Chương 106: Chapter 99: The Floating Fortress

The world slowly filtered back into Ruby Rose's consciousness through a hazy, muffled blur of sound and light. The throbbing ache in her head was intense, a dull, rhythmic pounding that resonated behind her eyes.

"Ruby...?" A young, gentle voice called out, breaking through the fog. Ruby blinked, her silver eyes fluttering open as she squinted against the bright, artificial overhead lights of the cabin. The blurry silhouette leaning over her slowly sharpened into focus. It was Oscar Pine. The farm boy's hazel eyes were wide, a profound, genuine smile of absolute relief breaking across his face as he let out a heavy, shuddering sigh.

"She's awake!" Oscar called out, his voice echoing in the enclosed space. Instantly, the space around her was flooded with familiar faces. Yang Xiao Long practically threw herself forward, dropping to her knees and pulling Ruby into a fierce, suffocating, sisterly hug.

"Ruby! Thank the Gods! Don't you ever scare me like that again, you hear me?!"

"Okay, okay! I'm awake, I'm awake! You're crushing me!" Ruby wheezed playfully, patting Yang's back until the blonde brawler reluctantly loosened her grip. Weiss Schnee stepped into view, her pale blue eyes shining with unshed tears as she offered a rare, completely un-aristocratic, warm smile. Blake Belladonna stood beside her, her feline ears twitching happily as she let out a long breath of relief.

Behind them, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren crowded in, their bruised and exhausted faces lighting up with bright, victorious grins.

"We were so worried," Pyrrha said softly, resting a hand on Jaune's shoulder. Ruby sat up slowly, rubbing her temples as she looked around the pristine, metallic interior of the cabin.

"Where... where are we right now?"

"We're in a new airship," Blake explained, gesturing to the sleek Atlesian Manta interior.

"After our stolen one got totaled on the beach, we sort of... commandeered this one. We're currently breaking the atmosphere, heading straight for Atlas." Ruby turned her head, looking past the group toward the back rows of the passenger seats. Slouching comfortably in a plush velvet seat was Saitama. His shiny, perfectly smooth bald head reflecting the cabin lights.

He was now wearing his freshly dry-cleaned, immaculate white trench coat over his black suit, having finally rescued it from the clutches of the laundromat. Roman's bowler hat was on his lap. Sitting in the seat right next to him, her boots propped up against the window, was Neopolitan. She had dropped her mundane disguise entirely, returning to her vibrant, dual-colored hair and stylish combat attire, though she looked incredibly pale and exhausted.

Both of them were casually sipping from small, brightly colored juice boxes. Saitama met Ruby's gaze. His expression was a perfect, flat, unbothered oval.

"Oh, hey. Good to have you back," Saitama mumbled lazily around the tiny plastic straw, raising his juice box in a half-hearted, mundane toast. Neo simply offered a smug, silent nod, taking a slow sip of her own drink as she continued to recover her entirely depleted Aura. Ruby blinked, a warm, genuine laugh escaping her lips at the sheer absurdity of the two. She then looked toward the front of the airship.

Qrow Branwen was leaning against the co-pilot's console, while Maria Calavera sat comfortably in the pilot's seat, expertly guiding the Manta through the clouds. Qrow caught her eye and smiled, a rare, unburdened expression of pride.

"You did great out there today, kid. Just... don't go giving me heart attacks like that again."

"I'll try my best," Ruby grinned sheepishly. She looked at Maria, her eyes wide with sudden realization.

"What about the Colossus? And Argus? Did we... did we stop the Grimm?"

"The last wave was not that much. They can handle them," Ren assured her calmly, his dark eyes filled with respect.

"The city is perfectly safe."

"Cordovin actually stepped up," Jaune added, a hint of lingering disbelief in his voice.

"After her arm cannon got destroyed, she managed to reactivate the Colossus and hold the line against the last stragglers while the Atlas forces cleared the sky. The Grimm are gone." Ruby's smile faltered slightly. She looked down at her hands, the memory of the Leviathan's atomic beam and her own panic rushing back.

