Hey, just finished and hope you're ok on these trying times.

Great fic! Hope we can get a new chapter in the future.

So, pointless fighting and pointless 'heroing' it is going to be... boring.

Considering what the E88 just pulled - the destruction and the deaths - I would think that public opinion would be firmly on the side of Scatter for killing two unrepentant Nazis who slaughtered their way through PRT HQ. I think the greater scandal would've been to allow them to escape on live TV because of PR concerns.

This would be a great time for a PHO interlude showing what the public thinks of Scatter now. There may be some who complain about having their kids see the deaths on the news or whatever, but on the whole I think the common refrain should be "certified badass" and "thank God someone is getting stuff done."

But Armsmaster has a potentially lethal halberd

I really can't wait to see what happens when they finally catch up to Raven! :)

Also, this is a reallllllllllyyyyy fun story! :) Although I'm kind of questioning why they put Ruby in the Wards considering she's probably... what... 23? (17 Post-time skip, plus 6 years?) Granted she probably looks young enough to pass and she didn't really bother to correct them... BUT!

But nothing.

Looking forward to the next chapter, truly!

Really enjoyed the story! All questions I had were answered so far which leaves me with little to say other than how good it is. Though I am looking forward to seeing Ruby’s reaction once she finds out what Shadow Stalker has been up to. Hope to see more soon!

Is she gonna bring up the fact that you can unlock Aura?

I just have one question, isn’t Challenger female?

Best coping strategy bar none.

Solid chapter as always.

Great, the gang's all here. Now we can (hopefully not) die together!

Weiss seems to have been doing pretty well for herself in a Post-Salem world, but honestly it would take a lot for her to end up doing poorly. Of course she's worried about Rubes but she really does seem to have everything else in order.

Speaking of worried about Rubes, poor poor Tai. He's got to be pulling his hair out, as a guy who lost two wives and now seems to have lost a daughter to one of them. Although I bet Qrow only seems to be doing better because he's more experienced with repressing himself with alcohol.

Good times.

Also I can't help but notice how you've set up Raven as a very... Worm-esque strategic challenge. Between the sense of her connection locations, her ability to teleport, her swordsmanship, andthe FREAKING RELIC she's going to serve as a problem that's going to be difficult and require clever planning to work around. At least so far, this sort of situation hasn't really come up in RWBY canon, where combat tends to be direct and strategically simple. Sure, large Grimm like the giant nevermore or even Roman's Paladin required some on the fly tactical planning in the form of rather complex team attacks, but not so much any prior planning and reconnaissance. Here though, Raven presents a difficult situation that almost reminds me of Coil for how difficult she would be to pun down and fight directly. If they even settle on direct violent confrontation at all, which they still might not, but it will still require more strategic forethought than most situations in RWBY tend to.

And I'm so totally on board.

It would've been better if she would realize along the way that staying with the Protectorate isn't going to help her much in the long run. Sure it's a great way to put down her roots, so to speak, but the way they operate is to just maintain the balance and stagnate. They never get rid of the gangs because of Endbringer threats and are all too busy trying not to piss off media.

Dropped.

And, like her combat prowess and other literally otherworldly powers, her origin is now going to be publicly known for the baddies to use to their advantage and/or for the good guys to stifle and leash her all the more. Ugh.

If she's going to be shown to the public anyway, they should've just let her make a debut during an actual crisis rather than just put it on stage live on TV. Let the public make their assessment than spoonfeed what she could do.

This is why I never really liked Protagonist A joining the Wards much less the Protectorate in Worm. PR is such a stupid reason to let them be less effective and makes for a boring story.

Armsmaster should better not be getting all his slimy hands on the scythe.

I was a little worried when the viewpoint was from SS, but I think you pulled it off quite well. Just a teensy hint of psycho showing.

I particularly liked the bit at the end between SS and Ruby, felt natural.

Solid chapter as always.