As we were flung head-over-heels out over the forest I exasperatedly considered just portkeying us all home.

  We weren’t here to take the entrance test. We really didn’t have anything we absolutely needed from Ozpin. He didn’t even need to talk to us face to face. Just dropping a packet of notes in front of him as we popped away would be enough.

  However, I didn’t. There wasn’t an excessive amount of risk in this entrance test, and this might actually be a good chance to prove we were worth his time. A thousand year old wizard probably had a secret or two.

  That just left the question of why we had been caught unaware.

  Near me, I heard the high pitched scream of Jaune as he also hurdled towards the forest moments behind us, his cries of confusion carrying across the treetops. “What the hell is this and what the hell is a landing strategy?"

  Rolling my eyes, even as I stabilized my spin so I was falling in more of a superman glide, I considered the situation. Keying up my radio so I didn’t have to try to yell over him, I decided to just ask, “Well, that was unexpected, but just for the record, how did we miss those launch plates?”

  Taylor answered first, a little frustrated. “They were both disguised and sealed, maybe that spatial folding tech the animation mentioned. Bugs couldn’t get in and below that was just a concrete pad.”

  Hinata answered next, “I am sorry… I didn’t check.”

  I could almost hear Ahsoka shrug. “It wasn’t an attack so I wasn’t paying attention. Plus the force is weak here… rigid almost. It probably has something to do with the state of magic you mentioned.”

  Still ignoring the screaming that Jaune was doing, I sighed. “Pyrrha will probably save the idiot, but if she doesn’t, can someone grab him?” Then quieter, “I mean, seriously, who comes to a battle school on a death world without doing the slightest amount of research.”

  Behind me, I noticed my girls actually playing rock paper scissors to see who would have to save him while I turned to look out across the forest.

  We hadn’t quite reached the treeline yet, but we were getting close. I wasn’t particularly worried about our landing strategy. With Tonks and Fleur back at home and Alma not using her actual body, everyone else had trained with Anko. And for Anko, catching yourselves on trees when falling or knocked back was like lesson 4.

  I also noticed that the groups of students being flung into the distance didn’t seem to be very random. The students I had seen talking to each other before the exam started were heading to the same general area.

  Was the headmaster playing matchmaker by pretending it was random so no one could complain? That was… kinda smart actually.

  It wasn’t perfect, as I was sure some groups would swap partners, but it did make more sense than risking the racist Cardin getting paired with Blaire and having her kill him even quicker than I would have. It also explained why my girls were headed in my general direction.

  However, suddenly I felt a shift in pressure and all of my girls were deflected away from me.

  It was far too late to correct and try to stay close, so I just twisted around for my own landing. A chakra assisted handhold gave me enough cling to stick to the edge of the trunk and swing around twice, landing on one of the upper branches.

  To my shock, less than a second later, Pyrrha Nikkos came smashing bodily through the branches and landed next to me, already turning to look into my eyes with a smile on her face.

  I blinked before I realized what happened. Did… did Pyrrha Nikkos, the quintessential nice girl, actually push my other girls away just to ensure that she became my partner?

  As the moment of shock stretched, her smile got wider and I thought I saw her batting her eyes at me before reconsidering.

  That made my blue screen worse. Was Pyrrha always this thirsty?

  That was when we heard Jaune’s screams getting closer.

  Apparently sensing the situation, Alma didn’t even bother attempting to move like a human as she simply appeared next to me, clicking her tongue. Then, not even looking, Alma raised her hand and made a grasping gesture at the still screaming idiot.

  Jaune was flying overhead of us now, but was suddenly jerked to a stop as Alma squeezed her hand into a loose fist.

  Making a pulling motion, she yanked the now very confused Jaune towards us.

  Drawing my attention back to her, Pyrrha decided to speak up. “I guess we are partners then…”

  Again, Alma next to me clicked her tongue with a scowl that grew deeper as she met Jaune’s eyes and he hesitantly squeaked out, “... hey partner?”

  Taking a deep breath I considered Pyrrha. I had already noted how she was by far the best girl in season 1. She was smart, powerful, and even overly kind to the point of being self-sacrificing.

  Really, Pyrrha’s only real downside in canon was that she was a little overly desperate as she chased Jaune, considering he was so obviously not interested.

  So actually, subtly making sure she got the boy she had noticed as her partner was… probably exactly the type of thing Pyrrha would do.

  I took a final second to sigh slightly and looked up into her eyes. I realized that this was probably another reason she wasn’t as popular. Insecure guys probably couldn’t handle that level of attention when combined with the fact that her heeled combat boots meant you would need to look slightly up to meet her eyes.

  Smiling slightly, I slowly nodded. “Yeah…”

  Giving me a welcome distraction, the radio cut in again as the rest of the girls reported in.

  Taylor was the first to give an update. “I am not sure what that was, but I believe that we landed a mile or two south of you. I have linked up with Ahri, Hermione, and Chell, and we are perfectly fine.”

  Ahsoka spoke up next. “Ahsoka here, we are to your west. Holly, Ginny, and Sabah are with me. We are ok as well.”

  I frowned as I realized we wouldn’t divide up easily and indeed Lara called out next. “Lara here, Hinata and I are fine. No one else was in sight, but I think I saw that girl with the hammer up ahead.”

  Talking to both my girls across the radio and to my temporary team here, “I wasn’t planning on taking a trip into the forest today,” I said. “But I suppose we are here to impress Ozpin so we might as well go to the temple and get those relics. We can talk with him after that.”

  Jaune seemed to have finally gathered himself as he responded. “Ah, yeah… that was crazy… right… right?”

  Avoiding rolling my eyes at him, I just shrugged as I turned and started jogging to the north with Pyrrha joining me a step behind. Jaune cursed under his breath before he followed, while Alma cheated by just making her apparition float behind us.

  What I didn’t expect, but really should have, was how only 5 minutes later Jaune was flagging badly.

  Honestly, I wondered if the boy had done any conditioning at all. Comparing our stamina wasn’t fair since I could now confirm that he didn’t have aura or our advantages. But it just showed again how out of his depth he was here. If Pyrrha hadn’t joined up with him in the original series he would have been dead like a dozen times over before the end of the test.

