Welcome to Remnant

*DING ["Welcome to the world of Remnant, it is here where you will compete to earn your third Infinity Stone. You and your group must slay 10 million creatures of Grimm within a three-year/ 1096 days' time span in order to be informed of the location of the third Infinity Stone and retrieve it."]

"Well guys, welcome to the world Remnant." Said Mesa spreading out his arms in a gesture to encompass the whole world.

"Remnant?" Said Jasmine incredulously. "As in the same Remnant where that show RWBY takes place?"

"Yup, the very same one." Said Mesa.

"Master." Said Ran as both he and Shaw lowered their heads in gesture of submission. "Will you please explain to us what is going on."

"You told us that you needed our help and that you would explain at a later moment." Said Shaw.

"So how may we be of service to you master." They said simultaneously.

"Of course, you are both right." Said Mesa and with a wave of his hand, he implanted all the relevant knowledge about their current circumstances directly into their minds. And judging from the looks of sudden understanding on their faces, they were very amazed.

"As expected of our master, you truly are amazing!" Said Ran with great admiration.

"Well not to brag too much, but I sure am amazing." Said Mesa with mock modesty with Jasmine giving him a deadpan look that said 'Really?'.

"Well, all kidding aside. Do we know where we are and when we are?" Asked Jasmine.

['JARVIS, what is our current location and when are we on the timeline?']

*DING ["Well sir, currently you and your group are in a forest about 1500 km (932 mi) west of the city of Mistral in the kingdom of Mistral on the continent of Anima. Your current position in the timeline is 1 year before the start of the plot as you know it."]

And with that, Mesa told them where they were and when they were. As they were discussing this, the sound of rustling leaves was heard in the forests around them. Looking around, the group could see that they were in the process of being surrounded by hordes of bear, wolf, boar and big cat like Grimm.

"Well, no time like now to get started on this new Infinity Quest." Said Mesa as he took two war axes from the Gate of Babylon and got ready to start fighting. Jasmine seeing a golden portal open in front of her pulls out Kansho and Bakuya, takes of her glasses and activates her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and got ready to start their first fight against the Grimm in this new world.

Looking around to the Grimm that surrounded them, both Ran and Shaw growled in anger at them as they readied themselves to start killing these things.

"Master, are these the creatures of Grimm that you mentioned?" Asked Shaw.

"Yes, these are the creatures of Grimm." Confirmed Mesa. "These Grimm come in all different shapes and sizes, but in general they have three things in common. They all have a pitch black bodies, white bone like armor and/or protrusions and red glowing eyes. And some of them also have certain abilities that are specific to certain species."

"And here is my order to you two. Wherever you find these Grimm, destroy them with extreme prejudice."

"Understood master." Replied both Ran and Shaw.

Ophis looked around at these Grimm. And on whatever Grimm her eyes fell, she felt disgusted and anger at how truly wrong these things felt to her.

"I hate these things." Said Ophis to herself as a ball of destruction energy was forming in her hand.

When the stalemate was finally ended with the Grimm launching themselves at the group. Mesa, Jasmine, Ran and Shaw all release this war cry like shout and charge the Grimm. But before the two groups came into contact with one another, this shock-wave of dark light travels through them so fast that none of them could react to it but it left them unharmed. Even the land around them where the shock-wave had traveled through was unharmed. The only thing that was harmed were all the Grimm that immediately dissipated into nothing the moment they came into contact with the shock-wave.

*DING ["Infinity Trail # 2 – Day 1 - Grimm count: 354"]

In the aftermath, everyone was petrified and not moving. Mesa, for instance, was holding his war axes so tightly that his hands had gone white. Adrenaline flooding his body like crazy, his heart rate was beating out of control and his breathing was so fast that he barely kept himself together. He knew that the others were going through same thing that he was going through the same thing like him. And just like him, they were also keeping themselves calm by sheer force of will.

And the reason for this sudden fight-or-flight response was Ophis. The moment that she had unleashed her power of destruction in a shock-wave around them and destroyed all those Grimm, they were confronted with the realization that Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God, was very, very, very, very strong. Stronger than anyone of them truly could comprehend. In the many years since Mesa had undergone the Phoenix trial and his and Ophis' paths had crossed, he and Jasmine knew just who she was and just how ungodly powerful she was. But after years, the 'Infinite Dragon God' label had slowly been moved to the background and they simply saw her as a very beloved friend and great companion, until now.

'I knew she was powerful. More powerful than anyone I know save the One Above All, but to be confronted with that fact so suddenly is honestly just terrifying.' Thought Mesa to himself as took deep breaths to calm himself down and regained control of his body. At that moment, the others too calmed themselves down and relaxed. Turning around, they saw Ophis walking over to them.

"Not fair Ophis." Said Mesa in a mock petulant tone.

"Can you leave some for us the next time?" Asked Jasmine as she took Ophis' hand as they started walking in the direction of Mistral.

"You know you two." Said Mesa addressing Ran and Shaw, who immediately stood to attention. "This is a whole new world for us all and I don't want to rob you two of the opportunity to explore it."

"But master, you brought us here to help you and we want to serve you however we can." Said Shaw.

"I know that and I appreciate the sentiment. But you can still help me even if you are not by my side. I want you two to be free and to explore this new world that we find ourselves in. My only order to you two is to destroy the Grimm wherever you find them. That is how you can serve me." Said Mesa.

