Ep. 82 – Remaining Singles, Beacon’s Fall!

After Ais' match, the kids were brought to the infirmary for a check, then the second match was set to start.

I was facing against Yang, Pyrrha, Cinder, and Coco.

"Merlin, make it showy."

"Sure thing, dear, but I want a reward later." She said while materializing. She tapped with her staff on the ground and flowers started blooming before rising in the air and forming a vortex around me. A few revolutions later, they vortex 'exploded' outwards and I was left standing there with robe, staff, and pointy ears.

"Damn, I know I said 'showy', but a little bit of light was enough…"

"Well, that was cool, kinda. Why flowers anyway?" asked Yang while the countdown was about to end.

"Merlin is the 'Mage of Flowers', so it's pretty normal."

The countdown ended and I started walking forward, twirling my staff around, making flowers appear here and there, gifting some to the females in the audience.

Yang rushed towards me and I really wanted to see what they had planned, so I allowed her to do her thing. The blondie started bombarding me with punches and kicks, as per her training, though they were pretty useless and actually lowered her Aura levels due to the backlash. Since it was pretty wasteful, I started stopping her punches with a finger, while I 'danced' to dodge her kicks. Since I was in the mood to mess around, I made a glyph appear that played some rock music and I started timing some flicks on her forehead with the music.

Pyrrha then came to support Yang and started shooting me while closing the distance. I weaved in between the shots and had them hit Yang instead. Cinder then used her semblance and glass weapons to provide more ranged support. I started grabbing her arrows and munching on them like snacks. You know, if you don't die due to internal bleeding, glass is actually pretty ok as a snack. Could do with a little more salt though.

To clear out the arena, I knocked Yang out and teleported her towards the edges where the fighting wouldn't arrive. Coco saw that the coast was clear enough and started showering me with bullets from her minigun.

"Remember when I said that Merlin is the 'Mage of Flowers'? I meant it, and I am as well when integrating with her." I said and stopped all the bullets in mid-air, then turned them into flower petals, and returned them back to the sender. Coco was eliminated as well since she had fired a shit-ton of bullets. Heh, it… Backfired on her. Anyone? No? Got it. I moved her next to Yang.

Since only Pyrrha and Cinder remained, I decided to switch weapons. I dematerialized the staff and brought out an 'Excalibur'. Now I really want to fire off a Saber-beam. I walked towards Pyrrha and Cinder, who switched to their close range weapons.

Pyrrha started thrusting her spear at me and firing off some shots, while Cinder was going to cut my legs and make me loose balance. How cute… I moved my sword to block all the shots and slapped Pyrrha's spear away while I just jumped around to evade Cinder's attacks.

"Come on, you almost got it." I said, just to tease them. "Look. I have robes, not armor. Totally not a close range fighter."

"Fuck you. As if a monster like you could be weak in CQC." Said my Weiss from all the way across the arena."

"Oh, but it's true, you know? I didn't even go into SE White Incarnation, so I am currently better at mystical things than fighting. Well, I am definitely not weak, so I guess you are right."

"SE White Incarnation?" repeated Pyrrha

"Interested?"

"Very."

Since she is so curious, I dropped my weapon, turned my robes into a white version of Goku's gi, then started powering up, without shouting. I started from the normal SE and went through every transformation real quick for style points, then stopped at SE WI Evolution.

"Was that supposed to do anything or did you fail?" asked Cinder.

"Oh, right. Too much control…" I said and released my ki. Heh, just a little and everyone in this world got on their knees. I retracted my ki and looked at the two girls in front of me. "That was but a negligible part of my power. Should we continue?"

"No, I give." Said Cinder

"I would like to continue." Said Pyrrha.

I stood there and invited her to attack me. She started swinging and thrusting her spear almost desperately, trying to reach me. I started humming to the song that was still playing from my glyph, totally uncaring about her strikes. I left my body in the hands of 'Ultra Instinct Perfected', so I was sure that she would never hit me in a million years.

Well, her strikes were getting more precise, so she was surely benefitting from this match.

"Careful there, there's an opening." I said and flicked her side. "Your balance is off." And another flick. "Poor situational awareness." I said as she fell over some rubble I had just created. "Lower your stance, you leave too many openings."

And so, my teaching continued for a few minutes, until a flick caused her Aura to fall in the red.

"Continue practicing. You did well, Young Pyrrha."

The next match was Weiss, Jaune, Emerald, and Penny, against Hinata.