  That said, as we approached the 10 minute mark, I had to applaud him slightly as he just did not give up as we jogged through the forest. So he had stubbornness at least.

  That was when, off to the side we heard three quick explosions. A few seconds later, behind and to the left I heard a grimm’s roar followed by a scream that was cut off suddenly.

  I momentarily slowed in surprise as this test was hardcore if they were letting the students actually die here. It was one thing to hear Ozpin warn them, but another altogether to hear their screams, especially when it wasn’t in the animation.

  However, as I picked the pace back up again, I considered that maybe death worlds were just built differently. I mean, a non-trivial percentage of the contestants had died in the Hunter Exam as well.

  The roar and scream did, however, shake Jaune’s confidence and distract him. He tripped over a root, falling to the ground and cutting his leg somewhat badly and obviously bruising his shin.

  I sighed as Pyrrha’s jaw dropped at the blood and she turned around a little angry. “Why did you drop your aura?”

  That comment, however, did allow me to confirm that this world operated under the rules that aura was automatic like in season 1 for Jaune, and not the retcon later where it needed to be trained to create the force field… Or maybe Oscar didn’t have enough yet and so had to focus on pushing it out.

  Jaune curled up and grabbed his shin, wincing. “What… what do you mean aura?”

  All three of us turned towards him, mouths open.

  I knew he hadn’t known what Aura was during the animated entrance exam, but I had assumed that he wasn’t actually this ignorant in real life. Specifically, that animation was only using him as a narrative device to introduce the audience to aura.

  Shaking my head as Pyrrha started explaining what aura was, that it was part of his soul manifest and his inner strength. Only to have to force myself to not face palm as Jaune ignored almost everything she said and simply replied. “Oh, so it is like a force field…”

  Eyeing him out of the corner of my eye, I had to sigh again. Seriously, if you want to be a huntsman, maybe find out what exactly makes them special at least.

  Pyrrha stepped forward, putting a hand on Jaune’s chest. “Your desire to help is commendable, but I can not leave a comrade to be left so vulnerable. If you would allow me, I would be happy to awaken your aura.”

  Jaune’s confused “Sure” got Alma to roll her eyes with me.

  Regardless of Jaune’s attitude, I watched the process carefully. Knowing how to do this would probably teach me more about souls than another dozen years playing with them myself.

  Focusing on my soul sight, I saw Pyrrha's entire body and soul calm for a second before she started chanting. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all.”

  Now fascinated, I studied as the very core of her soul seemed to pulse in a way I had no idea how to replicate.

  “Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

  Suddenly the pulses grew and then spread down her arm before pushing into Jaune’s body.

  There was a second where nothing happened, before Jaune’s core practically exploded with momentary power.

  The liquid parts of the soul around his core shivered before the pulses from his core seemed to reinforce them and direct them outward to the edge of his body.

  Blinking away the slight light show, I watched as Pyrrha took a second to come back down to herself. Then she swayed slightly at the sudden lack of aura.

  I stepped forward and caught her as she stumbled, ignoring her comment about how she was ok, just a little overwhelmed with how much aura Jaune had.

  We waited only a minute or so for Jaune to experiment with his increased strength before we were moving again.

  Yet even as we continued on, I thought back on the chant.

  It had to be one unique to Pyrrha as I couldn’t imagine someone like Junior, Neo, or Cinder using the concept of death, protection, and being a paragon of virtue as core values to their soul.

  That must mean each person would have to meditate to determine what their core values were in order to excite their aura enough to activate someone else’s.

  It also confirmed that I absolutely could not have my aura awakened until I actually had a core to my soul.

  Along with shadow clones, that was the second time I was being screwed out of a powerful upgrade. Really, all the more reason to find a solution.

  Shaking my head as I heard growls in front of us, I focused on the here and now because battle was not the time to get distracted.

  Out of the forest, I saw several wolf shaped grimm come charging out of the forest. Three in front of us, and two to the right.

  Behind me, I heard Jaune panic even as I stepped forward. Raising my silver desert eagle at the approaching beowolfs with my left hand, I pulled my short sword out in my right.

  Shooting several shots into the closest of the grimm in front, I frowned as even with the piercing enchantments, the beowolf didn’t go down. Several of the bullets ricocheted off the creature’s faceplate with not so much as a scratch.

  Pursing my lips, I had to stop myself from moving back. Pyrrha was already going for the ones to the right while Jaune was useless. Alma might be able to do something, but I wasn’t sure if her powers would work the same here.

  While I kept firing, I considered what Pyrrha had just been saying about using souls to fight back the forces of darkness in her explanation of aura.

  That seemed poetic, but what if it wasn’t…

  I was a hell-be-damned soul mage, I should have no problem being able to imitate it, at least a little. Pushing my will and even a little bit of my magic into the bullets, I fired again.

  The difference was instant, like night and day. This time the bullets ripped right through the beowolf’s relatively thin bone faceplate and the lead grimm dropped to the ground dead and started dissolving into mist.

  Turning, I fired on the second who had charged and was now only a few meters away, also killing it, before turning to the third.

  This one had held back slightly, using the other two as cover, and only now lunged. Twisting out of the way, I brought my sword up while ensuring my will and magic were flowing as best I could.

  A twist of the wrist and swing saw the beowolf's head flying clean off.

  Turning as I heard a growl from the left this time, I was about to bring my gun up when Alma raised her hand, and the two grimm lifted off of the ground. A moment later, they exploded.

  Looking over, I noticed that Alma’s form was shaking slightly and she was apparently mimicking her real body breathing hard. Good to know it was possible for her to kill them even if it was apparently harder. Probably because of some sort of magic resistance.

  Calling out on the radio, I explained what we had just learned. “You need to feed your will, magic, and being into the weapons you are using against the grimm. They are supernatural monsters, plain steel or lead doesn’t really work.”

  Pyrrha looked like what I said should have been obvious as she walked back from the ones she had killed easily, but my speech hadn’t been for her.

  That let us move forward again. Jogging forward at a better speed now that Jaune was empowered, we made moderately good time through the forest.

  The next group of beowolves arrived in a group of 10.

  Pyrrha and I didn’t even break stride as we jumped forward.

  I fired repeatedly with my left, before sliding beneath another, carving it open from throat to groin.

