Ever since the moment Ruby first discovered that the Grimm were ruled by a single entity that dictated everything in a shadow war outside of public view, she understood who the true villain was.

Call it naïve, but if one were to see the world in black and white, then the righteous and the unrighteous should be evident both in the past and in the present.

Staring at Salem, Queen of the Grimm, Ruby felt the weight of a destined enemy more than she ever had before. And with that feeling was an accompanying dread for what failing to defeat her entailed.

"Try to avoid interfering unnecessarily." Shirou advised with a solemn tone. "Remember the lessons when encountering Grimm. If they are above your capability then do not engage and instead seek cooperation from others."

Cooperation?

Ruby inwardly shook her head.

She wanted to run away while staring at the dark energy blackening Shirou's skin from where Salem had touched him.

However, such an outcome was impossible now more than ever.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out while fighting with her back to Pyrrha and the others.

The Grimm were everywhere, and Jaune's barrier could only do so much as he focused on sheltering the surviving civilians from harm.

The flashes of red and the echo of gunfire through the horizon had drawn Ruby's peers to her location.

Retreating back from where Salem had nearly gotten hold of him, Shirou back tracked and stopped with Ruby beside him in front of Jaune and the others.

It wasn't until Shirou drew closer that attention shifted away from Ruby and towards the person she was fighting alongside.

"…" Jaune opened and closed his mouth while Pyrrha and the others shuddered.

"No way…" Emerald stammered in shock.

"The Huntsman of Red," Blake muttered, staring from Ruby then to Shirou and back before hope reignited in her eyes the same way it did for everyone else.

Vale was lost.

That much had already been accepted by Blake and the others who were no longer just fighting Grimm for the sake of protecting the city, but for the sake escorting those alive out.

Even Beacon Academy's Second and Third-Year students were busy evacuating without Ozpin's instructions. They had defaulted to the lessons they were taught in the academy. The echo of Coco Adele's machine gun fire resounded in the distance to clear a path through the Grimm, but the tides were ceaseless.

Soon, ammunition would run dry, and exhaustion and fatigue would catch up to everyone.

And in that moment where Salem revealed herself at the center of it all, it felt like the beginning of the end.

The only reason panic and despair had yet to set in was due to the world of swords everyone found themselves within. When the Grimm would draw close, swords would rain down from up high and skewer them in place.

"It's him, the Huntsman of Red," Ector said, unable to forget the back of the man who had saved Mt. Glenn.

And alongside the famed Huntsman was Ruby.

If Yang were present, she would have been the first to exclaim, as Ruby had insisted about knowing the Huntsman of Red for years.

"Now isn't the time for talk," Shirou said while raising an arm and firing numerous swords at Salem.

Darkened copies identical to the weapon Shirou shot towards her, formed around Salem and countered each and every one.

The thunderous clang of steel striking steel sobered many faces, but amid those faces were ones filled with the desire to fight.

"…C-Cardin?" Sky whispered hoarsely as he looked past Ruby and Shirou to see Cardin laying prone in the distance before he was swallowed by shadows.

Ruby flinched and clenched her jaw.

"Don't let grief cloud your minds," Shirou said, raising his voice to those who would listen. "Vale is lost, but no one else will die here today. This place is my world, and I will let those who are unable to fight out."

Like fragments of breaking glass, reality cracked in front of the group of civilians Jaune was keeping protected in his barrier.

"Pass through, and you'll return to the real world," Shirou said, breaking a portion of his Reality Marble as Salem watched on in silence. "But those who wish to remain and fight, you will be remembered for your bravery and courage."

"Escort the women and children out," a stern voice said.

Weiss widened her eyes as General James Ironwood of Atlas appeared with Tai, Qrow, and Raven.

"They have no place here," James said, staring at the Huntsman of Red, then to Salem who the Grimm Shadow had joined with. "You should leave as well, Huntsman of Red. That thing's target is none of us, but you."

