Fanfic / The Grimm With A Soul

The Grimm with a Soul is a RWBY fanfic by TechSamurai6185 on Wattpad.

Salem, in an effort to create the ultimate weapon in her shadow war against Ozpin, creates a humanoid Grimm capable of mimicking every combat technique that can be utilized by huntsmen. Unfortunately for her, the God of Darkness reincarnates Jack, a RWBY fan who died of COVID, into Salem's latest creation, granting it a soul and sapience in the process. Armed with their newfound abilities and knowledge of events in the show, Jack and Shadow set out to save Remnant and bring it into a brighter future.

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This fic provides examples of:

• Abled in the Adaptation:
  • Pietro Polendina has his Aura completely restored by Shadow thanks to his Power Copying abilities, allowing him to walk once more.
  • Amber has her Aura restored by Shadow, enabling her to recover from her injuries from Cinder's attack and make better use of her recovered Maiden abilities.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Team JNPR steps up their training with each other and open up to each other after the Beacon dance and the Breach, resulting in their teamwork and combat skills improving to the point that they can easily hold their own against other teams during the Vytal Festival tournament.
  • Jaune gains confidence and improves his combat skills thanks to the aforementioned events, growing into a much more capable leader and Huntsman.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Downplayed for Mercury, Emerald, Roman, and Neo considering that weren't really on board with Cinder's Evil Plan in the first place.
  • Sienna Khan and the remaining White Fang join Shadow's Twilight Kingdom as the kingdom's Department of Faunus Affairs, helping him deal with the SDC and their racism.
  • The alternate universe in the post-epilogue bonus chapter has Salem, Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Adam, and Neo be at much better places than they were in canon, with Salem becoming the guardian of humanity alongside her husband Ozma and the latter becoming students at Beacon Academy.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Shadow awakens Jaune's semblance much earlier than canon by stabbing himself, forcing Jaune to unlock it to heal him.
• Age Lift: Neo is the same age as Ruby in this story.
• All-Powerful Bystander: As Jack tells Violet during the Beacon Dance, the one thing that irked him the most about RWBY reincarnations was how passive most main characters in those stories were despite all the knowledge they had at their disposal, something that he sees in Violet with her reluctance towards taking action against the bad guys.
  Jack: What irked me about those fanfics was that even though the main characters had information on the Fall of Beacon, who would die, and who had the Fall Maiden's power, they never did anything about it. I mean, seriously? You have a chance to save thousands of people from a Grimm attack, save Pyrrha and Penny, and stop Cinder in her tracks, but that never happened because the character's always concerned about keeping the "timeline" correct or some bullshit.
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • Oddly enough, Yang still has one arm just like canon. This time, she was born with one arm and lived with it as a child.
  • Samay gets her arms frozen and shattered, only for her Semblance to continually try and fail to rebuild them.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Mercury's response to Emerald regarding their fate after Cinder's plan prompts Emerald to rethink her loyalty to Cinder.
  Mercury: Hey Em?
  Emerald: Yeah?
  Mercury: What do you think will happen to us? After the plan?
  Emerald: What do you mean?
  Mercury: I mean long term... Why are we helping Cinder?
  Emerald: Because she saved us.
  Mercury: Some savior, blackmailing us into going through with this plan which'll paint a target on our back large enough to cover Beacon.
• Assassin Outclassin': Deadshot and Deathstroke are subject to a Curb-Stomp Battle from Shadow when they fail to assassinate him, resulting in both assassins choosing to spill the beans on who hired them rather than risk death.
• Asshole Victim: Every person that Shadow killed pretty much had it coming for them.
• Babies Ever After:
  • Jaune and Pyrrha have kids of their own along with Ren and Nora and Mercury and Emerald at the end.
  • Shadow creates a humanoid Grimm and an android as his children as well as his successors.
• Badass Boast: Shadow makes so much that it would be impossible to list them all here.
• Bittersweet Ending: Shadow is able to enjoy the fruits of his hard work alongside his friends and loved ones, but ends up outliving them all until he joins them in death.
