"I hate this." Weiss whimpered as she hid behind Jingliu while still holding her hands over the cut in the perverted maid outfit that exposed her pale skin and adorable belly button.
I smiled wryly and said. "Alright, alright, I didn't mean you needed to go... That far with the maid outfit. I mean, you even sowed a duke's ransom in enchanted gems in the thing as well!"
Weiss's face turned dark with her throwing a look of 'hate' at Jingliu, whose smug energy levels seemed to explode from her form like a super saiyan using Kaioken!
But before Mt Weiss could explode quite literally as her heavily enchanted rapier casting tool glowed brightly in warning. Jeanne smoothed Weiss's volatile emotions with her kind demeanor and overwhelming, nurturing big sister energy.
"Well, it is quite a daring outfit for you, Miss Schnee, but you look very beautiful and bring out its best qualities," Jeanne said in consolation.
I nodded and added. "Still, I... Yeah, alright, I can't hold your mistake against you anymore with this, if you are willing to humble yourself so much."
Weiss gave me a long look before she bit her lower lip, and then she inclined her head to me as she spoke with embarrassment, clear in her tone. "Good! I am not some slattern, and the only reason I am wearing something like this is because Jingliu sowed my gems into it!"
"No regrets... Your belly button complex fills my dull life with endless joy seeing you throwing a tantrum about it." Jingliu stated calmly before she looked at me and said with a bit more emotion.
"Jake, please bully my mistress more. Seeing her blush in indignation is good for her blood flow and health."
"Jingliu..." Weiss drew off in a hiss, and I was honestly scared for Jingliu's life with how the short white-haired petite beauty looked ready to tear into her... Physically, at that as well.
But we were saved from further conflict as a loud thud rang out at the other end of the Atrium, and I saw Glynda Goodwitch striding into the room from a back door with her swiftly walking up to the podium, and without a moment of hesitation or taking in the room, broke into her speech.
"Welcome all Freshmen to your first Class Trial, you have the dubious honor of acting as the front line of purging the Grimm that have glutted on the souls of the failed aspirants that died during the Initiation. However, unlike the upper years' own class trials. Huntsmen and Noble warriors will be watching to make sure that not too strong of Garim will become an issue for your groups." Miss Goodwitch spoke.
The powerful sage then took a breath before she continued calmly, uncaring as people whispered about this news. "You were told that you can form groups of up to ten members at maximum. If you have teams of three members or less, please step forward and form a line of teams."
A minute later, a dozen such teams formed in front of Miss Goodwitch, and with a cold expression, she said calmly to the dozen or so teams.
"You all fail, you didn't network to increase your team size to the best extent, which is a total failure on your part, as at your strength level, numbers are the best path to mass Grimm extermination."
The dozen-odd teams looked downright mutinous... But although it had only been a couple of weeks since our term at Beacon had started. No one had forgotten Ozpin killing those nobles who survived initially, partly just by hiding, and had now been converted into some kind of Fleshcrafted monster.
Glynda looked away from the teams that had been cut off, and she looked towards us and said calmly. "You are not children. This is Beacon Academy for Huntsmen, here you will be learning how to slaughter Grimm and even your fellow man, should other nations become hostile. We, although your teachers and mentors are not here to handhold or guide in common sense."
She allowed us a moment to absorb that before she continued. "Now, you will all be assigned a team number along with all members of your team, a special enchanted tablet you must carry on your person at all times."
"Each tablet has been made by Ozpin himself and will record your fate energy, allowing him to quickly tally and instantly tally up the numbers and quality of all the Grimm you slay after the event. With the Archbishop and Pope of the Church of Light likewise checking your tablets to ascertain the winner of the class trial." Glynda finished.
Then Glynda gave us a very firm look before she said very bluntly. "Should your tablet be broken, which is unlikely, lost, or otherwise stolen... You fail the Class Trial regardless of whether your team wins the prize of killing the most Grimm."
A hand was raised up in the air, and Ren leaned in behind me and whispered. "He is from my Shadow magic lessons."
The young man with dark tribal tattoos across his arms, earning a nod from Glynda, asked bluntly. "Are you saying other teams can steal other teams' or people's tablets, or otherwise directly sabotage others?"
Glynda gave the young man a calm look before she said very clearly. "Teams are allowed to interact with other teams however they please... So long as conflict doesn't break out that leads to members of the teams being injured or killed by the Grimm."
There was a pause before Glynda added with a cold smile aimed directly at that man, and then some other people in the other teams she looked at pointedly, including myself. "I am saying that some things can naturally happen during a large purge, or likewise during excursions to other countries. But no deaths are allowed to happen during this class trial due to another student's actions."
