Tonight, it will all end. For it will either be the greatest of victory or shame of losing. For tonight...

The duels are coming to a close.

Ruby, without her team, ran to where the airbus landed and was about to watch the finals. Even after what happened last night, she still wanted to support her friends al the way to the end.

As she saw the line, Ruby saw a familiar duo that was hard to miss and called out his name. "Y/N!"

He turned around and caught Ruby in his chest before setting her down. "Ruby. Came here to watch Pyrrha's match?"

"You bet! Can't wait for Beacon to win!"

"Heh. Me too."

"Hello, Ruby."

"Hi, Aigis. Are you also excited for this match?"

"... Absolutely."

There was a short pause on her reply that Ruby cached and was wondering why she said it like that. Aigis looked at Y/N who only nodded and smiled at her, implying that she answered correctly.

Then what was the failing answer?

Before she could dwell on the matter, a flash of a camera caught her attention as she turned to a peculiar rabbit Faunus taking a photo of Y/N and Aigis.

"Hi, Velvet!"

"Oh, Ruby! How are you doing?"

"Nothing much. Just waiting to get in." She turned her eyes to her camera and asked what was she doing. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Velvet happily replied to her. "Oh, you know. Just practicing my photography." She then showed her the camera and the pictures in it.

Ruby thought she got their good sides and all that, but it was just pictures of weapons. Velvet took a picture of Y/N's back that had Joker and his shield, as well as Creed in it.

"That's... better." The reaper didn't know how to react to it and just, praises her.

The Faunus then spoke in a concerned tone as she holstered her camera. "I'm... sorry to hear about your sister. Is she doing okay"

"Yeah, she's fine, heh. Thanks."

"I think it's just awful what people are saying about her. Yang's such a nice person."

"Well... I'm glad someone thinks so."

"Most people don't know what it's like on the battlefield. I mean, even experienced fighters can get scared and start seeing things. If it happened to Coco, it can happen to anyone."

"Coco?"

"Yeah. She swore she saw Yatsu with her in the forest during the fight with Emerald and Mercury, but he never even made it out of the geyser fields. Stress-induced hallucinations, apparently."

"Yeah..."

The conversation died a bit after Velvet gave her own concern and gripe about what happened after as Ruby started to piece together the puzzle. Y/N highly praised her reasoning skills and the connection as it was her that made the plan crumble in the first place.

With no topics left to talk about, the two bid their goodbye and Ruby went back in line. Her head was thinking about all the reasons what is going on right now and what does it all mean.

Fortunately, Y/N stopped her by putting a hand on her head and rubbed it. "Don't worry your pretty little head. We got this."

Y/N let out a little something for the leader to work with as they moved inside. Ruby was even more confused, even Y/N knows whats going on?

It doesn't make sense to her. During the fight between Emerald and Coco, Velvet talked about how her leader hallucinated about seeing her teammate but instead was Emerald who knocked them out of the ring.

Then her sister's bizarre fights with Mercury; sure she won, but in the end, Ruby saw Yang hitting him when he was downed. Yet Yang claimed that he attacked her first and that her sister never lies about this sort of stuff. So meaning, someone made them all think that Yang struck his leg.

And now, Y/N tells her that he'll handle it? Does that mean he knew it from the beginning? Is that the reason why he's distant these days again? If so, why didn't he tell her?

Fear?

Anger?

Helplessness?

The thoughts all stopped working when the airbus opened its doors and let out its occupants. 'I'll deal with this later. Right now, I need to cheer Pyrrha.'

Ruby used her Semblance to weave her way around the crowd as Y/N and Aigis came in last from the occupants.

They walked to a secluded corner of the stadium and saw someone entering an employee door. Y/N saw the person looking around himself before shutting the door as he looked at Aigis.

"Stay close to Ruby. I'm going after Mercury and Emerald."

"Of course. I presume it is time?"

"Yeah. Are your weapons loaded?"

"Armed and ready. You, father?"

"Fresh Dust from Atlas and fully repaired weapon by Peach. I'll be fine. Now go."

Aigis gave a nod and walked away from him, Y/N was now left alone as he eyed the door with a glare.

"Time to start."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The bright hallways were silent since no one was here. No guards or personnel within sight and that was because they were all killed.

Mercury whistled without a care in the world as he nonchalantly walked around. The plan was going off without a hitch; no one suspected them and continued spreading chaos and fear.

