"...Oh, and furthermore… The first person that you establish eye contact with after landing will become your partner for the duration of your stay in Beacon." A thin, green-haired professor-looking man with thick round glasses finished up his speech and folded his Scroll. "I am professor Oobleck, for the record, I hope to see you all in the History and Strategies classes. If not, I have a habit of attending the funerals of the students who fail this test. So rest assured, I'll see all you again. I'd say 'we'll see again', but then again, in the second scenario you'd be dead so you wouldn't be seeing anyone. Thus making it a false statement. Any questions?"
The aspiring Beacon-students stared a bit at the professor who was flanked by Glynda Goodwitch while the group were standing on a cliff that faced down a sea of trees far below, with a ruin of some sort in the far distance.
"Um, so, um, is there a staircase that we can use to get down to the foreeesstaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Jaune lifted his hand for a question, but was interrupted as the stone tile on which he stood let out a 'ploing' sound like a spring, and the tile launched the boy high into the air.
"No." Oobleck answered the rest of the students. "Well, good luck. Remember that if you can't form a team, or die, or suffer post-traumatic stress order that cripples you for life, then you are disqualified."
The professor stopped speaking and chugged coffee straight from a thermos.
He then looked at the students, lifted his eyebrow, and then glanced at Glynda Goodwitch who was staring up at the flying blonde student.
Oobleck coughed to his fist. "Glynda, I thought that me drinking from my gun was our agreed-upon que for you to press the definitely-not-tampered big red button that I set up earlier?"
Glynda pressed the red button that she had in her hand, even though it looked like she was not present mentally as she stared at Jaune, whose flight arc was definitely approaching terminal phase.
The pressure-plates below the students detonated in unison, launching the stunned group of teenagers in a haphazard formation into the forest below.
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Ainz was feeling many emotions for a moment, at least until [Emotion Suppression] got rid of them for him. '...Right. So, this school is populated by lunatics. In retrospect I shouldn't be surprised, but it's good to know.'
He was keeping his hands crossed across his chest while remaining in a 'standing at ease' pose while soaring through the air from the power of the launch. '...Well, it looks like Weiss's flight arc is taking her over… there. Alright- It doesn't look like there's anyone near her landing zone so I should be able to catch up with her and partner up before she meets anyone else.'
"Lord Ainz. I have been thrown off course by the trap-plate, off-course LZ is two miles away from Ruby's predicted LZ. Adjusting course to maintain contact with Ruby." Shizu sent a silent Message to Ainz, prompting Ainz to glance over and see that Shizu had been launched on a direction that would have her collide with Blake, who in turn was trying her hardest to somehow paddle in the air in an attempt to get away from Shizu's approach.
Shizu's rocket boots activated and the camouflaged battle-maid did a ninety-degree turn midair to pivot after Ruby, who was using her red rifle's recoil to slow down her descent and had been launched so that she'd land near Yang, who in turn was flying forward straight as an arrow with tinted aviator goggles on her face.
Meanwhile Jaune's launch had definitely had a 'mortar' arc instead of the 'howitzer'-launch of the rest of the students, thus meaning that while other students were coming to a landing at an angle, Jaune was approaching the forest at a flat ninety degree angle. And the boy looked like he had made peace with his death…
Or rather, Jaune was in the process of making peace with his death, as he was flailing around in panic while screaming quite loudly.
Since Nicholas had been a competent Hunter Ainz had no doubt that Jaune was just pretending and was actually in full control of his situation. It was quite a crafty move in retrospect- After all, it made everyone who weren't familiar with Nicholas to underestimate Jaune, and thus give Jaune the element of surprise.
However it looked like Pyrrha had seen through Jaune's deception as the red-headed girl pulled her hand back while her sword turned into a javelin, and she launched the weapon at Jaune- An impressive feat, considering that she threw the weapon while flying and Ainz didn't see her use a spell to augment the throw. Not that locals used Spells, anyway.
At the same time it was quite strange for Ainz to see Pyrrha trying to assassinating Jaune, as Ainz had thought that the two had gotten along quite well, at least judging from past day, but it might just be that Pyrrha had been deliberately scouting Jaune's talents out in preparation to assassinate him.
Yet, if Ainz thought about the assassination attempt with both YGGDRASIL- and Neo-Japan logic, the sequence of events made perfect sense if Pyrrha had been contracted to kill Jaune for some reason- Perhaps Nicholas had enemies and after he had 'disappeared' from Far Hope, the enemies had decided to take their ire out on Nicholas's son instead.
'...Hm…' Ainz looked at the event and decided to intervene. '...I was able to get into Beacon thanks to Nicholas… The least I can do to thank him is to stop his son from getting murdered. It's good to reward loyalty with loyalty, good with good, and evil with evil… Well, Nicholas's death was an unfortunate incident, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few protein capsules.'