  As it howled, I almost felt sorry for it before its friend attempted to swipe my head off my shoulders.

  Slapping away the claw with my short sword, I twisted my gun around before firing twice into its eye.

  Dancing back as it collapsed, I looked around to notice that Pyrrha was just finishing her third with a twirl and stab with her weapon in its spear form.

  Alma had once again taken two and crushed them, before picking up a branch and using it like a baseball bat to smack in the back of a third one’s head.

  That just left one that was menacing Juane.

  I considered how to help as he tried to step forward and swing, before I saw Pyrrha reach out and adjust his sword and shield with her semblance.

  The ability to control anything with metal in it was very powerful against humans… nearly unbeatable against normal armor and weapons. However, she was not nearly as effective against grimm. So, as cheap as it sounded, it actually explained a bit of how she could have lost in the animation.

  Regardless, we all watched as, despite not having the physical conditioning nor technique, Jaune cut the beowolf's head clean from its shoulders.

  Pyrrha was the first to congratulate him with a beautiful smile on her face, “Well done, Juane.”

  Deciding now wasn’t the time to nitpick, I agreed. “Indeed, you proved you can do it. Now you just need to really work hard to make sure you can do it on command.”

  As we continued our journey, I moved closer to Pyrrha. “Giving him confidence once or pulling him out of a bad situation is fine,” I whispered. “But you shouldn’t let him think he is better than he is. It might make him not feel the need to train, and he certainly needs every little bit he can.”

  Pyrrha winced, maybe about being caught using her semblance when she was trying to hide it, or maybe just because she knew I had a point.

  Regardless, we moved forward, fighting a handful of beowolves and a grimm bear named an ursa.

  None were much of a threat to us. Nor were they much of a threat to any of my girls, as none of them called out for help or a portkey back.

  In fact, I spotted all three groups as we exited out of the treeline on the north edge of the forest.

  Ahsoka’s group had moved the fastest, with Taylor’s group right behind them, while Lara and Hinata were being a bit slower, probably because they had grouped up with Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren.

  Nora appeared while riding an ursa grimm into the clearing, showing why they had been a bit distracted.

  She twisted and brought her hammer down, snuffing its cries of rage only to hop off and bounce up after us.

  Looking around, we all spotted the temple. This one was much bigger than the animation, but was still more of a large gazebo than a western cathedral.

  As we carefully walked inside, we almost immediately spotted the chess pieces that had been shown in the animation and were standing on little pedestals.

  Looking around at the options, I shrugged before grabbing the white king (which was more gold than white in this case) followed by throwing the other white king to Alma, who looked it over and handed it to Jaune to carry.

  Taylor, Ahri, Chell, and Hermione took one of the white bishop sets.

  Ahsoka, Holly, Ginny, and Sabah took the white queens.

  Lara and Hinata grabbed one of the white rook pairs.

  That was when I did a double take and noticed that there were a lot more pairs than normal. Even if there were two queens and two kings along with 2 colors, there should have only been 20 pairs, 10 teams of 4 students, or about 40 students total.

  A quick glance saw that there was quadruple that.

  Considering that nearly 200 students were taking this exam and Remnant wanted every defender it could get, passing almost everyone who managed to make it here made sense.

  And maybe Ozpin wasn’t as crazy as he appeared, as he could swap the pieces that were paired together to once again reduce the risk of catastrophic personality clashes.

  Shaking my head as I considered all the ways the wizard was pulling strings from behind the curtain like his multiversal namesake, we were about to start heading back to the cliff when we heard a rumble and then a crash.

  Turning, we waited, a little nervously, for what would happen next.

  There was a few seconds of silence before a scream rang out that cut off suddenly.

  We all glanced at each other, then back again, before the woods at the edge of the treeline exploded.

  Out of the forest came a forty foot high scorpion grimm. The one that might have been originally roused by Jaune and Pyrrha in the animation. The same one that I thought we had avoided earlier when I had subtly made sure we moved past the very old, and clearly unsafe looking caves.

  However, regardless of whatever had happened, it was clearly just as mad as it chased a half dozen examinees, nearly catching one before he jumped out of the way while two others carried a third that had a massive gash taken out of her leg.

  Worse, apparently this was some sort of alpha, an older and stronger grimm that could call other lesser grimm to its banner to fight, as dozens of grimm poured out of the treeline.

  To their credit, the fleeing students called out for us to run instead of for help, but I wasn’t about to run from this.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  As I saw the scorpion lash out and nearly catch one of the fleeing students, I realized that it wasn’t actually all that fast. Anko attacked us faster than that for training.

  As I started firing, a thought occurred to me, and with a smirk I turned to Ahsoka. “Would that count as my coming-of-age hunt?”

  Ahsoka was momentarily confused for a moment before she blushed and then smirked. “It might be a bit small, but I guess it will do.”

  Smiling, I stepped forward, talking to my girls along with Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, and Ren who were standing next to us. “Sounds good. I can pop us away if needed.”

  Then louder, I called out. “The big one is mine, the rest of you, please keep the small fry off of us.”

  Pyrrha frowned hard, not entirely sure what I was talking about, but she apparently trusted me already and just nodded, while Alma huffed. Nora looked disappointed while Ren frowned at me, probably determining the best escape routes. My other girls just laughed at Ahsoka blushing as they brought out their guns or weapons again.

  Instead it was Juane that practically shrieked, “Are you crazy? We are supposed to work as a team! Plus this isn’t even our mission. Our mission is to get these relics out of here, right?”

  I just chuckled as I ran forward towards the scorpion, passing the fleeing students as I did. “So is saving people, and we need to give them time to collect their pieces and perform first aid anyway.”

  That was when I came within its range and was forced to duck under the scorpion's first claw swipe.

  Again, it was fast, very fast. But crucially, it wasn’t faster than me.

  Pointing my gun up, I unloaded seven shots into the joint, only to see no effect.

  Rolling to the side as the scorpion slammed down said claw where I had just been, I made a sword swipe against the same joint only to have my blade bounce off.

  Now forced to jump back as the stinger came down, I tried firing at that, but the bullets bounced off as well.

  Scoffing, and feeling a bit of a thrill at the challenge, I took a moment to smirk at my girls who had easily dispatched the small fry. “Looks like this might actually be a challenge.”

