Beacon cliff is at the south of Beacon. There are three cantilever platforms similar to the dock stations but smaller in scale. One faces southeast, east, and southwest.
"Good luck, foxtail."
"I don't need luck," Yang replied.
I raised my fist. Yang returned the gesture.
Neo and Ruby hugged each other one last time before we went on our platform.
As we walk towards the 3rd platform, the one facing southeast, I saw Juane dazed. I lightly bumped his shoulder.
"Good luck."
"Oh... Yeah, thanks," he replied.
"I still don't understand how that guy qualified," Emerald said.
"Just ignore it," I said.
On the platform, there are eight students, including us. One of them was the blind Faunus we met this morning. She bows her head when she notices us.
A few minutes later.
"What?!!!" A girl yelled at the 1st platform.
Neo looks at the 1st platform. I placed my hand on her shoulder.
"It's probably about giving them a partner and group." Neo nodded and relaxed.
We then saw all students on got launch on the air. It turns out the platform is a launchpad. Four people got launched at the 2nd platform.
The Headmaster and Professor Glynda walk up the platform.
"Two groups? That's rare." The Headmaster muttered softly. "Since all of you have groups and partners already, your initiation is a bit different. You have two objectives. First, you need to earn 100 points. All F Class worth 1 point, All E Class worth 2 points, D Class Low Rank worth 10 points, D Class Middle Rank worth 20 points and any stronger Grimm is worth 0 points. I advise you to run if you encounter any. We will try to save you as we have a lot of faculty on stand-by. But it won't mean we can save you in time. Second, you need to retrieve a relic at the southern end of the forest and bring it back at the northern end outpost. Any questions?" He walks down the platform.
"Your initiation zones are sectors 15 & 16, Emerald forest. It's uploaded on your scroll, distributed yesterday. You have until 2:00 pm." Professor Goodwitch said, then walks down the platform.
"Good luck." She said before launching us.
I use the wind dust in vambrace and greaves to glide towards Neo. I hooked Oathkeeper on a branch and spins around it while holding Neo's hand. We land on another tree branch nearby.
Emerald transforms her revolver named Forsaken's Respite. Into a kusarigama and throw the other end toward Aiden. Emerald shoots two wind dust bullets while anchored to Aiden's back with her Aura. Aiden uses his charge blade named Adamant Rampart to guard point three branches. It slows down both their decent and forward momentum. Lastly, Emerald uses her Forsaken's Respite to swing for a bit, to land safely.
"So, how are you?" I asked from our earpiece.
"All green." "All green." "All green."
Meaning both our Aura and surroundings are good.
We all looked at west.
"Forrest fire?" Emerald asked.
"No, the Botanic Aura in the forest is dense. It won't catch on fire easily." Aiden said as he inspects the tree near him.
[That should be on Ruby's initiation zone.]
"Looks like theirs are starting to get interesting."
"Ok, that's enough. We have less than 5 hours to do our objectives. We should be 110 km. away from our pick-up point." I said as I observe our holographic map.
"How did you know, Sora bro?"
"Look here. According to the map, it's categorized into four zones. Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red. Green meaning safe zone. Yellow means we can encounter Grimm that we can take. Probably Class E - F Grimm. Orange zone means that death is possible. Meaning D Class middle to low rank. And the Red zone with a probability of survival if we encounter Grimm is less than 10%. That is the only Yellow zone in the south that's clear. Although, this one is not the most south end and a bit closer to a red zone. But it's separated by a small mountain and ravine. So, it should be safer."
I explained as we proceed. Since our scrolls are linked, I can control some of their scroll functions. The map is one of them. They only need to look at their map.
"It's our first time doing this, right?"
"Shut up! Don't jinx it." Emerald rebutted.
I gesture them to stop. But Aiden does have a point. So, I added.
"If we encounter Class F-E Grimm and can be hunt under a minute. We hunt it. And if we encounter a D class, as long as it's not armor type or cluster type Grimm, that is more than 5. We will try to hunt it within 15 min. and our Aura should not go below 50%."
As we run through the Emerald forest, we encountered 32 Grimms. We slay it without slowing down.
We First encounter 3 E Class and 4 F Class Beowolf. In a blind spot behind a tree.
Aiden initiated a sneak with a shield charge. By merging his presence with the surrounding and hidden by Neo and Emeralds Semblance.
Aiden knocks one F Class Beowolf towards one of the E Class Beowolf. While the Beowolf sight is blocked, Neo delivered a thrust to their neck and decapitated both of them.
At the same time, Emerald and I slay the rest of the Class F Beowolf. Aiden Guard Point, the other E Class Beowolf who tried to attack Neo. And follow up with a Shield Thrust. I advance with a flash step. The Grimm, stunned for a bit, was cut in half with a return-horizontal slash.
