Unexpected Incarnate (RWBY Ozpin Incarnate SI)

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Zack POV

Nephew?

I'm his nephew?

By that definition, Fenrir is my uncle… But how? No… Why? Why didn't my mum tell me that she had a brother, and one who happens to run an entire society? A part of me feels a bit bitter that she kept that away from me before she and dad died. Who knows what other important information she knew that would've helped me eventually?

Or how she somehow knew my path…

Even then, now I stand here among spectators fighting my own uncle who I have no interaction with over some ascension ritual.

Whatever that means.

"Speechless, are we?" I heard my uncle responding to my utter silence with a sigh, while I couldn't help but stare at a familiar face. "Not that I blame you, to be honest. Learning about me must have shocked you hard, didn't it? Count me surprised, too, that she didn't mention her origins at all to you."

"No... No, she didn't tell at all, or the fact she had a brother." My voice was barely a whisper at this point, but loud enough for him to hear me.

All this is just too much.

"I see… Then we have much to catch up after this fight. But let us take this up a notch." My uncle says as he combines his swords back together before looking at where Weiss and Nerium are. And before I can even ask what he's doing, he gave a nod, and then I heard her through the microphone as her distance frame gets closer to the edge.

"It is time! Our Khan has deemed the boy worthy enough to take things to the next level. Everyone in the front seats, throw what has been given to you into the arena and let the procession resume!" A wave of choruses rang out and just as it has been said, everyone closest to the arena through a foot-long rods of various coloured crystals, and it didn't take a fool to know what those were.

"Dust…" I gulped before I felt Ozma's alarm in me grew as it mixed with mine as a memory replayed in my mind.

"All Arakans have a hereditary Semblance. Like the Schnees with their Glyphs."

AWOR's voice replayed in my head before my uncle catches an orange Dust rod and I immediately recognise its colours through my ability to sense them! Combustion Dust. And a pure one at that. "You seem proficient enough in utilising your semblance, and can even use two types at once… Must be a blessing from the Gods."

Fenrir mutters before planting his sword into the ground and holding the Dust with two hands. What are you doing? I know you got a pure combustion Dust, but that shit is volatile. Even when without any impurities. Yeah! I know this because Weiss gave me a crash course on all the types of Dust when I first discovered my Semblance after the battle of Haven, and now my supposed uncle's holding it like some sort of metal rod he's going to bend and break it.

"But let's see if you can keep up with someone of your calibre!" As soon as he says that, Fenrir snaps the rods into two pieces without them becoming volatile or exploding in his hands. Subsequently, he performs a swift flick of his hands and promptly throws the pieces onto the ground before something happens before my eyes.

Those two pieces of combustion Dust suddenly began to dissolve into hundreds of thousands of particles that quickly reform themselves into two large glowing orange wolves! Okay. I know my uncle's going for the wolf looks, but this is honestly ridiculous. Then again, I'm going with the fox look, so I guess I have no excuse there. Furthermore, I really need to get creative if my uncle can use our hereditary Semblances to create Dust familiars.

Which I didn't know was possible, mind you.

Seeing that I'm going to need more than just my wits and skill to beat my uncle, especially now that he's bringing our Semblance to bear, my eyes glance around at the various Dust rods all over the arena that are both a blessing and a hazard to me. I mean, they're basically explosive barrels in a middle of a game that I can use to my benefit. Incredibly useful when used right, but also detrimental to being caught in the blast if triggered. Especially the fact that they all bring different elemental effects. Within a second of looking around, my eyes caught of a glowing green rod of dust not too far away.

Plant Dust!

That's going to help me deal with those wolves! I can ensnare them in place and prevent them from getting too close to me and potentially exploding thanks to their combustion Dust origins.

"A wise decision here. But if my suspicions are correct, your uncle, which is honestly shocking to realise who he is, is not giving in his all." In what way, Ozma? He's already showing to me that he has better control over his semblance compared to me. What other trump cards could he possibly bring to bear? Yet, the only response I got from the wizard was four words.

"Look at his arms"

I get it that they are prosthetics, but now that you mention it, Oz, there's something off about them. I should keep an eye on them since my uncle keeps pulling new tricks up from his sleeves. Quickly calling in the rod of pure plant Dust into my hands and absorbing them, I feel its power coursing through me and, like before, one of my tails sprouted flowers again with tendrils and vines slowly wrapping around me.

"Huh… you know… As much as I have more experience compared to you utilising our semblance to its fullest potential, Tails. I envy you for the growth you could achieve with their blessings." I heard my uncle muse out before pointing his blade at me while looking at his creations.

Also, did you just call me Tails?!

We're not in the world of Sonic over here!

"Get him." And just like that, the Dust wolves, which I'll be calling them now, snarls at me before breaking into full speed towards me.

