And I'm back, people. Have to be honest, felt kind of hesitant almost to write this chapter – nerves, I suppose. After all, this has to be the earliest I've ever done a major canon break like this in the admittedly few RWBY fics I've done. Of course, this fic can't progress unless I actually do something about it so here I am within a fairly reasonable time frame.

But nerves aside, I was also kind of eager to do this chapter too precisely for the same reason mentioned above. From this point onwards will be when things start to truly derail from canon and I can properly explore the theme(s) I've wanted to explore with this fic. Ozpin and his allies – along with Salem and her own – will become more prominent as will my OCs… and I do sincerely hope so far that they've been enjoyable.

Veratyr, being the 'main' OC of this fic will (hopefully) be a blast for you guys to read because I know writing him is pretty fun. But my other OCs so far – Eva, Alisa, Valentino – I'm a bit more iffy on. Don't get me wrong, I love writing them as well since they are my own creations here, but I do worry about whether or not you guys will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing their little snippets so far. I've plans to flesh them out, of course, especially a few other OCs that will be popping up later, so there is that. Nonetheless, if nothing else I do want to ensure that you won't find the OCs obstructive to the plot I've in mind.

Alas, not much I can truly do about how you may feel other than to do my best to make my OCs entertaining, heh. And on that particular note, Eva will certainly be entertaining here.

So without further ado, let's just get on with the chapter.

P.S. Please consider purchasing any of my novels. Universal links to Fading Darkness, Rising Light and the Infinite Genesis trilogy can be found on my profile page, just remove the spaces. My novels can also be purchased on a variety of sites such as Amazon Kindle, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and many more!

P.P.S. This is where this fic starts to get dark, crazy as that might sound. Now while it won't always be that way, just remember how crazy/scary/horrifying fairy tales used to be before getting Disneyfied. While I won't say it's the only way I could think of to express how grave a threat some of my OCs are, I do think it's the one best suited to them. Please keep that in mind going forward and I hope none of this offends you guys.

Chapter 6 - Escalation

The train picked up speed without issue, carts snapping off at regular intervals with all the Dust stolen thus far packed within them. Once uncoupled, the White Fang set off the Dust once far enough apart, blowing holes in the ceiling above… directly into heavily Grimm infested areas.

Said Grimm, mainly comprised of Beowulves, Ursas, Creepers, and even a few Goliaths, fell into the tunnel and upon spotting the train, they all wasted no time marching right after it.

Moments go by as this happens, more holes opening up and subsequently more Grimm now filling the normally spacious tunnel to its bursting point. Howls and shrieks and roars filled the atmosphere as the Grimm only became more agitated, like sharks smelling blood in the water.

This continued on for several more moments until finally…

…It came time for the last and grandest impact of all.


In the very heart of Vale, it was just like any other day that had gotten into full swing. The 9 to 5 crew worked their regular shifts while plenty of people who worked odder hours or otherwise had the day off milled about here and there. Shops and cafes were filled, children played in small parks and the streets were bustling with cars driving down them at regular intervals.

Normalcy at its finest.

Until the ground began to shake, that is.

Said shaking, initially assumed to be a minor earthquake, went unnoticed at first. Nothing more than a meager oddity that warranted little attention. However, as the shaking went on and intensified, people within ground zero started to really take notice.

Within a minute, the nearest citizens, now wary, finally decide it is time to take action – in this case, by taking usual precautions when it came to earthquakes.

This meant that when the ground erupted in the middle of a park, it was naturally quite the shocker.

As chunks of debris blew off into the near distance and a train of all things emerged damaged from the new crater, people screamed and panicked.

Said panic only grew even more when seconds later, members of the White Fang – survivors of the train crash – poured out from the opening and began to open fire at random into the crowds that remained nearby.

That was when chaos truly began, fear kicking into overdrive and propelling everyone that was able to run away as fast as they could, as far as they could…

…And that fear only served as an ever-growing beacon that guided the Grimm into the heart of Vale.

The surviving White Fang members, sensing the Grimm coming, wasted no time fleeing into Vale as well, still gunning at anything and everything around them in the process.

By the time the police had even begun to respond to multiple calls of shots being fired, it was already too late-.

-The Grimm had entered Vale.


Mobilization of just about all forces came as swiftly as it could. Unfortunately, Ozpin thought forlornly, it still came all too late.

Vale may not exactly span the entire continent or anything like that, but it was still obviously a large kingdom. As such by the time news of what was going on reached his ears, the onslaught by both the White Fang and the Grimm alike had already been ongoing for at least ten to fifteen minutes, communications slowed down by numerous calls for help or downed lines thanks to the devastation being wrought currently.