Sure, there was Ruby but he was confident in his skill. Besides, the brat relies on her weapon. That was an advantage he will ruthlessly use to his advantage.

He stopped when the room he was looking for was beside him.

{COMMUNICATIONS}

Mercury smirked at how easy it was to find it and grabbed the handle to open its contents.

...Only for his hand to pass through thin air. "What the..."

The door in front of him slowly evaporated into thin air as Mercury backed up in fear. He scanned the corridors to find who was messing with him and saw someone there.

He widened his eyes as Y/N calmly walked up to him with no weapons and carried a heavy air. Mercury's instincts as a killer were telling him that he was dangerous, very dangerous that he should report to Cinder.

Mercury made a break for it and dashed quickly to the other side of the corridor, only to hit an invisible wall.

"What?!"

He pounded the wall as it did not let him through, even kicking it didn't do the trick.

"Don't bother." Y/N's voice was behind him as he clenched his fist. "You're not going anytime soon."

Mercury gritted his teeth in anger and pushed Aura into his legs. "Then I'll have to kill you to get out!"

With a sudden burst of speed, Mercury broke the ground beneath him and went straight into his chest.

*BOOM!*

He felt contact with his body and Mercury smirked at how easy it was to kill him. Only to see Y/N unharmed.

"Huh?"

When he looked at what made contact, an orange barrier rippled intensely as he immediately tried to back out.

Only to be in vain.

A force, so intense and deadly flashed through his legs and exploded fiercely at his hips.

"GAH!" He cried in pain as he was pushed back from the force.

Mercury almost blacked out from the pain as he saw many mechanical parts scattered around him. He looked at where his legs were and only stared in shock at its absence as well as his thighs and hips.

"Guh! Damn you!" He shouted in profanity as he backlogged away from him, blood spilling from his torso and felt his pride going away. "Stay away from me! Get back!"

Y/N didn't show any emotions as he walked to his fallen body. Mercury still had some form of conscience and had the will to live, but it was slowly going away the more blood was spilled from his legs.

Y/N vaguely remembered what Kratos did to Hermes back in {GOW 3} as this scene closely resembled what is happening here. He inwardly chuckled at how it all seemed familiar to him as Mercury was now posted against the wall.

With his back against the invisible wall, Mercury looked at his killer as his last breath was coming soon. "Ha... ha... well... it doesn't... matter anymore... you... and all your friends... are gonna die anyway..."

"No. They won't." He kneeled right next to his downed position and made his eyes glow a bright silver color. "Because Emerald and Cinder are next. Along with Salem and her puppets."

Mercury widened his eyes in shock before contorting a small grin. Finally, instead of letting that pipsqueak save the world, there was someone else who will do it regardless of bloodshed.

"Then... good luck... you're gonna need it...."

With his last breath, Mercury passed away with no one knew he was dead. Y/N wordlessly closed his eyelids and stood up from his position.

He opened his hands as fire seeped out of out. It spread everywhere that Mercury bled or crawled upon and burnt it to ashes. No evidence to pin any crime.

Y/N made sure that every nook and cranny was burnt to ashes as to not instill more fear as it is. With that finished, it was time to meet the mastermind herself.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cinder got ready. Her outfit was in full display and the camera positioned in front of her. Right now, she's in front of Ozpin's tower to prepare for the connection Mercury will give her. With the connection in place and after the death of Penny, it was time to enact her mistress plan.

She waited anxiously for her subordinate to do her work while still awaiting for Mercury to respond. 'What's taking him so long? He should have accessed the cameras by now.'

There was a growing doubt in her heart as each second felt like hours as long as it remained unconnected. She went over her plan numerous times and scoped out the place many times, so there was no reason for Mercury to be late.

And if there were a couple of guards there, he can certainly take care of himself. So, why...

"What is taking him so long?"

"It's because he's dead."

Cinder unconsciously fired upon behind her with Maiden's powers and jumped away from the burning pile. Whoever was there was not only quiet enough to sneak past her, but also get close enough to whisper in her ear.

Well, whoever it was, no one can escape that, even the most advanced fire-proof suit was no match for her.

That should have been the case if it was anyone else.

Cinder watched with curious eyes as Y/N walked out of there with no burns on his body. 'Interesting...'

He patted the fire that was burning his shoulder without care as he stared down her figure. "In case you were wondering, I personally took care of Mercury. He won't be a bother anymore."

"Hm..." She gave off a sort of reply as Cinder was now wary of him. "And your champion? Are you not worried about her as well?"

