Chương 72: Chapter 67: The Battle of Haven (Part 2)

The Grand Hall of Haven Academy was a cacophony of shattering wood, roaring flames, and the ringing clash of steel. Oscar Pine dove desperately to the left, his boots slipping on the polished floorboards just as Hazel Rainart's massive, lightning-wreathed fist slammed into the ground where he had been standing. The impact cratered the floor, sending a violent shockwave of electricity arcing through the air.

"Oscar." Ozpin's voice pleaded, echoing urgently within the confines of their shared mind.

"No!" Oscar grunted, scrambling to his feet and raising The Long Memory to parry a glancing backhand from the giant. The sheer force of the blow rattled Oscar's teeth.

"Oscar!" Ozpin urged again as Hazel advanced like a relentless, unstoppable juggernaut.

"I told you, no!" Oscar shouted aloud, sidestepping a brutal downward hammer-fist. But Oscar's youthful reflexes were no match for Hazel's raw, monstrous speed. Hazel pivoted, driving a heavy punch squarely into Oscar's chest. The young boy was launched backward, flying several feet through the air before crashing violently into a thick wooden column. Oscar slumped to the floor, gasping for breath as his Aura flickered dangerously low.

"Please, let me take over!" Ozpin begged, the ancient soul laced with genuine terror for the boy's life." I can handle him!"

"You told me I needed to fight for myself!" Oscar wheezed, using the brass cane to force himself back up onto his shaking legs. He wiped a streak of blood from his lip, his hazel eyes burning with a stubborn, fierce defiance.

"So I will."

"This is not your fight!" Ozpin insisted.

"What does that mean?!" Oscar yelled, gripping his weapon tightly as the towering man stalked closer.

"Why is he so upset with us?!"

"He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy?" Hazel rumbled, his voice dropping into a dark, menacing gravel that chilled the room. He stopped a few paces away, the lightning fading from his veins as he stared down at the bruised child.

"That evil inside you is still doing it. Dragging innocent children into his personal war!" Hazel sneered, raising his massive fists into the air, trembling with absolute, suffocating hatred.

"Your blood won't be on my hands, boy. It'll be on his!"

"What is he talking about?" Oscar asked, his eyes wide.

"Tell him, Ozpin!" Hazel roared, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings.

"Tell him how you KILLED HER!!" Oscar blinked, entirely confused.

"Her?" A heavy, profound sorrow washed over Oscar's mind." Gretchen Rainart was Hazel's sister," Ozpin confessed, the memory steeped in ancient regret." Despite her brother's wishes, she enrolled at Beacon Academy to become a Huntress... and tragically lost her life on a training mission. Hazel holds me responsible. Please, let me fight. I know Hazel. He's wounded in a way that cannot be healed." Hazel took a slow, heavy step forward, his shadow engulfing the boy.

"You know now, boy. You can forgive me for what I'm about to do."

"Did she know?" Oscar asked, his voice shaking but remarkably clear. Hazel stopped dead in his tracks. His massive fists lowered just a fraction.

"What?"

"Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?" Oscar challenged, stepping out from the shadow of the pillar, holding his cane up defensively. Hazel's face contorted into a mask of pure, unyielding rage, actively burying the revelation.

"She was only a child! She wasn't ready!!"

"She made a choice!" Oscar yelled back, his voice ringing with the unbreakable courage Ruby had instilled in him the night before.

"A choice to put others before herself! So do I!" Hazel froze. For a fleeting, agonizing microsecond, the chaotic battle around them faded away.

"Why are you taking the blame for something she decided to do?" The image of a man in a bright yellow suit, standing casually next to a Mistralian fruit stall, flashed vividly in Hazel's mind.

"If your sister wanted to be a Huntress, she chose that path. You can't stop someone from wanting to be a hero, no matter how hard you try. If she decided to fight, that was her choice. Beating yourself up and blaming a garbage system doesn't change why she did it, and it definitely doesn't honor her memory." The simple, blunt truth of the anomaly's words echoed in Hazel's ears. He knew, deep down in the dark, suffocating abyss of his grief, that the bald man was right. Gretchen had made her choice.

But the anger had been Hazel's only companion for too long. Letting it go meant facing the quiet, crushing reality of his own helplessness. Hazel just glared at Oscar, his amber eyes burning with the fires of an unquenchable vendetta. He had made his own choice.

"Then you've chosen death!" Hazel declared, pulling his fist back. Oscar glared right back, unmoving, entirely determined.

"I'm sorry," Ozpin whispered softly in his mind.

