As the Grimm broke into the city, all the Huntsmen and Huntresses quickly became busy dealing with the oncoming Grimm horde. Then they heard a voice from their scrolls.
"This is Headmaster Ozpin. I need all students, staff and other Huntsmen and Huntresses to create a perimeter around beacon. The veteran Huntsmen will put up the first perimeter five hundred meters from Beacon. The staff will put up the second perimeter three hundred feet from Beacon. I need all students defending at Beacon's campus. Is that understood?" Ozpin ordered.
Soon, the huntsmen and huntresses all began to fall back toward Beacon. Having finished the majority of evacuation and taking down a good number of flying Grimm and White Fang, they began to return to Beacon. Ren and Nora were the first of the teams to return. Right behind them was team CFVY with Pyrhha, who had a worried expression.
"Is Neo not here..?" Pyrrha asked her teammates.
"Tiny Leader? She's probably fighting DEMONS!" Nora cheerily stated.
"Well.." Pyrrha thought about it.
"No.. you are not believing Nora's conspiracies.. She's probably fighting Grimm" Ren sighed.
"Right.. that's what I'm worried about though" Pyrrha mumbled quietly before seeing the stolen Paladins arrive and maskless White Fang ahead.
They were talking to the veterans ahead of them and had been led there by Blake and Yang. They came to an understanding and had begun to defend all three perimeters. Paladins in the first and the rest were split into the last. Pyrrha waved Blake over quickly and both her and Yang ran over to most of team JNPR and CFVY.
"Blake! Have you seen Neo?" Pyrrha gave her a pleading look.
"What? No. Weren't you with her?" Blake looked around at the incoming students.
She saw team CRDL, SSSN and a few others arrive but that was it. Yang was looking around for Ruby, Weiss, Raven and Qrow in particular. That's when a Bullhead landed and both Ruby and Weiss got off. Some of their aura had replenished but they weren't ready for a full on fight again.
"Ruby! Weiss! Are you guys okay? You look like you took a beating!" Yang said as she bear hugged both petite girls.
"Agh! Yang I'm okay! Weiss and I just fought some strong deer-skulled Grimm when we defended the wall. Neo's taking care of it right now. She hit it with a big truck and she wore weird but cool clothes.." Ruby explained as Blake and Pyrrha sighed in exasperation and relief before looking at the other.
"I guess that answers the whole 'feelings' dilemma you had" Pyrrha smugly grinned at Blake.
"Umm.. let's focus on defending.. I think Neo's got that fight" Blake coughed and changed the subject.
"But wait! Where's Mom and Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked in alarm.
"Probably kicking Grimm butt! They're both super Huntsman and Huntress, Yang. They can handle any Grimm or bad guy thrown at them" Ruby assured her as Yang grumbled to herself.
Penny arrived next, flying through the sky and landing gracefully in front of them. Saluting them, she smiled at Ruby before speaking.
"The Grimm horde are on their way here! ETA to the first perimeter is five minutes! I will provide support from the air and thin their numbers once they reach the first contact point!" Penny declared as Ruby nodded and blinked before the android girl took back off.
"She treated you as some kind of Commander.." Weiss idly commented.
"Well Ruby is our leader" Blake retorted and helped set up sandbags for a quick barricade.
"Besides that! Let's get to work on reinforcing the academy grounds!" Yang pumped herself up and began to help set up the defenses for the third perimeter.
-Ozpin's tower-
Having fully healed, thanks to Shizuka, Ozpin was organizing all the capable fighters in Vale into defending Beacon. As Salem had all three relics, she could locate the secret location of Choice should she enter. He knew it was all or nothing now. Salem would get the relics and the Gods would destroy all life on the planet or they would stop Salem here. His trump card, Neo had just finished fighting a very strong Grimm and she wasn't responding to his calls. Raven and Qrow were busy fighting three of Salem's top agents and were tied up. He would go get her himself but he was needed here in case Salem came in. Neo was in trouble. The area she was currently in was only two minutes away from the horde.
That's when he remembered the two double agents. Pulling up his scroll, he called Roman, who answered while arriving at the third perimeter outside Beacon.
"Hello boss-man. What can I do for you?" Roman asked with a jovial and carefree tone.
"I need you and Neopolitan to go get Neo. I don't know what's happened to her but she isn't answering my calls. I'm sending you her scroll's location. Get there soon, please" He asked with a tinge of desperation in his voice.
"Neo? Crap.. Okay fine. I'm taking a Bullhead over. Come on, Partner! We have to rescue your girlfriend" Roman hung up quickly.
Sighing to himself, he watched outside the window before glaring at the Grimm Whale, which had begun moving now. Getting a defiant gleam in his eyes, he held his palms close together and a tremendous amount of magic began to be emitted from him. A wall of white light had started to surround Beacon and spread out. The white light spread across the grounds and reached the first perimeter. It expanded upward next and had quickly replenished everyone's mana and aura. It also strengthened their effects. Taking a deep breath, Ozpin wiped the sweat from his brow.
The scene from outside was spectacular. Beacon was the center of a radiant light against the shadows of the Grimm and the ambient thunderstorm across Vale.
-Raven and Qrow-
The brother and sister duo had been doing very well against the three on two odds. But the tide started to shift when the Grimm arrived and backed the three up. Raven and Qrow were being pushed back towards Beacon as wave after wave came at them, along with Tyrian, Arthur and Hazel.