• Butterfly Effect: Violet's main fear is that the timeline could be altered so much by Jack's actions that she won't be able to make use of her knowledge of canon events, which Jack disapproves of for its cowardice.
• The Confidant: Shadow offers to be one for Ozpin, enabling Beacon's headmaster to tell him that despite everything he's gone through in his secret war against Salem, he still loves her and only seeks reconciliation. This ends up throwing Salem for a loop when she overhears their conversation.
• Constructive Criticism: Shadow helps Blake, Yang, Weiss, and Violet improve upon their Semblances and combat skills with this, pointing out the flaws in their fighting styles and how to fix them without being needlessly cruel so they can be better fighters.
• Crazy-Prepared: Shadow managed to purchase an entire house stocked with food, cash, furniture, training equipment, and copies of Team RWBY and JNPR's weapons in Vacuo prior to Roman, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo's arrival in their safehouse there.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Shadow easily dishes these out to his opponents.
  • Ozpin and all of his allies converge onto Atlas in an attempt to stop Shadow from enacting his plan to kill Salem. Shadow easily dominates them without any effort.
  • Atlas gets manhandled by the Twilight Kingdom after Jacques foolishly starts a war by shooting at their transports as they move the citizens of Mantle to the Twilight Kingdom, with the Umbaran forces steamrolling the Atlesian military in short order.
  • Winter and the remaining Ace Ops attempt to infiltrate the Twilight Kingdom and find weaknesses within its walls for Atlas to exploit in its favor only for them to encounter Flowey, who swiftly defeats them without breaking a sweat.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Shadow is a Mimic Grimm made by Salem as her ultimate weapon but is a hero through and through.
• Death by Adaptation: Tyrian, Cinder, Salem, and Jacques are killed off by Shadow.
• Didn't See That Coming: Nobody expected Shadow to be able to copy Semblances when he runs into the White Fang and Roman for the first time.
• Died Happily Ever After: Shadow and all of the friends he made get to live out their afterlives in heaven after their passings.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Adam Taurus is Impaled with Extreme Prejudice through his mouth by Shadow with his own sword
• Dreaming of Times Gone By: Shadow ends up having glimpses into the canon timeline of RWBY by accident after copying Samay's Semblance due to his lack of control over it. He stops having them after presumably getting it under control
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Jack and Violet ended up in Remnant from dying on Earth to coronavirus and a truck accident, respectively.
• The Dog Bites Back: Team CRDL gets their asses whipped by the Twilight Academy students when they try to bully Emma over her heritage and are chucked out of the academy cafeteria as a result
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Roman may be a criminal, but he regards Neo like his own daughter, something that Cinder exploited by effectively holding Neo hostage to get Roman onto her side. Shadow takes advantage of this by cutting him a deal that guarantees Roman and Neo's survival in exchange for turning themselves in to the authorities.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Pyrrha rejects Ozpin's offer to have her possess the Fall Maiden's power after learning that Amber will die if she has her powers transferred to her, seeing it as no better than murder even if it is for the greater good.
  • For all of his faults, Ironwood is disgusted by Jacques' order to shoot down the Twilight Kingdom transports and leaves him to his fate at Shadow's hands.
• Expy:
  • Dr. Doofenshmirtz and his pet platypus Grimm Perry are this for their namesake characters from Phineas and Ferb, right down to Perry's asskicking skills and Doof's odd inventions.
  • The announcers for the Vytal Festival tournament hosted in the Twilight Kingdom are both named Ned Flanders and Homer Simpson, and are remarkably similar to their namesakes.
  • The two assassins sent to kill Shadow are named Deadshot and Deathstroke.
  • Anthony Hrodin is basically teenage Iron Man, complete with advanced exo suit.
  • Flowey is the guardian of the fourth quadrant of the wall surrounding the Twilight Kingdom, and he's just as sadistic as his Undertale counterpart
• For Want Of A Nail: Plenty
  • Shadow prevents Cinder from gaining access to Ironwood's security codes by warning him about the virus Cinder installed in Ozpin's desk, resulting in him using a burner scroll to analyze and neuter it.
