RECAP:
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Chaos

Do you wish to feel the teachings born of the Mandalorian Wars? Of all wars, of all tragedies that scream across the galaxy?

— Kreia, shortly before executing the remains of the Jedi Council.

Cinder and her allies are standing on the rooftops of Beacon, watching Darth Nihilus's battle with the heroes from the previous chapter unfold before their eyes. While Emerald, Mercury, and Neo are terrified by Nihilus, Cinder finds the Sith Lord intriguing. Having determined that the dark-clad figure wearing a Grimm mask is not one of Salem's minions, Cinder sees this as the perfect opportunity to accelerate her plans and records footage of Nihilus slaughtering Beacon's students. After hijacking control of the CCT, she broadcasts videos of Darth Nihilus all over the world, painting the Dark Lord as the Grimm's true master.

This immediately leads to a worldwide panic that draws the Grimm to Beacon en masse. Having accomplished her goal of spreading chaos, Cinder takes the moment to bask in her success until she is interrupted by Mercury, who informs her that one of Ironwood's airships is about to crash into Beacon, courtesy of Nihilus's telekinesis. Realizing that they're all in the blast zone, Cinder and her subordinates retreat to a safe distance as the airship envelops Beacon in a massive fireball behind them. Deciding to wait out the upcoming Grimm invasion from safety, the four search for a Bullhead to take them to Amity Colosseum.

Meanwhile, Darth Nihilus is surveying the destruction he caused when he catches the attention of a flock of Nevermores, who are mutually fascinated with the Dark Lord. He then uses the Dark Side to enthrall the Grimm into total obedience. Shortly after, he notices the arrival of the White Fang's forces and realizes that someone is taking advantage of his rampage to enact their own attack. Not giving this any more thought, he sets out to find a new source of Force energy to drain and detects three powerful Force signatures nearby: one coming from Beacon Tower (Ozpin), one coming from deep underground (Amber), and the strongest coming from Amity Colosseum (Cinder). Deciding to pursue the strongest Force signature first, Nihilus heads for Amity.

The chapter then picks up from where the previous chapter left off with Pyrrha and Ruby. The duo stealthily take down a pair of White Fang grunts who were looting the corpses of Nihilus's victims. They make their way into Beacon and contact Ren on his scroll, who reveals that Nora is in a coma after receiving the brunt of the airship's explosion while using her body to shield Ren. Ruby strategizes and tells Ren to meet her and Pyrrha at Beacon Tower, reasoning that the tower is the most likely place for any survivors to rally around. She then attempts to contact Blake and Yang on their Scrolls, only to be interrupted by an attack from some nearby Grimm.

Deciding to hold off on contacting Blake and Weiss until they are at a secure location, Ruby and Pyrrha fight their way to Beacon Tower, where they meet up with Ozpin, Glynda, Ren, and a still-comatose Nora, as well as several teams of students who weren't present for the battle with Nihilus. Ozpin asks the two what is going on, being unaware of Darth Nihilus's attack due to being cut off from the CCT by Cinder's computer virus. Pyrrha informs the headmaster that Nihilus has taken over Jaune's body, much to Glynda's horror. Ozpin then orders Glynda to coordinate the defenses at Beacon Tower while he repeats his offer to transfer the Fall Maiden's powers to Pyrrha. After a few moments of hesitation, Pyrrha gives Ozpin her answer:

Pyrrha: I'll do it.

Tropes in this chapter include:

