Chương 20: The Threshold of Absolute Power

The damp soil of the Emerald Forest did not merely tremble. It convulsed. From the jagged limestone fissures bordering the eastern ridge, the earth erupted in a violent shower of shale and pulverized roots. Two full-sized Death Stalkers tore their way into the light, their massive, obsidian-plated carapaces gleaming with a slick, predatory luster.

Their pale-white bone masks clacked rhythmically, and their colossal golden stingers arched over their backs like raised scythes, dripping with a highly corrosive, translucent venom that hissed upon hitting the ferns below. Simultaneously, the surrounding thickets parted with a sickening, heavy rustling as several mid-sized King Taijitu slithered into the clearing.

Their dual-headed, black-and-white patterned bodies coiled and uncoiled with terrifying speed, their golden eyes locked instantly onto the cluster of terrified freshmen.

"Formations! Defensive lines immediately!" Doctor Oobleck barked from his position on the rock line, his thermos gripped tightly as his glasses caught the sudden glare of the Grimm's bioluminescent markings.

"First-Years, the King Taijitu are your primary operational objectives! Do not allow them to consolidate their coils! Second-Years, contain the apex threats!"

"We've got the big ones!" Ruby Rose shouted, her silver eyes widening slightly as she executed a fluid mid-air spin, planting the heavy blade of Crescent Rose into the dirt to anchor herself. A sudden, overwhelming wave of nostalgia washed over her, the imagery of the giant scorpion-like beast instantly mirroring the chaotic day of their Beacon Academy Initiation. She glanced toward Jaune, a confident, sharp smirk cutting through her focus.

"Just like old times, huh, Jaune?"

"Not exactly like old times, Ruby!" Jaune Arc yelled back, his white chestplate catching the dim light as he stepped forward, his shield expanding into its massive broadsword sheath configuration with a resounding metallic clack. His posture was entirely different from the terrified boy who had pinned his sleeve to a tree two years ago. His weight was balanced, his grip on Crocea Mors absolute.

"This time, we aren't running! JNPR, RWBY, split the targets!" The first-year students, numbering thirty strong, rallied under the sheer pressure of the orders. Toby, still clutching his freshly harvested Aura-Lily, sprinted backward toward a natural stone amphitheater, his boots skidding through the mud.

"Chloe! On your left! The white head is striking!" Chloe didn't hesitate. Her hands, though damp with sweat, held her dual dust-daggers with a newly discovered grip. She threw herself into a low lateral roll just as the massive, pale head of a King Taijitu slammed into the dirt where she had been standing, its fangs splintering a fallen log.

"I need suppression fire! Now!" she screamed, her breath hitching. A first-year boy named Marcus stepped into the gap, his standard-issue dust-rifle roaring as he unleashed a continuous volley of fire-infused rounds directly into the serpentine flank of the black-headed half of the beast. The explosive impacts scorched the thick scales, forcing the creature to writhe and hiss in agony.

"Keep moving! Don't let them wrap around the rocks!" Marcus shouted, his face pale but his stance steady. Meanwhile, the second-year veterans engaged the two Death Stalkers with the casual, terrifying efficiency of seasoned huntsmen.

"Yang, Blake, left flank! Weiss, amplify!" Ruby commanded, dissolving into a brilliant burst of rose petals. Weiss Schnee moved with exquisite, lethal grace, her high-collared blue and white dress flaring as she traced a perfect circle with Myrtenaster. Three sequential, ice-blue acceleration glyphs manifested in mid-air, aligning perfectly before the first Death Stalker. Ruby rocketed through the magical circles, her velocity compounding until she was nothing but a red streak.

She brought Crescent Rose down in an overhead cleavage strike, the heavy blade slicing clean through the thick bone plating of the creature's left pincer with a deafening screech of fracturing chitin. The second Death Stalker lashed out with its stinger, aiming directly for Ruby's blind spot. But Pyrrha Nikos was already there. Moving with flawless kinetic efficiency, her bronze cuisses flexing over her dark trousers, she leaped into the trajectory.