"What--?" Before Oscar could finish, his hazel eyes flared with a brilliant, blindingly ancient light. His body went entirely limp, falling forward before smoothly, effortlessly catching himself on his feet. When the boy looked up, the terrified farm hand was gone. The ancient, immortal Headmaster of Beacon Academy had taken the wheel, his posture shifting into flawless, regal perfection. Hazel recognized the shift instantly. The presence of the man he hated more than anything in the universe was palpable.

"OZPIIIIN!!!!" Hazel roared, charging forward with earth-shattering force.

A few yards away, the clash of steel rang out as Qrow Branwen engaged Leonardo Lionheart. Qrow swung Harbinger in a massive, sweeping arc. Lionheart frantically raised his custom duel-disk, the rotating shield absorbing the heavy blow with a shower of sparks. Qrow followed up immediately, spinning low and driving a harsh kick into Lionheart's shin, forcing the Headmaster to stumble backward before blocking a flurry of flaming projectiles fired from Leo's wrist-mounted chambers.

"Turn on her, Leo!" Qrow shouted over the explosions, parrying another fireball into the ceiling.

"Stop helping Salem! Fight her inner circle with us, right now! And we'll figure out a way to forgive you!" Lionheart fired another volley, his eyes wide with absolute, pathetic terror. He wasn't just afraid of Salem. He was terrified of the agonizing punishment that awaited traitors.

"It's far too late for forgiveness, Qrow!" Lionheart screamed hysterically, frantically reloading his Dust chambers.

"You don't know what she does! I just want to live!"

Across the room, Weiss Schnee scrambled across the floorboards, grabbing the shoulder of her unconscious leader.

"Ruby! Ruby, wake up!" Weiss pleaded, gently shaking the silver-eyed girl. Ruby groaned, her eyelids fluttering open. She winced, clutching the side of her head where Emerald had struck her.

"Ugh... did someone catch the license plate of that Nevermore?"

"You're okay," Weiss exhaled a massive sigh of relief, helping Ruby to her feet. Weiss's own Aura had finally regenerated enough to stabilize her. Together, they rushed over to help Ren and Nora, who were slowly pushing themselves up from the debris of Cinder's blast. Ruby's silver eyes quickly scanned the chaotic battlefield. She spotted Pyrrha kneeling behind a shattered wooden bench, cradling Jaune Arc's upper body in her lap. Ruby gasped, taking a step forward.

"Jaune!"

"We're okay, Ruby!" Pyrrha called back, her voice laced with a mixture of immense relief and profound awe. Jaune was unconscious, but his chest heaved with steady, powerful breaths. To Pyrrha's absolute shock, the horrific burns Cinder had inflicted were already fading. Jaune's amplified Aura was humming brilliantly, actively knitting his flesh back together.

The sheer, impossible density of his muscles, forged through Saitama's hellish, mind-breaking physical conditioning, had acted as an impenetrable fortress, preventing Cinder's superheated blast from causing any fatal internal damage.

"He's healing incredibly fast," Pyrrha yelled over the din of combat, raising her shield defensively.

"Help the others! We'll be fine!" Ruby nodded firmly. She turned her head, hearing the furious, explosive blasts of Ember Celica. Yang was in a desperate, losing battle. She charged forward, throwing a devastating right hook at Mercury, but Mercury's form simply dissolved into dark smoke. It was a hallucination. Emerald stood on the periphery, her eyes glowing red as she manipulated Yang's vision. Suddenly, the image of Raven Branwen materialized right in front of Yang, her sword drawn.

Yang hesitated, her fist faltering for a crucial microsecond at the sight of her mother. It was all the opening the real Mercury needed. He swept in from her blind spot, driving a brutal spinning kick into Yang's ribs, knocking her heavily to the floorboards. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Yang!" Ruby cried out. She looked to her right, seeing Ozpin, now fully in control of Oscar's body, engaged in a terrifying, high-speed blur of combat against Hazel. Hazel's strikes were becoming too wild, too explosive for the young boy's frame to tank for much longer.

"Weiss, we need to help Yang!" Ruby commanded, drawing Crescent Rose.

"Ren, Nora, go help Oscar!" Weiss ordered, readying Myrtenaster.

"Leave it to us!" Ren nodded, then sprinting with Nora toward the towering giant. Ruby didn't hesitate. She triggered her Semblance, bursting into a flurry of rose petals. She flipped gracefully over the chaotic skirmish, landing flawlessly at her sister's side. In the same motion, she swung the blunt end of Crescent Rose, striking Emerald squarely in the chest and knocking the thief backward. Emerald's concentration shattered.

The illusionary copies of Raven and Mercury dissolved instantly, revealing the singular, highly annoyed Mercury standing just a few feet away.