"Nah. I trust her."

"Trust is a two-way path. It can go your way or others."

"Yeah. I wonder how your trickster will do her thing, now that she's with Ironwood."

Cinder briefly let concern cover her face before relaxing. With her subordinates now killed or captured, it would seem like a senseless fight and struggle.

But Cinder had planned for this as well.

Ever since she saw Y/N and his innate talent for magic and deductions. A battle-mage, if you will. He was the reason why this doubt in her heart had grown to make such countermeasures dire and now, she was very glad for this one.

"I wouldn't worry about her. Besides..." She pulled out a switch and her eyes flamed to life. "You should be more concerned about this."

*Click*

...

...

...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!*

A giant explosion rocked the ground around Y/N as he looked where it was coming from. Out in the distance, a massive plume of smoke covered the sky and city alarms blared to life soon after.

Y/N looked with wide eyes as Cinder smirked further. She pressed it again.

*Click*

This time, an explosion above.

When he turned to the sky, Ironwood's flag ship's engine had caught on fire and was falling fast. It was losing altitude and crashing to nearby ships as well.

While he was too busy gawking at the destruction, something punched him out of Cinder's way and rolled to the ground.

Cinder smirked at the entrance {Magatsu-Izanagi} made before disappearing into Adachi's form. "Sorry, it took so long. Was busy tieing up loose ends."

"No matter. Just keep him distracted while I absorb the remaining Fall Maiden's power."

"Yes, ma'am."

With that, Cinder dashed towards Ozpin's vault and Adachi slyly looked over at Y/N's hunched figure.

A sinister grin came to his face and summed his {Persona} again, this time to pick up the fallen body.

{Magatsu-Izanagi} sped quickly where Y/N was and grabbed his head. The moment he did, Y/N uttered a spell.

"{Megidola}"

Adachi flinched when several spheres crashed and exploded at where his {Persona} was and crossed his arms from the blast.

Since his power is connected to him, Adachi felt the damage coming now as he panted heavily from it. Thankfully, it wasn't that powerful to kill him in one shot so he can still fight.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance as Y/N came out of the blast with no repercussions and hardened his gaze. He thought that if he dealt with Cinder's pawns first then he'll have a chance to corner her. That's what he gets for underestimating his opponents too much, only now he has something.

Without the death of Penny, Grimm will come in less than before but now that Vale's walls were broken, he's only got minutes to stop Cinder before she can get to full power.

'Ozpin!' Y/N called out to him using {Communication Magic} he gave to all of them before, ensuring in case Scrolls were too slow.

'Y/N! What is-'

'No time! Cinder is coming for Amber, blew up Ironwood's ship, and made a hole at the walls.'

'My word...' Ozpin gave a long sigh before going back into a serious notion. 'What can I do?'

'Stall. Stall as long as you can! '

'Why? What's going on with you?'

'...I'm dealing with the {Shadow Grimm} right now. Just keep Cinder away from Amber. If you can, kill her. Make's it a whole lot easier.'

'Got it. Good luck.' The call ended already as Y/N was now within Adachi's reach.

The two gave each other a stare off as Adachi called out {Magatsu-Izanagi} and Y/N called out {Robin Hood}.

The two {Personas} gave each other a stare off as well and both of them readied their weapons.

Without another word, they clashed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few minutes prior~

Pyrrha blocked another blade coming at her while firing multiple shots at Penny. The girl blocked them all with her swords and strike again, this time moving at her as well.

Ruby cheered loudly as her friend was battling her secret friend with effort as each swing seems to shorten their Aura more and more.

The audience seemed to agree as each second grows closer to the finish. And Emerald was ready for the final blow.

Penny has decided it is enough and will finish this duel. So with a final push, she dashed headfirst into Pyrrha's zone.

The red-headed champion defended as best as she could form the onslaught of swords and blasts and succeded, but at a cost of stamina.

She took a moment to breathe and Penny disarmed the champion with her swords. Pyrrha tried to get her weapons back using {Polarity} but was denied when Penny clashed with the object with her swords.

Without any weapons, Penny pulled back her swords and readies to end it.

Emerald then used her Semblance on Pyrrha, which made Penny's sword appear from the dozens.

The champion hesitated and feared her life from the countless swords that were appearing from her vision. While Emerald was busy, she didn't notice someone creeping up behind her without making a noise.

Penny attacked, at the same time Emerald pushed her illusions at the red-head without care and was prepared to cut the illusion.

