I've done it, everyone! I've finished my novel! The link is now up on my profile page for anyone interested, though again it is worth repeating it is the second book in a trilogy so reading the first one is kind of necessary, assuming any are interested, of course. Oh, and don't forget to take out the spaces in the link too, if it does interest anyone. Currently, it's only available on Barnes and Noble's site, Amazon Kindle, the Apple Store, and a few other such sites as of this writing, but will be published on more in due time.

Man, hard to believe though that it took nearly a whole year from start to finish. To be fair to myself though, I was bouncing back and forth between that novel and writing this fic, to say nothing of real-life obligations too. Hopefully future books won't take quite as long for me to do, but only time will ever really tell, ha ha.

Anyways, sorry to be using an AN to be advertising so shamelessly like this, but really, do please buy my books and give some support. Though far from my best work just yet, I really would appreciate getting feedback on how it turns out to an actual audience and not simply myself.

Now, that out of the way for the moment, I will naturally be writing the third/final book of the trilogy… but not for a while. No, I fully intend to make the final book as damned good as I can possibly make it be, but to do that will require much more brainstorming and laying out an actual outline as opposed to before. While I can't exactly say when I'll start writing the final book, I don't see it happening it anytime soon. Thus, until I've a very solid idea of how the third book will begin and play out, I won't be writing anything for it and that in turn means I'll be dedicating myself to Slave of Light much more than before, which will hopefully mean chapters will be released just a bit sooner than the previous norm.

While I can't say if I'll start writing the third book before finishing Slave of Light or not, just thought I should let you all know in case anything comes up.

Thanks for reading my little spiel up until now, to those of you who read my Ans. Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 47

With an even greater sense of urgency than before, Winter dashed like mad through the streets of Vale, the normally socially-conscious woman no longer caring for trying to keep up an image of normalcy. Whoever had gotten their hands on the knowledge of this killing spree and leaked it to the public had made sure there was no point in trying to do things quietly.

All around her, teams RWBY and JNPR were following along before spreading out, some of them – Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna in particular – taking to the rooftops in order to provide an overhead view.

They did this without a single word spoken on her part, the teens having opted to just fan out and take up roles best suited to their abilities and all without any of them even saying anything aloud. Such decisiveness and trust really ought to be commended, but Winter hardly even spared that any real thought.

There was so much more pressing matters going on right now for her to bother praising her sister and her friends' swiftness.

Speaking of her sister…

Winter did manage to spare a second to glance Weiss' way, watching as the once uppity girl – she fully blamed their father for how Weiss acted when not around her back then – immediately took the lead in light of Ruby Rose's actions, directing the Y of RWBY to accompany her down a nearby wide alleyway that was as far from clean as one could be.

Winter watched on a little longer as Weiss seemed to quietly say something to her teammate… followed then by said blonde suddenly kicking up the manhole they'd gotten to and fire two quick shots from those gauntlets of hers down the hole.

Ah, Winter thought, that was what Weiss was clearly planning.

There was no telling if their target was still in the sewers or already running amok once more on the streets. The lack of audible slaughter and screaming would hint more towards the former, assuming the killer was within their general vicinity, but that may very well be hoping too much on her part.

In any case, until the killer made himself known, it would be best to just smoke him out instead.

"Everyone," she suddenly called out as she came to a halt in an open space nearby, swiftly motioning for some Atlas soldiers that'd been patrolling this particular area to clear out the loud and angry crowds. "Find the nearest manholes you can find – open up as many as you can. Try to open at least three or four before calling out their respective coordinates. Except for you, Ms. Rose, Ms. Belladonna. Stick to the rooftops and serve as our eyes."

Everyone quickly responded in the affirmative and Winter waited as they carried out their order. But she wasn't simply twiddling her thumbs as she waited-.

Concentrating, she activated her semblance as she took a stance, drawing her blade and readying it to stab into the ground. Though her semblance didn't quite have the same level of versatility as Weiss' due to her not using Dust anywhere near as much or as often as her younger sister, it was still very much capable of the same feats. Such was the nature of their semblances, which was hereditary.

However, where she lacked in the versatility Weiss had thanks to Dust, Winter naturally excelled when it came to summoning. And that's exactly what she was about to do.

"And we're still to go forth with the sweeps initially discussed?" A voice suddenly called out to her, though her concentration remained unbroken. Jaune Arc. Looks like he'd just caught up with his team after they'd broken off from the others.

"Yes, do your sweeps and just uncover any manholes you can spot. The more, the merrier as that saying goes," she replied as the glyph was now complete.

