When Kingdoms Fall

Prologue
On a purple wasteland filled with jagged magenta crystals, war ensued.

While a young girl in red fought a pale-skinned, black-veined, red-eyed, humanoid she-demon armed with only a scythe for the fate of the entire planet of Remnant, a different battle ensued.

One of loyalty, and one of ideology.

A wolf Faunus with distinctive white hair leapt through falling rocks, attempting to close in on her opponent with her gauntlets.

Said opponent was a deer Faunus clad in silver [demonic-looking armor], firing blasts of Lightning Dust at her from his weapon.

She dodged the first blast hopping on a rock, but the second knocked her off-balance.

Another falling rock broke her fall, giving her enough time to catch her breath and see the armored demon jumping towards her, ready to land a powerful downward swing. In response, she jumped upwards, hoping to intercept his blow.

As they clashed, she blocked the sword blow with her right arm gauntlet and retaliated with a punch to the helmet with her free arm.

However, before she could punch again, he caught her wrist. She desperately tried to fire the gauntlet's ammunition, to no avail. He then broke contact by kicking her away, before landing on another falling rock.

Once Danica landed, she changed the ammo payload to Lightning Dust and appropriately fired towards him. In response, the tin tyrant leapt on another series of falling rocks, dodging all but a few of the projectiles.

As a result, she now had a window of a few seconds to close the distance as he was stunned. She decided to keep up the pressure, landing searing shots on the armor, forcing him to block the blasts with his sword. It should, in theory, stun him long enough for her to engage him in melee.

But he telegraphed her blow and grabbed her throat, smashing her head on the rock they were standing on. Falling once more, the armored foe then slashed her several times. As the wolf Faunus bore the brunt of the blows, a white flash signalled the dissipation of her Aura, where the manifestation of her soul disapparated, a vulnerability her enemy was now free to exploit.

He delivered the killing blow, a simple stab to the torso. The wolf Faunus coughed out blood from the coup de grace, as darkness peered from the corners of her eyes, tears shed over her failure to accomplish what she wanted to do ...

Chapter 1
It was an busy night in Vale, as the Vytal Festival Tournament Finals were taking place. People from all corners of Remnant were watching, whether they were citizens of Vale, tourists from the other Kingdoms, or simply sat at home, letting the stations broadcast the match live.

"Pyrrha Nikos, of Beacon! Versus, Penny Polendina of Atlas!"

Pyrrha Nikos, four-time regional champion from the Kingdom of Mistral and student of Beacon Academy, smiled to the crowd at the floating Amity Colosseum, as she wielded immense celebrity status, elected by Team JNPR to represent them in the finals.

Standing in her way was the perky Penny Polendina of the militaristic Atlas Academy, who demonstrated her fearsome power once she easily beat the local bullies, Team CRDL, in the doubles bracket by herself.

Of course, the atmosphere was excited as ever, in the spite of intense scrutiny towards Beacon, after fellow student and Huntress-In-Training Yang Xiao Long allegedly assaulting her opponent and Haven Academy student Mercury Black after defeating him in her matchup. The crowd had expressed displeasure, for it was not only poor sportsmanship, but also a violation of the standards the Kingdoms' academies had created - what kind of person appointed to save the world from the forces of darkness would do something like abuse her strength to attack innocents she was supposed to protect?

But the adage still held true - the show must go on.

Seated among the crowd was Carmine Ravenholme, third-year student, leader of Team CADM, and seasoned competitor himself. He wanted to see what the two of them could do. Initially, when Mercury had interrupted a few of his sparring matches, Carmine had a distaste for him. But he decided to root for him, seeing that he took down the esteemed members of Team CFVY, who easily single-handedly defeated most of the invading Grimm with little effort, baffling him and filling him with envy.

And of course, he rooted for him in his matchup, and after Yang busted his leg.

''Well, this should be fun. Two powerhouses squaring off. I wonder how Pyrrha can stand up to that Penny girl - I don't know exactly what the fuck she's hiding in her sleeves that makes her so good!''

"Something wrong, Carmine?"

"What - oh, nothing much, Alicia. Just wondering who to root for."

Sitting beside him was his teammate Alicia Blue. To him, she was quite the excitable little sister, that he would look out for. She had potential once she was focused enough to get her act together.

"I like that Pyrrha girl. So smart, so strong, so famous, and so nice! Gosh, I wish I could be like her! We should meet her sometime!"

"If you ask me, it looks like you and Penny have a lot more in common," Carmine replied.

