Chapter 101: Battle For Survival

(3.5k words. Idk how it got that long. Also pls read the end chapter later.)

Three hours passed since the briefing and the Vanguard group consisting of Assault and Scout groups had been armed and flew to the battlefield on Bullheads, air dropping Teams after Teams into smaller settlements outside the kingdom walls.

The Vanguard group goal is to evacuate the civilians and regroup back inside the kingdom walls.

The Defender and Logistic groups encountered a big problem which was a lack of Dust to properly equip their mens due to the previous heist made by Roman Torchwick, forcing them to salvage anything, even household items that hold any amount of Dust and compile them for the Vanguard and Defender group.

Meanwhile, in the depth of Glenn mountain. Ray arrived at the Grimm spawning pool that was modified by addition of black mud into the equation.

He did as he had planned and tone down the enemies to the level where they are difficult but still winnable by removing or toning down most of its passive effects that could cause effects like corruption, fear, negative energy that weaken living beings, etc.

However, his actions were caught by Cinder who scrutinized him for assumptions he is reneging upon his deal with Salem to stay out of the conflict. But she is also helpless to do anything about it when even Salem herself fears Ray.

"Where are your allies?" Ray asked when he sensed this cavern is too silent with only both of them here.

"I have different missions for them but the White Fang is as you have already seen. I use them as a sacrifice to build this Grimm summoning pool under Master Salem's order." Cinder replied nonchalantly about the fact she sacrificed her allies in cold blood to achieve her mission.

"I see. Then, you should excuse me for now as my job here is done and I want to watch the fruit of my own labor." I said and teleported away before she could stop me for whatever reason.

———

Team RWBY were assigned to the Scout group since they have members with more versatile abilities as opposed to heavy hitters like JNPR with Nora and Pyrrha.

"Save your bullets, Ruby. We don't know when we can return to restock our ammunition." Weiss reprimanded her team leader for wasting precious ammunition on the Mutated Grimms along their path.

"Weiss-cream is right, Ruby." Yang remain in high spirit when reminded her sister when she trying crack joke to hide her nervousness. "Still, this didn't look good at all. The Grimm is making a beeline toward the village over there and the evacuation only half complete."

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Ruby looked crestfallen when she was here in the battlefield but incapable of doing anything to help as she could only watch helplessly.

"All this is because of the White Fang. If not because of the heist, Vale can mount proper defense and adopt a more forward approach than forced to hide behind the wall while praying tha Atlesian military arrive on time." Weiss expressed her frustration before she remembered this topic was sensitive to Blake.

All three look at Blake to tell her Weiss didn't throw the remark to aggravate her but they all saw Blake was in dazed and oddly silent, more silent than usual.

"Bl-" Blake suddenly turned into a sprint before Weiss could complete her sentence.

"Blake? Blake! What happened?" All three chase after their teammate that is acting very odd.

Blake jumps on the tree branches and quickly gets close to the swarm of Grimm before she suddenly stops when she is close enough. She looks in horror with hands on her mouth as she identifies what is within the river of black and red, pouring toward the nearby settlement.

"Blake? What did y-" Yang who got close first and supported Blake that almost fell when her legs turned weak. She lifts her head and looks at the direction of Blake's sight to find.

Beneath the large bodies of the Mutated Grimms was hundreds of White Fang members, corrupted by the Black Mud in their uniforms which gave them away.

The corrupted creatures suddenly looked at Team RWBY's direction and howled before charging toward them after sensing a sudden burst of negative emotions from Blake.

"Oh, no! Our position is revealed!" Weiss said while Ruby swiftly orders a retreat and urges her team to escape.

"This Weiss Schnee of Team RWBY speaking. Our stealth has been compromised. I repeat. Our stealth has been compromised." Weiss pulls Scroll out and reports because Ruby is occupied with carrying Blake on her shoulder and blinking away at high speed to escape while others are keeping up.

"This is the Scout group leader. Your situation is acknowledged. Regroup in the nearest village and evacuate immediately." The Scroll sounded which the girls sighed in relief and followed the order.

"Yes. Ma'am." Weiss replied before ending the call.

———

In the Beacon Academy, Ozpin and his trusted agents and allies are having a live conference as they all host a grim look at the information that keeps being feeded to them by the brave Huntsmen on the frontline.

