*Washington D.C, North American Federation; June 19, 2021; 9:00 AM*

The mission was simple.

It always was.

Protect the Captial at all costs. Hold the line until either the enemy retreats, all allies are pushed past the capital...

Or get eaten alive by nearly every Keter Class in this dimension's former possession.

The battle began several hours ago, and both sides have already lost thousands in the ensuing onslaught. Unity Ground Forces laid fortifications and trenches on the outskirts of the city, with hundreds of thousands holding the line as wave upon wave of enemy Adenien Shock Forces and Extremis Troops, Fiorian Battle-Mages hired straight from the Guilds, and scarce bands of rogue huntsmen.

Even though the ground forces were far fewer in number, the Extremis Troopers were bullet sponges that ran twice as fast as any base-level soldier, and roughly 15 times stronger.

That's aside the fact that the Adenien Aerial Fleet far outnumbered The Auroran Naval Fleet by over 10 ships. 15 to the Auroran's 4. Not even counting the FLEET OF DRAGONS TEARING ALLIED FIGHTERS APART.

The skies were alight with dogfights and heavy cannons firing at both each other and various ground targets.

SCPs littered the shattered battlefield, ripping friend and foe limb from bloodied limb. Reducing any normal man that saw them insane with fear.

This was a war with no name. This was far beyond even the paltry title of 'war'.

And Cade was right in the thick of it.

Cade ducked for cover as an artillery shell hit the ground a few meters away, shattering the eardrums of the few average soldiers, sending some flying through the air.

"Cade, we're losing men too quickly! That flagship has to go!" Ria urged.

"WORKING ON IT!" Cade shouted as he blocked the wristblade of a charging Extremis trooper.

"YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD HIDE?!" The trooper hissed through his scrambler.

Erza charged through the Extremis Troop, hacking him in two as Auburn blocked the blow of another oncoming Trooper, cleaving him in two after a quick parry.

"Where's Natsu?!" Cade demanded.

"Where do you think?" Erza smirked as a dragon fell from the skies, colliding with a few fighters on the way down.

Vanoss, Wildcat, Delirious, and Nogla ducked an enemy grenade, making short work of any infantry with the blaze of 115-infused machine-gun fire.

"Mowin' troom!" Nogla shouted, sending rogue infantry reeling from high-powered Reaper fire.

"Evan, the PDF Forces are losing their hold to the North towards the Cathedral. Hold them back." Auburn ordered.

"I got it. I got it... Terroriser, you got it?" Vanoss shrugged.

"NO I FOCKIN' DON'T EVAN!!! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!" Brian shouted.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Mini interjected.

"ICE-MAKE: ICE CANNON!"

Slivers of ice shattered through the weak points of another Extremis Trooper's armor, weakening him long enough for Kat to charge through and claw his throat out.

"Cade! We're being overrun! The SCPs are turning around!" Kat yelled through the storm of gunfire.

"I'm working on it! Ria, anything?!"

"Sending missile strikes just outside the southern line."

A wave of missile fire sent ripples through the ground as Cade realized he was quickly running low on options.

"Cade, we've lost one Korian Cruiser, and the other's barely holding on!"

"Great... Ram it into their flagship! Tell any personnel onboard to evacuate!" Cade ordered.

"On it!"

A wave of Hellion I Main Battle Tanks ripped through the battlefield, tearing apart an enemy fortification and taking aim at one of the Korian Cruisers.

"HE and EMP Shots only! TAKE IT DOWN!" Cade ordered, cleaving through two Extremis Troopers at once.

A torrent of fire hit the undercarriage on one of the 15 Adenien Cruisers, making short work of it and knocking it out of the sky.

"ENEMY BAYONET CHARGE INCOMING!"

An SCP Special Forces Unit, one Cade recognized as Nine-Tailed Fox charged by, taking potshots at Rogue Adenien-aligned militia forces, cutting them down and focusing fire onto a Tactical Extremis Squadron.

Auburn and Kat pushed through the other Units, trying desperately to clear a path to set a Homing Beacon that Cade held.

Oreonna leapt onto the battlefield behind, blowing back more Extremis Troops, distracting them long enough for Cade to charge an attack and finish them off.

"GOD SHOCKER!"

The beam pierced a huge hole in their armors as they fell to the ground.

"All clear!" Erza shouted.

Cade set the beacon underneath another Korian, quickly ordering everyone to get AWAY.

The band of 5 flew kilometers back to the main line as Cade quickly made the order.

"DO IT, RIA!!" Cade ordered.

"Confirmed. Hellfire Incoming."

A single, large missile launched from the one remaining Korian as troop transports flew out of it, the missile fluttered towards the beacon; right in the thick of an enemy offensive line.

The ensuing explosion, a fireball of electric hellfire, ripped apart 3 Korian Cruisers from the shockwave alone, and burned through dozens of Dragons, and evaporated thousands of hostile troops in a single hit.