James, despite his extreme vigilance, was unfortunately just as slow as he was in responding. He may have come to Vale with quite the force, but it still did take time to shuttle troops from one area to another, to say nothing of also having to rapidly coordinate evacuation efforts with Vale's police and huntsmen.

Ozpin naturally did what he could to aid these efforts, having joined the joint call between James and the Vale police chief and the most seasoned huntsmen already on the scene. Classes at Beacon were abruptly canceled and teachers and the older, more seasoned students were rapidly sent out to assist.

"Death toll is already around sixty-," reported one huntsman on the line, a man that looked to be almost as old as Peter Port himself only far more grizzled.

As the report rattled off, Ozpin internally flinched.

Given how new this incident is right now, details were still quite scarce. All that could be pieced together for the time being was the sudden emergence of a train into Vale from underground and that both White Fang and Grimm had poured forth from the hole. While the White Fang were undoubtedly finite in their numbers today, the Grimm were a different story. Until their numbers can be brought under control within Vale long enough to seal off the hole, they'll just keep pouring in.

The sole consolation so far in all this was that it was 'merely' Beowulves and Ursas that made up the numbers so far, with some Creepers thrown into the mix here and there. It wasn't even any particularly big or older Grimm either, just the most common amongst them all.

Alas, their numbers alone meant that if all the forces of Vale couldn't properly gather in time, the Grimm would rapidly sweep across the capital like locusts.

"Ozpin," Glynda said, patching into his line. She was currently riding one of Beacon's numerous bullheads into Vale. "Three bullheads have already touched down in Vale. Port is leading the charge in driving back the Grimm that are heading towards the residential areas and is already making some progress, but the same can't be said for the other districts yet."

"James' own forces should have already disembarked within Vale as well and have spread out. Let them try to secure a perimeter. Just focus on getting the civilians out of the combat zones first and then proceed inwards," he ordered from within his office.

His hands tightly clenched the Long Memory. He longed to be out there as well, doing what he could to assist… unfortunately, knowing that Salem may have had a hand in all this, he couldn't afford to leave Amber unguarded. Sad as this may sound, the loss of life so far was nothing compared to what could happen if Salem's own forces managed to succeed in killing Amber and somehow finding the Relic.

"Yes, I've noticed his bullheads make their drop-offs," Glynda replied tersely, all business. "Oobleck should be assisting with the police in their evacuation efforts. I'll link up with him first and then decide the next move afterwards. If need be, I'll go and deal with this hole myself – my semblance should be able to handle it."

"Very well. Best of luck," Ozpin said before ending the call.

Glynda, given her telekinetic abilities, was ideal when it came to patching up property damage, with years of experience doing so. While outright making ground zero as good as new may not be entirely possible, sealing off the hole as to stymie the Grimm's numbers was well within her capabilities.

But that depended entirely on her being able to reach the hole in the first place; Grimm and White Fang alike were flooding just about all the surrounding streets. The latter bunch were allowing the former to run amok while also sowing chaos in their own way, ambushing any police or soldiers that have made the mistake of focusing too much on the Grimm thus far.

Ozpin grimaced, hating all of this. Were it just the Grimm to worry about, while this would still qualify as a disaster, it would be one that could be dealt with quickly enough. However, the White Fang had always specialized in guerilla tactics and those same tactics were being used masterfully to handicap Vale's forces and allow the disaster to only worsen.

…The poor fools, Ozpin thought with a head shake. While the Faunus have indeed suffered greatly throughout the years, those that made up the White Fang were clearly being used as pawns in all this. While whatever cell was operating in Vale would claim this as a great 'victory' in the long run, this tragedy would only propel them all to the top of the hit list for every kingdom.

The long and arduous road the Faunus traveled towards true equality was going to have yet another massive hurdle to overcome once this was over with.

But he was digressing far too much.

Thanks to special connections forged with Vale's council long ago, he had equally special access to all the cameras within Vale. Through this, he was able to monitor the situation in real time. In theory, this should help coordinate efforts immensely. In practice, however, it was a different story. Combat was fast and violent, tables turning in the span of a heartbeat. In the time it took for him to switch from one camera to another, huntsmen and soldiers and police alike may have triumphed over the Grimm… or vice versa.

Furthermore, there was the sheer number of cameras he has to cycle through. While he could view live feed from up to eight cameras at once on his main computer, that still only eight out of hundreds if not thousands of cameras across the kingdom. Thus, in order to be efficient, he had to rapidly make a mental map of the whole affected area and look through the cameras in the region to observe as efficiently as possible.