"I'm very sorry, everyone," Ruby whispered, her voice tight with guilt.

"Because I panicked... because I couldn't awaken my Silver Eyes fast enough... the ship crashed. Everyone got hurt because of me."

"Ruby, stop," Weiss commanded softly but firmly, kneeling beside her partner.

"We are all fine. We survived because you refused to give up."

"She's right, child," Maria called back from the pilot's seat, adjusting her cybernetic goggles.

"You achieved what most warriors spend lifetimes trying to master. You stared down a Leviathan and petrified it. That is no small feat."

"It was absolutely incredible," Oscar agreed, his hazel eyes shining with genuine amazement.

"I've never seen anything like it. The entire bay just... froze in a flash of light."

"I am incredibly proud of you, little sister," Yang grinned, giving Ruby's shoulder an affectionate squeeze. Qrow chuckled.

"Yeah, you're full of surprise today. All of you."

"You weren't half bad yourself today, Qrow," Maria said, not taking her eyes off the sky.

"Thanks. Though, I feel like they did all the heavy lifting," Qrow smirked, taking a slow swig from his flask.

"And it was pretty incredible getting to see the Grimm Reaper in action." Maria let out a sharp, raspy cackle.

"Ha! You should have seen me when I was your age! I would have dismantled that giant mech in my sleep!" Ruby laughed playfully, the crushing guilt in her chest finally dissolving into the warm camaraderie of her team.

"Thank you, everyone. But I couldn't have done any of this without you." She looked up, a mischievous spark returning to her silver eyes.

"And let's not act like we all haven't done crazy stuff today! Jaune literally walked up and punched the Leviathan in the face!" The entire group burst into laughter. Jaune's face instantly flushed a brilliant, tomato red. He rubbed the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly.

"Yeah, well... it didn't exactly stop it," Jaune admitted, wincing slightly as he rubbed his bruised right knuckles.

"Its bone-plating is way too thick. Even with my Aura amplified, I think I nearly broke my wrist."

"You still staggered a monster the size of a skyscraper," Pyrrha pointed out, her green eyes glowing with absolute, unwavering pride as she bumped her shoulder against his.

"That is a monumental achievement, Jaune."

"Oscar too!" Ruby's gaze shifted to the young farm boy.

"He made a successful crash landing in a smoking, exploding military airship! He's a fourteen-year-old farm hand!" The others murmured in enthusiastic agreement, looking at Oscar with newfound, deep-seated respect.

"A-Actually, I can't take all the credit for that," Oscar blushed, waving his hands frantically.

"When the airship was going down, and Maria told me to take control... I panicked. I grabbed the yoke, but I had absolutely no idea what I was doing," Oscar confessed, his voice dropping into a sincere, quiet register.

"But then... I heard Professor Ozpin's voice." The group went quiet, looking at him curiously. Pyrrha's posture stiffened slightly.

"Did he... take control of your body?" Oscar smiled, shaking his head.

"No. He didn't." He looked down at his hands.

"He stayed completely in the background. He just... guided me. Like a mentor. He told me exactly how to balance the thrusters and how to brace for the impact, but he let me hold the controls. I was completely myself." Nora's eyes widened, a sudden realization hitting her.

"Now that I think about it... the last time Professor Ozpin actually took over Oscar's body was when we were with Shion!"

"She's right," Ren murmured, his magenta eyes narrowing in profound thought.

"Throughout the entire ordeal in Argus... the negotiations with Cordovin, the fight against the mech, the crash... Ozpin never once forced his way to the surface." Ruby's breath caught in her throat. Her mind immediately flashed back to the quiet, snowy streets of Argus, just hours before Sabyrs' breach. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. She remembered walking with Oscar.

She remembered the sheer, existential terror in his voice when he confessed his fear of disappearing, of his own soul being entirely erased and replaced by the ancient wizard. Ozpin must have heard us. Ruby realized, her heart swelling with a sudden, profound warmth. Ozpin had heard Oscar's deepest fears. He had watched the boy step up to fight Hazel, and he had seen the unyielding determination the students possessed.