"Confirmed Hit, 3 enemy Cruisers coming down. Death Count estimated 26,000. Korian Cruiser Futility at ramming speed."

"Incoming!"

Illiya, Iota, and Chukan charged into the fray, hacking and slashing through the dozens of enemy troops as they converged towards the Potomac.

"Push them into the river! Charge!" Illiya ordered as a legions' worth of troops charged around them, facing fire from cannons and Extremis Troopers.

Thousands of enemy fighters converged towards the Ericsson, already battered from acting as the roadblock for the Aurora, flickered as it started descending towards the enemy fleet.

"Ericsson Fleet to Force Commander Walker, We can't take much more of this..! We've got breaches all over the ship, we're a stone's throw away from coming down!"

"Pull back, Ericsson! Aurora, take point and draw enemy fire! The Ericsson's losing ground!" Cade ordered.

There was a flicker in the skies as the Futility cruiser rammed head-on into the rest of the enemy fleet, taking out two cruisers with it! A massive fireball ripped through the air and sent average soldiers all over reeling into the ground as shrapnel and debris rocketed downward.

Several more massive explosions rippled through the skies as the Hellfire Warheads caught fire, taking out an additional 2 cruisers!

The flaming wrecks of much of the Adenien Fleet sundered and hit the ground with massive explosions, shrouding the area in dust and smoke.

"Confirmed Kills! We still maintained our 2 flagships, but the Adenienites still have 7!

"Well, shit..! We still have a ways to go.. Evan!" Cade shouted.

"Yeah, I'm here..! What's up?!" Vanoss shouted.

"GET AS MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS AS YOU CAN TO OPEN FIRE ON THOSE CRUISERS AS SOON AS THEY CROSS OVER THE CATHEDRAL!" Cade yelled as rocket fire rained from above.

"On it!" Vanoss replied.

"Cade, I'm detecting a dimensional rift... It's big..!" Ria reported.

"What are we looking at? Another fleet?"

"Yes.. I can't tell if they're friend or foe.." Ria answered.

The Rift opened up between the Auroran and Adenian Fleets. A wave of roughly 10 Dreadnoughts converged, firing upon both fleets with laser cannons and sabot-artillery, sending molten metal raining down onto the earth below.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Chukan gasped.

"Initating Cross-Pattern recognition with the sigils onboard those black ships..! It's the Inquisition!!"

*Mistral, Remnant; June 19, 2021; 10:01 AM*

Blackened dust and glowing embers clouded much of the decimated farm. The crops, once thriving, had since withered away into nothing. Even the very earth below Oscar's feet felt dead.

The young man, now nearly an adult, stood alone in the smoke and ashes, his axe completely coated with decay as the axe head began to corrode.

"Oscar. There is much to be done. You must go to Beacon Academy."

Oscar threw the axe down, still shaken by everything that had just happened.

The way those Furies attacked, with no warning, rhyme, or reason..

The way they...

"You can grieve later. It's imperative that we hurry to the Academy post-haste."

Ozpin had filled him in on Beacon's importance some time ago, before this attack. Remnant had four Relics, artifacts of immense power on their own. Combined, and all of Remnant could be turned upside down.

All but one of these relics have been freed from their shackles.

Princess Celestia, one of Equestria's leaders, possessed the Relic of Knowledge. The Relics of Creation and Destruction have been seen in combat, but their whereabouts were unknown.

Leaving only the Relic of Choice.

Looks like he was off to Beacon.

*Astral Plane; June 19, 2021; 10:05 AM*

Alex awoke with a start.

In his once dreamless sleep, he had visions. Premonitions of things to come.

Darkness. Pain. Death. And through it all, he was always at the center. Always struggling to climb out on top when it could've been so much easier to let it consume him.

Suddenly finding that he could move again, Alex stood. Feeling regained in his arms and legs as he took his first steps. Finally feeling the soft, ethereal ground underfoot. A small breeze on his sides and arms.

"What is this..?"

"Welcome, Saigo.."

Alex instinctively reached for his sword. Any mention of his birthname was either met with hostility, scorn, or some other unpleasantness.

His hand drifted in air. He was unarmed..!

"Who are you?!" Alex demanded, trying in vain to raise up any sort of power he could muster, only to find he couldn't. He remembered half of his power was still within the confines of that 'Containment Charge' Callan had lying about. The other half was taken by his grandfather, and Grandmaster of the Monastery.

Feeling a shift in the air, Alex could only watch as ethereal threads all around him swirled past and coiled together, gradually forming a massive, winged titan as serene as it was powerful.

Alex stood, unarmed and powerless, facing against the might of a glowing white giant, eyes like glowing amber.

"I am all. I am nothing. I am but a trial, one of many." It's words echoed throughout the plane, shaking the world around Alex as he readied himself.

"Why are you here?" Alex wondered, trying to steady himself in the face of the overwhelming odds.

"To help you prepare."

Author's Notes:

It has been 87 years since I last updated this story.