  Behind them, Pyrrha looked tense, but was calming down as she saw I could handle it while Jaune was only sweating harder.

  The other students were applying bandages with Sabah’s help and grabbing their chess pieces.

  Jumping, I landed on the scorpion’s back, roughly right behind the head segment, and started firing as quickly as I could into its neck joint.

  Almost immediately the stinger came down, but I had been watching for it and just stepped to the side. The stinger didn’t break through its own bone shield, but I smiled as I noticed what looked like some small cracks.

  Not wasting time that the stinger was within range, I took the hardest swipe I could at the last joint before the tip.

  Again, I couldn’t cut through it, but the stinger recoiled quickly like it had hurt.

  Turning my attention back down, I emptied another dozen shots into the back of its equivalent of a neck in only a second or two, cracking the bone plates even more. During this, I only paused for a moment to ensure that the bottomless enchantment on my magazine was able to keep up with the strange magic in this fantasy world.

  The scorpion apparently realized that this was a losing trade as it suddenly bucked its whole body up, attempting to throw me off. Yet I stood firm, using chakra to reinforce my feet as I kept firing. It would have to try harder than that.

  Firing another dozen shots, I smiled as I saw the first explosion of dark mist appear as my bullets started making it through to the underlying flesh.

  Now probably feeling desperate, the scorpion did something that I am sure normal scorpions could not and actually jumped, attempting to land on its own head.

  That didn’t bother me much as I stepped to the side and then jumped, landing on the ground right in front of its face.

  Smiling wider, I swapped my sword to hold both guns and rained down bullets into its unprotected throat section as quickly as I could, the explosion of black smoke from the area demonstrating why it usually protected that area so carefully.

  The scorpion roared again, but this time it sounded to be half panic and half anger as it quickly rolled back onto its legs, right side up.

  From the corner of my eye, I noticed that Hinata was actively holding Nora back as she looked thrilled with the idea of fighting this thing.

  The scorpion began to side step, attempting to circle me and keep its pincers in play.

  Swapping back to my right handed sword, I used it to counter the first strike, pushing me back more than any of the previous grimm because of the strength disparity, while jumping over the second pincer thrust.

  That gave me enough time to unload another set of shots into the same joint I had attempted to cut open behind the grimm’s right claw.

  Said claw was pulled back and then the stinger came down, only narrowly missing me, but well within my sword range as I swung and was rewarded with another explosion of black mist.

  Leaning back to duck under another swipe of the claws, I couldn’t help but realize my smile had gone full feral.

  This grimm simply outclassed me in damage, toughness, strength, and probably experience. It was clear from Pyrrha that despite our training, we weren’t even as physically strong as the locals here.

  But that didn’t even matter since Anko’s philosophy had been ‘speed is life’, always attacking us with potentially lethal attacks until we started avoiding them like instinct.

  So, despite all its advantages that could kill me in a second, much like a dark souls boss, I simply kept control and used my enchanted weapons to whittle it down.

  Again, the scorpion lunged forward, maybe attempting to encircle me with its pincers, mouth, and stinger, but again, I simply slid under the monster and rolled when it attempted to crush me with a belly slam.

  Now popping up to the side between two legs, I actually spun around to build up momentum like Nora did before thrusting my sword down into the front two legs on the right side.

  My sword didn't manage to break through, but again I heard cracking.

  Jumping back off of the grimm’s side, I let loose another gunburst into the front leg and was finally rewarded with a cry from the scorpion as its leg collapsed, limp against its side.

  Even as I flew back, I changed targets to the second leg, only to have the scorpion twist to hide that side of itself.

  However, that was ok, as it meant it wouldn’t move as fast anymore. I landed in a tree, then suddenly jumped forward again, this time to the other side.

  The scorpion tried to catch me in its claws, but as I flew, I let forth a burst of gunfire, right into its armored eyes. Its flinch, along with a swing of my sword, let me bat aside its attempt to grab me out of the air.

  It pulled its right legs away, but that motion let me jump up onto its back and fire again into the second leg on the left side, making it also collapse.

  At this point, the fight was over.

  It was now impossible for it to attempt to flip me off in the same way it had before, so I swung down with all of my strength into the neck armor, hearing a loud crack, and more flying black mist.

  The stinger came down, but much slower this time as it didn’t want to hurt itself, allowing me to line up a careful chop with my sword.

  With a sickening crunch, the stinger fell off, right into the damaged section of its back and the scorpion roared with pain again.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a hammer like Nora that I could use to smash it into itself.

  However, that wasn’t necessary though, as I kicked the stinger aside and stuck my gun into the crack and angled it up and into the back of the grimm’s skull.

  I knew that grimm didn’t have organs, per se, but two dozen magically piercing shots directly into the equivalent of its brain made it spasm violently.

  It tried one last time to shake me off, more desperate than effective, and I swapped to my black desert eagle with the explosive shots before sticking it back down into the hole and firing again.

  This time the grimm twitched once, with a roar that was more of a whine, and collapsed.

  Taking a deep breath I stood up slowly, just in case it was faking, but as the massive body started to mist, I knew it was done.

  My moment of triumph was interrupted as behind me we heard a roar, then another, and then another.

  Glancing around I frowned, but I didn’t get to say anything before Jaune finally showed his backbone. “We need to move, NOW!”

  Turning, he started sprinting towards the cliffs, making a beckoning gesture for everyone to follow him.

  My girls and I were momentarily amused, but that got the rest of the students to stand up and move. There wasn’t any reason not to follow, so we quickly caught up.

  Pyrrha, Alma and I made sure to reach him before he hit the treeline, because as good of an idea it was to head back before we were overwhelmed, Jaune still had no idea how to actually fight.

  That turned out to be the correct decision because, out of the trees to our eight o-clock, four incredibly massive ursa burst out, followed by a dozen smaller ones, zeroing in on the fleeing students.

  That led my girls to head towards the flanks of our impromptu convoy.

  Leaping forward, Ahoska swung her lightsaber wide, decapitating the first ursa before it could turn towards her. Taylor, Lara, and my gunfire brought down a second.

  Nora actually squealed in excitement as she leapt forward, landing on the third’s back before bringing her hammer down and pulverizing its head.