"Really?"

"He's not wrong," came a voice from her left.

Danica Lyall sat on her left, not appearing to be particularly interested in the match.

"Well, a win's a win. Let me know once it's my turn."

Danica was a sometimes stoic, snarky teammate that was nevertheless a powerful close-range combatant. Because this round took place on a small, floating platform, her style was very effective, and thus, she was chosen to represent her team at this stage.

"You know what? Screw that kiddie over there, Pyrrha all the way!"

Rounding out the team was Duff Mackenzie. A competent sniper and heavy brawler, Duff was a man proud of many things - his ability, his home at a border village near the desert Kingdom of Vacuo, and his heritage, coming from a clan of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"3, 2, 1! Begin!"

Immediately the two fighters began. Penny began attacking Pyrrha with her flying blades, forcing Pyrrha on the defensive. No matter how many attacks the latter attempted, Penny always had her blades to block every single blow that she had. Then she transformed the swords into cannons, spewing bright green lasers into a labyrinth of beams, which Pyrrha expertly dodged, still evading her attacks.

Even though Pyrrha pushed Penny back, it appeared there was no end to her relentless assault, as she quickly got back up on her feet, flying back on the arena with the help of her cannons, sending Pyrrha back with a cannon volley.

Well, Carmine thought, ''looks like there's no way that Pyrrha can win. Penny is too strong. What is up with her?''

Penny soon had Pyrrha on the ropes, disarming her of all her weapons, pointing her swords towards her, as the atmosphere tensed in the arena with each passing second.

But Pyrrha quickly put on a brave face, and with one swish of her arms, did the unthinkable.

A shockwave ruptured on the battleground as her swords were suddenly repelled, Penny clutching her chest in shock and anguish, while the cables connecting her swords suddenly wrapped the contestant, tangling her, and squeezing tight on her arms and abdomen.

The pressure was so great, the cables penetrated through her skin and revealed something so unsightly - instead of muscle and bone, wiring and metal were now exposed for all the world to see.

Penny Polendina, apparently was an android - something very shocking for everyone present, for they never saw it coming that Atlas developed such technology, and the very notion that a Huntsman Academy, and the most powerful military in the world allowed a Huntsman Academy to let a walking WMD participate in a sporting event full of civilians, no less.

As her artificial pupils dilated, a lot of the audience felt fury, and a chill in the spine as the feeling of betrayal and mistrust lingered in the air.

And it only intensified when a subtle, distinctly female, yet condescending voice made itself known.

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men."

"Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference."

"And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither."

"Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves."

"As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark."

"So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?"

When the speech finished, the arena fell silent. But Carmine couldn't believe it. He wanted to shout.

"OH COME ON! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? WHY DO WE HAVE TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING THIS BITCH HAS TO SAY!?"

But all sense of reason and logic were thrown to the air as the atmosphere devolved into panic as a Giant Nevermore began to peck away at Amity Colosseum's protective barrier.

"Shit!"

Just as he was ready to transform his arm and activate Howling Wind, he was pushed around by the thousands of spectators panicking to the nearest exit.

By the time he recovered, the Nevermore broke through, with Ruby Rose keeping it at bay with one of Penny's swords.

"Heh," Carmine remarked. "She's got quite the pair. But you won't be the only one." He then turned to his team.

"Guys, let's grab our gear and take this sonnuvabitch down!"

Instinctively, Duff and Alicia summoned their lockers as Carmine prepared to charge a shot at the rampaging bird.

Come on, come on, just let me take a shot, will ya?

But they weren't the only ones as dozens of lockers pinned the Grimm to the ground, as the other students rushed to grab their weapons and coordinate an attack on the beast that saw Sage Ayana and Yatsuhashi Daichi deal the decapitating blow.

"SONNUVABITCH!"

While Carmine was fuming, Danica was heavily in thought.

''If a Nevermore was able to crack through that barrier, that means more Grimm are coming! Should we leave now, or join up with the students over there?''

The wolf Faunus decided to signal to her teammates.

"Uh, guys? Remember the whole 'strength in numbers' kind of deal? Maybe we should group up over there.

But before they could, a Griffon flew near Ruby just as she was retrieving her scythe from her locker, just before it was shot down by Port and his blunderbuss.

"Maybe," Carmine muttered, "we should make a break for it while we can. Who knows what other kinds of Grimm are going to find their way in here."

Thus, the team ran for the nearest exits, hoping to find a way out of Amity...

Chapter 2
(To be added)