196

"I… did not miss this," Yang muttered quietly, groaning as she slumped down against the desk whilst listening to Professor Port ramble on and on and on and on about one of his stupid grimm killing stories. Sure, it was full of good information for working with minimal tools and Aura against a seemingly endless amount of the creatures of darkness, but honestly if Team RWBYP had actual trouble against a horde of grimm when Ruby was right there then that meant something else was horrifically wrong and that… well. Probably wouldn't happen. 

Hopefully.

"I really didn't either," Blake sighed, shaking her head and grumbling at how well Professor Port could drone on and on and on about stuff that most of them already knew. Maybe the rest of the class didn't, but Team RWBYP was proactive and practical and killing grimm was second nature to all of them by now- even Weiss, who had started off as skilled but unpracticed and sheltered to the point that she, of all people, had been the weak link once upon a time. Now she was a terror just as strong as everyone else, and…

Was also very blatantly not paying attention to Professor Port, seeing as she was in the middle of checking her stock portfolio that she now essentially relied on in order to stay on top of her financial situation. Poor Weiss. Disowned from the family fortune and yet her father still tried to hound her and get her back under his control. 

Ruby'd kill him if she knew.

She probably already did know, honestly.

Ruby was smart like that. And scary like that. 

And also not paying attention, because she and Penny were very blatantly making out in the back of the room, barely hidden behind their shared desk. They couldn't stop the leaking rose petals, though, but… well. It wasn't like Professor Port would call on any of them to "test their might" against one of the grimm that he'd caught recently.

"I think it'd be a lot better if we weren't so far ahead of the curve. As it is now, unless Professor Port starts talking about some manner of exotic grimm that none of us have experience with, we likely won't be getting anything out of this class," Weiss sighed, flicking her scroll out of her stocks app and switching instead to their combined team schedule. "I suppose this is why third and fourth years are allowed to skip classes with impunity if they instead focus on training or self study. Still… I'd rather not try to start skipping on the first day of class… I think it sets a terrible precedent, even if our idea of training as a team is having us three fight grimm for hours on end in the forest while Penny and Ruby make out and annihilate literally everything that even comes close to them."

"... I can't believe I'm jealous of a robot… be nice to not have to constantly keep maintaining muscle mass though… and Ruby's… gods, how is she even stronger now?" Blake groaned, flopping against her desk with an almost defeated sigh, not even really knowing what to do beyond just be jealous of her girlfriend's little sister (who was also, academically, her partner) and said girlfriend's little sister's girlfriend. "And also, why are we still here?"

"Just to suffer, I guess," Yang deadpanned, poking Blake idly as she leaned over and snapped a picture of the board to see what Professor Port assigned for their reading that day, shaking her head and huffing out a little laugh at Blake's somewhat despondent state. "And come on, I mean… uh. Honestly I don't even know what we're talking about right now other than how Professor Port's stories are-"

"MISS SCHNEE, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO DEMONSTRATE HOW ONE DEFEATS AN ALPHA DEATHSTALKER IN AN ENCLOSED SPACE!" Professor Port called out, interrupting their conversation as he pointed straight at Weiss, who just pointed at herself in surprise.

"Eh- me? Oh- uh… yes, of course!" Weiss stood, a little surprised at the sudden callout as she stepped into the changing area in the back of the room- her locker flying in moments later and allowing her to don her combat gear and brandish her once again upgraded Myrtenaster (with an even further Dust enhanced blade that shone black under the light due to the grimm matter within) within the span of two minutes. 

"I'm combat ready!" Weiss announced, gracefully gliding down to the front staging area of the class and standing at the ready with Myrtenaster raised in one hand, her ready stance focused but loose, ready to spring out in any direction should she please.

"Hey, that's my line!" Penny protested from the back of the class, waving her fist teasingly as though acting out her indignance more than she actually felt it. Which she did, if the little smile on her face was any indication. 

"It's a good line, though," Ruby mused, and Weiss just nodded at Professor Port as she stared dead ahead at the rattling cage that had an Alpha Deathstalker within- not a titan class one, so nothing like the massive beast that she'd faced during Initiation that one time, but more like the ones that had attacked Vale during the cataclysm. Not great, but something she could definitely handle without any issue.

The cage opened.

The beast within surged out, hissing and snapping and waving its tail threateningly as Weiss flooded her Aura with negativity to get it to focus on her- anger and rage and focused hatred clamping down into her soul and almost making it jagged as she pressed it against the world in whorls of ice cold frost fractaling out from around her feet and mist spiraling around her limbs.

The moment the Deathstalker cleared the cage, Weiss moved like a bullet- an ethereal dance forming as she struck its weak points like a story told in the gleaming black and silver flash of her powerful, deadly blade. It started with a linear dash forward as a faint- deflecting a blow from one claw and using to spin around to where the tail couldn't easily reach, Weiss slashed out at the legs of the beast and removed all of them from one side in a single motion thanks to the glowing blue Aura enhanced edge coating her weapon.

The stinger came down, though, and Weiss leapt into the air to avoid the awkward jab- grabbing onto the thing and stabbing Myrtenaster into the gap between the armor plates before severing the stinger entirely as she swapped her weapon into lance form and twirled it around. Thus disarmed, she landed upon the head of the Deathstalker and activated the Dust within Myrtenaster and stabbed the lance straight into its brain- killing it instantly as the Dust fried its skull cavity from the inside out and turned the entire thing into dust… that Ruby very plainly and openly slurped out of the air like a long, black strand of amorphous spaghetti.

The entire exchange had taken no more than ten seconds.

A far cry from her poor showing against a regular Boarbatusk during the start of first year, where she'd been unable to figure out where the weakness was for an embarrassingly long time until Ruby had to yell it at her.

Gods… what a way to feel like a badass.

Weiss smiled, taking a bow as she twirled Myrtenaster back into its shortened rapier form, sheathing it at her waist and sashaying back to her seat with an elegant and graceful motion while the rest of the class clapped politely at the display of skill and strength she'd just shown. She wasn't even winded or breathing hard. 

"Well done! Well done! Fantastic growth, Miss Schnee! Now, is there anyone else who wants to try? I've got an Alpha Creep ready for another demonstration!"

"Oh! I do I do!" Ruby called out, waving her hand eagerly as her clothes instantly shifted into her combat gear and she held Crescent Rose in one hand in gun form. "Pick me Professor!"

"Ah, Miss Rose! I daresay your exhibitions are always well above expectations! It is the first day of class, so… show us what you've got!" Professor Port grinned, knowing exactly what was about to happen as Ruby took her stance and he set the massive, larger than average Creep against her- the saurian grimm roaring out of its cage and charging at Ruby with all the rage and hatred and desire to destroy that any grimm had.

Really, the entire exhibition was more of a showcase of Crescent Rose's raw destructive power than it was of the weapon's skillful use or Ruby's ability as a fighter. After all- all Ruby did was point her weapon straight ahead as the panels shifted slowly into a different configuration. The seams shifted, the length changed, various bits and bobs started glowing brilliant green….

And then a bullet the size of Ruby's fist ripped out of the sniper-cannon scythe in a plume of fire so strong it could have killed the Creep on its own without the bullet.

With the bullet… the grimm ceased existing. Gone, as though even the memory of its presence in the world had been erased by an overwhelmingly large and stupidly powerful bullet.

And then the sound rang out- a thunderclap in an exposed space, a plume of fire, and a hole the size of a basketball blown through the wall opposite to Ruby.

Ruby grinned, blew the smoke off of her gun, tucked it behind her back, and smiled all the way back to her seat with a smug little grin.