From there, he could better see how things were playing out and relay the relevant information to both James and the police.

…Despite this advantage, however… his continual role as an observer ate away at him fiercely.

"…Hm?"

Ozpin was roused from his funk, however, when the feed he just switched to showed something of both interest… and to some extent, concern.

…Well, at least the man was demonstrating himself to be true to his word.


"Weiss, on your right!"

"I see it!" Weiss thrust out her rapier-type weapon just in time to skewer a Beowulf that had been just about to pounce at her from an alleyway.

"Sis!"

"I got it, I got it!" Yang cried out as she jumped forward and slammed a fist into the ground. A combination of both her natural strength and a round fired from Ember Celica on impact made for a shockwave that practically made the street ripple, knocking over several more Beowulves.

This in turn made them easy pickings for Blake, who dashed forward with a huge burst of speed and used Gambol Shroud to cut through the Grimm… and quite viciously at that too.

"E-Err…" Young Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY, could only pause for a split second to observe the thoroughly enraged expression on her teammate's face.

Blake's really been going through some kind of phase recently, utterly obsessed with the White Fang's movements. She'd gotten especially bad after that fight with the Paladin and now it looked like the B of RWBY was torn between pure rage and vindication at being proven right about the White Fang being up to something.

"Look ahead, you dolt!" Weiss cried at her.

"R-Right!" Ruby snapped out of her thoughts in time to reel back from a claw swipe that a random Beowulf had managed to throw at her, only for her to then twirl and swing her scythe in a huge arc that caught the Grimm by the waist. Said blow didn't kill it immediately, but firing a shot with Crescent Rose that proved strong enough to blow her back gave the strike enough additional power to cut the Grimm in two.

Expertly regaining her balance, Ruby let out a huff of fatigue.

She risked a quick glance at her team, seeing them also breaking a sweat. While she liked to think they all had plenty of stamina thanks to all their years of training, this was the first time she could think of where they'd been in a sustained engagement and against so many Grimm at that too.

It'd been easy at first to mow down all the Grimm they came across, but now they were starting to feel the burn thanks to having pretty much zero down time between slayings.

Ruby was pretty sure they could keep up this pace without too much issue for a while longer… but if anything really sudden happened…

She shook her head, no longer wanting to think about it.

"Onwards!" she cried out, trying to make herself sound like a hero of old from one of those stories her dad or uncle Qrow used to read her and Yang.

Yang let out her version of a war cry. Weiss huffed. Blake merely charged forth like a berserker, very uncharacteristic of her to say the least.

Together, the four girls did indeed press onwards. At first, their movements had been pretty flashy like usual but now as they headed further down the road and started to… started to come across bodies… the flashiness of their movements disappeared and the quartet fell into an almost mechanical rhythm.

Ruby would shoot Grimm from afar and then cut them down with Crescent Rose when they got close.

Weiss made use of her speed glyphs to essentially make a perimeter around them that allowed her to quickly pick off Creepers that had started to pop up.

Yang was their vanguard, running out there and punching and kicking Beowulves aside whenever Ruby's shots failed to distract or kill them.

And Blake was a veritable whirlwind, a loose cannon that basically did as she pleased, striking down any Grimm that the other three couldn't pick off in time.

For minutes on end, this went with nary a pause. More bodies were come across as they progressed, civilians that hadn't been able to escape in time. Stores and streets left in ruins, with shattered glass, smashed in walls and collapsed structures, painted with blood from those that had been slain thus far.

What Ruby had once thought to be almost like a fairy tale, where she and others beat the bad guys, was now becoming rapidly like a nightmare.

…She could hardly stomach it. It was wretched, sickening. Hadn't they managed to beat Torchwick back then at both the docks and recently with that stupid Paladin? Shouldn't that have accomplished something?!

Ruby's expression shifted into one of uncertainty and disgust at all of this. None of this was right, not at all.

…They had to do more. Beat more Grimm, knock out the White Fang, something!

RWBY pressed onwards, continuing down the street and into a more open area, a shopping center of sorts with a park in the middle. It was a spot where people could mill about and enjoy a quick bite or drink after going through all the shops that surrounded the park in a circular fashion.

And here was the greater concentration of Grimm that they'd encountered yet… along with the most bodies.

Ruby heard Yang's breath hitch. So did hers, for that matter.

…Quite a few families had been out here when the Grimm had appeared and now…

Ruby's grip tightened heavily when she saw bodies on the grass… bodies much too small to belong to adults, though that wasn't lacking in number either.

The four girls could only stand and stare, as much as they didn't want to, the grisly sight too much for them to just outright ignore.