Ozpin had finally realized that he couldn't simply overwrite a child's life for the sake of his eternal war. He had chosen to step back, to become a guiding voice rather than a puppet master. Team RWBY and Team JNPR all exchanged a look. They turned their gazes toward Oscar, offering warm, deeply respectful smiles that were meant entirely for the ancient soul residing within him.

"Thank you, Professor Ozpin," Ruby whispered softly. Oscar beamed, a radiant, confident smile breaking across his young face.

"He says...

'You're welcome.'" The wholesome, emotional atmosphere of the cabin was suddenly broken by Yang, who clapped her hands together with a loud, boisterous laugh.

"Oh, that's right!" Yang cheered, her violet eyes sparkling.

"Ruby, you were completely unconscious for the grand finale!"

"Wait, what?" Ruby blinked, sitting up straighter.

"What happened after I petrified the Leviathan? I thought that was the end!"

"Oh, definitely not," Weiss sighed, crossing her arms and shooting a highly sarcastic, pointed glare toward the back of the airship.

"Our resident 'bald superhero' finally decided to show up. Just in time, of course, after spending hours prioritizing his dry-cleaning over the apocalypse." Saitama, slurping the last drop of his juice box, paused. He lowered the empty carton, his dotted eyes squinting defensively.

"Hey, doing laundry is an incredibly important part of being a hero," Saitama argued flatly.

"If your suit is dirty, nobody is going to respect you. It's basic professionalism." Every single person in the cabin, except for Ruby and Jaune, let out a massive, synchronized groan of absolute, mind-numbing exasperation.

"Anyway!" Yang cut in, ignoring the bald man's terrible priorities.

"The Leviathan started breaking out of the stone, and another huge wave of Sphinxes showed up! We thought we were dead! But then Saitama just... jumped across the ocean and completely obliterated everything!"

"Really?!" Ruby gasped, her silver eyes shining with starry-eyed excitement as she practically vibrated in her seat.

"What kind of punch did he use?! Did he split the sky again?!"

"It was... well, it was a blur," Blake admitted, her feline ears twitching as she recalled the devastating speed.

"He launches a barrage of punches while moving so fast it looked like he was everywhere at once. The Leviathan and all the flying Grimm were just... instantly reduced to ash simultaneously."

"Oh, man! I wish I could have seen it!" Ruby groaned, slumping back against her seat in absolute disappointment.

"It was terrifying," Oscar admitted quietly, shivering slightly at the memory of the sheer kinetic devastation.

"It was an absolute violation of every established law of Dust and Aura," Maria added from the cockpit, shaking her head.

"I've seen Maidens fight. I've seen Leviathans. But that bald buffoon... he's something else entirely." Ruby looked down at her hands, a brief flicker of sadness crossing her features.

"I guess my Silver Eyes didn't really work, then. If the Leviathan was able to break free..."

"Don't say that, child," Maria called back instantly, her voice firm.

"Your power has just awakened. It is completely raw and unrefined. The very first time you consciously summon the light, and you manage to petrify an ancient, Leviathan-class Grimm?! That is an astronomical starting point! With proper training and focus, your light will become absolute."

"She's right, Ruby," Jaune offered a reassuring, warm smile, resting his hand on his sword.

"We all have a long way to go. I mean, look at me. I threw everything I had into that punch, and I barely made it stumble. But as long as we keep pushing our limits, like Saitama showed us, we'll get stronger." Ruby's smile returned, brighter and more determined than ever. She looked at her friends, her heart swelling with an unbreakable resolve.

"You're right," Ruby nodded fiercely.

"I won't let you guys down. I'll master this power... I will carry this legacy." Then, a sudden, horrifying thought struck Ruby. She gasped, looking frantically between Blake and Qrow.

"Wait a minute! If Saitama jumped across the bay and destroyed all those Grimm... did the citizens of Argus see him?! Did the Atlesian military record him?! General Ironwood is going to be furious!"

"It's okay, Ruby," Blake smiled softly, gesturing toward the back of the cabin.