Milo, in its heavy shield-and-spear configuration, intercepted the golden stinger. With a subtle, precise pulse of her Polarity semblance, Pyrrha altered the metallic density within the stinger's skeletal joint, violently deflecting the strike into the earth.

"Nora! The joint is exposed!" Pyrrha shouted, her high braid whipping through the air as she recovered her stance.

"Coming through!" Nora Valkyrie yelled, launching herself from a boulder with the full rocket-propulsion of Magnhild. She swung the massive hammer downward with a manic grin, her layered black combat skirt catching the wind. The impact shattered the Death Stalker's tail joint into a spray of black dust and fragmented bone armor, sending the colossal beast crashing onto its side.

Blake Belladonna closed the distance on the first scorpion, her long white coat billowing behind her as she fired three rapid shots from Gambol Shroud. She used the weapon's elastic ribbon to swing beneath the creature's underbelly, slicing through the softer tissue of its leg joints.

Yang Xiao Long followed immediately behind her, her open brown leather jacket catching the wind as she delivered a devastating, point-blank Ember Celica blast right into the creature's eye cluster, the concussive force completely detonating the beast's head in a brilliant flash of yellow fire. Within minutes, the weary but determined first-years managed to sever the final coiling heads of the mid-sized King Taijitu, their breathing ragged as the black smoke of the dissolving Grimm began to fill the canopy.

To their immediate right, the two colossal Death Stalkers shattered into nothingness under the final, synchronized strikes of RWBY and JNPR.

"We... we did it," Toby panted, leaning heavily against his dust-lance, his uniform covered in black soot and dirt.

"Do not lower your guards!" Doctor Oobleck's voice suddenly cut through the momentary silence, his manic energy replaced by a stark, absolute severity. He stepped down from his boulder, his thermos now humming with a faint, dangerous orange glow.

"Look to the treeline! The atmospheric negative variance is compounding exponentially!" The forest floor didn't just shake this time. It groaned under an immense weight. From the deep, unexplored shadows of the outer perimeter, dozens of crimson eyes materialized. Two more King Taijitu, even larger than the first, slithered from the brush.

Beside them, three full-sized Death Stalkers emerged, accompanied by a heavy vanguard of alpha Ursai and a roaring pack of silver-backed Beringels that tore down whole structures of ancient timber as they advanced. The first-year students visibly recoiled, their faces draining of all color. Several dropped their weapons, their spirits utterly broken by the sheer, unending volume of the horde.

"There's too many..." Chloe whispered, her voice trembling.

"We can't fight all of them."

"Stand your ground, freshmen!" Jaune Arc roared, stepping directly to the front of the line, his massive shield locked in place as he stood as an unyielding wall between the students and the horde.

"Look at me! You are students of Beacon Academy! We do not run!"

"Huntsmen and Huntresses do not retreat from the dark!" Ruby shouted, her voice echoing Glynda Goodwitch's address from days prior, her scythe held high.

"We stand together! Focus on your breathing! We can hold them!"

"Listen to your upperclassmen!" Doctor Oobleck commanded, stepping fully into the vanguard, his thermos shifting into a long, brilliant fire-retaining torch configuration.

"The spirit of this institution resides in your resolve! Never give up! Prepare for engagement!" The first-years looked at the blazing fire of Oobleck's weapon, then at the absolute, fearless stance of Teams RWBY and JNPR. Slowly, with trembling knees and gritted teeth, they picked their weapons back up, planting their boots into the dirt. They were terrified, but they stood. Before the first Beringel could cross the threshold of the clearing, a massive, deafening CRACK echoed from the deep thicket to the left.

The sound was not the roar of a Grimm or the detonation of a Dust crystal. It was the sound of air violently displacing. Suddenly, three full-sized alpha Ursai and a massive Beringel came flying out of the dense foliage from over fifty yards away. Their massive bodies were warped, caved inward by an unimaginable blunt force impact.