However, as a small legion of Beowulves now took notice of them and howled, the team managed to reorient themselves.

"Let's get 'em," Ruby said tersely, uncharacteristic of the normally bubbly young girl.

She said nothing more before pointing Crescent Rose behind her and firing a single round. The powerful round launched her into the air and she promptly spun, executing a violent spin that tore through a leaping Beowulf – only for her, somewhat worn down from the butchering thus far, to be suddenly knocked back by a large Nevermore that had divebombed into her side.

As she grunted from pain and fell back, she looked up in time to see Blake lasso the Nevermore with the ribbon of one of her blades and give it a quick downwards tug. The Nevermore, easily Ruby's own size, didn't have time to react and it slammed into the concrete with a heavy thud. Ruby, rolling to a stop along the ground, quickly leapt and swung her weapon downwards. Crescent Rose's large curved blade proved enough to pierce and make it dissipate, the classic sign of a Grimm's death.

Meanwhile, both Yang and Weiss entered the fray ahead. The latter reached into the horde more swiftly than the former thanks to her versatile semblance, skewering one Beowulf through its chest. An Ursa that had seemingly popped out of nowhere made to target Weiss as she withdrew Myrtenaster, only for Yang to unload two blasts from her own weapon that staggered the bear-like Grimm before closing the distance with a haymaker that blew the Ursa away like an oversized ball.

Blake opened fire with Gambol Shroud's machine gun feature, a hail of bullets unleashed with unceasing fury upon a wave of Beowulves that sought to close in from their right flank. Some went down under the relentless gunfire, but others didn't, be it due to sheer toughness or the initial Beowulves being unintended meat shields. The ones that lasted long enough to close in lunged at Blake, only for her to form a clone that took the hit for her and allowing her ample opportunity for a counter slash that removed the attacking Beowulf's head.

"Get back!" Ruby yelled at Blake and once the latter moved away, Ruby used her semblance to put on a huge burst of speed that saw her slamming into another Grimm hard enough to send it crashing into the remaining Beowulves, knocking them all away. If Blake hadn't dodged, she would have joined this bunch.

"Here they all come!" Yang growled out as she landed a vicious one-two combo on yet another Ursa that had popped out from some hidden spot.

And that statement sure hadn't been hyberbolic – despite how many Grimm had already been in this particular area, team RWBY's brief actions so far, along with their negative feelings of anger and horror, proved enough to lure in more Grimm from other nearby streets.

Beowulves, Ursas and Creepers… and was that a Deathstalker in the distance there? Even the sky above was steadily filling up with Nevermores of varying sizes.

Ruby could only grimace. "Darn it."

They'd advanced too deeply into Vale too quickly and hadn't bothered trying to get in contact with any other students or teachers. As far as she could immediately tell, they were the only ones out here and now they've once again proven too reckless. More Grimm were pouring into the area now.

…They may have bitten off more than they can che-.

"Duck, please."

"-!" Ruby made a sound as a voice suddenly called out despite the cacophony of howls and snarls.

She hastily crouched as did her teammates. The very instant they did so, a wave of deep blue colored aura manifested into existence. It covered the whole park and beyond, somehow thinning out and bending as to avoid damaging the buildings and only traveling down the open streets.

Said wave of aura lasted all of a millisecond, if that, yet as it dispersed harmlessly and Ruby stood back up, it was to see the park and streets now utterly bereft of Grimm.

"W-Whoa…" she heard Yang mumble. Ruby couldn't help but agree with the feeling behind that word.

"Good to see I made it in time," called out the voice again, that of a man.

Ruby and her teammates whirled around to see the new arrival. Her silver eyes promptly widened when she saw it was the same man that had dueled headmaster Ozpin a while back.

"…What beautiful eyes you have, young one," the man said as he calmly strutted forward, that beautiful classic sword of his gripped firmly in his left hand.

"Uh…" Ruby, despite the situation, couldn't help but blush at the sudden compliment. Wasn't often her eyes of all things got commented upon. Heck, the last person to do that had been the headmaster himself!

"Ah, apologies. I suppose saying things like that in a crisis like this is a bit off-putting," spoke the man, smiling lightly.

"Thanks for the save and all… but what brings you out here?" Yang asked as she seemed to relax for the first time since this disaster started.

"The same thing as you four – the desire to see this day end on a positive note," he replied. "But just where are my manners? The name is Veratyr. Please feel free to refer to me as either Vera or Tyr if my full name proves a bit much for you. People have had funny reactions to my name in the past." He placed a hand against his chest as he greeted them, his expression shockingly jovial.