That cold smile was unnerving as Glynda finished off this point by saying bluntly. "If your team decides to rob a team of their tablets and they all die due to their injuries and such... Your team will likely face harsh penalties such as being turned into a Flesh Automaton by Lady Calia and her students."
Even as Miss Goodwitch had the team leaders come to pick up the stacks of tablets and mark down our team's numbers and names. I was thinking of something else...
'It's a fucking test in a test... Making so many mentions of this being a test of dealing with other countries invading or likewise invading their own lands. It's complete bullshit as Vale's whole motto is 'Strength in Unity' She even used the whole 'If they die, you die' as a warning not to fucking mess with people.' I thought with disgust as I knew that I was likely going to need to deal with idiots who thought our tablets were the winning lottery ticket.
I kept my facial expression clear as I marked down my team member's names quickly and clearly, with Miss Goodwitch nodding in respect as she noticed my star-studded entourage.
Then, with each tablet being of stone and only as big as my thumb, basically, I just put them in my pockets before I brought them back to my team to distribute them among everyone.
"Hmm, I can definitely feel the holy magic in the tablet," Jeanne noted with her fingers glowing slightly as she called upon her brand of holy magic that came with being part of the God of Light's church.
"Just be careful you don't break your tablet," I said clearly before I frowned and added more quietly. "And especially make sure that no one else, even among our own team, gets your tablet. I wouldn't put it past others to use disguising magic to steal the other team's tablets."
Weiss sniffed and stated calmly. "Any knave that dares to steal from us will be in for quite a rough time."
I gave Weiss a wry smile, and I asked. "And how will you punish them, Weiss? If you injure them too much to the point that another Grimm can finish them off... Are you saying Miss Goodwitch would give you better treatment?"
Weiss's face, which still had a bit of redness due to her perverted maid outfit, went still with the blush fading. As she knew all too well, her place as a political prisoner was unwanted even by Atlas, so it was certainly possible for Miss Goodwitch to put her into the dirt if it became a mess.
There was a pause before Jean added flatly. "The biggest advantage of our ghost ship now, beyond its power and destructive uses is that we can fly over all the assholes and avoid all this trouble and backstabbing."
I nodded and giving my group a knowing look as I jostled my small backpack I had on my back that had some stuff like a good toothbrush, toiletries, and other things I needed to have on myself, seeing as Velvet and Alice weren't coming to act as the group's retainer/supporter.
The Ship in a Bottle, which contained the Black Pearl, being within that backpack as well. "So we will do the best we can to just stay in the air and well away from other teams," I concluded.
But before we could do more speaking and planning, the rest of the teams had noted down their members, along with collecting their tablets, which resulted in Glynda calling out firmly. "All teams, move to your assigned Bullhead to be air-dropped into the Emerald Forest now. The bullheads are all waiting for you!"
We all quickly moved towards the Bullheads with Prinz and New Jersey taking to my sides to box out any other team leaders from getting close to me as we all filed out of the large atrium and headed to Beacon's airport.
"Hmm, I don't like flying," Jean muttered with a dark expression with Jeanne holding her goth sister's arm with a weak smile as she nodded in agreement.
"You girls got some gum or anything to help with it?" I asked, and they looked at me in confusion, so I just shrugged and tossed them a pack of mint gum. "Chewing motions help settle the stomach, and mint itself soothes the stomach as well; it should help."
Our bullhead had another team on it as well, and as we got into the Bullhead, the pilot spoke up through the speaker system. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. You will be dropped off in section F-13. Thirty miles out of Beacon's exclusion zone and well into Grimm territory, where it's postulated some of the surviving Grimm from Initiation headed towards."
I didn't bother to strap myself down to my seat as I just laid my heavy machine gun-covered arms on my waist. I also had my Azur Lane brand of enchanted sword in the Fabulous Fioretto resting against my leg as I waited for us to get moving.
"Hey, Jake... I had a major question actually." Prinz asked after a moment of thought that made me look at her in confusion. "What's to stop you from just opening a Back Door, back home to Beacon with your semblance so we don't have to sleep outside in the dangerous Grimm-held territory?"
My lips twitched at the thought, and I shrugged as I said. "Probably, Lux and Miss Goodwitch wouldn't be happy with me basically cheating. But they would allow it, honestly. It's a tool at my disposal, and to not use it would likely lead me to be questioned about my intelligence level."
I shrugged, and seeing my team members in Weiss, Nora, and Ren looking at me in confusion at the words I spoke previously, I said. "I will explain later." I didn't want to put my semblance in front of the other team, who, although at the end of the Bullhead, and not able to hear too well.
Well, there was no point in changing anything either way.