The revelation was damning, numerous pairs of eyes widening at the declaration while Ruby started trembling.

From behind James, Ozpin arrived, having heard what his friend said.

"Darkness can only stretch from within the light," Ozpin murmured, his expression torn as he stared at the blackened Salem ahead of him, and thought of the untainted one he deposited at a safe location.

"Warrior of light," Shirou nodded at Ozpin who stood with his sword drawn towards the blackened Salem. "Do you know how many will die if I fled?"

"…" Ozpin hardened his expression.

"Understand why I will not leave." Shirou glanced towards Jaune, Ector, and the other Beacon Academy students present. "If we are the past, then the future stands here. We must not give them a bad example."

A small chuckle escaped Ozpin's mouth as the words sunk in. "Is that so? This feeling of chivalry and righteousness is one I've not felt for many years. Indeed, there are some things a hero must not run away from."

"Oi, this ain't the time for talking," Qrow grunted while holding shifting his scythe into a sword and yelling to the crowd of survivors. "You all get the hell out of here. You'll just get in the way! That means you, Ruby!"

"No!" Ruby immediately replied. She already knew the outcome of what would happen if she left here.

They had to take Salem down now.

As Ruby refused to listen to her uncle, the survivors were already making their way through the break in Shirou's Realty Marble.

The few that were left included Jaune, Ruby, Ector, and the others. The frustration in Qrow's expression as evident, but the concern in Tai's was far larger as he carried an unconscious Yang with him.

"Ruby, this isn't the time for arguing. Take your sister, and get out of here!" Tai yelled as he approached Ruby and handed Yang off to her.

As for why Ruby was with the Huntsman of Red, there was no time to dwell on that question now.

"I can't," Ruby shook her head, but Blake and the others were quick to stand by her.

"You can't just tell us to leave," Ector said as Pyrrha nodded not far away from him. "What sort of Huntsmen would we be if we left when it got dangerous?"

"Children!" Tai screamed. "Leave this to the adults."

"G-Guys!" Jaune got in between the bickering and pointed to the break Shirou had made in his Reality Marble.

Most of the survivors had made it through, but there was now a film of darkness blocking the way.

Tai's expression darkened before he glanced at Ruby, Ector, and the others, and shoved them all into Jaune's barrier which was keeping back the encroaching darkness.

"Stay. Put." Tai stressed before standing in place by Qrow and Raven.

'Salem' had grown tired of waiting.

Rather, it appeared that she had been gauging the capabilities of those that stood before her as a smile crept up her lips.

Not far, Roman and Neo were observing quietly while Adam and the Huntsmen from Vermillion were hidden, and waiting for an opportunity to strike.

It was not an exaggeration to say that Salem was standing alone against everyone. Not even the Grimm that Salem could command would be able to intervene with Shirou slaughtering them amid a downpour of swords.

Indeed, from any perspective, the odds appeared stacked against Salem, and yet it was not Salem who carried hints of nervousness. It was Ozpin and the others who could see the blackening effect Salem had on the Huntsman of Red.

If Salem managed to blacken the Huntsman of Red here, they'd have a danger far greater than Cursed Arm on their hands.

"Qrow, Ironwood, Tai, and even you Raven," Ozpin called out. "We've had our differences, but this is where we must put everything to an end. This cycle must end. You, Huntsman of Red, may we have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"Shirou," Shirou said while readying a copy of Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands. "The enemy before us is one unlike any other you would have faced."

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked.

Shirou shook his head. "She's coming," he answered instead.

Raising an arm, Shirou blocked a wave of black magic energy and backpedaled, the others quickly following suit.

From above, several blackened weapons formed in the air in contrast to the weapons that followed behind Shirou. Each weapon carried an aura with them that spoke of nobility and heroic spirit.

Qrow, Raven, and James weren't surprised considering what they surmised to be Archer's weapon creation semblance. However, Ozpin felt differently.

Based on Archer's classes, Ozpin was quick to realize that each and every weapon was one that had once been in the hands of former champions of light and dark.