"…Well met," Weiss now spoke. "I'm Weiss Schnee. These three are my friends and teammates as you can see."

"U-Uhm, I'm Ruby, the leader," Ruby now greeted.

"Yang, this little tyke's big sis," Yang said, looking more at ease. Presumably this was due to the man's attitude, which was kind of disarming.

"…Blake," the B of team RWBY said tersely. Ruby barely held back a wince. Of course Blake would still be upset by all this.

The man, whom Ruby will refer to now as Tyr for simplicity's sake, nodded. "First years from Beacon, I see… and quite skilled despite your age. That's pleasing to see, especially in these trying times. But I'm letting myself ramble," Tyr spoke as he planted his sword in the ground and looked around the area.

As he did so, Ruby became acutely aware of the battling still going on through the rest of the capital. Though the Nevermores that had been flocking to this park had gotten taken out in that cool aura move, more were still incoming albeit flying out to other areas.

"Hmm, judging by the noise, it would seem the source of all this chaos is from the northwest there. About a few kilometers, I'd say," spoke Tyr, the man calmly assessing the situation. "…It would appear that Atlas' forces are making some remarkable headway in establishing a perimeter, boxing in all the Grimm. Which means everyone else not currently helping with evacuation is free to march inwards and tighten the kill box." He nodded, clearly pleased.

At his words, which Ruby couldn't help but believe without issue for some reason, her heartrate accelerated. Hope was now blossoming within her. "So then this could end soon?"

"Provided nothing else of note occurs," Tyr said firmly, brokering no chance of them getting too hopeful just yet. "It depends on how quickly everyone can make their way to the hole that train had made… and whether or not the White Fang have anything else in store."

As he uttered those words, Blake snarled from nearby. "Those fools…"

"Perhaps," Tyr said vaguely.

Ruby didn't know what to make of his reply, but she did know what to make of Blake's – given the girl's checkered past, she clearly wasn't liking how the White Fang had sunk so low.

"In any case, standing around any longer won't do anyone much good," Tyr then commented. "Shall we be on our way then? My attack just now had cleared the nearby streets, so we should be able to make good headway towards the hole faster than anyone else."

"Right! Let's not waste any more time!" Ruby said. "To the hole!"

Lingering just long enough to make sure the others prepared to move, Ruby then took off with a huge burst of speed courtesy of her semblance – only for Tyr to easily match her pace and with a smile still upon his face.

"An interesting semblance you have there," he said without even trying despite his own impressive speed. "For whatever it's worth, it'll be interesting to see what else you four can do. Nonetheless, it does put me at ease to know that you're so capable despite your age. You shall be fine huntresses in the near future."

His sincere words put a bright smile on Ruby's face. If someone as evidently accomplished as this guy was saying something like that, then it must mean something good, right?

"Thanks! Maybe later on, when this is over, you could give some pointers? I mean, it isn't often that someone can just fight the headmaster so well!"

The mercenary chuckled. "If time allows, then I'll be more than happy to aid your growth. In fact, very little would please me more than to make the future even a little bit brighter."

With that promise all but made, Ruby's heart felt just a little lighter.

Maybe, just maybe, this crisis can end without any further issues after all.


Atop a low-rise building, Cinder watched on with a smoldering gaze at how things had been playing out so far. She cared not for the possibility of being spotted by Atlas' various ships or even a bullhead from Beacon; they were all much too preoccupied with the Grimm and White Fang raising hell deeper in the capital.

"…Cinder," Emerald called out to her from several feet away. "Uhm, about what hap-."

"Silence."

That single command made Emerald shut up immediately, the sheer vitriol overwhelming.

The young woman knew not how Eva had been able to so easily command all those people, to say nothing of whatever effect she'd had on Emerald and Mercury alike. It'd be easy to chalk it up to a semblance, but even then that felt like a poor way of explaining whatever had happened.

In any case, she wasn't actually upset with her two underlings for being swayed by Eva, no matter how partially it might have been. Instead, her raging emotions came from having her plan completely hijacked and put under Eva's guidance.

But more than that… Eva, that insufferable bitch, had let them go.

While Cinder was confident she could have fought her way out of that mess and kill as many of the White Fang as possible, even kill Eva herself, she knew it wouldn't have been easy. Saying Eva had her dead to rights would be wrong, but not entirely inaccurate.

Yet despite having been at Eva's mercy, the enigmatic woman had instead let her go along with Emerald and Mercury. Whether it was out of arrogance or for another reason entirely was unknown, but the impact on Cinder remained the same.

For all intents and purposes, she'd been rendered powerless in that moment. Powerless to rein in everyone there. Powerless to carry out the plan the way she'd wanted and just as powerless to stop Eva from vastly accelerating it all.