And to counter that, I swiftly plant my foot into the ground and conjuring vines through it that soon erupt from the ground around the arena. Unfortunately, with the vines literally coming out of my foot, so as a result, I'm rooted to the ground and can't really move now. Go ahead, make your plant puns here. Anyway, even more, some of the vines erupting from the ground have maws large enough to swallow a person whole.

Which quite creepy in fact, judging that I hear people among the crowd gasping in surprise with much of the guards in the arena taking a step back to clear some space.

Seeing what I brought onto the table and after dodging one of the vines trying to ensnare him before it got bisected instantly, my uncle immediately began dodging the tens of vines and maws trying to get him while his wolves closed the distance towards me, only for one of them to be quickly caught.

Apparently, the Dust wolves either have a timed life of a couple of seconds or my uncle can remotely detonate them because as soon as one of them was caught, it immediately exploded and sent dust (not that kind of Dust!), snow and all sorts of particles all over the place. Even more shocking to me was that he wasn't sending them at me, he's going for the main vine underground and damaged it when one of his wolves blew up!

And to my surprise, the vine attack I sent out began to spread out of control, and I was forced to recall them due to the risk of them hurting anyone else. The only good thing is that I can move again, but my uncle isn't letting out because without the vines in the way, the other Dust wolf is already on me!

"Oh, hell no, you're going to blow up on me!" I yelled before doing a whole spin kick and launched the wolf away from me with it letting out a yelp surprisingly enough. Of course, my uncle's not just going to give me time to recover because as soon as the Dust wolf was out of the way, he came in and took its place with his blade already drawn and aiming for me.

Thankfully, thanks to Ozma working in the background, I managed to parry his attack and found our blades locked again for like the fifth or sixth time.

"Got to admit, that attempt was new." My uncle smirks while I grit at the force transferred to me. "But show me more, surely you can create more than just that, huh?" Ugh! I cannot lie. This is getting frustrating! Normally, I'll be happy in a stalemate against him knowing my skill level, but there's this part of me that's just angry that nothing's changing.

Every attack is met with a counter-attack.

And every counter-attack is met with another counter-attack.

We've been stuck in this dance for minutes with either of us still having enough aura to fight. Frankly, despite now seeing his face, I can't tell if he's treating this as a test for me or just purposely keeping the fight going for his entertainment. Either way, I need to find a way to break the deadlock before I eventually burn out from exhaustion.

Shoving Fenrir back, I launched another vine through my arm before he could recover as it began to wrap around his sword first before more tendrils grew out of it and bind his arms. For a moment, I swear I saw an oh shit look on my uncle's face before I pulled him over my head and slammed him face-first into the snow as I did it again, and again, and again before throwing him behind me and sending him flying away.

Right after that, another of those vines with maws grew out of the ground behind me and began spitting thorns as large as my forearm straight at him. But my uncle wasn't out of the show yet when he suddenly pulls a wind Dust rod while still flying away from me and used it to slow himself down while also sending a gust of wind to blow away the thorns thrown at him.

"I really don't like it how he seems to recover too fast for my liking…" I grumbled in my thoughts before Ozma threw his thoughts in as well while I turned my attention to his Dust wolf while tried to sneak up on me only to be nailed in the head by a thorn and exploding a safe distance away.

"Take this a practice when it comes to dealing with someone with the same Semblance, Arakan. This could serve as an opportunity as a suitable way to learn how to use them to their fullest potential."

"True, but I never liked mirror matches back on Earth."

"Mirror matches?"

Cracking a grin at my own joke for a second, I shifted into my stance again while my uncle began pulling in several rods of various Dust elements from the ground near him while the cheering of the crowds grows ever louder from our fight. Then he did something that stuns me because I never thought it was possible. Fenrir simply brings his hand up into the skies and with a clench of his fist, each one of those Dust rods shattered into a thousand pieces without any of them exploding from such actions.

Even more when all those shards consolidate into a gun that looks much like a rifle from afar!

I didn't know our Semblance and do this kind of shit!

"Oh… boy…" I couldn't help but grimace at the sudden situation, with how much this was going to suck, before my uncle pointed his new Dust gun with a single hand directly at me and fired a shot! Shockingly, the Dust projectile was moving so expectingly fast that Ozma had to forcefully take over my body to get me out of the way.

Had he not done that, Fenrir's shot would have nailed me right in the chest! While we're at it, even though I only had a small moment to sense it, it was made apparent to me that the projectile had several Dust types melded together. But not in the way of combining them, more like each Dust becoming a component for the projectile.

A combination of wind and fire Dust to give the projectile some form of self-propulsion at unparalleled speeds, stone Dust to give it additional weight and a sharp end for increased impact damage and penetration power and lastly, combustion Dust in its core that likely gives the projectile an explosive kick upon impact.