The Huntsman of Red- what sort of legend did he hail from?

What man had the right, champion or not, to possess the mementos that numerous heroes have left behind?

And in contrast, this blackened version of Salem born from blackening 'Archer,' it was entirely different.

"What…are you?" Ozpin swallowed, knowing full well that the abilities this darkened Salem displayed were far more sinister and ominous than the original Salem had ever been.

Like a wave of blackened destruction, dark swords poured down from up high.

"Brace!" Jaune yelled as his arms tensed from the blackened weapons striking his barrier of light. His legs buckled, and his vision began to swim, but like Ruby and the others, his attention was focused solely on the combatants ahead of them.

Craters formed, the ground mottled with holes before the energy supposedly stored within the weapons detonated and shifted the very earth everyone stood on.

Against the shower of blackened weapons, peerless forms of the originals untouched by darkness, rose up to meet them.

Ozpin knit his brows, using his sword to deflect a blackened halberd that cleaved apart a distant hill as if it were made of sand.

Ridiculous.

Think rationally.

Ozpin had no choice.

What he was facing now wasn't Salem, but the darkness that had corrupted the woman he once loved.

Not Salem, but a blackened version closest to an incarnation of the God of Darkness.

Then in retrospect-

Clang!

Shirou batted away each and every blackened weapon aimed in his direction with the ease of a veteran. Blue aura wrapped around him like a shroud of magic energy, his muscles bulging, his gaze unwavering. Amidst it all, motes of gold floated around him as he favoured a particular sword.

Shirou's figure was that of unyielding light; a beacon of sure hope that would pierce through the dark.

Raising his magic energy, an emerald hue accentuated Ozpin's sword before he cleaved down and sent a sword beam at the blackened Salem. No, the Grimm in the guise of his former wife.

Bloodshot sclera focused on Ozpin before he found himself rapidly paling from a sword that formed mere inches from his heart.

Heart palpitating wildly, Ozpin turned, his actions fueled by adrenaline.

Yet there was nothing he could do. He was truck.

"Geh," Ozpin wheezed, blood pooling out of his mouth.

Rather than be struck in the heart, he opted to take the blow to his upper right chest.

"Ozpin!" James cried, firing a storm of bullets towards the blackened Salem who flicked a finger and produced a shadowed shield.

Qrow and Raven appeared on either side of Salem and cut through her arms, but much to their shock, her limbs were as hard as steel. Sparks grated as the edges of their swords ground against each other.

Clicking her tongue, Raven wrapped a leg around Salem's arm and pivoted to throw her up while Qrow switched swords to Durendal the Peerless blade. Unwilling to be cut by that sword, Salem threw Raven off and sent a wave of black swords towards Qrow.

Unable to dodge, Qrow braced, but Tai pulled him by the back and out of harms way.

But unknown to either individual, Salem was already behind them.

"Don't let your guard down," Shirou said pushing Qrow and Tai away, and incurring a graze on his shoulder which quickly blackened.

Grimacing, Shirou pulled back, his right shoulder growing limp.

"Stay away and act us support!" Ozpin came flying right back, giving advise to Shirou who slowly nodded. "Our teamwork will be our greatest strength as Huntsmen!"

Ozpin engaged Salem in a flurry of sword swings, Qrow tag-teaming with Ozpin from the side. From behind Qrow, a portal formed in which Raven's weapon pierced through in a bid to catch Salem off guard.

However, as if expecting the attack, Salem shifted her position, pulled Qrow forward, and placed him in front of Raven's stab. Veering off course, Raven's weapon overreached and Salem grabbed the extended palm before pulling Raven through her own portal.

"F-Fuck," Raven cursed, eyes going wide as a sword was leveled on her throat.

Tai shoved Salem away before she could follow through.

Salem launched a wave of black swords which Shirou intercepted once more.

Through it all, Salem's expression remained unphased.

