Chaos.
In all her years as a Huntress, Glynda had never seen anything like the kind of destruction that lay before her, especially on this scale.
However, as much as she didn't want to admit it, there were records of similar incidents occurring in the past, mainly in Vacuo. Back then, an active volcano rained down debris and fire, destroying an entire city and all its inhabitants.
Or so they say.
According to Ozpin, who lived to see each of these events, the real culprit responsible for the fall of a great city that could have become a new kingdom was an extremely powerful dragon-like Named Grimm called Fatalis.
When you put it into perspective, the damage caused by that explosion of red light was far from the worst-case scenario, but that was just a failed attempt to minimize how extreme the situation was.
Seeing entire buildings destroyed in a residential area, dust clouding the sky, the smell of blood, and the cries of despair from countless people who had lost everything, including their loved ones... made it a real scene from hell.
The Breach, the incident that happened some time ago, was nothing compared to this disaster.
In fact, even if White Fang's plans had been completed perfectly and without interruption, there's no telling whether that incident would have reached this level.
And I'm forcing my students to experience this... Glynda had a bad taste in her mouth as she looked at her Scroll, her emergency summoning order having just been sent to all the Hunters-in-Training who were available in Beacon, most of whom were first-years. No one should have to go through something like this so early in their careers...or ever, if possible.
That was one of the reasons why there was so much training and preparation, all the way until the students were young adults with a mental capacity mature enough to deal with extreme situations like this.
Although... there was hardly any training that could prepare a person enough to deal with a scenario similar to that of a war zone. After all, an experience like that could very well be traumatic and drive potential talent away from the front line.
But it didn't matter.
At the end of the day, what these people, the victims of the circumstances, were going through was much worse, and they needed all the help they could get. Even more so when most of the troops were out there fighting on the front lines and only civilian authorities, such as police and firefighters, were available.
It wasn't ideal, but that didn't stop Glynda from leading the effort and trying to save as many lives as possible, even when she was close to collapsing from exhaustion.
At times like this, she cursed her limitations and her own arrogance in believing that she was the best Vale had to offer.
How wrong Glynda was.
There was someone much more powerful living in this city, and her only joy in that was knowing that Prince Vegeta was out there helping, even after he had retired early because of his losses.
That's why I have to give it my all! Glynda was dripping with sweat as she used her Semblance to restore a collapsed house, managing to complete the task on the limit. "Quickly, check for survivors!"
The order was given, and those waiting to act sprang into action immediately.
There was no time to admire the supernatural power and beauty of a mighty Huntress.
Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they returned with nothing but cold bodies and sadness on their faces.
Dammit... Glynda was frustrated, barely able to keep her composure as she failed to find any survivors. If only there were a way to tell if the people inside were alive!
That might be a despicable way of thinking, but recovering the bodies of dead people didn't matter at the moment.
Every time she wasted her efforts and Aura to restore a structure with nothing but bodies inside, it was an equally wasted opportunity to help those who could still be saved.
Unfortunately, all Glynda could do was make guesses!
"H-hel...p..."
The faint, muffled sound of a voice suddenly rang out, and everyone there turned in that direction immediately.
"Over here!" One of the local authorities signaled to everyone while standing in front of a small collapsed building. "There are survivors here!"
Glynda didn't even stop to think and just moved, praying that the rest of her Aura would be enough to restore something of this size.
Come on, come on! She had her weapon, The Disciplinarian, being used as a catalyst, and her body was shaking under the strain, ever closer to saving someone in danger. Almost there!
Or so she believed.
In the next second, Glynda was hit by a wave of weakness that almost took her consciousness, and she fell to her knees, and blood could be seen dripping from her nose to stain the white of her clothes.
This only happened when she had reached her absolute limit.
"No!" Glynda almost shouted as she tried to force her Semblance to activate, but to no avail, and that could only mean one thing. The building will collapse again!
Resulting in the definitive death of everyone inside, waiting for rescue!
I can't look! Glynda had tears forming in her eyes from more than just frustration, hating herself for her incompetence. If only I had done it differently!
While she didn't have enough Aura to restore the building, she could very well have removed as much debris as possible and left the rest to the rescue team on standby.
