Chapter 32: Ideals

It was her fault!

Everything was her fault!

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha cried out to no one in particular as she defeated an attacking Nevermore.

Slamming her blade into its neck with one fell swoop she ended the beast.

Pyrrha couldn't rest though.

This wasn't enough.

Throwing her shield with Polarity she struck at another Nevermore as it attacked the stands of the arena.

While it was stunned Pyrrha took advantage of it by jumping on its back right as it was flying away, she hacked at it maniacally until it crashed and started to disintegrate

This still wasn't enough.

She needed to do more.

She needed to kill more Grimm.

She needed to save more people.

All the people suffering, all the mayhem, all the destruction, all the deaths, particularly one, was her fault.

How did this happen?

She was just fighting Ruby's friend from Atlas Penny.

It seemed like a normal match at first.

Albeit it was a bit strange that Mori was missing from the booth.

There was a bit of a commotion as people were wondering what happened to the eccentric announcer.

Pyrrha herself couldn't help but worry about her friend.

He was a lot of things, but he wouldn't just skip his duties like that.

That and he had been telling Pyrrha all morning that he had been looking forward to her match so she knew he wouldn't miss this for anything.

But alas, his duties weren't that important and him not being there didn't mean they could stop the matches.

The teachers eventually sorted it out as Professor Port took Mori's place in being the MC.

Pyrrha could only hope that whatever was taking Mori so long would be resolved soon.

Then the fight with the girl began.

They were pretty even and Pyrrha was having fun fighting against the girl.

She was incredibly skilled, and it was one of the tougher matches Pyrrha had fought in.

Everything was going just fine until Penny got unusually aggressive and just surrounded Pyrrha with swords ready to skewer her.

Pyrrha had no choice but to defend herself using her semblance.

But to her horror when Pyrrha tried to defend herself by throwing the swords back at Penny, Pyrrha misjudged how many swords were there and the next thing Pyrrha knew Penny was in pieces.

That sight was horrifying to Pyrrha.

She…she killed her.

She could still remember seeing the light in Penny's eyes fade.

The next thing she knew Cinder from Haven's face suddenly appeared on the big screen.

Pyrrha couldn't remember exactly what she said due to her being in shock of murdering Penny but the next thing she knew Amity Stadium was under attack.

The only reason she was able to snap out of it was due to the screams of innocent civilians.

Snapping back into action Pyrrha began to fight back in an attempt to atone for her mistake.

Water began to fill Pyrrha's eyes as she continued to fight the wave of Grimm attacking Amity.

No! She couldn't cry now.

Now was not the time to cry.

She had to be strong.

She needed to make up for her mistake.

She had to save everyone; she couldn't let more people die because of her careless error.

If only she took that power she was offered she'd be able to save everyone.

If she took that power…

Maybe she wouldn't have killed Penny.

That lifeless face once again intruded Pyrrha's thoughts as the girl's death played in slomo within her mind.

The tears were getting stronger.

Hold it back!

She didn't deserve to cry after all she had done.

Her vision started to blur as colors started to mix.

The sounds of battle soon started to get farther and farther from her as she felt herself stumble.

Why was this happening?

Was she still in Amity right now?

Where did she need to be right now?

What could she do?

Who could she save?!

"Pyrrha watch out!" a voice yelled as a shot rang close to Pyrrha's head.

Her vision finally cleared as she realized how much of a precocious situation, she was in.

In her grief, she became distracted, almost letting a Nevermore strike her backside.

Pyrrha turned around to thank her savior only to freeze when she realized who it was.

It was Ruby, who seemed to still have tears running down her face.

Pyrrha could barely look at the girl.

"Ruby, Ruby I'm sorry I-"

Pyrrha stilled as Ruby held a hand up in aid. "You didn't do this."

"Why?" Pyrrha asked back, confused by the sudden forgiveness, "I murdered your friend."

How could Ruby forgive her for her carelessness?

No longer waiting for Pyrrha to take her hand Ruby instead grabbed Pyrrha and pulled her into her embrace.

"This wasn't your fault," Ruby whispered as Pyrrha felt her tears fall on her neck, "None of this is your fault."

Pyrrha finally let it all out as she let the tears flow as well.

Screams interrupted from the crowd interrupting their mourning for Penny as a loud explosion was heard over the tv.

Pyrrha and Ruby looked towards the big screen to see what was the source of the extra panic.

Pyrrha's heart dropped as she witnessed the cause.

A giant Grimm was erupting out of Mt. Glenn.