With the coordinates called out for the ones the others had already uncovered, she stabbed her blade into the ground just as the summoning glyph fully formed.

And from that glyph spewed forth a multitude of summoned Nevermores. Each one was perhaps no bigger than an average crow, which when combined with their glowing soft white forms, might make them look rather unintimidating.

But there was never any doubting the effectiveness of any summon, especially when she was at the helm.

Immediately, her summons flew upwards before suddenly making sharp turns in the sky, heading right for where the uncovered manholes were at. Though she couldn't actually see it happen, each summoned Nevermore flew directly into the manholes and downwards until they struck the floors, their crashes causing their ethereal forms to explode with the force of grenades.

But that wasn't all. Only a relative few of her summons crashed and exploded like that. As for the remaining ones, they continued to fly deeper into the sewers before meeting the same explosive end as the other ones.

The idea behind this action of hers was very simple. If the killer was still down there, then all that could be done was try and smoke him out. Should that fail, then hopefully they were giving their target some level of pause, making him reconsider where he should pop out from. Though it was far from an ideal method, if they could at least control which part of the sewers the target popped out from then all the better.

"Keep on going – keep uncovering manholes!" she barked out through her earpiece. Though she obviously didn't have anywhere near enough power to keep this up for very long – Vale was big even for a kingdom and plus there was just far too much ground to feasibly cover – she could keep this up long enough to make most others reconsider their options.

Not that the target – very likely Tyrian Callows – seemed like the type to reconsider any life choices. Still, all they could do was try.

Honing her concentration to a razor-like point, Winter called forth more Nevermores that took to circling around her as a shield while they awaited the next set of coordinates.

Winter's eyes narrowed as she remained in place.

She wasn't often one to pray for success or anything in general, but now she found herself praying for this day to end on a good note…

…Lovely, now she feels as if she just horribly jinxed herself.

Tyrian huffed as the sound of small explosions went off in the manhole he'd just crawled out of. Really now, is that what their little plan was? He wasn't sure if he should be impressed or not.

In any case, he'd gotten somewhat lucky – one of those youngsters that were no doubt Ozpin's newest pawns had opened up that manhole just before he'd even gotten towards the opening, which had given him more than enough time to silently remain still before hearing them scamper off like the fools they were.

As soon as those footsteps had faded, that'd been when he'd exited the sewers – only for this plan of theirs to be enacted barely several seconds thereafter.

He could understand the reasoning behind this, but it was terribly flawed. Oh well, not like it would be worth pointing out to them how badly they're doing things. No, he'd much rather hear their screams during their final moments and not the sound of his own voice boring them to death with their faults.

But getting back on track now…

His predator instincts, sharp as they are, alerted him to what other methods they were likely carrying out. In this case, they likely had some people watching from the rooftops. Which rooftops in particular, he knew not – his instincts are sharp, but not to the point of outright clairvoyance – but those watchers would very likely be somewhere within this general area.

And, of course there'd also be whatever remaining Atlas airships too watching over Vale from afar, no doubt on high alert in light of everything going on.

But that didn't mean they were everywhere nor all-seeing.

With a single leap, Tyrian went from being crouched upon the alley's ground to atop the nearest building, or rather, hanging onto its ledge. He then peeked his head up, just enough for him to see and he did a quick look around to get a gist of the situation.

Sure enough, just several buildings over with her back to him, was a young girl, perhaps two years younger than first years from Beacon.

At first, he was perfectly willing to just dismiss her and be on his way, but she turned just slightly around, forcing him to duck his head to avoid being seen, this action being instinctive on his part – but just before she faded from his sight, he saw her eyes.

Her silver eyes.

"Oho…" He couldn't help but grin. Been some time since he or his allies had been tasked with taking down any of those oh so infamous silver eyes warriors. He hadn't thought one would be around here of all times and places. Not that this was something to be concerned over, but it was certainly worth noting…

"H-Hey! What the hell are you doing up there?!"

Tyrian had been so deep in thought that he hadn't realized anyone was nearby. Whipping his head around, he looked across the ways and spotted some startled and confused college-aged man gaping at him from the top floor.

Oh, looks like that was an apartment complex.

"Perfect…" Tyrian muttered in glee, his smile returning, leaving the unassuming man's question unanswered. However, it would seem his expression was answer enough because the man suddenly paled and retreated back inside his room, slamming the window shut with such force that it nearly broke. He was very likely heading for his phone to call the police.

Well, like hell he was about to just let that happen so easily.