  • Emerald is intimidated by Shadow into not using her Semblance during Yang's match against Mercury in the Vytal Festival tournament, preventing Yang's disqualification and resulting in the arrests of Emerald and Mercury after the match ends.
  • Penny is ordered by Ironwood to throw her fight after he learns of Pyrrha's Magnetism Manipulation powers, resulting in Pyrrha becoming the champion of the Vytal Festival.
  • The Fall of Beacon never happens thanks to Shadow sabotaging Cinder's plan before it could even get off the ground, keeping Beacon intact and sparing Pyrrha and Penny from their canonical fates.
• Good Is Not Soft: Shadow may be on the side of good, but make no mistake-he will use all means necessary to defeat Salem, rules be damned.
• The Good King: Shadow becomes this for the Twilight Kingdom with his benevolent rule and guidance.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Samay's Semblance in a nutshell. She uses this on Shadow in an attempt to get him to react to her advances, only for it to backfire on her.
• Had to Be Sharp: Pretty much the entire reason as to how the Umbarans have managed to survive on the Darkness Continent for so long.
• Hannibal Lecture: Ghost!Cinder attempts to demoralize Shadow by reminding him of Jack's death and claiming that he will always be a monster due to his nature as a Grimm. Shadow simply responds with an I Am What I Am summation before persuading her to move on to the afterlife to get revenge on her abusers.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Shadow faces off against Salem in his first life to buy time for Summer to escape back home, getting himself incinerated by Salem in the process before he returns.
  • Jack switches out with Shadow at the last second to take a spell from Salem in his place, resulting in his soul getting destroyed before Shadow strips Salem of her immortality and kills her.
• Hollywood Hacking: Averted, Shadow hacks into Cinder's scroll with a flash drive and obtains all of her information on Pyrrha, Penny, the Fall Maiden, and the White Fang.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Salem created Shadow to be the perfect anti-Huntsman weapon, yet he is the one to finally kill her.
  • Samay's time-looping Semblance traps her in a vicious cycle of getting her arms frozen off as she tries to remake them before Shadow kills her.
• Honey Trap: Annabelle's modus operandi. Shadow doesn't fall for it for even one millisecond.
• Humanoid Abomination: Even though Jack/Shadow is a Nice Guy and firmly on the side of good, Shadow is still a humanoid Grimm for all intents and purposes
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Shadow gets stuck in one of these operating from Mistral. Of course, being the badass he is, he tears it down with ridiculous ease.
• I Am What I Am: Shadow gives one to Ghost!Cinder to get her to move on into the afterlife in the penultimate chapter
  Shadow: For how long do you wish to do this, Cinder? You know your words cannot affect me, and I have long since moved past your hurtful words. I am a monster, a terrifying one at that. I cannot change the way people see me, only the way I see myself. Why do you wish to stay on this side? I know your past; you were abused as a child. Why stay here when you desperately want revenge on them?
• Intimidation Demonstration: Shadow flares his copied Maiden powers to Raven to secure her cooperation in copying her Spring Maiden powers.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Shadow seemingly surrenders himself to Ironwood's forces... so he can gain access to the Winter Maiden's room and copy her power.
• Kill It with Fire: Fire is the only thing that can render Mimic Grimm like Shadow Deader than Dead, which is why Shadow seeks to replicate the Fall Maiden's powers so he can be immune to it.
• Large and in Charge: Shadow is already pretty tall, but he grows even taller with every time he copies a Semblance, reaching a height of seven feet by the story's finale.
• Loophole Abuse: The Maiden powers can only be transferred between women, but since Shadow is technically genderless due to his nature as a Grimm, he can use his Semblance to replicate and use them.
• Mad Scientist: Doofenshmirtz is a benign example of this, being a Bunny-Ears Lawyer who provides the Twilight Kingdom with valuable inventions for fighting against the Grimm and helps upgrade Team VRWBY and JNPR's equipment with Umbaran technology.
