn't put up a voice, he didn't say any crude things or tried to look evil, like he usually does. He just asked, "Hey, fluffy ears, I need to answer something to me… Were there any other prisoners inside the Bastille other than you?"

Blake couldn't answer, since she was locked apart from everyone, if there even was anyone else locked there at all. Russel walks away, clearly pissed off and snarling. Ruby was shocked, she said, "Wow… was that actually Russel? It didn't sound like him at all…"

Sky suddenly appears in between the girls and explains that Russel has been really upset lately. They came to the city one week before all hell broke loose with the Grimm and the Fang. Russel was hoping to meet someone dear to him, but then it all happened, and he has no idea of that person's whereabouts. He has been searching like crazy ever since.

"Who's this person you're talking about?" Weiss asked.

"… His fiancee." Sky said.

Cut to black, just as we hear them scream, "HIS WHAT?!" and ending the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): We are already five episodes deep into this volume. The girls are reunited and their hideout is properly established, so it's a good time to focus on other characters. A lot of people still have to come into the picture for the final battle to take place, including team JNPR and CFVY. The return of Ilia in a moment like this seemed natural and perfect. Originally I intended here to just become a total side character, forever stuck on Menagerie until the series end. Naturally I reconsidered, and gave her a pretty vital role in this Volume as the girl who hands out the tasks to our main characters and updates them on the villain's plans. As I promised back then, now we get to see a lot more of her personality and a few big revelations about her characters, as she will have big shoes to fill moving forward. I'm sticking to the original idea of her being a lesbian, just 'cause. This last scene of Ilia meeting with team RWBY for the first time, and gawking at how attractive they all are, has lived rent free in my head for years. I thought to myself: Wouldn't Ilia be mad that Blake made new friends and ditched her? But like… nah, dude. She would absolutely ditch Blake for these hotties too. Deep down Ilia is just as perverted as guys like Fox and Sun. Originally I wasn't going to change her design, but then I saw this and thought she looked good with the hair down, so that's how she will appear normally from now on.

Now, in regards to the Dark Fang elite, in case I forget to touch on this in the actual plot, but these warriors mostly come from Haven. The entire nation is filled with hundreds of villages, with the biggest ones having one or two noble families of Faunus, and the descendants of said noble clans make most of the elite. The normal soldiers are just average Faunus folk from Haven, while the ones who ally with Ilia, and don't have super powers, are the minority who came from Menagerie. The reason for why some got powers and some don't will be explained in the future, as well as why they are so obedient, and why they have such weak Auras protecting them.

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Before moving to the next episode, I just want to give a few minisode ideas.

A good few of them just showcase how the members of the Dark Fang are using the Grimm to organize perfect strikes against Huntsmen teams — picking them apart and using coordination to defeat them. There's no direct battle against the Dark Fang, just a bunch of ambushes one after the other, usually taking place at night so then the vibe of the volume remains dark and suspenseful all throughout. The enemies are cowards and have information about the Huntsmen, which allowed them to win through tactics. Not to mention that the Dark Fang has captured the families of some of them, forcing them to surrender and be captured, or straight up make them fight each other. It has to be made clear how several teams were defeated, but not many of them are killed — they run away and end up sent back to Vale City to heal at the castle.

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In one specific minisode, we follow Qrow in his cross of the wildlands. He was able to find and destroy a Dark Fang convoy that was gathering Grimm from all over the place and guiding them somewhere. They refuse to tell him anything about their plans, but he can figure out that they are building an army somewhere, and he will focus the rest of the volume into finding it.

…

Meanwhile in Vale City, we have an episode of Tai just being the new batman in town, finding and destroying Dark Fang spies who were planning to cause trouble to the city by sneaking Grimm into the city by the docks and the sewers. This is just to show how much chaos the news of war had brought to the people of the city, as the people of Remnant never had to deal with a war before — only the Grimm. The invasion one year ago was still fresh on their minds.

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The only funny one I can think of is about Jaune's sister, Violet, trying to clean up the CRDL's sewer lair to distract herself and not be sad. Cardin tells her to stop cleaning his organized mess, but she manages to make him shut up by being her normally-cute self. Cardin was being overly mean to her, but deep inside he was doing everything in his power to not have a crush on the older sister of his idiot rival. She was too cute for him.

…

Ilia was going around the city to contact her many followers, literally sneaking into each and every Dark Fang settlement as an invisible ghost. She had prepared a special building in a secret location of Planice, and told all of them to forget their orders and hide in there, as it would be safer, and they wouldn't have to soil their hands with the crimes of the Fang. They would be free as soon as her friends came out victorious, and the war was over. Several of them chose to remain in their positions to help mess up the plans from inside, such were Luo and Jay for the last episode. Even without powers they wanted to risk themselves, and Ilia respected them for it.

…

We will not have any Minisodes relating to Haven or Atlas, as we will shift focus to them in the volume itself — this one or the next. I don't have anything else to add for now. Moving on.

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Time for the CFVY episode.

The episode opens up on Cardin pondering on the situation. The people in his lair will be in danger if they continue hiding in the city, and personally he can't stand their whining. Team RWBY was fucked up from all the fighting they've been having, so it's time his squad goes make a bit of investigating and leaves the girls behind. Like he stated in the last episode, he might know a secret tunnel out of the city, but he can only hope it isn't taken by the Fang. His squad prepared, but then they realized… Russel went missing.

To Cardin it only made sense that the impatient dumbass went to search for his girlfriend alone. He has enough faith that Russel won't get caught, but he probably won't come back in one piece. They can't waste time looking for him — they better go find the underground palace of Planice. Ruby questions him about it, and so he explains. It's pretty widely known that this city has a problem with crime, but only the biggest criminals are aware of the underground palace. It's a place reserved for the black market and some even shadier shit, but Cardin himself has never been there before. He just knows that they have a secret tunnel that they use to transport their stuff outside the law. This will be their exit, and so he along with Sky and Dove leave the sewer lair in order to find it.

Ruby surely hates being left behind when something big is going on, but Weiss just convinces her to rest, so she will be in top shape when she finds out where Oscar is being kept. "Come on, Ruby, don't you want to save your boyfriend?" Weiss asked.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND! WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING HE'S MY BOYFRIEND?!" Ruby shouted.

"(Sigh) I miss the little red dolt who didn't even know what a boyfriend was." Weiss replied.

…

What we follow next is a small scene of team CRDL sneaking through the fog on their way to the Back-End Alleys — one of the most miserable places of the city. The secret entrance of the palace was a decrepit water well, which has been sealed shut by wooden planks. It would be easy to enter, if it wasn't for the two massive elder Fenrir Grimm sitting beside it like watch dogs. They actually don't need much planning before jumping in. Sky and Dove acted as bait for the two Grimm to get closer, so Cardin could finish them off in one hit. This small fight scene is just to make it clear that Cardin has somewhat dominated his "Unstoppable Force" Semblance. Unlike the first time we saw him use it, he can now focus it on a single part of his body, notably his fist, and consume less Aura as result. His arms gain a dark blue color, and now have the power to plunge through the heads of both Fenrir in one single punch.

With the enemies dead, all they had to do was jump in. They remove the fake cover of the well, but before we can follow them inside, it cuts to black.

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What we saw next is a shot of the city walls, seen through a sniper scope. The weather was equally terrible outside of Planice, and the thousand Grimm marching around the city gates didn't make the view any prettier. Finally we see who's taking aim at the city — a familiar lady, using shades even in this gray weather. "I'm not gonna lie… I'm starting to miss the academy… Grimm weren't like this back then." Coco said.

Finally the camera pulls back, and we get a revealing shot of the entire team CFVY, just looking down at the city through a hill. All of them have gained redesigns — in the same vein as everyone else, they just got more armor and a new haircut at best. Apparently, they and a few other teams were told to maintain a long range siege around Planice for safety. Coco knows that the other dummies from their class are stuck inside, but it looks like they won't have a reunion any time soon, since there's no practical way of getting in. They were left in silence for a little while, looking gloomy and worried.

But then, Fox just inhaled loudly and smiled. "The wind was always different in this region… After all these years, I'm finally back home."

It came as a shock to the rest of the team, since Fox never dared to touch on his past before — not once in these three years together. Now that they are here, he would tell them about his past in due time, but first they had to get inside the city. He told Coco, "there should be a big forest far away from the city. Can you see it?"

Coco looked through her scope and found it. Next, Fox asked that she search for a white flag that should be hosted in one of the tallest trees. It took her a little longer to find it, since it's well hidden, but it was there. Everything is exactly the same as it was. Fox ordered his team to move after it, as it would allow them a free ride inside Planice.

We cut to a little later. Once they approached the marked location, suddenly Fox's senses started tingling. He told his team to play it stealthily, and soon they found all the moving targets he sensed. The white flag marked the spot of a secret mine entrance, and there they found a Dark Fang outpost. The mine was just front for the underground railroad, which connects to the city through the underground palace. It was being used to smuggle weapons and supplies secretly into the city, escaping the watch of the Huntsmen around the city. There were dozens of Dark Fang goons in there, and surely enough it was time for a good old fight sequence. Team CFVY managed to land a surprise attack on the dozen soldiers, and end the fight pretty quickly. For the sake of recap, Coco relies mostly on her shooting expertise, Velvet is the fastest and wields her huge swiss army knife, Yatsuhachi has a huge chinese spear and is insanely strong, and Fox fights with martial arts, being able to dodge the attacks of all his opponents and counter instantly.

Once the battle was over, Coco phoned another Huntsman team nearby to come and arrest these guys, while her team went into the tunnel. Yatsu took the lead while Coco and Velvet held Fox by the arms and helped him walk over the small train tracks. A smell started to creep in as they got deeper, and it made Fox feel nostalgic. He thought it was now a good time to mention that past he never talked about.

…

It's kind of strange for a blind man to ponder about memories when he could still see. He had no recollection of his parents or his home. The only thing he remembers is that pit of dirt. The underground palace of Planice was home to the worst parts of humanity, and ring fighting was one of them. Either his parents sold him, abandoned him, or he was kidnapped — either way, Fox's story started in that hole, as almost a hundred people watched that eight year old child fighting a bloodthirsty dog. But unlike the other kids that they threw in there… he survived.

And so, once a week for the following six years, he would find himself fighting in that pit against whatever they threw at him. When he wasn't just a child slave boxing cargo into the railroad, he was a fighter in the biggest show of the city. He got older and bigger, but so did the things he fought in there. Sometimes he would even get to fight other kids. His knack for speed, treachery and dirty tactics earned him the name Sly Fox. He was simply unbeatable, and it made him quite famous. It might sound sickening now, but he liked to bask on that glory. He was like a dog that wished to make the people on the stands clap for him. He knew no other form of happiness.

Of course, one day he would get a little too cocky. The man who owned the underground palace was always there, watching every single fight that Fox was in. He never looked satisfied with anything — a shroud man, always on that throne, surrounded by half-naked women, looking down in boredom. Fox wanted to rip those condescending eyes out of his head, and so the little boy pointed the bloody dagger and challenged the boss of the palace for a fight, promising to have his head on a pedestal. Little did Fox know… the bastard wasn't just some average rich asshole. He was "The Overseer" — an awakened warrior, who took over the underground palace through his fighting skills a long time ago. His opponent had years of experience and an Aura powering him up, while Fox was still on his way to fully awaken him. The result was a cruel beat down that lasted an hour.

The boy laid there on the bloody sand, seeing the people clap and cheer, even though he had utterly lost. At that moment, Fox understood that everything around him was nothing but a big pile of shit and lies. He was just a toy to them, and none of their praises for him ever mattered. They never wanted to see him come out as a winner, they just wanted to observe the violence he inflicted on others. And now, the violence being inflicted upon him. The Overseer's fingers were so sharp that he could slice Fox's skin with his swings, which gave many of the iconic scars that Fox has today.

Finally, The Overseer grabbed Fox by the collar and raised him in the air. Fox was close to passing out, but he does remember the last thing he saw in his life. There was a single woman in the viewing gallery, who wasn't clapping or cheering. Actually, she looked terrified, and about to cry. He never saw her before, but he understood that she was the only one in there who cared about him. She looked pretty, with green eyes and black hair. Fox gave her his last smile.

And so The Overseer simply swiped his fingers across Fox's eyes, trapping the fourteen year old boy in darkness for the rest of his days… And that's about it. He managed to escape, find help, and the rest is history.

…

His team remains in dense silence — all we hear is the melancholic soundtrack. Eventually Velvet looks up from the floor while tearing up, and asks, "Why didn't tell us this before?"

Fox smiled. "I never wanted your pity… For years, even after I gained the power to feel the world, all I ever knew was fighting. That's why I became a Huntsman in the end. But when I met you three… it was different. Suddenly I was fighting for people that liked me for who I was, and not my strength, or fame. I saw in you my chance of finding happiness, and for the sake of that, I decided to bury the past.

But… destiny is always funny. Eight years later, and I'm back here… I think I know why… I still have to finish my last fight." Fox said.

After minutes of walking, the four were finally at the big heavy door. Yatsuhachi soundly opens it wide, revealing the underground palace — a massive complex of pillars and red tiles on walls and floor. It gave the vibe of a gigantic flea market, but was abandoned and used merely as a storage place from incoming crates. This place never used to be quiet in Fox's memories. He stopped for a moment to enhance his Semblance, and suddenly he realized, "They are on the ceiling… behind the pillars!"

And so the attack began, but unlike the last ones, these guys were prepared. They came in with guns and Dust bullets, forcing team CFVY to split up and hide. Not only that, but the floor level had elder Grimm waiting for them, so it was a pretty difficult fight overall. They actually get wounded this time, but still manage to defeat the enemies thanks to their skills and coordination. The Grimm were dead, and the soldiers were lying on the floor.

It was then, once all the gunfire had settled, that team CFVY heard… singing.

It was an incredibly loud and ominous opera choir, with lyrics that they couldn't understand, but surely it was a man singing. It was echoing around the giant palace, and so the four were forced to stand against each other's back and prepare for whatever was coming. Soon they started hearing steps approaching too, and Fox turned to the direction it was coming from.

From the darkness emerged a tall and threatening man, but he was very old. His slicked hair and perfect mustache were grizzled white, and his tanned skin was full of wrinkles. He was dressed in a fur vest, with a few armor pieces and a poncho, and he looked bored as all hell — like he just woke from a nap. Once he was face to face with team CFVY, he stopped walking. "Welcome to my palace, where your bodies shall reside…"

Fox's expression suddenly turned to anger, and he started walking towards the old man. It was him, The Overseer — aged quite a bit since Fox last saw him. "You…"

"Hmm… Do I know you, child?" The Overseer asked.

"I'm not a child anymore." Fox said, immediately jumping in to attack him. Velvet and Yatsu followed suit, while Coco prepared to take a shot. But at that moment, before Fox's kick could connect, The Overseer simply stood idly and said, "Fall."

And so, completely losing control of their bodies, the four suddenly fall to the floor, ending the fight in a second. They couldn't understand what was happening, but then The Overseer explained that this is the doing of his Semblance — "Hypnosis". The moment they heard his singing earlier, their subconscious was slowly taken by his ability, and now he can control their bodies to a certain extent. He sought best to punish them harshly for their intrusion. The old man started kicking the shit out of Yatsu and Fox, who could barely move an inch to save themselves. Coco protected them by insulting the old man, but then she started getting beaten up to a pulp in their palace — breaking her glasses.

The Overseer thought it was a good time to kill them before he made a mess, so he pulled out a knife from under his poncho. Fox was doing all he could to stand up, biting his own arm in an attempt to wake up his body. It revived him enough so he could deliver an attack from behind, but he was quickly put down again, as the old man is quite strong even without his Semblance. The Overseer was going to kill Fox first, but then Velvet screamed, "WAIT!"

Velvet managed to get on her knees, and then The Overseer realized she was a Faunus by her ears and legs. She begged him to not kill them, as they were good humans. The man didn't gave a fuck to her speech until she said, "Please, I beg you, I'll do anything!"

The Overseer slowly walked up to her, menacingly, and held her face by the chin. Just then, the defeated Dark Fang goons rise up from the floor. They say that since she's a Faunus, they have the duty to keep her, and maybe convince her to join their side. As for the others, it was up to The Overseer to decide their fate. The old man then looked directly at Fox as he snarled. Something seemed familiar about this boy, and he could see how angry he was. This sight made the bastard have an internal realization, and change his plans. He looked at Velvet and said, "If you agree to become my woman, I'll let your friends live."

Oh fuck.

Oh fuck is the precise expression on their faces, but even so Velvet agreed with his condition, for their sake. And so they struck the deal — he'll keep the three safely in captivity, and she will become a servant of the palace after the Faunus take over. But before the three were dragged away, the man sang a song to them again. However, instead of controlling them, it merely sent them into a deep sleep without the chance to escape. They kept mumbling Velvet's name until they were out of commission. The Overseer said that they would only wake up after hearing the snapping of a finger twice. Until then, they are as good as useless. Velvet called him a filthy cheater, but he didn't lie — they are alive, just as much as some trees, but still alive. It's not like he gives a damn, either. What's she gonna do about it?

He ordered the goons to drag them away to the lower levels, along the other three in the same cell. He proceeded to grab Velvet by the ears and pull her away, ending the episode in a very dramatic fashion.

Commentary (spoilers): People who saw the character section would sometimes question why the fuck do I make up such wildly different backstories for the side characters. This is the reason. This could've easily been a run-of-the-mill episode where team CFVY just comes in and kills the bad guy at the end. But then I decided to do this instead, which is the same thing except rich with character. The backstories were more so promises of future episodes I was going to do. The only reason Fox got a backstory this wild is because I wanted his scars to have deeper meaning, since they are the most notorious aspect of his design. Lastly, I didn't intend to make Velvet a damsel in distress, but I figured that it can make the eventual final battle more technical, and frankly, I just want the characters to split around a lot. It gives more opportunities for characterization.

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The next episode picks up right where we left off, with the Dark Fang soldiers carrying team CFVY through the dungeon. A single one manages to drag Fox and Coco, while three others struggle to pull Yatsu along with them. Once they arrive at the cell, they are met with this room of sand that is completely sealed, with only one heavy door to it. We also find a couple of familiar faces inside — Cardin, Sky and Dove. All of them were captured and restrained by heavy chains, while Cardin was specially kept locked by a metal straight jacket. Looks like they were captured as they tried to enter the palace, and they were also asleep — probably being beaten by The Overseer in the same fashion.

The goons now discuss what to do with them. They already have team CRDL, so they can probably interrogate the location of the other Huntsmen in the city from them. These new guys came from the outside, and therefore are useless. Though The Overseer promised to keep them alive, he doesn't need to fulfill even that. Two soldiers leave, ordering two others to just strangle Fox, Coco and Yatsu until they stop breathing. However, just as they were about to get started on Coco… they felt a presence surge in the room.

Yatsu was standing behind them, looking down like a mountain.

Before they could do anything, he grabbed their heads and slammed them together, destroying their masks and knocking them out. Yatsuhachi's Semblance makes it so that he can't sleep at all, and was merely pretending until he had an opportunity to jump them. Now he was alone in the room, with his weapon taken away and all his friends that won't wake up. Then, he remembered the last thing The Overseer told them, and so he snapped his finger's twice, immediately awakening all of them — even team CRDL.

They were confused and startled, but soon grasped what happened to them. Cardin immediately started to rage out, and he used his Semblance to free himself along with Sky and Dove. Coco was really pissed off, and wanted to go save Velvet immediately. She couldn't bear the thought of what that creep might be doing to her right now. However, before moving along, Dove had a very good point to make. "We can't go yet, until we figure out how to beat that old bastard's power."

They all remained in silence until Coco said, "You sound like you already have something in mind…"

"Well, it's a sound-based ability, I suppose. If we don't hear it, it won't work." Dove explained. Maybe if they plug up their ears with something, like mud or rubber, it would stop them from being affected, but it probably won't work forever. It would be a tough fight for whoever planned to take him on. Fox is the first to stand up, stretching himself to ease the pain from the beating he received. "You guys don't worry about him, he's mine. If I had not failed to defeat him years ago, we wouldn't have all this trouble. Just focus on finding Velvet and beating up whoever stands in your way."

He started walking aimlessly through the room, eventually touching the wall, which made him smile. The scent of old blood filled his lungs. "Looks like they didn't change my old room one bit. I wonder if…"

Fox started following the wall all the way to the corner, eventually kneeling down on the sand. He kept pushing it around until he found something hidden in that specific spot. It was a makeshift dagger of stone — the same dagger that Fox used in his pit fights, including when he fought The Overseer eight years ago. It brought him small memories of when he last tried to use it, on the day he was set free by someone. The voice of a woman echoed in his mind, making Fox mad. He crushed the knife under his grip, and said, "The past has been buried for too long… It's time to destroy it…"

…

Now it's a good time to switch to Velvet's perspective. She found herself in a very fancy room. The armor pieces of her costume were taken off, and she was just sitting on a bed, watching as The Overseer poured wine for himself and wrote stuff on his desk. He kept singing to her all along, and she could feel the singing making her mind more foggy. She can't move at all anymore, and understands that if she doesn't comply with all he says, he might kill her friends. This scene just serves to show a bit about The Overseer as a character, as he nonchalantly exposes himself to her, for no apparent reason.

The Overseer always worked with the White Fang, as he was responsible for being their base of operations within the nation of Vale as a whole. His Faunus trait is just a scruffy tail and nothing else — he's a common dog Faunus. Quite like Fox, he used to be a pit fighter of the dungeons, but unlike Fox, he actually won when he challenged the previous boss of the underground palace. He has been the ruler of it ever since. He doesn't care about this war, or what kind of work he has to do for the Fang, he just wants to ensure that this palace remains standing afterwards — It is the only thing he has. Overall he was just a cruel and evil bastard who doesn't care about anyone or anything other than the legacy of this place.

Why did he want Velvet? Well, nothing personal. He just realized that he's getting too old and doesn't have a successor to the palace. She would help him with that, but not in the depraved way that she was guessing. The old man just needs one fight to decide it all. If that boy from her team is the person he is expecting to be, then The Overseer is really excited about what happens next. Destiny will know what to do.

…

The next section is quite simple in story and execution. Team's CRDL and CFVY escape their cells, stealthily wander the complex of red tiles and pillars, find their weapons, and so the battle starts all over again. By then, more soldiers have come to the underground palace, including an elite squad member who was meant to take team CRDL to the Bastille to be interrogated. His codename was "Papa" — a bear Faunus with a bear head, bear arms and a gigantic round physique, probably 10ft tall in height. I don't have anything planned out for him, he's just here to be Cardin and Yatsu's opponent, while Coco, Dove, Sky and Fox go for The Overseer.

As they continue running, the other three stay behind to deal with the Dark Fang goons and the Grimm, so Fox can have his demanded one on one against the boss. By then, the old bastard had already seen the fight starting, and fled with Velvet to another place. Fox knew exactly what The Overseer wanted, because deep down, he also wanted the same thing. He knew where to go.

…

After walking alone for a while, Fox started getting a feel of the place around him. The Overseer had fled to the famous fighting pit — where he was a king in the past. He was nowhere to be seen, but was singing his opera song while hiding in perfect stillness. Fox approached and jumped down into the hole, calling out the old man. The fighting pit was dozens of meters down a huge hole, surrounded by wooden planks and with sand at their feet. Remnants of blood, teeth and toenails litter the ground. Fox thought he was alone in the hall until he sensed Velvet, sitting up there on the throne that belonged to The Overseer. Her gaze was empty and she was unresponsive.

Suddenly, the old man jumps down at great speed inside the pit with Fox, and explains that he had exposed Velvet to his Semblance until she was completely hypnotized, consciously and subconsciously. She will remain like that until he frees her, which will never happen.

At long last these two have a climactic conversation, as Fox opens his white eyes and finally proves to The Overseer who he really is. "So it really is you, Sly Fox… Just as I hoped. For a long time, I thought that my best fighter was long dead."

"Sly Fox IS dead. There's nothing left of the person I used to be… It was not my plan to meet you ever again, old bastard… but since you're still alive, you've left me no choice. Now we have to finish the fight that started eight years ago." Fox said.

Fox started taking off his armor and clothes until he was only with his pants. His body was even more scarred underneath his vest. Surprisingly, the old man did the exact same. He threw his fur poncho on the sand, showing an astounding physique that also bears hundreds of scars. They looked like two martial artists ready to throw down, but before it started, Fox had a question. "Before I kill you, tell me… What happened to her?!... What happened to that woman, on that night?!"

