Hello there, I'm The Royal Protector and unfortunately you aren't reading the next chapter of The Silver Eyed Prodigy. Indeed, many could have already guessed after the near one year long hiatus that this story has been abandoned. I'm here to confirm this, due to numerous reasons like real life obligations, my commitments to other projects both my own and some of my friends' that I help out with, this will be the last update of TSEP.

The situation also isn't helped by the fact that I sort of fell out of love with the fandom. I still love the show, it undoubtably holds a special place in my heart, but I lack the energy to continue interacting with the community at large.

Many readers are probably disheartened to read this, heavens know I have received more than a few Reviews/PMs asking me to continue the story, or at least for some form of closure. I can sympathize, many of my own favorite stories have been gathering dust for years at this point. In light of this, I have decided to try and tie up the many loose ends of this story in a single chapter.

And that's what this note is in the end; a synopsis and a rough summary of the remainder of the story I had planned out years ago. The following paragraphs are an abridged and somewhat edited version of a discussion I've shared with a reader who was curious about the overall story structure and direction of the story.

I know it's not as good as a genuine update, but I hope this will help regardless.

Synopsis

"The story structure of TSEP is the reverse three trials formula. In the normal three trials the hero fails the first two challenges and succeeds in the third, final one. Now, the number of trials can vary greatly, but I'm sure you've seen stories that use this formula. Its opposite however flips this, instead of failing in the beginning, the hero(es) succeed every one of their trials except the last, most important one. That's why I said that it's very easy to confuse it with your run of the mill power-fantasy, they're nearly indistinguishable until the very end. At that point however, they have stark differences in tone. In TSEP, some of these trials have already been shown; the test on the mountain, the Iratus Queen, the Summer Maiden and Raven, with more in the future, though I don't think I need to tell you what the last trial will be. Now, you may think that's a bit cruel of me and that this is a rather dark story telling tool, and you would be right, the RTT is a formula mainly used in tragedies.

Caryll is a tragic hero, my absolute favorite hero archetype. Heroes that for one reason or another (usually for a crucial character flaw of their own) try their best, but ultimately fail to achieve their desired goal in the end, or if they do achieve it, it's not how they would have wanted it. Caryll is no exception to this, he has two flaws that ruin him in the end; his haste (he wants to achieve all of his goals as fast as he can and doesn't hesitate to just take up all of the Old Hunters' dreams and Theo's struggle despite him being on a race against the clock. The entire back half of TSEP happens in 10 or so days) and his overconfidence (This doesn't need that much elaboration, I think. He believes himself capable of achieving everything he has promised to do without the slightest doubt. He has decided to literally carry the world on his shoulders). When it's clear in the finale that his plan against Salem and others just won't cut it (there is more to that as well, but if I went into that, we'd be sitting here all day.) all the promises and responsibilities crash down on him.

I know it sounds overly cruel with everything that I've set up up to this point, and I agree. It's because of that that I'm twisting the ending a bit; it's not a total failure, but a victory so hollow that it barely feels like one. Summer gets to go home, the world is saved for the time being, but it just feels bittersweet and empty.
Now, I'm sure you've realized it by this point, but I'm a sucker for tragedies, but I like their sequels just as much. I've originally intended a sequel as well, where Caryll has to pick up the pieces after the consequences of his choices and rebuild his life to have his happy ending, but that will most likely live and die on my drawing board."

Rough Summary

Alright, I'm writing this mostly from memory and in a single sitting, so bear with me. Also, this is like 90k-100k words compressed down as much as possible, so I apologize if I gloss over some things.

Chapter 20:

We start with Ruby and Yang back at Patch talking about what's happening from their perspective and how much it seems to hurt Qrow and Taiyang. Being the little kids they are, they decide to help out in whatever way they can and search Summer's and Caryll's old house. This goes as well as might you expect and the flashback from the show plays out, except with one crucial difference; Raven's the one who saves them. With everything she's been through lately, she decides to escort them home (with her mask on and anonymously of course). Upon hearing that she's "a friend of Summer, looking for her" the girls give an old mission report they had found in the ruins to Raven, hoping it might help. It doesn't, or at least not how they expected it would; the report is on an old long term mission that Raven and Summer went on ~1 year before Caryll was born. Skimming over it Raven realizes how Summer might have known about the Relic. She then leaves before anyone could realize who she is.

Meanwhile, Lily volunteers to help Caryll out, saying that she has no idea what's going on, but she wouldn't like Caryll to end up like her (basically an orphan). Caryll then picks up Theo, completing their rescue team. Raven urges them to wait a bit, since they are not combat capable and Summer isn't in any immediate danger yet. The team uses this opportunity as some downtime, Caryll has a discussion with Lily where they talk about fears and Caryll admits that the only thing he really fears is failure, then later another with Theo where it comes out that she can't even use her eyes at this point because she has no access to any of her happy memories. Their rest is cut short when Raven warns them that Summer is on the move, most likely on an airship heading north.

Chapter 21:

The chapter begins with Caryll using one of Raven's portals to catch up to the speeding airship. Unfortunately, Salem recalled most her agents to guard Summer until she's retrieved, meaning that Hazel, Tyrian and Watts are all present. A fight breaks out and the airship goes down in the desert, not far from Karnacca. The rescue team consisting of Caryll, Lily and Theo escape before impact, but through a stroke of unbelievable luck the airship crashes into the entrance of a tunnel leading deep underground. Theo explains that Basilisks dig out their labyrinth-like nests deep underground and that Vacuoans regularly use their abandoned underground caverns as cities and supply dumps. The team then descends after the airship, though Theo comments that she doesn't understand why the nest goes so deep and why the tunnel is so large, or why the entrance was sealed from the outside in the first place. Upon reaching the bottom, they are greeted with an enormous underground cavern containing an ancient city seemingly frozen in time, Caryll realizes that it's the same city Gehrman found decades ago.