"This is ridiculous." Raven grunted, huffing for breath.

"We must remain firm," Ozpin insisted.

"Got any bright ideas then?" Qrow asked, Ironwood moving to intercept Salem with a volley of bullets to give the group time to strategize. "It's like she can read our movements. I thought you said she just knew how to use magic?"

Ozpin opened and closed his mouth, but in the end could say nothing but offer a new perspective. "That's not the same woman I've been at war with for decades. That, that is darkness itself. We need the power of the silver eyes, or barring that, a relic."

"Then there's nothing we can do here?" Tai asked. "I don't know how this world of swords came to be, but if Salem gets out, she'll be empowered by the Grimm."

"I've got a plan," Shirou interjected.

"What is it?" Ozpin asked carefully.

"I'm the objective, right?" Shirou said slowly. "If her target is myself, then there will be a way."

"Elaborate." Ozpin said bluntly.

/-/

"That's ridiculous," Tai grimaced.

He didn't know the Huntsman of Red all that well, but experiencing the kind of person he was now, Tai was reminded of the stories of heroes that Summer had loved.

"Guys, tell him this is crazy!" Tai looked to his friends and former superior for support, but the mood was far from what he wanted. "This is our fight to finish, not anyone else's!"

"There's too much to risk if we don't do this," Shirou shook his head. "Her magic is able to counter mine, and the Grimm continue to attack Vale outside this world created by my magic. We must choose our battles, and this isn't one of them. Leave this to me."

Tai gnashed his teeth before whipping his gaze towards Ozpin and the others. "And you're all okay with this?!"

Qrow flinched, but Ozpin appeared melancholic.

"The burden of a hero is never light," Ozpin murmured before balling his hands into fists. He bowed his head to Shirou. "You are a true hero."

With that said, Ozpin backtracked and moved in the direction of Jaune and the others. Unable to meet Shirou's gaze, Qrow left next, followed by James and Raven.

Tai was the only one who struggled.

"I choose to believe in the next generation. Do you?" Shirou said slowly. "If we can take her down here, do you think the others wouldn't have argued? You must have felt it already. She's too strong, and it likely that she hasn't used even a fraction of her power. I know I haven't. What I can do now, is give everyone else a fighting chance."

Tai clenched his jaw, but in the end, he too moved to stand with Ozpin and the others by Jaune's barrier, as if intent to protect it.

"W-What are you doing?!" Ruby was appalled.

Seeing Ozpin and the others leave to let Shirou fight on his own, Ruby was up in arms. However, there was no answer to be given, Ozpin's hands clenched into tight fists.

"No-NO! What are you guys doing, help him!" Ruby screamed, her tone growing warbled.

Ruby tried to intervene herself, but Qrow and Tai blocked her path.

"Shirou!" She screamed, watching as Shirou began to step towards Salem on his own.

"Hey, she's right, what are you guys doing?!" Jaune stammered, watching his hero stand alone.

"You are the next generation," Ozpin whispered as Ector and Pyrrha readied their weapons. "This was a choice he made, and as witness to his bravery, we will do our part to end this war. But not now. Rather, he has asked us to put out trust in him as he pioneers the way."

"Y-You don't understand!" Ruby screamed. "If we don't do something now, then nothing's going to change!"

"What change?" Qrow furrowed his brow while holding Ruby back.

"-Ruby."

Shirou's voice caused Ruby's pupils to dilate as she looked towards him.

"What does it mean to walk the path of a Hero?" He asked while gathering his magic energy. "You know the answer just as much as I, and that goes for all of you."

One final lesson.

Ruby opened and closed her mouth as Shirou's voice began to echo aloud.

"Strive towards justice not because you can or should, but because you believe in what truly matters."

Raising his hands, a sword uprooted itself from a distant hill and landed in Shirou's grip.

"Compassion, courage, heart."

Shirou glared fiercely as an outpour of golden light surrounding him in a way that caused a distant nostalgia to well in Ozpin's eyes.