…

And so we cut to the continuation of the flashback from the last episode. What we see is the younger Fox, lying on the dirty sand floor of his room, in complete darkness. His head was fully bandaged, as his eyes were sliced in half a few hours ago. He was still squirming from the pain, and the sheer terror of not being able to see. He started hitting himself against the wall and falling on the floor repeatedly. It was a torturous scene, but it eventually ended. He hears the door of his cell start to open, and he quickly scurries to a corner of the room to grab his secret knife, yelling for the person to stay away.

He raised his knife to defend himself in a panic, but what he felt next was a soft and warm touch. The hands of a woman hold onto his, putting down the dagger slowly. She said, "Don't be afraid… I just want to help you… Please."

He can't see who it is, but we recognize her to be that same woman with black hair and green eyes from the pit fight — the last person Fox ever saw. She started to remove his head bandages and examined his wounds. She applied medicine and all that crap to ease his pain, but in the end there was no way of saving his eyes. He was blind. At that moment, the little Fox begs that the lady kill him, as he did not want to spend his entire life like this. And now, seeing his cries of anger and sadness, the woman makes a decision. He won't survive here anymore. Maybe some kind of motherly instinct kicked in, and she felt the rush to take Fox out of there.

She dragged the boy in silence through the corridors, but just as she was about to leave the underground palace, some black market henchmen caught wind that Fox escaped, and started to chase them. She was able to take him on her back and climb the fake water well, arriving at the Back-End Alleys. She ran around the narrow corners as the goons continued chasing her, eventually finding refuge behind a huge trash cart. At that moment, Fox says again, "Why are you doing all this? Please, just kill me already!"

"STOP SAYING THAT!" she screamed, and after a short silence she continued, "You're just a kid… You should never have gone through any of that… You can't give up on life, until you have seen what is good in it… I won't allow you…"

Suddenly, she realized that the goons were closing in on them. Out of desperation, she ran into the main street of the city and saw a wagon just passing by along the sea of people. She scurried Fox behind the wagon and covered him with her own cloak, and kept on following behind for a little longer. "Where are we going? What is happening? What is going to happen now?!" Fox asked.

"I don't know, I'm sorry… I don't have anywhere I can take you to. I can only help you so far… Keep your fingers crossed that you will meet good people, and they will help you too… And whatever happens, don't hurt yourself over this… Promise me you'll keep on going… I know one day you'll find happiness, and people to call friends… Please kid, don't make me regret this, okay?... Good luck!" The lady said, holding Fox's hand.

By then the black market goons had already spotted her in the crowd, and so she ran away to divert their attention, saving Fox's life. The boy had no expression on his face, but his eye bandages were being stained with tears. He didn't know what emotion he was feeling. It was something more powerful than the excitement of glory that he knew. It was a selfless love, given to him for no reason.

It was at that moment that his Aura fully awakened, and his Semblance immediately kicked in for the first time. Suddenly he could see the world again, but without colors, and in a completely different way. With no more strength, still being hungry and in pain, Fox finally passes out. He wished he could've seen the face of the lady who helped him. He wished that he could have known her name. The wagon left the city, and he would only be found while it tracked across the countryside. From then on, Fox kept on living, excited for the next time he could feel the happiness of love again. He promised himself to survive whatever came his way, until he could experience it one more time.

…

Back to the present, we see Fox and The Overseer staring at each other in the arena. The old man, without remorse or even a care, just explained she was a working girl in his palace at the time. Fox was worth five of her, so he made sure that she paid double of what she owned, before she suffered the consequences of stealing from him.

With the deafening silence, something changed in the air.

"Is that so?" Fox asks, lowering his head. Glowing green Aura started flaming around his body, scaring The Overseer. "I was hoping that… I could show her that I kept my promise… Hmph… I guess I'll have to fulfill the one I made to you instead…

I will have your head… you monster." Fox said, and so began the fight.

By here things become awfully epic and the soundtrack is fucking fire. The Overseer immediately tries to use his Semblance on Fox, but in response, Fox plugs his ears with some shit he found earlier in the episode. Now it was time for the actual battle, and Fox has a new skill he would like to showcase. He refused to use it ever before, because it was plainly cruel to use in training, and it didn't work on Grimm. He rushed The Overseer with his hands open, getting hit by a heavy strike, but he managed to impale his finger on a specific point of the old man's chest.

At that moment, The Overseer felt as if something blew up inside of him. He was feeling absurd pain that made him fall back, and he demanded that Fox explain what he did. You see, Fox's semblance allowed him to perceive ANY movement that happens, as long as he focused enough. Once fully concentrated, he can go so far as to feel the blood running through the veins of people. And with that, he observed that there are seven points in a person's body that, when struck or slashed, can cause the whole body to fall apart. He called them dead points — a spot where blood passes the most constantly. Fox just struck one, and was raring to test out what the other six will do.

At that moment, The Overseer stopped fucking around. He unveiled secret weapons and traps that he kept hidden in the sands of the pit, specifically for this fight. He throws a kusarigama chain that is able to restrain Fox's arm just long enough, so the old man could deliver a slap to the side of his face, sending his ear plug flying off his ear.

"STOP MOVING!" he shouted, and Fox couldn't cover his ear in time, and so his movements were restrained by hypnosis. He still had enough force of will to shuffle and weave, but The Overseer jumped to the offensive, and started beating Fox's ass across the arena, until he was a bruised up mess. His barrage of strikes were pressing Fox against the wall, until he finally got tossed to the other side of the pit by an arm throw.

Once it seemed like the fight was about to end, The Overseer started to monologue. He confessed that, back then, he was really proud of Fox for the way he fought, and for how long he kept winning. It dearly reminded The Overseer of himself when younger. But Fox made a terrible mistake. He challenged the final boss prematurely, and for that he paid the price. It seems that he still has not learned his lesson from eight years ago, and this time he will die because of it. "Now stand up."

Fox did as he was told, slowly raising himself up while looking down. The Overseer pulled out his dagger to attack Fox directly at the heart. "Your blood shall fortify the legacy of this palace, Fox! Be grateful, NOW BEGONE!"

The blade was coming in fast. Fox was completely motionless, eyes closed. This was going to be it… But then, Fox dodged the blade at the last possible millisecond, and countered the attack instantly with a kick to the stomach.

The old man was sent to the other side of the arena, rolling on the floor. Not only that, but it seemed like Fox also hit another one of his seven dead points, causing intense pain to the old man, and the loss of his right arm. "HOW?! HOW DID YOU-!"

He looked back at Fox, and saw blood trickling out of his ears. His two index fingers were covered in red. While he was on the ground, he used the last of his willpower to shove his fingers into his ear, rupturing his eardrum, and becoming completely deaf.

"You stupid bastard! You were already blind, and now you gave away your ability to hear just so you could beat me?! ARE YOU MAD?!" The Overseer shouted.

"I'll assume… that what you just said is… Fox, you smart devil, how dare you be so damn clever?… And well, I guess this fight is just that important to me." Fox said. "Your power won't work on me anymore. It's time that I end this once and for all."

Fox rushed The Overseer, who without one of his arms, became quite susceptible to punches and kicks to the face. Fox unleashed a powerful and long barrage of attacks all over the old man's body, pushing him back against the wall and making the ground shake. Fox was like a motherfucking gatling gun of fists. While he was at it, he struck four more of his dead points. After that, the old man struggled relentlessly to stand up, as his whole body suddenly found itself at breaking point. Fox was going to kill him at that rate. It was time to use his final trump card.

He whistled loudly using his fingers, and looked up. That whistle was a signal for Velvet, who was still stuck in a hypnotized state. She suddenly jumped down to the arena, landing on the arms of the Overseer. The old trickster immediately pushed the girl in front of him and started running. "NOW YOU DIE, BRAT!" he shouted, and so he threw Velvet towards him.

Fox caught her in the air, but quickly realized that The Overseer was coming in with a dagger behind her, ready to stab them both. Fox was quick enough to throw Velvet to the side. He protected her, but as a result got stabbed on the side of his midriff.

He and Fox were stuck on that pose. The old bastard was sure he would drop dead, but Fox was being moved by an untold level of determination and desire for vengeance. He held onto the blade piercing him, and with his other hand, he struck The Overseer on the dead point of his jugular. The old man felt so much pain that he let go of the dagger and fell backwards, rolling on the sands while Fox fell to his knee. Velvet was safe, but still unresponsive.

Now both are fighting through the pain — minutes from dying, but refusing to end their fight. One has his nervous system completely fucked, and the other has a knife sticking out of his gullet. It will be all over soon. Fox suggests that they both do one final clash to decide this once and for all. "It's time we decide who's the fastest… and who's the luckier," he says.

The two take stances, and wait in silence as their Aura flares up for the final time. They jump in the air and strike each other simultaneously. The Overseer delivered a spinning kick that broke Fox's arm and flipped his elbow backwards, but Fox, using his free hand, managed to strike his final dead point in the old man's leg. The fastest won, and the luckier would get to die on their own accord.

Fox fell to the ground like a bloody bag of potatoes, while The Overseer kept standing up. However, it didn't take more than a few seconds for him to hear his own heartbeat, and suddenly cough 1/5 of his blood out of his mouth. It was at this precise time that everyone else had finished their fights, and so they headed over to see the conclusion. Once he was on the ground, the old man, for the first time, smiled. "Well done, Fox…"

The Overseer raised his hands and clapped once, really loudly, and that seemed to have released Velvet from her hypnosis. She immediately comes back to herself in shock, as if she was able to see and hear everything, but was powerless to move. She immediately rushed to Fox's side, trying to comfort him. Soon Coco, Yatsu and team CRDL also jumped in. It cost them a lot, but they had won.

Velvet started crying heavily as Fox slid his fingers across her face. His Semblance stopped working from exhaustion, but he could still feel her. "Is that you, bunny? Good… I'm glad you're back…"

"YOU DUMBASS! This is why I told you that fighting alone was stupid! When are you going to listen to a damn thing I-!" Coco was saying, almost in tears, when suddenly Velvet interrupts.

"He can't hear you… He… he destroyed his own ears so he could win, and save me… I can't… I can't even thank him anymore… Fox!" Velvet said, gasping through tears. Both she and Coco started to cry as Fox just sat there with a smile. It's made up to be a really sad moment…

…

But then Yatsu just breaks the mood and says, "Velvet, Coco… You know ruptured eardrums can heal, right?"

"(sniff) … (sniff) … Do they?" Velvet said, making a hilarious poker face. Coco didn't know it either, but pretended she did. They realized they were wasting time, and immediately switched focus to the bleeding knife wound in his stomach.

Surprisingly, The Overseer was still alive. He started laughing loudly, despite being a fair minute away from having his heart explode. They remained in silence as he spoke, "Hey there, you three brats… Tell this idiot once he gets better… that the woman he seeks… is still alive out there."

"What?! What do you mean?!" Velvet asked.

"That night, once she took him away, she managed to escape, and leave the city for good… I never managed to catch her, nor ever heard from her again… For all I know she could still be out there, with a new name and a new life… If this fool tries hard enough, he might be able to find her one day." The Overseer said.

"This is wonderful news! But… Why did you lie to him?"

"I wanted him to fight to his full power… He wouldn't be focused if his heart still searched for an answer… In the end, I was right about him… I found in that boy someone capable of succeeding me… Someone capable of giving me the final challenge that I hungered for decades, just like I did to the Overseer that came before me… I guess he felt this same satisfaction on the day I killed him… Now it's up to Fox to continue the cycle… or break it… Personally I don't care which path he chooses… Since I was able to reach this glorious moment… I shall die without a single regret."

The Overseer then heard his own heartbeat for the last time. With all his dead points blocked, his heart kept pumping more and more blood without a way to flow, and it eventually imploded. He died in silence, lying on his back.

…

Fox was totally out of commission for a long time now, but thanks to his arduous battle, he was able to liberate this palace. Cardin explained that they can save the people of this city by sending them through the tunnel. With that, they can finally start taking the offensive against the Dark Fang. With team CFVY now joining along the mission to save Planice, the episode concludes.

Commentary (spoilers): Man, this ended up way bigger than I imagined. It kinda became my favorite fight of the volume so far, and I'm not sure the rest can top that — even the Sun one that I have in mind. I genuinely have nothing much to say about this, it's just a badass episode for a side character that I like. You don't know how much I struggled to give Fox a power up, but eventually I saw a single Fist of The North Star clip, and got inspired. Suddenly he went from top 20 to top 5 again. This might be team CFVY's second to last focused episode, right behind their participation in the final war — they really don't have much more coming, I'm sorry. Now, I must follow up with an episode of which I'm terribly unplanned for.

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The next episodes are about JNPR, and their call to action to reach Planice city.

It all begins in their travels, walking along the dirt path of a forest towards the village who requested their services. Jaune was excited, because it was the village of Charlot, which he grew up in with his parents and sisters. He's excited for Pyrrha to meet his father, which in turn makes Pyrrha really nervous, questioning in inner dialogue why he wants HER specifically to meet his dad. Could it be that he wants his father to… approve of her? And if so, for what purpose? Could it be that… he wants her to be his girlfriend?! She got all red just thinking about it.

By now Pyrrha and Jaune are grown adults, and have quite a lot of history together. Once upon a time, their dynamic was about the confident Jaune trying to encourage Pyrrha to get a hold of her own life. Eventually she gained such courage, and now her sense of gratitude for Jaune has blossomed into deep affection. She is clearly interested in him, but never gets the chance to address her feelings. Expressing love is a whole new difficulty compared to simply expressing herself. It might take months for her to gather the guts and do it.

Once the bantering is over, Ren notices something weird. For some reason the village ahead is utterly peaceful, and he cannot sense any soft or boiling emotions from a far. They kept on walking until they figured the reason for this — the village was completely empty. There were no signs of life whatsoever, at least for the past several days. Worryingly, they did find several footprints and tracks belonging to Grimm. Jaune gets a bad feeling, and he goes straight for his huge home by the small river.

He kicks down the front door for absolutely no reason and rushes in. Nothing was out of place or stolen, but his sister Violet and his father Cyrus weren't answering his call. He got desperate and went upstairs. There were only two rooms on the second floor — a huge one for seven kids, and another for the parents. His old room was empty, but there was someone sitting on top of his parents' bed. She was just waiting there — a lady in pure white armor, with green details, and black clothes underneath. She wore a masked helmet that completely blocked her face, with golden hair falling down her shoulders. Her similarity to Jaune was unmistakable.

"… Chloe?" Jaune asked. "What are you doing here? Where's Violet and dad?"

"Good to see you… twink." the woman said, with her voice muffled by the helmet.

She had one sword on each side of her hips. Jaune saw her reaching out for one, and suddenly she dashed at him, ready for a strike. She was not messing around. Thankfully Jaune was able to draw his own sword fast enough to block it. The two were locked on that sword clash until Chloe gave up. She puts back her sword, and now looks at Jaune face to face. "You got strong, Jaunny… I still remember when you couldn't raise a broomstick over your head."

The rest of JNPR rush upstairs to see what was going on, and so Jaune introduces her second oldest sister to them. Chloe went ahead and broke the ice, "So, who are these three? Your girlfriends?"

"ACTUALLY that's my team. And that's Ren, he's a guy." Jaune said.

"Oh, right, I forget how Beacon works. I hope you didn't send me a lot of letters. I don't usually check." Chloe replied.

"What?! I wrote to you once a week, FOR TWO YEARS!"

"… Right, sorry. Anyway, let's get to business."

The five immediately depart the village and go into the forest. Chloe explains that she was the one who specifically asked for Jaune's team to come, as she also wanted to catch up with her little brother after his training was over. Apparently, some crazy strong Grimm have been appearing recently, so she thought it was best to send everyone away from the village for a while and call backup. That story fooled Jaune, but Ren could notice something strange. There was a lot of fear coming from her, despite how tough and stoic she sounds. She intended to guide them into the creek that the Grimm took over.

At first the episode just sounds like it's going to be a chill adventure, but then the plot kicks in fast. Once they get supposedly close, they make a stop and Chloe offers them water. They all took a sip except Ren, who refused. However, Chloe was really insistent that he takes it. "Just grab the damn bottle already, don't make me ask a third time."

Ren could feel the fear inside of her skyrocketing, so he decides to bite. She hands him the damn thing, and for one second their fingers touch. At that precise moment, Ren could hear something from her mind. "Please god damn it, please say you can hear me! We don't have much time!" Chloe thought.

Ren looked shocked, and kept holding on. Eventually Chloe spoke again in her mind. "Thank god. Jaune said in his letters that you could read minds by touch. Listen, once we start walking, hold my hand again. Do you understand me? Don't say a word, and don't react… We are being watched, and they can hear everything."

Ren did as instructed and kept quiet. Eventually they went back to the trail. Chloe distracted the others with something in the distance, giving Ren the opportunity to grab her. Note that Nora is walking slightly behind Ren, and she realized they were holding hands. Soon she started looking really angry about it. Meanwhile, Chloe was revealing the deceit to Ren.

"Listen… This mission is a complete farce. There's no Grimm here. I don't know where I'm taking you to, but I'm fully sure it's an ambush… Sorry, but we cannot stop. The people who armed this… they got my sister, Violet… and everyone else from the village too. They are going to kill them if I fail to bring you all here. Please, warn the others before things turn for the worst, and get ready."

That's ominous. Ren tried to pay attention to his surroundings, and he could grasp a vague presence surrounding him, but there were no emotions floating in the air. Soon enough he did as instructed. First he went and grabbed Pyrrha's hand, and passed all the new information to her in a split second. Then he grabbed Jaune by the arm and did the same. Jaune looked really pissed for a moment, and looked back at Chloe. She nodded, and so Jaune said, "God damn it…"

Last one to warn was Nora. But as Ren came to touch her, she simply dodged away from his hand. "What? You think I didn't see you, handsy pervert! I can't even remember the last time you asked ME to hold your hand! For how long have you been cheating on me, Ren?!"

"Wha-wha-WHAT?! I didn't- I mean, it's not- ugh, Nora just come over here!" Ren said.

Nora ran away from his grasp again, walking ahead of everyone. She was just doing a bit to embarrass Ren. "Hmph, no way! I need some time to be alone! Maybe I'll forgive you after some pancakes… with blueberry syrup and lemonade, got it?"

"Nora, it's not the time to play around, I need to tell you something now!" Ren said with a commanding and aggressive tone, which actually made her turn around in worry.

"Geez, okay? What's wrong?"

…!

It was at that precise second, just as she finished speaking, that Ren caught a glimpse of something flying towards her — three arrows with black tips. "NORA WATCH OUT-"

The arrows hit Nora before Ren could make his move. She fell in his arms with three fletchings sticking out of her back, and she was immediately taken out. They cried out her name, but the attack wasn't over. Suddenly arrows started flying in from fucking everywhere. Jaune and Pyrrha were quick enough to use their shields and block their rear, but Ren saw more arrows coming to hit Nora from above. He used his own body to cover her, dodging several arrows, but still getting hit by a single one in his leg.

"Pyrrha! What are you waiting for — stop the arrows!" Jaune said.

"I- I can't! They're not made of metal!" Pyrrha said.

Ren pulls the arrow out of his calve, and realizes they are made of a dark shiny stone; obsidian. Jaune was about to heal them, but then Ren said, "It's no use healing the wound… The arrows are poisoned!"

From there starts a very fast and tight sequence. The arrows continue coming from all sides, forcing the three to dodge and cover Ren and Nora, as their bodies become weaker quickly due to the poison. Chloe was skilled enough to deflect the arrows with her two swords, while Jaune and Pyrrha had shields. Once the arrows stopped, their enemies finally showed themselves. It was clearly the Dark Fang, but having left Vale City one week before all that shit started, team JNPR don't have a damn clue what's going on, or who they really are. To them it's just people in black and red Assassin's Creed hoods. Pyrrha could feel that all of them had completely removed any kind of metal from their bodies — either weapons or armor. They anticipated themselves specifically for her.

Finally their leader jumps down from the trees, with hands on her back. Once she sees them cornered and struggling for breath, she smiles, showing serrated teeth. She pulls her hood to reveal her ugly and scaly mug. It's Tock — the 5th strongest member of the elite squad of the Dark Fang, as the screen card underneath her states. She seems to be a reptile Faunus with green skin, and she has a punk style quite like Russel. She doesn't bother explaining who they are and why they are here, because team JNPR would be dead real soon. She has a really noticeable Scottish accent, but I don't know how to write it.

She sicks her boys at them, and the fight starts all over again. Jaune is forced to watch over Ren and Nora, as the two can barely fight for themselves, and we focus more on Pyrrha and Chloe. Firstly, Chloe is pretty strong and her build is focused on speed. Her weapon are two short swords that can connect to each other by the handle, creating a two-bladed sword that she spins around like a blender of death. But by far, her strongest aspect is her Semblance, "Nature Plus." She has the power to interact with plants, grass and trees, and use her Aura to boost them with "life energy", which makes them grow at an exponential size and insane speeds. She has a pouch of seeds on her belt that she uses as projectiles — filling them with life energy, throwing, and making them sprout immediately as soon as they make contact. She has several different seed types in there — most notably, she has seeds for spiky roots that immediately envelop her enemies, restraining their movements with thorns.

As for Pyrrha, we know the drill. She's still the strongest character out of our entire cast of main characters, both in power and fighting skill. She can still fly, she can control her weapons in the air to attack enemies, but not much else considering the Dark Fang accounted for her presence, and are fighting without any more metal in them. This was no standard fight either — Tock told her soldiers to specifically not kill Pyrrha yet. Once most of them were thoroughly humiliated by two girls, she decided to step in.

She pulls out a pocket watch and says, "One minute. You have one minute left to live."

She walks up to Pyrrha without a care in the world. Pyrrha attacks her head on, but… once her spear connects to Tock's neck, it simply stops completely — as if she just hit the ground. Tock grabbed her weapon, pulled her in, and then she took a bite out of Pyrrha's spear, breaking it in half. Metal as fuck. Tock sticks her tongue out, which was ominously long and sharp, and pulls out a sword made of obsidian. She let her purple saliva drop on the weapon, and that seemed to have made it poisonous like the arrows. Pyrrha now started backing away and blocking her attacks with the shield only. Once the opportunity came, she used her metal control on the broken spear that Tock tossed away, using it to stab her opponent in the back. However… it still didn't do shit. It merely stabbed through her clothes, but not her skin.

Tock explains that her Semblance is "invulnerability" — she was covered in a layer of her Aura that was utterly indestructible, and didn't explain further, to make the characters and the audience think she's unbeatable. She fought Pyrrha with absolute brutality, not needing to dodge any attack whatsoever, and thus being able to take full offensive. Pyrrha was getting beaten up, as Tock not only had an overpowered Semblance, but she also had skills to boot. She manages to graze Pyrrha's leg with her sword, and that's all it took for the poison to start doing its thing — she became dizzy and frail. fifteen anime seconds have passed.

Chloe tried to jump in to defend Pyrrha, but she got wrecked by Tock all the same. Her best move was to plant a seed right under Tock's feet, sending her flying up as a giant tree instantly sprouted beneath her. They had defeated enough Dark Fang soldiers, and so she yelled at Jaune to escape. Chloe was carrying Pyrrha away, when suddenly she heard, "One more step… and your sister will go to sleep tonight without her fingers…"

Chloe stopped as a chill went through her body. She turned to see a boy, sitting with his legs crossed up a tree. Actually it wasn't a young boy — it was just a pathetically scrawny-looking guy. He's the only Dark Fang member dressing casually here, wearing a red and black hoodie that obscured his face, and dark blue jeans. Everything, from his hair, to his tired eyes, painted nails and pathetic tone of voice scream the vibe of an absolute Emo loser. He was holding a scroll phone in his hands, ready to make a call. He continued saying, "I mean, you can still run if you want. After all, it's not who's going to be tortured until you die, so why bother, right?… And yes, the same goes for you back there, boy scout."

That single moment of hesitation allowed Tock to come back from the sky, and slash Chloe on her shoulder by surprise. She dropped to the ground with Pyrrha, and just then Jaune rushed in to attack. Tock was still invincible and tanked Jaune's attack, easily putting him down and stabbing him with the poisoned sword too. Now everyone was fucked and poisoned, all that was left to do is finish the job they were tasked with. Tock put Pyrrha down one last time, stepping on her back as she tried to get up. "Don't worry, love, I still need you to be alive for a few more minutes. Weasel… it's time."

And so, the guy with the hoodie jumps down from the tree. He walks in with hands on his pockets and a hunch, just to hit home the fact this dude is an absolute ghoul. He was going for Pyrrha. Jaune was already desperate to get up, but then five soldiers climbed on top of him to keep him down. Pyrrha would fight back, but Tock made sure to step on her leg until it popped, just so she couldn't get up again. Thirty anime seconds have passed.