She had never seen a Grimm like that before.

It stretched its wings and to her horror she watched it take off.

And she had a feeling she knew where its destination was going to be.

"What is that?" Ruby asked horrified.

"I think… I think that's a Wyvern," Pyrrha responded back equally horrified.

She had never seen a Wyvern before; she had only heard of it from story.

A massive Grimm that caused waves of destruction wherever it went.

A Grimm that hadn't been seen in ages.

Why was a monstrosity like that so close to Vale?

This was so, so bad. They could barely handle the Horde now they'd have to deal with something that big?

Things couldn't possibly be getting any worse right now.

James Ironwood could only watch in horror as he watched the Wyvern burst from Mt. Glenn

Only a scream for help pulled him out of a hit as he grabbed his gun and fired his weapon at a dive-bombing Avian barely saving the life of a civilian.

"Thank you!" The woman said graciously.

Ironwood only grunted in response as he directed Winter and the AceOps to get the civilians to safety.

If it wasn't a complete panic before it was now.

Even the Huntsmen in training were running around scared out of their wits.

Nothing was going right, they had lost Penny, then, his ships that were stationed above in the air were suddenly shot down by his flagship and the Sentinels that were still here were attacking everyone else.

His only hope now was that the rest of his fleet get back in time from their inspection of the south sea and restore order.

"Uhm sir," one of his Lieutenants called out trembling, "We've got news about the rest of the fleet."

Ironwood sighed a breath of relief. Hopefully, there was going to be some good news.

If he could get the rest of his fleet back, they should be able to take control of the situation.

Then once everything was under control, he'd capture that woman who was responsible for this and make her pay for this chaos.

"Thank goodness, direct the captain to take out the rogue ship, once that is done organize the fleet into a defense position and prepare to face the incoming Wyvern," Ironwood directed as he quickly formulated his plan to take care of the situation.

"Once we have defeated the Wyvern then we—"

"Sir!" his Lieutenant interrupted, "The news… isn't good news."

"What do you mean by that?" Ironwood growled as his eyes narrowed.

"The fleet it…the Fleet got wiped out!" His Lieutenant cried, "Every ship, sentinel, and Man gone!" He wailed.

Ironwood's heart dropped, the last hope he had was now gone.

"What! How!?" Ironwood demanded as he looked at the Lieutenant angrily for answers, "How does a fleet of that size and caliber get wiped out?"

The Lieutenant was shaking before he answered.

"I…I don't know what that was," He stuttered as he tried to regain his composure, "I…I've never seen anything like that before."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't describe it, sir, you…you have to see it for yourself."

The lieutenant then gave Ironwood the scroll while the man was still trembling.

What could cause this kind of reaction to a man of his caliber?

Once he played the video, he soon understood what sort of thing could inspire such a visceral fear.

It was a Grimm but…

It was unlike any other Grimm that Ironwood had seemed in his life.

It was humongous, by far the largest Grimm Ironwood had ever seen.

No, not even the largest Grimm, it was close to the largest thing he had ever seen.

The only thing that came close to that monster's size was the pillar in the northern sea.

Ironwood couldn't tell the exact height of the beast, but he could tell it was at least one hundred meters tall.

Then there were the exact details of the monster that gave Ironwood chills.

It was like a giant lizard up to its waist and then a serpentine lower half.

Then there were its spikes protruding all over it giving the monster not only a menacing look but also armor.

Not even movie directors could ever hope to design something this monstrous.

Ironwood hoped it wasn't as scary as it looked but that thought was soon dashed as it began to attack his fleet.

First, there was the fact that it destroyed a fourth of his ships with one swing of its arm.

Then there was the breath attack that destroyed another large part of his fleet.

Finally, there was the Grimm it created to chase after his surviving ships that were retreating.

But the scariest thing of all happened at the end.

The ship that was filming was the last one to survive and instead of continuing to flee its brave men turned the ship around and charged at the beast to bring it down with them.

Their sacrifice was in vain though as the beast easily plucked it from the air and swallowed it.

But that wasn't the thing that gave Ironwood shivered no…

It was before the beast swallowed the ship it looked directly into its bridge and … smiled.

This thing understood what it was doing, and it was intelligent enough to feel emotion.

Now that Ironwood could think about it, if it was just a wild beast like most Grimm it would've left the fleeing ships alone but instead, it created its own Grimm to chase the survivors.

Something that big, that powerful and that intelligent should not exist in this world.

Ironwood's brain fretted as he tried to think about what to do now.

Why was this coming to Vale?