Raven had delivered a spinning kick to Hazel and Tyrian, who got too close and leapt back from five attacking Ursa before turning them to dust with a flourish of her flame enhanced dust blade. Qrow had been using his semblance a lot to make the Grimm miss their attacks and hit Arthur and his metal beast. He also had to dodge Arthur's pistol at the same time.
"The horde is too big, Rae.. We gotta pull back" Qrow shouted to her before flipping away from a deathstalker stinger.
"Kuh.. Will I really be the one who fails at killing their target? Damn quest is too difficult.." Raven complained while parrying Tyrian and punching him across his armored head.
"Fuck it! Qrow fly away.. I'm going full Maiden here" Raven announced in annoyance.
"Wait what!? Where was this earlier damn it!?" Qrow shouted in annoyance.
"It would probably have messed you up tremendously, idiot.. Now go unless you want to die" Raven's eyes ignited further as the wind picked up, becoming more violent.
Qrow then got the memo and turned into a bird, flying away at a fast pace. Sensing the imminent danger, Tyrian, Arthur and Hazel all attacked, trying to prevent Raven from doing whatever she planned to do. They were surprised when they all hit a wall of wind that surrounded her. It was expanding too. The wind had swirled around with Raven at its focus.
"She's fully activating her destructive Maiden powers.. and they've been.. enhanced? Yes.. by the magic that returned to Remnant. We must fall back!" Arthur sensibly exclaimed.
"And disobey the Goddess!? Never! Push through and kill her!!" Tyrian maniacally screamed.
"Ozpin.. he's so close now. I won't stop here" Hazel grunted as the wind cut his hardened skin with every punch he threw at the barrier.
"Damn fools!" Arthur backed away and witnessed the tornado expanding around Raven.
It stretched to the sky and united with the warmer air above. Lightning flashed repeatedly under the influence of the Spring Maiden's enhanced powers and the already occuring thunderstorm. Arthur had started to move away fast but the horde coming in his direction hampered his efforts.
Soon, the tornado became far too large to withstand. The Grimm were lifted off the ground. First came the Apathy, then the boarbatusks, then the Beowolves, Ursa, Griffins, Deathstalkers and finally even the one Goliath. The wind shredded them with the debris of glass and building rubble pummeled them at high speeds. Tyrian and Hazel were smart enough to grab on to something but they too were violently sucked into the expanding tornado.
The debris hitting them constantly was bad enough but the addition of lightning constantly hitting the tornado made it far worse. Their aura took hit after hit and soon enough, they shattered. But the hits kept coming relentlessly. Finally arriving to the top, a couple hundred feet off the ground, they were violently whipped out of the tornado. Grimm, debris and the two went flying at seventy kilometers an hour.
Arthur finally got a good distance away from them and watched as the tornado tore through an increasingly larger side of Vale. He didn't even notice he wasn't safe until the Goliath smashed into him from above. Instantly, his aura was shattered and his bones broke in multiple places. Tyrian and Hazel both were mercilessly smashed into buildings as well. They weren't dead due to their hardened skin and armor but were severely injured.
Raven walked out of the tornado with a scoff before grinning as an idea popped in her head. She looked at Qrow, who was on a rooftop behind her, away from the tornado. She got his attention and gestured at her tornado.
"Oh she's crazy.. I like it.." Qrow grinned and used his magically enhanced semblance to cover the tornado in bad luck. Then he aimed it at the three injured targets.
Raven moved away as the tornado started to move in the three's direction. Then, just to add onto their hopelessness, she ignited it and it caught fire. Walking away, she swore she could hear Arthur's terrified screams before the flaming bad luck tornado consumed them in an extremely violent manner.
-Neo-
"So.. Michael sent you, a piece of my shattered soul that.. represents how fucked up I was.. to Remnant's past to keep it reincarnator free? Why? Why you? Why me?" Neo sighed.
"I'm not sure why us, really. I kind of figured it didn't matter. We're here now so we just have to make the best of it. Well.. YOU have to. I'm still merging with you. Your soul will be complete after I do. You'll leave this place once it's done" The boy explained.
"Right.. so can you change your look? I'm tired of looking at how fucking cool I thought I was. I cringe hard when I look at my past.." Neo winced while rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"To what exactly? Our first crush, Lola Bunny?" He teased.
"Don't even talk shit right now. I think you know what I want" Neo retorted with an expectant smile.
"Fine by me" He said, quickly mirroring her exact appearance.
"Oh good.. we'll be triplets!" Neo cackled and rubbed her hands together.
"Nah. I'll be absorbed by you, remember? Though you won't get my edgy powers, you will get the ability to summon a shard of your soul as some kind of clone. Though you'll share the same mind, so it'll take a while getting used to" The shard told her as they both got up when a clear ringing noise sounded out.
"I think that's about all the time we have here. Tell them. About Ashley, Dad, the fights and your depression. That is, if you really care about them and want to continue the relationship you have. It'll eat you up if you don't" The shard said as she walked inside Neo and disappeared.
Neo was silent for a moment before sighing in annoyance.
"Annoys me that he's right.. Fine. But first I've gotta deal with the whole 'end of the world' crap" Neo snarked to herself before fading out of the grey world.