Fights break out, Lily and Theo take on Watts, who's defending the ship and Summer, while Caryll fights Hazel and Tyrian at the same time. It's not a fair fight in the slightest; the airship disturbed the integrity of the cavern and it wouldn't take much more to cause a cave in, bullets are also ill-advised as they could ricochet from surfaces to the ceiling, which is covered with Dust crystals. Watts fights in an indirect manner, using custom droids and a hastily laid down minefield to keep the duo away from him and the airship; it is more of a deterrent than a killing weapon, seeing as a single explosion could bury them all alive. Seeing that they are about to be overwhelmed, Theo takes off her blindfold and navigates through the minefield with her Semblance while Lily holds off the droids. Upon clearing the field, Theo quickly subdues Watts.

Meanwhile Caryll captures Hazel in Kamui and tries the same with Tyrian, only for him to get hit while intangible during an attack. He realizes that Hazel is behind this, making his intangibility essentially useless. Not knowing Tyrian's Semblance, he then makes a foul gamble where he gets poisoned. (Tyrian can infuse his Semblance into his venom, making it so Aura can't negate it.) Robbed from most of his arsenal and with Tyrian's venom in him, he realizes he has around a minute or so to kill Tyrian and dispel his Semblance's effect before the venom takes him out. What follows is a heated one minute battle, which Caryll almost wins, only for him to collapse before he could deal the finishing blow.

With Watts's defeat, the Seeker in his bag awakens and Salem appears before the participants, causing all the fighting to come to a halt. A barely conscious Caryll holds a dialogue with her, which ultimately ends with him insulting and threatening her. She takes it as well as you could imagine, she knocks him out using magic and orders the villains to capture everyone present. At this point, Watts finally recognizes Lily as the Spring Maiden, Lily in turn recognizes him and asks where her family is. Watts says that they were killed off long ago for being too problematic to keep around, Lily breaks down upon hearing this and her power goes out of control. It takes Theo knocking her out to stop a cave in from happening. With most of the team down, Theo tries to escape with an unconscious Lily, but they are quickly cornered.

It is then that Theo notices that the wall she is cornered against is moving, she turns around and realizes that there is a Basilisk of gigantic proportions sleeping in its nest, it's undoubtably a Titan. Peering into the future, she realizes that the only way they make it out if this is by waking that thing. She tries attacking it but Watts quickly points out that the Titan is sleeping so soundly that only divine intervention could wake it at this point. Theo pauses at that before calling Zwei, upon appearing she tells him to play fetch. Zwei is happy to comply and summons the Relic of Knowledge. Both parties watch in stunned silence as the lamp clatters on the ground and rolls in front of the Titan's closed eyelids. The gigantic snake wakes at once and its movements shake the entire cave.

Using the chaos, Theo and Lily leave with Zwei. Forced to retreat, the villains take an unconscious Caryll back to the surface with Summer where they decide to head for Karnacca for another airship. They get to watch as the snake bursts into the open and spits a black miasma in the air that blocks out the sun, black rain falls from the sky that taints the land and forms into smaller Grimm. The Titan Apophis wakes and sets its sights on Karnacca.

Chapter 22:

The chapter begins a bit earlier from the villains' perspective as they discuss that with the Atlesian fleet currently hovering over Karnacca (this is the fleet that escorted Amity to Vacuo and is on their way back to Atlas.) they'll have to cause some distraction in the city if they want to avoid an investigation team being sent their way. This mission having been set as a priority by Salem, Watts unleashes the virus on Atlas hardware now instead of years later (the results are worse, AK-130s are objectively better weapons than 200s). Even with the city in total disarray, things get much worse when the warning sirens go off, informing people of a level 6 Grimm attack.

At this point, Theo and Lily regroup with Raven, who is forced to make a decision; ask for help from her old team or let the new airship slip away as at this point it will be only open waters separating Caryll and Summer from Salem's domain. She chooses to reunite with her old team and Team STRQ + Lily and Theo arrive in Karnacca just in time for the announcement of a level 10 Grimm attack to go off (Even the attack at the end of Volume 3 in canon was a level 9), instead of telling the people to seek shelter, the announcement and the military urge everyone to evacuate by any means necessary. Apophis appears on the horizon and begins its attack run on the city. The 3 Atlesian ships above the city move to engage it while telling the rest out on patrol to maintain their distance and to help with the evacuation instead.

Those 3 are quickly destroyed however, their laser cannons are too weak to pierce the Titan's armor and missiles are destroyed mi-air by the Basilisk's rattlesnake-like tail that sends out high-pressure waves on command. One is dissolved in the air by miasmic black breath, another is hit by the Basilisk's tail and the last one is brutally dragged underground. the situation isn't helped by the still hacked robots and the horde of Grimm descending on the city. The team quickly decides to split up; Qrow and the girls take out the CCT tower to stop the virus and Raven and Taiyang frees Caryll and Summer.

As all this goes down, Caryll finds himself on an empty white plain where he is confronted by the spirit residing in the Sword of Destruction, who is annoyed at Caryll that he hasn't even tried calling on it yet. Caryll reasons that he has no use for the sword since the Relics can't be used to defeat Salem. The spirit is offended to hear this, but introduces itself anyway; his name is Erra, the spirit of destruction, and he brought him here to talk. Caryll is dismissive however, aware that he's unconscious at the moment, he just asks if Erra could wake him up already. Erra only gets more annoyed at this and points out that while his hands are indeed tied in Salem's case, he can still offer a solution to achieve Caryll's dream. Intrigued, Caryll asks him to elaborate and we get to hear the Relic's ability. While in use, the Relic restores an individual's gift of darkness, aka magic, supercharges their Semblance and generally removes their body's natural limits, allowing the user to become mortal Gods in essence, the only drawbacks are that the Relic is not allowed to create energy on its own to use and needs a substitute (usually aura or the soul itself) and the toll it takes on the user. Erra claims that many of its users died or became hollow shells. Caryll is still skeptical, not seeing the point, that is until Erra points out that his eyes are a part of his body and shows Caryll one of his memories. The first time the God of Darkness destroyed humanity, but the flames are white instead of violet. The implication is not lost on Caryll, who then asks why the spirit is being so helpful in the first place. Erra claims that the spirits inhabiting the Relics are compelled to help humanity as that is their original purpose. Caryll then pleads to use the power of the sword right then and there, but is immediately declined by the spirit. When asked why, Erra responds that even if he had the energy, which he doesn't, he wouldn't allow it because Caryll doesn't meet the requirements as he is.