"Thanks, sis," Yang panted, pushing herself up from the floorboards.

"You okay?"

"No," Ruby's stares to Emerald and Mercury seriously, tightening her grip on Crescent Rose.

"I'm angry." Weiss stepped up to Ruby's left side, sliding a fresh Dust cartridge into Myrtenaster's chamber.

"Go, Yang! Get to the vault!" Weiss urged.

"We'll handle them!"

"On it!" Yang didn't waste a second. She broke into a dead sprint toward the massive hole in the center of the hall, desperate to chase after her mother and Cinder.

"No!" Emerald shouted, raising her revolvers to shoot Yang in the back. But Ruby and Weiss instantly stepped into their line of fire. Ruby fired a high-caliber sniper round that forced Emerald to dive for cover, while Weiss launched a barrage of ice shards that drove Mercury back.

"We are your opponent!" Ruby said to them. Emerald and Mercury gritted their teeth, realizing their path was completely blocked by the two Huntresses.

"Fine," Mercury sneered, raising his boots.

"Let's dance."

On the far side of the room, the fight between Ozpin and Hazel had escalated into a mythological clash of agility versus raw power. Hazel roared, attempting to smash the boy with his bare fists, but Ozpin was simply too fast. Channeling lifetimes of martial mastery, Ozpin nimbly jumped around the giant, striking Hazel's pressure points with the brass tip of his cane. Using Hazel's massive forearm like a springboard, Ozpin launched himself backward, moving the fight over to the raised terrace.

Ozpin kicked off a stone wall, gracefully dodging a flurry of fists and electrical blasts. He darted inside Hazel's guard, striking the giant's face before jabbing him repeatedly in the chest with blinding speed. With a flawless, fluid roll, Ozpin slipped entirely under Hazel's massive frame, bringing the cane hard across the back of the giant's knees. Hazel grunted, collapsing down onto all fours.

Ozpin twirls The Long Memory, preparing to deliver a localized, Aura-infused finishing blow to the back of Hazel's head. But Hazel's rage was a boundless, volatile ocean. With a deafening roar, Hazel smashed both of his fists directly into the floorboards. A massive, omnidirectional shockwave of raw Lightning Dust erupted from his body. Ozpin was violently thrown backward. He flipped mid-air, landing perfectly on his feet, but his momentum carried him several yards away.

Immediately, a barrage of flaming rocks rained down upon him. Lionheart, seizing the opportunity, fired Stalwart from the high ground. Ozpin spun his cane like a propeller, effortlessly deflecting the fireballs into the walls. But the distraction was enough. Hazel charged forward with terrifying velocity, driving a massive punch squarely into Oscar's chest. The boy was sent flying backward, crashing heavily onto the floor. Hazel raised his fists together, leaping into the air to crush the boy entirely.

"Hiding behind the face of a child?!" Hazel bellowed.

"A monster like you must be stopped!!" Before Hazel could land, a massive, pink-and-white hammer swung into his peripheral vision. CLANG! Nora Valkyrie intercepted the strike, Magnhild colliding with Hazel's descending fists. The sheer kinetic force of the block pushed Hazel back a step. Lie Ren slid in beside her, StormFlower drawn, forming a protective barrier in front of the recovering Ozpin. Hazel scowled, launching a rapid flurry of brutal, heavy punches.

Ren ducked beneath a sweeping backhand, firing a barrage of bullets into Hazel's ribs, but the giant didn't even flinch. Hazel spun, absorbing Ren's strikes, and backhanded the ninja with the force of a battering ram, sending Ren flying far across the room.

"Ren!" Nora screamed. Nora charged at Hazel with a loud, ferocious battle cry. She leaped high into the air, bringing Magnhild down for a devastating overhead smash. Hazel didn't dodge. He simply reached up with a single, massive hand, catching the heavy steel head of the hammer mid-swing. With a brutal yank, he pulled Nora out of the air and slammed her violently into the wooden floorboards. Before Nora could recover, Hazel reached down and grabbed her directly by the head.

"How many more children must die for you?!" Hazel roared at Ozpin. Hazel's grip tightened. He channeled the raw, highly volatile Lightning Dust embedded in his arms, sending thousands of volts of electricity coursing directly into Nora's skull. Nora screamed in agonizing pain, her body seizing as the electricity arced around her. Suddenly, Nora's screaming stopped. She opened her eyes, and they glowed with a terrifying, vibrant teal energy. Hazel blinked.