How had no one ever seen a Grimm like this before?

What could they do to stop it?

Ironwood used his semblance to help him think about what he needed to do.

A few seconds passed as a solution came to him.

He didn't like it though.

He needed to abandon Vale.

Beacon was going to fall.

There was no way to save the city.

Ironwood doubted he could save the country.

He had no ships, Penny was destroyed, his own Paladins were attacking people and they had no weapon currently capable of stopping that monster.

If they had a maiden maybe they'd stand a chance, but the current fall maiden was in a coma and even if she had her power transferred, they'd only have an inexperienced maiden.

Even if that monster wasn't coming, they also had a Wyvern making its way to Beacon which was dangerous enough in its own right coming to destroy everything.

And that wasn't even bringing up all the Grimm in the horde that was invading.

He couldn't save the city and everyone in it; instead, he needed to evacuate as many of his soldiers and huntsmen as possible.

They needed to save as much combat power as possible.

He would also try to save as many civilians as possible, but they would not be a priority.

If Atlas, if Remnant were to survive, Vale would have to be sacrificed to buy the world more time to defeat this apocalyptic monster.

This was cold-hearted and monstrous, Ironwood knew that. Countless lives would be lost with this decision. However, if they lost this much combat power today, the rest of Remnant would fall soon after to that monster.

If you were to look at it comparatively the lives of the people of Vale did not outweigh the lives of the rest of Remnant.

Even though it was a tough choice for Ironwood to make, he had to make it, he was the only person who could.

The chaos from the Giant Grimm had only made things harder on Jaune.

The fear it incited from the populace only made things worse as the Grimm Jaune was fighting off became even more frantic.

"You know it'd be really nice to have some Mori Bullshit right now," Jaune thought to himself as he hacked away at another Grimm.

Where was he?

First, he was missing from his MC job and now he was missing the defense of Amity.

It was every man for themselves right now and Jaune was doing his best to push back the invading Grimm.

"Incoming!" A voice shouted as Jaune ducked.

Sun in a flash had launched himself at a Grimm that was behind him with Neptune following close by.

"This is pretty crazy!" Sun chuckled nervously as the three of them started to push more of the Grimm back.

"Stop trying to leave me behind!" Neptune whined, "I'm your partner dammit!"

Speaking of partners, where was Pyrrha?

The last he saw of her she did not look good; she was in no fighting condition right now.

Scanning the battlefield, he quickly spotted her along with Ruby fighting in the middle of the arena.

Getting Sun's and Neptune's attention the three of them carved through a path of Grimm to assist the two.

The trio was greeted with brief smiles as their group of now five continued to fight off the Grimm.

Eventually, this little group of fighters was joined by more of their friends as the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR made their way to them.

"Great everyone's here except one person," Jaune snarked to himself as he blocked an attack.

They could really use a certain brunette's firepower right now.

There were so many Grimm, how much more can he keep fighting?

"Over here!" A voice shouted out as the group looked over at who was calling them.

It was General Ironwood from Atlas; it looked like he was trying to direct them to safety.

Grabbing everyone else's attention, they bolted their way to the General, while the General's forces were providing cover.

When they reached the safe area Jaune noticed Ironwood had gathered the other students as well.

"Mori's not here as well," Ruby softly said as she looked around the room.

Jaune looked around as well as he too tried to find their friend.

He wasn't here either.

What happened to him?

That question went unanswered when General Ironwood cleared his throat in an attempt to get everyone's attention.

"What do you think he wants?" Ruby whispered to Jaune.

"I'm not sure," Jaune whispered back, "Maybe it's a plan of attack?"

That question was soon answered and Jaune did not like it.

"You may be wondering why I have gathered you here," The General yelled out as he caught the students attention, "I will be honest with you our current situation is grim, not only has Amity Arena been invaded but White Fang forces and Grimm are currently attacking Vale."

Jaune could feel Blake stiffen up next to him at the mention of White Fang.

"What are we planning on doing then sir?" Blake asked as she raised her hand.

"That's a good question young lady and that is why I have gathered you here to debrief all the students on the planned course of action," General Ironwood replied as he answered Blake's question, "You are to get with your teams and make your way north once you have reached the edge we will have airships ready for rescue to evacuate you."

Wait, evacuate?

Did that mean the General wanted-

"Wait, your plan is to run away?" Yang shouted, erupting in anger.

"It is a tactical retreat," General Ironwood coldly replied back, "We need to gather our remaining forces so that we may have the strength to fight back against our enemy on our terms."