  The fourth was shoved back by Holly’s magic, twisting in place as it was confused by Ahri’s illusions, only to have Hinata appear in front of its stomach and deliver a dozen open-palm strikes to its stomach. Said stomach bulged grotesquely until it exploded as she jumped back.

  The smaller ursa were gunned down as we tried to keep the convoy together.

  We didn’t have time to slow as we heard more roars to our right, from roughly three o-clock.

  Thus, we ran as if the forces of darkness were literally nipping on our heels.

  While we ran, occasionally my girls would swing out and take down a larger variant, while the other students, led by Lie Ren, gunned down the random beowolves and nevermore grimm birds that had begun circling.

  Jaune, Pyrrha, Alma and I focused on the grimms in front of us, jumping forward and killing anything we could see as we advanced.

  Yet we didn’t see anything that would stop us until we neared the cliff.

  As we reached the chokepoint of the bridge, we spotted the titular members of team RWBY, namely Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang on the other side. They were also battling, twisting and jumping much harder and faster than I could to cut down a giant nevermore grimm.

  Honestly it was impressive, especially as they dodged the rain of feather needles it kept spraying at them. Finally, Ruby flew up and over the ruins and dropped down, scythe extended to decapitate the stupid bird.

  Unfortunately as we watched, the grimm’s body fell back on the bridge, causing it to collapse, which left us on the other side of the massive ravine.

  Juane, to his credit, stepped forward and yelled out. “Those who can jump, help others across!”

  Now feeling like my secret wasn’t worth endangering all these students, I was about to step forward since I could just make a portal across, but Pyrrha beat me to it, landing in front along with Nora and Ahsoka joining her.

  Using the first two’s strength and the latter’s force abilities, they began simply launching the students who came running at them over the gap.

  Shrugging since that worked, I turned and realized that with the avalanche of grimm still coming towards us, we wouldn’t be able to clear out our personal Dunkirk in time.

  That led me to head to the back and start firing. “Lara and Taylor, with me!”

  Lara and Taylor were there a second later before I noticed that we had sniper support from up on the cliff as well, thanks to Ruby laying down long range suppressive fire on the encroaching horde.

  The roar of gunfire met the roar of the grim for nearly a minute as we expressed our respective displeasure at the existence of the other, before Pyrrha finally called out to us. “Max, Lara, Taylor, come on!”

  Turning, I saw that Ahsoka had thrown Nora across, but Pyrrha was refusing to leave us behind.

  Not wanting to invalidate their work by demonstrating portals now, I considered what else I could do before I remembered that I had collected all my supplies, including the ninja tools that Anko insisted we know how to use, into my storage ring.

  Letting Ahsoka and Pyrrha boost Lara and Taylor across, I mentally scanned through my ring. Inbetween the kunai, food rations, and throwing stars, I found it. A quick flick of my wrist pulled the large 200 meter reinforced rope out of my ring and with a burst of magic, sunk it into the ground.

  Then stepping forward, I let them throw me across, dragging the rope the entire way before reaching the other side and quickly attaching it down.

  Pyrrha and Ahsoka didn’t waste any time as they ran across the rope, barely slower than open ground, quickly reaching our side of the ravine while we continued keeping the grimm back with gunfire.

  A quick flick saw the far end of the rope release and drop into the abyss, allowing me to pull it back up on my side and store it away.

  As we stared at the cliff back up to Beacon proper, I once again considered just portaling back before I shrugged and started jumping up the edges of the cliff. Fairly quickly my girls and I were once again ahead of the group due to our use of chakra.

  That said, even the slowest student didn’t take too long as aura boosted most of their strength to above even Ahsoka.

  Thus, a minute or two later, we were once again reunited with the group of successful students. Or at least the ones that had already made it back, as I heard a few more distant explosions out in the forest.

  There was the occasional thanks from random students who had been part of the convoy, but for the most part I just made sure we were all ok while watching for the next half hour or so as a few remaining students came up the cliff after us.

  Trying to relax, I actually found myself sitting in the grass on the hill with my girls, watching the sky.

  As we sat however, Ruby came screaming up to us. “Did you see us fight that nevermore? It was like woosh, but I was like Bam! Then Yang was like Smash! Then Blake was like Swish! And I was like Bam, Bam! Then Yang gave it a hmmmp, Boom! Then Blake gave it a babababababam! Then I was like Shling!”

  I just nodded, eyes wide as she practically hovered over Jaune while explaining her battle to him and us due to proximity, motions included.

  Then before Jaune or any of us could even praise her, she turned her attention to me and the girls. “Ah, you must be Jaune’s team, it is sooo good to meet you. I hope we can be friends. We can all go to classes together and learn to be EVEN BETTER!”

  I was about to clarify that we wouldn’t be staying when her eyes went wide. “WAIT, you HAVE to meet my partner Weiss. Hold on, I have to find her.” Then in a woosh she turned into petals and was gone.

  There were several moments of silence before I turned to my girls, just blinking. Then, almost as if we all had the same thought, we all turned towards Hermione, smiles growing.

  Huffing, Hermione blushed bright red, “Come on, I am NOT that bad…”

  We all chuckled while Jaune and Pyrrha glanced back and forth, a bit confused.

  Looking back across the field, I couldn’t help but note that there seemed to be a few less students than there had been this morning, and not all of the ones present seemed to have gotten a chess piece. At least it was better than the hunter exam.

  As I was thinking over this, I was surprised by an unexpected tap on my shoulder by Ozpin himself.

  I hadn’t even felt him approaching. More than anything else I had seen, that made me wary.

  Clearing my throat, I tried to smile but I had to admit that I was a bit unnerved by his narrowed eyes. “What can I do for you, Headmaster?”

  Ozpin didn’t so much as blink as he studied me and I tensed, wondering if we were going to need to escape. However, after a few seconds he seemed to shrink somehow. It was only as he turned away that I realized that he had been exuding magic as an actual pressure.

  If I had to compare them, Dumbledore might have had more raw power, but the magic I could feel from the thousand-year-old mage seemed more dense, or maybe potent was the right description.

  Tapping his cane as he walked away, I could somehow feel his smile despite not being able to see his face. “Max, was it? Would you and your companions give me the pleasure of following so we can have a quick chat about your performance?”