Letting go of the ledge and kicking off the side of the building, Tyrian practically flew towards and through the window. Sure enough, upon breaking through it, he spotted the man making a mad dash for wherever he'd left his phone.

Tyrian cackled as he promptly opened fire with both guns, blasting the fool to death near instantly.

But more than that, it also had the side benefit of grabbing the attention of any others within the apartment complex… and it looks like more than a few people had chosen to spend this afternoon inside.

Perfect, this would definitely aid in spreading the chaos and negativity some more, for her grace's wonderful army of Grimm.

Heading for the wall to his left, Tyrian armed himself with his blades and proceeded to cut right through it, allowing him to effectively bust in the adjacent apartment unit where an older couple had apparently been relaxing prior to his attention-grabbing gunfire just now.

The looks of confused terror on their faces made their swift deaths much more enjoyable than they would've been otherwise, so enjoyable in fact that Tyrian couldn't help but put a bit more flourish into his swings. The result was more than a little blood being splattered all across the little dining room the couple had set up, making it a beautiful sight.

Alas, he'd no time to enjoy it. Assuming that silver eyed girl didn't take off deeper into Vale, she probably would've heard his gunfire and the screaming just now and would soon be making her way here. Not that that would be an issue. After all, so long as he causes enough chaos, then all was well.

But until help can arrive for this apartment full of prey, he'll indulge himself as much as he can.

Dashing for the door that lead out into the hallway, Tyrian smashed through it with a vicious cry of delight.

If the public thinks his slaughter so far had been horrific then they would soon be in for quite the treat.

Just before she was about to leap off into the distance, Ruby ended up pausing as the sounds of gunfire filled her ears. It wasn't particularly loud. In fact, a part of her was almost convinced that she'd just hallucinated it due to nerves or whatever.

But no, that gunfire was very much real and was coming from somewhere back the way she'd just came. The sounds of screaming only for it to cease abruptly thereafter only added to it.

Her heart started to beat a million miles a minute. That had to be their target… and he was already back at it!

"This is Ruby!" she practically screamed into her earpiece, adrenaline hitting her so hard that she didn't realize she may have just rendered the others deaf from how loud she was being. "Just heard gunfire coming from an apartment a few blocks south of me! Going for a look right now!"

"W-Wait, Rubes-!" her sister started to call out, only for Ruby to effectively drown out whatever exactly Yang had been about to say as she shot herself forth like a human bullet towards the apartment complex.

Pushing her semblance-boosted speed to the limit, she arrived upon its rooftop in less than a millisecond. Without any warning, she entered the building through its rooftop access, blasting through its door without much in the ways of guilt over destruction of property.

No sooner than when she made it down to the building's highest floor, the familiar smell of fresh gunfire filled her little nostrils… along with the scent of blood.

It was enough to almost freeze the normally fearless girl in her tracks if only due to how overpowering the smell was now that she was aware of it.

But no, she didn't freeze. She couldn't afford to, not when she could now really hear the screams, abrupt and cut short as they were.

"…!" With a determined expression on her face, she dashed down the hallway she'd found herself in until she neared the staircase, which was fortunately one of those super open ones usually seen in the movies, where people could jump straight down to the bottom floor (or do the opposite if they felt so inclined). In an instant, she leapt over the railing and let herself fall, pulling out Crescent Rose in its compact form as she looked all around in mid-fall.

Though each sight lasted but a fleeting instant, she could see bodies strewn about in some of the visible hallways… the unmoving bodies, some of which weren't always in one piece.

She almosted retched in mid-fall, but she was able to keep herself from doing so – but more than that…

"Ah!" Her instincts, honed over years of training, blared out a massive warning to her and her body automatically responded, raising her precious baby up just in the nick of time to block a sudden strike.

Even then, she was hit with such force that she went flying to the side and slammed against part of the stairs, breaking them apart like they were nothing. That certainly got a cry out of her, but it also really made her that much more alert, adrenaline flooding her whole system like never before.

She looked up just in time to see the one who'd attacked her – a scorpion Faunus with a truly demented smirk on his face. And as if to further prove how demented he really was, he was holding a woman by her head… and she wasn't moving much at all, her limbs doing little more than twitching.

"Oh, you sweet summer child…" the man suddenly spoke mockingly before raising his free hand and opening fire on her.

Ruby let out a sound as she made her own move, utilizing her semblance's versatility to effectively launch herself upwards despite not having any footing. She didn't travel up particularly far, however, not wanting this man – this killer – to consider rushing off. But more than that… the young girl was genuinely angry. She'd thought Roman Torchwick was a bad man. And considering the whole 'Salem wanting humanity wiped out' thing, that Grimm ruler definitely was evil…

…But it was one thing to hear of such things and another to see it happen before her very eyes. She could tell – the look in that man's eyes made it clear that he enjoyed killing and wasn't keen on calling it quits anytime soon.