"Hinata… Don't kill them, please." I said, fearing the worst.

"Who do you take me for?! I won't kill them… Though I will leave a few bruises."

They stood in the center of the arena, facing each other.

"Brynhildr." She said and immediately her armor and spear materialized. "I know two of you brats. I will be using you guys as punching bags, try to learn something."

Young Weiss looked pissed since she has never seen Hinata fight personally. Heh, she thinks my wife is weak or something? Hasn't she seen how Luminous, our maid, can disintegrate her just by breathing?

The fight started and Hinata calmly walked towards the kids. Penny and Emerald acted as ranged fighters, so they stepped back and allowed Weiss and Jaune to take the front.

Jaune dashed towards Hinata and tried shield-bashing her. His vision was obscured by his shield, so Hinata just had to sidestep. She also used the spear's shaft to push Jaune out of balance.

"Are you an idiot or just suicidal? Never lose eye contact." She said as she turned her back to the girls. Emerald and Penny took her 'advice' and started shooting her with everything they had. What a pity that they only hit an after-image as Hinata was already behind them.

She swatted the two girls to the side with her spear. "Did you seriously expect that would work? If an enemy stays still with his back towards you, chances are it's a trap."

Jaune got back up and regrouped with Weiss.

"She's faster than Ruby and hits like a truck." Said Jaune. "How are we playing this?"

"Glyphs?" the girl proposed.

"Glyphs." He affirmed with a nod. Ooh, the first ones to try and come up with a new strategy on the fly.

Weiss started surrounding Hinata with hundreds of glyphs, from which icicles started appearing. However… There were gaps between the glyphs.

Hinata sped through the gaps and appeared in front of Weiss. "You left some gaps. Use more glyphs! Maybe you'll catch some dust!" she said and bonked her head with the spear's shaft.

She then looked at Jaune. "Show me what you've got, kid."

Jaune raised his shield and started attacking with his sword. Hinata lowered her strength to match his and responed to each hit. She didn't have an amused face, at all. She was instead underwhelmed. She expected much more from someone who could become an Incarnation.

"Underwhelming. You are just swinging your sword around. Concentrate, remember the training you went through with Pyrrha. Otherwise, I might as well kill you right here and save you from suffering."

Jaune stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, and started back again. This time, there was more method to his strikes and he was much more precise. Weiss on the other hand got back up and casted a time-dilation glyph on Jaune. She then applied a few enchantments to 'Schneesturm' and joined the fray. Hinata looked at her while fending off Jaune, then returned her gaze forward.

"Your 'big sister' will surely punish you, Weiss. You went back to that stiff swordsmanship and your glyphs weren't that good…"

This seemed to scare the hell out of the girl, since she stiffened for a moment, then went back to attacking much better than before.

I whispered to my Weiss: "Hey, isn't she almost better than you were at her age?"

"They are all stronger than we were. Weiss is a little more… Iffy. She can be stronger one minute and weaker the other, depends on her mental condition." She answered. Well, that is exactly what I thought.

Hinata dragged the fight out for a few more minutes, pointing out all of their flaws, then swatted them towards the audience like nothing happened.

Then, the last fight: Blake, Nora, Mercury, and Sun against Ruby.

They again faced each other in the middle of the arena.

"Ereshkigal!" Ruby said happily. The blonde goddess appeared and fused with Ruby.

The first thing that attracted everybody's attention was the weapon, that's for sure. My dear wife started swinging it around and twirling it in her hands.

"Hey, this will be the first time I try the weapon out, so make sure to dodge if you feel threatened!"

"They don't work like that, Ruby." Said Older Yang.

"They don't? Oh… I forgot!" she said with a goofy expression. Ah, yes. The Incarnation of Benevolence could also be called the Incarnation of Airheadedness.

The fight started and Ruby immediately went for Sun and Nora. She dulled her weapon so that it wouldn't cut through like butter, so she could easily control her strength to match the students'. Ruby loved Ere's weapon, much better than a scythe, in particular since the integration teaches her how to wield it directly. Theoretically, it should be a spear, but Ruby is Ruby and used it in a very un-speary manner. Well, it works, so who cares, right?

At any rate, Ruby started battering the four students as if nothing, probably giving them PTSD related to blonde-haired women with red streaks and capes. Meaning just Ruby. Not a single hit landed, obviously, but while we dodged by millimeters, just enough to not get hit, Ruby would zoom from one place to another, resulting in some hilarious reactions. Mercury tried doing his 'capoeira wind-ball dome'-thingy, but Ruby just used the flat side of the weapon to smash him towards Sun.