She didn't prepare for someone to end it sooner.

A powerful force came clashing behind her head as Emerald now felt her consciousness fading away. With nothing to pull her out, she was now in the land of dreams and her illusion was destroyed.

But it wasn't quick enough.

Suddenly on instinct, Pyrrha used her Semblance to push away the swords and back to Penny. The force was so fast and strong that as the swords went passed her, its metallic wires that were connected to her broke and bent multiple parts of her body.

It was so strong, that it broke clean through her body and revealed her inner circuits and machinery from within.

Pyrrha and everyone around her all stopped breathing as the broken doll that was Penny fell to the ground with a metallic clank.

The despair and fear everyone there was feeling drifted off to the atmosphere and the nearby Grimm sniffed the delicious scent and ran with full force to where it was going to.

Ruby looked with shock and horror as she silently cried over the death of Penny. Aigis offered her shoulder to cry on as she offered her condolences as well.

Without the connection Cinder expected to, there was no announcement from her but rather  Ironwood, who looked serious and unwavering.

"People of Remnant. My name is General James Ironwood." He presented himself to the shocked people with authority and pride. "Aproximately mere seconds ago, Penny Polendina has been terminated by a student of Beacon."

They didn't hear any sadness or grief from his voice but nodded among themselves.

"While this would make most fall over grief, I do not believe that this is something to cry over."

The general's words shook their image of him as they couldn't understand why he would say something like over the death of his students.

"Take a closer look at Penny. Would a real girl show metal instead of blood?"

Some people actually looked closer and saw something flickering from the corpse. Pyrrha, wanting to know more, walked closer to the body and saw it was... moving?

The light around the body was slowly flickering away and gave way to its real form. Like pulling back a curtain, the illusion revealed itself to be nothing more than a standard Atlas robot with special modifications on it, like Penny's weapon and voice.

The audience gave a shocking reply as the one Pyrrha killed wasn't an actual person but rather a robot. While some were glad that there wasn't another incident like before, it didn't matter since they were all wondering where is the real one.

Pyrrha was initially glad and shed some tears of joy as she didn't kill a person but rather, an android from Atlas. Yet, why did they send a robot to participate and not the actual participant? Did they expect this? Was she not trusted with her power?

Ruby was also glad that her dear friend wasn't killed and yet, where was she?

"For those of you who didn't understand, the one lying dead in the stadium is not Penny Polendina but rather a heavily modified Atlas drone that was designed to look and move like her. If you are wondering where the real one is, she is here with me at the flagship, see for yourself."

The screen changed to the real Penny who only smiled and replied back happily.

"Sal-u-tations, everyone!"

That brought back some relief and gladness within them, seeing that no one was killed.

But, why did Atlas send out a drone instead of the actual participant?

It changed again to the general's face as is he heard their questions.

"Now you may be wondering; why did Atlas change their representative with an android? Did we expect something like this would happen? The answer is something far more complex than we imagine, but right now we are handling it."

Murmurs broke out around them as the general couldn't give back a complete reply.

That was when...

*BOOM!*

A massive explosion went off around them. The barrier surrounding them was suddenly fluctuating rapidly before being depleted completely.

{Barrier Down} {Please inform the authorities}

These words were spelled around where the barrier used to be as the audience was suddenly getting scared now.

*BOOM!*

Another explosion went off, this time Ironwood was the one shaking from the shock before the video feed cut off.

Many were now clamoring what is happening and rushed to where the airbuses were.

Pyrrha reconvened with her allies and all shared a hug with each other. All of them were praising her, for the fight and the fact that it wasn't her fault for what happened.

"But..."

"Pyrrha." Ruby's voice cut through them as she walked towards the champion.

The red-head looked at Ruby with sorrowed eyes and bowed her head to her. "I'm so, so sorry."

The reaper didn't reply anything soon as the atmosphere got tense for a moment.

JNPR didn't know what to say at this moment as they had no experience when it comes to friends killing friends' friends.

Ruby didn't say anything and rushed to Pyrrha's body like a hug. The champion didn't say a word as Ruby tightly held her body.

"It's fine. I know. It wasn't your fault. I forgive you."

Pyrrha broke out a small smile and hugged back at the reaper. A sigh escaped from Jaune's mouth as though they just survived the quickest and dangerous meet up ever.

The stadium rocked more violently this time as more announcements filled the air.

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}

{WARNING!!! GRIMM IN THE VICINITY! EVACUATE!}