Baffled by this, Caryll asks for elaboration since he's never heard of anything like this before. Erra explains that while it's true that the only requirement the God of Light dictated was the energy supply, there's no rule that says the spirits themselves can't introduce self-imposed rules. He then uses illusions like Jinn to show the sword's history of catastrophic misuse, from how it first washed ashore and how a simple man found and used it to unleash a calamity on an empire he hated, Salem and Ozma's first empire. The Relic switched owners six more times after, each user unleashing disaster upon disaster on the empire; famine, plagues, droughts, Grimm invasions, hatred, jealousy etc. until the continent itself turned into an extension of the Land of Darkness (this is the dragon continent). Erra admits that his old self craved destruction just by his nature, but still had an inclination for his task. Participating in these atrocities quickly made him disillusioned with both himself and humanity, after that he swore to himself that he would only allow the worthy to use him; in all his existence only 9 people ever wielded him.

(If you studied mythology, you can maybe see where the inspiration for this story came from. If not, then I'd suggest reading the Poem of Erra. I think it's a very interesting read.)

We then get an into the thought processes of spirits and Gods and their expectations of humanity, but the requirements all boil down to having as much of a balance of light and dark in oneself as possible (in practical terms, have magic or evolve your Semblance to its limit). Carrying a spirit of progress and finally having the resolve to pay its price. Caryll's problem lies in his heritage; because of his Silver Eyes he must balance it out with something if he wants to use the sword. Erra, while not really believing in Caryll, feels obligated to tell him all this, partly to atone for his own failure and partly because he genuinely wants to help humanity, no matter how disillusioned with them he is. The chapter ends with Caryll declaring he would prove it to Erra that he's worthy. Erra is not exactly moved but sends Caryll back to the real world with a "little gift" as a sign of goodwill, though he wonders to himself how Caryll had one of his old friends following him around.

Chapter 23: Battle Of Legend

We pick up with Caryll waking up strapped to a stretcher with an IV drip attached to his arm that is pumping sedatives into him, the only reason he is awake is because Erra's gift, a brief bout of strength that allows him to activate his Semblance and break free. The building he's in is a small outpost in the city for the villains where they are preparing an airship to leave for good. He ignores them for now and instead decides to find Summer.

Raven and Taiyang attack the building at that time, while Watts preps the airship, Raven gets a rematch with Tyrian and Taiyang gets into a brawl with Hazel. Qrow and the girls meanwhile fight through the city and reach the CCT tower. The tower is destroyed and the military can finally reorganize themselves, though they only cover the evacuation and don't actively engage anything, even the battleships outside the city keep their distance.

Caryll finds Summer in the same state he was in and quickly frees her. Upon awakening, the two finally have the chance to talk since chapter 11. At first Caryll is furious and berates Summer for breaking her promise and leaving, Summer tries argue back, but it comes off of as a weak attempt. She still believes what she did was right, but she simply doesn't have the heart to argue about it with her son. When both are on the verge of tears, Caryll, though clearly not happy, says he forgives Summer since she is safe and sound now. He then quickly briefs Summer on what happened in the week she was out, Summer just listens in stunned silence until the end, after which she breaks down in tears from both self-hate (because he almost died multiple times while searching for her) and pride (that he made it regardless). The moment is interrupted by the distant sounds of fighting and the sounds of Apophis rampaging, Caryll tells Summer that it's time for them to go and moves to leave, but stops when he notices that Summer isn't coming. When prompted, Summer claims that she has a plan. Caryll is quick to shoot it down, but Summer doesn't relent and explains that even though her mission was a failure, they are presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity; with STRQ back together, Caryll's Semblance and with Salem's agents on the backfoot, they could force them to gather back at her palace and finish this war once and for all, they only need a way to find out where her palace is exactly.

The implication is not lost on Caryll, one of them would have to go to Salem for Raven's Semblance to track them. At first he absolutely refuses the idea, but is slowly whittled down by Summer's arguments, in the end, Summer just asks him to trust her, which he sighs to, saying that forgiveness is one thing, trust is another. He demands to know if a situation like this ever happened again, would she do anything different. Her silence is telling enough and he claims that he only trusts Summer to do right thing, no matter how much it hurts others. Summer in response asks him not to act like he is any different, he would absolutely throw away his own life for others. After a short silence, Caryll says that maybe the only thing they can know for sure is that they both can't trust each other to do what's best for themselves. Summer agrees, but declares that she's not scared because if Caryll could rescue her once, he can do it again. This causes Caryll to finally give in and allow Summer to be left behind, but not before he embraces her and tells her he loves her. Despite their rocky reunion, the feeling is very much mutual and Summer gives her remaining Aura to Caryll, claiming that he will need it much more than she will.

Caryll then joins up with Raven and Taiyang, asks them to let the villains go and to just trust him. They reluctantly do so and watch as their airship leaves the besieged city with Summer on board. They soon regroup with Qrow and the girls just in time for Apophis to reach the outer walls. TRQ claim they need to leave, the girls argue that much of the city hasn't evacuated yet and that they should do something, they are shocked to hear that the protocol for level 10 attacks dictate that retreating is the only option, rescue is ill-advised and that fighting is considered suicidal, that's the reason the military hasn't moved in yet and why the wall isn't garrisoned at the moment. Caryll's dismayed to hear this, his faith in modern Hunters was shaken when he read Gerhman's journal and now he doesn't know what to think of them at all.

This is when one of the radios of a dead soldier buzzes nearby, Caryll picks it up and hears a very familiar voice. It turns out that admiral of this fleet died in with the first three ships and that their second in command, who he is very familiar with, was asking for a status report from the city. That officer is none other than Cordovin. Caryll then surprises everyone present when he answers the radio and basically taunts Cordovin that she and the entirety of the Atlesian military were too much of a cowards that even a single Grimm could make them run with their tail between their legs. Predictably, this doesn't go over well and the two argue back and forth until Caryll challenges her to come here and prove him wrong. Arrogant as she is, she tells all remaining units to converge on the city. Smiling at a job well done, he finds himself the center of attention. When asked what he thought he was doing, he answers that protocol or not, it's their job to protect the people. He only asks the others to trust in his impossible plan.