Ozpin stared at the image of the Mutated Grimms and corrupted people with a complicated expression. "I can conclude that this energy is undoubtedly the same as from the Forever Fall forest incident."

"I can see that, Ozpin." James replied sarcastically then creased his brow while skimming through the available informations.

"What I want to know is what method of countermeasures we have at our disposal." Headmaster of Shade Academy said.

"I don't know." Ozpin replied truthfully his entire life, he never saw such a thing happen and everyone in the room and conference was stunned and terrified at the same time.

Grimm is the creation of God of Darkness. Not even Salem, their current master, can make such a drastic change to the Grimm. Which left with one terrifying conclusion that he didn't dare to speak. A being of equal if not greater power than God of Darkness had caused this.

The theory sounded ridiculous yet he knew there is truth to it that he cannot dismiss. An even greater power had entered the board and became a player while he had been demoted into a piece as the situation was beyond his control already. He simply didn't have the qualifications anymore to remain as a player on the board.

"What? What do you mean by that, Ozpin." Stern voice of James questioned Ozpin.

"Do any of you remember what Grimm is?" Ozpin asked with an indescribable expression to Qrow and Glynda.

"Creation of God of Darkness." The headmasters replied based on the fairytale of the Brothers God.

"Then, what do you think can alter Grimm to such a degree when even Salem could only alter their shape but not their traits entirely?"

*Hiss!*

"Ozpin, are you implying that…"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I pray deeply that it's the latter." Ozpin confessed and looked at his ally helplessly.

"Do you suspect this man is God, then?" Theodore of Shade Academy and everyone else, looks at Ray's picture that Qrow captured at Forever Fall forest.

"I suspected, yes. As this burst of negative energy is identical to the one I felt during the Forever Fall forest incident." Ozpin nods.

"Bah. God or not. If he threatens the peace of the world, then he has to go through me first." James with his righteous mindset, declared. Which gladden Ozpin and also made him worried at James' safety.

"James. I do not think it's the best move to aggravate someone of such power."

"Then what are we supposed to do? Just watch as he causes more chaos and destruction?" James retorted and snorted in disappointment at Ozpin. "In my eyes, he is nothing more than a criminal and terrorist that I must arrest." James said before leaving the conference call.

"I think I agree with James. Ozpin." Theodore said and also left the conference. Leonardo too said the same.

"Am I making a mistake?" Ozpin sighed and asked Qrow and Glynda by his side the entire conference.

"Perhaps, who knows?" Qrow gave an cryptic answer. "I worked for you long enough to understand you always work for the best interest of humanity. Perhaps there is truth in your words but you can't expect us to wash our neck waiting for the guillotine. Us Huntsmen wereestablished and trained to combat the threat against humanity, it's our creed and oath when we become a full fledged Huntsmen."

"Even if your opponent is a God? Someone that manipulates apocalyptic power that we have zero chance against?" Ozpin recalled the bad memories of humanity's rebellion against Gods at their peak of power only to be crushed like insects and utterly exterminated.

"That's not for either of us to decide." Qrow straightens himself and looks at Ozpin. "Look. It's odd for me to advise you. But for me, as long as there is still an ember of my will, I will fight to ensure my nieces will survive to live another day. Even if it cost my own life. Such is humanity." Qrow then uncorked his flask and took a gulp.

Glynda who normally will reprimand such action, fell silent as she is also mentally affected by this crisis and this reveal of information.

"I see…" Ozpin fell silent and repeated Qrow's words in his mind.

———

Back at City of Vale, Team RWBY is taking a rest and waiting to be dispatched again but it isn't necessary anymore with the arrival of Atlesian military airships that carry supplies of Dust and an Atlesian Knight to reinforce the city defenses.

In a brief moment during the Atlesian military arrival, Weiss' older sister, Winter Schnee, drops by to check on her younger sister and is glad she is doing fine.

"Sister… are General Ironwood going to send the fleet against the Mutated Grimms?" Weiss asked out of curiosity which Winter nodded before she looked at the Team RWBY.

Winter took out her Scroll and showed the image of Ray before asking them a question. "Weiss, your team I believe had met this individual before. Do you know where he was or any information pertaining to him?"

"Ray? Why?" Weiss replied on behalf of her team as others were also curious why Winter wanted to search for him too.

