28 Chapter 28 - Gears moving

"Headmaster Ozpin, are you sure that it's going to be fine like this?" Nephrite looked outside, both of them were standing in his office looking outside. With the solos happening soon, everyone was excited.

What they didn't know, though, was the incoming potential thunderstorm.

"You can call me Ozpin. You are, after all, not a normal student anymore. And yes, everyone is in place and with Qrow, the odds of success are guaranteed." Ozpin said as he sipped on his coffee, his face stoic as ever.

Then an urgent call sounded from Ozpin's scroll.

"Headmaster Ozpin, everyone we tried to contact has lost their lives, and no one knows why or how. Headmaster Lionheart had also refused to elaborate, stating that some losses are inevitable." A voice from the scroll reported.

"There had als-" The voice was cut off.

Ozpin's eyebrows furrowed. Nephrite had an awful premonition in his heart, everything so far seems to be following the cannon, but is this the time when it derails completely?

"Send out the corps to secure Vale, any criminal activity and suspicious movement is to be absolutely suppressed, permission to kill. Any Grimm activity near Vale is to be reported right away. Please get dr. Oobleck to take student Cinder and her teammates for a quick talk. Reinforcements are to be ready at all times." Ozpin said, now it was time to go all out if ever.

Maiden is a serious powerhouse, and someone with even a fraction of that power has strength beyond most.

Ozpin then instructed several people to get ready, General Ironwood was ready as well, after some talk.

Hundreds of silent shadows made their way through Vale's slums, destroying every gang that ignored their warnings. That night, the slums were the quietest part of the city for the first time since its creation.

Several criminal lords had joined the shadows, after all, a larger snake in the light is much better than a smaller one hiding in the darkness.

Meanwhile, Oobleck had called a few first year teams that had got to the solo matches. Cinder and her team, along with NNPR that they met by 'accident', were walking towards the first training grounds.

Unbeknownst to them, Cinder had given a brief notice to someone in case things get dicey.

There is no need to worry! I always wanted to see which of our semblances was stronger, after all, Glynda has the same resemblance as I do." A feminine voice said to Cinder as she got ready in case anything happened.

The plans Cinder had were ready as soon as she arrived at the academy, and all the other processes were just to be prepared in case something unexpected happened.

"Ah welcome team CRMSN and NNPR, you came just in time! We are here to discuss a few things regarding the tournament which would bring the audience even more excitement!" Oobleck said as he periodically sipped on his coffee, two spiders webbing their webs.

The ultimate question was, which would prove to be larger and more durable?

Layers of hard light dust had encapsulated this room. When the clock inside the training room reached 9 O'clock Oobleck 'finished' everything he needed to say.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen. It was a pleasure talking with you, I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening." The moment he did so, Cinder's, Mercury's, and Emerald's hearts stopped for a second.

"RUN!" Cinder screamed and tried to burn her way through the floor. Emerald tried to use her semblance to distract everyone, even for a split second.

Alas it was futile, Ozpin and multiple 'shadow' professors appeared, and the hard dust light enveloped the room tightly, combined with its almost indestructible walls which had been built to endure high levels of damage, even partial maiden's fire could only melt the floor at a snail like speed.

...

Ooh* I wonder what's below!" said a cheerful voice, NNPR and CFVY would recognize the woman standing in an elevator with a glance.

The bodies of a few professors were lying on the ground, their fate unknown. With each step, her aura like a radar scanned and came back giving her information about places unknown to the naked eye.

"This will be fun~!"

...

Ironwood and his army were like a shield, blocking hundreds of Grimm from entering Vale. A tide as big, maybe even larger than Nephrite experienced, was upon Vale.

Citizens were starting to take notice, and unrest had spread throughout Vale.

"All huntsmen please reinforce the walls of Vale! Fourth and third-year students can volunteer as well, second and first-year students please retreat into the Academy or patrol the streets in case any stray Grimm threatens the citizens!"