They hurtled through the air like discarded ragdolls, crashing directly into the advancing front lines of the King Taijitu and Death Stalkers, shattering ancient oak trees and creating a chaotic pile-up of snapping jaws and breaking bone armor. The entire clearing fell into a stunned, dead silence. The Grimm stopped their advance, their crimson eyes turning toward the source of the devastation. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Walking casually through the shattered brush, completely unbothered by the terrifying display, was Saitama. He was wearing his bright green campus janitorial jumpsuit, his laminated identification badge clipping awkwardly against his chest as he walked. In his heavy, yellow rubber gardening gloves, he was lazily dragging a massive, industrial-sized plastic trash bin behind him, the wheels squeaking loudly over the damp roots and crushed stone.

"Ah, this is just great," Saitama muttered, his voice a flat, incredibly annoyed drone that completely shattered the dramatic tension of the battlefield. He stopped, using the back of his rubber glove to wipe a bead of sweat from his perfectly bald head.

"That lady with the riding crop told me this was just a quick job to clear out the overgrown thorn brambles near the sector four fence line. Now my jumpsuit is covered in those little sticky bur things, and I've been walking in circles for an hour." A massive alpha Ursa, recovering from the pile-up, let out a bloodcurdling shriek and lunged directly for Saitama's head, its massive, bone-plated claws extended. Saitama didn't even turn to look at it.

He just raised his left hand and delivered a casual, irritated backhand slap. BOOM! The impact was instantaneous. The alpha Ursa didn't just dissolve, it completely exploded into a massive shockwave of black vapor and shattered bone fragments that blew the leaves off the surrounding trees.

"What... what is that?!" Marcus, the first-year student, stuttered, his rifle slipping from his fingers as his jaw hit the floor.

"He... he just slapped an Alpha!" The remaining horde, driven by pure instinctual malice, unleashed a collective roar and swarmed Saitama from all sides. Three mid-sized King Taijitu lunged simultaneously, their massive jaws open to swallow him whole, while two Beringels pounded their chests and jumped into the air for an overhead crushing strike. Saitama just sighed, his expression remaining perfectly blank.

"And now my shoes are getting muddy." He stepped forward, his speed suddenly defying all laws of physics. To the watching students, Saitama didn't just move. He seemed to exist in multiple places at once. A single, casual punch detonated the first King Taijitu into nothingness. He shifted his weight, his green jumpsuit blurring as he delivered a simple front kick to the descending Beringels.

The kinetic force tore through the five-ton creatures like tissue paper, converting them into expanding clouds of black ash before they could even touch the ground.

"Saitama! Watch out!" Ruby screamed, her hands flying to her mouth in pure terror. From behind Saitama, a hidden Death Stalker violently thrust its golden stinger forward, the iron-hard tip slamming directly into the center of his exposed bald head with a resounding CLANG that echoed through the entire valley. But the stinger didn't pierce his skin. It didn't even leave a mark.

Instead, the massive force of the Grimm's ultimate strike completely shattered the golden stinger itself, sending long fractures traveling up the creature's own tail. Saitama didn't even stumble. He merely blinked, reaching up to scratch the exact spot where the stinger had hit him.

"Hey, cut it out. That kind of tickles," Saitama said, his voice entirely flat. He reached out with his bare, rubber-gloved hand, grabbed the giant pincer of the offending Death Stalker, and with a casual flick of his wrist, completely ripped the colossal claw clean off its joint. The beast shrieked, backing away as Saitama casually tossed the five-hundred-pound claw into his industrial trash bin.

"Actually, this might be good for scrap metal logistics." The remaining three Death Stalkers attempted to retreat, their instinctual avoidance behavior finally overriding their programming as they realized they were standing before an absolute apex force.