And so, Weasel, the newest and absolute weakest member of the elite squad, show's his Semblance first hand. He grabs Pyrrha's by her forehead, making his Aura flair up. This was oddly familiar to Pyrrha — he was doing something to her soul. After a lot of light and a lot of screaming, Weasel seems to rip out a chunk of her green soul away, pulling it out of her eyes. The green chunk of energy gets absorbed through his arm, and so, both he and Pyrrha pass out. He fell to the ground, then some Dark Fang member grabbed him and jumped away.

Tock says some ominous shit, ordering Weasel to be escorted to Planice immediately. Once he regains consciousness, he should start training with his ability so they can defeat Atlas in the future. And so 3/4 of the soldiers retreat, while Tock and a few others stay there to finish the rest. Now that Pyrrha's part in this was over, she could peacefully die while in her sleep. Sixty anime seconds have passed — the pocket watch goes off. Tock raises her sword to stab Pyrrha, but then someone intervenes.

No one of the Dark Fang gave a shit about Nora, because she was hit straight up by three fucking arrows full of poison from the get go, and Ren just kept carrying her around as he fought. Once shit hit the fan, she used her last forces to grab her taser from her bag and blast herself with electricity, gaining a boost of strength that allowed her to get up and fight momentarily. She grabbed her hammer, bonked the goons surrounding Ren, and delivered a hyper-fast hammer bash at Tock, and mysteriously, this time it did actually damage her. She was sent flying off Pyrrha, and Nora immediately fell back down from the poison fatigue. Nora's outburst didn't matter much, they would all die anyway. But then, Chloe took the opportunity and did something.

She used all her remaining Aura to fill the grass of the whole creek with life force, and the result made everything grow. It was almost instantaneous, the grass grew taller than the trees, and everyone was suddenly lost in this jungle that she just spawned around them. Chloe managed to grab Pyrrha and Nora, while Jaune punched the shit out of the Dark Fang goons surrounding him, grabbed Ren, and also dipped. No one from the Dark Fang could see anything that was happening, so team JNPRC just got away.

We get one last scene with Tock, as she feels utterly outraged that they failed to finish them off. She sees the bruised wound that Nora gave her, and gritted her teeth. She told the others to go on ahead — she would remain to track them down and kill them.

…

Cut to some hole under a tree faraway, as Chloe, Ren and Jaune rest against each other and breath heavily, with two half dead girls right beside them. Nora was most affected, and Pyrrha is unconscious. Jaune was able to heal all their wounds, but he couldn't get rid of the poison with his Semblance. But no worries — Chloe may know how to fix it. They just have to remain alive for a couple more hours until they get to her house. And so, the first episode of this two-part concludes. I'll leave commentaries later.

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Chloe literally lived like a goddamn hobbit, but it's not that incredible considering her power. Her house was disguised under a hill of grass and trees, so she could live in the wild lands without Grimm taking an interest. Jaune was pretty surprised about what Chloe said once she entered, "I'm back, you old piece of shit! For your own good I hope you did not smoke inside my living room!"

Their incredibly scary-looking father was sitting there close to the window, rocking back and forth on a chair. In his old age, Cyrus Arc has mostly-white hair with few taints of blond, with pure apathy in his gaze. He wears an eye patch, has a nice beard and everything below that is the average body of an old geezer, covered in robes. Apparently the Dark Fang did not kidnap him, and since he was bound to a wheelchair, they simply took Violet and left him there to die without water or food. "Honestly, I should've left him there too." Chloe said.

"I told you, if you hadn't taken my sword away, none of this would've happened." the old man said, with a convinced and condescending tone.

"JUST SHUT UP ABOUT THE SWORD ALREADY, YOU'RE NOT GETTING ONE!" Chloe shouted. These two relationships immediately come off as absolute spiteful, while the old man was more casual to Jaune. He wondered if the youngest brat had gotten any stronger at Beacon, but sadly Cyrus doesn't have the leg strength to test Jaune anymore. Chloe, Jaune and Ren were still staggering around the house like they were drunk, leaving Pyrrha and Nora to rest on the couch while Chloe rushed to get them medicine. She had several hundreds of pot plants hanging around — basically a whole arsenal in her home. She used her Semblance to grow some herbs and grab their leaves, and started making a tea mixture to put in hot water. Soon everyone took a sip, and in due time they would all be cured. After some time Nora woke up, and now it was all a matter of waiting for Pyrrha.

As they are all sitting around and recovering, it's a nice spot for exposition. Jaune questions who those guys were, and Chloe tells all she knows. They immediately contacted her as soon as she came to Charlot one week ago. They were White Fang — no doubt about it. They were all Faunus, and it makes sense, based on something that Chloe has seen happening over the last year. After the invasion of Vale City, the nation's total focus was on rebuilding their main capital. However, while that was happening, suddenly they started appearing. The White Fang came to their villages, positioned their enforcers, and took possession out of a percentage of all village's productions and money every single month — calling it "protection money". Everyone was afraid to talk about it, as they were probably being threatened to keep quiet. And now, who knows? Maybe they just went crazy and started attacking at random. Now the real mystery was what they did to Pyrrha.

And so, just when they touched on it, Pyrrha began to wake up. The three surround the girl and wait for her to sit up. Finally she opens her eyes… and we see something fucked up. One of her eyes lost its green color, now having a fully white pupil. She asks, "Jaune… is everyone safe? Why does everything… feels so weird?"

They had no idea what happened to her, until old Cyrus started talking. "Her soul has been tampered with… Trust me, I used to know a guy who could pull stuff like this. The only question now is… what part of her soul got messed up?"

It doesn't take long for Pyrrha to realize her 6th sense of perceiving metal objects is gone. Her Aura was still there, but it was really weak, even though she had no fatigue. Her Semblance was simply stolen out of her. Since they saw that asshole literally absorb part of her soul, they probably won't be able to get it back until they find him.

Jaune looked really pissed for a moment, gritting his teeth. Pyrrha feebly walked up to him and said, "Jaune, please stop with that… It's not your fault, okay?... When I decided to stop hiding my Semblance, I knew something like this would've happened… But we can't just lose hope, right? We just have to find that guy, so I can kick his ass and get my powers back, right?"

"No." Jaune said, putting both his hands on her shoulders. It cut off the mood really hard. He sounds commanding.

"No?... What do you mean no?!" Pyrrha asked.

"Wherever we are going, you're not coming with us. There's no point putting up an act, I can sense that you're weak now. You can't fight like that." Jaune said, as he kept staring into her eyes. Her face was slowly losing confidence. After a long sigh, Jaune opened his eyes and he looked mean. "Pyrrha… if you can't fight, it will be better if you stay in the city. I don't want to keep worrying about you. You'll just get in our way."

Pyrrha had no idea where this was coming from, but her heart just fucking shattered then and there with that last line. Jaune let go of her, seeing her face get sadder and sadder. He turned around, grabbed his sword and shield, and left. "It's getting late. Those guys could be camping in the forest still, so I'll go look for them. Ren, make sure everyone stays here safely. We'll go back to Vale tomorrow, and ask Ozpin what to do."

And so Jaune left the house. Pyrrha just kept slowly backing away, eventually sitting back on the couch. She was shocked from both confusion and sadness, almost crying. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Chloe sighed and then followed him. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he comes back." And so she leaves too.

Pyrrha just covered her face in shame. Jaune was the best guy to lift her up, but it turns out he's the absolute master of bringing her down too. She felt sad for making him this mad, and she couldn't understand his feelings…

Suddenly, Cyrus starts laughing. "Looks like Jaune can still fake his emotions just like I taught him to. It takes some guts to be so cruel to a woman." He said. Pyrrha looked at him, and so he continued, "Don't mind whatever my idiot son just said. I believe Jaune was just furious with himself for not being able to help you… Oh, right. My name is Cyrus Arc. I'm his father. It's a pleasure."

Pyrrha quickly took that to heart, because she too didn't believe this sudden shift in attitude that Jaune had — it's not the man she knows. Ren decided to elevate the mood by going straight to the kitchen, saying he'll prepare one of his best meals for them tonight. As for Pyrrha, she wanted to have a talk with Mr. Arc about some things that she has been wondering about Jaune — ever since their first encounter. Why did Cyrus, a legendary huntsman and warrior, not train his only son on how to fight? I mean, Pyrrha literally had to start with him from the bottom, once they started training together.

The old man's answer was… curious.

"Well… by the time Jaune was willing to accept the training, these legs of mine were not fit for sparring. Even with all these decades of experience, I was no better than a fighting dummy, and couldn't teach Jaune anything… But there was still something that I could do. One final form of training which would undoubtedly turn him into a great warrior…"

"And… what was that?" Pyrrha asked.

"A hundred years ago, there existed a practice that used to make warriors increase the level of their Aura faster than any other method. However, the sheer cruelty of such practice made it forbidden since then. The name was Soul Instrumentalization. I was given such training by my father, and saw fit to train Jaune in the same way. He agreed in the end. He would agree to anything that would make him stronger…

And so I took him to the abandoned water well, far off our village. And once there… I pushed Jaune down into the darkness." Cyrus said, and as he began recounting his experience, Pyrrha slowly started getting terrified of his story. He continued, "Surely he must've broken something when he landed. He cried a lot. He begged to be let out, but no one would hear him. He couldn't see anything. And in that dark well he remained… for the rest of the week… I told my daughters that he was training with friends of mine, so they wouldn't interrupt us.

The purpose of Soul Instrumentalization is to trap an individual in a state of absolute pain, misery and hunger, where they can only survive through sheer determination, and finally embody their one singular desire. If their will to carry out their dream is weak, then they would die. Jaune's dream was to protect others no matter what, and once the training was over, that's the only thing he could care about. All other thoughts and dreams, and whoever was the whiny brat that Jaune was before that day, he had died inside that well… I only knew it was over once I saw the glowing blue Aura he developed, shining brightly at the bottom of that dark hole. He became a warrior that protects others from pain, and that's all he will ever be, until he dies… heheh… it was the best work of my life-"

Suddenly Pyrrha grabbed him by the collar and pulled the old man up. All that terror she was feeling soon changed to anger. "You're… you're proud of it?! You tortured your own son, and you're happy?! All this time — you're telling me that Jaune… He doesn't have free will?... How could you do that to him?!"

"I merely carried out what Jaune wanted. The fact he survived means that he was right about his choice to become a warrior… Now I have a question for you. How many times has my son saved all of your lives?… Come on, tell me!" Cyrus said, and once she stopped to think about it, she let go of him and sat back on the couch. "There's no point in blaming me, because I do not regret the great person that my son has turned into."

And after that, silence. This revelation didn't change how she views Jaune, but suddenly she started feeling pity and regret like never before. She thinks back to that one conversation they had during the Vytal festival. Back then she envied Jaune, because he had the power to continue pushing forward no matter what. But now, it seems that his tenacity never came from sheer will. He was simply enslaved by his one desire. Jaune's life is one that can only end in tragedy, and he will never change his path. His battle will never stop until he makes his last sacrifice for the sake of others. And as such… maybe he and Pyrrha will never be together as anything more than two warriors. Pyrrha is just coming to these realizations in inner monologue, and it's pretty sad.

Note that Ren and Nora are in the room nearby, and are just silently reacting to it all. They aren't thinking any differently than Pyrrha, it was really a messed up reveal for Jaune. In the end, Cyrus looked at Pyrrha with a giggle and said, "Just now, you reminded me of Chloe, many years ago…"

…

What we see now is a small flashback. We follow a younger Chloe without helmet and short hair, as she begs on her knees that Cyrus reconsidered his plan. Jaune was a good innocent boy — he wasn't meant to be a warrior at all. Chloe was the one who wanted to become a Huntress, so she begged that her father let Jaune be free, and she would gladly be the successor in his place, and endure any kind of torture that Cyrus had in plans for her. She wanted to avenge her mother and protect her family no matter what.

In response, Cyrus just explains that the succession of the Arcs is for the male son only. Chloe and all her sisters were never born to be warriors, and so he refused to break the code and pass succession to a woman. It didn't matter anyway… he already threw Jaune in the well a few days ago. He fears that once Jaune comes back, he wouldn't be the same little brother that they had for twelve years anymore.

The angry Chloe held Cyrus by his collar and demanded to know what he did, but he refused to say anything, so she stormed out of the room. The next day Chloe left home, choosing to cut ties with her father forever. Even now, eight years later, she still hates Cyrus with a burning passion for what he did to Jaune.

…

Instead of coming back to Pyrrha and Cyrus, we cut to see Jaune walking in the woods. He was following after the tracks left by the Dark Fang, but what he found was his second hint of Grimm in the whole week. He realized that Grimm tracks started appearing where the Dark Fang's footprints started to end, but there were no signs of battle. What could it mean?

Eventually Jaune is found by Chloe, as she was just leaning against a tree when he started to make his way back. She says, "Unbelievable... You've been raised by seven girls, and that's how you talk to a lady? You make me feel ashamed of being your sister… Now, you're going to explain to me what is going on, then you're going to go back and apologize."

And well, Jaune has no reason to keep Chloe out of the loop, so he just comes clean. Though he truly, deeply likes Pyrrha, he doesn't want her to be part of their team anymore. All the way back in Volume IV, Jaune found out that Pyrrha never really wanted to be a Huntress. She was just a girl forced to play a role she didn't like until she died, because of the power she has. And later, she literally threw herself against Cinder in order to save Jaune's life. After he rescued Pyrrha from Atlas, he hoped she would choose a new path to something she likes, so she would be free from the destiny imposed upon her…

But she didn't. And Jaune knew that… It was because of him.

She chose to continue fighting so she could help him, and maybe repay for saving her life. She is stuck doing something she dislikes for his sake, and he can't bear it. Jaune just wanted Pyrrha to be happy, even if it meant not being friends anymore, or never seeing each other again. Now she just continues to follow him, and continues to get hurt. All this ploy with kidnapping Violet and blackmailing Chloe was all just to get Pyrrha. He failed to protect her again — not just her, but his own family. In the end, Jaune doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to do to protect everyone. It's all too complex.

…

Chloe slowly took off her masked helmet, and we see her ridiculously-pretty face for the first time. She had a scar on her cheek, and was smiling while looking down. She told him, "You're an idiot, you know… a real charmer, but an idiot… Jaune, did I ever tell you why I wear this stupid, useless helmet?… I never cared about danger, you know. I always liked the rushing feeling of battle. My heart beating faster, the tingle at the tip of my fingers, and the sensation of the breeze on my neck. It was so addicting… But then, one day I just got too cocky, and ended up with this scar right here… And when I looked in the mirror, I thought… One day, when I meet the man that I will fall in love with… I don't want him to feel sad for me, for having so many scars… And so I'll wear this stupid helmet, and this heavy armor, to make sure that my life and my body aren't marked by the bad moments I went through… It took me a while to understand that my pain isn't really just mine… Now I hope it never hurts anyone else…"

"Sorry, I don't think I understand." Jaune replied.

"Of course you don't, dummy — the point is, your friend back there is pretty grown up already. She can decide for herself what she wants, and if she wants to be with you, then you better not leave her hanging like that… And besides, stop being afraid of what might happen in the future. Just do your best, and trust that others will do their best, too. You shouldn't have to bear all the burdens for everyone." Chloe finished.

In the end, there's absolutely no way of tracking back those Dark Fang guys. All they can do is go back. But before leaving, Jaune realized they had forgotten Pyrrha's spear at the ambush. Even if it's broken in half, it's still dear to her, and he will go get it back. Chloe decides to follow, and that causes them to lose some vital time.

…

Tock seemed to have an enhanced sense of smell, and was able to follow their scent all the way to Chloe's house. It's midnight, and she's ready to strike. Pyrrha, Ren and Nora were just preparing the food and waiting for Jaune to come back. Suddenly the door opens, and it's not the people they were hoping for. Tock barges in as lightning strikes down faraway, making everyone freeze in shock. Their weapons were out of reach. Tock says, "You guys should've just let my poison kill you, you know… it would be infinitely less painful than what I'm going to do to you now."

While the three warriors were frozen in place, the one who spoke up was Cyrus. "Learn how to knock first before entering, brat. I don't like when reckless idiots enter my house out of nowhere."

"Well, if it isn't the old man we left behind to die… Say, why don't you try to make me leave, huh?" Tock was saying, when suddenly Cyrus turned his head to her.

His deeply menacing face and eye patch sent a chill down her spine, but that's not all. Suddenly, he started to emanate a lot of Aura. Quite like Qrow, his Aura is so terrifying that it takes the appearance of a monster behind him. Tock lost her words as she felt it, clearly starting to sweat. Thunder echoed again in the distance, this time louder. Cyrus said, "Go ahead. Try to attack me."

Tock laughed out of nervousness. "HA! As if I'm gonna waste my time on an old man. Show off all you want, but I know you can't fight! As for you three, I have a proposition: Kill that redhead cunt over there, and the rest of you can live. What do you say?"

Ren immediately grabbed a meat knife from the kitchen and threw it towards her face at mach five. Tock was able to dodge, but then Ren followed up, holding two other knives and jumping to slash her. He and Tock end up in a clash, but she still has a trick to use. She opens her mouth and sprays his eyes with poison that comes out of her throat, blinding him. Then she just kicks him in the chest and he bursts through the wall of the house — completely out of commission in one move. Pyrrha didn't even have her weapon, and her Aura is still frail, so it was up to Nora to fight. "Oh hey, it's you… Say, how are you going to pay for this bruise you made earlier?" Tock said.

"How about an all-expenses-paid trip to a graveyard!" Nora said, and so they started to fight.

I don't have anything deep to add — it's just a raw and brutal fight for Nora, who sadly won't get that much more to do this volume. The thing I like the most about JNPR fights is that since Jaune can heal them, the fights can be much more fucked and brutal than normally without consequence. Anyway, Nora holds up alright with her wrestling moves, but ends up wounded since Tock had a sword. She does manage to force Tock into using her Semblance to save herself, and here she finally explains that she can only activate it for one minute max after a long cooldown, and now she wasted it on Nora. It gives her the win, though, leaving Nora a bloody and bruised mess right beside Ren.

With the battle done, Tock moves in to kill Pyrrha inside the house. She started going on this small monologue, explaining that Weasel stole her Semblance with his own ability, so the new Dark Fang can defeat Atlas' metal army in the future. In the case that she finds Weasel again, her Semblance will go back to her, and Tock wants to make sure she won't be alive for that to happen. However, she ran out of luck. Jaune and Chloe just arrived, saving Pyrrha at the nick of time.

It was time for the Arc siblings to beat the fuck out of this bitch together, so they throw her outside to fight under the shattered moon. It's an incredibly satisfying beat down, however Tock still had a trump card at the end. She quickly drew her scroll phone and made a call to a Dark Fang buddy. Tock liked a good fight, but she refused to be defeated here, and so she will play dirty. If they don't stop resisting, she'll send a single word message to her friend, and they will kill their sister Violet. Tock ordered that the two brothers start killing each other.

The two just looked at each other for a moment, then Jaune sighed in frustration and said, "That girl better have gotten good with her cooking, because she's gonna owe one hell of a 'thank you' cake once we're done here… What do you say, Chloe?"

"Oh stop complaining, you big baby. I've been meaning to test if you're worthy of carrying the family sword around, Jaunny. If you can't beat your old sister, then I guess I'll take it for myself." Chloe responded.

And so, almost unprompted, they began to fight while Tock merely watched. Jaune dropped his shield so it was fully sword-to-sword deal, and they weren't holding back. Both got really good slashes on each other, but Jaune was winning quickly due to his tenacity and Semblance. He cuts Chloe in several places and finally sends her two swords flying away, proving how far he has grown. Chloe was left on the ground, with Jaune ready to deliver the final blow. But then… he stopped.

"WHAT'S WRONG?! DO IT!" Tock said.

"Sorry, but it doesn't make sense… Either way I lose one of my sisters… I think I'd rather die instead." Jaune said, and with no fucking hesitation whatsoever, he plunges his sword into his own stomach with a smile. He immediately falls back on the floor, seemingly dead. Chloe cries out his name, but isn't given the chance to get close — Tock immediately rushed in and kicked her while she was down. She started to stomp Chloe to death, finally preparing her sword for the final stab.

But just then, Pyrrha comes in to make the most awesome save ever. She was feeling utterly useless, and decided to go attack despite being weakened. She only managed to slash Tock from behind using one of Chloe's swords. It didn't split Tock in half or deeply wound her, but it caused a lot of pain, and so she switched targets back to Pyrrha. Tock easily slaps her down, snatched her sword away, and prepared to kill her with it.

However, I guess it really isn't her night. Tock's hand is suddenly grabbed by a very tight fist, stopping her strike. It was Jaune, still alive. Tock was absolutely dumbfounded, but then she looked at his stomach, and realized that his golden Aura was quickly healing his massive wound until the hole was gone. He said his final one liner, "how many seconds do you have left, Tock?"

And so he grabbed her by the jaw and slammed her against the ground with full force, making everything tremble, and leaving the opponent inside of a crater. Tock was still awake and couldn't get up from exhaustion and pain. The battle was finally over, but just then they heard someone's voice. Jaune realized that a person was speaking through Tock's phone while it was lying on the ground. "Tock, what's the situation? Copy."

Pyrrha grabbed it, deepened her voice, pulled up the Scottish accent, and said, "Those fuckin' idgits ran away again. Make sure to keep the lass in'er cell until I call you again. She's still ussful."

"Copy. Call me later." the goon said, cutting the connection.

Jaune proceeded to heal everyone and yadda yadda, you know the drill. Cyrus is pissed off because he couldn't see the fight from his chair. Now they gather up to decide what to do with Tock. She was squirming, "If you think… I'm telling you shit… then you can go straight to hell."

Just then Nora walks in, holding the blind Ren by her shoulder. Jaune heals them too, and they think it's best to seek out their own answers about what is happening. Before Ren can probe her mind, it cuts to black, and we skip forward to the next morning.

…

Tock's memories revealed the vast array of the Dark Fang's plans, and if they are truthful, then probably the attack on Vale prison already happened, and everyone else already knows everything. Haven has fallen and they took over Planice, as they intend to destroy Vale soon. Team JNPR should probably head there immediately, because they know how to win this war. They also need to rescue Violet and everyone else from Charlot.

Jaune says farewell to his sister, as she also has plans of her own. She's a huntress too, and has the duty to help just like her little brother. Old Cyrus was left alone at her house, charged with taking care of the wounded and restrained Tock until this war was all over. Yes, they gave him a damn sword this time. Despite his odious relationship with his sons, he quite liked Jaune's friends. As a parting gift, he gave Pyrrha his cool eye patch to cover her fucked up eye. "Take care of that moron, alright? He needs to make an heir before he dies-"

"SHUT UP, DAD! GOD!" Jaune interrupted, making Cyrus laugh.

…

Now that JNPR are walking together, Pyrrha and Jaune figure they should talk. In the end Jaune apologizes for being purposefully rude before, as Pyrrha understands he's just worried about her — like he always is about everyone. Pyrrha is slowly recovering her usual strength, and is adamant that it's her responsibility to stop the Fang before they use her power for something awful. Jaune respects her decision, and will do everything he can to help her. Both of them are glad to end it like this, because as long as they have business, they have an excuse to not address their feelings for a few weeks more. Ren and Nora just give a look to each other and shake their heads disapprovingly. With that, team JNPR disappear in the distance, the two-part episode concludes.

Commentary (spoilers): I think I accidentally made Chloe Arc my favorite character. Well, probably not, but definitely my favorite Arc sister. Beside that, this set of episodes marks a very notorious trend that you will see for the next two volumes, where Pyrrha is kicked out of the A-plot somehow, so she can't use her powers to instantly win every single fight. It's disappointing, but it's what I get for keeping her alive. Weasel by default was created just to nerf her, and he was one of the first Dark Fang characters I made up, mind you. I'm not good with romance plots, so this "guilty relationship" is the best I could come up with for Jaune and Pyrrha, at least for this volume. If you didn't get it, both are sad because both don't want to see each other suffer, but as long as they stay together, that's the only thing that can happen. Pyrrha will get in trouble, because of who she is, and Jaune will sacrifice himself to protect her, because of who he is, making her desire to be with him even greater. It's a vicious cycle.

This episode also gives more insight into Jaune's backstory and introduces, or rather, names an element that we have seen plenty of times so far, but never talked about. Soul Instrumentalization is my personal excuse for a character to get a sudden power boost when certain conditions are met. There are not that many characters who use such a technique, actually. The only four include Ozpin, Neo, Jaune and Qrow. This has always been a lingering side note so I could one day explain why Jaune had significantly more Aura than all his peers despite being an unskilled moron. He was literally brainwashed into being a selfless warrior, out of his own volition. I love how each new volume we keep adding more and more feats of guts to Jaune, until he retroactively becomes the most badass character.