"Neo masked his actions perfectly. Just like she did in Upper Mistral." Ruby let out a massive, shuddering sigh of relief. She turned her head, looking past the seats to where Neopolitan was currently aggressively trying to poke her straw through a second juice box.

"Thank you, Neo," Ruby said sincerely.

"You saved all of us today." Neo paused. She looked at the young Huntress, then glanced sideways at Weiss, offering a smug, highly theatrical wink before simply shrugging her shoulders in a silent'whatever'. She had a deal, and she was getting her luxury penthouse.

"Speaking of the illusion..." Yang leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands as she looked at Saitama and Neo.

"You haven't told us what exactly did you create!"

"Yeah, tell us! What did you two project out there? We were inside Neo's projection area, so we didn't see what the people of Argus actually saw!" Nora added with intense curiosity. The rest of the students immediately turned their heads, their interest piqued. They had heard Cordovin shouting over the comms about owing a debt to a "mysterious silver giant alien," but they had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

Before Saitama could answer, Qrow, who had been monitoring his Scroll near the cockpit, suddenly let out a sharp, bewildered scoff.

"Well," Qrow muttered, his crimson eyes wide as he stared at the glowing screen.

"It looks like it's finally hit the news networks." Maria glanced over at the secondary monitor on her flight console, her jaw immediately dropping behind her cybernetic goggles.

"Holy moly..." Jaune quickly pulled his own Scroll from his pocket. Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Oscar all crowded around the small screen, holding their breath as the Vale News Network broadcast loaded.

"Breaking news out of the northern coastal city of Argus," the polished voice of Lisa Lavender echoed from the tiny speakers.

"In an unprecedented series of events, a massive Grimm invasion was completely neutralized by a force that defies all current military logic." The broadcast cut to shaky, amateur footage taken from the city walls. It showed Cordovin's colossal Atlesian mech battling the tiny, blurry figures of Ruby's vanguard on the cliffside, its arm cannon exploding violently.

"Following a catastrophic mechanical failure of the local Atlesian defenses," Lisa continued,"a Leviathan-class Grimm breached the coastal perimeter, accompanied by an overwhelming airborne swarm." The footage showed the blinding, massive dome of white light erupting from the cliff, petrifying the Leviathan.

"That's me!" Ruby gasped excitedly, pointing at the screen as the light washed over the monster.

"However, reports indicate the petrification was unstable," Lisa narrated. Then came the part that made every single student's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

"Just as the Leviathan prepared to break free, an entirely unknown entity descended from the upper atmosphere." The grainy footage showed a colossal, blazing streak of light plummeting into the bay. When the dust settled, the camera zoomed in to reveal a towering, humanoid giant standing in the shallow waters. The giant was entirely metallic silver, with striking red geometric lines across its body and a glowing blue orb pulsing in its chest. Its face featured massive, glowing, milky-white oval eyes.

"Is that... the alien that she mentioned?!" Nora shrieked, clutching the sides of her head. The video continued. The silver giant dramatically positioned its right hand horizontally, then moved its left hand vertically in front of the wrist, forming a flawless "+" shape. Instantly, a devastating, blinding beam of white light erupted from its arm, striking the Leviathan and obliterating it into ash, before sweeping across the sky to vaporize the entire flock of Manticores and Sphinxes.

Once the Grimm were destroyed, the silver giant stood up straight, looked toward the heavens, and launched itself directly into outer space, vanishing into the atmosphere. The news segment ended, returning to a highly confused Lisa Lavender. The students stared at Jaune's Scroll in absolute, dead, suffocating silence. From the back row, Saitama leaned over, a massive, comically proud smirk plastered across his face.

"Pretty cool, right?" Saitama asked. The students slowly turned their heads to look at him, their expressions a mixture of profound awe and absolute, mind-numbing bewilderment.

"What... what was that?!" Weiss demanded, her voice cracking. Saitama shrugged casually, adjusting his bowler hat.

"Well, the giant robot back in Mistral was based on those cool Sunday morning mecha TV shows. But the silver giant? That was based on a show I used to watch when I was a little kid back on my home Earth." He leaned back, his eyes sparkling with a rare, nostalgic glimmer.