It reminded her far too much of her past back at her adoptive 'mother's' tender mercies, to say nothing of those two brats that had been deemed her older sisters.

Despite her seething, however, Mercury proved to be much braver than Emerald by approaching her from the side. "So what now? Do we roll with this or change things up?"

For a long minute, Cinder remained silent. For at least half of that minute, she focused on trying to keep a lid on her temper. For the remainder, she actually considered the fallout of this mess.

The whole point of her plan was to bring Vale to its knees, thereby allowing Salem to come in and claim the Relic. Killing Amber and claiming the final portion of the Fall Maiden's power was Cinder's personal goal, but Vale's destruction was the grander one for her mistress' sake.

In that respect, she wasn't too sure what to think.

While this turn of events would indeed strum up a lot of negativity and draw in more Grimm, especially with the White Fang cell doing its best to keep Vale's and Ironwood's forces too distracted to plug the hole in time, there was no guarantee this would result in the kingdom's downfall. Not unless Eva had a trump card of some kind, which she presumably did given her statements, but it was impossible to tell how effective it could be.

With that in mind, perhaps it would be ideal to just let things play out. Or perhaps even join the White Fang's efforts to divide and conquer the huntsmen and police long enough to allow the Grimm to really gather and overwhelm Vale.

However, if Vale ultimately overcame this incursion and Cinder was found either on the sidelines or even outright assisting in spreading the chaos, then obviously that would be bad for her, render her efforts moot and set back Salem's plans a while. Not that such a thing would truly bother the immortal woman, but for Cinder, it would be unacceptable.

…Damn it all.

"For now," she began. "We'll continue to play out our little make-believe, if only until we've a better idea of how the wind will blow in the end."

With that said, she turned and glared at her subordinates, making them stand at attention. "And mark my words – if a chance comes to take Eva out, I expect you to obey me, not her. She's far too dangerous to leave alone now."

She could tell the instant she made that statement that the two of them wanted to say something in Eva's defense. Thankfully, whatever Eva's unknown ability had done to them had yet to override their fear of her ire. Whether or not it would remain that way… well, that is a bridge that shall have to be crossed later.

For the time being, she did need whatever manpower she could get her hands on and unfortunately for her, Emerald and Mercury did possess skills that were worth her time.

"Yes, ma'am," the two finally replied after several seconds.

Cinder nodded, mildly pleased now. She formed Midnight again. "Then let's get to work."

Without another word spoken, the trio leapt from the building and down to the streets below to begin slaughtering Salem's pet monsters.


Eva walked down the streets, completely undaunted by the current state of affairs. Even as battle raged on and screams rang out, she batted not even a single eye lash at it all.

All that mattered was that it was coming – her time to shine ever more.

But the stage still needed some setting up. To this end, she'd requested the White Fang members to go out and further fan the flames of chaos. As for Junior's men, she asked of them to find the most heavily populated areas with Grimm in them and start torching buildings, make the destruction look even worse than it actually was.

Meanwhile, both Roman and Junior escorted her down the street like the diligent men she knew them to be. If a Grimm popped out of nowhere, they'd be all too quick to take care of it, ensuring a leisurely pace for herself.

"H-Hey, you have to ru-!" spoke an older woman, someone who'd evidently been hiding in a nearby apartment and only now poked her head out of her window once it seemed like there weren't so many Grimm around.

"Please go to the top floor… and throw yourself off," Eva casually asked of the woman, even smiling. "And do make sure to scream plenty as you do so."

The woman's gaze glazed over as she was captivated by Eva's presence and immediately retreated into the building to do so.

Eva's pace was such that when the woman did jump, she was still close enough to hear the impact, preceded by plenty of screaming. If there were anyone else in the vicinity, they likely heard that and their terror would increase all the more. This should ensure a steady stream of Grimm incoming.

Good.

"Looks like we're almost there," Roman commented as gunfire became more prominent up ahead.

They were nearing the perimeter that the Atlas forces had managed to establish to keep things relatively under control. But as the few Grimm Roman and Junior had dealt with proved, it was far from perfect.

"Roman, if you'd do the honors," she said with a light smile.

The thief twirled his cane and smirked. "Just wait one quick sec."

He jogged on ahead and rounded the corner. Not even a full second later, he yelled out something and fired a shot with that weapon of his. Whatever or whoever he'd aimed at screamed and the next thing Eva knew, he came back around.

And he brought some company.