That way, the chances of anyone surviving would have been much higher!
Unexpectedly, however, the collapse of the building never came, and Glynda opened her eyes to see that the structure was still standing at the point she had restored.
"That's... not possible." She couldn't understand it; miracles like that don't just happen. "Then how..." Glynda stopped, her question being answered by the presence of a man who defied all logic, landing in front of her. "Prince...Vegeta?"
The man she suspected of being behind the golden anomaly was an anomaly, too.
"Glynda Goodwitch," Vegeta acknowledged this woman's presence and the state she was in. "You can rest for a minute." His eyes were on the structure being held by her power. "We'll take it from here."
Next to him was the most troublesome team Glynda ever had to teach in her years as a professor, but with some differences that made her doubt her eyes for a second.
"S-Summer?" Glynda murmured the name of an old friend who had passed away more than a decade ago, and her youngest student gave her a look full of surprise that soon turned to sadness. No, it's just Ruby...
Inevitably, there was disappointment as she realized her mistake, and she wasn't the only one to feel like that.
The last thing Ruby expected and needed right now was to be compared to her mother, a hero who would never have caused such a disaster.
However, it was a biological fact that she was a carbon copy of her mother, even more so with her current appearance. With that in mind, all Ruby could do now was swallow her tears as she saw up close the extent of the damage she had caused, focus on making up for her mistakes, and honor her mother's image as best she could.
Yang saw what happened, and unexpectedly, she couldn't bring herself to be angry with Glynda for her slip of the tongue, especially when she was also able to see a shadow of Summer Rose on her little sister. After all, just like Weiss, whose hair color had taken on an icy blue hue and displayed a Glyph floating above her head, Ruby had also changed with the power received from Vegeta.
In Glynda's eyes, however, the change in this young girl went far beyond the mere length of her reddish-black hair past her shoulders, or the rose petals that passively circled her body as if she were about to use her Semblance at any moment... No, the change was in her expression and in her eyes that shone with silver light, the gift of the God of Light.
Ruby Rose's characteristic innocence seemed to have disappeared, and now, she emitted an aura of maturity seen only in someone who had been to hell and back. Considering the state her and Weiss's clothes were in, that seemed to be exactly what had happened to them.
Suddenly, the absurdity that Blake and Yang had said earlier, about their teammates needing help to fight Negigante, was proving to be the purest truth.
The question that remained, however, was how they were still alive if they had crossed the path of one of the most powerful Grimms in the world, and the answer could only be the man in front of her.
"Prince Vegeta, what are you doing here?" Glynda staggered and forced herself to her feet, doing her best to ignore the weakened state of her body. "While I thank you for your help, you should be out there, fighting on the front lines."
A place where his powers would really make a difference by changing the course of this war and saving many more lives.
"There's no one alive on the third floor, one is alive but barely on the second, and two who feel like children on the first." Vegeta ignored the woman's questions and focused on the task at hand as he assessed the situation with a rational mind. "Blake and Yang, you go."
The two were surprised to be chosen in place of Weiss and Ruby, but they said nothing and simply obeyed, especially when there were children in danger, and moved as quickly as possible to help these people.
"As for you two." Vegeta turned in a different direction, pointing to signal the location. "Go to that collapsed house across the street and carefully use your powers to save the three survivors in need of help there."
Just as it was with Blake and Yang, Weiss and Ruby were ready to act and nodded before moving according to the instructions given without question.
There was no time to waste on trivialities when they could be helping. Consequently, they moved so fast that only Vegeta could keep up with them, making Glynda begin to doubt her eyes.
Even before, when Ruby used her Semblance or Weiss activated her Time Dilation during combat classes, Glynda was able to see and understand what was happening in front of her to evaluate them.
Not this time.
In fact, if Glynda didn't know better, she would say that those two had teleported and that shouldn't be possible!
"The rest of you focus on that building." Vegeta looked at the other humans and faunus in readiness, determining that, despite how weak they were, these people could have their uses if instructed correctly. "I'll clear away the debris, and you do your job."
Without waiting for an answer, he pointed his hand and similarly exerted his power as Glynda had done several times before. Except he wasn't restoring what had been destroyed but moving everything out of the way with a ridiculous level of ease while keeping the building where Blake and Yang were stable.