Neo, Emerald, Aiden, and I started to compete with our shooting skills. Rules are one-shot kill, 1 point, more than one-shot, 0 points, missed shot -1 point. Currently, the scores are 4, 4, 2, 5 points, respectively, with 22 kills.
Birds scattered from our right, a blurred shadow is flying towards us, fast! With two grappling guns attached to my belt and anchored on trees, I caught the guy. It slows down our momentum and lands safely.
"Thanks..." He said, his nose twitch then shoves me aside before I could reply.
"Ok...rude."
"What the—"
"Emerald, stop. You too, Neo. There's no need to be provoked. It seems to be instinctual," I said softly.
"Argh..." Emerald stomps her feet in annoyance.
A familiar person runs towards the guy. Once they finish their exchange, she notices us. She runs closer and awkwardly offers her hand.
"Sorry if he did something rude. He just..." She spoke.
First, I switch stealth techniques because she is standing at 6 o'clock.
"Tch...Sorry."
Then a gunshot echo before a big explosion. A tree is slowly falling from the same vicinity of the sound. She turns around and sprints towards it.
"I need to go!" She yelled.
"Should we help them?" Aiden asked. Emerald did not reply but stared at me. Neo did the same as Emerald.
"Sure," I lead them towards the fight. "3 Ursa, similar in size, a small open area surrounded by trees. Same strategy, but this time, we are going to isolate one Ursa."
"Ok."
"Ok."
(ﾟｰﾟ)(｡_｡)*nod
All 5 Ursa are E-Class High-Rank Grimm. Cecilia, the bat Faunus girl, and her team used the fallen tree to give themselves some cover and separate the group in half.
Aiden rushes out of the forest while in stealth and covered with Neo's semblance. He ran towards one of the other three Ursa. Aiden still opened with a shield charge but, a bit angled, to launch the Ursa off the ground. Due to its weight, it barely moved. Aiden followed up with Shield uppercut with wind dust coating for more lifting force. He charged his blade with combustion dust, then hit the airborne Grimm with a spinning slash at the side, launching it towards the left.
Neo appeared from Aiden's right, fires her grappling hook towards Ursa. With the grapple boost pulling Neo towards the Ursa, she thrust her umbrella as she un-anchors her grappling hook. She used modified Silent Bullet with more impact than piercing capabilities called Silent Impact. At the same time, Aiden did a sliding slash. Neo fired a Wind dust bullet from her umbrella. Neo landed on Aiden's shield and used it as a springboard to jump over the Grimm. She smashes and shoots another Wind dust bullet towards the Grimm to slam it to the ground.
Emerald Jump out a tree. With her Forsaken's Respite, she did multiple slashes airborne. Then turn her weapon to Kusarigama form. Then bind the Grimm to the ground and paralyzed it with Lightning dust-coated chains. With the Grimm immobile, Aiden cut off its head in ax form with Amped Wind dust Discharged.
As Neo and others isolate the Ursa, I'm stalling the other 2. I advanced with my favorite flash step. I parry the first Ursa's Swipe, did a reversal on the other Ursa. Upper slash, Upper slash, Wind dust bullet with Star Cluster, then a full swing to knock the Ursa toward the other Ursa piling them. I used a Falling Slash with gravity dust to the Grimm. Upon impact, I springboard over the Grimm and fire Wind dust bullet. To launch me higher, in turn evading the top Grimm's back arm swipe. I fired a Combustion dust-coated bullet on the Grimm's other arm, causing it to stumble again. The bottom Ursa, who got crush twice. Swings its arm and fling the top Ursa aside.
"oh...thanks."
With the bottom Grimm, distracted. Its head is open for a strike. I grapple toward its head and sharpening Oathkeeper with Aura.
Zantetsuken!!!
I thought to myself.
My arm is shaking, and I almost broke my wrist. I killed the Grimm but not able to decapitate it. The other Grimm already on its feet, wanting to cleave me with its claws. Neo appeared, with Silent Impact shifting its trajectory, causing it to miss and allowing us to distance away from the Ursa.
Neo's brows knitted on a frown and stare at me for a bit. She then stared back at the Grimm. She placed her umbrella on her shoulder. She's standing like a model on stage, and she's less tense. She might look out of place, but this is Neo's peak combat state.
Neo walks closer towards the Grimm.
"Class E Peak-Rank specializes in Defense, probably specialize in strength as well by compromising its speed," I stated. I position myself wherein I can switch with Neo. For now, I'm trying to recover some Aura.