I might be going nuts, but did he just create Remnant's version of A FUCKING BOLTER GUN AND FIRED IT AT ME?!

"WHAT THE HELL, MAN? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME WITH THAT THING?!" Seriously! I'm glad that Oz saved my life before I took my body back, but God-damn, this freaked me out so much! From what I know from Dust, using them as components instead of merging them completely is unheard of and Jesus!

I can't imagine getting hit by that thing.

"Not really." My uncle shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly before pointing his gun at me again. I designed it not to 'kill' you, as you thought it would. But more like giving you a kick if you get hit by it, besides, this is its less potent version since the amount of combustion Dust within it is miniscule compared to how much I usually put in." Fenrir explains as I look behind me to see that the Dust projectile didn't explode.

That's the less potent one? That thing was just too fast to see coming! I mean, I can see how dangerous and powerful this can be against Grimm, but I've seen what Bolters can do to a normal person in many stories.

One shot and that guy goes fucking splat into gore!

"Right…" I shook my head before bringing my hand to the side and calling in a nearby wind Dust rod to my hand before crushing and absorbing its elemental effects. And like before, a gust of purple wind began to gather around me, with one of my tails immediately getting engulfed in a purple whirlwind. "Let's see if you can shoot something you can't see." I mutter out.

If I can move faster than my uncle can react, I should, in theory, be able to catch him off guard, especially if I can confuse him by leaving after-images. But I have to be careful, he might just have those Dust projectiles explode in proximity to me if he can predict where I am.

Getting into a prowling stance with my legs and arm on the snowy floor, with the other holding on to Oathkeeper, I kicked off the ground and launched myself straight for my uncle while leaving a crater of snow behind.

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Seeing his nephew kicking up a literal small snow storm behind him made the Khan fire a shot at him. But as it always does from an obvious shot, Zack quickly dodges out of the way before seeming to vanishing and leaving an after image behind where he used to be. In fact, Fenrir already knew where his nephew was going to attack from, and he immediately ducks right as Oathkeeper passes horizontally behind him as he grabs his sword and swings at the fox Faunus.

Only for him to disappear again and kicking snow all over the place and reappearing from a different angle with his sword already swinging.

"Hit and run, huh? A tactic I've seen many times, but appropriate knowing what he's up against." Fenrir muses with a smile before parrying Zack's attack and fires a shot point-blank only for the fox Faunus to disappear again as that was just an after image he just shot. "Though much faster and leaving decoys behind… I supposed a change of tactics is needed." The khan thought for a second, only to realise that while he was distracted, the fox Faunus had ensnared his legs in place with vines.

"Not bad keeping me in place, Tails! But it's going to take more than that to keep me in place!" Fenrir yells out before deflecting a stab aimed for him with the blades on his prosthetic arm and, again, firing in the general direction Zack could have disappeared off to. But to his amusement, his nickname to his nephew appears to have irked him enough to earn a humorous response back at him, with even some of the spectators laughing.

"Would you stop calling me Tails? That's not my name!"

"There!" Fenrir grins internally before turning and firing a single shot at the location he predicted his nephew will go to thanks to this diversion, and it lands. Somewhat. Turns out, His nephew reacted fast enough to bring his shield out to tank the shot, but the sheer velocity plus explosion released sent the fox Faunus tumbling back before sliding on his feet.

"Damn, that was a nasty shot." The fox Faunus could only conclude, with his fox ears and tails twitching almost irritably, while glancing at his shield. In fact, the impact and blast were so strong that it actually damaged the shield, as now there's a small impact crater where the projectile hit and blew up at. "If that's the damage from tanking it with a shield, I can't imagine how much aura this will eat up per shot."

"Then I would advise that we focus on dodging all his attacks if able, while I will lend my assistance whenever I can." Ozma's voice whispers in Zack's ears as he nods his head. Before a fire Dust rod flew right past him into Fenrir's hand. Seeing his uncle now having a fire Dust rod in his hand, the fox Faunus knew what he's going to do and chose to jump right as the khan jams the rod into the ground and a wave of fire bursts and begins burning anything and everything within several meters of him and freeing him from his bindings.

Even more, the presence of all this fire set off several Dust rods near him and caused all sorts of chaos in the arena with entire ice shards erupting where their Dust versions were, entire rock piles begin to erupt and rise from the arena, gusts of winds erupting and blowing things back, electrical bolts shot into the skies and many other Dust types triggering their elemental effects.