This light. That radiant glow.

"The principles we aim to uphold and achieve not just as Huntsmen, make us who we are as people."

Raven looked up at that distant figure.

"Whether we are motivated by greed or honour among thieves, what matters is what we raise our swords against."

Roman and Neo stared up from a distant outcropping of debris.

The spiraling tower of golden light was congregating over the sword Shirou held in hand against Salem.

In contrast, a different sword had formed in Salem's hand, one shrouded in darkness and gleaming with baleful energy.

"No matter the adversary."

Shirou strode forward, one step, then two.

"No matter the odds."

Standing just a scant few feet from Salem, the gap between them could be closed in a heart beat, and yet the light of his sword only intensified.

Salem swung the black sword down, a wave of black light cleaving deep into the ground for hundreds of meters.

Dust and debris were upturned, and the ground everyone stood on began to crumble and fall.

Yet, the target of that strike had batted it away and instantly closed the distance.

"What we do, we do for the sake of those who depend on us."

Without hesitation, Shirou grabbed Salem by the throat rather than cut her down.

"That is what it means to be a hero."

It was an action that dumbfounded everyone, but only a few understood the reason why.

Tai's shoulders trembled as Qrow grunted in frustration.

One look at the damage Salem had caused with a single swing of that black sword revealed it all. If Shirou truly engaged in battle, and attacks like that began to fly, Jaune's barrier would never hold.

Everyone would be wiped out.

Ruby's pupils dilated as Shirou's hand grabbing Salem's throat began to quickly blacken and spread down his arm.

"Even if darkness swallows up all the light so that only embers remain,"

Shirou did not let go of his grip, rather, he strengthened it, such that Salem began to flail.

"Those embers will one day burn just as brightly, spurred on by a distant star."

However, just as Shirou could grip Salem, the same was true for her.

"This is a cry not of the defeated, but of the Victorious setting ablaze a path to victory."

"Got you." Salem said darkly, her voice choked as she wrapped her own hands around Shirou's neck.

The rate of Shirou's blackening accelerated beyond recovery, the sight causing Ruby to drop to her knees.

Yet, only calmness could be seen in Shirou's eyes.

"No," he said, fiercely pulling Salem towards him and locking her in place. "I've got you."

Golden chains appeared and bound them, shackling them in place the more that they struggled.

"Fool, you think this will hold me?" Salem sneered. "You'll be blackened soon enough and these chains will vanish."

Yet Shirou remained undeterred.

"You won't be going anywhere anymore."

The sword Shirou had carried from the very beginning wasn't a sword directed at an enemy, but a sword directed at himself. Under the eyes of all, Shirou raised the golden sword and pointed its tip back towards himself.

Caliburn pierced through his flesh and skewered him to the ground with Salem.

Blood splattered, a mix of shock and disbelief coloring Salem's face as the sheer purity of Caliburn's light appeared to purify the darkness within her.

No, rather it just went somewhere else.

Shirou and Archer made eye contact with each other before Archer quietly began to dematerialize, seemingly dying and leaving the Grimm shadow to mold over Shirou.

"H-He did it," Blake stammered.

"No. Nonononono," Ruby covered her face with her hands. "It wasn't supposed to be this way!"

As Salem 'vanished,' the same darkness that had consumed her transferred over to Shirou, blackening his skin and causing him to stagger.

All at once, more golden chains appeared and bound him in place, Shirou's eyes shifting from bronze to red.

He stared directly at Ozpin and the others.

"To you all, I entrust the future," he said, coughing out blood as he fell to his knees. "Look into Archer's office. He left a back up plan."

"Live. Train. Mature."

Suddenly, the world began cracking apart around them all.

A small smile graced Shirou's lips even as his skin began to peel and blacken all the way up to his face.

"Grow strong." He mouthed. "I will remain bound here until I lose reason."

And in the end…before it's too late.

The world collapsed, returning everyone to reality.

-"Put this life to an end."


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