The next few scenes play out from seemingly different points of view. In one, a small girl is running away from the black rain, only for a blinding light to evaporate the droplets mid-air all around her, in the next an old woman tries her best to get to the harbor in all the panic, only for an entire city block beside her to be destroyed as the Basilisk slithers through the city, when she looks back ahead, she swears that there are a lot more disoriented people then a moment ago. In another, that same girl looks on in horror as the Titan charges towards her and the harbor like a gargantuan train, then from nothing, a white haired girl appears in the middle of the street and summons several black glyphs the size of plazas under the snake. They slow it down to a crawl, but it still hisses venomously at the visibly tiring woman, that's when a black haired woman appears beside her and wills purple smoke to existence around her, which she then fans right at the head of the Grimm. It recoils with a shriek of pain, with several lacerations visible on its face alongside a slashed eye, it then shakes its head and decides to attack somewhere else, once it turns away, the white haired woman collapses in exhaustion, though the black haired one is quick to catch her thankfully.

In the next scene, the old woman looks down that same street and sees the snake approaching. This time, a child in white appears before it, an invisible vortex of air forms around him as the Grimm approaches and then a colossal lightning bolt emerges from the vortex and strikes the monster square in its face, forcing it away and back out of the city to regroup. As soon as the lighting cuts off, a small violet haired girl emerges next and collapses in place, through the boy in white is quick to catch her. The old woman smiles in relief, there are still guardians looking over them after all these years.

We follow Caryll next as he's trying to get Apophis' attention, but nothing seems to work; Enhanced Stormlance arrows bounce off its armor, his eye flashes aren't even acknowledged by the Grimm, it seems like the Titan is purposefully behaving in a way to tell him that it doesn't think he's a threat at all, that is until Caryll Ignites one of the Enhanced Stormlance arrows and shoots at its hide, finally piercing it when seemingly nothing else could. This of course doesn't hurt the Titan all that much, it has the same regenerative powers as the Iratus, but it does make it laser focused on Caryll. Acting as bait, Caryll lures it away from the residential districts and towards one of the nearby mountains. (In one of his earlier conversations with Theo ~Chp20 she mentions that Karnacca has one of the largest Dust caverns on Remnant that acts as a tourist destination). Upon reaching the place, we find Theo to be standing upside down on the ceiling, Caryll briefly wishes her good luck before the Titan rams through the entrance to the cavern and crashes through an intangible Caryll and the wall behind him, revealing a hidden tunnel filled with Dust on the ceiling, roughly the size of the Titan. Caryll then charges through the tunnel with the Grimm hot on his heels, it takes all of his agility and ample Semblance usage from his part to survive the underground chase that follows. After a minute or so, they reach another blocked off wall and crash through it, revealing an underground chamber the size of the one outside the city, only this one is filled with Grimm spawning pools. Caryll noticed the spiraling tunnel system under the city earlier with his eyes, but looking at it closer now, he wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that this was Apophis' original nest or its birthplace and that's why it's so focused on the city.

Meanwhile, back on the surface Lily appears on top of the mountain with Zwei. She closes her eyes wills the weather to change, summoning storm clouds out of nothing. Inside the mountain, Theo finishes the inscription of a glyph she was told to make on the ceiling just in time for Caryll to appear. Claiming that Apophis will be back any minute, he dumps a bunch of Dust right under the glyph and teleports beside Theo on the ceiling. Apophis breaks into the chamber through another barrier to see the glyph activate and drill a hole through the mountain vertically. The team teleports away from the area and in the next moment, lightning descends down the hole and strikes the Dust, what follows is a chain reaction where all the Dust in entire tunnel system surrounding the city activates at once with the Titan inside it. the team reappears on a rooftop in the city to see the mountain crumble inward and the land outside the walls to collapse as the caves under cave in.

Apophis breaks out to the surface, sounding and looking much worse for wear. Almost the entirety of its armor had shattered to pieces or was burnt to slag, only a few splashes of white remained on its body. Still, even if it was no longer impervious to everything, its healing ability make any attack pointless, if anything it is just pissed off beyond belief. When it collects itself to once again attack the city, a grey blur appears to strike its face and explode into a sizeable fireball, after recovering from the reeling attack, it gazes into the horizon and recognizes its attackers; the rest of the expeditionary fleet has arrived and is actively deploying units to secure the city. The next volley of cruise missiles however are detonated midair by another pressure wave. The team looks at each other and come to an agreement; the only thing capable of seriously harming the Titan are the main weapons of the battleships, not even Caryll's eyes can cause lasting harm on it. They decide to disable the Titan's defenses while the fleet gets into effective firing range of their cannons.

Lily uses her abilities to fly to its tail and deal with it, she takes both of her pouches containing all of her seeds and slams them against the appendage. Then by empowering her Semblance with magic, she forces the seeds to rapidly grow between the cracks of the tail like vines, soon the entire tail is constricted by magically enhanced plants, stopping it from moving any further.

Caryll is acting as a decoy once again, he uses Kamui to appear erratically around the Titan and bother it with arrows, which don't do much, but infuriate the Basilisk further. Theo gets Zwei to help her move around and attacks its eyes directly in an effort to blind it. Things don't go well however, everybody is getting tired just by trying to keep themselves alive, soon they make a mistake that the snake is quick to exploit. As Caryll and Lily are lined up for a moment, the Grimm shoots it black breath at them at point blank range, something which proved to be fatal to an entire battleship before.

Time slows down for Theo and she remembers what Caryll had told her before along with one of her remaining memories about her caretaker. That memory ends with her throwing a journal away into the ocean. Finding some comfort and resolve in it, her eyes activate right in front of one of the snake's pupils. The effect is immediate and the miasma evaporates mid-flight, the effected eye of Apophis is petrified completely.