"Huh?" Nora reached up, her hands clamping firmly around Hazel's massive wrist. The electricity wasn't killing her. Thanks to her Semblance, it was supercharging her muscles to catastrophic levels. With a fierce, animalistic grunt, Nora stood up, entirely overpowering the giant's grip. She twisted her hips, lifting Hazel's massive, towering frame completely off his feet and flipping him violently over her shoulder. Hazel crashed onto his back several feet away.

Nora stood tall, static electricity aggressively crackling across her skin. She held Magnhild up defensively.

"His Semblance..." Ozpin called out from behind her, leaning heavily on his cane.

"He can block out pain. It's how he is able to handle injecting so much raw Dust into his body without going into shock." Nora stared down Hazel as the giant slowly pushed himself back to his feet, seemingly entirely unaffected by the brutal throw.

"I don't need him to hurt," Nora said, her voice dropping into a dark, terrifyingly calm register as the pink energy channeled directly into her hammer. Hazel screamed, charging forward with blind, unhinged fury.

"I just need him to GO DOWN!!" As Hazel closed the distance, Nora pivoted on her heel, swinging Magnhild with the absolute, hyper-charged might of a localized thunderbolt. KRA-KOOM! The explosive impact of the hammer against Hazel's chest was deafening. The sheer, overwhelming kinetic force of the counterattack lifted the giant entirely off his feet. Hazel became a human cannonball, flying horizontally across the hall.

He smashed completely through the thick, exterior brick wall of Haven Academy, plummeting outside into the cool night air of the campus quad. Outside, amidst the planted explosives at the base of the CCT tower, Adam Taurus and his White Fang soldiers flinched as the academy wall suddenly exploded. They watched in stunned silence as Hazel Rainart crashed heavily into the courtyard dirt, sliding to a halt in a cloud of debris.

"What's going on in there?" a White Fang soldier asked Adam, gripping his rifle tightly.

"None of your concern," Hazel grunted, his deep voice carrying clearly across the yard. Adam and his followers stared in absolute amazement as the giant slowly stood back up, cracking his neck. He reached into his pouches, pulling out two large, glowing red Fire Dust crystals. Without a flinch of hesitation, he stabbed the jagged crystals directly into his biceps.

Hazel let out a monstrous, fiery roar, his veins glowing like magma as he turned to walk back through the hole in the wall, entirely consumed by his vendetta. Inside the building, Ruby briefly caught sight of the enraged giant before turning her attention back to her exhausted, worn-out friends. Adam scoffed, turning back to his soldiers.

"Stay focused! Our friends are almost done inside." Adam prepped to issue the final detonation orders, but a clear, commanding voice called out from the shadows above.

"ADAM!!" Adam snapped his head up. Standing proudly atop the terracotta roof of a nearby campus building, silhouetted against the fractured moon, was Blake Belladonna. Adam's eyes narrowed behind his mask.

"Blake?"

"Who is that?" Hazel asked over his shoulder, pausing his return to the hall.

"Stand down!" Blake commanded, her voice ringing across the silent courtyard. Instantly, the White Fang soldiers raised their firearms, taking aim at the lone Huntress.

"Wait!" Adam ordered, holding his hands up to halt his men. A cruel, evil laugh bubbled up from his chest, echoing in the night air.

"To think that I went through so much trouble to find you across the world... only to have you deliver yourself directly to me."

"This isn't what's right for the Faunus, Adam!" Blake yelled down, her amber eyes burning with unyielding conviction.

"Stop what you're doing, and we can end this peacefully."

"You're wrong, Blake," Adam sneered, placing his hand on the hilt of Wilt.

"And you can't stop us."

"No, I can't." Blake admitted calmly, her posture perfectly relaxed.

"Not by myself."

"That's why she didn't come alone!" A bright, enthusiastic shout echoed from the western archway. Adam and his followers whipped their heads to the left. Marching through the campus gates was Sun Wukong, his staff resting on his shoulder. And behind him, filling the entire pathway, was a massive, unified legion of Menagerie Faunus. They carried blunt weaponry, and raised sturdy wooden shields bearing the original, peaceful emblem of the White Fang.

"What?!" Adam gasped, taking a step back.

"Who's there?!" a soldier yelled, turning to the right. Marching through the eastern archway was another massive legion of Faunus, pouring into the courtyard by the hundreds. Leading the charge at the front of the militia was the towering, imposing form of Ghira Belladonna.

"Your brothers and sisters," Ghira rumbled, his voice carrying the heavy, commanding weight of a true Chieftain. One of the radicalized White Fang soldiers slowly lowered his rifle, his eyes widening as he recognized a familiar face in the front row of the approaching militia.