Tock originally wasn't in this volume. The enemy in this episode would originally be a white Rabbit Faunus, inspired by the white rabbit from the alice in wonderland story, and had the ability to reverse his position in space and time by a few seconds with a clock. I already had the whole fight scenario figured out. But then I realized… fuck, we already got a character that works with clocks in the story. I almost forgot about Tock, probably because I discarded so much of Maria's backstory for this rewrite. Tock, Bane, Sienna and Adam are the only named character from the Dark Fang, as I like the idea of referring to them only by their elite squad codename, which is more memorable. Now, remember when I said she was the 5th strongest of the elite squad? Heads up, we're soon about to meet the other four.

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The next episode takes us back to Planice.

We start with a small scene happening inside the Bastille, showing Adam in his sick red suit, sitting on a throne. Suddenly, Corsac and Bane appear at great speed, bowing to him. They explain that the underground palace was taken over by the Huntsmen of Vale, and somehow they managed to defeat The Overseer in battle. They couldn't find the squads who had infiltrated Planice, nor the prisoners who they set free, or Blake. Bane suggests that they go all out and take the palace back right now, but… Adam refuses the plan.

He stays silent for a while, and explains that there's absolutely no reason for them to care if the humans are liberated from the prisons or not — they were simply used as bait and hostages at best. If they get out, they will just die anyway. If anything, they turned out the chance to be the sole remaining humans to survive this war. Any incoming supplies will just have to come through the docks instead, so the Huntsmen can keep the palace if they want. The Fang's top priority is still the assembly of the Grimm army and the fall of Vale City, and he wants all their forces focused on that. The elite squad will remain in the city, given the express purpose of killing these intruders, as Adam wants one of them in particular. He doesn't explain who it is yet, though.

…

A full day of resting has passed. Team RWBY, CFVY and CRDL are all inside Planice now, and with great effort they were able to liberate the underground palace, which contains an exit out of the city. Team CFVY remained stationed on the railroad to make sure that the Fang didn't set back in, and the mission for team RWBY and CRDL was to assemble refugees. There were several Faunus residents all across the city who were forced to stay, and now it was a good time to set them free. Those prisoners in the sewer lair could now finally be sent to Vale City, including Violet. Fox is beyond fucked up after his fight with The Overseer, so he is just sitting alone in the sewer lair in meditation pose, acting basically as their alarm while he rests.

This episode doesn't actually focus on the teams. We actually follow Russel as he suddenly arrives at the sewer lair. He looks in bad shape, having cuts and wounds all over his body. He came mostly to patch up, but having gone rogue since two days ago, he is a little bit out of the loop. He found Fox sitting there in the living room and tried talking to him, but then Fox interrupted, "Russel, I can feel that you're running your mouth again. Lucky for me I can't hear anything right now, sorry" he said, pointing to the obvious curatives in his ears.

He proceeds on to explain what the others were doing. In response, Russel explains what he's been up to, completely forgetting he's talking to a deaf person. As usual, he's looking for his fiancee. He's literally been all over town trying to find her, but she left no trace behind. He knows it's out of character for him to be this serious about something, and so he will gladly explain why this girl means so much to him.

…

Her name is Lisa. Russel has known her from his childhood, since they were neighbors. She was just yet another poor kid in a poor neighborhood of a fucked up city, but what set Lisa apart from any other woman in town was her unmatched level of beauty. To say "she lucked out in the gene pool" was an understatement — she's so pretty that it looks like she comes from another show. Wavy blond hair, a pointy nose, blue eyes and peachy lips. And as she got older, all that cuteness turned into sheer hotness. A slim figure, yet voluptuous in all the right places. Everyone could fall in love with her smile at first sight… if she ever smiled.

The truth is, Lisa had the worst personality that one could possibly imagine. She was mean, rude, nitpicky, confrontational, unforgiving, uncaring, irresponsible and a huge bitch overall. Not even her parents could bear the person she was, so she got kicked out of home and couldn't land a job anywhere. It didn't take more than a minute of talking for any man to suddenly realize she was not worth it… except Russel.

The two had the exact same aggressive nature and personality. All their conversations were just long and hurtful arguments, and their dates usually ended in a scene. He was the only person in the city who could tank all the abuse she dished out, and so he felt it was his responsibility to be her partner no matter what. He found her places to live and gave her money to buy food, and kept her safe from scummy gangsters. And although it absolutely didn't seem like it at all, their toxic friendship grew into deep affection. But then, once he was 18 years old, Russel had to become a man and follow Cardin into Beacon along with all his friends. Russel had to leave her, but promised to come back as a rich and powerful warrior, and that he was going to marry her when that happens.

And then, once Russel graduated Beacon… he completely forgot his promise for one full year- BUT she doesn't need to know that. He has been looking for her now, but she no longer lived in the same place, and no one gave a shit about her, therefore no one knew where she went. Lisa had promised to wait for him in Planice, so Russel knows she is still here. Now suddenly all this Dark Fang shit happened, and he has to find her before they kill her.

…

All throughout this exposition, Fox was like, "Man… what the hell is he saying? Did he forget that I just told him I'm deaf?… God damn it…"

Just then, his Semblance special sensor caught the movement of someone approaching their sewer lair. Somehow that person knew the secret passage. "Uh, Sorry to interrupt your little whatever, Russ, but someone is approaching the hideout. She has long hair, tight clothes, cute rear and negative honkers. Does it ring a bell?" Fox said.

"Her again?" said Russel.

The hatch opens and the one who jumps down is Ilia. She looked stressed, and she said, "Everyone, listen, I need your help right-! Oh… it's just you?"

"Don't worry, Scarface, it's our little birdie." Russel said. Apparently, when the takeover began, Ilia was tasked with searching the city sewers and eventually found their lair, but she promised to keep quiet about it, and help them stop the Fang once the time came. Now she brought urgent news. One of the secret prisons within the city were keeping Huntsman Faunus as prisoners, and now they were planning on executing them if they don't comply with joining the Fang. Since scrolls are not working due to the jammer, Russel can't contact his teammates and warn them about the urgent matters. Russel is all she got to help, and he's willing to go regardless of how fucked up and bandaged he looks.

And so, reluctantly, she guides him there so they can do something about it, and they leave Fox behind to warn their friends about everything he just heard. As they leave, Fox just facepalms.

…

Ilia guides Russel through the city's rooftops, until they arrive at the prettiest part of town — the place known as the upper boulevard. Russel could see the gigantic gothic castle rising in the fog as they approached it. The walls were massive and the gate looked like it had one foot of thick steel behind it. Russel explains this was the castle of the richest man in Planice — he used to sneak inside all the time to get fine liquor with his boys. Ilia uses her whip to latch onto the top of the wall and climb, pulling Russel along by his hair. Once up there, they were met with Dark Fang soldiers acting as watchers in every corner. Ilia and Russel managed to get past them, using the powers of undetectable camouflage, and a cardboard box. If you haven't figured it out already, this episode is mostly comedic, given by the fact that Russel is a complete moron but somehow his plans work every time.

Eventually they arrive at the castle's huge courtyard, where they find some sort of gathering. Around a dozen people were kept on their knees with energy shackles behind their backs. They were all Faunus, and Russel could sense they were also Huntsman by their Auras. Several Dark Fang goons were surrounding them, waiting for the Fang's chief of staff to arrive. The bastard walks out with a pompous stride and hands behind his back. It was fucking Desper again, the little rat psycho. He had a clear air of superiority towards everyone, even the henchmen surrounding him.

He proceeds to give a speech to this small crowd of prisoners, who all look ready to gut him as soon as they are freed. He begins by telling some kind of ancient story about how Faunus came to existence. There was never a specific date — it's only known that they and the humans have existed in this world since the dawn of time. They lived separately across distant lands, until the age of kingdoms began. The gods had gifted them with wings to fly, with better ears, better eyes, and molded them to fit alongside the other creatures who inhabited this world. The Faunus race only knew peace before mankind had found them. From then on, they were enslaved, killed and sold, for it was believed their kinship to animals made them as valuable as animals. They endured that stigma for hundreds of years. They survived, because they were the people chosen by destiny. They grew powerful, they grew plentiful, and now it was time to simply do as history should be. They, the oppressed ones, will overcome and destroy those who caused evil to them — just like any good story is supposed to go. The age of humans is about to end. It's time for the Faunus to make the world pure again, and so these Faunus Huntsmen should ally with the rest of their race.

However, it seems these few refused to be enlightened with his truth. When he was close to wrapping up his speech, the Huntsmen prisoners started shouting against him. They say that this war was nothing but madness, and his story was stupid. They were warriors tasked with protecting people, be them nice guys or idiots, humans or Faunus, or whoever else. They won't betray their oath over some bullshit. Some of these Faunus warriors had human friends or lovers, even children. They wouldn't fall for the usual fascist speech of greatness, and so they would never ally with the Dark Fang. And so, showing his hypocrisy first hand, Desper just pulls out a gun and shoots the person who interrupted him, right on the shoulder.

"It would make my job much easier if you just said, no, we will not join you. Our leader has tasked me to keep all of you safe and sound for the time being, hoping that you would listen to logic eventually. I personally don't have such hope in you. In order for our people to enjoy peace after this war, traitors like you need to disappear. I will not allow different opinions to split us apart once the world reaches perfection!… I would rather shoot you down where you are, but I believe that writing your deaths as a simple 'food poisoning' should make it less damaging on my end." Desper said. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly the Dark Fang guys pulled out syringes with some purple liquid on them. They were about to inject the prisoners with slow and painful poison that should kill them over the course of a week.

…

Ilia and Russel were watching all this play out from a corner hidden in the dark. Ilia starts thinking of a way to stop it, and for that she will need to cause a big distraction. Maybe if she rings the alarm, it will take their attention for a few more minutes. "Russel, I need you to-"

Just then, she saw Russel run right past her. He ran at max speed towards Desper, jumped up the stage he was on, and simply punched him in the face. The scrawny asshole is launched away and rolls on the ground with momentum. Russel managed to break his monocle, mess his hair, bruise his face and cause a severe nosebleed. There was a clear shock in everyone's face, even Ilia. A guy just came out of nowhere and punched one of the most important officers of the Dark Fang. Desper just stands up while holding his face. Veins were popping in his head. "W-W-WHO THE HELL ARE Y-YOU?!"

"Just a guy who hates your stupid voice." Russel said.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET HIM!" Desper said, so the henchmen jumped after the intruder. Russel saw it was his best option to run. With everyone following after him, he simply cannonballed himself through the castle's window, and got inside. In the past, his trespassing inside this castle led to him finding a ton of secret passages, mostly hidden behind bookshelves. He turned a corner as the bloodthirsty battalion followed right behind him with weapons in hand. They turned to follow him, but Russel had already vanished, and they kept chasing, thinking he just moved faster than they could see.

Ilia just watched it all in shock, but realized that Russel just gave her exactly what she needed. Desper went to fix up his face and ordered the guards around him to put the prisoners back in their cells until this invader is caught. He wants to personally end his life before focusing on anything else. While Russel keeps them busy, Ilia will focus on getting everything she needs to free the prisoners, including their keys, a route outside, and a chance. Hopefully Russel's stupidity will give her that.

…

The entire rest of the episode revolves around this Tom and Jerry nuisance. Desper only has one job in there, that being executing or converting the prisoners. However, he will not get that done until he pays back Russel for that humiliation. Meanwhile, Russel is literally living in the walls of the castle, and he's listening to every conversation at all times. He decided that his sole job there was to mess with Desper as much as he possibly could, just because he personally disliked the type of asshole that he was. And so he proceeds to do the most petty things imaginable for the next couple of hours. He puts nails on his chair, he changes the sugar on his coffee table for salt, he stuffs a wasp hive in his desk drawer, he sets up Desper's pen to shoot ink at his own face, and generally the most improbable and impractical things possible. Desper started up with a broken nose, but got progressively more fucked up as the episode went on, as the pranks grew in intensity. Eventually he became so paranoid of Russel that he sat in the corner of his office and kept staring around in fear.

Eventually Desper figures out a way to snare Russel out of the walls. He simply tells his men to bring in a human child from the factory, and he would do the rest. Once the little girl arrives, Desper takes her to the courtyard and holds a gun close to her head. The dude is going nuts. He yells out for Russel to show himself, or else the child would die.

By then, he had already reconvened with Ilia. She just needed Russel to give her a few minutes to sneak all the imprisoned Huntsmen out of the castle through the secret passages. Russel saw the scene unfolding in the courtyard, and knew what he had to do. He gave Ilia his two swords, grabbed something from the castle's storage, and then he finally showed up.

He was making a cool pose, sitting up on the castle rooftop until he jumped down to meet Desper. He had no weapon, but he was holding a pair of Atlas energy shackles. He put them on himself, making him defenseless. "Playtime is over I guess. You got me exactly where you wanted, cheese nibbler. Let the little tyke go and focus on me, will you?"

Desper started to laugh maniacally as he approached Russel. He put up some gloves and proceeded to savagely beat him. Desper wasn't an awakened warrior, so this was gonna be a long and drawn-out torture session. He had all kinds of shit in his possession in preparation for this moment — once he punched Russel enough, he pulled out a knife and started carving his skin. Russel has super resistance, so Desper couldn't get more than shallow cuts and bruises, but the scene was getting ugly and bloody really fast. Desper was looking a little deranged by that point. The henchmen around him said that he had postponed the executions for too long, so they offered to finish off Russel for him. However, Desper told them to fuck off — his other duties could wait. It was then that Russel began to laugh as he spitted out blood. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?" Desper asked.

"I… I just remembered the wasp nest I put in your drawer… heheh, I'm a genius…" Russel said, prompting Desper to hit him again in anger.

While Russel was getting the shit beaten out of him, Ilia successfully released all the wounded prisoners, including the little girl that the guards had carried off, and started escaping through the sewers. She begs Russel to still be alive until she comes back — she just needs to take these people to the lair.

…

By then team RWBY and CRDL had already returned to the sewer hideout. The second they stepped in, Fox started shouting about Russel and Ilia having left together with a lot of urgency. Everyone kept asking more questions, until Cardin shouted, "He's deaf, god damn it!"

Moments later, Ilia barged inside with a little girl in her arms, and a crowd behind her. She dropped off the few dozen Huntsmen and told everyone about what was happening to Russel. The dumbass is allowing himself to be brutally tortured in order to buy time. Ilia starts to tear up as she begs that they go as fast as possible to the castle, blaming herself for allowing him to do something so dumb.

…

By then Russel already looked like a bloody mess of knife slashes and stabs, but his face remains a deeply stern stare, as if this pain changes nothing. He still looks super ready to beat Desper's ass once it's over. Desper was already breathing heavily and he couldn't break Russel's spirit in the slightest, so he didn't get the satisfaction he wanted, only more anger. He then drags Russel by the hair, going up the stairs of the huge wall surrounding the gothic castle. Once at the top, he tosses Russel out into the streets far below. The Grimm meandering the streets would take care of him. Finally Desper told one of his goons to bring the prisoners to the courtyard again for the execution, as he wishes to repeat the whole thing for shits and giggles.

Outside, just as Grimm started to close in on Russel's limp body, they were immediately decapitated by Ilia's whip, just as she landed beside him. Now both team CRDL and RWBY walk in out of the fog, and they circle around Russel's body in silence.

There was a hidden sadness in their blank stares as they looked down. Back then, whenever Russel did something stupid, and ended on the ground, it always made them laugh. He was nothing but a funny idiot. They couldn't believe that the same guy would go through so much in order to save others, especially a child. They were sad at themselves for never thinking much of him. They have flashbacks from their academy years, when Russel was pretending to be a rude asshole, when in reality he was hiding a pretty big heart behind that scowl. After a minute of staring, Cardin asks, "Russ… what happened to you?"

Russel's eyes slide towards Cardin, and he says slowly, "Nothing… Happened."

…

"Ruby… do me a favor and take Russel back to the hideout. Help those people out of the city as fast as possible, and… we'll handle the rest." Cardin said, and so he, Dove and Sky started walking towards the castle.

The camera pans over their faces to show their looks of unrelenting fury for their wounded teammate. Sky's slicked hair was becoming ruffled on its own. Dove pulled his hair to the side, so the enemies could see his sharp eyes clearly. Cardin gritted his teeth with a snarl, as veins popped on his forehead and muscles.

"Guys… don't let a single one of them get away with this." Ruby said, as she and her team retreated with Ilia and Russel.

…

The guards from the wall spotted them instantly, and began sounding the alarm inside the castle. Desper felt a little afraid, but then realized he was absolutely safe there. There's no way some random Huntsmen will be able to pierce these strong walls and that steel gate, at least not before backup arrives. But you see, Cardin has this little power called "Unstoppable Force."

He simply walked in front of the gate and pressed his hand against it. Soon his body started taking a dark blue coloration, and his hair became orange. He began to push the gate, and it simply started to crumble as if Cardin was pressing his hand against water. Soon the gate broke in a thousand pieces that went flying due to the sheer force of his palm. The dust settles, and Desper witnesses the three warriors walking into the courtyard. They looked angry. He shouted, "YOU- YOU MONSTERS, BACK OFF! I don't know why you're here, but if you give one more step, we are going to kill all the prisoners inside the castle, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

Just then one of the henchmen barges in urgently and says, "Director, the prisoners have disappeared from the cells!"

"… … come again?" Desper said, and he started sweating immediately. He turned around in shock as he heard the sound of Cardin cracking his knuckles. Desper immediately told everyone to jump team CRDL, but all the Dark Fang soldiers get dropped in a split second. Those three were not fucking around.

Desper started running off inside the castle as he told more and more people to go fight in his place. We merely hear team CRDL approaching as the fighting noise gets louder, and Desper continues to run through the corridors. Eventually they find Desper sitting pathetically against a corner of the main hall. His last ditch effort was to take out a gun and shoot Cardin, but the guy grabbed the motherfucking bullet with his teeth and spit it out. By then more and more Dark Fang soldiers were arriving at the scene, and they were bringing elder Grimm. The three were completely surrounded by a few dozen enemies, both inside and outside the castle. Cardin just said, "I'm going to say it just this once… Run away from this city, and turn your lives around… Now, if any of you want to stay… you will not be spared."

All the enemies attack at once, and so, a climatic cut to black.

…

We cut to thirty minutes later. We see Sky and Dove just cleaning their weapons from the black goo. They look a little beaten, but fine. The camera pans back until we realize they are sitting on a pile of rubble. Soon it pans back enough, and we realize that the entire castle was completely destroyed — turned to pieces by the battle. The wall was holding up fine, but the courtyard was littered with broken pieces of tiles and wood. Dark Fang henchmen were lying around the floor, all unconscious. Finally we find Cardin, as he was entertaining himself with Desper. He tied him up with rope, pinned him to a pole, and let him hang by his feet. Cardin was using Desper as a punching bag, and he looked horribly bruised, to the point his face was one mountain of purple bumps that looked pretty funny to be honest.

Dove points out that the word about this battle has probably reached the elite squad, and they will be coming soon, so the team should get out of there. Cardin was done with Desper anyway, he was out of commission. He seems to be pretty high up in the ladder despite not being a warrior. Cardin knows he can make Desper spill the beans about their plans, and so he carries Desper on his shoulder like a potato sack, and team CRDL leave the crumbling castle behind.

…

The episode finally ends as we return to the sewer lair. We see Russel finally waking up from his nap a few hours later. He's covered in bandages and Yang was watching over him. She says, "You got yourself a whole new bunch of cool scars, tough guy. You should be proud."

He sees everyone was safely back at the hideout, with all the prisoners resting a well. They all walk over and thank Russel for helping save their lives. Lastly came Ilia, and she said, "I shouldn't have underestimated you. Of all the guys I know, you get an 8/10."

Suddenly Russel sits up, and Yang protests, saying he shouldn't try to move yet. He grabs Ilia by her forearm and asks if she saw his fiancee while inside the castle. He looked really serious, but Ilia had no clue what he meant. These were all the people locked in there — no humans at all. Without explaining any further, Russel passes out on top of the bed again, ending the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): Finally I have arrived at the fabled Russel redemption arc that I foreshadowed from the very beginning. I personally didn't plan to go as hot on team CRDL of all characters when I started this rewrite, but as I looked more towards the latter half of the series, I realized I needed to make up a lot of character development to fill the episodes with, so it isn't just fight, after fight, after fight. All main characters got their pie in the first half, so I can only use the side characters and villains now. Russel himself hasn't been used as a serious character at all so far. He got three solo fights and lost all of them. All his other battles were with his team, so there isn't that much room for individual development. His one true purpose in the first three volumes was merely slapstick, as his personality made him prone to deserve getting pummeled. It took him a while to get something more to his character, and he won't be the only one.

The thing about writing this volume is that I have this checklist of things that I want to happen, but I'm not fully sure how to structure them. It's kinda like the entire tournament arc, in which I didn't know how to structure its episodes. So far the plot has been this Far Cry bullshit of taking over keypoints in the town map, thus removing control from the Dark Fang little by little. Now there's only four more spots to go through, one of them being in Haven. I don't know how many pages this has been, but holy fuck there's a lot more coming.

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It's time for the Mercury duology.

The episode begins in a very high place within the city — a tall terrace from which all the city could be seen inside the fog. We see Mercury, alone, looking down in absolute boredom as he tries to light up a cigarette, but keeps failing to create a light. Eventually he hears someone sneaking behind him, but doesn't turn around. He already knew it was Emerald. "Can't you leave me be for a single goddamn day?"

"If you're gonna keep acting like a baby, I'll have to look after you." Emerald replied. She looked at his clothes, especially his feet, and realized he was stained with blood and black goo. "I was going to ask where you have been for the past few days, but… I guess I already know the answer."

Mercury has just been existing. He would often go on random walks through town in the past, and he wasn't willing to abandon his passtime just because there's a bunch of assholes and monsters everywhere. After some more banter, Emerald tells him that the kids from Beacon have kicked out the Dark Fang out of half the city — the regions of the gate and armory, the underground palace and the upper boulevard. All that is left now are the slums with the factory, the docks and the Bastille. By next week she expects the war to be won.

However, there's a new issue now. The Dark Fang stopped shipping the food carts around town for the Faunus residents, as team RWBY and the others have rescued everyone out of the city. Emerald hasn't been able to steal anything for the orphanage, and so her only hope is to take the kids out through the underground railroad, and put them on a shelter in Vale City. Of course, moving around a dozen kids out of the docks region to the back-end alleys will be really hard, and if Emerald gets caught, she's dead meat. And so, she wants to request Mercury's help.

"Say, how much money do you have? Because last time I checked, all you had in the basement vault wasn't even enough to solicit my presence." Mercury said.

Emerald frowns, "this isn't about money, dumbass! I need your HELP for SOMETHING! Can't you at least pretend to be grateful for everything I've done for you? I didn't ask for money when you were just a dying bum on the side of the road!" Emerald said.

"You kept me because you wanted to. I never asked you a damn a thing, much less your pity. Unless you make it worthwhile, I'm not helping you… What, you want me to risk my neck out there for a bunch of brats? I'll tell you again in case you forgot, I'm NOT a warrior." Mercury said.

And so Emerald starts to tear up a little from outrage, as she goes on a meltdown. Apparently they've been together for several years. At first she thought this brattiness would die off eventually, and that Mercury would eventually show some spec of goodness in his heart, but it just never fucking came. He's the exact same asshole she met all those years ago, and it seems that he will never change. Mercury is almost like a caricature of what an asshole is supposed to be. She tried to help for so long, but there's just something in him that she can't fix. She pleads to him again, but then Mercury turns to her with a completely apathetic face.

"You done?" he said, throwing his cigarette off the building. He then climbed up the ledge and said, "You sound like my dad now… I guess this is where we part ways, Sustrai. It was fun I guess. Farewell."

and so he jumped off the building, leaving Emerald behind with a face of disappointment.

…

We continue following Mercury as he realizes that there's absolutely nothing worthwhile left for him in this city, so he will just leave. Planice is still surrounded by a horde of Grimm, but he saw it was quicker to just go to the docks, steal a ship, and leave through the river.

This part of the episode would go almost full silent, as we see Mercury execute his plan in the most "fuck it" way possible. He leaves bodies of unconscious goons behind, and ends up being caught by Dark Fang soldiers. He's shot by Dust Bullets at every corner, and is not able to dodge all of them. In the end he's able to steal a shitty little fisherman boat, and by then a storm started hitting the river really hard. He thought he was in the clear from the Fang, but soon his ship is attacked by underwater Grimm. Mercury, despite having like six bullet holes through his body, was still able to fight off a good number of them. Eventually they just tore his little ship apart, and even then he was able to continue tussling with the lizard Grimm underwater, as he was carried by the storm and the rushing river. It was a desperate fight to stay alive, with thunder noises and lighting in the skies. Mercury finally kills the last Grimm, but being completely exhausted, he simply watches himself sink deeper into the water without the strength to swim up.