• Make an Example of Them: Jacques Schnee and the remaining Atlesian councilors are executed by Shadow as a warning to Atlas for them to change their policies towards non-humans to those of equality or suffer the consequences.
• Mook Horror Show: Shadow makes himself known to the White Fang by tearing through their forces the first time he meets them
• Named by the Adaptation: Ozpin's first name is Samuel in the story.
• Neck Snap: Shadow kills Tyrian near the warehouse Cinder secretly operates in by twisting his head until his neck breaks.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Salem is so caught up in her emotions after she eavesdrops on Shadow and Ozpin's conversation that she forgets to inform Cinder about Shadow's presence in Beacon as she sends Tyrian to watch over her to make sure her plan succeeds, keeping her in the dark about Shadow's goals and contributing to her defeat.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, Jack and Shadow respectively stole Glynda's riding crop and Blake's Ninjas of Love book while they were at Beacon before they left if their reminiscing is anything to go by.
• One-Man Army: Shadow was built with Power Copying and Resurrective Immortality on top of his usual Grimm abilities so he could easily take on huntsmen, which, coupled with his Healing Factor, makes him nigh-unstoppable in combat.
• Persona Non Grata: The Schnee Dust Company are this for the Twilight Kingdom after their poor treatment of workers, low wages, and general discriminatory attitude towards non-humans is exposed for the world to see.
• Plant Person: Again, Annabelle, due to her Semblance. It doesn't do her much good against Shadow, but he puts it to much better use after copying it
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  • Shadow makes a Call-Back to his previous "The Reason You Suck" Speech as he kills Cinder after foiling her plans.
    Shadow: We all fall in the end, Cinder. It's only a matter of when.
  • Shadow gives what amounts to a pre-mortem speech to Adam as he executes him.
    Shadow: You can insult and threaten me all you like. You threaten those I call friends and you die... You do not get to die with Blake at your side and the humans at your feet. You do not get to die in a blaze of glory so the White Fang can fight another day. You get to die here and now. Choking on your own blood.
• Power Copying: Shadow has the ability to perfectly replicate anything thanks to his innate abilities as a Mimic Grimm, with his Semblance, Plagarism, granting him the ability to copy Semblances.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Shadow is the king of these in the story, giving out multiple of these speeches.
  • His first speech basically exposes Cinder as nothing but a bully who wants the world to suffer just because her life sucked.
    Cinder: The ability to speak does not make you intelligent, Grimm
    Shadow: It may not... but what do I know about you, Cinder? Oh, I know... (Slasher Smile) I know you were an orphan in Mistral, constantly bullied and forced to scrub the floors, overworked and starved by your caretakers. But one day, a woman came and took you away, whisking you to an Atlesian hotel. You were promised a new life, but realized that your life there was worse, the woman using a shock collar to keep you in line. (stretches out his neck and looks at Cinder face to face) You had a chance to get a new life, to train and become a Huntress, but you threw it away, just for petty revenge. And look at you now... just another slave.
    Cinder: Argh! (attempts to decapitate Shadow)
    Shadow: See, I know everything about you Cinder. I know what makes you tick. And I know what breaks you... (Cinder leaves, shaken) WE ALL FALL IN THE END CINDER! IT'S JUST A MATTER OF WHEN! (Evil Laugh).
  • He later gives one to Emerald during the match between Yang and Mercury, laying out all of the flaws in Cinder's plan and intimidating her into not using her Semblance in the process.
    Shadow: I wouldn't do that if I were you.
    Emerald: (scared) You...
    Shadow: Me
    Shadow: A very interesting situation we find ourselves in, Emerald.
    Emerald: So you were here... A very bold move of you to show yourself in public.
    Shadow: Public? I do not think you understand. Look at the person next to you.
    Emerald: (looks at the audience, seeing that none are real) Holograms?
    Shadow: Once we registered your seat, Ironwood made these so anything that happens here will not be seen by the outside world.
    Emerald: Are you here to kill me?