She readied her precious baby, taking swift aim… only for the man to suddenly throw the dead woman he'd been holding onto right at her.

Ruby could only gasp at such a sight, which took her so off guard that she just barely started to dodge in time… only for the sight of the woman's incoming body to make her reconsider dodging it. For some reason, she couldn't help but feel guilty for that woman's death and to just dodge her corpse and press on with her attack… it felt wrong.

Oh, she knew that this wasn't a battle to go into half-heartedly… but when was the last time someone had full control over how they felt?

In any case, her conflicted emotions prevented her from fully dodging and the corpse slammed into her legs with surprising strength, causing the girl to practically flip forward several times before managing to right herself, landing feet-first against the nearby wall and kicking off it in time to dodge the killer's follow-up attack, which was in the form of a swift lunge.

"Evacuate!" she screamed out, hoping that anyone still alive in here would hear her and do just that. She'd been too hasty in coming here on her own, but to just stand by and wait for backup first would've just resulted in more civilian deaths in the meantime. Time for her to own up to her blunder and at least try to do something about this guy. If that meant simply occupying him while any survivors fled, then so be it. Hopefully, she could hold out long enough for the others to get here though…

The man suddenly lashed out with his tail, trying to stab her leg as she'd dodged and she was just barely able to retract her leg in time to avoid getting stung. Granted, she still had her aura, but she wasn't about to risk seeing if his stinger could pierce through it.

Unfortunately, her dodging didn't deter the killer at all, and he merely threw himself at her with that same smirk on his face. "Nowhere to go, little one!"

He was right. In her haste to keep some distance between them, she'd jumped towards an damage part of the staircase with very little maneuvering room between them. She could use her semblance to pull off some stunts in midair, but not without risking being grazed by this guy anyways.

However, just because the best she might be able to do is hold him off doesn't mean she was just going to run around the whole time.

She raised her weapon towards him and switched it into its scythe form, the swiftness of Crescent Rose's transformation from its compact state to its full form clearly taking the man aback and just enough for him to nearly slam his own face against the side of her weapon's blade. To prevent himself from crashing right into her, the man latched onto her weapon with both hands and feet.

This gave Ruby the opening she needed to swing her blade with all the strength and momentum she could muster. Firing her weapon as well to utilize its recoil, her angled swing launched them both downwards at an angle, Crescent Rose's sharpness, backed by what little physical strength she had compared to the others and their momentum, allowing her to slice through this entire section of the building.

The result was the two of them practically spilling out into the alleyway right next to the building, a whole section of rubble travelling along with them. It also took the man off guard just enough for him to be thrown off, but he recovered with an annoying level of grace.

"Oho, so the little rose does have some thorns," he commented creepily as he eyed her. "Sadly, your thorns just aren't threatening enough."

Growling, Ruby swung her weapon as she charged at him, forcing him to leap upwards. She immediately followed up by quickly pointing her weapon's barrel at a downwards angle and pulled the trigger twice, the resulting recoil blasting her off into the sky after him.

As she closed the distance between them, Ruby swung her weapon, confident that her speed would allow her to get in a hit – only for the man to twist in midair and avoid it. The next thing she knew, his tail struck out and pierced her cape in one move, which was then followed by a mighty tug and she was sent flying right along the rooftop of the other building nearby.

Ruby was able to take the sudden landing pretty well, rolling across the rooftop and leaping off it with a marginal level of flourish that carried her over to yet another building.

Unfortunately, by the time she'd recovered-.

"-Ah?!" she cried out.

-The man was already upon her.

He delivered two unbelievably fast strikes with those wrist mounted blades of his, strikes that she just barely guarded using her weapon. Even then, for such a wiry looking guy, his hits were much stronger than expected, her bones practically creaking from the impacts. Her aura probably dropped a bit just as a result of that, to say nothing of their actions up until now too.

Cackling, the man silently slid to her left and swung his blades again, forcing her to continue guarding. But as soon as she was able to block this third strike, his tail made its own move. It slithered out at blinding speeds and wrapped around her right ankle as soon as the previous attack had forced her off balance. She was then hoisted right off the roof and effectively sent flipping backwards.

That was when the man launched a lightning fast kick that impacted right against the very base of her spine while she was in mid-flip, sending her flying several meters. If not for her making a midair recovery, she'd have slammed right against a water tower that was atop this particular building.