In fact, while all this was going on, seeing his uncle walking out towards him with flames all around him which was intimidating as hell to witness, in addition to his serious expressions and the chaos making his hair fluttering to the side. "Okay… As cool as hell is to see all that in any shows, my god, is that terrifying to see that in person!" Failing to stop himself from gulping nervously, Zack swiftly threw his hand forward and a powerful gust of wind washed towards Fenrir and took out the flame and smoke, before the Khan quickly points his gun at his nephew again and fires a shot.

"Come one! Is that the best you can do?" He yells out while his nephew dodges a shot and another fired at him. "Nerium told me that you intended to head to Argus to meet up with your friends when she met you and your companion hours back. If you are to achieve your quest, then how much are you willing to fight to see it through? Fight and show how we Arakans are made of!"

Gritting his teeth, Zack appears on Fenrir's side to get the drop on him, but the wolf Faunus already predicted that his nephew would do that and in a shocking twist of action, he suddenly drops his Dust gun and catches the fox Faunus by his neck.

Realising what had just happened, Zack felt his grip on Oathkeeper loosen before both his hands shot up to where his uncle had him by the neck. "If I may ask you right now, where is your mother, by the way? It has been a long time since I've last seen her. Besides, hasn't she did not train you at all in combat?"

The wolf Faunus asked curiously, but that had the opposite effect to his desired questions. Because bringing up his deceased mother made the fears and anxiety in Zack's mind replaced by something else.

Rage.

"Y-You of all people have n-no right to say that about HER!" Zack furiously yells out before kicking his uncle in the head and him drop his nephew free while the fox Faunus yells again. "Just because she so happens to come from here, doesn't mean I had to learn how to fight! She never taught me at all!" Yet, hearing that coming from him simply made the Khan shoot back.

"Then you don't know your mother as much as you think you know!" Fenrir counters with his eyes narrowing down while swinging over Zack's head before going in for a full front kick of his chest. "Your mother is a naive and an optimist, but not a weakling. Compared to me, she was stronger in any way, and had things go the way they should have her, she would have become Khan!"

Zack groans as he slowly pushes himself back onto his feet, while Fenrir stares down at his nephew. "Now, answer me. Not as a stranger. Or as a Khan. But as a brother concerned about his sister's whereabouts. What happened to her, and where is she?" Yet, the only response he got from his nephew was a simple word that shook his world all over.

"Dead."

"Dead?" Fenrir's eyes widened in disbelief, with horrified gasps in the background from those who were able to hear the conversation. Then as fast as it came, he became murderous. Gone was the Khan who ruled his people firmly but fairly. Gone was the Brother who yearns to see his sister again. Gone was the uncle who wishes to know more about his recently discovered nephew through a test of might and skill.

Now, only the man who embodies his people's hatred for bandits and Grimm remains for now.

And grief over the death of his sister, according to his nephew.

"What happened. And who did it?" Fenrir asks tersely.

Though, it was more at a demand for answers at this point.

"Why does it matter now?" Zack could only bitterly question. "The village I was born in, Nozomu, was attacked by bandits and she and my father stayed back to keep me safe. And when the authorities went there, there were no bodies left. Nothing to bury…"

…

For a duration of a few seconds, the conflict between Fenrir and Zack appeared to have ceased, as they both stared into each other's eyes, and even the spectators had ceased to cheer due to the situation. In fact, there was only silence as the last two Arakans remaining on Remnant stared at one another with their weapons at hand.

"If that is that case…" The wolf Faunus mutters as he suddenly sheaths his sword to the confusion of the fox Faunus. Only to suddenly vanish into thin air and reappear in front of his nephew before decking him in the face! "Then I will no longer hold back against you, Zack Arakan! I expect you to do the same thing, and let the gods decide how this battle ends!"

Fenrir announces to all before flicking his arms down and that his prosthetic forearms began shifting and changing with the four blades on each of his forearms sliding down through the rails onto his ring, middle and index fingers alongside his thumbs to resemble more like massive claw blades with four of them on each hand. Even more, the wolf Faunus's began to adopt a new stance which was notably more aggressive than the past stances he had, with him resting one of his claw blades onto the snow below with the other wide open to slash

"Enough delaying! Now the real fight begins, and let us see if you are truly worthy to receive the blessings of the Gods!" Fenrir charges in with fury, with his blade claws ready to slash at Zack, who quickly gets into his stance with a deep frown at the renewed vigour his uncle is showing.

"Well, fuck my life I guess; he has a phase three…"

"Then let us persevere through it, together." Ozma adds in.

"Yeah… got it."

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Qrow POV

Well, I suppose things could've gone worse, ever since kiddo and mini-ice queen got separated from us. Still, it's good that blondie's sister allowed us to crash over at her place until we can get to Atlas and frankly, things could have been better. Pipsqueak's a mess after we lost mini-ice queen and kiddo days back, and I'm concerned about her. She claims she's alright, but everyone can see that what happened is affecting her more than she lets on to it.