    Shadow: That has yet to be determined, but for the time being, enjoy the fight as I tell you what was wrong with your plan. I occasionally teach, so let this be a lesson for you.
    Emerald: Sorry, I'm not much of a student.
    Shadow: I really do not give a damn. Your first mistake was allowing me to live. A shot to the head may have been a good idea, but that is basic compared to what I can survive. When I escaped, I immediately went to Ozpin and told them when you would be arriving. Your next mistake was not covering your tracks. You, a small time thief, and him, the son of Marcus Black. You should have covered your tracks before coming to Beacon.
    Emerald: Roman, that bastard... Did he break or did he sell us out?
    Shadow: No, actually, he never needed to. My semblance allows me to copy physical items, and yes, I have a Semblance. (Stunned Silence) I only had to lay a hand on Cinder's tablet, and I had access to your entire plan. So these were your first mistakes, your next one was your Trojan that you installed in Ozpin's desk. How moronic Cinder should have to be to realize that I actually did recognize her that night. So, Ironwood placed a burner scroll, with the illusion that it was his personal one, so we could observe what the virus could have done. We knew that you teamed up with Taurus and his branch of the White Fang and are planning to attack the city from the south with a large swarm of Grimm pincering from the north. Ironwood's been working on that along with the Valian generals, who are no doubt laying waste to them as we speak. The only reason that they would know where these locations are is if they had Cinder's tablet. Am I missing anything? No, I think that's it.
    Emerald: T-That's a nice story, Shadow... So what happens now? You arrest us and throw away the key?
    Shadow: Hm. No. Given that all of this is off of the books, you and your friends are ours to deal with as we see fit. And since you've decided to work for her, letting you live after nearly killing Amber is not in the cards.
    Emerald: You don't scare me, Shadow.
    Shadow: (Mirthless Laughter) Let me tell you something, Emerald. When I was on the continent of darkness, I slew every Grimm I came across, from Beowolves to Deathstalkers. When I first got to Vale, do you know why all of your dust robberies failed? Why storehouses and bases suddenly disappeared off the map? I do. I was that reason. I slew entire small armies on some nights. The media didn't know who was responsible or who to blame, so I gave them a corpse to satisfy them. Tyrian's corpse. And do you know who killed Tyrian?
    Emerald: Y-You did.
    Shadow: While this is a well known fact, people seem to forget quite so easily. Grimm can sense emotions, fear being one of them. You are afraid of me. I can practically taste your fear... It is delicious...
    Emerald: I'm just seventeen, would you kill a minor?
    Shadow: I'm only six months old. Besides, what's a seventeen year old assassin?
    Emerald: I'm not an assassin!
    Shadow: Tell that to Amber.
    Emerald: Cinder's the one who did that! I'm just the one who made the illusion!
    Shadow: While that may be true, you still held her down as the deed was done. You are working for her, you came to this continent to kill hundreds of innocent civilians and start another world war. (...) You have two options, surrender or die. Pick your poison.
  • Jack also gives one to Violet, Ozpin, and Ozpin's cabal chewing them out for their inaction in dealing with Cinder.
    Violet: Jack... I know you're in there. (...) You can fight him, I know you're stronger.
    Jack: ... Are you fucking kidding me? Did you honestly think that was the case? That Shadow somehow overpowered me and took control?
    Violet: I'm warning you!
    Jack: Yeah, and you warned me about changing the timeline, and look what's happened! (...) Pyrrha is alive! Penny is still alive! Cinder is dead! The Fall Maiden's powers have returned to their rightful owner! (...) And do you know why this all happened?! I did all this! Not Qrow! Not Glynda! Not Ironwood! Not Ozpin! Not Shadow! ME! ALL BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO AFRAID TO DO ANYTHING!
  • Shadow gives one for the God of Light, telling him in no uncertain terms to fuck off and never return to Remnant after treating Remnant like his own personal sandbox for so long.
    God of Light: This seems to be caused by magic. But the only two left that could do that... oh
    Shadow: Yes, Salem killed the soul that your brother put in this body. Salem was your doing, hence this is your fault. (Beat) Ha! I just realized how much of a hypocrite you are!