"But what about the people of Vale?" Ruby asked timidly as she raised her hand.

Jaune nodded along with his fellow Team leader. If they retreated, who would protect the regular citizens?

"If you come across any civilians in trouble, I would recommend helping them, but your first priority is your safety."

"Do you currently have a plan to save the city?" Jaune asked hopeful that maybe the General had something other than getting out of there.

"No," Ironwood replied brusquely, "Vale will fall and the only thing we can do is make sure we lose as little Huntsmen's lives as possible."

"How could you say that!" Nora cried out in tears, "Are you saying that civilian lives don't matter?"

"In this situation, yes."

Silence filled the room at the General's harsh answer.

Jaune stared at the man in disbelief. How could someone be so cold and so willing to sacrifice so many people?

Murmurs of discontent filled the room at this act of cowardice by the General.

Even outside of his friend group, this idea was unpopular with the students.

"I know many of you are dissatisfied with my decision," Ironwood said as he attempted to quell the room, "However, there is a great danger coming to his city, and if we don't have the capability to defeat it right now."

"I think we all saw the Wyvern coming towards us," Yang snarked as she folded her arms in displeasure.

"If it was only the Wyvern, we might have a chance of saving the city," Ironwood frostily replied as he looked at Yang, however, something far worse is coming."

A pang of fear-filled Jaune's heart…far worse?

What could be worse than that giant beast?

Jaune's question was soon answered, and he really wished he didn't ask that.

The general proceeded to show them the far worse thing coming right now and that shut everyone up.

It was …horrifying, Jaune had never seen something like that before.

"What is that?" a student asked.

"I don't know," Was all the response the General gave.

"Where'd it come from?" another student asked.

"I don't know." The General repeated.

"Can it be beaten?"

"I don't know."

Silence filled the room.

"I do not know when this Grimm will arrive, however, I recommend you make your way to the Airships quickly," Were the last words General Ironwood said as he then left the room.

Chaos once again was the natural surrounding as everyone tried to find their team.

Since Jaune had already found his team they were able to gather pretty easily

"So, what's the plan?" Ren asked as he looked at Jaune.

"I…I" Jaune tried to say something, but he couldn't.

The smart thing to do was to do as General Ironwood had recommended and get to the escape ships.

It was sensible, Vale was probably lost and any effort to try to save it was futile.

That and every part of Jaune's body wanted to do that and get away from that monster.

Every part but one.

His heart.

"You guys can go if you want but I want to stay," Jaune said confidently, or as much as he could anyway, "I became a Huntsmen because I wanted to be a hero someone like my Grandfather and I feel like if I run, I betray that expectation that I set for myself."

His team was silent as they continued to look at him.

"I'm going to be honest guys right now I'm scared out of my mind," Jaune said as he continued to try to explain himself.

"Those Grimm out there scare me, That Wyvern coming looks like it can kill me twenty times over, and that Thing…I don't even want to think about it, In fact, I'd rather be on the other side of the world instead of fighting that monster, but…"

His teammates tilted their heads as they waited for Jaune to get to the point.

"I don't want to turn my hand away from people reaching out to be saved," Jaune said with a grim face, "I have been saved so many times when I have needed it and it feels wrong to not help those who would need my help."

"I want to save Vale."

Silence filled the space between them as Jaune gave his resolute answer.

The silence dragged on for a moment as Jaune stared down the assembled huntsmen and huntresses and they stared back.

Suddenly the impasse was broken by the sound of Magnhild snapping shut as Jaune glanced and saw Nora finishing her reload.

"Well?" The carrot top asked in a voice that left no room for argument. "What are you waiting for boys and girls? Let's go. Start working on a plan fearless leader."

Jaune nodded, relieved that his teammates felt the same way he did.

"Do you mind if we join you guys?"

Jaune turned around, seeing Team RWBY looking determined with Ruby leading them with a serious face.

"I want to save people," Ruby said firmly as she approached him, "We also feel the same way."

"Of course! The more the merrier!" Jaune nodded as he welcomed them to their circle.

"That was a pretty good speech, Vomit Boy," Yang smiled as she slugged Jaune in the arm.

Jaune gave her a small smile in response as he rubbed his arm in pain.

Her compliment made Jaune feel good.

Looking around at his group of friends even though the odds were against them he could feel they could take anything on.

Especially if Mori joined them.

Speaking of which, where the hell was Mori anyway?

A cloaked figure stood at the Walls of Vale finally having reached his destination.

The city was already burning, however.