Ruby groaned as she landed on her feet. Though physically uninjured, getting hit naturally hurt a lot. It was only thanks to her aura that she remained relatively unharmed so far… but that was just the thing. Though she didn't exactly have the time to whip out her scroll and check her aura level, she could just tell that she was running dangerously low already. Her liberal usage of her semblance had taken up some aura and the very few hits she'd taken in this extremely brief exchange had only drained it some more.

This was bad, really bad. That the man was clearly toying with her too still… it unsettled her. She'd thought that after everything she and her friends had been through up until now that they were as ready as could be for most of the things Remnant could normally throw at them. But now she saw for the first time how big a gap there was between her and huntsmen level enemies.

To think she and the others had felt relatively ready after the training they'd been doing up until now… Ruby never knew she could be that naïve.

And unfortunately, it seemed like she may now be paying terribly for such a mistake.

To think too that Jaune had gone up against this guy in the sewers and possibly wore him down too… her blond friend was definitely amazing. But this was no time to be singing his praises.

If this was to be how she went down, then the very least she could do is make every second going forth count-!

"Get away from her!" an all too familiar voice called out, several shots making themselves known as they raced pasted Ruby and towards the man, who casually leapt back to avoid them. He seemed to almost be dancing as he avoided them, a sign of how casual this is for him.

But even so, Ruby's heart soared as her sister raced up next to her. "You okay, Rubes?" Yang asked in pure worry.

"I'm hanging in there," Ruby replied with a big smile.

Yang looked much more at ease now thanks to the girl's peppy answer, but there was no mistaking that stern look in her eyes either. "I get why you had to blow us off like that a minute ago, but I'm still gonna lecture your ears off later," the blond brawler said as she cracked her knuckles and eyed the killer, who seemed amused by this.

"Indeed," spoke another familiar voice – Weiss – as the familiar sharp point of Myrtenaster made itself known from her other side. "I won't have my partner continue her reckless ways like this. But more than that…" Weiss narrowed her eyes as well at the man. "I won't allow anyone like you to hurt a friend of mine like this."

If the man had some retort to that – don't bad guys normally like to talk? This one sure did, it seemed like – he wasn't able to speak it for he instead had to jump to his left to avoid being cut down by a silent attack from behind, courtesy of the final member of RWBY.

Blake had no remarks to make, the B of RWBY instead just readying to attack yet again as she glared at the man.

The man simply laughed as he took it all in. "Oh my, I suppose I should feel honored to have the undivided attention of four talented trainees," he spoke casually, clearly not feeling threatened in the slightest. He grinned mockingly. "Alas, I find myself woefully unimpressed."

The killer shifted into a low stance, looking very much like a predator about to pounce upon its prey…

…Only for the predator to call off what was to be his opening attack an instant later, a flock of ethereal white Nevermores flying at high speeds towards him. He raced along the rooftop at surprising speeds, putting some distance between him and all of them as the Nevermores chased after him.

He managed to outrun them all, but he was looking much more alert now, especially after seeing how each one had exploded upon them making even the slightest contact with anything. However, he didn't get the chance to come to a full stop. No, instead he had to suddenly perform a light jump that allowed him to dodge several slashes that would've cut anyone else down to ribbons, which was then followed by the man twisting in midair to deliver just as many swings of his own in that same timeframe.

Ruby and her team honestly couldn't help but gape a bit as their target and Winter Schnee traded blows very briefly before the former landed on his feet and skipped back several feet while the latter did the same, moving closer towards them.

"Normally, this is where I demand your surrender…" the woman spoke to the man. She readied her blade. "But I highly doubt that's going to happen."

The man, though much more on guard now than ever before, chuckled. "One of Atlas' esteemed specialists, I see. You and four aspiring trainees… my, my, I've come across quite the find."

His lack of response to Winter's words only got them all to tense up. Winter was probably on the same level of uncle Qrow, if Ruby was guesstimating things right and while she and her team may not exactly be ready for things of this level yet, it wasn't as if they were slouches. For this guy to be this chipper even with all five of them here… was he really that confident in his chances? Or was there something more to it?

And on another note, just where was JNPR at? She'd have thought Jaune of all people would be here to help them out.

Alas, before she could even think to ask that question, the man suddenly made his move.

And with that, all chaos broke loose.

As soon as Ruby had said something about a disturbance at an apartment, Jaune had been more than ready to race over to the girl's last known location and provided backup. His team had been eager to do the same too, but instead all they could do was wait until further details were provided. For all they knew, this could end up being nothing and they would've all rushed over there too hastily when the target was really elsewhere.