  I swallowed and then glanced around at my girls who were all tense, having felt that pressure. However, as Pyrrha and Jaune stood up to follow and Ozpin didn’t tell them to stay behind, I had to assume that he wasn’t going to do anything drastic.

  Ruby seemed like she wanted to talk to us, or at least follow Jaune, the one friend she had made so far, but her sister pulled her away when we stepped inside what appeared to be a classroom with Glynda waiting, already tapping her foot.

  I finally got a bit of amusement as Ozpin blinked in confusion as he turned around and actually looked at the group of girls. I got the impression he hadn’t really paid attention to their gender or looks until now. There was a moment of silence before he chuckled. “You certainly don’t lack for partners, do you?”

  Then he studied Ahsoka, “Nor have I ever seen a faunus quite like your friend.”

  I blinked before I realized that he could see through her magical disguise. Ahri hadn’t bothered to obscure her appearance, so she was at least superficially a faunus, but Ahsoka was a bit more exotic.

  Ahsoka studied him for a moment before she shrugged and slipped her glamor ring off.

  Seeming to examine the ring for a moment, he smiled before looking us over again. “I have to ask, where did a dozen magic users come from?”

  Pyrrha and Juane stiffened in shock as magic wasn’t supposed to exist.

  Internally, I couldn’t help but remember that I considered the distinction silly, how on Remnant, aura and semblances were not considered magic while the maidens were. Hell, dust casting along with quite a few semblances even seemed to create the stereotypical magic circles.

  However, now that I was here, while still pedantic, there was some truth to the separation. Magic we had learned in Hogwarts was freeform and flowing while the semblances were crystalline structures in their very souls…

  As that thought crossed my mind, I had to force myself from snapping my head over to study Pyrrha and Jaune’s souls. The crystalline structures I had seen earlier were almost eerily similar to the structures that I had instinctively formed in my girls from Earth Bet when I had copied their powers into them.

  How in the Bloody Buggering Hell had I managed to do that?

  It felt like I had been punched in the gut.

  Just like the magical compulsion that was similar to the ones from HP that I had been under at the very beginning, the fact that my instincts mimicked a small part of this world so very closely raised a lot of very concerning questions.

  Still, regardless of how incredibly concerning that revelation was, I did NOT have time to lose myself in thought.

  I cleared my throat. “You are right, we are indeed magic users, and I can confirm we have come a lot further than one might think.”

  Ozpin seemed to consider this for a moment before his eyes narrowed. “And who sent you?”

  I wasn’t sure if he was asking if the gods sent us, or if we were somehow hiding that it was Salem who had sent us.

  So my answer surprised him. “No one, we had access to a seer and we saw a bit of this world, so we thought we would help before we moved on. I would just ask for some books on aura and its usage after we do what we can to help Amber.”

  That got both of them to breathe in sharply at the revelation that I knew that he was hiding the fall maiden under the school. One of the four women that had power over the elements themselves. A power cut off from Ozpin’s soul.

  Ozpin considered me in complete silence as his face had gone completely hard and flat.

  As the seconds turned into more than a minute, even Glynda started looking nervous.

  Then, as if he hadn’t been considering how to interrogate us in probably horrible ways, he smiled a tight smile. “Alright, let's see what you can do.”

  Glynda looked surprised. “Are you sure?” she whispered, confirming that in this reality at least, she knew what her boss had been up to since in the show she didn’t seem to always have that information.

  Ozpin glanced at her before he raised his eyebrow at us. “What better proof could there be?” Then his smirk turned dangerous. “And if they prove duplicitous, there will be… consequences."

  I didn’t swallow, but it was a near thing. Again, I got the feeling that he wasn’t actually stronger than Dumbledore, hell he might have even been significantly weaker magically speaking. However with aura, he was probably quite a bit faster and we were walking into the wizard’s current seat of power. A wizard with, again, several thousand years to hone his craft.

  I suspected that they would be scraping our blood and ashes off the wall if he thought that we were working for Salem.

  Thus the procession to the administration building, down the hidden elevator, and through several locked and reinforced doors occurred in silence before we arrived at a medical pod that looked halfway between a science fiction bed and a fantasy healing chamber. There were medical monitoring devices and an IV stand, but also candles burning in a circle. A few feet away, there were even cauldrons boiling some sort of potion.

  In the center of this dichotomy of healing lay Amber, pale and gaunt.

  It was clear the girl was wasting away. She was a dark-skinned girl in her late 20s. If we had been on earth, I would have said she looked like she was from Morocco, black hair circling her head like a halo.

  However the dark circles under her eyes, clammy skin, and bruising I could see in places as her body seemed to fight itself showed she was barely holding on.

  Amy immediately stepped forward and got to work while Ahsoka leaned over her and put a hand on top of her head, seeing what she could do with the force.

  With Amy’s powers, Amber's physical issues almost immediately began improving.

  However, as I studied her with my soul sight, I knew that we weren’t getting to the root of the issues.

  The soul parasite that Cinder had used to steal the Maiden’s powers, and how terrifying was it that such a thing even existed, had ripped a large chunk from the woman and her soul. It was bad enough that her soul itself seemed to be dispersing.

  I couldn’t pull back what had been taken, but as I studied it, I realized that I could probably tie off what was left.

  As I reached out with my power, Ozpin seemed to sense that I was doing something as he studied me very carefully. Either that, or he was measuring her soul somehow. In fact, that was probably the case as in the animation, student scrolls could measure how much aura said student had left for sparring practice.

  Working as carefully as I could in pulling the ragged edges together, I managed to loop Amber’s soul back in on itself, slowly smoothing what edges I could find.

  Next to me, I could feel Ahsoka’s force healing begin smoothing the internal edges of what was left.

  Unfortunately, our work was made more difficult by the core of Amber’s soul attempting feebly to send out its pulses to reestablish her aura.

  Every time I pushed too hard, it pushed me back, but either because of my intent to help or Amber’s weakness, it didn’t stop me, just slowed the process down.

  As I inspected and then worked, I spotted the section that was grafted on. The part that gave the Maidens their powers.

  Said soul section was distinctly different in that it seemed encapsulated. The problem was there was less than a third left, based on the curve of the soul sphere.