At this point, the battleships get close enough to fire their main cannons, however they still prove to be ineffective against its healing ability until a lucky shot hits an area currently aflame with the white flames. The shot effortlessly pierces straight through the snake's body and continues as a white beam of light on the other, leaving behind a gaping hole and fluttering burning white ash in its wake. Noticing this, Caryll tells the other to retreat and radios his idea to the military. He starts Igniting portions of the Basilisk's body and has the military target these areas with everything they have. The effect is nothing short of devastating, the white flames greatly enhance the potency of the fleet's weapons and negate the Titan's healing properties. As all the battleships get in visual range and unload every weapon they have at their disposal, Caryll is seen blinking in and out of existence, Igniting painted areas and flying missiles to great effect. Soon, Apophis seems to realize how outmatched he has become and tries to escape out in the desert by digging into the earth. Seeing this, Caryll notches his last three Stormlance arrows and shoots them into Apophis' remaining eye. The three ignited projectiles spear through its bare skin and embed themselves into its head. Caryll runs out of Aura immediately after and is caught mid-air by Theo holding Zwei. The Titan slows its struggles in a daze and soon collapses under the power of the entire fleet's continuous bombardment.

The greatest Titan is slain.

Chapter 24:

In the aftermath, Caryll and co are enjoying their downtime while it lasts. The people are heralding them as the saviors of Karnacca and the next coming of the First Hunters. We join them as they make their way through the half-ruined city, which is still beautiful, even though nothing seems to be undamaged. Lily doesn't know how to handle the fame, though she doesn't think about it at all that much. When prompted she confesses that she feels lost and scared, not knowing what to do with herself now that she really is alone. Caryll promptly reminds her that she will always have her friends, which Theo quickly confirms. Lily is thankful, but still remains somewhat distraught for the rest of the day.

On the contrary, Theo seems to enjoy the attention, though she almost never introduces herself to anyone and even when she does, she only uses her first name. When asked about this, she hesitantly explains the reason; her full name is Theodora Gehrman, the great-granddaughter of Arren. It's nothing to boast about, she claims, being the descendant of a hated figure. Even while her family was alive they never used their name and always lived on the peripheries. Caryll is shocked to hear this at first, then he reasons that names shouldn't define people in the first place and any mud her name carries should be washed away now anyways, so she might as well use it. while Lily doesn't care that much seeing as the name means nothing to her in the first place.

Theo takes their reactions disbelievingly until Caryll offers her his family name if she really doesn't want to use her own, claiming that they are just as good as family at that point and that Summer would most likely adopt her once she hears of her situation anyways. Theo still believes Caryll to be joking until she realizes he isn't, she then says that she will think about it, not that Caryll has the right to be giving out last names in the first place. Caryll to this stops in place and tells her as the acting patriarch of House Rose that he bestows her with their family name, may she find pride in it and further it for future generations. The serious air around the trio dissipates and they fall into friendly banter with Lily demanding the name as well, only to be told that her name wouldn't make sense if they did. The scene ends with Caryll giving Arren's journal to Theo, saying that it's hers to have. Theo appears to be very reluctant, but eventually accepts the gift.

In the next scene, we follow Caryll as he is called for a holo-meeting with every Headmaster at once, well, almost all of them; Theodore is too busy handling the aftermaths of Caryll's stay in Vacuo. The other three are asked to relay his thanks, and a semi-serious curse for causing him all this work. The Headmasters express their gratitude to Caryll for saving the city, but he is tense around the trio, not really knowing what the whole point of this meeting was. When he shares his confusion, he is told that they wish to reward him by officially making him a Hunter. They reason that he has all the qualities and most of the conditions necessary, acknowledging him at this point would only be a formality. Caryll is doubtful and asks them to elaborate, since as far as he knows, he needs to have his teacher's approval and complete the exam first, not to mention his young age. Ironwood explains that while what Caryll is saying is true, with public approval overwhelmingly in his favor no one would complain about his age problem, and that the exam is just a way to see the skill of the applicants, the individual Headmasters have the final say in the process. Ozpin then goes to say that they already have his teacher's approval, when Caryll questions how's that possible with Nicholas dead, Ozpin asks him to check his Scroll. Caryll does so and finds a short message from Nicholas that is dated a few days back. It says that now he doesn't have to stow away anymore. Caryll then realizes that the timestamp means Nicholas must've sent his official approval alongside their distress signal. Caryll is left speechless and only asks to talk with Ozpin face to face, alone. Lionheart and Ironwood leave at that, but not before mentioning that Cordovin would have a few select words to him if they ever meet again.

Now alone, Caryll teleports himself back to Beacon and meets with Ozpin in his office. Ozpin is kind and welcoming in his words, but Caryll is unusually tense and pensive. When Ozpin notices this he asks what's bothering Caryll, who reveals that he knows everything that has happened with the First Hunters and Ozpin's role in it, he doesn't outright condemn Ozpin, but asks why he did everything he did. Ozpin appears to visibly age at hearing those words but complies on his own accord. He admits that he doesn't really like to remember that part of his life and that he regrets his actions and the fates of Team ASHE. Despite that, to this day he doesn't know what else he could've gone back then, and it eats away at him every time he thinks about it. He then goes on to say that the reason for his betrayal was that they were too successful, too ambitious.

Caryll is predictably agitated at this and demands to know more. Ozpin says that while their dreams were admirable, they were just impossible and hazardous. They were intent on pushing back the Grimm to extinction, expanding the kingdoms to their full extents and that was something Salem would have never taken lying down. By being so exceptional, they were actively risking unleashing Salem's wrath right after a devastating world conflict. That would throw everything into jeopardy, the somewhat stable world he had created by hand where man and Faunuskind could prosper would be in danger, that wasn't wasn't something Ozpin himself could afford, not after everything. Ozpin also knew that they would never accept this truth, so he did what he thought was the best for the whole world. He finishes by saying that the world needs guardians, not idealists.