Hell, most of the time I've seen her either with Maria Calavera learning all she could on how to master her sliver eyes or alone in her room with Zack's bag and clutching onto that necklace he gave her on her birthday. Even Firecracker had become concerned about her, and I've seen her go in and try to talk her out of her room or have faith that kiddo and mini-ice queen will make it here.

Even I tried to assure her that they'll make it.

With limited success.

As for the others, well, Neo's been hiding herself with her Semblance as a friend of ours since being so close to one of Jimmy's bases, it only makes sense that she has to hide her identity since she's still technically a criminal to the law. But frankly, she has been scouting and to everyone's shock, she even suggested infiltrating that base just off Argus for more information on how we can get to Atlas.

As much as it would be good to get additional information on how we can get to Atlas, the majority of us voted otherwise despite her infiltration expertise. As much as it would be funny to piss off Jimmy and show how shit his security is, it wouldn't be wise since we'll need his help to secure the other Relics.

Blondie and his team, after finding a place we can stay, sought out for help to see if we can find someone who can assist in saving them both, but apparently stumbled across some girl named Celeste. Who also happens to be a friend of Katherine, who interrogated our asses a while back.

Talk about a small world.

Currently, I found myself drinking some tea in the Arc house living room with the sun setting outside alongside Maria Calavera resting not too far away on another chair minding her own business or asleep. Hell if I know how her prosthetic eyes even work to begin with besides looking goofy as hell and janky according to her.

Moving on from that, I still couldn't believe that she is the famed Grimm Reaper I adored as a kid all this time. Kitty cat and Firecracker were in the kitchens alongside the rest of team JNR making dinner, while the Cotta-Arc family were out for their own dinner stuff and leaving their house to us.

Speaking of the Cotta-Arc family, I still don't know where the little kid came from, though. But I'm not going to bother with that. None of my business to care about this kind of confusing thing on how they managed to pop a kid out with both being ladies and stuff.

Gives me a headache just thinking about it.

(Author here, no offence against woman-on-woman relationships. I think they're hot. But where did Adrian even come from? Just thinking about it keeps me up all night, do you know that! Did Jaune get involved in this? Or some biology stuff? Or is Adrian a step-child? See what I mean?)

The evening was, in fact, getting quite cosy with the relative peace and silence I'm getting before everyone in the house suddenly picked up Pipsqueak yelling all of a sudden. "Yes! It worked! UNCLE QROWWW!"

Hmm?

"What the!?" Pipsqueak came in a blitz of red, leaving a trail of roses shortly behind her before appearing right at me with a smile and eyes shining life, holding some sort of metallic device with all sorts of engravings as well as that white crystal on it. Hang on, is that memory storage device crystal thing Zack got back at the underground city weeks back?

"Ruby? Why are you yelling so much? What's going on?" Firecracker walks in with the rest of the gang walking confused to her sudden yelling and change of attitude, while Calavera hasn't woken up by her yelling. Glad that was the case, we got a yelling from here the last time we accidentally woke her up.

"I cracked it! Zack left a message inside for us to hear, just in case something like this happens!" Ruby explains as she excitedly holds up the device in her hands, so the whole time she's been cooped up in her room was finding out how to unlock a message besides coming out to eat and use the bathroom?

Kitty cat, on the other hand, remained sceptical from the looks of her face.

Not that I blamed her.

"And how did you access those messages, as you put it? Last I checked, only those who had magic can interact with it." She says, before pinky joins in with her usual vigour, clearly not bothering with that magic criteria it needs.

"Oh! Oh! What did he say?"

"It's better if I show you. Besides, I haven't seen the message yet." I watch silently as pipsqueak admits before placing the device down on the table and, to my surprise, she took the necklace out from her neck and taps the crystal with it. Instantly, it began to shimmer with light right as pinky, firecracker, blondie and pipsqueak peered closer with curious looks.

"So let me get this straight, you used the magic in that necklace of yours to activate it." I ask for a confirmation. Then again, I suppose it makes some sense if I were to think about it. As Oz informed everyone before, the magic he wields differs significantly from the magic employed by kiddo and the Sisters, to such an extent that they are incompatible with one another.

At least, as he stated, and assuming that's how that thing operates.

"Well yeah…" I watch as my niece admits as she scratches the back of her head. "It did hit me when Zack told me that the necklace uses magic to make a protective barrier around me, I figured it would do something to that device." I guess that makes some sense also, that crystal's garbling right now.

With everyone's attention now back on the crystal, the garbling eventually cleared up and kiddo's voice came out of it. "Alright… Is this thing working? I have no idea, but just in case it actually works, I'll say what I need to say."

