A week after New Year...

"Okay, everyone now that the New Year laziness is gone. Let's get back in the game!" Saber cheered, bursting open the theater doors to let everyone in.

"Back to work I guess..." Roman slides down onto his seat with Neo trailing behind him.

"Nothing like a bit of trauma to start off the year I suppose." Qrow shrugged pulling a flask from under his seat.

"This'll be interesting..." King says, passing a recording crystal to his partner.

"Ahh, nothing like reminding myself of this tragedy... RIP Roman Empire." Saber peaced out and inserted the recording crystal.

"What will we be watching anyway?" Jaune asked the host.

"You're gonna be watching thee... Introduction of the major factions/factors in the fall of the Roman Empire." Saber explained.

"Like the Sengoku Jidai one?" Blake looked at her host with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup. Now shut up its starting!"

Huns

Thousands of dead bodies are seen littering the streets of a burning city. The videos soon showed Tyrian carrying a box filled with loot from the battle, swinging his captured sword around as they left.

"The air was filled with smoke and blood. The Huns gloried in the stench of death, they took what they needed and left their enemies to rot."

"Not enough blood!" Tyrian yelled from his seat.

"Must everything be about killing with you?" Watts looked at his colleague in annoyance.

"Blood for the Grimm Queen! Huntsmen for the Grimm throne!" Tyrian cackled like a maniac.

"The Huns were free, they rode and fought, and lived. Fear built Roman walls. They were right to be afraid."

The next scene saw a Roman general offering tribute to Tyrian who sat in front of the seemingly endless army of Huns.

"Its like the Branwen Tribe and grimm had a baby!" Nora exclaimed after seeing the massive army on screen.

"Please, spare me the thought of anyone procreating with grimm, child." Salem waved off in dismissal.

"That was not a sentence I thought I'd hear... Or write..." King muttered the last part to himself.

"And behold a red horse. And power was given to him that sat thereon, to take peace from the earth."

"That... Seems out of place." Weiss said with a hint of confusion.

"Its not actually. It alludes to a verse in the book of Revelations, in which four horsemen are sent out by God as harbingers for the Last Judgement. The Red Horse being the one that will bring war. Honestly I'd like to elaborate but I don't think I'm quite qualified to delve into theology." Saber explained.

"Also don't ask anymore of Earth's religious beliefs and dogma. Cause we are not diving down that rabbit hole." King followed up.

"Those with gold offered it by the wagon. The Huns took it, and allowed them to live. In fear at least until they returned."

An army of Romans were soon showed as they got into formations to defend against the onslaught of charging horsemen. Carnage soon followed as the Hunnic army broke through slaughtering all in their wake, with the Roman army powerless to stop them. The Roman general from before fell just as quickly as fires erupted in the city, with flaming arrows flying in the night sky.

"They remind me of a bandit group we ran into a while back..." Raven said thoughtfully.

"Wait. What you said about the Red horse, could it be?" Blake looked at their host with wide eyes.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Humanity hasn't kicked the bucket yet, so I would assume that Huns weren't it." Saber answered.

"But in the situation at the time... Oh, they definitely looked the part." King let out a restrained look of amusement.

"The riders of the four winds prayed to him of the eternal sky. They made ready for war." The narrator ended, as Tyrian stood looked up onto sky, and the Hunnic army was shown on the move.

"That was intense." Jaune said as the screen grew dark.

"Well it ain't over yet son." Saber rolled her eyes, when the next scene was shown.

The Western Roman Empire

"The air was filled with smoke and blood. The Roman Empire was divided, from the Pillars of Hercules to the far reaches of the Adriatic. The western empire stretched."

An image of the unified Roman Empire was seen, as it was carved in half.

"And to think we all thought it was big enough when we last saw the map." Ruby awed.

"It got so huge it split in two though." Weiss pointed out.

"Yes, despite the allusion that the Roman Empire broke apart. It was merely for administrative purposes, though later years would have both drift apart aa the West continued to slowly collapse." Saber informed them.

"Sacred earth where men of greatness conquered. But those who followed neglected Rome, fighting over the scraps of past glory. They will either cast aside their petty differences or succumb to barbarous darkness."

"Hmm... They got arrogant, no wonder they fell." Cinder said.

"It would seem, that Ozma may have made the right choice in not uniting Remnant after the Great War..." Salem muttered to herself.

Qrow meanwhile merely looked at the Atlesians briefly before turning his attention back to the screen.

The scene showed a siege on a Roman city, with Roman artillery crew firing flaming rocks onto the other side. Forcing their enemies to flee, while Ironwood looked onto the battlefield with a neutral expression.