    God of Light: What?
    Shadow: Salem was only immortal until she learned the meaning of life. I used the relic of knowledge to answer that question, so I know the answer as well. (...) Ha! Hehe. You are a hypocrite.
    God of Light: What...?
    Shadow: You do not know the answer either.
    God of Light: That is false. Of course I know the answer. I do not believe you do
    Shadow: Oh, I know. Are you sure you want to know? Or would you rather continue your "beautiful experiment" with peace of mind? (Beat) Heh, do you know how these new people were born? These people's ancestors were born from the dust you left behind when your brother decided to destroy humanity and abandon us to a cruel, unforgiving world ruled by your brother's creations and a mistake of your own arrogance.
    God of Light: Arrogance?
    Shadow: What is the matter, Goldie? Did you think you were perfect?
    God of Light: Stop.
    Shadow: The blood of a thousand generations born into darkness, forced to claw out the tiniest corners of the world just to survive rests on your hands, all because you don't understand your creations.
    God of Light: I SAID STOP! (fires light blast at Shadow)
    Shadow: (knocked to the ground) Damn... and I thought Salem had a temper.
    God of Light: You are wrong
    Shadow: Am I? With every beacon of light there is a shadow of darkness... You are not excluded. (stands back up) How about I use my power to show you what would have happened? I stopped a cataclysmic event by firing a single bullet. (shows the God of Light the Fall of Beacon) Do you see? You think you are some guide to a higher purpose, but you are only one being, a bringer of death and destruction. Just like your brother. And the cause of all of this?
    God of Light: No...
    Shadow: Yes. Salem. (both exit the vision)
    God of Light: I am... sorry.
    Shadow: Sorry does not bring back the dead.
    God of Light: It does not
    Shadow: Leave. Leave and never come back. This planet has survived through millions of years without you, and you are not deserving the title of being the god of this planet anymore.
    God of Light: (turns to leave, then turns back to face Shadow one more time) When you used your power, I saw the previous times you have used it. Why kill the same woman over and over again over something that would not happen?
    Shadow: You stopped Salem from being reunited with the man she loved in life and in death. Then you did nothing while your brother wiped out humanity all for the transgressions of a few, only to revive her beloved when it served you. Are you really one to judge me? (The God of Light leaves) That is what I thought.
• Red Baron: The Black King for Shadow, White Knight and Black Queen for Ozma and Salem in the bonus chapter's AU.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: All of Twilight Kingdom's council members are named after the Greek gods and have abilities corresponding to the god they are named after.
  • Hera, Shadow's lieutenant, is an adept magician and administrator, much like how her namesake was the queen of the Olympians.
  • Demeter is a Plant Person who manages the Twilight Kingdom's agriculture, similar to how Demeter in Greek mythology presided over the harvest.
  • Hades has the ability to manipulate the earth and wields a bident, a reference to Hades being the ruler of the underworld.
  • Poseidon wields a trident, can control water, and is in charge of the Twilight Kingdom's fishing operations.
  • Athena and Ares are both adept generals in their own right, with Athena being The Strategist while Ares is a Frontline General.
  • Hephaestus is a Gadgeteer Genius with the power of pyrokinesis.
  • Zeus has the ability to control lightning and is one of the Generals of the Twilight Kingdom's military.
  • Loki, a student at Twilight Academy, is a Master of Illusion and fights with dual daggers much like said god's Marvel counterpart does.
• Robeast: The forces of the Twilight Kingdom field robotic wolves and dragons alongside their regular forces that are capable of trouncing anything that Atlas can throw at them during the Twilight-Atlas war.
• Ship Tease:
  • Shadow and Penny. They get married in the end.
  • Oddly enough, Mercury and Emerald during the Beacon dance.
• Shipper on Deck: Shadow is this for Jaune and Pyrrha, with Nora joining in on the fun after the Beacon dance.