Several Atlas soldiers had broken away from the perimeter to follow after him. They were clearly in no mood to play games at all, for one of them had pulled a grenade from his side and pulled the pin. Said weapon was thrown without hesitation towards Roman whose jogging form obscured Eva from the soldiers' immediate line of sight.

The grenade was thrown with surprisingly good accuracy, sailing overhead and landing more or less in between Roman's current position and Eva's.

It sat there, utterly inert.

The soldier who'd thrown it had a brief reaction of surprise. He likely thought the grenade a dud.

In reality, it was no dud at all. It was all due to Eva. Her charms were such that the grenade's simple mechanisms refused to work as intended just to avoid causing her harm.

This was Eva's power. To 'shine' as an existence, to charm and bewitch all that were within her very presence. Even passively, people were drawn to her, but when concentrated… well, Roman and Junior were fine examples of the results, the two retaining their personalities for the most part due to how strong their wills were. Others of lesser spiritual strength would become little more than drones, their minds utterly subservient to her. Only those with magic could be said to be truly resistant to her, infuriatingly enough, but even then a will of some strength was still required.

Not even inanimate objects were spared from her overwhelming beauty and presence as this grenade just proved.

But it still wasn't enough. She had to shine even more somehow. And this was all part of the plan to making that happen.

"Now, now, no need to point your weapons at us," Eva spoke as Roman ceased running and allowed her to step forward. The instant she was viewed by the soldiers, they went still before obeying her command.

"E-Er, sorry about that, ma'am," spoke the soldier who'd thrown the grenade.

Eva waved him off gently. "Oh, it's perfectly fine," she began sensuously. "Accidents have a way of happening. What matters is that nothing bad happened."

"R-Right!" The soldier snapped to attention, delighted by her compassion. The other soldiers followed his example. "But even then…"

Eva hummed. "You still want to make up for the little mistake… I understand." She clapped her hands as she continued to approach. "Then how about this? Tell me something I can use – what resources are being mobilized, strategies in use, things of that nature. I do ask that you be quick, however. Time is a little tight, after all."

The nameless soldier was practically sweating under that helmet and armor of his as Eva continued to get closer to him, the woman thoroughly enjoying the effect she was having. It was always so intoxicating to see how people get riled up around her.

"There's nothing much to it, ma'am. We're currently attempting to establish a perimeter to keep the Grimm contained within this region and then gradually suppress them," he explained.

"I see. To be expected. Do you know anything else, such as about they plan to seal the hole?" It was obvious that would have to be done to truly put an end to the Grimm invasion.

"From what I understand, the deputy headmistress of Beacon is going to plug the hole once the flow of Grimm stops long enough to do just that," the soldier answered. "Failing that… I'm not sure what the other option would be, but I'd imagine our forces would fire onto the street itself to make it collapse in completely. A scorched earth option, basically."

Eva nodded along with his words and placed a curled finger to her chin. It was all going about as well as expected. While she was hardly some master strategist or combatant, she still liked to think herself perceptive enough to have figured this out on her own. Still, confirmation was much appreciated.

But it was a pity that couldn't be allowed to happen. The stakes needed to be more dire. Only then will she be able to achieve her purpose and set the stage for her allies to begin acting as well. Rya would be especially pleased since it would eventually see her go head to head against that bastard Veratyr.

"Do you happen to know where this deputy headmistress currently is?" she asked.

The soldier took a moment to reply, a finger against the side of his helmet. He was likely using the built-in comms. "…Deputy headmistress Goodwithc and Dr. Oobleck have just linked up on the very outskirts of the shopping district. The hole is directly west of their position and they will be heading that way right now."

"Ah. That's very good to know," Eva thanked the man. She patted him on the right shoulder. "Now be a good man and make some noise. Those guns can most certainly be put to good use elsewhere. Say… an evacuation shelter."

That should really crank up the negativity in Vale and keep the Grimm coming.

The soldiers saluted and then left posthaste.

Junior grimaced. "That's kind of brutal," he grunted out.

"A sad state of affairs," Eva began. "But necessary. And if nothing else, it's good to know we've reached some part of this perimeter."

It meant it would be even easier to sow the seeds of her desired future. Initially, she'd been intending to incite any random civilians into acts of panic and violence, but now that she knew other soldiers would be in the general vicinity, that sped things up a lot.

Roman huffed. "Can't say I approve of you being around all these jarheads though. Seriously, all that shitty looking armor and no sense of style."

"If you're taking a potshot at Atlas soldiers for mainly wearing white, then you're one to talk," Junior quipped.

Roman rolled his eyes. "I color coordinate. I make it look good. They don't. Big difference between us."

"Settle down, boys," Eva requested. "Save some of that energy for something much more useful."