"Leave it Jimmy to somehow find himself leading a crumbling empire." Qrow let out a snort.

"Well if anyone is capable of turning things around it would certainly be General Ironwood." Ozpin said in confidence.

"Yeah... Keep telling yourself that Ozzy." Rven rolled her eyes, while the rst of team STRQ just bit back anymore comments.

"And behold a red horse. And power was given to him that sat thereon, to take peace from the earth."

Ironwood is then presented in front of a temple, with his guards surrounding him. As he was coronated as Emperor.

"Romans of the Western Empire! Those noble sons of the Eternal City, the time had come to restore power to Rome! They made ready for war." The narrator finished. While the screen showed Ironwood leading his army out of Rome.

"These intro things, are getting spicy. The general is probably gonna kick butt!" Nora said in excitement.

"Yeah... Should we tell her?" King whispered

"No, I'm not the one saying Ironwood pulls an Honorius later so everything went to shit." Saber whisper-yelled back.

The Eastern Roman Empire

"The air was filled with smoke and blood. The Roman Empire was divided, from the shores of the Danube to the sands of Egypt and Arabia. The Eastern Empire sprawled, the west ripped itself to pieces abandoning Rome. While the righteous looked east."

The stark contrast of Constantinople is shown, as the city's beauty was fully captured. With an abundance in gold, is shown as wagons filled with travel down the street.

"That's quite the 180, shit the other one looked like a hell hole compared to this city." Roman said jaw gaping.

"That tends to happen when you sit on the most profitable trade route up until recently." Saber saber responded.

"Also. Did no one else notice the slight difference in the opening?" Blake asked.

"Wait, what? I didn't notice anything." Jaune answered.

"Actually, the Western Empire was described as stretched. While this one is described as Sprawled. It would imply that the West was being pushed to its limit while the East was expanding and prospering with little to no problems." Weiss answered.

"Hi. I'm Weiss, and I know facts." Ruby teased, patting the heiress on the head. Making said heiress blush.

"S-Shut up don't touch me!"

"The sun rose on Constantinople. God's new city, where the city of Rome prospered. Her people grew rich and powerful, paying neighboring kings to do their will."

The image showed the previous Roman general that offered tribute to the Huns. And the next one, showed the Huns attacking someone else's settlement. Slaughtering anyone that stood in their way, as a Hunnic general looked to Ozpin for orders

"The contrasting thoughts between the Romans and the Huns have of each other is quite amusing." Cinder remarked.

"How so?" Winter raised an eyebrow.

"Well the Romans like to think they're the ones in charge, giving out gold to the Huns and paying them to go somewhere else. When in reality the Huns controlled them with fear, being able to force them to pay the Huns to fuck off only to return again and again, until the East is bled dry." Cinder said to the Atlesian specialist.

"Can't believe Cinder made me see the Huns as a glorified bandit empire. And now I'll never see Raven as not anime girl Atilla." Saber muttered in agony.

"I can't believe you got all of that accurately in just one sitting." King remarked impressed.

"And behold a red horse. And power was given to him that sat thereon, to take peace from the earth."

Ozpin is shown in a similar coronation as Ironwood. Calmly he bowed his head, as the patriarch blessed his coronation.

"Romans of the Eastern Empire! Those architects of a new age, and forgers of a new empire to light the world! They made ready for war." The narrator ends. While the screen showed the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire, leaving the gates of the Theodosian Walls.

"Fitting that Ozpin be the one to lead a prospering empire. For how long, I quite wonder." Salem remarked as the scene came to a close.

"Why can't we have walls like that?" Ruby wondered aloud.

"That would be an ambitious and costly project Ms. Rose, so I'm quite skeptical of such a project by Vale." Ironwood answered.

"Jimmy, its a wall. You can slap robots and automated sentry guns on it and will shred everything that gets close. No one has ever gone wrong with a wall." Raven pointed out.

"Yeah, especially these walls right there." Saber said pointing at the Theodosian Walls.

"And what's so special about these walls right there?" Winter asked.

"Thanks largely to its geographical position, and the improvements done to it over time. The Theodosian Walls, has for all its existence only been breached once." Saber smirked.

"And if you were to say, recreate it along Vale's natural boundaries. Well let's just say with modern weapons nothing is going to be able to enter Vale with hostility in mind." Saber laughed.

"An interesting suggestion and proposition. I suppose, I can look into it at a later date." Ozpin replied.

Barbarians & Migrating Tribes

The scene opened with a lone horseman in the middle of a ruined city.