"M-Mata?" the soldier stammered. Mata, the burly ram Faunus who had once lived beside them, stood holding a simple wooden club and a heavy shield.

"Please," Mata pleaded, his voice thick with sorrow.

"Stop this." Adam looked all around him. The perimeter was completely surrounded. The tactical advantage had evaporated in seconds. But his radicalized pride refused to break.

"Make no mistake, brothers!" Adam roared to his men, drawing his sword.

"These are our enemies! And we will not let them ruin--" Suddenly, the courtyard was bathed in a blinding, high-intensity white light. The heavy, mechanical hum of turbine engines filled the air as a massive Mistral Police airship descended from the clouds, hovering directly over Adam's position. Standing on the open boarding ramp of the airship, looking down with fierce maternal pride, was Kali Belladonna. Beside her stood the heavily armored Mistral Police Captain.

"Adam Taurus!" the Captain's voice boomed over the airship's P. A. system, echoing across the entire mountain.

"This is the Mistral Police Force! Lower your weapons and surrender peacefully!" Three more heavily armed Police airships broke through the clouds, their searchlights locking onto the radicalized extremists. Blake leaped from the roof, landing gracefully onto the courtyard dirt, standing tall before the man who had tormented her for years.

"How?!" Adam screamed, his composure completely shattering as he looked at the sheer scale of the army brought against him.

"How did you do this?!!"

"Adam, it's over," Blake said softly, her amber eyes devoid of fear. Adam looked around frantically as the crowds of Menagerie Faunus drew their weapons, closing the perimeter tight. His breathing turned ragged. His hand dove into his coat, pulling out a heavy, electronic detonator.

"Then it's over for all of us," Adam snarled, his thumb hovering over the trigger.

"Hey, wait!" a female White Fang soldier yelled in panic. Adam's followers threw their arms up, dropping their weapons and bracing for the apocalyptic explosion that would bring the CCT tower down upon their heads. Adam pressed the button. Click. Nothing happened.

"Huh?" Adam grunted. He pressed the detonator button again. And again. And again. Frantically mashing the trigger as sweat poured down his face. Click. Click. Click.

"What are you doing?!" a White Fang soldier screamed, stepping away from him.

"Are you trying to get us all killed?!" Adam snapped. He grabbed the terrified soldier by his collar, violently shaking him.

"I am making humanity pay for WHAT THEY'VE DONE!!" Adam shrieked, totally enraged, before shoving the soldier roughly to the dirt.

"We sent someone over to confirm your explosives," Blake spoke up, her voice ringing with absolute, calm superiority.

"And once we did... she disarmed them." From the shadows around the base of the CCT tower, the camouflage of the stone pillars rippled and dissolved. Ilia Amitola walked out into the light, entirely dropping her black stealth suit. In her hands, she held a massive, tangled bundle of severed red and blue wires. She had completely gutted the bombs. Adam seethed. The realization that he had been completely outmaneuvered, outsmarted, and outmanned finally crashed over him.

He turned his furious gaze toward the giant man standing near the hole in the academy wall.

"What do we do?!" Hazel Rainart cracked his knuckles, the fire and lightning pulsing aggressively in his veins. He looked at Adam with profound, utter indifference.

"This... is your business, not mine." Hazel rumbled.

"Fix it." Without another word, Hazel turned his back on the Faunus extremist and walked back inside the academy, determined to finish his fight with Ozpin. Adam just glared back at the hole in the wall, his chest heaving with humiliated fury, before turning back to face Blake.

"I told you, Adam," Blake stated firmly, her hand resting on the hilt of Gambol Shroud.

"It's over." Adam refused to accept it. He let out a feral, frustrated scream and charged forward with blinding speed. He drew Wilt from Blush in a lethal, sweeping arc, aiming to decapitate her. But Blake was no longer the scared girl who ran from him at Beacon. She triggered her Semblance, leaving a shadow clone to absorb the blade. As Adam stumbled forward through the dissipating shadow, Blake reappeared directly behind him.

She balled her fists together and brought them down in a brutal, heavy double-axe handle strike, smashing Adam squarely between his shoulder blades. Adam gasped, entirely losing his footing. He crashed hard into the dirt, falling to his knees. He scrambled to look up, his mask covered in dust, completely surrounded by the people he claimed to fight for. His pride was shattered, his grand revolution reduced to a pathetic brawl in the dirt.

"KILL THEM!!!" Adam shrieked to his loyalists, his voice cracking with absolute madness. The radicalized soldiers roared, raising their blades, and the citizens of Menagerie charged forward to meet them. Under the sweeping searchlights of the Mistral police cruisers, the battle for the soul of the Faunus race began.