As he drowns, Mercury questions himself in inner dialogue. "Why?… I'm about to die, and I still… I still can't give a damn about it… Why am I not mad, or in fear, or sad?… What the hell is wrong with me?"

And as he passes out, we are thrown into a flashback.

…

We see music playing out of a tube, as we open inside a bar of some kind. There were several men and several dozen anime ladies, all dressed in explicit dresses while everyone was drinking. It was a brothel somewhere in Haven, many years ago. At the corner of the saloon there was a scene unfolding, with a drunk who was forcing himself against the girls, and refused to leave. They were all afraid to confront him, until a little boy with gray hair arrived from upstairs. In short of a few seconds, he beats the fuck out of the drunk and throws him out the front door like a trash bag.

Picture a young Mercury — dressed in rags, not yet disabled, and instead of black eyes, here they still have vivid dark blue color. It's clear by his level of strength that he has awakened his Aura, despite being so young. The whole scene is being witnessed by a tall and mysterious robed man, at the other side of the road.

Soon he also enters the brothel and is welcomed by the cute ladies, but he's not here for trivial shit. He takes off his fancy robe and we immediately recognize this familiar face from the previous volume; It's Alloy Silverclaw, the previous headmaster of Beacon. He has heard humors of a youngling with great power being raised in this village. Naturally, Mercury is the only kid in the brothel, so Silverclaw makes his way to him.

He says that he has been looking for someone young with talent to be his pupil, and wants Mercury to come with him to train his abilities. Naturally the boy refuses. It may not look like it, but this place is the home where he was raised, and he considered all these women as his mothers. Silverclaw demanded to talk with his actual parents, but it wasn't that easy. Mercury's dad was a bad man from a bad crew. The ladies feared he would be taken into a life of organized crime in Haven, so they made a pact to not reveal which of them is his true mother, so no one would ever want Mercury. Naturally, they also won't allow Mercury to leave forever with some stranger either.

Then, Silverclaw opens his purse and showcases how absurdly rich he is. He's willing to pay an absurdly-high price for the boy's custody for the next several years — not only that, but he will take Mercury to his mansion, educate him, train him, and after that he'll be free to come back to his mothers if he wishes. It was a pretty good proposal, and so the girls actually gathered up with their son in order to have a talk. Even if he's a good boy and they love him, Mercury shouldn't spend his whole life in this dim place with a bunch of sluts. With the money Silverclaw is offering, each and every one of the ladies will be able to live modestly for several years to come, and plus Mercury would go to a better place. It was a pretty good and responsible deal, and so it was settled — the girls gave the young boy to Silverclaw, and the brothel shut down.

…

Mercury was taken to Silverclaw's mansion in Vale — a lonely place far away from any village, and well hidden in the shades of a creepy forest. Mercury had promised his moms to become a strong and smart man, and was happy to begin training. However, the sheer ruthlessness of Silverclaw methods reveal why he wasn't elected to train anyone back at Beacon. The results speak for themselves, but it was all just too cruel. Mercury was put in peril constantly, and would end each day focused on healing for tomorrow, without any spare time.

That routine continued for the next several years, and by the time he was 16, Mercury had already risen to the level of an elite Huntsmen. But, this accomplishment came at the cost of the person he was. The years of tortuous training made Mercury into a deeply violent and rebellious kid. His resentment for his so-called father, Silverclaw, only became more vicious with time. It all culminated in the day they sparred for the last time.

We merely see Silverclaw, now looking terribly old, falling to his knees after clashing against his son offscreen. Mercury had just beaten him, using the Semblance that he had refined to the highest degree. Silverclaw calls it one of the most powerful abilities that he has seen in his entire life — to think it started out so pathetically when he first unlocked it. Mercury had truly done it. At such a young age, he was already high S-tier by the virtue of his new power. Yes, we're tiptoeing around what the ability does until the next episode, sorry.

With his training finished, he demanded to be set free of training and go do whatever he wants — especially go back to his home village and see how his moms are doing. Despite all these years of training to fight monsters, Mercury decided to not do any of that, out of sheer resentment of his father. The two have this long argument about responsibility and destiny, but it ends with Mercury taking back his words. He bows to Silverclaw, and thanks him for the lesson. Secretly though, he intends to run away.

During the night Mercury just flees from the secret mansion in the woods, without any place to go in mind. He ended up in a random town around Vale, and he immediately stood out due to his abilities. And it's here that he meets a familiar character to us; fucking Shay the asshole, using a fake name as he usually does. He's here because I don't feel like making a new character for this backstory. Shay looks noticeably the same despite this taking place ten years ago in canon — the only difference is the length of his hair and criminal record. After Mercury does some badass demonstration of power by killing Grimm that were near the village, Shay pays him a drink and uses his silver tongue to make Mercury trust him. And Mercury, receiving the first instance of shallow praise for the past years, is totally sold on it.

The next few days are really refreshing for Mercury. He gets to do whatever he wants with his powers, and people respect him, cheer for him, and make him feel welcomed. In these scenes we see a version of him that is not actually that bad. Far away from his father, he quickly demonstrates a personality rooted in the desire to seek approval, especially from women of the villages, given his upbringing. He got to do some small jobs, but his clear talent was fighting, once seen that he could take on monsters with a fucking butter knife. Maybe being a renowned warrior wasn't as bad as Silverclaw made it out to be.

After a few weeks going around the small villages, Mercury would meet again with Shay, who he considered a friend by then. Shay recognized the boy's strength and proceeded with a plan to somehow elude Mercury into joining his side, and possibly becoming a Branwen in the future. He tricks Mercury into doing one simple delivery job for Shay. He just had to take a little package to another town and come back as soon as possible, and off he went.

Mercury arrived at his destination late at night, and was met at the front door by a teenage girl, around his same age. She looked cute. The package was meant for her father, and Mercury was told to say it came from some other person he didn't know. This small service made the father really thankful, and he invited Mercury for dinner. Mercury wanted to leave as soon as possible, like Shay instructed, but the small family was insistent on having him tonight, and he thought the girl was so pretty that he ended up accepting. Had he listened to Shay, his story would've been way different.

The dinner scene is pretty calm and sweet. Mercury and the man's daughter are hitting it off, he's feeling at home, and overall this is a situation that he never had before, and he liked it. He's been relegated to awful people for a long time, so a kind family was able to bring him a whole new experience. After eating, the old man was looking forward to opening up the package that Mercury brought… but that proved to be a deadly mistake.

As he opened, the only thing he saw was his own death.

…

An explosion suddenly destroyed the entire house, setting it ablaze in the middle of the night. Mercury was somehow fast enough to save the daughter by tackling her through the window, but the old man was a goner. The girl just desperately screams as she sees her home being engulfed by flames, along with her father. Finally she turns to Mercury and says, "You… YOU KILLED MY DAD!"

"No… NO! I didn't… I didn't know that would-"

"SOMEONE! HELP ME! HEEEELP!" the girl started crying and shouting. Mercury began to slowly back away, eventually running off as he heard the bell tower start ringing. He didn't know what to do, but eventually he was spotted and shot at. A couple of Huntsmen went after him, but he was able to escape with his speed. He was in a state of pure shock — not understanding what happened. That bastard Shay set him up, and that sweet old man had died because of him.

…

Mercury would make his way to another village, but his own wanted posters managed to arrive before he did. Mercury was suddenly a wanted criminal for murder, and couldn't stop anywhere — he ended up being chased again. Unable to enter the villages, he eventually would encounter Grimm waiting for him in the wildlands. In one particular night he was attacked while sleeping, and had to keep fighting until it was morning against hundreds of monsters. After the exhausting night, he happened upon another wanderer like him. But it wasn't just anyone… It was Silverclaw.

"Father-" he said, before receiving a karate chop to the jugular that put him out.

Mercury spent grueling hours being haunted by the nightmares of guilt from taking a life, even though he couldn't predict the foul play he was part of. And when he woke up again, he found himself strapped to a chair. He recognized the darkness around him as the basement of Silverclaw's mansion. Soon the old man would join him, opening the big door up the stairs, and slowly making his way down. A single light shines above them as he looks down at his… son.

"When you left… I hoped that you would see the world and come to your own senses about your duty as a warrior… And yet, even here, at the end of the world… all I find is wasted talent… If I still cared about being disappointed at anything, by now I would have had a heart attack… So many years preparing you to succeed me… and all you turned up to be is yet another renegade." Silverclaw.

He said that Mercury did not deserve the power that Silverclaw bestowed upon him, and so he planned to take it away. And so, for the second and final time, we witness Silverclaw gain wings of Aura as he activates his Semblance, "Dark Angel". With Mercury restrained, Silverclaw took a hold of his forehead and simply began the process of sealing his powers. It seemed like an absurdly painful process for Mercury. In the one instance where he opens his eyes, we see those dark blue pupils slowly turning to the pitch black color that we know today.

But in the end, we see Silverclaw sweating hard. Apparently, old age made him incapable of using his Semblance as it once was, and was only able to partially seal Mercury's power before running out of steam. He steps away and looks at the unconscious boy with a somber feeling on his eyes. He decides to finish up later, after he rests a little. It will be a slow process.

Mercury is left alone, and once he wakes up again, something terrible has changed. He couldn't possibly have realized, but somewhere during that nap, the real Mercury was essentially erased. The person who woke up was the exact same person we know today — down to the same bored expression. He looked around the dark room and said, "fuck this." And did some crazy acrobatic shit to dislocate his arm and escape the strap chair.

He felt like he lost a great deal of his power, and could no longer activate his own Semblance. His thought process was as simple as it gets. "The old bastard took my fucking powers away?… alright… Imma go kill him for this."

…

It was the middle of the night. Silverclaw was just sitting by the fireplace, when suddenly Mercury jumped down from the ceiling and started attacking him. He didn't hold back one bit. He didn't care that Silverclaw raised him, or anything else really. Silverclaw realized that there wasn't even an ounce of humanity in his face. What the fuck has he done to Mercury?

And so this brutal fight continues, and is completely hand to hand madness. They keep tossing each other left and right, and constantly go through the walls and continue to fight at different rooms of the mansion. Appealing to reason doesn't work. After a lot of fighting, it ultimately ends with one last badass clash. Both managed to get a hold of their weapons — both bearing gauntlets with three claws, as it is the signature weapon of the family. Mercury only managed to slash Silverclaw across the chest, but as we know, Silverclaw was able to dismember Mercury's entire fucking leg.

Once they looked at each other again, Silverclaw was suddenly hit with a wave of emotions, and made a face of regret that we never expected from him. Both are bleeding out, but the winner is clear. Mercury passes out, as the ceiling starts to collapse.

…

When he woke up again, several things changed. His leg was already bandaged somehow, his house was on fucking fire everywhere, and Silverclaw was dead in front of him. Mercury just assumed he died after being slashed in the chest, and so he fled the mansion as it burned to the ground — crawling on the floor. Mercury abandoned the place along his father's corpse, and kept crawling through the woods. Eventually he arrived at a nearby road, where he lost the strength to continue. He merely watches the clouds until his vision went dark, and he passed out again.

Luckily for him, the road wouldn't be lonely for too long.

A single person was traveling nearby, and happened upon the scene once she saw the smoke of the burning mansion. The robed girl saw this random teenager bleeding there without a leg, and rushed to his side. Their faces meet, and it is clearly Emerald with shorter hair. She looked way younger and smaller than him, despite both being roughly the same age. Naturally, the first thing she does is check his pockets for any valuables, but then she notices a heart beat. It would be pretty easy to just leave him behind and not get in trouble — who knows what might be after him. But then she looked back, and realized her quota of helping people needs to be filled a bit, just like Summer taught her to. Besides, he looks too hot to just let him die.

And so, Emerald just takes him on her shoulder and carries him off into the road. "Who knows, you're already pretty cute… Maybe you are also some rich prince from a faraway city, and you'll be very thankful for this, right? I can hope."

And so officially ends the huge flashback.

…

Finally we return to the present, seeing Mercury washed ashore in the forest, after being taken by the river storm. It seems like he would die there, when all of the sudden, Jaune appears, followed by his team. Mercury was heavily injured, but Jaune saves his life in just a few seconds using his Semblance. Ren read his mind to figure out what happened to him, and from that he was able to grasp two things. One, this is a really bad guy, and two, his soul is fucked. A black hue seems to be stained on it, which messes up all his memories and other basic parts of his mind, and drastically affects his ability to feel emotions.

Ultimately, despite knowing Mercury is a bad guy, Jaune asks for Ren's help to try and heal him the same way they did to Pyrrha. They both hold onto Mercury and apply their Semblances to him — both working together to try and clean the stain on Mercury's soul. In the end they succeed — the golden hue of Jaune's Aura just washes it off like dust. It was actually pretty easy.

The episode ends as Mercury opens his eyes, and we witness them lose their pure black coloration, and turn back to the dark blue it once was. He gets up and holds his head. The only words that come out of his mouth are, "Oh god… What have I done?"

The first part ends.

Commentary (spoilers): I don't think I changed anything about Mercury's backstory from its original counterpart, I just added a lot of elements in order to complement the narrative and the new canon. I gave his father a character, I gave Mercury a backstory to explain their relationship, and I created a scenario where said father would absolutely brutally injure his son and steal his powers away. In Volume VII, I made sure to make Silverclaw a pretty fucking ruthless guy, because I knew this was coming. The only thing I probably might change is the crime that Mercury commits. Him delivering a pipe bomb is kind of stupid. Whatever I change it to, the point is: Mercury is warranted with a murder he didn't mean to happen, and that led Silverclaw to completely lose faith in Mercury. I like to place this flashback here, because it explains why Mercury was evil, right before the point where he will stop being evil.

And here, I remembered something that I had in my "remember" text file, which I totally forgot to look up constantly. That something is: the color of everyone's Auras. I kinda just made it up as it went. Whenever I mention that their Auras started to flare, the color shouldn't actually be just their primary character color. The colors of their Auras should specifically be the color of their eyes; as the eyes are a literal path to the soul. This would mean Yang has a purple aura, Blake has a yellow one, and Weiss is blue for example. The only exceptions to this rule are the three ladies with Silver Eyes and Jaune specifically. Jaune is because he has blue eyes, but whenever his Semblance activates, his Aura takes a golden color, and so do his eyes. As for Ruby, Cinder and Maria, the silver merely shows that their souls are coated in a silver layer that supposedly links them to the god of darkness and protects them from magic; otherwise, behind that layer, their auras will flare with their own color. Ruby is red, just like Qrow and Raven, because if it wasn't for the progeny of darkness, she would have red eyes just like all the other Branwen. I'll probably have to go around the earlier volumes to get that fixed.

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The next episode opens up with Emerald. She slowly stalks through the foggy streets, as the orphans trail far behind her in every corner. If it was just her, she could arrive at the back-end alleys in a minute, but she needs to be more careful for the sake of the kids, and she doesn't have any better ideas on how to transport them. Anyway, it's a pretty fucking stupid plan, and of course she gets found. The thing is, the Dark Fang soldiers would've let her go if she was literally any other warrior, as Adam had ordered. But someone in the elite squad had a bone to pick with Emerald in specific.

Suddenly Emerald was surrounded by Dark Fang members on the rooftops. Her Semblance was powerful, but only in a one versus one. Several attackers at once would ensure she couldn't focus her "Hallucinations" on a single guy. The Dark Fang now was using Dust Bullets, quite like they did against Mercury. It didn't take long for her to be overwhelmed, but she succeeded in hiding the kids before the enemies saw them. In the end, they managed to hold her down while she was wounded and tired. Finally, the big man shows up, telling everyone to stay quiet for a moment. He jumps from the rooftop and lands right in front of her, shaking the ground.

It was Bane. Kinda forgot to mention, but his elite codename is "King Kong", and among the strongest, he's actually ranked the 4th strongest in the entire Fang.

He walked up to Emerald and held her face, while in his other hand there was an old picture that we're familiar with. It was a photo from two years ago, back when Emerald and Mercury visited Vale City for the first time. It was taken right after Tuxson was murdered inside his bookshop, and we only see Emerald and Mercury. Casual reminder, but the only reason Bane executed the terrorist attack all the way back in Volume II was because of Tuxson's death, and the ones who killed him were these two idiots.

A quick glance allowed him to confirm she was the same lady. He shows her the picture and asks if she remembers what happened that day, but Emerald just smiles and says, "I guess there are some things you can never get away with…"

Bane then grabbed her by the face and slammed her against the stone road. He then proceeded to stomp the fucking shit out of the defenseless Emerald. It's a very ugly scene, as we constantly switch to the perspective of the orphans, watching the fight while hidden. They were crying, but held their tongues as to not be found, like Emerald told them to. They just kept watching her being murdered until her face was a bloody mess. Bane held her by the hair and demanded to know, "Where's your friend from this photo?"

"Sorry… that idiot dumped me." Emerald says. However, Bane saw that her gaze was hiding something. He concluded that this other guy would show up to help her, and if he didn't… well, she would just die alone then. He was about to drag her along, when suddenly Bane felt a sting in his leg. The man mountain looked down to see the youngest of the orphans, little Joanna, stabbing his leg with a rusty knife. She couldn't bear to just sit and watch them kill Emerald.

"Let Miss Emerald go!" she shouted.

The stab did nothing to Bane, he just kept looking down. His visor still covers his eyes, so we can't figure what's going through his head. He simply pulls the knife out of his boot. "Tell me, girl, do you like this woman?"

"(sniff) I do…" Joanna said, backing away in fear.

"You should find better people to love… Warriors like me and this girl were born to die in battle. Loving someone like us is a complete and tragic waste." Bane said with absolute chill, almost like he wants to teach her a truthful lesson.. He then proceeded to completely end that chill by kicking the little girl like a dog. She fell unconscious instantly as she rolled around on the road. Emerald cried out her name, but she didn't have the strength to do shit anymore. Bane just picked her by the midriff with his giant fucking gorilla hands and started walking away. "Let the other kids alone. Someone needs to stay behind to tell what happened."

…

We cut right back to outside Planice city, in a random forest by the river — where Mercury and team JNPR are. They don't have much to talk about, since Mercury literally, physically just got his conscience back, and both are in a rush to enter the city. Mercury wanted to go back and help Emerald, feeling a tingle in his astral senses that said she was in trouble. From the distance, they can see that Planice is surrounded by hundreds of Grimm around the walls. They hoped Mercury would know a way in, but all the other side routes would take too long. He wants to go through the city main gate.

"Are you crazy? Listen, we can't fight that many Grimm on the way — it's nonsense!" Jaune said.

"I'll handle it." Mercury said. "Hopefully I didn't get too rusty with it."

Mercury simply started walking towards the front gate, alone. The Grimm saw him rising in the distance, and switched on their killer mode. Mercury stops as suddenly dozens and dozens of Grimm start running towards him in a frenzy. Team JNPR watches from far behind as Mercury gets ready to do something. He stretches his arms and leg, and he focuses his eyes only at the city wall — ignoring the monsters getting close. The music builds up, until finally we hear his Semblance for the first time.

We take the perspective of Nora as she blinks, and just as she did so, she heard the sound of a bizarre explosion going off. In that 0.3 seconds window, the field was completely shifted. The dozens and dozens of Grimm that were running after Mercury were turned into mere splatters on the grass, as if they were hit with a force that completely liquefied their bodies. The black ooze even stained the walls of the city, just from how far their chunks flew off. In that 0.3 seconds, Mercury found himself at the other side of the battlefield, as if time had stopped for him. Ren, Pyrrha and Nora were completely shocked from the power they saw, but Nora said, "Uh…? What… where did… what did I miss?!"

We now cut to Mercury. He looks calm, almost as if this was expected to happen. However, he realizes something is wrong. "Maybe I went a little too fast. I should've seen this coming." He said. Mercury looks down, and we realize his metal leg was simply gone from his body. It was left precisely where he stood before his attack — standing up on its own. This scene is absurdly bizarre and it doesn't explain what his Semblance is, just so we can keep the mystery for a little more.

Mercury just opened a clear and straight line from the plains to the city gate. Of course more Grimm were coming now, but they had time. He waved at team JNPR and shouted, "Come on, get over here! And please get that thing for me!"

They looked at each other for a moment before running off. Nora took hold of Mercury's leg and they quickly reunited right by the city wall, as more Grimm started surrounding them. Pyrrha quickly tossed her spear in the middle of the giant stone wall, creating a place for them to step and successfully jump up the city gates. They have arrived.

The five are immediately met with the city covered in fog. Finally, Mercury explains about the orphans and why he wanted to come back, and so team JNPR decides to follow him for now.

Ren's Semblance gave them the notion that the city was mostly empty, as Mercury explains that the humans were taken to the factory and the Faunus were taken out of the city by another group of Huntsmen. Eventually, Ren senses a conglomerate of fear nearby, and guess what — it's the orphans. They remained in that house to let Joanna rest after that kick. The squad enters the house, and the kids immediately look at Mercury in hatred. Joanna stands up from her cushion despite being hurt, and grabs a metal pipe from the ground. "You… you PILE OF GARBAGE! WHERE WERE YOU?! MISS EMERALD IS GONE BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T HERE TO HELP HER! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

Mercury just kept looking at the kid with a sad face. He took a deep breath, stepped forward and spread his arms. "What are you waiting for, Jo? Aren't you going to hit me with that?" Mercury asked. The girl's hands were shaking, but then Mercury shouted, "COME ON, DO IT!"

Mercury got hit with the pipe on his face, then five others strikes around his body and legs, until Joanna lost the desire for violence. Mercury had consciously held back his Aura, so then these pathetic attacks could actually cause some damage. He wipes off the blood from his mouth and says, "It would be hard for me to explain what happened, and in truth… not even I want to forgive myself… and neither should you. I can't change the person that I've been so far. I can only try to change things going forward."

He turns around and goes for the door. He says one final line, with his back turned to all of them. "This hatred that you showed towards me, I will now use against the people who took Emerald from you… I swear, I'll bring her back here even if it's the last thing I'll do."

He asked team JNPR to look after the kids for just a couple of hours. He wants to do this alone, and so he departs.

…

The rest of the episode is just about the fight. Mercury heads to the docks in one badass stride, effortlessly taking down any Dark Fang member on his way — hands on his pockets. They were waiting for him, and merely served as appetizers for things to come. Eventually he arrived at the empty docks. The silence around him was deafening, and the constant rushing of waves and wind made it ominous. He could still sense a powerful presence somewhere. After a while searching and calling out her name, he finally found Emerald. She had been strapped to one of the light poles of the pier, and was left hanging there by her wrists. The amount of blood and the lack of response made her look pretty fucking dead.

Just then, Bane slowly starts walking in front of Mercury from behind a few crates. "She kept insisting that you would never show up… and eventually I started to believe her… You really broke her heart."

"I had no hope of getting her forgiveness, anyway. I don't know how to make up for all the things that transpired in between my wake. All that matters now is that I won't let her die like this. I owe my life to that girl… Step aside." Mercury said.

"You sound almost noble… for a killer." Bane said.

And so they begin to fight. Bane just pulls up his huge chainsaw sword and his brute strength, but merely swings at the air, as Mercury dodges with perfection. However, he is able to quickly realize Mercury's other leg was a prosthetic, and moves slowly compared to the rest of his body. Bane just had to wait for an opportunity to grab it, and then he proceeded to slam Mercury around walls, boxes and the pavement — swinging his body around like a ragdoll. Mercury was able to break Bane's hand with a kick from his other leg, freeing himself. The fight continued to go toe to toe a little longer, until Mercury decided to win using his Semblance.

Once again, he got into position as he prepared to make his mysterious dash attack. And so, finally, we decide to reveal what his attack actually looks like. Bane watches in shock as Mercury's body… starts to melt.

His head, torso, and limbs were slowly turning to a liquid mush, losing their form. Then, before Bane could do anything, there was a flash of light. Suddenly, Mercury had jumped at him. He kicked Bane's stomach at the speed of fucking light, sending the giant man flying away and crashing against a huge warehouse — making it crumble on top of him.

Bane pushed himself out of the rubble and saw that his chest plate had a literal burned hole in it, as well as his skin. It broke almost all of his ribcage. It was absurdly painful, and he kept holding his chest tightly. "WHAT THE HELL… WAS THAT?!"

Mercury then finally explains his Semblance to Bane, and us the audience. "Liquefaction" — the power to turn his body into liquid.

A useless power at first, until Mercury discovered an offensive use to it during his training. By liquefying his body before dashing forward, his body would become pressurized liquid, like a sharp water blade that doesn't suffer from air resistance. It allows him to achieve a dashing speed way above the speed of sound, in only 0.001 seconds. Once he has accelerated, he solidifies his body again, becoming a fast object of incoming death that kills things with the pure air pressure surrounding him. Normally that attack would've split Bane in two, but Mercury has to hold back, or else his metal leg would come off again.