His voice came out right as everyone began to sit down on the sofas. "Okay everyone, if you're hearing this, then it means things didn't go as smoothly as we, and especially I had hoped for, and further more if I am not around to tell ya what happened in this part. Also, if you somehow managed to get this thing working, then well done."

For a moment, I swear I saw Ruby beaming in pride at Zack's complement.

"Whether it is me and a couple of us falling out of Argus express or the other way around, this voicemail would hopefully help you guys." I slowly brought my eyes to see everyone glancing at each other before Zack's voice continued. "Okay. If I am not with you guys, and you all are already at Argus, then the main priority is to find a way to get us to Atlas. While also finding a way to rescue whoever got separated. Normally, I would suggest seeing help from the Argus Military Base, but I'd advise otherwise."

Kiddo's voice explains through the crystal, though I picked up a sense of frustration from his voice? Even more was everyone's reactions, which were confused about his objections against seeking help from those fellas. Not that I could blame them, I trust Jimmy's boys as far as I can throw them, but even we need their help will be needed if we are to stop Salem for good this time.

"Why I say this? Let's just say that it's run by an incredibly zealous old special operative known as Caroline Cordovin. Trust me, you won't be able to get her to cooperate and gain her assistance to get to Atlas, thanks to her being a prideful and condescending asshole." If what he says is right, then finding a ride to Atlas just got a whole lot harder. Speaking of which, this is one of the few times I heard kiddo using a vulgar word to describe her.

She must be quite the shitty person to be with.

"Even if you had Weiss with you, she would refuse to let us go to Atlas, under the principle that the Kingdom did nothing wrong and that the borders were closed. She even looks down at everyone non-Atlesians and proved to be discriminatory against us Faunus. I suspect that even Atlas got sick of her nonsense and dumped her there to get her far away from Atlas." I suspect kiddo's ranting at this point because the sounds a hell lot personal than factual at this point.

In fact, I think I could see the others blinking and contemplating his words before Blondie picked up after kiddo was done with his rant. "Well, if any of this is the same, then this just more complicated."

"I wonder why he didn't tell us this earlier… Would have been nice to know that we're dealing with a jerk." Firecracker joins in before Zack's voice came out of the crystal while we all listened in.

"Nevertheless, if you're unable to find a suitable way to get to Atlas, then wait unit we can reunite, then we organise and plan another solution to get to the General. And… as much as I wish I were there myself, Jaune and Ruby. If either of them is there, feel free to try out your own plans while waiting for me. I have faith that either of you can work it out." Zack said before I noticed Ruby smiling with blushed cheeks again.

She really had fallen for him, huh?

Besides, didn't mini-ice queen also display the same fondness weeks back when we were still in Mistral? Furthermore, I might have mistaken it, but I swear I spot them getting all jealous and upset when the other is talking to Zack. If that's the case… Hah! Barely even an adult and already charming two women, huh, kiddo? Count me impressed. Yeah, one of them is my niece, but what are the chances of a Schnee and her falling for the same Faunus?

Makes me wonder how this would eventually pan out.

Of course, I don't care if he is Ozpin's host nor happens to be the God's champion. If he so happens to hook up and breaks Ruby's heart, I'll break his face, crush his balls in and one hell of a beating he won't be leaving the bed anytime soon. And not in that specific order, assuming Yang beats me to the punch first.

But that's a thought for another time.

"After all… Where's the fun in that if I help you with all your problems, eh?" Zack finishes off. Having faith in both of them? Well, I trust yours and Ozpin's judgment, and I sure pipsqueak and blondie can come up with something before you get here.

"Now, if you're still listening then, head up, what I have to say for Argus is over. But, if you and the others fall out of the train, the pay attention because it's time for me to explain what to do and what happened since this device doesn't seem to have the ability to choose to listen to option one or two functions. Which is so dumb."

I blinked before taking a sip, while I heard the quiet one spoke first. "Should we listen on?" He spoke while glancing at the others before a range of responses came by quick.

"Sure!"

"Why not? It might give us an idea what Zack and Weiss are dealing with right now."

"Yes! I wonder what our fluffy boy is going through."

"We got time to spare anyway to listen to this. The fish is baking in the oven right now."

"Doesn't Ren still need to stir-fry the vegetables for dinner?"

"Ehh… It' will be fine, Blake. This shouldn't take long."

Then, as I continued sipping, I noticed everyone looking expectantly at me for my own thoughts on the matter. Why bother, to be honest? Everyone seems pretty into hearing what Zack is going to explain for the next part. But if it works for them. I guess there's no harm to that. "Pretty much you guys voted in favour of hearing on, but if you want my thoughts, sure. There's no harm in listening on."

"Yes!" Pipsqueak cheered while throwing a fist into the air while standing on one foot as we all paid attention to the device.

Unaware that someone's outside the house listening in without being noticed.