This was the shortest fight since Ruby didn't even try to explain their faults and just acted on them. A very hands-on lesson, but it had a benevolent intention.

Blake was awfully pissed since she couldn't find a way to catch her off guard. Well, it would be a problem if she actually found a way to catch Ruby unaware. A mortal surprising an Omniscient God? Not possible. Even without actively using our Omni powers we still make use of them at an unconscious level, making them passives. Impossible to harm, impossible to catch off guard, strong as fuck. That pretty much sums us up when we are relaxed and casual.

And so, the winners were about to be decided. We will rank them based on their strength, flexibility, teamwork, and so on. Young Ren would be ranked last, that is for sure. You don't just shoot a little above your teammate's head without a warning, even if the enemy is there. I mean, you just saw the girl appear above Yatsuhashi's head. Do you think that she wasn't able to attack that fast or what? It should have been obvious that he wasn't in any danger.

Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha got the first three places, while the rest got divided between the remaining teams. Neo got fourth place, while Ruby got fifth place. They were followed by Emerald, Cinder, Blake, Yang, Nora, Mercury, Sun, Coco, Penny, and Yatsuhashi. We felt that that was a pretty decent ranking considering all the different categories we wanted to assess.

The award ceremony was happening when we, meaning me and the gang, felt a fluctuation in space. I looked up high above the arena and saw a ginormous Gate.

"I will handle it." Said Shizue, who zoomed up in the air and entered the portal. It took her a couple of seconds to exit and close it.

"Salem, little girl, couldn't wait some more to start your nefarious plans?" I asked to seemingly no one, but I was using the laws to make sure that she would here me.

A voice was heard by everyone in the stadium: "Hoh? You know of me? Did Ozpin not do his job right? What a useless man."

"Oh, if you mean the part where the old man was supposed to prevent humanity from interfering with you so that he could get back in your pants, then he worked perfectly. What a shame we aren't humans…" I said, then summoned my floating island. I had all the shipgirls aim their weapons at the 'Land of Darkness'. "Destroy that wretched land. Fire!"

All the ships opened fire in a single direction and continued firing for a long, long while.

"Vados." I said and she appeared next to me. "Find me Ozpin, we will have him confess his crimes to the entire world, live."

"As you wish, Master." She disappeared for a couple of seconds and reappeared with a severely injured Ozpin. She had already anchored Ozma to this body, so he wouldn't be going anywhere.

"Excellent job, little Vados." I said, then turned to the very confused and scared audience. I had the shipgirls stop firing. They all had God-slaying ammunition and were Goddesses themselves, so there was absolutely no way for the crazy old hag to survive.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Calm! Down! You are safe! We will now have our dear Headmaster Ozpin confess some pretty interesting crimes! There will be some torture involved. If you are not comfortable with that, please turn off your Scrolls right now! You will be able to read the news in a few hours either way!" I said. I used some compulsion to have them obey me.

I looked at Ozpin and healed him. "Milim." I said and she appeared next to me. "See that man? He's a bad guy who has committed a lot of crimes. Make him confess. Don't worry about his voice, I will make sure that everyone hears."

She smiled sadistically and started torturing the fucker. She started with small, localized black holes that made his body implode, while keeping him alive forcefully, then she extracted his soul and made him go through a few million years of rape and constant burning, then, she placed her soul inside a fleshlight and summoned an Orc. I guess I don't need to tell you how he lost all of his will to live and confessed every single detail of the original history. How he and Salem started collaborating and influencing the academies so that no one would be able to find out the truth and Salem would destroy humanity, how he had used some underhanded methods to gain his position, how he had abused some students in the past in exchange for better grades or an easier set of missions. God, people can really go that low… Fuck it, I'm torturing him personally when this is done.

"Here you go people! Here is the reason why the Hunters in recent generations have sucked so much! The award ceremony can continue! Excuse me, while I totally don't torture this fucker, and have fun! Good night!" I said, took Ozpin and teleported to the Island. I left him with the water dragons for a bit. They will enjoy a new chew toy, in particular one that can't die and will almost instantly regenerate.

So… That was it. The Fall of Beacon…Pretty underwhelming. I was kinda hoping that they had some sort of super-convoluted master plan and so on… Guess that blasting Salem's ass into oblivion and assigning Ozpin to chew toy duty would remove the problem.