  Additionally as I worked, I couldn’t help but notice that the soul seemed to be slowly collapsing in on itself.

  It reminded me of… well, me.

  That made me work slower and more delicately, but as the minutes crawled by I wasn’t sure it would be enough.

  What she would probably need was another soul to support her, buoy her up, until she could once again support herself.

  I turned and looked at Ozpin and his eyes were wide as he studied Amber’s body. She already looked significantly better and I was pleased to note a look of relief and exhaustion had taken over. It made him seem more human. A part of me wondered how many people he had watched die in his semi-immortality loop.

  Clearing his throat, Ozpin smiled at me and this time his smile was genuine. “I thank you young man.”

  I waved it away. “We are happy to help.”

  Then I hesitated before I said anything else. She might survive with what we had done, but it was very much not guaranteed and I wanted the option to come back. With Ozpin’s connections, we might even get a chance to look at Penny’s schematics.

  Firming my decision I continued. “We have healed her as best we can.” I glanced at Amy and Ahsoka who nodded that they were done. “But her soul may need support. A bond that can support her as she heals.”

  Ozpin looked at me, amused. “And you could be that person?”

  I shook my head, “No… Well, yes, but no.”

  That got a chuckle out of the wizard.

  I smiled as I saw him relax. “We could help, but I have my own soul damage that I have been attempting to recover from. I am also unsure how individuals with aura would interact with us, since we don’t.”

  That got everyone to snap their attention to us. Pyrrha was the first to say something, looking aghast. “Grimm bait, that's insane, I thought you had aura…”

  Juane was next, looking completely lost. “But you did all that… stuff…”

  I couldn’t help it and laughed. “...Stuff…” Shaking my head I smiled. “While we would like to gain aura, I don’t think my soul could ignite quite yet. Until then, as a wise man said, ‘There are more things under heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’”

  Then I shrugged. “And we do what we can, where we can, with the power we do have.”

  Ozpin seemed to have finally gathered himself. This revelation seemed to have rattled him more than I would have expected. Maybe having all that experience just made the times when it failed all the more jarring. “That is… interesting young man, but what do you recommend then for dear Amber?”

  I turned and looked at Pyrrha and then Jaune. “I would recommend a connection with a hunter student that can support her as she is healing. Perhaps Jaune as he has an extremely large soul and, to be blunt, he could use the extra tutoring as his bladework and basic knowledge is atrocious.”

  Ozpin looked at me amused. “Already talking down about your team leader, Max?”

  I looked at him surprised for several seconds before I let out a snort of amusement.

  Jaune looked like he was about to faint.

  Shaking my head I smiled, now curious. “We aren’t staying. I was just hoping to talk to you and got caught up when you threw us out into the forest.” Then turning, I gestured to Pyrrha, “However, may I ask, why not Pyrrha for team lead?”

  Ozpin looked at each of us for a moment before he shrugged. “A leader needs to be someone who can make a plan on the fly. They put the survival of the team and the mission above all else. And finally, someone who can mediate conflicts.”

  I tilted my head and considered that for a moment before it clicked. “Ah, you were annoyed I decided to take on the scorpion alone when I should have worked with my team or just retreated, as it wasn’t our mission.”

  “It was a Death Stalker,” Glynda interjected.

  I was momentarily confused until I realized that she was naming the grimm I had killed. “Death Stalker” I agreed, tilting my head towards her.

  Ozpin just shrugged, tilting his glasses so I could no longer see through the reflective tint. “That would have helped… but also, this is a school where leaders are developed. Someone who needs work may be given the chance above those who already are mostly there.”

  I nodded with a small huff of a laugh. “Fair enough, taking on the Death Stalker alone was objectively dumb, but we had been training for years at this point and I need to know how far I have come.” Then I hesitated before I got a bit sheepish. “That, and I kinda enjoyed showing off.”

  Jaune looked like he still didn’t understand, but to my surprise, Pyrrha, Glynda, and Ozpin all gave a little tilt of the head and smiled begrudgingly like they did.

  Then, thinking about it again, I added. “Ah, that does also explain why you would pick Ruby as team lead.”

  Ozpin simply raised an eyebrow at me so I continued. “That goes back to why we want to help. That seer I mentioned saw a future we want to help change. But it also showed where Jaune and Ruby were team leads. Both weren’t really prepared for leadership in any way and their teams struggled a bit for it, but they slowly started growing into their roles.”

  I saw Jaune frown, now concerned so I looked at him. “Us changing things is a good thing, the future we are attempting to warn about brought the destruction of Beacon and eventually the kingdom of Vale itself. And yes, we will give you the information to stop it.”

  Ozpin and Glynda visibly stiffened, but my attention was on Jaune.

  Juane had a variety of emotions pass through him from worry, to excitement, back to worry, then to horror. Reaching out I patted his shoulder. “Your issues can be solved with a lot of hard work and practice. You are very, VERY far behind, but you can still catch up.”

  Ozpin collected himself and nodded. “Just so…”

  “So I know you have questions,” I said as I turned to him. “But I have to ask. We figured out our locations weren’t as random as you implied. Most of the students became partners with students they already knew, which was only possible if you put them near each other. The chess pieces also weren’t unique so you had some wiggle room there too. Your test was a lot less random than it appears. Was it just so students wouldn’t complain about their partners and teams?”

  Ozpin studied us for a moment before he smiled, and with a subtle little movement he tapped his nose. “Among other reasons.”

  I couldn’t help but snort out a laugh. What better way of hiding your manipulations than making them think it was all random or determined by their own actions?

  Juane, who seemed to have been considering all of this, seemingly made his decision and stood up straighter. “Max, I would be happy to support… uh, Amber was it? If she needs it.”

  Ozpin studied the boy for a moment before he nodded. “That does seem like the wisest course of action. Especially if you and your team are leaving, Max.”

  Firmly I responded, “We are.” Then beckoning Jaune over, I pulled him into position next to Amber. Slowly I bonded the two together, supporting her soul with Jaune’s.

  I was momentarily concerned as I saw their auras clash momentarily, but as I worked, they slowly blended together.

  The nearly 15 minutes it took to complete the binding was done in silence, only broken as I stood up straighter and then rolled my shoulders back to bleed off the tension.