"He is a Class-SSS criminal wanted by the Atlesian military for suspicion of being the instigator of the Mutated Grimm crisis. Under General Ironwood order, all Special Operatives are to search and arrest this person." Winter disclosed the real reason she was looking for Weiss and the rest of Team RWBY.

"He what?!" All four girls shouted in shock. "He was the instigator?" Weiss felt dizzy for a moment before remembering back to the meeting with Ray this evening. He didn't strike her as someone that would cause such a crisis unless she misjudged him.

Yang however somehow remembered the odd creature Ray summoned and the information she gathered on Ray in the restaurant, before something clicked in her mind to piece the puzzle together and realized perhaps Winter is telling the truth. However, Ruby didn't seem like she realized it yet.

"Mister Ray isn't a bad person. I can tell." Ruby defended Ray because she is more perceptive of evaluating a person and she can tell from just a brief encounter with him, he isn't a bad person.

On a wider scale, Ruby is correct as at the end of the day, what Ray is doing will benefit humanity. What he is doing isn't a senseless destruction of humanity but to set up a test for them. Filtering out the unnecessary waste to raise an empire on this universe.

What is the use of establishing his empire if it will collapse in a few thousand years without any supervision? Or become like Imperium of Men, rotten on the inside and only held together essentially by the existence of God Emperor.

He can't afford to be there in each universe to guide them every time they go down the wrong path. In the future, he will conquer more universes and the number will keep increasing until he seizes the majority of the Omniverse to oppose Ray Elliot by stealing his source of power.

"Whether he is innocent or guilty, everything will become clear after the investigation is done. However, as a suspect. I am afraid that we have to arrest him regardless and be kept under our custody." Winter said which everyone finds logical and acceptable except Weiss who understands how Atlesian military work.

They would use torture on innocent civilians if it would yield any results. Such is the downside of military state, they would resort to extremes if a result can be obtained.

To Winter disappointment, Team RWBY didn't have much information as they only formally met Ray once and it was this afternoon.

"Rest for now, you four did great today. Best to have enough rest because I can feel everyone will need it very soon." Winter sighed and left after giving Team RWBY a piece of advice from her experience with military operations.

Everything is too calm. The Mutated Grimms are heading towards the City of Vale and yet didn't attack yet as they congregate and block the city from the south. They were waiting for something and it could be a few. Either exhausting the defender mentally or to increase their numbers. None of those sound good for the people.

———

Three hours went by and night already descended upon the world of Remnant.

The noise of howl and growl from the Mutated Grimms beyond the wall, mentally and physically exhausted the defender as they are always on the edge, pointing their guns at the sea or black and red that stretch the pitch black horizon.

"What are the higher-ups thinking about? When will they start killing these Grimms!" A frustrated man howled in anger as his stress reached the breaking point.

The number of Grimm keeps increasing without end. Now even the sky was blotted out from any moonlight by the avian Grimms that continue to harass their mental state.

"Stop, Keith. You are playing into their game like this, they are breaking our willpower!" His buddy tried to snap the man out of it but he went crazy and was forced to be sedated by a medic and brought away from the wall.

Looking at this situation, James Ironwood commented. "This is why human soldiers are a liability. Atlesian Knight wouldn't have such issues as low morale and mental state." He spoke to Weiss Schnee along with the Spec-Ops unit that are following the two.

"Sir, we failed to find the suspect within the walls of Vale city. Suspect had probably fled the city although there are no records of him ever leaving the city and even any records of passing the city wall or through Bullhead prior to this crisis." Winter reported dutifully while looking at James with worship from a subordinate to their superior.

"Hmn… It's alright. Your new task is now to disable the Grimm spawning pool that Ozpin briefed just now. Supposedly if we can seal that thing, we can stop the Grimm from increasing in numbers."

"Sir, yes sir!" The Spec-Ops unit saluted upon receiving their order.

"Good. The Defenders will begin their attack to divert the Grimms attention to the city's south wall while you and your unit will complete your task in Glenn mountain along with assistance of Elite Huntsmen of other Academies." James finished informing and let the unit led by Winter to leave towards the airport and board the fleet of Bullheads.