Caryll responds by asking if Hunters are these supposed guardians of the world, after Ozpin confirms this he soundly declines the offer to become a Hunter. He expresses sympathy for the choices he had to make, but doesn't refrain from openly criticizing Ozpin. He then tells Ozpin of their plan and tells him that if he truly feels regret about his actions he should help them. Ozpin is skeptical, he doesn't mind Caryll taking along Team STRQ or anyone else from his camp, but he refuses to go himself. He reasons that it would be cruel of him to stop them from rescuing Summer and he couldn't bring himself to stop another idealist yet again. He finishes with a warning, that even if he doesn't have the heart to hinder them this time, he won't help them either, someone needs to pick up the pieces if/when they fail. Caryll realizes that's about as much as he can get from this conversation and the two bid each other good luck. The chapter ends with Raven telling everyone that Summer stopped moving.

Chapter 25:

The chapter begins following a heist movie format, wherein we see both the planning and the execution happen parallel to each other. Knowing that there's no way to quietly complete the mission, stealth is completely neglected in favor shock and awe. Caryll appears above Salem's castle using one of Raven's portals and searches for an ideal spot, once there he summons the rest of the team and everyone splits up as planned. Lily and Theo are tasked with creating a perimeter around the castle to stop the horde of Grimm reinforcements that are bound to arrive. Team TRQ searches for Salem's lieutenants and engages them with the intent to kill, while Caryll makes a beeline towards the dungeons where Summer is kept. On the way he encounters a new Grimm variant based on angels/valkyries that act as the castle's guards. After dispatching them he frees Summer, fills her in on their plan and the two make their way to the rendezvous point where everyone is supposed to meet after completing their tasks.

On the outside with Lily and Theo, they use Lily's powers to create a wall of plants around the castle that could keep out the Grimm for a small amount of time. With their task complete, they make for the rendezvous point. Team TRQ hit a snag in their part of the plan and get bogged down fighting Watts, Hazel and Tyrian.

At around this time Summer and Caryll reach the rendezvous point, only to find that Salem herself is already there, waiting for them. Despite knowing that they would need everyone together to fight her, the two have no choice but to engage her on their lonesome.

On their way to catch up, Lily learns that there is still one more person down in the dungeons and heads off to investigate it on her own despite Theo's protests. She later finds out that the person held in captivity is her sister, but their reunion is nowhere near as joyful as she'd thought it would be. Even at first glance it's obvious that she's not the same person she used to be. Her will is close to breaking from the torture and emotional manipulation she underwent. It is revealed that she inherited the Summer Maiden powers upon Konan's death and that Salem intends her to be her queen piece as this is before Cinder's time, it is also very clear that she wouldn't last much longer under these conditions. She blames Lily for what happened to their family and tries to kill her. Lily is heartbroken at seeing this and barely has the will to fight back, eventually she knocks her sister out and just asks Zwei to take them home in a defeated tone.

The fight with Salem forced the two Roses away from the castle and they have no choice but to fight a defensive battle in the crater with the Pool of Darkness nearby, it is at this point that Theo reaches them. Upon witnessing the fighting, she activates her Semblance, but her expression grows more and more desperate as time goes on. Finally, she unwittingly gathers everyone's attention by summoning the Relic of Destruction via Zwei and stabbing it directly into the journal Caryll gave her. To everyone's surprise, the Relic activates and a weathered man emerges from wisps of red Aura.

The man introduces himself as Arren Gehrman.

Chapter 26: Memento mori

The chapter starts with Theo's backstory that was hinted throughout the story. The "mining accident" at the beginning of Chapter 6 happened in Theo's hometown. In reality, a Grimm attack broke through the perimeter of the city, killing her family along with hundreds of others, Theo herself only survived thanks to a book that "called out" to her from the attic. The book guides her through the attack and becomes her caretaker and guide for years to come. She is taught advanced fighting techniques and theory by said book, though she doesn't know why, when she asked, it replied by saying that it would like a successor to its legacy, since it couldn't achieve it by itself. It also believes that Theo is capable of filling in those shoes. The voice is Arren's, it tells her the truth about Salem, Silver Eyes, the First Hunters and what Theo would have to do to achieve their dreams. While Theo is conflicted, thanks to her past trauma she does see the book's point, but ultimately she refuses it and stubbornly insists that there has to be a better way to achieve it. She declares that she doesn't believe in its dream and throws the book into the ocean. The next few scenes detail events from Theo's point of view; her declaration of believing in Caryll, hope at awakening her eyes and the inner conflict upon receiving a book with that same voice.

Back to the present, Arren doesn't waste any time and rushes Salem, intent on severing her immortality just like he did before, however he is quickly repulsed and forced to remain at a distance. He comments that just as he thought, he's too weak to sever her curse. With that, he turns to Summer and Caryll, saying that it is up to them to do it where he has no chance. To everyone's surprise, he attacks them and the two are forced to defend themselves while Salem contends herself watching by the sidelines as her enemies tear each other apart. They demand to know what he thinks he's doing and Arren claims that Caryll should have part of the picture by now. His plan is to use the Relic of Destruction in conjunction with his Silver Eyes to rid the world of Grimm, just like Erra suggested earlier. The energy could be provided with the Relic of Creation. Summer is appalled to hear this, knowing that removing the staff is tantamount to destroying an entire kingdom, Caryll is similarly distraught at the idea and demands to know what this has anything to with them.

There is more to the plan, Arren claims, to achieve lasting peace they would have to get rid of Salem and Ozpin and the only ones capable of severing immortality are Gods, or at least godlike beings. The second part of the plan is having someone bathe in the Domain of Light, gaining immortality and then seizing the sword and the staff to become walking gods on Remnant, limitless entities capable of ending Salem and Ozpin. The only problem is that Arren himself isn't capable of that, due being revived from the dead, his Semblance and immortality intertwined, creating something different entirely, something that lacks synergy with the Relics and his plan.

He's just the cultivator guiding the real savior this world needs. This battle with them is just required to make one of them eligible to use the Relic of Destruction. He shows them the Sword and explains that just as Erra said, Silver Eyed Warriors have a harder time achieving balance due to their nature, then continues to say that the Silver Eyes are just one half of their divine origins and that it's just the aspect more easily awakened in their environment. If the Silver Eyes awaken by recalling good memories, light on the inside while darkness is present outside, then to balance the scales one needs to remember the worst, the darkness while an extraordinary source of light is outside, a Relic created by the God of Light for example.