There was a moment of hesitation, especially as these were orders coming from a stranger, but the demonstration of power and the possible accuracy of his information regarding the survivors seemed to be all they needed to ignore their doubts and get to work.
"How are you doing all this?" Glynda decided to forget about Ruby and Weiss for the moment and focus on the biggest anomaly present by continuing to question even when she knew that it wasn't the time for any of this. "For you to be able to identify the location of buried people..."
Only someone with a sensory-type Semblance should be able to replicate a feat like that with precision. Considering the ability to fly and everything else that was described in this man's bio, such as free energy manipulation, physical reinforcement, and Telekinesis being exercised at this moment...Glynda was beginning to believe that he had several souls inside his body or had stolen the Semblance of other people.
"Forget about that and come here." Vegeta really didn't want to waste any time if possible. "I'll share some of my Aura with you."
He had seen what this woman was capable of, for a second even comparing her ability to that of Whis. Except that she wasn't manipulating time but restoring what had been destroyed, and that power would be extremely useful given the situation.
"Are you... able to do something like that too?" Glynda asked again, her theories gaining more and more strength, but she didn't receive an answer, which was only fair given the situation. "After this is over, we'll have a conversation."
A very long one, and she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Just put your hand on my body." Vegeta didn't refuse this woman's imposition, even more so when he had already expressed his desire to talk to her and learn more about Aura. As for his request, she hesitated for a second before obeying, soon having her delicate hand on his chest when he expected her to hold his arm. "This will only take a few seconds."
In the end, despite all its peculiarities and differences, as long as you know what to do, Aura was similar to Ki and could be used in the same way.
With that, Glynda could feel her Aura reserves being restored at an alarming rate. Not only that, she was receiving more than she had initially and pushing her capacity beyond the limit!
"Th-that's enough!" She had to step away abruptly, feeling afraid of what might happen if this went on any longer, as she gasped for air. "Y-You have a lot of Aura."
More than should be possible!
Not even Jaune Arc, someone who came from a family known for its vast reserves of Aura, could remotely compare with the bottomless pit that this man was.
Suddenly, the possibility of him having several souls was starting to become very real.
"If you have time to be impressed, then get to work and don't worry about running out of Aura. I can restore your reserves as many times as necessary." Vegeta wasn't making use of this power at the moment, so it would be put to better use in this woman's hands. "We have a lot to do."
If it had been at any other time, Glynda would have been angry, and rightly so, at being treated like a student. However, not only was this man much more powerful than she, but he clearly had his priorities straight.
Considering the losses he had experienced, it was only to be expected that Vegeta would do his best to prevent other people from going through the same pain.
"Very well." Glynda decided to put her doubts aside and trust this man, at least for now. "I'm putting you in charge of this whole operation."
Which was only the right course of action, and given the annoyed look he was giving her, Vegeta wasn't too thrilled about all this responsibility.
"Somehow, you're the only one who can sense and pinpoint the location of those in need of help," Glynda took a moment to explain why she gave up her authority so easily. "Without you, many will die."
Many more than had already died.
Vegeta thought about saying that the only reason all these people were dying in the first place was because of him, but chose to avoid the conflict that would come with such a confession and just accept the burden resulting from his impulsive actions.
"Then get to work," he said as he gestured in a specific direction with his head. "There are people alive in that destroyed green house at the end of the street."
Glynda couldn't help but flash a small smile at his acceptance before moving on.
Now that she was 120% recovered and knew where the victims were, she could give it her all!
On Glynda's cue, Blake and Yang returned carrying the injured people, blood trickling all the way until they stopped in front of him with fear in their expressions.
"Vegeta!" Yang almost shouted, not knowing what to do with the two unconscious children in her arms. "They need to go to the hospital, now!"
The paramedics on duty weren't prepared to deal with injuries of this level!
"Where is the hospital?" Vegeta thought about using the healing properties of God Ki to help these people, but he couldn't risk doing the same as he had done for Ruby and Weiss, and creating more Ki users to cause problems in the future. "I'll take them there."
That was all he could and was willing to do.