"… Why are you telling this to me? This is a battle to the death!" Bane said.

"I guess I don't feel like winning against you." Mercury said.

The fight then goes on for a while longer, as Mercury now uses his speed to merely evade Bane's attacks. Eventually Bane made one last ditch effort with a new plan. He taunted Mercury to finish him off and do his fucking cool attack one last time. Mercury bites, and uses his light-speed dash kick on Bane. But this time, the motherfucker stands his ground through sheer fucking will, and takes hold of Mercury's leg as he was kicked. "Gotcha."

Bane rips out Mercury's metal leg off his body, and throws it far away. Mercury falls back without being able to properly stand. His dodging abilities are gone, and now he won't be able to use the light-speed dash again. Needless to say, what follows is a complete beat down. Bane is pretty fucked after that attack, so it's essentially a wobbling drunk beating down a disabled man. After some point, Mercury just decided to take it without fighting back.

Once he was on the ground a final time, Mercury asked, "Are you… satisfied… now?"

Mercury stands up as Bane prepares for the finishing blow. He absorbs his chainsaw sword through his arm, and unleashes a downwards strike at Mercury. The attack chopped him in half in one swift swing. But when Bane looked again… it did no damage. The dude was completely fine, as if it didn't happen. Bane tried again, but it still didn't work. He kept swinging at Mercury, but it wasn't cutting him no matter what. Mercury's body would liquefy, and the attacks just went through him.

"Don't you get it now? My Semblance allows me to evade any kind of attack, no matter how strong it is. Nothing in this world is capable of killing me. I could've done this from the start, but I saw a lot of hatred in you. I felt like I owed you a beating." Mercury said. Eventually Bane just gave up the chainsaw arm and started to just punch Mercury, but the fists would just go through him as well. "The fight is over, man."

Bane falls to his knees and looks down to the floor. His broken visor finally falls off his face, and we see his eyes for the first time in the whole series. They were sorrowful and tired — the eyes of a warrior who lost his way a long time ago. He shouts, "Pathetic… How pathetic!… All this training… All this power and… I can't even… avenge him… I can't even avenge my brother!... Damn it… DAMN IT!"

Mercury observed him wailing and punching the ground for a bit, before saying, "I only ever killed three people… Given the circumstances, I'll guess you were familiar with the last one… If that's the case, then you should know the full truth about what happened that day."

"What are you talking about?!" Bane asked.

"Now it's not the time for that. I'll tell you everything you should know in the following days. Until then, you should hang back. Let's say… you're surrounded by enemies." Mercury said. He went to fetch his metal leg and then walked to the pier. He quickly frees Emerald from her binds, and catches her as she falls. She still has a heartbeat, and so he carries her on his back. Mercury passes by Bane one final time as he just kneels there. Even if curiosity didn't get the better of him, he wouldn't be able to continue fighting any of them in this state. He silently accepts his defeat.

"Next time, we may know each other's names, okay?" Mercury says, leaving the docks.

…

The episode ends as we take the perspective of Emerald, as she slowly wakes up and realizes Mercury is carrying her through the foggy streets. Her eyes go wide with surprise. "Mercury, what-!… What the hell are you… doing here…?"

"I came to rescue you." Mercury said, turning his head slightly to look at her face. Emerald looks into his eyes, and realizes his pupils aren't pitch black anymore. "Mercury, what… what happened to you?"

"It's a long story, but… I can summarize by saying that I finally got my memories back. In another way, I came back to life. It's kind of freaky to finally open your eyes and realize… you've been living as someone else without realizing." Mercury said. After a long silence, he finished it up. "I think the first thing I should say to you is… thank you."

"… huh?"

"Thank you… You know, I don't think I ever even said that much to you. Thanks for not letting me die on the side of the road and… everything else from that point on. I promise, I'll make it up to you, while my life still has strength to spare." Mercury said.

Emerald closes her eyes and starts to tear up. "I'll be damned… You really were a prince in disguise all along."

With Mercury giving off his first ever smile in more than ten years, the episode ends.

Commentary (spoilers): Man, I fucking love this Volume. The problem is, I'm 120 pages in and I'm not even 50% done. I still got the Haven arc, the Oscar arc, an entire fucking subplot involving Vale City, the minisodes, and the final battle, which culminates into 13 WHOLE FIGHTS happening all at once, plus backstory and character development. This is a chimp-brain story without fucking brakes. It has a huge amount of battles and marks the point where this series starts to get a little gruesome and mature. Fights begin to take a more violent and long pace as I attempt to give everyone new powers constantly in order to keep up the scale and get rid of monotony; I think that's the most important aspect that any fighting anime should aspire to master. This is also the volume in which I'm most satisfied with the writing of both the protagonists AND the villains too. We have a fair share of villains of the week and a fair share of villains receiving a lot of development. Besides, I don't see myself getting many hopes up for the next volume; the final one is occupying my mind at all damn times.

About this episode in particular, I got nothing to say about Mercury. He has an infinitely less hot personality, and now Emerald likes him — that's it. His story was never meant to have a huge impact, but it concludes a lot of things for a lot of characters and kicks off Bane's character development. Mercury now will proceed to be nerfed and sent to the benches until it's time for the final battle. Emerald might be able to do something still. I haven't milked her abilities for all their worth.

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This next episode is pretty filler, but there are a few important things that happen. It starts off with a scene inside the Bastille, which is actually pretty cool.

Envision this long ass table in a hall, illuminated by chandeliers above. All the remaining elite members are sitting around it — the ones who have appeared thus far will appear clear as day, but five others will have their bodies covered in shadows. The few ones that we know are: Adam, Corsac, Papa, Weasel, Lord, The Three Sisters, The Prince, Bloodsucker and Bane (who came back to the Dark Fang after losing to Mercury). Adam is at the very end of the table, with all their eyes on him.

It starts up with small talk. They recount and tease each other about being defeated by a bunch of girl scouts and bad boys, who have now freed most sectors in the city. Tock has yet to return from her detour, and their friends in Haven haven't made contact in many days. Most recently, they have abandoned the docks due to Bane's incompetence, and Desper has been kidnapped. Without him, they won't have their strategist for the attack on Vale.

Adam explains their ultimate end game in case they forgot. In Haven, currently, all the Human Huntsmen forces are awaiting execution once Sienna gives the order. For Atlas, as long as Weasel gets here safely and begins practicing, eventually he will master Pyrrha's stolen Semblance, and will crush Atlas's army in a matter of days. To conquer Vale has been a much more costly battle so far. Their forces in the countryside have been fought to a draw, even with the help of Grimm. They only managed to kill a dozen huntsmen so far, while many of them have been arrested. However, Adam assures that Vale City will fall.

All the while this was happening, most of the Dark Fang forces were sent to scout the north in search of Grimm, gathering an army that has finally reached the quota of one thousand monsters. With this legion, they can easily defeat Vale City and whatever huntsman that stands in their way. They just need to get Desper back, so he will personally craft a plan of attack to destroy the city in the most efficient way possible. They believe that with the city falling to pieces, the rogues inside Planice will definitely surrender. They have won the war already.

However, Adam isn't so optimistic. Everyone thought he was mopey because Blake was gone, but it wasn't the case — he knew it would happen. The thing is, these rogues inside their city aren't just anyone. Adam says very ominously that these people are important, and that this war will have been for nothing if they fail to kill their main target… Ruby Rose.

God knows why Ruby is at the top of their list, as Adam is being vague about it, but it will make sense at the end of the volume. For now, they only need to stall for time and move on with the destruction to Vale City. Adam tells them that if he dies in the short future, the Grimm will stop obeying Faunus. It is essential that they conquer the world before his eventual death.

It was then that one of the shadowy five raised her hand. Her shadows are cast off, and we see that it's actually a really fucking hot lady, in a provocative red dress. She had long and smooth black hair, and wore this small crown that resembles snake heads. Her codename was "Divine Mistress".

She offers herself to chase down the rogues in the city for him, since she might have a clue where they are. When the siege of Planice began, they trusted Ilia with stalking the sewers. Since Ilia betrayed them, it's only logical that they don't trust her earlier report, and go search the sewers again for a possible hideout. Mistress will show the elite squad newbies how it's done. While she's at it, she'll take her precious little pet for a test drive. The mention of this "pet" seems to bother the other members, as they think Mistress should release her already. She doesn't want to, arguing that this "pet" is way stronger than they think, and so it is best if it remains under her control. Adam ultimately agrees with her attack plan, and so the scene ends.

…

We cut to the hideout lair. It seems everyone is sleeping in these makeshift beds and puff chairs. Shit has been exhausting for the past few days — at best they got an hour of resting, and this is their first sleep in three days. Ruby sets an alarm to make sure they don't oversleep, so keep that in mind.

As we expected, one of them wasn't interested in just sitting around. Blake got up in the middle of the night to train with her sword. Just like Yang said, those months in the slammer messed her up. She needs to get back into top shape if she wants to take down Adam. She closed herself off in a dark room of the hideout, and just kept doing acrobatics in the dark with her sword as a form of practice. Eventually she is surprised by Yang, who was watching by the door. She notes how Blake's sword seems even flimsier than before, and the reason for that is because Blake is no longer sure about her feelings towards Adam. When he came clean to her, she felt a sparkle of hope for him that now won't go away. Her desire to stop this war is mingling with her desire to bring Adam to her side, and those two together don't bode well. For her it would've been better if he was just a psycho like many of their previous villains, but some things aren't so simple.

For now, Yang takes off her jacket and decides to help her train. They will only be able to change things if they stick together, and it's her job to make sure the girls are in top form. And so we get a short fight between Blake and Yang — not long and not serious. It just warms us up for an episode that will focus solely on one big fight. At the same time, Cardin had finished his nap and decided to have another interrogating session with Desper. He was literally pinned to the wall in a different room, and he started dangling when the giant entered. Cardin proceeds to longingly explain how he plans on torturing Desper for the next several hours, in case he doesn't spill the beans about the enemy's plans. Finally he removes the tape from Desper's mouth, and he immediately folds like a desperate coward.

We cut to black, skipping the needless scene, and we see Cardin recounting to the others exactly what Desper said. He was high up in the ladder of command, so he knew a lot of essentials. This scene is just for our characters in Planice to get on the loop of the plot. Now they know the situation involving Pyrrha's Semblance, the schedule of attack against Vale, the situation on Haven, but most importantly, they find out the reason for this war. Apparently, Adam will not have the power of controlling Grimm for that much longer, and that's why the war needed to happen as soon as possible. Adam has been vague about it, but in case they fail to win this war, both humans and Faunus will be annihilated by the end of the year. This shocking mystery and revelation disturbs all of them, but unfortunately it seems that Desper doesn't know anything more. What has been made totally clear now is that Adam is the leader of the Dark Fang and the Grimm, and so destroying him along with the rest of the Elite Squad is the only option to stop the war.

…

Eventually, the team's one night of sleep gets cut short. The Mistress had ordered about fifty Grimm and fifty soldiers to search the city sewers all at once, and it got everyone by surprise. Fox was the first one to act up, as he silently tried to warn everyone and get them ready. They were passing by the secret entrance of the lair, and so everyone needed to stay absolutely quiet — waiting for their enemies in the dark. The sewer water was able to mask their scent from the soldiers with enhanced smell, so they just had to wait for them to leave.

However, it was then that Ruby's alarm on her scroll started to ring.

Some tacky Hatsune Miku song echoes in the sewers, and everyone looks terrified. And so, after a few seconds, a giant Grimm just burst in through the entrance hatch, breaking the walls with its huge body. More and more smaller ones follow him, and so begins another awesome free-for-all battle. Once again, it's just cool music and a long fight scene against a mindless horde of Grimm. Team RWBY, CRDL and Ilia all work together, while Fox and Russel are out of commission in the back, needing to be protected. After they are done destroying the whole place, the Dark Fang soldiers finally arrive. Instead of rushing in like dumbasses again, this time they got an elite leading them. The Mistress slides in and tosses some strange box down the hatch.

Everyone just watches silently as it falls in the middle of the lair. They have been in enough situations like this to know exactly what it meant. They brace for impact, and… boom.

…

Cut to the city level above, as suddenly an entire empty block gets blown up sky high. The Dark Fang watches from the rooftops surrounding the explosion, until the dust clears out. It seems everyone survived — Weiss enveloped her team and Fox in the defensive cube of ice, and Cardin protected his boys by standing in front of them and activating his Semblance. He immediately falls to the floor without much Aura left to fight. They remain inside of the huge crater that was opened in the neighborhood, waiting for the soldiers to come and attack them. The Divine Mistress tells her soldiers to let her handle them, and so she jumps down and soundly lands in front of everyone.

We've only seen her upper body so far, with her huge honkers, provocative dress and overall pretty qualities. Now we show her whole body for the first time, and it turns out the lower half is that of a snake — substituting her legs for a long and slender tail. Her eyes are always squinted and she has a simple smile, giving a very calm vibe.

Cardin walks up towards her, preparing to fight. Ilia shouted at him to wait, but he didn't listen. He says, "Hey there, auntie… It may not have looked like it, but that was my only god damn house… So, how do you plan to apologize?"

The Mistress suddenly made a very sad face. She opens her eyes and strikes a very cute pose. "Oh, really? I didn't know… I didn't know it meant so much to you… (sniff)… Please forgive me."

And at that moment, when Cardin looked directly into her orange eyes with sharp black pupils… it was over. His whole body and mind was suddenly taken over by some ability, and in the blink of an eye, he became extremely submissive. He got on his knees and said, "Sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, miss! I can build a new house easily, don't worry!"

Everyone looked in shock as he said that. Not even Velvet can make him submit like that — something was wrong. Ilia explains that the Mistress had the Semblance ability to control whoever becomes even slightly infatuated with her. Somehow she was able to instantly recognize that Cardin had a thing for the small, cute and innocent type. Now they try talking to him, but he literally became a different person. His pupils took a pinkish color, and became heart shaped. The desire to defend and please Mistress was the only thing in his head, so she straight up orders Cardin to go and kill the members of his team, and he does it without hesitation. Meanwhile, Mistress tells the soldiers to attack team RWBY.

And so we have more fighting against mindless villains without that much dialogue. Mistress just sits around and watches the fight unfold around her, just looking on with a smile. It's up to Blake, Weiss, Yang and Ruby to take on the soldiers surrounding them. Meanwhile, Sky, Dove and Ilia will fight mind-controlled Cardin. Russel and Fox stay behind in the rubble with the tied-up Badger right next to them. After we fill a quota of fight sequences, eventually I gotta evolve the stakes.

Team CRDL figures they shouldn't attack Cardin, but rather knock out Mistress so her Semblance stops affecting him. She was just sitting there, so Ilia jumped at her to attack by surprise. However, it was a mistake. The snake lady wasn't that dumb, and knew how to defend herself. Ilia's whip clashed against the Mistress' snake tail, of which the tip was covered by a sharp iron prop, turning her tail into a spear-like weapon. Ilia's whip was cut in half, and now she was falling towards her opponent with her lost momentum. The Mistress just stood there smiling, and opened her arms.

Ilia fell perfectly into her huge breasts, cushioning her head. The Mistress embraced her and whispered, "Ilia my dear, tell me, why don't you come back to our side?… If you do… I'll give you a nice reward later ️…"

And that's it. Ilia's lesbian urges took her by surprise, and she was snared by Mistress's Semblance as well, even being the most knowledgeable about it. Now it was Dove and Sky versus Ilia and Cardin. Naturally it was only a matter of time before Dove got snared as well. He made the mistake of keeping his eyes on Mistress while thinking of a plan to surprise her. The lady was so nasty that she took that small window of opportunity to pull her dress straps down, and flash him. Two sprays of blood comically gush out of Dove's nose, and before Sky realized, he was also under her control. Now it was up to Sky alone, and Mistress felt like bewitching him too, for the sake of her pride. She told the others to restrain Sky, and once they did, she moved towards him, grabbing him gently by the chin.

"You're pretty cute, bad boy. Say… if you give up now, there's still time for us to go back to my place… Just think about it. Both of us, all alone… I'm feeling generous today ️… What do you tell me?" She asked. Sky's face was taken by shock and an empty gaze, and Mistress thought her powers had worked. She told the others to let go of Sky and attack team RWBY now.

But then, Sky jumps at her with his spear, and swings for the neck. Mistress is able to dodge at the last second, making the spear cut her bangs. She was really surprised, and kept looking at Sky with eyes wide open. No man had ever resisted that tempting line before. What kind of un-simping legend is he?!

"Sorry, sister, but my standards are way above grandmas like you." Sky said, reaffirming his committed relationship with his pocket mirror. It seemed he stole something from her during that quick clash. He opens his palm, and reveals that he stole one of her fake eyelashes. "Aren't you a little too old for these things?"

It seems that his words broke her character. She snarls in anger, and so all her beauty just goes out the window in a split second — consumed by an odious frown and bulging veins of hatred. She tells her mind-controlled warriors to kill him, and for now Sky will have to fight them on his own. He has to buy time for team RWBY, or else they will be in severe disadvantage. His plan is to continuously insult Ilia, Cardin and Dove, believing that his own Semblance "Taunt", can overrule the ability of Mistress. Her hatred for Sky will make them forget obedience.

…

As for team RWBY, as you might have guessed, all the Grimm and soldiers weren't enough to bring them down. But eventually, they met someone special who was waiting from the back. Once she saw how strong the girls were, she couldn't contain her excitement. She jumped down to the crater with everyone else, making the ground shake. She was covered by a huge robe, but even so we can identify four legs touching the ground. She shouted, "Sister, can I fight yet? My legs are getting cold!"

The Mistress spared her a glance and said, "Ah, Kiki, I forgot about you. By all means, suit yourself. Just remember, we don't need any of them alive."

"Alright!" The girl replied excitedly. She grabs her hood by the shoulder and tosses it off. Her reveal is a little more epic than usual, because she is an important character. The camera starts at her feet, where we see that her lower body is that of a horse. She has hooves, strong and muscular legs, but most of it is obscured by an armored skirt that covers her front, back and sides — with a hole from which her tail sticks out. Her human upper body reveals that she's pretty young, with a small frame covered in Dark Fang armor. Horse ears stick out of her long, messy hair. Just like Cardin, Ilia and Dove, there's a pink color over her pupils, signaling that she's under Mistress' control.

She was really excited to fight, showing a childish glee that resembles Ruby at the start of the series. The girls didn't want to fight with a teenager, but Kiki gave them no choice. She was not like the other soldiers — her Aura was fully awakened and powerful. Mix that with her Faunus trait, and thus she presented a reasonable threat. Horses already moved pretty fast, so a horse powered by an Aura manages to be disorienting, even for experienced warriors like team RWBY. Those horse kicks also hit like motherfucker, and Kiki had a weapon in hand that she was actually pretty good at using — a longbow and arrows.

Somehow she was able to prove a fair match to the four girls, but it didn't last long. She was clearly inexperienced and reckless, and eventually Yang just knocked around her skull until Kiki was out of commission. But it was at that moment that her power truly began to shine. Despite being unconscious, the girls could see that her astral presence didn't disappear. They kept looking at her, and saw her Aura surrounding her body. They stare in awe as all the little cuts, all the small bruises and swollen bumps begin to disappear from her body. She was snoring as if in a heavy sleep.

Suddenly, Kiki wakes up again. "Uh- wha- what's going- Oh, right!"

She attacked again, now back at square one. Not only was she fully healed, but it seems she has no recollection of round one — she didn't even know why some of her arrows were missing. Eventually the girls put her down again, this time with a bit more struggle, but it proved useless. Kiki passed out, and by the time she woke up again, she had recovered all her energy and healed from every injury. They demand an explanation, and the horse girl explains that her Semblance is "Amnesia" — every time she passes out, Kiki will physically return to a previous random point of her memory, and thus incorporate herself at that moment, losing all the memories in between. She was literally resetting herself to the beginning of the match every time she lost, while team RWBY continued sustaining the injuries Kiki was dishing out.

Eventually Yang decides to hold off Kiki so the other three can focus on beating Mistress, who by that point was focused on Sky. The fight splits in three sides now. The Mistress seemed like she was purely reliant on her power, but it's not the case — she can fight Weiss, Ruby and Blake pretty well, but can't seem to seduce them like she did the others. The real important part is between Yang and Kiki, which after some interrogation, Yang comes to realize that she was Khira. She was the orphan girl that Emerald begged her to rescue. Yang tried talking to her, but Khira was being mind controlled, and only had vague memories of her past. She claims that the Mistress adopted her since her early childhood, and so she has to be with her no matter what. Yang concludes that Mistress' influence power has made her believe in a false past, considering that the targets will believe anything that she says.

The finale of this battle concludes in a simple note. Yang holds off Khira. Ruby, Weiss and Blake ultimately beat Mistress, who couldn't call upon Cardin, Ilia or Dove, since they were being distracted by Sky while he used his Semblance. She would've lost and died, but then her backup came.

The other Elite Squad members knew she was too confident, and it was best to keep a watch while she carried out her plan. Now that she's in a bind, they decide to step in. Lord of the Flies, Corsac and Bane jump down, with a whole new battalion of soldiers and Grimm. Team RWBY and CRDL were completely outmatched. Sky was a bloody mess on the ground, but was able to completely override the Mistress' influence out of their friends using his Semblance. He passes out, deactivating "Taunt" and making Dove, Ilia and Cardin wake up to reality. They still weren't in a good situation. With everyone wounded and cornered, it would be easy for Corsac, Bane and Lord to kill them.

But they were saved.

As Lord stood in front of the others and gave out a long speech about why they deserved to die, our main characters saw something strange appearing before them. Some strange pinkish glow appeared right there, and next they saw a round wall of glass magically form in front of them. From their side it looked like a mirror, but from where the Dark Fang stood, nothing changed with the scenery. The girls couldn't understand what was happening, until Ruby felt someone grab her shoulder.

It was Roman Torchwick, putting his fingers between his lips.

"Hey- what are you-!" Ruby was saying, when suddenly Roman forcefully pulled her. He dashed out of there with Ruby in his grasp, and so Weiss, Blake and Yang saw themselves forced to follow. Cardin grabs Sky, while Ilia and Dove take Fox and Russel — leaving Desper behind to be rescued, since he already said everything they needed to know. Our heroes were gone, but the magic wall of glass stood behind like a giant picture frame, fooling the Dark Fang members into believing they were still there. Once they have gone far enough, the wall shatters to a million pieces, revealing an empty crater. The Dark Fang was utterly bamboozled, as we reveal it was Neo and her Semblance that aided their escape. She scowls at herself for helping that bunch of annoying little girls, before disappearing into the air as well.

While Roman ran with Ruby, she started slapping and biting him to let her go. Roman eventually got so frustrated that he bonked her in the head with his cane and said, "Will you keep quiet — I just saved your annoying little red life! Now just shut up until we're in the clear!"

…

After evading all eyes and waiting a few hours for the search to cool down, Roman guided all of them to a secret alley at the other end of the city. It had a tight entrance, where there was barely room to walk even sideways. Ruby feels utterly revolted that her old enemy is right in front of her, and yet the situation of her friends forced her to accept the help and not fight him. Eventually, Roman presses a hidden switch that opens a new entrance in the dead end. They were taken down the underground by a stairway, and soon found themselves by another huge door, which finally revealed Roman's Secret Bunker 2 (name pending).

It is almost exactly like the one from Vale, but it's clearly messy due to the stressful last weeks. There was a whole palace in there — a Jacuzzi, a 5-star bar, a huge living room with an overbearing couch and an unnecessarily-big flat TV, and most notably, Neo Politan drinking wine in her skimpy underwear. She looks absolutely pissed to see team RWBY and CRDL barging into her house. Roman tells Ruby to patch up the others in the kitchen, while he went to beg for Neo's forgiveness. Clearly she did not want to help team RWBY whatsoever, but Roman insists that this is the best possible solution for their situation. Somehow he's being given the cold shoulder by a mute girl. She just slowly walks into her room and slams the door shut, cracking the wall.

Finally, Roman presents them all to his new and improved palace, which will be their new base of operations against the Dark Fang from now on. Roman was thinking of moving to a new, bigger and better bunker anyway, so he doesn't mind that they know the location of this one. He doesn't intend to throw hands with any of them, so he asks that they don't mind his or Neo's presence. However, Ruby immediately gets on his face and bickers.

"If you think this changes anything between us, then you're dead wrong! Once this is over, I'm still bringing you in, understand?!" Ruby said.

"Goodness, Red, it looks like you grew in every part of your body, except your brain. How about you calm down and focus on the people who declared war on you, okay? I'll let you people rest for now. I have to go run some errands, so I'll be away. I suggest you don't get in Neo's way if she comes out of her room."