"But master, if you are in need of us to be by your side, how can we do that if we are on the other side of the world." Said Ran.

"Ah yes, for that I have the perfect solution." Said Mesa as he placed his hands upon their paws and marked them both with Flying Raijin teleportation mark.

"And now with this mark I can teleport to your location, regardless of where you are on this world. And when the time comes that I need you, I can contact you telepathically and bring you to my side." Said Mesa tapping the side of his head.

Having covered all their bases, Ran and Shaw, though reluctantly, took flight and went on to explore the wider world of Remnant. Mesa was certain that they were strong enough to kill any Grimm they would come across. And Mesa was also certain that if they came across any humans, they would just simply ignore them and move on. Although, if any humans were foolish enough to attack them, then they would soon learn, to their great peril, that Ran and Shaw were not to be messed with.

And with that out of the way, Mesa, Jasmine and Ophis hit the road towards Mistral. Along the way, they came across Grimm that were dispatched with contemptuous ease. They had developed a system where they would take turns engaging the Grimm when they came across them. Mesa, like a battle crazed maniac would run/trick at them with blistering speed and either armed or bare handed rip the Grimm apart. Jasmine, using her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and armed with Kansho and Bakuya would stop time using the Age Seal and slice the Grimm apart with surgical precision before resuming time once more. And covering their backs, if it was needed, was Ophis. Instead of releasing her energy of destruction in shockwave like attack, she would shoot a bullet of destruction energy from her finger at any Grimm that was about to attack Mesa or Jasmine in the back or if they spied one at long range. And at the moment this bullet came into contact with any Grimm, they'd simply stop existing. And at the very, very, very rare occasion a Grimm managed to come close to Ophis, they would also cease their existence at the moment of contact since she had enveloped herself with an aura of destruction energy that only targeted the Grimm and nothing else.

Along the way towards City of Mistral, Mesa asked JARVIS if this Infinity Trial has any rules and/or restrictions that they should be aware of. And JARVIS told them there were indeed rules and regulations that applied to this Infinity Trial and with a flash of light, a small black book in Mesa's hand that detailed the objective and rules and regulations of this current Infinity Trial.

Objective: Kill and destroy 10 million creatures of Grimm within 3 years/1096 days. Upon completion of this, the location of the Infinity Stone will be revealed to you and you go there to collect it.

Rules and Regulations:

1. You are not allowed to destroy this world. And in light of that, Ea the Sword of Rupture, will not be available during this Infinity Trial and the Power Stone cannot generate enough power to destroy the world.

2. Use of the Mind Stone ability to read everyone's mind is not available. Though its telepathic powers can be used, but only once you have sight of the individuals and you have touched their minds with the Mind Stone. Once that has happened, you can then always use the Mind Stone to read their minds.

3. Salem the Witch and master of the Grimm cannot be killed until the Infinity Stone is retrieved. So the use of the immortal killing scythe, Harpe, is unavailable. And usage of Jasmine's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception against Salem will lead to Salem regenerating and becoming stronger each time her Mystic Eyes are used against her.

4. The only exception rule #3 is Ophis. The Infinite Dragon is the only being that can permanently kill Salem. But Ophis killing Salem before the retrieval of the Infinity Stone will lead to automatic disqualification from this Infinity Trial and expulsion from this world, the loss of all your current Infinity Stones and the future Infinity Trials not manifesting anymore.

5. You are restricted to only using 10 shadow clones at any one time. The only exception to this rule is if you are facing off against a literal army of creatures of Grimm. Once that is the case, you are then free to summon as many shadow clones as you want.

And those were the rules and regulations that Mesa and the gang had to abide by during this Infinity Trial.

"Honestly, that restriction against destroying this world is perfectly understanding and obvious if you ask me." Said Mesa with Jasmine and Ophis nodding in approval.

"That restriction against Salem though ensures that she'll remain a thorn in our sides until we have that Infinity Stone." Said Jasmine frustratingly.

"I know right." Said Mesa agreeing with her." When I heard that we were in Remnant, I had this plan to get rid of her the moment we met her by using Harpe and slaying her once for all."

"What about me? When I heard we were in Remnant, I was honestly excited to finally use my Mystic Eyes against an actually immortal witch! But now, not only will she regenerate from it, she'll actually be empowered by it." Said Jasmine indignantly.

It was not like them being unable to kill Salem permanently in the meantime was a deal breaker anyway. It just meant that, until they had that Infinity Stone, they had to avoid Salem. And seeing as how there was an entire world for them to do so, he reckoned that they could.

But what angered Mesa the most were the restrictions placed against the Mind Stone and his shadow clones. When he heard that they had 3 years time to kill 10 million Grimm before they would be informed about the location of that Infinity Stone, he had planned to use the Mind Stone to read everyone's mind and locate the Grimm all around the world and then send in his shadow clones to kill them and be done with this Infinity Trial in less than a week. But now, they were forced to go about it the old fashioned way.

Releasing a sigh of pent up frustration at this situation, Mesa reluctantly resigned himself to this situation.

"Come on guys, let's go. Let us find a place where we can stay and plan out our next move." Said Mesa as they resumed their travel.

( Infinity Trial #2 – Day 1 - Grimm count: 401)