Many would die because of this choice, yes, but it didn't matter. While the aim was to save as many people as possible, teaching these girls a lesson about responsibility and the consequences of the undisciplined use of power took priority.
After all, when the time came, Vegeta would go to Namek to gather the Dragon Balls and revive everyone, except the bad people, who had died around the world since he unleashed his power on that fateful day.
"Here!" Blake made quick work of showing the location on her scroll screen and pointing. "Two and a half kilometers, that way!"
Vegeta didn't say anything, he just let the building that was being held up by his power collapse without causing any damage to its surroundings and placed two fingers on his forehead to focus on the presence of someone in the indicated location, soon finding numerous before extending his hand to Blake.
"Touch your shoulder with Yang and give me your hand," he instructed, and although confused, the girl obeyed without saying a word and with a certain level of enthusiasm that seemed to bother Yang for some reason. "Hold on."
Almost instantly, the surrounding scenery changed completely, and in front of them was the Vale Hospital Center, one of the places that, fortunately, hadn't been directly affected by the explosion but rather by the flow of patients arriving en masse to receive help.
"Wha-what just happened?" Yang didn't understand, and she wasn't the only one, given the look on Blake's face, who seemed about to vomit at the abrupt change of scenery. "How?"
There was no answer. Vegeta simply gestured with his hand and made the rescued people float away before these girls let them fall.
"Wait here and recover while I leave them to the doctors," he said as he focused on the energies inside the building, whose movement was only growing more and more. "I'll teleport us back as soon as I'm done."
With that said, Vegeta practically disappeared again, leaving the girls behind with their mouths hanging open.
"He did say teleport, didn't he?" Yang had to pinch herself to make sure she hadn't been dreaming, and all she'd managed to do was smear her pretty face with the blood of the people she'd helped to save. "Just who in the world is that man?!"
A doubt that had only been growing since the moment they met him!
"I-I wish I knew the answer to that, too." Blake took a moment to collect herself before sharing her thoughts. Somehow, the sudden sensation of teleporting was even worse than flying. "But I suppose that's something we'll learn over time."
From this point onwards, Vegeta was going to be a part of their lives, especially if he started training them alongside Ruby and Weiss.
"I..." Yang began but stopped when she remembered the reward he had promised based on their performance in this task. "Yes, I think you're right."
While their curiosity had reached another level, these doubts could be satiated after it was all over, especially about...
"You remind me of my late wife."
Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered this other revelation, and Yang couldn't help but be more curious about the identity of this unknown woman than about the man who seemed capable of doing everything.
"It's done." Vegeta reappeared in front of them, making them jump in surprise, and soon had his hand outstretched as he kept his fingers on his forehead, focusing on Ruby and Weiss' power. "Let's go back."
Blake and Yang exchanged a glance before both tried to reach for the hand in front of them at the same time, almost as if they were competing just for the two of them to do it at the same time.
Vegeta raised an eyebrow for a moment at having his hand grabbed by both of them and saw these girls blush, soon understanding what was happening, and it made him equally self-conscious.
His weakness with women was becoming more and more evident, and this made them smile victoriously.
If there was one thing that Yang and Blake loved, despite the situation they were in, it was seeing a powerful man like this one, someone who seemed to be able to do anything and who was even married once, blush like an inexperienced teenager at the slightest hint of provocation from a beautiful woman.
"Let's see how long you can keep that expression after I start training you." Vegeta felt them tense and widen their eyes in surprise at his words, not to say a threat, and that made him the one to smile. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
For the most part, his training involved hand-to-hand combat under intense gravity, and that was a nightmare waiting to happen for anyone who had never experienced anything remotely similar.
However, Vegeta was misinterpreting their reaction.
Yang and Blake weren't surprised at being threatened with training, but at basically being told that he was going to train them, too!
Inside, each of them was acting like a happy little girl who had just received the best possible Christmas present!
On the outside, they instinctively decided to keep their surprised expressions to feed Vegeta's never-ending ego.
If he was happy, then so were they.
Unfortunately, that didn't last long. In the next second, they were back in the area most affected by the explosion Ruby had caused, where the smell of death hung in the air.
"Back to work, then." Vegeta focused on using his senses to identify where they needed to go next. "Let's go."
There was still a lot to be done.