"It's about a giant alien hero from a distant star, a planet of light, who comes to Earth to protect humanity from Kaiju and evil aliens. I always wondered how it felt to be that kind of hero doing that beam pose thing. And thanks to umbrella girl, I finally got to do it! Even if it was just an illusion." The students were completely in awe of the bizarre, foreign pop culture, but they were also incredibly confused.

"Uh..." Ren frowned, crossing his arms.

"What is a 'Kaiju'?" Saitama let out a massive, highly exaggerated sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Man, the pop culture in this world is so incredibly lacking compared to my universe. You guys are really missing out." Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a long, exhausted groan.

"Whatever it is," Weiss muttered, "at least you didn't use the giant Atlesian robot illusion again. Our enemies are already in Atlas. If they saw an Atlesian mech magically vaporize a horde and then vanish into thin air, they would immediately realize it was a fake and compromise our entire cover story."

"Though," Blake added, her feline ears twitching nervously as she thought about the implications, "this is definitely going to cause an existential crisis for the entire population of Remnant. People literally think aliens are real now." Maria let out a sharp, wheezing cackle from the pilot's seat.

"Ha! Let them panic!" Maria laughed.

"We've all been having a collective existential crisis ever since a bald man in a yellow suit started casually punching giant Grimm to death without a drop of Aura! Welcome to the club, Remnant!" As the tension in the cabin dissolved into tired, relieved laughter, the thick, gray clouds surrounding the Manta airship finally began to part.

"Hey, if you kids have never seen Atlas in person before," Qrow called out from the cockpit, his voice tight with anticipation, "you don't wanna miss this." Ruby and her friends immediately scrambled out of their seats, rushing up to the cockpit windows. Saitama and Neo stood quietly at the back of the group, peering over their heads.

"Is it weird that I'm sorta nervous?" Ruby asked, her hands pressed against the cold glass.

"No," Yang replied, her violet eyes wide.

"I'll believe we've made it to Atlas when I see it."

"Well..." Weiss breathed, her voice filled with a complex, heavy mixture of homecoming and dread.

"... believe it." The Manta broke through the final layer of cloud cover. Suspended high above the frozen, desolate crater of Mantle, the floating city of Atlas came into view. It was a breathtaking, gleaming marvel of technological supremacy, an island of pristine white towers and glittering spires hovering majestically in the sky.

"Wow!" Nora gasped, her eyes shining with wonder.

"I wonder if the gravity up there messes with the plumbing," Saitama raised his eyebrows, taking a slow sip from his juice box.

"You know, you make the trip up to Atlas over and over, but you never get used to that view," Maria noted fondly, staring out at the city. Suddenly, her cybernetic goggles sparked with a violent hiss of static.

"Oh, come on!" Maria grumbled, furiously tapping the side of her brass lenses. As the airship drew closer to the floating city, Weiss leaned forward against the glass. The awe on her face rapidly melted, replaced by a sudden, intense look of nervous panic. Ruby noticed the shift immediately.

"Weiss? What is it?" The entire group tilted their heads upward, looking at the airspace directly above the city of Atlas. The sky was completely choked with massive, heavily armored Atlesian Airships. The entire fleet was mobilized, hovering in a tight, impenetrable blockade formation that surrounded the floating island like an iron cage.

"The Atlas air fleet..." Weiss gasped, her blue eyes wide with dread.

"I knew all of our ships were called back from the other kingdoms, but..."

"They're set up like they're expecting a massive attack," Pyrrha noted, her tactical mind analyzing the defensive grid with rising alarm. Qrow's crimson eyes narrowed. His grip on the co-pilot's console tightened until his knuckles turned white. The situation in the kingdom was vastly, horribly worse than General Ironwood had let on during their last holographic meeting.

"Seems like our enemies are already far ahead of us here," Qrow muttered grimly, the reality of the shadow war crashing down upon them. The Vanguard had arrived in Atlas. But the real fight had only just begun.