Knowing full well what that would entail, Caryll and Summer do their best to fight back while Theo is watching on with a frozen expression of shock as things unfold. Arren is the hardest foe they've faced yet, undoubtably one of the strongest person while alive the first time, he's nearly unmatched in the present. Despite this, Summer manages to land a fatal blow on his person and they get to watch as his body disintegrates into red wisps of Aura. They are shocked to see the man appearing not far from them with a satisfied smile on his face. He expresses his joy upon seeing that they were so powerful already and comments that he understands why they would wish him dead, he even wishes they could kill him, but he can't rest until the world is saved. Caryll then captures him with Kamui, but the duo can already hear the sound of applause behind them. This time Arren praises Caryll's Semblance, but laments that not even it can sever a curse this powerful. The only reason he was sealed away from reality this long is because Ozpin cursed him using the Relic in the past, barred from ever returning. Now that he had the Relic from himself, it was impossible to stop him.

What follows is a brutal beatdown that immediately makes it clear that Arren was going easy on them from the beginning. The two are quickly forced onto their knees from exhaustion with the Relic of Destruction pointed at their throats. As a small act of kindness, Arren allows one to die for the other's sake, the two predictably begin trying to convince him to kill them and spare the other, but it ends when Caryll desperately declares that he would never go along with his plan. Arren nods sadly at his, saying that he believes him and slashes his chest open. Summer is horrified to see Caryll's lifeless body hit the ground. Something that only deepens once Arren pick his corpse up and tosses it into the lake.

Chapter 27:

We follow Caryll as he finds himself in a dark place that he mistakenly thinks is the afterlife. Before he can lose himself in sorrow, he hears a familiar voice beckoning him over. Following the voice, he soon finds himself in what looks like the living room of an apartment with two people waiting in it. They are Nicholas and Kara, and all of them are in Limbo. Caryll is surprised by this but nevertheless takes a seat as they beckon him over. Nicholas expresses his surprise over how soon he joined them but is happy to see him, Kara is likewise happy, claiming that his brother told her much about him. The three have a talk and Caryll explains what happened since Nicholas' passing.

Back in reality, Summer is reduced to a quivering mess of despair, but no changes occur to her. Arren reasons that she mustn't have a single dark spot in her soul then for the evolution to not occur, he then calls her a failure both as a Huntress and as a savior. He then raises his sword to strike her down.

In Limbo, Caryll finishes his tale, but he's visibly distraught by the end. The two siblings share a look and praise his achievements up to this point. They then question him whether or not he intends to go back. Caught off guard by this, Caryll asks what they are talking about. They explain that the flow of time between Limbo and reality is different, even though they have been talking for what seemed like an hour, barely any time passed in the real world. What's more, he may be the only one actually capable of going back, thanks to his unique soul. Caryll is confused but quickly realizes that he still has access to Kamui, and that he can feel Limbo and the real world. For the first time in their meeting, he expresses some hope.

However they clarify that he wouldn't be able to return just like that, right now he's just an incorporeal spirit, not to mention that the distance is just simply too much for his Semblance to cover, he would need to accumulate Aura for decades to even attempt crossing it.

Nicholas places his hand on his shoulder and tells him to just focus on his destination, he will handle the rest. His outline visibly fades as he gives his Aura to Caryll, but even this proves to not be enough, that is until Kara clasps a hand on his other shoulder and does the same. She only asks Caryll to set her fool of a friend straight in return. Moved by the gesture, he bids them farewell and and warps himself to his Time-Space. Knowing he doesn't have much time before he completely dissipates into the background of the dimension, Caryll converts some of his own Aura into Summer's and once again activates his Semblance.

In the real world, the sword descends and carves into Summer without resistance, so little in fact that it just sails right through her as if she wasn't in its way in the first place. All parties involved are perplexed by this, until Summer hears Caryll's voice in her head telling her that he's okay for now, but she needs to find his body and insert some of his Aura into it before it's too late. Desperate and resolute, Summer realizes what she has to do. She makes her way towards the lake while avoiding all obstacles in her way, all attacks seem to phase through her as she nears the shore, converts a little of her Aura into Caryll's, jumps up and aims an Ignited Stormlance arrow with in it at the single speck of color in the black abyss. The arrow hits the sinking body and transfers that miniscule amount of Aura, with an anchor available to his soul, Caryll warps his consciousness inside.

The celebration is short lived however, he is in the middle of a lake of pure destruction in a mortally wounded body. His loaned Aura rapidly heals his injuries and in essence acts like her immortality did for Salem, as in instead of destroying him, the darkness begins to slowly corrupt his body and thoughts. He struggles to resist it and repeatedly unleashes his eyes to reverse the corruption spreading inside his body to some effect. After much back and forth he finally breaches the surface of the lake, gasping for air with the darkness moving weakly across his body.

However as soon as he looks up, he sees the scene he dreaded the most; Arren striking Summer down and her body hitting the ground with a dull thud. A change occurs in him and in the next moment the Relic of Destruction disappears along with the arm holding it. It reappears in Caryll's hand, who venomously calls for Erra's help. The darkness around him, that up to this point just lazily shifted around, suddenly stills and then moves around Caryll with purpose. Caryll then charges ahead with a frenzied battle-cry, the darkness following him around obediently.

What follows is a massacre where Caryll kills Arren multiple times, the balance of power now tipped completely on his side, though it's obvious that using the power of the sword alongside his his fully evolved Semblance is slowly killing him. It is revealed that Arren's branch of immortality allows him to revive in specific places marked with his Aura every time he dies, in this fight it's the book Theo carries, but there are many scattered across Remnant. Arren congratulates Caryll on awakening his eyes' other aspect, proven by how the flames produces by his eyes are now violet instead of white, though he warns him not to waste the sword on him, it wouldn't achieve anything but satisfy his new rabid nature. He's right, the fight contains none of the finesse we're used to by Caryll, instead it's brutal with little regard to self-preservation or reason, that is until Caryll makes his final attack run.