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"This is getting out of hand! How many tricks can he come up with?" Weiss found herself gulping while continuing to watching Zack fight against his uncle from above for minutes straight. Uncle… She still couldn't believe that all this time that they were here, the Khan was his uncle. She didn't believe that was the case, since she was under the assumption that their similar hair colour was just sheer coincidence.

Furthermore, despite the monumental distance from the fight, Weiss even managed to hear that Zack's mother was the Khan's sister, and by extension the Khan's true name is Fenrir Arakan. Now she found herself worried sick because she knows that he doesn't have an exceptional stamina to keep fighting and Fenrir seems to keep going and pulling new cards whenever the fox Faunus adapts to one.

First starting the fight with a single-handed sword before switching up by splitting it into a dual-welding quickly and attacking without any second to recover. The ex-heiress could only conclude that if she fought against him, she would've been overwhelmed quickly, knowing her fighting style. All while watching as Fenrir engages Zack with his claws, and each blade is approximately the size of his forearms from what can be seen.

Even more, alarming is the staggering mastery of his Semblance, unlike the boy she fell for from the fact that he can create summons similar to what Schnee's are capable of doing and somehow even create a gun made straight up of pure Dust! The whole thing boggles the ex-Heiress as she watches on because seeing what is before her just proves how powerful the Arakan's Semblances are.

But on further, thought, it just makes sense some sense for the Sisters of Twilight to bear some biases when granting their chosen a powerful semblance to wield as their own. However, this fact along just brings up more questions on the nature of aura and Semblances as a whole.

Watching them fight on, Weiss felt her breath hitching when Zack's uncle kicked him in the stomach before taking a short leap back and began slashing the air again and again with his claws, with blue slashes going straight for him. As difficult as it is to get a full view of what's happening from the distance for her and everyone up here, Zack immediately began running to the side as fast as he could to evade the slashes tailing right behind him before suddenly jumping into the air and falling straight onto Fenrir with Oathkeeper glowing purple!

"COME ON!" A chill ran down everyone's spine when they heard the fox Faunus roaring in rage as he began cutting through all of Fenrir's slash projectiles aimed at him, before a booming clang rang out the arena with Oathkeeper clashing against his uncle's blade claws. Seeing and hearing all this worries Weiss because something must have happened down there to make him furious!

From everything she knows of the fox Faunus, he's not one to lose his cool, but seeing how angry he's got all of a sudden, it made the ex-heiress nervous because now she has a terrible feeling that something is going to go wrong any moment now.

But it wasn't the fault of his own, down below, Zack and Ozma could feel this ever-growing energy within their souls, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to resist the intoxicating effects on the fox Faunus, driving him ever closer to losing control of himself to a state of frenzy.

And despite still in the middle of a fight against Fenrir, it is a cause of tension because it's making the fox Faunus act more erratic that even his uncle can tell that something's not right with him throughout the fight. "Oz, whatever's happening to me is getting worse! My mind! It's starting to be consumed by something! What is happening to us?" 

He could only ask while clutching his forehead in agony from the throbbing pain.

"I'm doing what I can to find the cause, Zack! I can only conclude that our merger is responsible for this occurrence. But if you can, fight it! Whatever it is, it appears to be some instinctual mechanism taking over."

"... I can't! It's too much!"

"Tails, are you alright there?" Fenrir couldn't help but pause after noticing Zack for a second clutching onto his head in pain as if fighting something within him. "For a second you seemed to be in pain, what's happening to you?" The Khan continued before witnessing his nephew clutching onto his head while growling almost feral like.

"QUIT CALLING ME THAT!" Zack suddenly lashed out with his unstable nature and released a pulse of magic around him that caused every single Dust rod nearby to detonate and startling everyone in the process. In fact, witnessing this shocked his uncle by a large margin before glancing back to see his nephew on his knees with a hand still on his face. Even more alarming is how his fox ears are ears flattened against his head and tails swinging around almost wildly and now audibly growling like an animal.

"Something isn't right…" Fenrir quickly concludes. As much as he wants to see who wins in the end, there's no point to it if his sister's child is unstable. Glancing at his guards unmoving all over the arena, he nods at them as they respond by slowly beginning to walk towards him with their shields up and ready with their spears. "I have to end the fight; he is not well to continue." The wolf Faunus mutters, only to be swiftly interrupted by his nephew's growling.

"No…"

Knowing something's wrong and thanks to his quick combat instincts, Fenrir abruptly brings his claws up to tank a shockingly powerful punch that sends him across the arena far away, and what he saw worries him greatly.

Zack's body immediately collapsed onto the floor following his punch, and his body began to shimmer in red, to the dismay of all present.