Sure enough, despite the immediate lack of confirmation about the situation, before any of them could even consider converging upon Ruby's last known location, something else had occurred to grab their attention.

That being that one of the Atlas ship's lights had suddenly gone out for just a split second. Jaune and the others had only barely noticed it out of the corner of their eyes due to how far away said ship was from their current location, but nonetheless they'd spotted it.

So had Winter. And whatever exactly was going on had clearly not been a good thing for they'd heard over their earpieces as Winter tried to contact that particular ship to no avail.

Something had gone wrong, majorly so. It was more than just a simple power malfunction because if that'd been the case then the comms would've already been working again. That they weren't suggested tampering of a sort and in light of the oddities that have accompanied the recent incidents, well, there was no longer any need to take chances.

Thus, Winter had tasked them to head over to the ship and investigate what was going on whilst she and the rest of RWBY, all of whom were closer to Ruby's last known location anyways, went to check on that particular situation.

This was yet another order that Jaune had wanted to argue against, but only half-heartedly at best. For he'd sensed something truly foreboding about this new development, something that could potentially make this killer they'd been tracking look like nothing in comparison and that was really saying something.

Though reluctantly, he and his team had ultimately obeyed their new order and could only trust Winter to know what she was doing. As much faith as they had in RWBY's abilities, this simply wasn't a situation that could be so easily dismissed, after all.

The four of them had raced through Vale towards the bullhead docks, where one was already waiting specifically for them, courtesy of a very quick call Winter had made to the crew of another ship that was closer to them.

No sooner than when they boarded it did the bullhead take off, heading directly for the ship in question.

As it quickly flew, Jaune approached the pilot.

"Any other details we should know?" he immediately asked. "Have any others been contacted about this?"

"Afraid there's not much more to tell," the pilot said grimly as they came up on the ship. "But something bad is going down here. Specialist Schnee had tried making a call to general Ironwood himself but couldn't get through. The staff aboard the ship I'm from tried to contact the general but had shit luck too. Some other ships can't be contacted either by us, but we can still receive some transmissions here and there from the other ships that are much further out."

Jaune's eyes narrowed as he took that in. Though it's been only a few minutes since this new situation had arisen, things were already pretty bad. Despite not being down entirely, for Atlas' comms to be screwed up this much was definitely not the result of some sporadic power failure or whatever. As if they needed more proof, this was definitely the work of someone, undoubtedly the hacker that has been clearly interfering in matters from before.

"Nora," Jaune called out as he looked out from where he was at the ship they were approaching. The copilot who was nearby had been spending this whole time trying to contact the ships in question, but to no avail, the mood becoming more ominous as a result.

"Yeah?" the girl answered, all liveliness gone from the normally exuberant hammer user.

"Get ready to go in guns blazing," he said. "I can't help but feel this is going to be bad, bad enough for us to not be able to afford doing things too gracefully."

Usually, being told to cut loose would be like a dream come true for the girl, but this time around she could only nod in quiet resolution, a sign of how serious this matter was.

"Damn it," the copilot muttered, finally giving up on trying to contact the ship. She turned in her seat to look at the pilot and at Jaune. "No luck at all. Can't even contact the other ships anymore. It's like the whole comms system has gone completely dark now."

The pilot grimaced. "Well, that's totally not a bad thing," he drawled out in obvious sarcasm.

For a solid few seconds, there was nothing but silence as the bullhead flew on, nearing the ship that much more – before something finally happened.

"Taking evasive maneuvers!" the pilot called out frantically for the others to hear, not that there was any need for him to state such a thing, not when the ship they were heading for suddenly shifted in their direction at surprising speeds. There was a very real possibility of the ship slamming right against their bullhead, an action that would, of course, result in the bullhead's complete destruction.

Jaune placed both his hands against the walls and held his position, his friends doing the same from where they were at further behind him. As they did so, the bullhead was just barely able to avoid being broadsided by the ship, the pilot and copilot having successfully performed a dive that took them dangerously low to the ground. They were practically skimming the top of the trees at this point.

Alas, not a single one of them could pay this any mind, now when they looked up to see what became of the ship – a ship that was now crashing into the side of the other ship nearby.

As the collision occurred, debris was immediately sent flying everywhere, forcing the bullhead to take further evasive actions that resulted in them having head out further and further away from their intended destination.

"What in the hell-?!" the pilot screamed almost shrilly, not that he could be blamed for such a thing. The suddenness of this action was certainly a massive cause for concern.