"Oh, no you don't. You're blocking the path back to the breakroom," Saitama said. He blurred forward, executing a series of rapid, effortless punches and low kicks. Within less than two minutes, the entire clearing, which had just been a catastrophic war zone capable of wiping out an entire academy class, was completely vacuumed of all hostile life. The air was clear, the black smoke rapidly dissolving into the morning sky, leaving nothing but the pristine quartz-like silence of the forest outskirts.

The thirty first-year students stood in absolute, frozen awe. Some of them had dropped to their knees, their eyes wide and glassy, completely paralyzed by the sheer, incomprehensible scale of the power they had just witnessed. Toby's jaw was wide open, his hands still clutching his Aura-Lily as he stared at the bald man in the janitorial suit.

"He... he didn't even use a weapon," Chloe whispered, her voice shaking with a mixture of profound fascination and primal fear.

"Is he even human?" Doctor Oobleck, however, adjusted his glasses, a look of profound, academic fascination lighting up his face as his fingers flew across his scroll at three hundred words per minute.

"Astounding! Simply unprecedented physical density and kinetic output! Mr. Saitama, your localized environmental interaction continues to completely defy every established paradigm of Aura-centric defensive theory!"

"Oh. Hey, thermos guy," Saitama said, leaning lazily against the handle of his massive trash bin.

"Thanks. But seriously, do you know the quickest way back to the main promenade? I checked my watch and the student commissary is supposed to be serving Salisbury steak for lunch today. If I'm late, the upperclassmen always take the good portions."

"Unbelievable," Weiss Schnee muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose as her regal composure completely cracked.

"We just fought for our lives, and he's worried about institutional meat portions."

"That was amazing, Saitama!" Ruby yelled, her tattered red cloak flaring as she bounded over to his side, her silver eyes sparkling with pure excitement.

"You completely blew them apart!"

"Did you see how the Beringel just turned into dust?! Can you show me how you swing your arms like that?!" Yang, who also approached him, was too amazed after witnessing his power that could effortlessly destroy dozens of Creatures of Grimm that were known to be very powerful among veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"It's just a normal punch," Saitama said, blinking blankly at their enthusiasm.

"You just throw your hand forward. It's not that complicated." Jaune Arc stood a few paces back, his hand resting tightly against the handle of Crocea Mors, his eyes burning with an intense, quiet dedication. He looked at the flawless, unblemished surface of Saitama's green jumpsuit, then down at his own heavily riveted chestplate. One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups... Jaune thought to himself, his jaw tightening with absolute resolve. I'm not stopping.

If that's what lies at the end of the regime, I'm never missing a day. Pyrrha Nikos walked up beside Jaune, her green eyes reflecting a profound, respectful awe as she watched Saitama adjust his rubber gloves.

"Your defensive durability is truly a marvel, Mr. Saitama. To withstand a direct strike from an elder Death Stalker's stinger without a single shred of active Aura capitalization... It is an honor to witness it again."

"Yeah, well, it's mostly just because I don't want to get holes in the uniform," Saitama muttered, turning his attention to a stray autumn leaf stuck to his trash bin wheels.

"The lady with the crop said she'd deduct the cost from my discount bread allowance if I ruined another one." The first-year students exchanged baffled, entirely confused glances. They looked at their veteran squad leaders, who were acting as if this absolute reality-breaking entity was just a normal, slightly quirky coworker, and realized the rumors about the Battle of Beacon hadn't been exaggerated at all.

"Alright, students! Gather your samples and consolidate your gear!" Doctor Oobleck called out, his thermos shifting back into its standard drinking configuration with a sharp click.

"Don't make Professor Peach wait too long! We have achieved our botanical parameters within the expected window! Let us utilize Mr. Saitama's cleared trajectory to expedite our return to the transport vehicle!"

"Yes, Professor Oobleck!" Toby shouted, quickly picking up his pack.

"Doctor, Toby! Doctor!" Oobleck corrected instantly, his head snapping toward the boy with an iron glare.

