"So that's it? Our only options are bloody, more bloody and even more bloody?" Qrow asked as the situation sobered him just a little.
"What did you expect? I'm powerful sure but i'm not a miracle worker. I can't just snap my fingers and put the war back in a box while everyone forgets it ever happened. Atlas absolutely isn't going to demilitarize without a fight unless it's ability to fight is entirely crippled at once. Even if they did you think the other three kingdoms are just going to forget it happened?" I said frankly.
"Damnit! So you're useless!" Taiyang cursed.
"You are emotional so i'll ignore that. But i've given you solutions. The fact none of them are perfect does not change that fact. But I'll tell you what. Since you don't want a massive amount of bloodshed here's my offer. I'll EMP the entire kingdom of Atlas. Absolute electrical blackout in the entire thing. It won't stop Atlas forever but it'll give the other three kingdoms a chance to fully prepare for when Atlas gets back up and going." I said calmly.
"Stalling then? It would drop the casualty rate by a good bit." Qrow said thoughtfully.
"All power? Including the heating systems that run off it?" Taiyang asked and I nodded.
"EMP pulsing does not distinguish between a heater and a knight mech. It's the least directly bloody method but make no mistake. There will be death. Just for very different reasons." I admit freely.
"Can't you just EMP the weaponry and military technology?" Taiyang asked trying to find some way that didn't end with mass casualties.
"We are talking about the same kingdom right? Atlas? The militarized kingdom that has weapons and military tech woven into almost every aspect of their towns and cities?" I asked sarcastically.
He winced "Right. That was a stupid question. Is there really no way to stop the war without bloodshed?" he asked.
"Of course there is. Every other kingdom just as to give up and let Atlas absorb them. That's an option right? "I say flatly.
"Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Ozpin really fucked us over even if he didn't mean to." Qrow said bitterly.
"That he did. I must admit that I didn't see him as the sort to kill himself. Then again he did lose all reason for living with Salem gone. Though him telling everyone that the war in the shadows was over was a horrible decision. He should have just offed himself in silence. It would have given the world time since nobody would have known she was gone for quite a while." I agreed.
"It feels strange without him around. He always had this purpose about him. Now it's just, us. Humanity free to tear itself apart without him to guide it with a steady hand. Wait! You took his immortality right? Could you give it to someone else?" Taiyang said with a flash of an idea.
"I could. But can you afford it?" I replied evenly.
They got quiet as the answer was obvious.
NO
What a joke. That was immortality of a sort. A thing people in numbers uncountable have dreamed of possessing. A thing that makes even the most absurd of ambitions suddenly seem possible. Not staying dead meant progress never truly stopped as you always come back and pick up from where you left off. What was something like that worth? Perhaps no one could honestly say. But it was definitely more than any of them could afford.-
"Uh, do you take IOU's?" Qrow asked awkwardly.
"Sure, if the possibility of repayment exists. But putting aside that impossibility for now. Why would Ozpin's immortality help at all here?" I asked intrigued if nothing else.
"Well if one person were to keep rushing into the important Atlas military stuff and sabotaging it that would work wouldn't it?" Taiyang explained his idea.
"Oh sure maybe the first three or four times. But you forget. Ironwood knows how Ozpins immortality works. He'd get the reports and immediately think it's Ozpin back to get in his way. He'd lay a trap to catch him only to discover it's someone else with Ozpins immortality. And that will make him covet it. After all that's immortality. Even if he can't achieve his ambitions in one lifetime. What about two? Or three? If someone else can usurp the immortality why can't he do the same?" I crushed that plan with mercilous logic.
"He can't just take the immortality though." Qrow pointed out.
"He doesn't have to. All he has to do is torture the person with it until they reveal it was me that could take it and give it to another person. Then he'd come for Ruby in order to summon me for that purpose." I said bluntly.
"He wouldn't do that. He's not that kind of person." Qrow said seriously.
"Isn't he? You think he doesn't know the price in lives this war of conquest will have? In the face of his "greater good" anyone and everything is permitted. Will it bother him? Absolutely. But he'll accept that as the burden of the greater good in his eyes. I've seen the sort of things he'd accept if he believed it would pan out better overall." I said seriously.