  Now looking at Jaune, I narrowed my eyes. “Now you have double the reason to train. If you die, Amber will absolutely die as well. The shock of suddenly losing the support you are giving her would probably tear her soul in half.”

  Jaune looked at me wide eyed, but as a small groan came from the previously comatose girl, his stance firmed up. “I understand.”

  I nodded, gesturing for Amy. “We will change her appearance to look like a new student so the assassins won’t know where to look for her and she can tutor you.”

  As Amy worked, I took another step back and stretched my back when I was interrupted by a ding from the elevator down the hall.

  Ozpin smiled and gestured as a round man with a large mustache and red clothes stepped out of the elevator, pushing a cart filled with about two dozen books. “Professor Port here has the books you requested. If you return, we might be able to find a few more.”

  I blinked at the number, that was more than I had been hoping for. Smiling, I waved my hand over the stack, the pile disappearing in the tiniest of puffs of smoke.

  Internally, I also couldn’t help but smile at Glynda’s open-mouthed look of surprise. Managing to finally truly break her stoic demeanor had been worth showing another one of our cards.

  Deciding to trust Ozpin a little more, I took a deep breath and turned away to open a portal right here in front of him.

  I was hoping for another surprised reaction from the Remnant natives, but only Jaune and Pyrrha gasped. It took me a second to remember that Yang’s mother could also create portals, and they didn’t know this was a pocket dimension and not just somewhere else on Remnant.

  My girls nodded, a few of them saying their goodbyes as we started filing through.

  However, before I could move forward myself, I was stopped by a nervous looking Pyrrha who stepped up next to me. “Partners need to stay together, right?”

  I paused, a bit surprised. I had assumed that regardless of her crush, she would still want to be a huntress, but Alma interrupted me by turning to Juane. “Sorry, you are nice and all, but I already have someone, and you have a new partner now too, anyway.”

  Then Alma gave a slight glare at Pyrrha before making her projection float though the portal.

  That allowed me enough time to consider a little more.

  I had initially rejected recruiting Pyrrha because I had assumed that she would fall in love with Jaune again. I also was certain that we could stop her death in canon with a little bit of forewarning.

  That said, I had already noted that she was exactly what I was looking for in one of my wives. Even if she was a bit more thirsty than any of them except for Alma, and Amy, and Hinata… and maybe Luna. Ok, quite a few of my wives were thirsty.

  “You understand we are going to be traveling very far away and we might not come back anytime soon, right?”

  Pyrrha just nodded so I sighed. “Right, well, you are more than welcome to travel with us. Joining the Family, as we call our core members, is something we can decide at a later date once you have all the details and we have had time to get to know you better.”

  Pyrrha’s grin widened at that, so I needed to hold up my hand. “However, I am not Jaune who is apparently so oblivious that he didn’t know you were flirting with him in that possible future we saw. If you want to date me specifically, you should know that I already have seven wives with another two who have decided to join quite soon.”

  This finally broke Glynda’s professional mask completely. The secretary looked like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to back away from me or throttle me.

  Juane just looked confused, while Ozpin just looked amused. I wondered if maybe nearly a dozen wives were rookie numbers given that he was a former emperor and king in centuries past.

  What I didn’t expect was for Pyrrha to just shrug as she went through the portal. “Mistresses aren’t exactly uncommon in Mistral.”

  Internally I had to admit that Mistral as Remnant’s Not-Asia would probably have more instances of things like harems than the Not-Europe where Beacon and Vale was located. It made me wonder what the Not-Arabian Vacuo was like.

  Stepping through after Pyrrha, I tossed the notes about what was about to happen in Remnant to Ozpin and then with a wave, closed the portal behind us. Just knowing to not trust Cinder or the traitor headmaster Lionheart, along with protecting their cross country transmission system, would solve a large majority of the issues they would face in the next year or two.

  Getting everyone situated in the Onsen, and being a bit amused when Alma and Pyrrha insisted on staying close, I smiled. “Well, we got a bit more involved in Remnant than I had planned, but we did manage to save Pyrrha.”

  Pyrrha looked shocked, so I patted her shoulder looking serious. “Yes, saving you was one of our primary tasks. In the future our seer saw, you died a hero, but you can do even more as a living one.”

  Pyrrha still looked worried so I turned and pulled the gladiator into a hug. “It sounds a little cringe when I say it, but saving women is a lot of what we do. Most of the girls around you joined when we pulled them out of terrible situations.”

  Amy huffed. “There are also another half dozen girls that are just waiting to get back to our Family because Max wanted them to have a chance to do something different before they decide to join permanently.”

  Nodding, I gestured to the group. “Why don’t the other girls fill you in while I prepare our jump. You are going to want to be prepared for the pressure when we travel between realities.”

  That brought up a lot of questions from Pyrrha, questions that Amy, Taylor, and Sabah, were more than capable of answering.

  In the meantime, I considered our jump.

  We had struck out 3 times now, so I focused hard on what we wanted.

  We wanted a place where we could get better soul healing.

  A place where I could figure out how to get a soul core.

  Maybe even a place where there was technology based on the soul.

  The seconds turned into minutes as I slowly sifted through the possible realities.

  Then I found one that felt large, almost bloated.

  Still it seemed to have everything we wanted, so with a warning and a pull, we were away.

  As we landed and I glanced over to see Pyrrha looking surprised, but not sick or woozy, I opened a small portal to peek through while also dropping the usual probe.

  I was surprised to be greeted with the Tokyo skyline. However, almost immediately I noticed we had gone into the past, maybe the 1990s based on the billboards that I could see from here.

  The question was, what setting were we in now?

  ART: (If art doesn’t work, try A03 or RR)

  Tonks unclear origin (punk look even on duty):

  Fleur by ReLisll (A much more magical, harpy-like beauty):

  Alma via AI (Goth obviously):

  Pyrrha by DigiFlohw (as the warrior she is):

  AN:

  1) I am going to try again to write smaller chapters. Even after cutting, this one was still stupidly long and took forever.

  2) Also keep in mind, I usually get a burst of motivation from reviews and comments :)

  Tell me what you liked, what didn’t make sense, and where you think we will end up. Hint, this one is a crossover so multiple answers can be right.

  3) That said, I am about to be hit by the ice storm, so that may delay me.

  Stay safe everyone.