"Citizens of Vale stay calm, with the Atlesian army and huntsmen, the tide will soon be over... I repeat..." Sirens alerted the citizens and others.

A perk of living in an immense city like Vale was an absolute sense of safety, regardless, this wasn't the first or last time a Grimm tide had assaulted one of the four largest cities nor was this the last.

Citizens just entered into their homes or shelters, some far away from their homes gathered near huntsmen or even some outstanding students. When no Grimm appeared inside the walls, the sense of tension dissipated with time..

"General Ironwood! The Red Fang had appeared near the northern sector, and detonated bombs near the walls. Huntsmen are requesting aerial support and someone with a semblance to fix the wall." A soldier reported to his general.

"Send teams A2 and B1 to the site and a dropship with 100 androids!" stated Ironwood as he observed a digital map, red dots littering the outside walls and more popping into view.

The soldier saluted and went to carry out his task.

It was then when a much larger explosion created a wide hole tens of meters in diameter in the southern wall.

"General, an unidentified group of extremely powerful huntsmen had appeared and blew up the wall!" An urgent voice came from his scroll, but someone cut it off not even a minute later with the sounds of fighting covering a few seconds.

"Gather our elites! I will personally engage the enemy. Brigadier general will take the post until I return!" Ironwood said and boarded a bullhead with his elites.

When he got to the place of conflict, Qrow was holding back a total 6 huntsmen and huntresses.

"Jimmy! Be careful of that creep with silver diadem and black hair! He somehow controlled 2 people after they have captured them!" Qrow said as he was catching his breath with the reinforcements.

"Understood! Everyone absolute alert!" Ironwood and his elites changed the tides of battle, forcing the woman next to the man with the silver diadem who was leisurely standing behind to act.

She took out a plain bow and arrow with an intricate imperial design and filled it with ludicrous amounts of aura before shooting.

Ironwood deflected the arrows and was searching deep in his memory. He had heard about this group...

One of his elites had approached the woman, the elite attacked the woman just for his face to pale, forcing him to retreat straightaway.

"General, she somehow took away portion of my aura!" He said as he gasped for air. The feeling of losing aura was terrifying, a part of your soul being sucked away without no reason, just with a single touch.

"What is the Crown doing here?!" Ironwood said as everything had clicked, the mind control and aura siphoning were semblances owned by a very famous leaders of a terrorist organisation in Vacuo.

"Of course, to bring back the glory of the old kingdom back! If Vale falls, there will be no one to object if Vacuo changes its leaders!" Said the man with the diadem as fanaticism had appeared on his face.

Qrow's and Ironwood's faces darkened when they realised who they were facing.

Just when he wanted to ramble some more about his future kingdom and rightful rule, the woman had shown a moment of panic and quickly notched an arrow and released it right away.

After colliding with 'something', her arrow lost its strength in the middle of its flight.

"Heya Qrow! I hope I am not late!" A familiar cheeky face appeared. With Apollo the fight would be much more manageable.

With Apollo fighting the woman, the enemies were being pushed back.

*Swish

A red Katana appeared and stopped Ironwood from giving a fatal blow to one of the mind controlled huntsmen.

"I wonder how the humans will despair once they learn about the death of their general!" Said Adam as he appeared from the shadows.

He stepped next to the male leader of the Crown and said.

"Human, that pathetic general is mi-" The woman with the bow caught Adam from behind and drained his aura.

"The beasts of your kind have no right to call humans pathetic, no matter how pathetic they may be." He said as he touched Adam's forehead.

"From now on, you are one of the Crownsmen! Red Fang will now be a subdivision that will help with the restoration of the glorious old kingdom!" said the man and looked at the fight as a spectator once again.

"I understand my king..." Adam said with a hollow voice and soon joined the fight again...

...

[Land of Darkness]

"Once the battle of Vale ends, contact Leonardo. Whether little Cinder succeeds or not, the destruction of Mistral will be a wonderful gift for Oz."

"I understand my Queen, HAHAHAHA."