Admiring the Abomination:
- Cinder expresses admiration towards Nihilus while watching him slaughter Beacon's students from afar.
- Nihilus is impressed by many of the Grimm's traits — namely their nature as The Soulless and being Made of Evil — and he deems them superior to Sithspawn like the terentatek, while being envious of whoever created them.
Call-Back: When Pyrrha agrees to Ozpin's offer to make her the next Fall Maiden, she uses the line "I'll do it", much like how Jaune said the exact same thing to Nihilus's spirit in "Breach" when he fully embraces the Dark Side.
Cell Phones Are Useless: When Ruby attempts to contact Weiss and Blake on their Scrolls, she finds that her Scroll was broken by the Dust explosion from the crashing airship. Luckily Pyrrha's still works, though the pair are interrupted by some Grimm before they can make the call. Ruby and Pyrrha then decide to focus on fighting the Grimm first and making their way to Beacon Tower before they attempt to call their friends again.
Cliffhanger: The chapter ends on a few. Pyrrha agrees to let Ozpin transfer Amber's powers to her, Weiss and Blake are missing, Nora is in critical condition, and Nihilus begins to hunt for magic-users to consume, starting with Cinder.
Continuity Nod:
- When Nihilus compares the Grimm to Sithspawn, one of the Dark Side creatures that he thinks of is the terentatek, which was the creature that attacked and nearly killed Jaune in "Fear".
  - He also brings up the tuk'ata, a Dark Side creature from the Legends continuity.
- Nihilus namedrops Naga Sadow and Exar Kun while internally remarking how Sith alchemists would be envious of whoever created the Grimm.
- Nihilus controls the Grimm using a Dark Side technique he describes as being similar to Beast Trick, a Force power used in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.
Do Not Adjust Your Set: Cinder uses her control over the CCT to hijack broadcasts of the tournament and shows footage of Darth Nihilus to the entire world.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Neo breaks down into silent tears upon seeing the airship Roman is aboard crash and explode.
Even Evil Has Standards: Emerald, Mercury, and Neo are all horrified by the power and brutality Nihilus shows while attacking Beacon's students.
Fall Guy: While broadcasting footage of Darth Nihilus all over the world, Cinder paints Nihilus as the leader of the Grimm. She does this to take the attention off her and allow Salem—the Grimm's true master—to work undetected.
Fighting from the Inside: When Nihilus uses the Force to enslave the minds of some Nevermores, the Grimm briefly try to resist and their bodies struggle and spasm before giving in.
Hold the Line: With the airdocks destroyed, the heroes all rally around Beacon Tower to hold off the Grimm.
How We Got Here: The chapter begins thirty minutes prior to the ending of the previous chapter, depicting the events which led to the White Fang's assault on Beacon and the whereabouts of Nihilus and Cinder.
Hypocrisy Nod: Ruby is disgusted by the White Fang looting the bodies of dead students, while she herself loots a deceased Atlas soldier. She's aware of the hypocrisy, though justifies it by noting that she's only looting the soldier because she needs a weapon to defend herself with.
In Spite of a Nail: Roman still ends up dying during the events of Volume 3.
Jaw Drop: Cinder's jawdrops wide open in shock when she sees Nihilus telekinetically throw an entire airship at Beacon.
Killed Offscreen: Roman is killed offscreen when the airship he was being imprisoned on crashes into Beacon and explodes after Nihilus pulled it down from the sky.
Made of Explodium: Ironwood's airship blows up in a gigantic Dust fireball when it crash-lands into Beacon. Justified since Dust is known to be extremely combustible.
Mass "Oh, Crap!": Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo all collectively have this reaction when they realize that Nihilus is crashing an airship into Beacon... and they're in the blast zone.
Mercury: Uh, Cinder?
Cinder: [annoyed] What!?
Mercury: Isn't that the airship that Roman is on?
[cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" from Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Neo]
Cinder: We are leaving, now!
Meaningful Echo: When Pyrrha decides to become the Fall Maiden at the end of the chapter, she says "I'll do it" to Ozpin. This is the exact same line Jaune says to Nihilus's spirit in "Breach" when he embraces the Dark Side. Their circumstances are also identical as both are driven to agree after witnessing a large a,ount of death and devastation, and believing that it's their own responsibility to make things right.
Metaphorically True: Everything Cinder says in her live broadcast to the entire world is technically true. She correctly claims that the Grimm are secretly controlled by an intelligent force and that Ozpin has been covering up this individual's existence to avoid mass panic. However, she misleads with who the Grimm's master is by showing footage of Darth Nihilus while giving this speech, implying that Nihilus is the one behind all the Grimm's attacks rather than Salem.
Nightmare Fetishist: Nihilus gushes over the Grimm and finds them "beautiful".
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Ren was somehow able to make his way to Beacon Tower from the war memorial while carrying an unconscious Nora and get past all the Grimm and White Fang grunts patrolling the area.
Perspective Flip: The first half of the chapter is devoted to retelling the battle from "Nihilus", but through Cinder's point of view as she watches the battle from afar on Beacon's rooftops.
Pistol-Whipping: Ruby knocks out a White Fang grunt by smashing him in the face twice with the butt of her Dust rifle.
Politically Incorrect Villain: During her inner monologue, Cinder refers to the Faunus in the White Fang as a "pack of animals". Canonically, "animal" is a Fantastic Slur for the Faunus.
Psychotic Smirk: Cinder gives a sadistic smile while broadcasting footage of Darth Nihilus live all over the world.
Quizzical Tilt: The Nevermores that encounter Nihilus tilts their heads at him since they can't tell what he is.
Robbing the Dead: Ruby and Pyrrha come across a pair of White Fang grunts looting the corpses of dead students. Ruby also engages in a bit of this herself, though her case is justified since she was looking for a weapon to arm herself with.
Roofhopping: Cinder and her team jump across the rooftops of Vale while making their way to a Bullhead.
Slave Mooks: Nihilus uses the Force to brainwash a couple of Nevermores into being completely devoted to him.
Stuff Blowing Up: When Ironwood's airship crashes into Beacon, it creates a massive fireball of an explosion powerful enough to send Nora and Ren flying into a completely different area of the school.
Stunned Silence: The chapter introduces Emerald, Mercury, and Neo all staring at Darth Nihilus in silent horror as they can't even begin to process how powerful he reveals himself to be.
Switching P.O.V.: The point-of-view of the chapter shifts from Cinder to Nihilus to Pyrrha and Ruby.
Title Drop: The narration for Pyrrha's POV drops the chapter's title near the end.
Her school was all but destroyed. Dozens, if not hundreds of her fellow students and civilians killed. This was chaos in its purest form.
Tuck and Cover: Nora is in critical condition after using her body to shield Ren from the airship's explosion.
Xanatos Speed Chess: Cinder's original plan was to have Penny destroyed during the Vytal Tournament and broadcast her death all over the world — the resulting public backlash attracting the Grimm to Vale. Darth Nihilus's rampage throws a wrench into all that. However, Cinder quickly alters her plans and instead broadcasts live footage of Nihilus. The existence of what seems to be an intelligent, humanoid Grimm causes a worldwide panic that accomplishes Cinder's main goal of drawing the Grimm to Beacon.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Weiss and Blake's fates are still unknown. Ruby attempts to contact them once using her Scroll, but gives up and focuses on fighting the Grimm.
What Is Going On?: When Ruby and Pyrrha meet up with their friends at Beacon Tower, Ozpin and Glynda approach them and ask what is going on, having been cut off from the CCT by Cinder's Black Queen virus and thus having no knowledge about the events of the previous chapter. Ruby first tells them that she saw Jaune put on a Grimm mask and go on a killing spree before Pyrrha gives them the abridged explanation that Nihilus has taken over Jaune's body.