The ride deeper over the Emerald Forest went quickly as the plane flew high above the forest well away from any other flying Grimm or anti-air-based Grimm that would try to shoot the Bullhead down.
And finally the other team of six that I didn't know got sent out of the Bullhead with them falling out of the VTOL-style plane as it swooped down low to get them closer to the ground allowing them to land easier.
"Your guys landing point is fifteen miles further north. Just give me a couple of minutes to get over there." The pilot said calmly even as the Bullhead's automatic machine guns came to life to shoot the Nevermore, Deathwasps, and other flying Grimm that were following our ride.
I meanwhile just took a deep breath as I centered myself and I felt alot better now with my first spell ready to go now whenever I needed it. Hell, it worked out just perfectly with how my sword was firmly a one-handed saber allowing me to use my Rain Drop spell in my free hand.
Until finally the comms system crackled with the jump light coming on meaning it was time for us to go as the ship tipped downward to bring us closer to the forest for us to land.
"Weiss, clear out the landing zone as we come down in a big spell!" I yelled out as she knew of my plan to use a huge flying ship and we needed a good landing zone for that to work.
Prinz Eugen, and New Jersey held onto me tightly as we were sucked out of the plane into the air a good couple of hundred meters above the forest floor and as we came down towards the forest I began spraying downwards with my arm-mounted machine guns.
The spray of huge caliber machine guns on my arms slowed the three of us down before a white light almost blinded me as a loud crashing noise hit my ear when a massive freeze wind smashed into the ground pushing tree's aside and most importantly clearing any Grimm out of the way from the landing area.
When we came down hard as we neared the ground, the two girls let go of me and we split up a bit. Allowing me to use a tilted broken-down tree as a slide to break my momentum.
While the two ship girls came down a bit softer as New Jersey used her weird Ship-Girl technology to begin flying as we got close to he ground and out of the sight of Grimm in the distance.
As soon as we landed however I instantly took out the Ship in a Bottle out of my backpack, and then I popped it open with a loud water-rushing noise rang out as a powerful burst of blackened water shot out of the bottle with the massive sailing ship forming back into reality as it splashed and raised up out of the water that was shooting in the air.
The ship barred in the true sunlight was a masterpiece of both horror and ingenuity. It's thick bone and metal plating glistened in the sun, its sails a patchwork of hundreds of beings' skin was a tapestry with the living blood veins pumping under the skin.
"You should have just worked to summon an airship or carrier." New Jersey said with a pout, looking at how she saw me grinning at the sight of the ship that came down to the ground with a loud thudding noise under my mental control.
I shook my head and said honestly. "That could indeed have been more useful. But I would then be missing a friend or ally here. And besides the Black Pearl is not a very powerful weapon for myself!" I said firmly as the rest of the group came over after completing their own various forms of landing.
With another flex of my will, the gangplank fell down from the ship and I called out as I synched my mind fully with the ship and my mind saw out of all the cannons, the anti-air guns, and the artillery.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, get on the ship so we can get this show on the road!" I called out as already Grimm was coming into the large clearing that Weiss created to make the landing zone and place for me to take out the Black Pearl.
New Jersey instead picked me up and quickly flew on top of the ship as everyone else quickly climbed up on the ship either via the gangplank, which hit the ground, or in Ren's case he did some ninja shit where he threw himself up via tiny hand holds in the bones and openings for the cannon's and such.
Not even thirty minutes later, the ship was in the air, above the sea of green tree's surrounding us and the noise began! Dozen's of cannons, anti-air guns, and several missiles blasted the surrounding areas violently.
"We are flying in a grid pattern! We are going to purge everything in the map data I have collected from our scroll and then we are going to go to the other sectors to purge their Grimm as well!" I yelled out over the endless noises of all the gun emplacements blowing into the thickening herd of Grimm coming towards the source of all our noise.
I didn't need any acknowledgment as already everyone was at the edge of the ship and using their guns or spells to shoot over the barrier towards the crowds of mostly Beowolves that were charging out of the forest in their typical packs of dozens to almost a hundred strong.
Likewise, I also got to work finally able to use my arm-mounted cannons as I joined in on the slaughter as I mentally controlled the Black Pearl's weapons all the while.
"Beringal pack coming." Weiss's mana-augmented voice called out and I realized I needed to get ourselves some earbuds or something as there was just too much noise with all the guns and explosions.
But I still 'looked' over at the pack of two dozen three-story tall giant bone-plated gorilla-shaped Grimm. And with a mental flex on the Black Pearl, a series of loud hisses rang out as three Hellfire Missiles launched from the ship and the missiles exploded almost instantly upon the pack.
"Not anymore," I said with a small grin as the Beringals were torn apart by the missiles.