Roman closes the door, making everyone finally drop their guards. They think back to all the powerful enemies they faced, and for a second it feels like they won't be able to beat all of them. Things are hopeless, they are outmatched, outnumbered, and they just can't get a fucking rest. With that, the episode finally ends.

Commentary (spoilers): This episode is not that important. It's here because I wanted to pre-establish some villains before the final bout. This is the "Fang strikes back" episode, and it's here to remind us of the stakes, and the dangerous nature of this volume. Characters can't catch a break, while some of them are wounded beyond the ability to fight back. And also, this idea of Ruby being stuck with Roman was an idea that I've been meaning to utilize since forever. Their dynamic constantly evolves over the course of the series, all the way to the end. It's good to put them close, because it will make the ultimate conclusion of Roman's character that much more satisfying. Neo is also here, but I don't think she gets any other fights till the end of the series, so I can only use her for comedy. They both got plenty of fights in the first part of the series anyway.

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Before I proceed with the final three stories of this volume, let's go and review some of the stuff that has been happening in the background, through Minisodes.

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As I mentioned previously, team CFVY (minus Fox) got tasked with protecting the underground Palace secret exit, and they also use their time to update the outside world on what is happening inside the city. The Dark Fang didn't want to waste soldiers on them, so they've been fighting endless packs of Grimm that were sent one after the other. Since Fox couldn't do shit while his arm was broken and he was deaf, they decided to let him stay in Cardin's lair.

…

Weasel, the guy from Jaune and Pyrrha's episode, had safely returned to Planice on the back of a Grimm, and he immediately started training with his new metal powers. He's considerably weaker than Pyrrha with it, but promises that he will eventually get used to it, and will be just as strong once he does. Note that one of his eyes turned green, like Pyrrha.

…

After a week of killing shit all over the map, Qrow eventually found the Grimm army that was being assembled. There were more than a thousand Grimm at their disposal, and now Vale doesn't have half of the Huntsmen they used to, like in the invasion two years ago. Qrow needs to make a mad dash to the city.

…

I wanted one Minisode concerning Chloe, after parting ways with Jaune. She didn't actually join the war, because she had a special mission focused on her family. Once she learned that Haven fell, she knew it was her job to go save her other little sister.

We open the scene in some sort of lab, with papers scattered everywhere, and a bunch of chemistry crap on the table. We focus on a lonely scientist there, tied by chains connected to her ankles. She pays no mind to how gloomy everything around her is, and simply continues her work with a smile. Eventually a Dark Fang soldier walks in, and he threateningly demands that the woman finishes her research. Finally she turns around, and by the cyan sweater, long blond hair, big glasses and lab coat, we identify her as being Jaune's third oldest sister; Celeste Arc — who we learned about in volume VI.

She claims that her job is not even halfway finished, and she won't deliver it until it's done. That makes the soldier angry. He's about to slap her for talking back, but then his hand is held back. It was Chloe, and she immediately knocked his teeth out with a kick to the face. She went from Vale to Haven, found this place, and sneaked inside all on her own. Chloe meets her sister with a hug and urges her to prepare for an escape. The building is pretty heavily surrounded by Grimm, but they will manage. However, Celly didn't want to go. Though she was captured by the Dark Fang and forced to do research for them, now she's actually invested to see it through — in a mad scientist vibe. Apparently, she was researching the differences between humans and Faunus, in an attempt to influence how they are born. The Fang obviously planned to repopulate the world after the human empires were gone, but they needed a consistent way to breed more of their people.

Celeste's research put a spotlight on the fact that humans are strictly necessary for Faunus survival. Faunus with wildly different progenitors are incapable of generating offspring with other Faunus, and so the only consistent way to birth Faunus is to bond with humans, who act as an universal recipient that can bond with any genes. Otherwise, those peculiar Faunus would be divided into clans that would slowly wither away with or without inbreeding, which would destroy their race regardless. Now they were forcing Celeste to come with some kind of genetic drug to forcefully increase compatibility, and she's getting there.

Meanwhile, Chloe was just clearly blushing, noticeable even with the helmet on. She couldn't bear to hear Celeste talk about any more embarrassing facts about breeding and genes, so she slashes her chains and forcefully carries her out by force, ending the Minisode.

…

And now, I think some concerning our main characters in the city are strictly necessary. Just so we get a sense of where everyone is, and a few fun facts.

For team JNPR, after healing Emerald at the nick of time, they helped guide the orphans all the way to the Underground Palace. They met with team CFVY, who would guide them to meet the others at Cardin's sewer lair. They were pleasantly surprised to learn everyone else was also in the city, but unfortunately they couldn't meet yet. When they went to check on their friends, the battle against Mistress had already happened, and so RWBY and CRDL had already disappeared with Roman. CFVY had no idea where they went. For now, team JNPR also helps guard the palace, until they get news about Weasel.

As for Mercury, he had promised a meeting with Bane in the next few days, and he intends to reveal the truth behind Tuxson's death to him. Emerald, now being clearly in love with the badass and mature new Mercury, decides to come with him, leaving the orphan kids with Ren, Nora and Velvet for the time being.

…

I would like to dedicate another one to Cardin. This can take place either at the sewer lair or Roman's bunker. It begins with Yang seeing Cardin stoically leaning against the wall as he usually does. Yang asks if he's feeling stressed, knowing that his family lives in the city, and clearly he hasn't been able to get in touch with them. However, when she tries to comfort him, he reveals that he couldn't give less of a shit about his parents — in fact, he much rather believe that they have already been killed. It only made sense, since his father was the leader of the biggest mob of the city AND was the town mayor, making him owner of most things. Killing him would be the easiest way to take the city.

Yang is shocked by how cold and hateful he is to his family. Cardin looks her in the eye and says, "You should be thankful that you were born with good parents, and a sweet little sister. Not everyone is that privileged."

Yang has a small flashback about Raven, and realizes, "yeah… I guess you're right."

…

Blake continues to train even at Roman's bunker, being given a new separate room made exclusively for that. And while she practices, she gets hit with more flashbacks from her time at the White Fang.

We see the day when she joined them — when she and Ilia were roughly fifteen years old. The two were quite talented and were expected to develop their own awakened Auras in the future, so it was up to the elite squad to tutor them. While Ilia was picked off by Sienna, who liked her feisty attitude, Blake was left waiting for a long time. She was shy and still quite coddled by her parents, so no one wanted the burden of raising such a weak girl into a warrior. At least, until Adam heard of her. He saw in Blake something really special and familiar. He sympathized with her weaknesses. He wanted to make sure she grew strong, before the world could hurt her. He promised to keep her safe, and eventually turn her into a warrior that can fight for her beliefs. And as for Blake, the young girl clearly had a crush on him since their very first encounter. He just looked so cool, handsome and responsible.

Back to their present, she continues to question what happened to him. What kind of mess has he gotten into? How come that man would do such terrible things?

…

Also, I need one very specific minisode, to conclude a backstory that we saw previously. Mercury's past has a missing piece that I would like to tell, just to properly conclude the long and simple character of Silverclaw.

At the end of his fight with Mercury, he was able to slice off his leg and make him fall unconscious. However, fatherhood kicked in for the first time, and Silverclaw immediately rushed to Mercury's side, and did everything he could to stop the bleeding leg. He applied a tourniquet with bandages, and managed to stabilize his son with much effort.

The scene might seem weird at first. How come the mansion caught on fire, and how did he die? Well, big reveal time. As Silverclaw looked down on Mercury, he apologized for having gone too far. Still, it didn't seem like he was going to get the chance to properly apologize to his son. Mercury wasn't the only person who came for Silverclaw that day.

Just then, Silverclaw felt the surge of a powerful presence, and he looked back in surprise. There was someone sitting in the chair of this room, and she walked out of the darkness to reveal herself… It was Cinder.

She spent a long time searching for Silverclaw, just like Silverclaw spent a long time searching for her. She didn't want to be schooled by her old teacher, or wanted to take revenge. You see, the love of Cinder's life just got killed some weeks ago, and now she has a new goal of world domination for the sake of peace. What she needs right now is help to get the relic of knowledge, so she can eventually get the crown. She threatens to blow everything sky high if he doesn't talk.

Silverclaw sees himself cornered. In this stressful situation, he makes a deal. He will tell her all he knows about the relic, in exchange for sparing Mercury's life. From there, he explains that she won't possibly get her hands on the relic, even if she defeats every single warrior in the castle. Since that day where she tried to steal the relic years ago, Silverclaw and Ozpin made sure to hide it in a completely new place that she won't be able to reach through normal means. The relic itself became a form of defense mechanism for the city, and would only appear during a catastrophic event in which Grimm invaded the walls. If that's the case, Cinder sees that her main goal should be orchestrating such an event, so then the relic would finally show itself again. To her it doesn't matter how many will die in this scenario, because all that matters is the perfect future she aims to create.

Silverclaw realizes that he just revealed vital information to a fucking psychopath, so as a last ditch effort of his life, he wants to fight Cinder even while wounded — Dumbledore versus Voldemort type shit. We don't actually see the battle happen, but as we know, it ends up with Silverclaw dead, and the mansion destroyed AND on fire.

…

And lastly, two funny ones.

Weiss, after days of squalid survival in a sewer, was finally allowed a lot of luxury from Roman's palace. However, without knowing she was getting on Neo's nerves even more, and Neo literally cannot be vocal about it. Weiss drinks with HER mug, she sits on HER part of the couch, she takes a bath with HER towel, and Neo has a slight feeling that Roman is giving more attention to Weiss than to her. Once she's about to bust into anger, she goes back into her room and starts to torture a body pillow with Weiss's face in it, until she calms down. Neo being mad at their guests might as well be a small series, for comedy sake.

…

The second minisode in the bunker is about team CRDL and Torchwick. It begins with Cardin walking up to Ruby, and demanding to know how she is an acquaintance to Roman Torchwick. Ruby goes on to explain their first encounter, their rivalry, and how evil he is. Suddenly, Cardin gets in her face and says, "AND YOU NEVER TOLD US?!"

To her utmost surprise, these four are absolute fanboys of Roman. He's a legendary crook in Planice after all, and in their younger years they aspired to be just as legendary as he was. Just then Roman returns to his bunker, and team CRDL immediately start to glaze him like there's no tomorrow. Dove even asked for a fucking autograph. Roman just switched to his smug personality and started telling stories to his newfound fans, all the while Ruby just stood there in the back with the most petty face we ever saw from her. If she heard that bastard gloat a single second more, she was gonna blow.

And that's pretty much it. Back to the episodes.

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Time to conclude the Ruby and Oscar plotline, except Ruby won't take focus.

We go back one week into the past, taking the perspective of the farm boy. He and his new truck were carrying supplies towards Planice, and his brisk demeanor reveals a lot of fear. He was tracking alone through the forest, and he never was so far from home before — he always stuck to selling his goods at Vale City. Last time he came this close, Roman Torchwich was pointing a gun at his head and forcing him to give them a ride. At first everything seemed calm and normal, so the danger was only in his head. He saw the city walls rising in the distance, and so now begins the truly stressful part. Or so he believed.

In truth, the streets were quiet. Clearly there was something going on, but there was no one in sight to explain the problem. Blinds were closed, but Oscar could still feel eyes watching him. He decided to rush to the spot where he's supposed to drop off the cargo, and soon he found others in a similar scene to him. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of wagons and trucks just waiting in lines all over the streets. Oscar questions another caravan master there, and apparently dozens of other farms from all over the countryside were requested to bring the same big amount of supplies. They were just waiting for Mayor Winchester to give out a statement, so they could get their money.

Oscar waits there as the line moves at a snail's pace, and once he eventually reaches the end, his truck is quickly unloaded into a warehouse by a bunch of Faunus workers — clearly Dark Fang members in normal clothes. He wants his money, but sadly all the farmers will have to wait tomorrow morning to get their payment, as the mayor will have to do a lot of "paperwork" with the citys' "finances". They were offered free rooms in the city for tonight. Many of the farmers are left disgruntled, but Oscar just accepts, since he has no backbone whatsoever.

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He stood the night mostly awake, having too much fear to sleep in a city taken over by crime. He kept wandering in his room, until he heard sounds coming from outside. He looked out the window, and so he saw figures walking on the rooftops, wearing robes. Suddenly, he heard the screaming of a woman — probably having seen them as well. Oscar quickly hides away, and starts to dress up as the noises outside get louder. It looked like a lot of people were coming out of their houses, and the streets were becoming busy. Oscar decides to go see what's going on.

The streetlights were still working at this time, so he could see people discussing and arguing around him. Gunshots could be heard from all over the city, and suddenly there were Huntsmen fighting on the rooftops, including team CRDL. Masked men in hoods were invading the streets and threatening people with guns and weapons — forcing them to gather up and be imprisoned. Oscar managed to hide away, and figured he had to escape. He took his truck and started driving out of the city. Everything was fucked, and the citizens were running away in fear. Just when Oscar arrived at the city gate… he saw the real problem.

The city was completely surrounded by an army of Grimm. Dozens of them were guarding every exit — not attacking anyone, but exerting a terrifying presence that stopped anyone from escaping. A member of the elite squad was watching it all play out from atop the city wall. He jumped down to meet Oscar and the other humans. It was the Lord of the Flies. He says, "Don't be scared now, humans. You got lucky. You were chosen to serve us, so you won't need to perish like the great majority of you. Be grateful."

He immediately activated his Semblance, altering the mind of everyone and making them incredibly fearful of his presence. Oscar, being more terrified than anyone there, passed out after just a few seconds from sheer shock.

…

When Oscar woke up again, he opened his eyes and found himself in a massive warehouse, with a hundred other people locked there with him. They kept chatting to a minimum, clearly in fear of being heard. They were too afraid to respond to any of Oscar's questions. Eventually, everything gets answered.

They hear the doors of a warehouse open, and so everyone stays in total silence. They hear steps, followed by the sound of a cane hitting the floor. Someone was slowly walking towards the edge of a railing, in a balcony way above them.

The dragon man finally appears.

His design is immediately simple and scary. He covers himself with a full black robe, Palpatine style, only letting out his face and hands. His head is that of a red dragon, with red scales and white horns on his forehead. His palms only have three fingers, with a sharp claw at the end of each. His gray beard and eyebrows reveal a very old age, if the cane didn't hint at it already. He was the sole master of the White Fang, supposedly responsible for training both the elite squad and its hundreds of soldiers. The 3rd strongest elite member, and council elder of the Fang — codename "Dragonborn." I'll call him Dragon for short.

He welcomes all the humans to The Factory, which will be their new homes for however long they live. They are going to do some of the menial work that the White Fang doesn't care about, or else they would just be locked up and die. Dragon was their new warden, and he wanted to test them. He took everyone outside, gave them a bunch of tools, and gave them a mission. Their first order of business was to clear the land around the factory. The mountains of random garbage everywhere and the warehouses reveal this place to be Planice's junkyard — probably the only one in the entire nation. Their simple goal was to collect scraps in order to fortify the fenced walls around them, basically contributing to the walls that imprison them. Dragon promised to feed them if they obeyed. One sneaky guy saw the outside, and decided to just run away with everyone watching. He was promptly chased by a Grimm, probably dying offscreen. It made very clear for everyone that running was not an option, so they started working.

We mostly follow Oscar's inner thoughts, as he is just being a coward inside his own head. He only whines and over analyzes the situation, trying to find small comforts in misery. Since he was quite strong, he did a lot of work effectively without realizing. He took a sledge hammer and started breaking apart heavy rubble that blocked the passage of the people working. At the end of the day, they all managed to clear a huge area around the factory, and so their work was done. They were locked back into those huge warehouses, with no beds or room to relax. Oscar slept on the floor, already conforming with being a slave as long as he's kept alive. The place was so packed that it was quite easy to hear the sad murmurs of kids and adults alike, crying heavily as they attempted to sleep. The couple of warehouses packed the entire human population of the city, and if that isn't tight enough, it seems more prisoners were on the way.

…

The next day we follow more of the same, as the human prisoners are given disgusting leftovers to eat, and dirty water from the river. Today they would continue building the wall around the factory, while another group would build another warehouse for the Fang to store incoming supplies. Oscar just spends most of his time digging with a shovel, planning the field for the construction of the new building. During his work, he noticed that a new wave of prisoners were entering the front gate of the factory — these people being taken from the many villages of the countryside that the Dark Fan attacked. He just stared at the sad horde of people in fear, when eventually he spotted something important. To Oscar's abysmal bad luck... one of the new prisoners was his aunt. The woman whom he lived with until he was sixteen years old; Aunt Loris Pine.

She was put to work along with everyone else, and once she spotted Oscar, the lady publicly scolded him for getting captured. Loris comes off as abrasive and mean, and she seems to not be much older than Oscar. She dresses quite like you would expect from a carpenter — thick trousers with suspenders, heavy boots and gloves, and a simple white tanktop underneath. Her long black hair is tied into a braid, and she looks eternally displeased. She's forced to join Oscar on his shovel work, and so she quickly explains what has been happening on the outside with the war stuff. Oscar doesn't seem the least bit concerned, as he fully believed his girl friends would come in any second now to save them.

Aunt Loris felt really angry hearing him say that, and she stopped working to slap Oscar. He fell on the ground with a red mark on his face, and she said, "Is that how weak you've become, Oscar? You're just going to sit here and wait for girls to save you? You're a grown man now, you have no right to say these things!"

Oscar was really shocked to hear that, because it was the exact same thing that Ruby told him, and he still didn't get it. What was he doing wrong? Did he say something stupid? I mean, it's not like he can do anything to help himself. He's just a normal guy, without any super powers. What else can he say? Loris was being totally unfair as usual. Without the guts to say anything back, he just gets up and starts working again.

And so he's left to ponder on the idea of being more brave.

Without literally anything else to do, he and the other prisoners spent the whole week working. Note that this takes place in the few days before the war officially started, so the girls aren't even in the city yet. We see this long montage of Oscar just doing menial slave labor, which is often purposeless fluff that trains the prisoners into being obedient, instead of doing anything useful. Oscar witnesses daily beatings, Dark Fang soldiers being unfair dicks, and he sees even children forced to work dangerous jobs. He sees several opportunities to be brave, but doesn't take not a single one of them, and it noticeably pains him to see himself shaking in fear.

He spent whole nights staring into the ceiling, just being reminded of the many times he had to be saved by others. We see small flashbacks of past volumes, but most importantly, a really long flashback, showing Oscar's earlier life, and explaining why he is the way he is.

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We see the fateful night, where his mother was working the farm late at night. He was just a seven year old boy, watching from the window as his only parent worked herself to exhaustion in an attempt to save the farm from a rat infestation. He brought her water and food, but she refused to stop working, and so Oscar just kept on watching from the window until she could finally come to rest with him. However, as we know, that never came to be.

By a stroke of bad luck, a powerful Grimm managed to sneak into Vale's territory, and was getting too close to their capital city. Several squads were hunting for it, but they couldn't find the monster in time. The Beowolf passed by the Pine's fruit farm, and saw Oscar's mom working the night shift. The Grimm just went bonkers and started chasing her with killing intent, as the woman hid herself behind trees and kept running. Oscar saw the creature attacking his mom, so he rushed downstairs to grab the huge rifle pinned to the wall, but was too short and weak to properly wield it. When he finally got out, his mother was just a few seconds away from becoming werewolf dinner. Oscar started crying and took aim at the monster, but then he looked his mother in the eyes.

Though they didn't speak, Oscar understood it very clearly. She told him not to do it. If he did so, the monster would know he's there, and would kill him as well. His mother made a hand gesture, telling him to close the door and hide. Oscar throws the rifle down, and slams the door shut before he could see his mother die. He turned off the lights and sat against the door, crying for several dozen hours. The trauma of letting his mother die was engraved in his mind, and that became his ultimate fear of taking action.

The monster escaped, which would eventually be hunted down by Summer Rose and Qrow Branwen. Oscar would be delivered to the care of his aunt — even though Loris was still a teenager just seven years older than him, she was the only family member still left, and had to toughen up early in order to take care of Oscar alone. He would refer to her as his big sister, because she hated being called "auntie" like some old hag. She worked as a mason, a carpenter, a builder, a housemaid — whatever it took to bring money to the table. Loris really hated the farm for being what drove her sister to die, so she never stepped foot in it again. Oscar did not share the same resentment, so when he came of age, Loris just sent him there to try and revive the land, and build his own life.

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Now back to the present, Oscar realizes that he has been a coward for far too long. He became a coward because he believed that's what his mother wanted — to never put himself in danger, even if it's for a good reason. But now, he can't bear to continue being the same loser. He had to change.

The next day, when everyone was having an awful lunch, Oscar could see that many people were still starving and weak — these rations weren't enough. Though they were starving slowly, everyone was too afraid to die in order to speak up. Oscar waited in line with Loris right behind him, and when it came time for him to take his plate, he looked down and said, "this is not enough…"

"… come again?" said the Dark Fang soldier.

"Can't you see? It's not enough… We are all going to die this way… you need to give us more food." Oscar said. Loris was absolutely shocked to hear those words, and so was literally everyone else in earshot.

The Dark Fang soldier then stepped out of his counter and started beating the fuck out of Oscar. First he punched him in the face, and kept kicking him on the ground while everyone just watched. But before the guard could mess him up for good, Dragonborn suddenly appears, and holds the goon back. The old dragon looks at Oscar roughed up on the ground, and then he glances at the people watching. Maybe this boy has a point, so Dragon orders the soldiers to give a second round to everyone. It would be wasteful if they start dying out so early.

And so, with this simple sacrifice, Oscar managed to save a lot of people in there from starving. Loris takes him on her shoulder, and drags him away to the back of the warehouse. She scolds him for getting himself almost killed, but then she is surprised to hear Oscar say with confidence, "This is what I wanted to do… I don't care if you liked it or not…"

She could feel a hint of manliness coming out of him, for the first time in his life. It made her smile, but she still smacked him for thinking he's some kind of bigshot all of the sudden.

…

The week went by, and now with the other warehouse done and the factory wall properly finished, the prisoners could start working on slightly more important tasks. The Dark Fang managed to hijack a lot of supplies from an Atlas train on its way to Vale. However, for the sake of safety, the Dust bullets were not properly manufactured, making stealing them useless. And so, the Dark Fang put all the smartest prisoners in an assembly line, and forced them to craft the Dust bullets for them — using very dangerous working tools, with a high chance of failure, and even higher chance of getting sick. The ones who fucked up would be taken out of the assembly line and beaten.

And so one day, the factory received another batch of prisoners, this time coming from Haven. Yes, these are the same prisoners from the ship which team RWBY tried to save, meaning the girls are already in the city at this point.

Oscar was still getting a lot of heat, because he was speaking up against the mistreats that the soldiers were inflicting. Oscar was being moved by an unnatural and sudden desire to act, even if he was going to suffer. He was feeling pain so frequently that he truly stopped fearing it. He was getting on the nerves of the guards, and eventually came the last straw. While he was working to build a water well inside the factory, he spotted a scene playing in the huge courtyard. One of the new guys from Haven was being beaten, but he refused to quit. He kept begging the Dark Fang soldiers to take his girlfriend out of the assembly line, as she couldn't work such a dangerous job while two-months pregnant. The henchmen simply beat him up and forced his mouth shut.

Oscar took that to heart, and when it was his time to go into the assembly line inside the factory, he met with the man's girlfriend. She was being exposed to the volatile and toxic chemicals while making the Dust bullets, and was sure to get sick if that continued. Oscar got on his knees and struck a deal with the guard watching them, promising to do the work for the girl, as well as his own, as long as she's let out. Now Oscar had to cover two parts of the assembly line, and it was getting difficult. He had to be fast, and the process was making him sick and nauseous.

It was only a matter of time before he fucked it up, and was taken out to the yard. This time they wouldn't let him off the hook, as he has been a nuisance for far too long. They gave him a public beating that would end in execution. The people just watched in fear — despite everything he did for them up to that point, they were just normal people. They were too scared to do anything to help… Except for Loris.

She sneaked inside the second warehouse while the guards were occupied with wrecking Oscar, and next thing we see is an explosion. An entire half of the factory building went straight to hell. All of the raw dust left in the barrels was set ablaze, and then exploded. The guards immediately shift focus to the burning warehouse, and there they find Loris, hiding away from the explosion with a smuggled lighter that she has been using to light her cigarettes. She had a big smile on her face, and said, "Ooops… my bad. Hehe~"

Now the Dark Fang soldiers were beating the fuck out of her, and she just kept taunting them over and over, in an attempt to make them forget Oscar. Clearly she was ready to sacrifice her life. After a few measly punches she was left a bloody mess, and the soldiers just wanted to make sure she suffered for the damage she caused, before finally killing her. They simply can't let that slide, as they were given strict orders to not make the Dark Fang seem weak or forgiving.