A scenario similar to the one with Konan plays out with a dome shield made of Aura that Caryll attempts to pierce. At first he uses his sword, new violet flames and the black ichor of the lake to attempt piercing it, but Arren Ignites the tip of the blade with violet flames, intent on having it incinerated, however a change occurs. The violet flames Caryll's eyes produce, suddenly gain a white coloration at their base and actively hold back Arren's fire. This is the result of Caryll slowly regaining control of his emotions and forcibly reverting his eyes back to the way they were before the fight, soon more and more of his flames appear white instead of violet.

Arren begins panicking at this, begging Caryll not make her mother's sacrifice in vain, he also expresses his confusion over why Erra is still allowing Caryll to use it if he no longer meets the requirements. Caryll remains silent over the issue and instead finishes their standoff by fully reverting his eyes and piercing the shield and Arren's side. A moment after the fact, black ichor bursts from the wound and forms spikes all over Arren's insides. They miss vital organs, but completely inhibit his movement and suck up any and all Aura he might have. The fight is over.

It is only at this point that Caryll reveals that he merely suppressed this new aspect of his eyes and he doesn't think it's possible to get rid of them. His words sound hollow, even his face lacks the usual color it would normally have, even such a small scale use of the Relic took its toll on him. Arren calms down at this and actually smiles, telling Caryll that he is now the strongest person on Remnant and so it's now up to him to be the savior the world needs. He then contently bestows their dreams onto him. Caryll doesn't say anything to this and merely seals away the immobilized Hunter into his Time-Space.

At this point, Salem decides to finally call out to him and begins talking about how amusing of a sight that was and that if he thought that his little trick would work on her, he is gravely mistaken. It might take her a minute or a century, but she would inevitably find her way back here. Caryll doesn't seem to be paying any attention however, he just silently summons the lamp and calls for Jinn. He then uses the last question to ask if there is any other other way to contact the Brother Gods, besides gathering all four Relics.

Elsewhere, the wall holding back the brunt of the Grimm is overrun and Team TRQ are forced disengage and retreat. Only Theo and Caryll remain there from the original team. Caryll warps away Summer and quietly confronts Theo, simply asking why she did this. She answers by saying she is sorry, that she thought this was the only way. It appears a change has also occurred in her, violet flames dance around her eyes now, a result of seeing Caryll die the first time. She then collects herself and states that she no longer believes in him. Theo then simply walks away and Caryll can't find the will to stop her.

He similarly prepares to leave, but Salem's words stop him. She demands he hand over the Relics he carries. Caryll rebukes by saying he would like to see her try. The tone of the conversation soon changes however when Salem states that she has no choice then, if he doesn't give them up, she'll have to personally start her crusade for them right now and burn everything in her way. She reasons that it's obvious Caryll is the strongest mortal person in the world right now, so it would be pointless to send her followers after him. Caryll counters by threatening to banish the relics beyond Remnant. The two begin a terse back and forth, both of them threatening the other with no hesitation until they reach a compromise. Salem herself wouldn't start a war with humanity or go after the Relics for at least 10 years, her agents may target him and him alone, in exchange Caryll would release the Relics upon his death (via Zwei).

This agreement ensures that the world will remain safe for a while longer, and that his family could live peacefully and prepare for the future. Unfortunately this also means that he will have to stay away from them as a result.

Chapter 28: Epilogue

This chapter contains a couple time jumps spanning a few months, but the abridged version is as follows; Heeding Jinn's answer, Caryll searches for the Domain of Light and finds it after a couple of months, once there he eats a strange fruit from the tree in the middle of the lake. He is briefly transported between realms and meets the Gods. He implores them to resurrect Summer, and they promptly try to incinerate him as a result, only his Semblance saves him. He states he knows the laws regarding life and death, but begs them to listen to his reasoning first before passing a judgement. They decide to hear him out, but warn him that if his reasoning is unsatisfactory, his Semblance will not save him a second time. Caryll explains that her death was due to an imbalance of life and death, that he himself is an interloper in their creation, that Arren is likewise cheating the system, not to mention Salem and Ozpin. He begs them to bring her back and punish himself in her stead, since it was their fault she died in the first place. The Gods share a look and decide to comply with the request this one time. They resurrect Summer and Caryll prepares himself to be incinerated, only for nothing to happen. When questioned, the Gods state that they won't go back to Remnant to enact judgement until they are called, and so in exchange for granting his request they task him to restore the balance himself. Before sending them back, they also warn Caryll against trying to trick them.

The story ultimately ends with a final heartfelt conversation between Summer and Caryll where Summer learns of the deal Caryll made with Salem and begs him to come home. Caryll for the first time since Summer died breaks down crying and asks Summer if she thought he wouldn't want to if he could, or that he wanted any of this to happen. Summer is similarly heartbroken once she realizes this series of events is in great part her fault. Caryll then goes on to say that since he was dead for a while, Raven's connection should be severed with him now, and that their family most likely believes that he's dead, he tells Summer not to correct them about this. It would be better for all parties involved if he was left alone since he would be hunted by Salem's agents anyway. Summer tries to argue this, but Caryll is adamant in a resigned way. In an offhand comment he mentions that the supposed "savior" of the world should expect nothing less. The two share one last embrace where they reaffirm their bond before going their separate ways.

And this is it, the rough outline I would have taken the story through. It will likely never be finished, but I'm somewhat content all things considered.

When I first got into the fanfiction community of RWBY, which was years ago, the first Self-Insert story I've read was Reiteration by Phailen. I liked it immensely back then and considered it as a benchmark for a good Self-Insert fanfiction. I remember thinking that maybe I could write something that could be as successful as that story. That's how the seeds for this story were planted first.

Well, that was years ago and TSEP has officially surpassed that story in both follower and favorite count (Not that means anything quality-wise, mind you), so I consider this story a great success in that regard.

If this final author's note still isn't enough for you, then the best consolation I can offer you is that I'm still around writing different stories and that one day I might revisit the concept CoughTheSilverEyedHuntressCough. Though that's still far off at best and it would be a complete reboot.

Well, I suppose this is the last time.

Cheers,