But things didn't stop there, no, not at all-.

-For off in the distance, Jaune could see the other ships slowly have their lights switch off before turning back on a second later.

A shudder tore through him as those other ships started to move out, clearly on a crash course with each other.

But more than that, all the ships near Beacon were first making their way away from the academy – and right over Vale.

"Pilot," Jaune practically whispered, the shock of what was going on actually leaving him unable to speak at his usual volume. "I know I'm about to ask something crazy here, but you need to get us aboard that initial ship."

"You're right, that is crazy," the pilot muttered even as he only marginally focused on piloting the bullhead anymore, his attention clearly captivated by the insanity currently going on. "But I get what you mean… you think you can stop this though?"

Jaune's grip on the walls tightened to the point where his fingers were sinking right into the steel like it was nothing.

"I honestly don't know," he answered, his gaze not leaving the horrendous sight for even an instant. "But I sure as hell am not about to just watch."

The pilot and copilot could only grunt in response to his words. And then, just a full second later, the bullhead began to gain some altitude as it made a graceful turn back towards the ship.

There was a limit to how fast bullheads can fly, but the pilots were pushing that limit now with all they had. It was rather impressive, actually.

But even so, every passing second felt like a veritable eternity to Jaune and his friends. He can only hope they'll make it time.

"Well, color me impressed," Watts muttered to himself.

He'd estimated it'd take a solid half hour for him to get to this point, but it would seem he'd been grossly underestimating his own performance. To think it'd be that easy to hijack a small aircraft and partially sabotage the Atlas fleet's comms whilst he'd been in-bound for this particular ship.

It may not be James' flagship as he'd initially intended, but it'd been close enough, he supposed. In any case, once aboard the ship, it'd been so terribly easy to use the power granted to him by his virtual space and technopathy to turn the ship itself into a weapon against the crew, all of whom were now dearly departed from this world.

After having cleared himself a path, he'd then made it to the main deck of this ship where the piloting and other systems were operated at. It was here that he'd directly placed his hands upon the ship's mainframe and tapped into it with his technopathy. Though controlling systems from afar was very much possible, it did have limits, thus he'd swiftly learned it was always best to interact with any systems from up close like this.

It was thanks to this that he'd been able to tinker and tamper with the comms system with every passing second, blocking out any and all calls to James himself whilst slowly eroding the ships' ability to communicate with one another.

Now, after having intentionally crashed this particular ship into the other as a mere test run, Watts was excitedly considering his options. Unmindful of the fact that he was aboard a now ruined ship – not like it was damaged enough for it to plummet just yet – he'd been all too quick to use the systems aboard this ship to extend his range as much as possible and in doing so, was able to not just ruin the fleet's comms system but also take over the ships themselves.

"Had I known I could do this from the start, I'd have just told Tyrian to stay back," he murmured, then chuckling. While Tyrian was certainly unsettling the public with his kill streak, the spectacle he'd just started must easily be a thousand times more attention-grabbing at the very least. After all, people dying is ultimately nothing really new. But Atlas ships suddenly crashing into one another? That was very much new.

Alas, while he'd just gained control of the other ships and was now directing them out towards Vale before beginning their collision courses, it was slow going. Taking over this ship and making it do as he pleased was one thing, because he'd fully dedicated himself to the task. However, taking over all the other ships required him to divide his attention between them all, meaning he could only make some marginal adjustments to their course corrections and other faculties at any given second. Plus, he could literally feel the tech staff aboard those other ships frantically trying their best to undo his machinations. Their attempts, futile as they are, were ultimately just making more work for him, but it was of little consequence.

Though his current course of action will not be taking out all of Vale, much less even a significant portion of it, it will definitely result in the deaths of numerous civilians and soldiers, which will certainly make it that much easier for Hazel and later Salem to lead the Grimm into the kingdom and mop up the rest of the populace.

"A pity that I can't off James so soon…" He sighed. Despite his best attempts, trying to take over James' flagship was proving startlingly tough. He supposed his success with the rest of the ships could be chalked up to them all being part of the same network, but James' flagship, despite its obvious ability to communicate with the other ships, clearly runs on its own intranet, with only calls able to go in and out. While hacking it wasn't outright impossible, attempting it from this distance just wasn't going to work.

No matter, it wasn't as if this was something to throw a fuss over. If anything, that just meant he'd get to enjoy James' horror up close and personal once he makes his way over to that damnable flagship.

Until then, however, he'd have to remain aboard this crumbling ship until he could ensure there was no way the other ships can correct their course or otherwise bring their slow-moving ships to a halt.

