NF47

An explosion shook the Colosseum.

Weiss stumbled against him, and he caught her instinctively, even as silence reigned over the crowd. A thick plume of black smoke came from the back of one of the stands. It took a second or two for the audience to realise what was going on, but the screams began a second later.

A bomb? That didn't make sense. What was going on?

"People of Vale," a voice boomed. The large screens flickered and flashed, replaced by a chess piece he'd seen countless times before. The voice was new, however. Not so new that he didn't recognise it, but not Cinder's. It was the voice of Adam Taurus. "For too long has humanity oppressed and harmed faunuskind. For too long have we put up with life under the yoke of slavery. No longer. Our war begins now, and we strike the first blow here today."

"Adam," Blake gasped.

Weiss pushed over and grabbed Jaune's arm. "What's happening?" she hissed. "You said this was supposed to happen tomorrow! You never said anything about the White Fang!"

"Because this doesn't normally happen. This only happens when Cinder is killed. She spreads it out over two days to turn people against the headmaster." His eyes widened as realisation dawned.

The people turned against Ozpin because of a wide range of failures that had stacked up. It started with the White Fang attack on the docks, and then went through to the Breach. From there, it took advantage of Atlas' presence and the lack of faith in Beacon to drive animosity between the two nations.

But he had interfered in the docks. He had tricked Qrow into closing down several White Fang operations. He had made sure the Breach didn't take any innocent lives. He'd won Ozpin control of the security of Vale.

All of that meant that Cinder wouldn't have been able to turn people against him. Ozpin had too much of the public's confidence, especially after being seen to save them from terrorist attacks on numerous occasions. The people loved the headmaster now. Cinder knew that.

Cinder adapted.

If she couldn't generate the required negativity through framing someone else, then why not go for a more direct approach? There was more than one way to drive all the people on Amity into a hysterical mess. More than one way to have over fifty-thousand people experience negativity in one moment. Enough negativity to awaken the Dragon in Mountain Glenn.

Why use hate when fear worked just as well?

"Cower like the sheep you are," Adam finished. "Know that when this war ends, it shall be you who suffer. Now… DIE!"

Another explosion went off, this one in one of the stadiums itself. A hundred or more were killed instantly, and the resultant chaos no doubt injured countless more. The screen went black for a moment, before it was replaced with a yellow warning.

"ALERT LEVEL NINE DETECTED!"

"Calm down!" Jaune yelled, leaping onto a seat. "Everyone, calm down!"

It was hopeless. Even if his voice could be heard over the screams of panic, fear and pain. Even if everyone cared to listen to him, there was no stopping the human reaction. Terror reigned. No more explosions went off – Cinder wanted people alive. The possibility that it might happen to any one of them drove the people into a screaming mess.

An inhuman screech sounded from above.

"Nevermore!"

"Jaune," Weiss gasped. "Is this…?"

"It's early. I… I made it happen earlier than it was supposed to…"

This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not so soon. Cinder must have become nervous. Seeing that her every plan was being countered, she'd done the only thing she could. Change her plan. She'd started it early because she suspected he knew what the real plan was. She'd hoped to catch him off-guard, then sent Emerald to make it seem like everything was going as normal. That everything looked like it was following her original plan. Meanwhile, she, Mercury and Neo would have been free to set as many explosives as they felt they needed.