The Grimm did another swipe. Neo jump over it and smash it with her umbrella. The Grimm roared, causing Neo to shatter. I sneaked in and did a blunt upper slash on its jaw. The Grimm facing the sky got stabbed by Neo's Rapier in the eye. Neo pulled her blade, aim her umbrella on the wounded eye, and fired Fire dust bullet, Silent Impact, and Wind dust bullet. Neo and I did a ground sweep and let it stubbled. With the Grimm already weakened. Emerald restrained it, and Aiden finished it off.
We notice the other side finishing their last Grimm, with a falling slash move resembling Spirit Helm Breaker. But, instead of a long sword. They use an axe instead.
Cecilia's group look at us. The little girl with an axe doubles her size said.
"We can take it down ourselves. It worth 26 points too." A guy with an elephant tail raised his hand.
"Thanks for your help. My name is Anet Khaki." He pointed at the loli. "Bubbles Amaranth," next towards the guy who I caught, " and Tarzan Amaranth. Cecil told us about you." He said politely.
"I'm Sora Yukihira, and she's Neo Yukihira. She doesn't mean to be rude. She's mute."
"Emerald Yukihira."
"Aiden Stones."
"Nice to meet you. Sorry but to be frank, are you guys going?" He stared at me.
I smiled, "Sure, the Major's all yours." I lead my team away.
"Onii-san are you sure? It's worth 10 points." Emerald asked.
Ursa Major is always at least one rank higher than its sleuths' strongest. So, the Ursa Major should at least be a Class D Low-Rank Grimm.
"No need. It is a Class C that specializes in defense. We fought 3 of its underlings under 10 minutes but only gained 6 points. Our average points under 10 minutes might be lower by 1 point. At least our Aura and Mental investment are lower by more than half. And we're mobile. We also have less than 3 hours left. How many points do we need?"
"52 more points," Aiden replied.
A few minutes later. We encountered a Special Grimm Eternal Nightmare, a 30 cm. A social insect-like Grimm. It has three types: Eternal Nightmare Queen, Eternal Royal Knightmares, and Eternal Nightmares. Eternal Nightmare Queen and Eternal Royal Knightmares have the same rank, while Eternal Nightmares' rank is lower by one. Unless the Eternal Nightmare Queen reached Class C Peak Rank. Upon its existence at Class E Low-Rank, the Eternal Nightmare Queen will have 5 Eternal Royal Knightmares by its side. Once it Ranks up, It will have a total of 10 Class E Low-Rank Eternal Nightmares. Then 100, 200, 400, ..., 6,400, and 10,000 at Class C Mid-Rank, at the last 2 Ranks, the Queen gives birth to an Eternal Nightmare Queen and 5 Eternal Royal Knightmares. The Queen has the lowest Strength but has the Highest Defense. Killing the Queen won't kill the Eternal Nightmares, but its Eternal Royal Knightmares will. It will cause the Eternal Nightmares to scatter. The Eternal Royal Knightmares could be more dangerous if they fought with their fellow Royals. The Eternal Nightmares are not durable. However, it still has its mandibles, and stings have sedative effects. But it's not those that make it scary, neither its sheer numbers, but something else. Luckily you can evade it as long as you don't have direct contact with it.
We found a Class E Peak-Rank Eternal Nightmare Colony. We just started blasting Fire Dust to it, using almost half of our Fire Dust. It earns us 42 points. According to my Senses, we should have killed no less than 350 Eternal Nightmare.
Now we only lack 10 points but, we did not encounter any Grimm. The pick-up point is within view. It's an open rundown temple. Plants take root on it, like ropes keeping the structure stable. The relics are two king chess pieces with an oddly familiar design. One is white and silver while the other is black and gold. I picked the white piece.
"That's the relic?" Emerald crossed her arms, looking dissatisfied.
"Let's go back. Aiden, keep it. It looks fragile."
Aiden loves to collect some things, like herbs and minerals, while we're at field training. So, he always bought a shockproof pouch with him.
We ran back, but we only met 2 Grimm worth 2 points. We still lack 8 points. So we decide to scout the nearest yellow zone around the outpost. We walk a bit further and found some Beowolves enough to pass the initiation.
"Well, that's easy, I guess—"
"Shut up!"
[Emergency: All students, stay 10 km away from this coordinate Sector 14 xxx, xxx, xxx, use your map as your guide, and go to the closest outpost. I repeat–]
"We are within the radius," They all nodded. Before we start running, another message pops up.
[This is Anet Khaki, requesting help! Our coordinates are xxx, xxx, xxx.]
"Are we– Never mind. Here is your difficulty increase. How happy, yay. What's the plan, Onii-san?"
"Our goal is to help them reach the outpost."
"Yes."
"Ok."
(ﾟｰﾟ)(｡_｡)*nod