Meanwhile… Oscar was having an episode. He looked at his young aunt being killed, and it rings the same images of when his mother was being attacked by that Grimm. Loris gave him the exact same glance as his mom did, silently telling him to get out of there and hide. She wanted him to be a good coward and stay alive. However, Oscar became a changed man over this week of slavery. He doesn't want to be the one who survives as a coward.

And so, Oscar grabs a nearby shovel, and starts walking towards the soldiers.

For the first time, Aura starts to flare around his body.

When they felt his presence, it was already too late. One of them got a shovel to the face and was knocked out instantly. Now it was up for Oscar to fight the other two, but god damn he sucks. Even with his Aura suddenly awakening, he is still just a guy who never fought before. He still puts up quite a fight through tenacity, though. While he was ducking it out, the other prisoners made their move. The Havenese couple that Oscar had helped now picks up Loris from the ground, and they quickly rush somewhere to hide her. Oscar's battle ends once Dragonborn finally arrives.

He uses his cane to easily put down Oscar, dislocating his arms with his strikes. The boy is left lying on the ground without the power to move, and so Dragon orders the two soldiers to grab him. As he's lifted off the ground, Oscar sees Dragon slowly walk to the center of the courtyard. So far, the old man seemed to be really chill and somewhat kind. However, now he looks really fucking scary. He looks taller than ever, and his dragon eyes are sharp and threatening.

He asks everyone in the Factory, "So… Who caused that?", pointing to the Dust storage house that was blown up, still on fire.

The Dragon man looked around, but everyone just kept absolutely quiet. They wouldn't fight against the Fang, but they wouldn't be a bunch of snakes and betray Oscar after he helped so many of them. Their silence is the only weapon they are confident with using. It's a pretty sweet moment. Since the prisoners wouldn't tell where Loris was, Dragon decided on a little punishment for them. Their food and water would be cut in half, and the work hours doubled until someone fessed.

Oscar just keeps on screaming that he was the one who caused all the trouble, but Dragon didn't believe him. He promised Oscar that he would find and kill the responsible, and as for him… there may be a new use for his life. With our farm boy being dragged away and passing out from pain, so ends another episode.

Commentary (spoilers): I was never really sure if I wanted Oscar to have such a presence in the story. I just chugged him along in the background as Ruby's little femboy boyfriend for comedy sake, and to keep the character from the original Rwby. But now I have a goal for him as a character, and that goal is to make him a clear love interest for Ruby. The thing is, if he really is meant to have a chance of ending up with her, even if it's left in the open, he can't be such a pathetic character as he was in the first few volumes — he needs an arc, an explored backstory, and motivations. One of the big themes of this series, regardless if I meant it or not, is how trauma shapes people. How their stories are affected by the weaknesses they once had. Every character in this show is trying to atone for the weaknesses of their past, without exception. The villains, the heroes, even the most minor characters. The only exception is Ruby herself, and that's because she has no real trauma (yet). For her ultimate character arc to work, she needs something to look forward to, besides being a warrior. That's where Oscar comes in. He's not gonna be a major player in the final battle, but he will be there at the end so Ruby's story doesn't end on a sad note. Because trust me, her ending is fucking sad.

As for Loris, we've been aware of her existence since volume I, as nothing more than Oscar's aunt who cared for him offscreen. Originally the lady who helps him in here would just be a new character, but then I remembered her, and figured it would be more sound to use his immediate family as a motivation to Oscar. She appears only in this part, and it's easy to like her. She's a young single mother with a rude personality, so of course the fans will cherish her, for… reasons… Anyway, time to tie all this up with Ruby, and the next episode.

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The next episode opens up with Oscar in a dark room, covered in steel. There was no light seeping in from anywhere, and he's sitting there with a face of absolute apathy. It seems he's been locked there for a few days, as his stomach growls constantly. Eventually the door of his cell opens, and Dragonborn walks in. Oscar doesn't even look up to see him. The old man says, "We were never properly acquainted before, Mr. Pine. How are you doing?"

Oscar didn't answer immediately, but after some insistence, he replied, "You know… I should hate you… I really should… You're one of the worst people I've ever met… Absolutely unforgivable… But still, thanks to you, I was able to learn something important… and change who I was… It seems… even the worst kinds of monsters… exist for a reason."

The old dragon was taken back by his response. Perhaps he was kept in here for too long and went crazy, or maybe he really did learn that wisdom. He giggled, "Well, there's no point in arguing against the truth… Playing the monster is not easy, son. I guess it's only a matter of time before some hero tries to take me down… Who do you think it would be?… Who was that girl you kept mumbling about in your sleep? Perhaps… Ruby Rose?"

Dragon finally was able to get Oscar's attention, as he looked up in worry. The old man continues, "I took some time to check your background, Mr. Pine. We had a whole file reserved for you, for some reason. You were a good friend to a teammate of our informant. We came to the conclusion that you could be a potential weakness to her. Say, are you as dear to her, as she is to you?"

Oscar didn't reply anymore. Apparently, all the things in the previous episodes have happened already — all the while Oscar was in the cell for days. Most of the city was already liberated from the Dark Fang's control, with the Factory and the Bastille being the sole remaining points. Dragon doesn't want the place under his management to fall, and so he will take care of these intruders himself. He just needed something to draw them out of hiding, and now he has it. With that, we suddenly cut to black.

…

At this point, Ruby and the others were staying at Roman's hideout. They are all pretty hurt, three of them are in really bad condition, and right now they don't stand a chance against their strongest enemies. They got another full day of rest, but that's about it — the situation got crazy again when they least expected it. Ilia arrived at the hideout with a piece of paper. Apparently, notes were scattered in every corner of the city, and they all say the exact same thing.

Ruby Rose was ordered to present herself at the factory as soon as possible, or else Oscar Pine was going to die.

Finally Ruby got the answer she wanted. Oscar was alive, but now he was being used against her. She had no choice, so she had to face the consequences of the situation she created, even if she had to die. As team leader, she ordered Yang, Blake and Weiss to stay out of it, and continue the mission to defeat Adam in case she didn't come back. Ruby was going to rescue Oscar on her own.

…

The rest of the episode is as you would expect. Ruby makes a stride through the empty streets, as the Dark Fang soldiers scowl the rooftops, yet refuse to attack her. She was Dragon's prey, and they were told not to interfere. Eventually Ruby arrived at the makeshift walls of the factory, and walked in while holding her breath. The factory now has been thoroughly cleaned of all piles of garbage and junk, now becoming a huge fenced circle with a few warehouses built right next to each other at the very back. The plain courtyard had several tools scattered all over the place, and the hundreds of prisoners were nowhere to be seen — probably locked in the warehouses. The clouds up above were building up for another storm. Though Ruby could feel several powerful Auras watching her, only one was there to face her.

Dragon stood idly in the middle of the empty field, hunching over his cane. Far behind him, Oscar was shackled on his knees, with two guards guarding his sides. The old man courteously welcomed Ruby, and explained the terms of their duel. Since Dragon was a fair dude, and he was quite cocky and prideful, he would fight one versus one against Ruby, without any of his elite squad fellows interfering. If she wins and kills him, she and Oscar can go free, as well as the hundreds of prisoners locked in the warehouses behind him. If she loses, basically the war is as good as won.

And so, Dragon takes off his black robe, revealing that he's indeed way more dragon than human. He has arched legs, red scales that cover his entire body, and his feet were flat and clawy. He looked cool though — his entire fighting gear is that of an original samurai, with square armor plates of the color black, and baggy clothes underneath. His katana was bigger and thicker than the average blade, looking like Harbinger in a way, with a cool lizard design at the handle.

And so it was on.

Ruby fought without holding back, but it turns out the old dragon is quite fast and strong. In fact, she could feel that he was at a level similar to Qrow and Ozpin, who she still considers high above her. Things look bad for her, but Ruby did not have the right to lose. She had to save Oscar at all costs. And here, fighting full power for the first time in this volume, Ruby showcases two new abilities that she learned in the past year.

The first one, of which we have seen in volume VI, is her ability to displace and launch individual parts of her body into a burst of petals through vibrations. This allowed her to attack long range with her scythe, and instantly retrieve the weapon to her hands. Her other (and new) ability is the power to break apart objects into petals. She has done it before with her scythe and the people she's carrying while dashing, but it turns out these objects don't need to return to their previous form. Ruby can break something into petals, and reconstruct it as she sees fit. It's a basic form of alchemy, and allowed her to reshape Crescent Rose on the fly, in order to fight with more unpredictability. With this, Crescent Rose didn't have just three modes anymore, but actually hundreds, becoming an even more lethal weapon with a blade that constantly changes its shape every time she dashes. The most notorious use of this ability comes at the end of her offensive. Ruby decides to use some explosives that she stole from Roman's bunker, but it would be hard to use them while Dragon had his guard up. And so, she grabbed a bunch of rubble from the ground, and used her Semblance to turn the bombs and the rocks into petals, fusing them together and making them look like normal pieces of trash. The old dragon was none the wiser that they would blow up on his face once Ruby threw them, and that's exactly what happened.

That explosion would put down pretty much anyone, but Dragon's scaled body offered an even greater layer of protection than most armors in this world, and came out of the dust almost unscathed. He even recognized the bomb's power, as Roman tried using the same one when he and Neo fought him, and they lost. The old man finally decides to play the offensive, and now Ruby begins to slowly lose pace and get more hurt by his blade. He didn't even need an overpowered Semblance to kick her ass. Surely he and Ruby would go the distance in this match.

Of course, Ruby is not the only side of this battle. Of course Yang, Weiss and Blake followed after, completely disregarding Ruby's orders to stay back. They defeat all the soldiers and Grimm who tried to stop them, but eventually the elite squad members realize that the cavalry was approaching the factory. Papa, Corsac and Bane appear in front of the girls, and so begins a three versus three. Just a casual reminder: Papa is a bear Faunus with a huge round physique that we saw on the CFVY episode. He doesn't seem to have a combat Semblance, and simply fights with brute strength comparable to Yang. Corsac is a skilled martial artist, but he fights primarily in long range. His Semblance is "Huff & Puff", and allows him to shoot out an intense gust of wind out of his mouth. Bane had two fights so far, so I won't waste my time recapping his powers — he's fucking Denji in rwby world with super gorilla strength.

Their fight goes better than average, but eventually it gets interrupted by someone who has been missing so far. Suddenly, Blake's katana and Weiss' Myrtnaster get snatched out of their hands by an invisible force. Yang could feel her own gauntlets crushing her arms, forcing her to rip them off. They looked up to the rooftops, and saw an emo son of a bitch sitting there, with his legs crossed and a noticeable smirk. His hand gestures make it very clear that he's the one controlling their weapons. It's Weasel.

He has trained enough with his stolen ability, and felt like finally testing in active combat. He's still considerably bad at it — at first the girls couldn't understand what the hell was he doing, but he was controlling parts of their bodies covered in armor. By sheer familiarity, Weiss figures that has a power similar to Pyrrha, and can control metal things. She thinks back to what they discovered from Desper, and realizes he was the Weasel who supposedly went after team JNPR to steal Pyrrha's Semblance. The girls are left to dreadfully wonder about the fates of their friends, but now it was not the time for that. In order to continue fighting, they stripped off their metallic gear, and Weiss crafted weapons of magic ice for them to use. This cameo is moreso to reintroduce Weasel before the final act kicks in, so we don't forget he's here.

As expected, Ruby's selection of powers didn't give her any advantage over Dragon, and so she would eventually waste too much energy to keep her pace. Once getting the upper hand, the old dragon man started to monologue a bit, explaining to Ruby a few things. Firstly, for some reason, Adam wanted her to die above anyone else. Ruby was at the absolute top of their hit list, above even Ozpin. Dragon doesn't know why that is, but he will do as instructed in order to win the war. And besides, this fight was quite interesting to him. He discovered that Ruby was trained by the demon of the west, Qrow Branwen, and since then he wanted to see just how strong Ruby would be. After all, she was able to impress one of Dragon's strongest pupils… Tyrian Callows.

However, her current showing is a bit pathetic. It seems that she can't flip the odds completely like her Qrow, even fighting for someone she loves. It would be over soon, and Ruby realized that. In a last ditch effort, she realized all the elite guards and soldiers were being distracted by Yang, Weiss and Blake. She decided to turn her back on Dragon, and focus on rescuing Oscar. She easily takes down the two guards by his sides, and rips him out of his restraints. Ruby now had to fight Dragon while protecting Oscar, and as we know, that doesn't work. Ruby gets cut several times all over her limbs while pushing Oscar out of danger, and finally ends up fatally slashed in her midriff, almost dropping to the floor in two pieces. Blood gushed out of her stomach as she forced herself to stand up. She feebly leans over her scythe in order to stand straight, and faces away from Oscar so he doesn't see her in this sorry state. He was right in front of the exit — all he needed to do was run, while Ruby distracted Dragon for a few more minutes.

Realizing this was it, Ruby apologizes for not allowing Oscar to be himself. He clearly didn't want to come here, and if she didn't bully him into going, nothing of this would've happened. He wouldn't need to have suffered all this time. The only way Ruby can fix her mistake is by giving her life as a warrior, and so she begs Oscar to leave her behind. The camera cuts to Oscar, as he starts running away without saying a single word. His face is covered in shadows, and he didn't hesitate one bit. Kind of cold.

Dragon said one final prayer to Ruby, promising to honor her sacrifice and let the boy go. He's useless now anyway. He draws his sword one last time, and dashes at Ruby to finish cutting her in half. She just stood there, knowing she doesn't have the strength to move. Dragon swings… but his blade doesn't connect.

The slash was stopped in place… by an iron shovel.

Ruby opened her eyes, and saw Oscar's appear in front of her, holding the shovel up in order to block the slash. She lost balance and fell on her butt, still looking at him in awe. Not even for a second Oscar intended to run away and leave her behind — he just went to fetch something to fight with. Aura was surrounding his body again, and it seems he fully awakened his powers this time. Dragon was quite surprised. He saw Oscar running in front of her, but he didn't believe he could pull off the strength to block his attack. Pretty impressive for someone who just awakened their powers, but perhaps the torturous days in the factory managed to train his spirit up to this level.

As Ruby just sat there, Oscar said, "If I allow another person that I love to die in my place… What kind of pathetic excuse of a person would I be?!… I don't care if I lose… If the world wants a fight out of me… THEN I WILL FIGHT!"

It seems his words managed to wake Ruby, and she started blushing profusely. Oscar looked so badass, but the moment of bravery was short lived. Dragon merely applied a little bit more pressure into their clash, and so he broke the shovel in half, and slashed Oscar across his chest too. He took a step back as his blood trickled down, but he didn't fall. He was determined to show the same amount of courage and tenacity that his mom and aunt had taught him. Dragon prepared another slash, but thankfully for Oscar, he gets to be one of those warriors who immediately awakens his Semblance.

And so, a green bubble instantly appeared around Oscar, enveloping him and Ruby. It was perfectly round, made out of Aura that was constantly rippling. Dragon can't stop his sword in time, and ends up striking the bubble. The sword was able to get close to cutting Oscar, but then, as if it was made of rubber, the bubble expelled Dragon's sword away. Not only that, but it seems that it redirected twice the power back at him, sending the old man flying far away.

Oscar Pine. Semblance: "Barrier"… Awakened.

Dragon was sent crashing through the wall of the factory at great speed, causing a bunch of dust to fly everywhere. Ruby and Oscar just kept looking in shock — especially Oscar, since he had no idea he could do that until just a second ago. Before the dust can even settle, Dragon instantly reappears in front of them with phasing speed, like he teleported. He looked a little pissed — the old man cracked his neck, and we can see he got bruised in a few places. "Hmph… kids these days, so full of surprises…"

It seems that the fight would begin again, and this time Ruby and Oscar don't have any tricks or strength left to surprise their enemy. However, that extra minute bought by Oscar has changed the course of this war. The cavalry had arrived.

Suddenly, Dragon looks to the side in shock, as if a big power just reached his senses. At the same time, someone had just entered through the gates of the factory. He's walking casually and slowly, and yet Dragon can feel a powerful presence emanating from him. The camera goes up and down over his armor, sword and shield.

It was Jaune.

"Hey Ruby… We really need to stop meeting like this." Jaune said, patting Ruby on the head as he passed, and leaving behind a bit of his Aura that immediately started to heal Ruby's grievous wound. Then Jaune walked up and stood uncomfortably close to Dragon, staring him face to face. "Strange… What a strange place to meet someone like you… In any other case, it would've been an honor… So, how may I help the former grandmaster of Haven… Daigo Kagutsuchi?"

"Hmph… at least one of you kids did his homework." Dragon says, finally revealing his true identity, and why the hell is he so strong. He was actually the previous Grandmaster of Shade academy — the person who had the job before Leo came along. He continued, "You're a newcomer in the city, aren't you? Let me see… Blond, blue eyes, and that sword… You're the latest Arc, aren't you? I met quite enough of you folk."

"So you know who I am, too? Well then… Do you still think you can win?" Jaune said, making a mean face, as his eyes suddenly brightened with hatred. Dragon merely giggled at his little flex, and so he prepared his Kendo swing. At the same time, Jaune drew his sword, and clashed with him. The result was a shockwave, which echoed throughout the entire courtyard and beyond.

…

At the same time this was happening, as I told you, the rest of RWBY were fighting four other Dark Fang elites. However, their fight was interrupted by Ren, Nora, and eye-patch Pyrrha. She has her awaited meeting again with Weasel, and almost makes the guy shit his pants, since he fully believed Tock would be able to kill them. They all have a quick fight, but then they hear the shockwave from Jaune and Dragon's clash. The elite decides to retreat and check out what is happening, and so WBY and JNPR give chase.

Back at the factory yard, Jaune and Dragon have a short fight, but the old man quickly realizes that Jaune is quite strong and well trained. Not only that, but his desire to avenge Ruby gave him more fuel. At the corner of his eye, Dragon saw Oscar cradle Ruby in his arms and begin taking her away. He knew her death was still top priority, so he tossed Jaune away and rushed to attack. However, as soon as he got close enough, a gun went off, and a Dust bullet made a hole through Dragon's hand — ceasing his next strike.

He looks up to a building far out beyond the gates of the factory, and sees a glean from a scope. The lady with shades, Coco Adel, was ready to take her next shot. This time Dragon dodges, and backs away from Ruby and Oscar. It seems everyone has come together for this rescue mission, and so everyone appears one by one. Velvet and Yatsuhachi jump in to cover Oscar's escape. At the same time, Bane, Corsac, Papa and Weasel arrive to back up Dragon — followed by Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha. Just then, the door to warehouse number one was blown open, revealing Cardin, Dove and Ilia. They proudly enter the battlefield, declaring that while everyone was fighting, they successfully rescued all the hundreds of prisoners from the factory.

Now they all face each other — the two groups stand at opposite sides. The four strongest squads on all of Vale, against the dozen members of the elite squad. However, that wasn't the end of it. When everyone least expected it, suddenly… Adam shows up.

He lands in between all of them, shaking the ground. Alongside him were The Prince, Bloodsucker, Lord of the Flies, Divine Mistress, and Khira. Now EVERYONE was here, and they looked super ready to throw down. However, just as everyone was drawing their weapons and getting into their stances, Adam raises his hand, and so everyone stops.

Though everyone wants to solve this right now, Adam realizes that now it's a bad time. They didn't kill Ruby and now she's being healed, so the original purpose of this ambush had failed. Many of their lower soldiers are injured, and the Huntsmen are still tired from the last few days. It seems to be in everyone's best interest to postpone this fight.

Adam openly declares that Vale City will be completely devastated in three days. While all this was happening, the Grimm legion was finally completed. It can pretty much sweep any main city or village in its way, so there's no chance the humans are going to pull through this time. Desper was already dispatched to make the attack plan on Vale, and should be leading the legion down south as they speak. Even if the Huntsmen took Planice back, it still means nothing. The only way left for them to win this war is to defeat the elite squad and kill Adam, which will be impossible. He and all his soldiers will return to the Bastille and wait for RWBY and her friends to make a move. One final battle to decide all of this. He has enough honor to at least serve them a fighting chance.

And so, Adam orders everyone to retreat. He and Blake exchange one final glance, and so his battalion of ninjas jumps away. Finally, to close off the scene at long last, it begins to rain. The smell of dust fills the air, and everyone stands in silence, looking at the big red fortress in the distance.

…

At long last, all our heroes return to Roman's hideout. Though everyone survived and reunited, the news of their impending doom is making everyone feel at a loss. Of course, finally everyone gets healed by Jaune's Semblance, so Ruby, Oscar, Russel, Sky and Fox are all back to full health, and our blind monk regains his hearing. Though Oscar had some new powers with his Aura, he was still a civilian, and would be sent back to safety like all the other human prisoners. Everyone was gathered at the underground palace, meant to be taken out through the secret railroad. Here Oscar would meet again with all the people he helped in the last episode, who hailed him as a hero just like the others. Of course, there was a cherry on top waiting for him down there.

Loris was alive.

She was beaten as hell, with dirty pieces of cloth covering her wounds, but she was alive. The prisoners were able to keep her hidden among them all this time, and no one gave her up no matter how much pressure the Dark Fang put on them. Oscar just falls to his knees and starts crying of joy, as he believed his auntie was dead all this time. Just then she smacked him in the forehead again, "What did I say about calling me auntie?!" She said, but then she just pulled him for the actual hug this time. Even if she was terribly hurt from her beating, she refused to die, as she didn't want the trauma to send Oscar to square one. He had become a great person over the last week, and she wanted him to keep being so no matter what. If not for her, then for his new little red girlfriend over there. Oscar turns around, and realizes that Ruby was right there. She came to watch him depart with all the other prisoners.

Ruby finally has the chance to hug him and apologize, but Oscar doesn't feel sorry for himself anymore. He doesn't believe it was her fault any of that happened, and he realizes how his cowardice brought nothing but trouble to everyone he liked. But at least, it was thanks to that same cowardice that he met Ruby in the first place. Now he only wishes to go home and not be a burden any longer. However, he wouldn't let Ruby go that easy. Oscar grabbed her hand forcefully and raised it into a handshake.

"Ruby… I promise I'll go, but first you need to promise me that you're going to win… Promise that you're going to survive… I'll never be able to forgive myself if you end up dying while I leave you behind… I don't want that to happen again… Can you promise me?" Oscar asked.

He looked really hot and badass again, so Ruby blushed and looked away from his eyes. "Why are you talking like some bigshot all of the sudden? You dummy… Okay, I promise! I'm sure I'll see you next week, like none of this ever happened! You can bet!"

Oscar smiles and lets go of her hand. Ruby watches him go down the tunnel, carrying Loris on his shoulder, until eventually we fade to black.

…

Next thing we see are shots of a bright day and a blue sky. It seems the weather outside of Planice looks just perfect. Oscar lost his new truck, but got a wagon and a horse again, and he tracked ahead as a gigantic crowd of people followed behind him in a line. The random Huntsmen squad guiding them warned that it would take a day until they arrived on foot, and told everyone to keep their eyes peeled for Grimm in the distance.

Loris was sitting in the back of the wagon with the supplies, constantly asking questions about Ruby, but Oscar didn't want to tell her anything now. They are just friends still, and sadly that will never change… or so he thinks.

With the two Pines arguing over romantic relationships, the episode ends.

Commentary (spoilers): You have no idea how much I struggled between killing Loris or not. I think killing her would make a lot of Oscar's future actions make a ton more sense, and make his character development feel more valid, but at the same time, it doesn't feel like he deserves to have his sole family killed, in the same episode she is introduced no less. That feels cheap. Loris never gets to be an important character after this, so her death can happen either way. His decision of stepping in and saving Ruby concludes his character arc quite nicely and it rhymes with his backstory. The short, cowardly femboy from the previous volumes was as good as gone — he got a quite nice arc, got tall and a bit buff, but at the cost of a huge chunk of his personality. His personality was annoying, so I guess that's still a plus. I think now everyone already got their proper arc. There's just two more to finish up, that being Blake and Adam.

Dragon was not a character that I had much in mind while I was still in the process of character revision, but he always fulfilled one great role as being the one responsible for making the White Fang have so many strong soldiers. The truth depths of his power are not yet known, but they will explain a lot of things that went unmentioned so far. Since I'm thinking this through the lens of Volume X, I believe he still has the potential of building up an even greater enemy, which we will meet at the end of the series. There's perhaps too much exposition reserved for the end, which likely will kill the pace of the battles. Lucky or unlucky for you, we still are EXACTLY half-way through. Unfortunately for you AO3 people, there's only so many words you can put in a document. I'll split this in half right here, and post the second part in a few days.