It seemed like Cinder had put her plan into action without him.

Adam didn't really care; he had other things on his mind

No, instead of destroying Vale as he had originally planned, he had come for something else.

Anger filled his heart as the top of his head ached, the humiliation at Mt. Vale would be repaid today.

With one stroke with the freshly repaired Wilt and Blush, he cut down a section of the wall to enter the city.

As he walked through the hall, he made the commotion caused a pack of Beowolves to appear before him ready to attack him.

All Adam did in response was to ignore them and continue walking

He had grown so powerful, he didn't need to worry about small fries like these anymore.

To the Grimm's credit, they did not attack Adam, instead, they backed off and decided to flee.

"Hmm, looks like Grimm can feel fear," Adam thought to himself in amusement.

Putting the interesting observation behind him, he scanned the city hoping to find his target.

Where could he be?

If Adam were to guess he was probably at Beacon right now.

Walking towards the academy Adam nonchalantly went through the ruined streets unafraid of anything.

A gunfight seemed to break out on his way to Beacon.

It was only a couple of huntsmen and it looked like they were winning the fight with ease.

Adam was going to ignore them as they didn't matter as much as the source of his revenge before he realized who those Huntsmen were fighting.

They were fighting the White Fang!

They were killing his men!

Turning towards the chaos he charged his way to the fight like a bull in rage.

Right as they were about to finish off the last member of the White fang troop, Adam stepped onto the battlefield ready to intervene silently raging.

"What the?" One of the Huntsmen said in bewilderment, "This place is dangerous, get out of here!"

Adam ignored him as he unsheathed the blade and cut the man down.

"No!" one of the other Huntsmen yelled out, "You'll pay for that!" She screamed as she charged at him.

Adam sidestepped the Huntress with ease before pummeling the woman into the ground, blood splattering across his face.

The remaining two grouped up more carefully than ever.

Now how should he take care of them?

Should he use that?

No, that power was only to be used to further the Faunus cause.

It was not needed against small fries like them.

They pulled their weapons on him and started to fire.

Adam let the attacks hit him as he absorbed their power.

During this past month outside of getting used to the power he had been chosen with, he had also worked on powering up himself.

Now, he could absorb energy with his aura instead of his weapon.

His blade grew an ominous red, as he slashed, taking one more Huntsman down.

The last Huntsman screamed as his companion's blood splattered across his face.

"Who are you?" The man asked in fear as Adam approached the man, Adam answered by lowering his hood revealing his face.

"You! You're supposed to be dead!"

"You cannot kill an ideal," Adam replied back coldly, he then stabbed the Huntsman right through the heart.

As he took the blade out and let the body fall, Adam looked at the human's blood in disgust as he started to clean Wilt of its filth.

"Adam is that you?"

The Faunus turned towards the sole survivor in response.

"It is you, I thought you died to the Fanginator!"

Adam's blood rose at the mention of his mortal enemy, before attempting to calm himself down.

Getting too angry cost him badly last time he fought against that bastard, he needed to control his anger.

"As you can see, I am fine," Adam stated matter-of-factly, "Now why are you fighting here?"

"The woman you partnered with rallied us to her cause," The soldier responded back, "We wanted to avenge you."

So, Cinder was using his men for her own means, Adam was not happy about that.

"I am not dead," Adam responded back, "Now go, Tell our brothers!"

The soldier nodded as he ran through the streets.

His blood boiled at what Cinder had done.

How dare she twist the noble cause of the Faunus to her own means.

He will deal with her accordingly.

After all, even with her power, it was nothing to the power he was gifted.

The power that chose him to further his cause.

Yes, he would deal with Cinder and show her true power.

But not right now, no.

He still needed to deal with him.

Adam wouldn't do anything else until his blade was stained with the blood of his hated enemy.

The one who humiliated him.

The one who looked down on him.

The one who took his horn.

"Jin Mori," Adam whispered in hate, "I am coming for you."

Hey guys another chapter done this week I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'm not going to do responses to comments this time because I've been super busy and there were a lot of comments, I will try to address some common issues though.

Concerning Mori's fiery eye's he does not have them back yet I have said that multiple times in the text and it was even said in the previous chapter. Mori has lost most of his powers and the only thing he's really kept is part of his physical strength.

I also buffed up Emerald's semblance compared to canon, in it she's able to maintain her illusion from a distance.

If there are any other questions you have please message me or comment for this chapter and I will try to answer questions next chapter

See you next time!

Beta(s)

Eliad91

Patrician Lurker