B9C15

"The west wall! The west wall is down!"

The screams echoed through the tolling of the bells as I pushed through the mass of Labour Caste filling the streets. The Guild, along with almost every student in Beacon, fought alongside me, all of us struggling against the sheer mass of people.

"Stay calm!" Alchemist Oobleck bellowed. "Stay calm and make way. Clear the streets!"

It was no use. Someone crashed into and cut him off, while bodies hemmed in on me from every direction. I could have forced them back with my Strength, but they'd be thrown to the floor and crushed. The momentary hesitation cost me, and I toppled back, caught by Ren who propped me up against the horde.

"Get out the way!" Yang yelled. "We're trying to save your lives!"

"Run!"

"Grimm! Grimm!"

"The wall! The wall has fallen!"

I could just make out the wall over their heads – people fleeing off it and fighting on the ramps, trying to reach the ground and pull back into the streets before they were surrounded fully. It was causing a cascade effect as Grimm took the walls and then ran along them, forcing more and more of the defenders to give way. It was going to spread across every wall in the city if it continued. They couldn't be held. And with Ironwood dead, there was no use trying to hold them.

But if we could just reach the walls, we could help the Heroes retreat safely. If only these idiots would get out the way. "STOP!" I screamed, wading through the sea of bodies with my arms before me, forcing people left and right. "Stop panicking! You're going to get people killed!"

More and more civilians poured into us. The panic was spreading, forcing people out of homes that weren't even close to the west wall. There was no telling where they were even running to, just that it was away from the west wall.

A woman slammed into my front and tried to run through me. She resisted all efforts to be turned aside, wide eyes and mad, lashing out and screaming in my face. Several more hit the back of her and tried to claw through her. Weiss cried out as someone knocked her down and I lost sight of her under the sea of bodies. Blake cried her name in alarm and lashed out, knocking someone down and fighting her way through to save the fragile Mage.

The screams, pleas and cries for mercy intensified. Faces filled my vision – as though every single person in Vale was trying to fight me at once. Weiss wasn't the only one down. So many students, those of less sturdy Classes, had been bowled over. The frenzied mob didn't even realise. Or didn't care.

"STOP MOVING!"

The command erupted from somewhere behind me. I felt an immediate desire to do as asked but shrugged it off quickly, my Resilience taking hold with a pale flicker of blue eyes. Others weren't so fortunate – the woman in front of me suddenly going rigid and stiff, eyes still wide and rolling in her skull, but her body no longer under her control.

"Labour Caste!" the voice continued, still with that powerful, commanding, quality. "Step to the side and press yourselves against the walls. Make way for the Heroes. Heroes, continue as you were."

The command was granted to those of the Hero Caste and I could still feel the weight on my muscles. I didn't count as a Hero. Ignoring it, I managed to look back, where I saw Ozpin stood with his arms raised. The ocean parted before him, men, women and children stepping aside toward the walls, standing there like a crowd to a parade. It was like my first time in Vale, where the people had cheered the oncoming of new students to Beacon. Myself among them. There was no cheering now, only stunned and frightened silence.

Charisma. It was terrifying like that. At least this use of it is easier to swallow. And necessary.

Blake helped Weiss up. The Mage was bruised and bleeding from her lip, curled up on her side with both arms over her face. She was limping slightly, already unfit to fight on the front lines – and before even coming across a single Grimm. The panicked townsfolk had already damaged our combat potential.