Yang POV:

As we walked further into the forest, I wondered how things would've ended this way. I swear that we will all have nightmares for several months about our experiences of the destruction of Vale. Even now...I could still see the faces of the people who fell to them staring back at us as if silently saying that we failed them.

"Yang? Are you okay?" Blake asked.

"Y..Yeah. I'm fine." I said.

"Don't lie. We both know that none of us are fine after our ordeal." Blake said.

"Sigh...I just wished that we could've helped them more. Instead...we ran away and left them to their fates." I stated.

"We had no choice Yang. Our weapons couldn't scratch their tough exteriors and if we stayed then we all would've been dead." Blake said.

"I know. It just sucks that we couldn't help them." I said. Blake was about to say more, but then Weiss stopped.

"Why are we stopping Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"So we can rest a bit. This also gives me time to attempt to call my sister. Hopefully, she will be able to lift us out of here and alert everyone of the newest threat against the three remaining kingdoms." Weiss said.

"Good idea. This will give us proper time to organize and try to calm our nerves." Pyrrha stated.

"I wonder if anyone else survived the carnage?" Velvet said.

"If they did...they must've went towards another direction. It's easy to wonder off into many directions when in a panic." Blake said. We all nodded to that and started to rest for a bit before heading off again. This will be a new hurdle towards our road to being huntsman and huntresses, but we can handle it. Right?

Qrow POV:

I was sitting in Ironwood's office with Glynda and Ozpin. We were discussing our next course of action against Salem before Winter's scroll started to ring....

"Winter? What is the meaning of this?" Ironwood said.

"I..It's my sister calling. I have to take this so continue your meeting." Winter said as she walked towards the door and left. I knew that it was a call, but I couldn't help the sinking feeling in my stomach. Things were fine in Vale...so why do I have a feeling that things were going to become challenging as time goes on.

When suddenly...Winter rushed back inside with a panicked expression on her face. The expression unnerved me slightly because she never showed much emotion besides anger.

"Is something wrong Winter?" Ironwood asked.

"My sister informed me that Vale has been attacked..." Winter began.

"Attacked?" Ozpin said. 

"Yes. And before you say anything....whatever attacked them wasn't a Grimm." Winter said which shocked all of us.

"Not a Grimm? If it wasn't a Grimm then what was it?" I asked. Normally, I would attempt to talk back at her, but I had to make sure that my nieces were okay. 

"She doesn't know, but their weapons hardly did any damage and they were able to destroy aura given enough hits. They're lucky to escape with their lives and they're in the forest." Winter said.

"That's good. Tell Miss Schnee to head to an area where we can easily get to them and transport them here. Then we'll decide the next course of action." Ironwood said.

"I'm surprised that you're not ordering some of your soldiers to help the kingdom of Vale?" I said.

"If I didn't know that weapons don't harm them and that several hits will weaken and eventually break aura than I would. However, it's better to be safe than sorry." Ironwood said.

"I hope that we're able to contain this problem soon or Salem may be the least of our worries." Ozpin said. At the time, I also held the same hopes....but as the coming weeks came I'll soon realize that saving Remnant will be much harder than we originally thought. 

Cinder POV:

My team and I were camping out in the woods wondering who's commanding these new enemies against my mistress's plans. I thought that once Ozpin left that it would be simple to figure out the location of the fall maiden and finish the the job of gaining her powers, but due to unexpected trouble that we had no choice, but to flee. 

"What are we going to do now." Emerald asked.

"We stay here and wait for further instructions." I stated.

"What a brilliant plan...." Mercury said.

"Or we can stay here and you'll take your luck trying to kill one of those creatures in Vale." I said which caused Emerald to smirk at Mercury's surprised face.

"Fine. We'll stay here, but...." Mercury said before I heard movement outside. I carefully looked outside the window and wondered if some huntresses and huntsmen managed to survive. 

"Guess we may get some unexpected company..." I said.

"Then let's get rid of them and help further Salem's plan..." Emerald said before I stopped her.

"No. It' ll be better if we pretend to be on their side so we can discover who is behind this attack and how to take them down." I said. This would be the best way to go after all besides the sooner this new threat is gone...the sooner that mistress will rule Remnant. 

???? POV:

I was joining my brother looking at the carnage at this school or the remains of a school. There was almost no living souls at this place besides a couple of men that my soldiers captured and took to our castle. 

"I can't believe that our beloved stayed here while trying to escape his fate." I stated.

"Correction....He was here until something caused him to flee once again. If they kept him then maybe these so called huntsmen and huntresses would still be alive." My brother stated while I rolled my eyes. There was no way that we wouldn't kill them after the torment that they probably put my...no, our beloved had to endure. 

"Whatever you say. But I should tell you that I'm detecting some magical energy nearby." I stated. 

"Hm. Guess there's more magic here than we originally thought. I figured that most of the magic users had died out. No matter....soon all magic will be wiped away and nothing will stop us from taking over Remnant and marrying our fiancé." He said. I nodded wondering if our fiancé was somewhere close by... knowing that his freedom would soon be stripped away from him.

Shaking my head, I wondered how the others were doing. 

Sun POV:

I was sitting on the floor wondering if Blake and her friends managed to get away from Vale. Don't get me wrong...any romantic feelings I had for her was destroyed once she betrayed Jaune, but she was still a friend. I also wonder if Sage and Scarlet managed to survive, but my hopes for that was low. Those things were nothing like Grimm who get instantly destroyed by our weapons. They also were able to destroy our aura with a couple of strikes which made them even more dangerous. 

"Jaune. How are we supposed to stop those things?" I asked. He looked at me before sighing.

"It's going to be pretty difficult since our weapons can barely dent their skin. However, we have more pressing matters." Jaune said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Those creatures were commanded by someone or many people to wreak havoc on Vale. And it's safe to say that they're more powerful than the creatures that we faced." Jaune said.

"Are you seriously telling us that we have to worry about those things AND whoever is pulling their strings?" Neptune said.

"Unfortunately. It gets worse once you think about the fates of the people who managed to escape the initial carnage." Jaune said.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"If they managed to command those creatures to kill almost everyone in Vale then it's safe to say that they're not against doing unspeakable things against anyone still alive. I only hope that some kind of rescue will save them or they will live in some type of despair." Jaune said which caused an unnerving silence to fall all around us. He was right...who knows what type of horrors those people are going through at this very moment. 

Which only strengthened my resolve to get stronger. 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter....Bye 👋