• Shout-Out: Again, plenty of them show up:
  • Shadow's search for Roman in Vale is a reference to Wade Wilson's search for Francis in Deadpool (2016), complete with one unlucky thug getting killed with a Zamboni and the "Is it not sexist to hit you" line.
  • The battle against Zelenaya's team in Vacuo is reminiscent of Rango, with Zelenaya controlling a town by restricting their water supply.
  • Shadow even quotes Jack Sparrow's iconic quote from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl word for word to the Ace Ops right before he kicks their asses in Atlas Academy.
  • The Sentinel Armor utilized by the Umbarans is based on the armor used by the Night Sentinels in Doom Eternal, and the Jaegers and Kaiju Grimm are a direct reference to Pacific Rim.
  • George Hirodin is called the Hollow Knight as a reference to the game's title character.
  • An Umbaran fighter pilot performs the iconic rendezook on a pursuing Atlesian fighter during the war between the Twilight Kingdom and Atlas.
  • The bonus chapter at the end of the book utilizes elements of Kung-fu Blaziken's RWBY AU one-shot The White Knight and the Black Queen.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Summer, Amber, Pyrrha, and Roman avoid their canonical deaths thanks to Shadow's intervention.
• Spanner in the Works: And how! Thanks to his knowledge of the future from Jack, Shadow manages to completely dismantle Cinder's plans, avert the Fall of Beacon, and massively alter the timeline in one fell swoop.
• Starting a New Life:
  • Roman, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo move to Vacuo to have a new start in life after Cinder's plan is foiled.
  • Shadow offers the citizens of Mantle and the Faunus working for the SDC a chance to start anew in the Twilight Kingdom in a broadcast, resulting in them deciding to pack their bags and immigrate to the Twilight Kingdom. Surprisingly, Marrow, Robyn Hill, and Team FNKI decide to take up his offer!
• Taken for Granite: The Nuckelavee is petrified and restrained with a tree growing in it by Shadow, leaving it at the mercy of Ren so he can avenge the destruction of his hometown of Kuroyuri at its hands.
• Title Drop: The epilogue provides one as Shadow passes on to the afterlife.
  He was the good beast, the purple veil, the warrior of darkness. The Black King. He was... The Grimm with a Soul.
• Troll:
  • The God of Darkness reincarnated Jack into Shadow just so he could mess with his brother.
  • Shadow actively impedes Cinder's plans to orchestrate the Fall of Beacon with her minions whenever he can by eavesdropping and sabotaging them right under their noses.
• Too Dumb to Live: One White Fang grunt decides to look at Shadow's regeneration puddle just to see if he's dead. He gets eaten for his troubles.
• Voice Changeling: After he ditches Ozpin's faction, Shadow uses a voice modulator to disguise his voice to keep people from freaking out at the sound of his speech and elude detection.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The bonus chapter after the epilogue reveals that Salem got sent back in time to the day that she and Ozma had their fateful confrontation after her defeat by Shadow, only for him to decide to talk it out with her instead of leaving with their daughters. The resulting alternate universe is Lighter and Softer than canon due to both taking up the role of humanity's guardians, working in the shadows to improve life and society on Remnant and guide humanity back towards the greatness they once possessed.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Jaune gives Pyrrha this after she returns to Team JNPR's dorm after her meeting with Ozpin and his allies.
  Pyrrha: I... I was offered a great power to help defend people... but... an innocent person would have been sacrificed... And I turned it down... (hugs Jaune tighter) Did I do the right thing?...
  Jaune: You did... The Pyrrha I know wouldn't have killed an innocent for power
  Pyrrha: (slowly lets go of Jaune)... Are you sure?
  Jaune: Of course, even if anybody would disagree, bringing up your title as an argument. That isn't who you are, your Pyrrha Nikos, not the Invincible Girl. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Cinder's death, Shadow informs Mercury and Emerald that Cinder had always planned to dispose of them once she got the power of the Fall Maiden.
  Shadow: She was going to kill both of you once she had the Fall Maiden's power. To quote her plan, "cutting off loose ends". She only planned to use you until you served her purpose.

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