"Right, right. Such as?" Roman asked.

Eva paused, once more cupping a curled finger to her chin and looking to the side…

…Where she spotted a security camera hanging from a street light. Come to think of it… Vale had an awful lot of cameras throughout the entire capital and the kingdom in general…

A smirk emerged on her lovely face, bewitching Roman and Junior even more. "Junior," she began. "How good would you say you are with technology?"

Junior followed her gaze towards the camera. "…Depends on what I'm working with. But I think I can manage with most things."

Eva's smirk grew. "Then let's try and put out a… message, shall we?"


Through the cameras, Ozpin could only continue to watch in growing frustration. While seeing Veratyr aid RWBY was an alleviating sight given the mercenary's capabilities, it was but a minor balm in the face of an ever-growing crisis.

The one but notable downside to having so many cameras to choose from was the sheer number of them. A case of too many for the task at hand. Although he was doing well at looking through new camera feeds each time, the sheer number of them meant there'd been just a few minor cases of him looking back through some feeds by accident.

Grimacing, he leaned forward in his seat and kept switching feeds at a rapid pace, his gaze lingering for no longer than a few seconds before switching out.

But then he came across one sight that actually made him freeze up.

Several Atlas soldiers had broken off from the perimeter established and were now in front of the entrance to a shelter where people were retreating to. The soldiers stopped once within a dozen or so yards of the entrance… and raised their assault rifles.

Ozpin's eyes went wide and his heart hammered madly as the bullets started to fly and the screams, brief as they were, sounded out.

"James!" he cried out over the call with his friend. "We've a problem! Some of your soldiers are attacking civilians! You need to reel them in now!"

"What?!" James, who'd been busy understandably coordinating with others still, screamed that word so loudly that it hurt.

Undaunted, Ozpin quickly spliced that section of the feed and had the splice portion of footage sent to James' terminal.

But no sooner than when he hit send-.

"Hey, something's going on-!"

"Some civvies are acting crazy! Fighting amongst themselves!"

"White Fang are torching buildings now!"

"H-Hey, one of the local huntsmen just started firing wildly!"

"-Help!-"

"-It's fucking madness out-!"

Rapidly, such chatter filtered in through all the lines Ozpin had access to and showed no signs of stopping.

Rarely had he ever seen things go this badly this quickly. The situation, dire as it was, had been steadily getting under control… and now it was all going out the window.

Was this-? No, not Salem, she preferred slower approaches to causing widespread destruction and havoc. This was something else-!

Ozpin stood up abruptly, his office chair wheeling back until it hit the glass wall.

This was the threat Veratyr had alluded to. It was the only thing that came to mind now. But how could it be?! How could this new threat have emerged so rapidly?!

Ozpin could scarcely imagine what had caused this outbreak of madness… but he knew he couldn't remain any longer on the sidelines.

…But despite this knowledge, acting on it was different story. He knew he had to get involved more, but without any additional details, he'd just be running around blind like he had in his long, long distant youth.

He gripped the Long Memory so tightly that the sturdy materials it was made out of creaked. He just felt so… impotent. So lost.

…Just what was he supposed to ultimately do?

Once again, there was no one around to provide him an answer… and that fact hurt him more than anything else.


Yeah, so once again, my apologies for how dark this suddenly got. Let me also restate that the fic will not always be like this. This is ultimately, well, shock value.

However, it is shock value with purpose, meant to show just how disconnected Eva and the others like her are from conventional morality. For her, right and wrong revolve entirely around what will make her 'shine' all the more and thus she can act like the perfect woman one moment and then casually order people to do things like that in the next moment.

Basically, this is a case of Blue and Orange Morality, to borrow from TV Tropes.

Now, there is some intellectual understanding of conventional morality – Eva wouldn't have gotten far in life if she didn't know that much – but ultimately her own priorities naturally take precedence. The same goes for the other OCs that will be popping up in due time.

This will also mark the point where the fic really takes off and Ozpin and his allies fully step into the limelight of the story. So there is that much to look forward to, at least.

Also, every now and then, there may be snippets from other characters, like with Ruby ever so briefly in this chapter. It won't be often since Ozpin and Salem will be the primary RWBY characters here along with their respective factions, but there will occasionally be such points of views to offer fresh perspective on the ongoing events. I just hope you guys won't mind that since I understand that is something that some readers took a bit of issue with in previous fics of mine.

With all that said, I'm really excited to write this fic from here on out since this is where things will really be kicking off and I can experiment with how I typically do my stories. Hopefully, said experimentation will be to your liking, my good readers.

Until next time, everyone. Take care.