"…Hmm?" Watts blinked as images were fed directly into his mind. With such a strong link between him and the ship, his mind was directly wired to all the cameras and other systems aboard it. He hadn't really bothered bringing the cameras back online after he'd switched them off upon his boarding, but some of the cameras were motion-sensitive – a new feature that definitely hadn't been aboard any ships the last time, must be a new security feature – and one of them just came online upon detecting something.

The man let out a quiet little chuckle upon seeing some rather familiar faces as they disembarked from a bullhead that promptly took off.

Team JNPR, with Jaune Arc himself leading the way as the four teens rushed through the open hanger bay and deeper into the shop itself. As violent as this aircraft's collision was with the other one, the constant shaking wasn't anything too hard to deal with, made evident by how the team of trainees managed to keep their balance well enough as they raced into the nearest hallway.

"It'd seem like it's time to test my newfound mettle some more," Watts commented, a smirk growing on his face. Despite having pushed his limits as much as possible during his self-imposed training, he still felt like he was lacking when it came to actual experience. Killing off the entire crew of this ship, as much of a rush as it had provided, had been far from strenuous. Thus, it would serve him well to gain some proper practice with his virtual space against such talented individuals, their status as huntsmen trainees aside.

Of course, testing his might against Jaune Arc would definitely provide him with plenty of data on himself now, though Watts made a note to avoid landing any potential killing blows – after all, that boy was Hazel's prey. Nonetheless, an encounter with the blond teen would certainly help him fully push his limits, which would in turn help him properly impress upon James when they meet just how much he utterly outclasses not just the general and his former peers, but the entirety of Atlas itself.

That said… just because he was eager to see for himself how strong he'd truly become, that didn't mean he was going to welcome those teens aboard this ship with open arms.

If they really wanted to get to him so badly, then let's see just how quick they can be to adapt to sudden changes.

With a positively sinister chuckle, Watts began to tap into what functional systems this ship still had. From the sprinkler systems to blast doors and even some hidden turrets in the walls and ceiling… let's see how this will do as a warm-up for them.

His eyes flashed a brilliant green as he used his power – and in doing so, his makeshift trials for team JNPR officially began.

Yeah, as you can all see, things are beginning to really ramp up now – and to think Hazel and Salem herself have yet to make their moves! But don't worry, they will be soon enough, heh.

Ah, but don't let the sheer scale of Watts' actions fool you into thinking that Vale is completely screwed – as stated within his section just now, he's only so much control over the other ships due to having to divide his attention between them all and maintaining the currently screwed up nature of the comms system. Thanks to this, he isn't able to make the ships accelerate towards Vale as quickly as he wants and the crews aboard those ships are doing what they can to fight off his hacking, which is slowing the process down some more. It'll be a while before a collision course between the ships becomes truly imminent, meaning Jaune and his friends have just a bit of leeway before their actions become futile.

Now, that part aside, onto Ruby's section. Honestly, I actually kind of like Ruby as a character. Now, she is far from my favorite character from the show, much less from all fiction. In terms of personality and overall development, she's heavily lagging behind a lot of other characters within the show – and considering my views on the show in general, that's really saying something. Put summarily, she's a very straightforward shounen-esque protagonist, but that's a straightforwardness that I can somewhat approve of.

Anyways, something that's really irked me, aside from her not giving a shit about learning more about her silver eyes during volumes 4, 5, and the early half of 6 is that during 6, she spoke of how she and her friends never needed adult help to get things done, which we all know is a bunch of BS with the whole series to contradict her on that front. This was something I wished to showcase a little in her section, making her think albeit subconsciously that she could pull this off, only to get proven very wrong very fast, realizing that Tyrian was toying with her and could easily kill her if he really bothered. By the end of her section, when the others show up, she realizes that they all need to work together take down Tyrian and even then, there's a high risk of failing that. Consider this my very little way of trying to give her just a bit of depth, for what little it's worth.

Of course, that said, she's not the MC of this fic – Jaune is. And rest assured, he'll be getting his time to really show what he can do now very soon, in addition to some more development.

So… yeah, just wanted to state all that.

Oh, and again, with my novel now complete and with me wishing to spend considerable time mapping out how the story of the final novel will exactly go down, I will be working more often on this fic, so future chapters may be released with less of time gap between them. No guarantees though, depends on how life goes. But as far as writing goes, this fic will be my sole priority until I start my final novel in the trilogy, assuming I even start it before finishing this fic. Just wanted to let you guys know.

Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!