"Let us not regress in our terminology simply because the local fauna has been vaporized!"

"R-Right! Sorry, Doctor Oobleck!" Toby squeaked, rushing to join the formation. The column of students moved back through the deforested pathway, Saitama ambling casually at the front, his squeaking trash bin leading the vanguard back toward the safety of the campus lines. As they filed down the freshly cleared path behind Saitama's squeaking trash bin, the immediate adrenaline of the battle began to fade, replaced by a lingering, analytical unease among the upperclassmen.

"Hey, Blake," Ruby said, slowing her pace slightly so she was walking in line with her partner, her silver eyes scanning the surrounding trees with a slight frown.

"Did those numbers seem... off to you?" Blake adjusted the strap of Gambol Shroud, her cat ears twitching beneath her bow as she looked back toward the smoking crater of the clearing.

"It's completely abnormal. Emerald Forest has always had high Grimm density, but multiple elder Death Stalkers and King Taijitus nesting in the exact same sector? They're highly territorial creatures. Normally, they would have slaughtered each other for dominance before we even got here."

"Exactly," Weiss chimed in, her arms crossed over her chest as her high-collared dress brushed against the ferns.

"And they weren't just wandering. The way they swarmed the clearing felt coordinated, as if they were deliberately drawn to our specific coordinates rather than just stumbling upon the freshmen's panic."

"Maybe they just wanted a piece of the champ here," Yang muttered, gesturing with a tilt of her chin toward Saitama, who was currently trying to scrape a piece of gum off his yellow rubber glove while walking.

"I mean, if I were a giant monster, I'd probably be drawn to the guy who keeps treating my entire species like minor household chores."

"No, I don't think it's Saitama," Jaune said, stepping up beside Ruby, his hand resting on the pommel of Crocea Mors as his brow furrowed.

"The Grimm usually avoid him now. We've seen it around the campus walls. They literally run away if they catch his scent. But today, they didn't hesitate. They lunged straight into an absolute death trap." Pyrrha nodded in agreement, her high braid swaying as she kept a watchful eye on the perimeter.

"Jaune is right. It felt less like an instinctual hunt and more like a forced deployment. It's almost as if something else in the deeper outskirts was driving them toward us, testing our defensive capabilities."

"Or testing his," Ren added quietly from the flank, his silver-accented sleeves shifting as he kept his hands near StormFlower.

"If someone, or something, wanted to measure the exact ceiling of our security consultant's strength, throwing an unprecedented wave of apex Grimm at him while he was isolated in the woods would be the perfect way to do it." Nora rested Magnhild across her shoulders, her usual bubbly demeanor vanishing for a brief second as she looked at the dark canopy above.

"Well, whoever sent them got their answer. Total splat in less than two minutes. Let's see them try to calculate that."

"Let's just hope it was a random anomaly," Ruby said softly, though her grip tightened slightly on the frame of Crescent Rose as she looked ahead.

"Because if it wasn't... someone out there knows exactly what we have standing on our front porch."

High above the clearing, hidden within the dense, overhanging canopy of an ancient red-leaved tree that had remained untouched by the skirmish, the air began to ripple. The negative energy did not manifest as a standard Grimm mask or a claw. Instead, a small, translucent, jellyfish-like entity drifted silently through the pale mist of the upper branches.

Its bulbous, dark purple crest pulsed with a rhythmic, sickening light, and its long, thread-like tendrils hung suspended in the air, absorbing the lingering residual static of the battlefield. Its single, bulbous central eye did not track Teams RWBY or JNPR. It remained locked entirely on the back of Saitama's bald head as the man walked away, recording his gait, his speed, and the absolute absence of Aura within his physical structure.

With a soft, sickening hiss that was completely swallowed by the wind, the creature's tendrils retracted. It dissolved into a shifting mass of dark purple ink, fading entirely into the darkening canopy, sending its silent, terrifying data across the sea to the fractured world beyond.