"The air was filled with smoke and blood. Rome was weak, the tribes grew in strength and number, their roots were deep, they felt the Earth's blood pounding through the land.

A scene of a barbarian town was shown, with people busily going about their day.

"Honestly. Seems like a nice place to stay at..." Sun said.

"Yes, it does look very peaceful there." Pyrrha agreed.

"But their borders were threatened, while a great storm raged in the east!"

A villager herding his pigs, merely stood by as he watched an army of warriors pass through the town.

"Of course... Can't just have nice things can't we?" Weiss sighed.

"Its the beginning of the Dark Ages for a reason..." Saber rolled her eyes.

"One by one the tribes scattered, as seeds in the wind."

Lionheart looked at his home one last time, before the scene changes to Lionheart kneeling in front of their druid.

"And behold a red horse. And power was given to him that sat thereon, to take peace from the earth. The blood of their kin would be avenged!

"I honestly like how its implied that the leaders of each faction, are interconnected on a more personal scale." Willow said.

"How so?" Winter asked their mother.

"Well, earlier Ozpin paid the Huns to attack their enemies. And with the narrator talking about vengeance, its highly likely that they are talking about the same event in which Ozpin with the Huns burned down an entire city of the barbarians." Willow explained.

"Plausible. But highly unlikely, considering there were dozens of migrating tribes all if not most were attacked by the Huns." Saber cut in.

The scene changed to a massive battle inside a Roman City; as flaming stones flew overhead, Germanic cavalry trample any that stood in their way, and as the dust seemed to settle the Roman commander fights for his life only to be cornered by the barbarians from all sides.

"Great hunters. They tempered their blades with Roman blood. And saw their once mighty walls reduced to dust. They made ready for war." The narrator had finished, as the same time as the Roman commander was killed and left to rot.

Some in the audience flinched at the execution. While the other merely watched intently.

Since no one decided to offer any comments, Saber decided to continue on to the final faction.

The Sassanids

An injured Roman soldier limped slowly, before slowly falling to his knees. As the sounds hooves began getting closer, he turned his head only to be sliced by cavalry charging across the streets.

"The air was filled with smoke and blood."

"You can say that again, Mr. Narrator." Jaune remarked with apprehension.

Following this the scene changed to a battle between the Persian Cavalry and Roman infantry. With ultimately ends with Persian victory, as the spearmen escorted Theodore to reveal they had captured the Roman Emperor.

"Isn't that guy one of those Roman Emperors?" Roman asked.

"Yup, good ole emperor Valerian. Fucker got Weiss'd so hard he's remembered for it. Luckily Weiss doesn't get fed gold..." Saber remarked with a bit of concealed disdain, and mumbling the last part.

"I'm sorry what?" Weiss turned to their host.

"Nothing to worry about princess."

"What the Romans stole, the east reclaimed with vengeance. As Emperor Valerian discovered when his love of wealth was rewarded with molten gold."

Every rich and greedy person in the room all suddenly unconsciously rubbed their throats.

"Yeah... Well, I'm gonna have nightmares of that for a very long time..." Roman remarked nervously.

"Not gonna lie, making someone deepthroat molten gold sounds very expensive. Theodore must be rich." Qrow said.

"Meh, that punishment is reserved for greedy Roman invaders or something. Aside from one of this timelines Summer's friends, I don't recall anyone else being deepthroated with molten gold by angry Persians." Saber answered.

"Rome was the city of lies. They insulted the dessert but never conquered Eastern land. For they were weak and divided. Their arrogance was punished. And behold a red horse. And power was given to him that sat thereon, to take peace from the earth."

Theodore was merely shown, to look up to a statue of their deity. Before leaving just as quickly.

"The men of the east forged their spears in the fires of truth. And purged the world of darkness, it was their duty! They made ready for war." The narrator finally ends. As the sun began to set on the Persian armies marching in the streets.

••••••••••

"Not gonna lie those were pretty good." Neptune beat Saber to her question.

"Welcome to the history of literally anything. You think its just the one event, but its the build up thats far more exciting." Saber said with a smile.

"Ohhhh... I see what you did there. The symbolism on that recording is really subtle, I mean the fact that all except one of the faction leaders are the headmasters of the academy... Did no one realize that?" Qrow suddenly said drunkenly pointing at the screen.

"Qrow. You're drunk." Winter facepalmed taking away the huntsman's flask.

"He's always drunk..." Glynda sighed.

"Well, I guess that's a wrap. Ended by a totally random topic that came outta nowhere." Saber clasped her hands.

"So moving on!"

A/N: Read the next chapter its really important.