His sharp eyes turn to the side to see Ozpin. His face turned ugly immediately as he couldn't accept that Ozpin, of all people in the world, would betray his and the people's trust by proposing to give up without any fight. James felt angry. Very angry that he wanted to walk up to Ozpin and give him a good beating to bring him back to reality but refrained himself because it is bad for the people on the frontline if the higher-ups are in conflict while they are dying to protect the world.

"Hmp." James snorted disdainfully and auditably on purpose to let Ozpin know his opinion as he returned to his fleet and commanded the attack that would happen soon.

———

As the fleet of Bullheads fly into the depth of night, the Atlesian air fleet opens fire on the Grimms to signify the start of the assault on the Grimm.

The Defenders are told to vent their emotions on purpose to create enough negative emotions to draw the attention of the Grimms.

"Open fire!"

"Those with long rifles aim for the Nevermore!"

"The rest aim for Grimms on the ground!"

"Senior Huntsmen with me! We will dive in and kill those Goliaths before they can ram the city wall!"

Orders were delivered by each commander elected to lead a section of the wall of great length.

"Oraaa!!! I'll kill you freaks for my dead family!" A survivor of those evacuated settlements joined the defense of the city.

"Shoot! Lay waste to our enemies! Don't worry about the ammunition, Atlas Kingdom will deliver more!" An Atlesian military officer shouted to the defenders that shoot hesitantly to conserve their limited supply of Dust.

Everyone is fighting aggressively to see another sun except for the rare few that aren't very affected by the crisis like Team RWBY. None of their family members are at harm if the city of Vale fell in this battle.

They still fight but not to the level of aggression when some go into frenzy and battle rage they jump off the wall and engage in melee once their bullets run out, instead of going to refill the ammunition.

Ray was perching on the tallest building, overlooking the battle on the southern wall and felt quite bored.

It's not as exciting as he expected. People just hide behind walls and Atlesian Knights while emptying their bullets. Exceptions were the Senior Huntsmen led by dozens of powerful Huntsmen diving straight into the sea of blackened Grimms to kill a few Mega Grimms that can topple the wall if allowed to get near.

"Look fun." He sighed and petted the extremely friendly Beowolf he found in Glenn mountain while watching the battle.

"Say… does the battle look too easy? Like it's nothing more than mobs vs mobs at this point."

"Grr?" She growls confusedly at her owner.

"Right? I knew you would understand." Ray nodded satisfyingly. "I know, let's call the dragon Grimm!"

"Gr! Grrr…" She shake her head frantically because she knew that the dragon would be very angry when awoken from its sleep.

"Oh, you think the dragon isn't strong enough?" Ray taps his chin while communicating with the Beowolf. "Fair enough. I sealed most of its ability. Then I'll just need to unseal some to make it harder then."

"Grrrr!" The Beowolf huffed then gave up trying to talk sense to her owner and sat down in resignation while watching her mindless kins fighting the human for her owner's entertainment.

Ray freezes up halfway while injecting negative energy into the dragon through the orb that Salem used as the cornerstone of the spawning pool in Glenn mountain and realizes that using All the World's Evil puts a giant marker on himself to those who are sensitive to the negative energy.

Ray noticed it a little too late when a few dozen laser batteries locked on him and some spotlights to identify his position. Few people are surrounding me from below and one blond lady is floating with Telekinesis power.

"Lift your hands up and surrender!" The airship speaker warned.

Ray gulped nervously and obeyed the warning. He complied and lifted up his arms but froze half way there and lifted his head up to look at the airships. But that look instantly turned into a smile.

He pointed at the flagship and said. "Jokes on you. There isn't any joke at all." Ray thinks it's funny and laughs before jumping off the building with the Beowolf following after him.

"Well, everything went according to plan." Ray mumbled and succeeded, making everyone focus their attention on him before he disappeared again into a portal.

—————

(Seriously, Idk what I write at this point. I forgot what I had planned at the beginning but forgot when someone interrupted me for help. I returned a few hours later and forgot the idea. I try to improvise and this nonsense is the result.)

(The joke is my breaking point. My head wanna rest. The initial plan was Glenn mountain to become a warzone. Every kingdom pitching everything they have to destroy the pre-debuff mutated Grimm before it becomes a total apocalypse. Then the dragon wake up and destroy half of the continent. *insert 0 to 100 meme*:)

(If you all want a rewrite just tell me bro. 3 yes in the comment and I'll do it.)