Where once there were only normal fingernails, they have now begun to lengthen and sharpen until they resemble more like claws. Where there were only a pair of markings on his cheeks, another two more slowly emerged underneath the first, and his fangs became more distinct and sharper.

Even more so were his eyes as they slowly began to succumb to this red aura, and the white parts of his eyes slowly became blood-red and left his golden irises becoming barely visible underneath the overwhelming red. Lastly, every single Dust rod still present in the arena was suddenly pulled towards the fox Faunus before condensing around his behind and forming another seven more tails made from pure Dust that shimmered like a rainbow!

Whispers of confusion rang the arena as every single of Fenrir's guards paused to observe the situation while Fenrir himself got into his stance. This was beyond what he expected. But just proves that his nephew is indeed chosen by the gods… But… Something's definitely off about him right now.

Then, while pondering his next move, Zack said something completely out-of-character for those who know him. "You said that wanted a proper fight to determine who's the strongest, eh? To determine whether I am indeed blessed by the sisters? Is that right, uncle?" He laughs without any sort of kindness or familiarity in his voice as he stood up onto his feet before pointing his clawed fingers straight at his uncle with a battle-hungry smile.

"Well, you got it!"

A crazed grin was all the Fenrir got before Oathkeeper flew straight into Zack's hands. "Now, then." The fox Faunus laughs almost maniacally again before shifting into his stance.

"Let's dance!"

Thus, Zack sped off like a lightning bolt and clashed against his uncle again to Weiss's eyes becoming wide as plates from above and AWOR grim comprehension under her cloak while gazing at the crowd, before choosing to get up and leave. And far above, with the setting sun behind her, Ishmael frowned at the situation before she began descending to the arena below.

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Elsewhere in the snowy forests of Anima. Hazel stares out into the frozen storm with his arms on the controls onboard his airship, it wasn't either long since they were sent off by their mistress to retrieve that Faunus boy who so happens to harbour the soul of Ozma. Of course, by her will, he has to bring along Tyrian alongside him to find that boy

And frankly, the trip has been unpleasant for him.

Tyrian wouldn't shut up about his, as well as Emerald, and Mercury's failure during the events at Haven Academy. Furthermore, he wouldn't avoid gushing about all the 'fun' he's going to have with that fox Faunus in all sorts of deprive ways. After all, Salem wanted him alive and well, but doesn't mean that he couldn't have some fun with him before delivering him to his mistress.

Even going into the idea of poisoning Ozpin's host with his stinger tail only to cure him with an antidote and the poisoning him again. Or even his shaving his tail off to make something out of it. Hazel sighs softly at the maddening ideas thrown around, which are basically torture at this point. Even though it's hypocritical of him to judge him for that. Bringing his attention back to reality, Hazel spots nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet, despite all this time spending in Salem's realm and witnessing all sorts of horrors, he couldn't help get the feeling that something was off here.

Just what specifically is off is the main question.

And so, Hazel continues to fly to where Ozpin's host could be thanks to the helpful assistance of the Spiders, providing quite the detail that they're on their way to Argus. Most likely to seek assistance from the Atlas military base there to take them to Atlas. Though another information given to was that the Argus Express suffered an attack by Grimm and, if rumours are to be believed, two passengers fell off the train.

Something to investigate to see if Ozpin's host or his friends fell out. Perhaps they can get additional information from them.

In addition, after the battle of Haven and fighting against a literal goddess and losing, Hazel's wondering if they can win against a literal God. Especially when Ishmael, as she called herself and the very same one who easily stopped his punch when she possessed Ozpin's host plus, suddenly appeared out of nowhere while they were in a meeting.

He didn't know the aftermath of whatever that happened since he and everyone rightly chose to flee the room, but all he got many details later from Salem was that she wanted him to capture Ozpin's host and apparently the designated champion for Ishmael and another goddess who happens to be her sister…

Shaking his head, the sight of a tiny Nevermore flying by caught his eyes and just ahead of him looked like a war zone had just happened in the far distance away. Trees were uprooted or utterly shattered into small splints, stones smashed into nothing, and the most threatening thing to Hazel was massive hoof steps all over the place.

As if something massive had caused this much collateral damage.

"Grimm…" Hazel could only conclude and despite his mission, this battle looked recent and perhaps could give some clues as to Ozpin's host's location. But before he could decide to land the air ship, more of those tiny Nevermores flew by.

First it was in groups of tens, then hundreds flew by and if they never seemed to stop and earn his attention. All those Grimm were thoroughly ignoring his ship and seemed to be heading in a specific direction. "Where are they going off to?" Despite his instincts telling him not to follow them, Hazel found his curiosity over taking him as he turned the airship towards where all those tiny Nevermores were heading.

And soon, he would find a monster that made him wished he hadn't let his curiosity take over him.

But also, a potential ally to help…