Ainz sent a quick [Message] at Shizu. "Shizu. Pull Jaune from harm's way."
"Confirmed." Shizu turned her body around mid-flight, causing the rocket boots to leave a twisted helix in the air from exhaust trails, and she launched a grapple-hook from her wrist at Jaune.
Meanwhile Momonga pulled out a basic, worthless dagger and threw it at the javelin Pyrrha had launched at Jaune.
The two weapons collided mid-air to toss both off course- And the interception allowed Shizu's hook to grab Jaune before the Javelin would have connected with the blonde boy.
Shizu turned her body around mid-air again and pulled Jaune hard with the grapple-hook, causing the boy to make a ninety-degree turn in his up-down free-fall and instead get launched almost horizontally past Shizu and towards Blake, whose expression flushed white in terror.
Both of the two teenagers who were on collision course let out a loud scream of terror before impacting one another, and the newly-made pair fell to the forest below in a tangle of limbs.
Ainz nodded at Shizu as the ballistic arc of the launch was nearing its end point for Ainz, who didn't have abilities for free flight while using [Perfect Warrior].
Shizu disappeared from Ainz's view as the automata adjusted her flight angle to catch up with Ruby and Ainz fell into the sea of green, and broke through the foliage-layer of the treetops.
Ainz pulled both of his greatswords from his back and slammed them down on the werewolf Grimm that had been idling in Ainz's landing zone, causing the beast to get slammed to the forest floor and leave a long ditch on the forest floor with its jaw as the impact angle caused the beast to plow a long trail on the forest floor with Ainz riding on the beast's back and steering it with the stabbed blades.
The ride came to an end as the momentum died down, and Ainz jumped down to take in his surroundings.
Ainz pulled the greatswords out of the dead Grimm to swing them around in single, swift move and split another Grimm werewolf in two from waist as the beast had been lunging at Ainz from behind- Followed up by twirling the twin greatswords around his body to simultaneously slice the heads off two other Grimm beasts that jumped at Ainz, and he finished the combo by tossing one of the greatswords at a larger-than-usual Grimm werewolf that was crouching and hiding in the underbrush.
The large Grimm werewolf that had been trying to hide let out a muffled 'woof' as the greatsword impacted against its chest, tossing the Grimm on its back, where it disintegrated and left the greatsword sticking out of the ground.
'Well, I suppose that combat was advertised to be part of the test… Well, there's barely any point to fighting these beasts here. I need to find Weiss first…' Ainz nodded to himself while extending his arm towards the thrown sword, causing the discarded weapon to twitch and then get pulled out of the ground, fly back to Ainz's hand, and he stashed both of the swords to his back so they wouldn't get in his way.
If Ainz actually was a Warrior, and not just using [Perfect Warrior] to pretend to be one, he could use a myriad of dash and run related abilities to enhance his speed and get to Weiss without much hassle. But Ainz wasn't one, and [Perfect Warrior] didn't give him any actual Warrior-class abilities as it only changed his stat-spread to match Warrior's and enabled him to use weapons and armor that he normally couldn't due to class limitations.
A swift equip/unequip in Ainz's mental 'equipment screen' swapped one of the rings that Ainz wore under the armored gauntlet, and he undid [Perfect Warrior] for a moment.
The [Ring of Armor-Caster] enabled Ainz to wear armor while casting a limited number of spells per day, temporarily circumventing the disadvantage that the armor gave him for casting since he didn't have appropriate skills for wearing heavy armor with his original Necromancer-type stat spread. However, he still needed to drop the [Perfect Warrior] to be able to cast in the first place, meaning that Ainz would nonetheless have to balance swapping between the two 'stances' in order to use both blades as part of his disguise and magic. Luckily enough Ains had plenty of daily casts to spare so he could spend some on toggling the ability on and off, although he would instantly toss the [Perfect Warrior] charade if he had to actually fight properly.
Even though exploring the area and slaying beasts was somewhat interesting to Ainz, mostly due to nostalgia for grinding mobs for loot in YGGDRASIL with his friends, Ainz couldn't waste time to wandering around in the forest to indulge his flight of fancy- If he did so then he risked that Weiss would be 'claimed' by someone else if someone happened to wander into the girl and partner up with her. Specifically when he had managed to worm into the influential and politically powerful Schnee's good graces for the long-term benefit of Nazarick.
"[Gate]" Ainz used the high-tier teleportation spell, just in case as it was mostly immune to regular teleportation interception, and he appeared near the spot where he had seen Weiss land.
However it looked as if Weiss had departed already, and wasn't present in the area anymore.
Ainz cast [Widen Magic: Detect Life] to both locate the girl and see what sort of situation she was in. 'Hm… So she's over there, I think? She's fighting, if I'm reading the results correctly… The Grimm have relatively high health signatures compared to regular humans, so that level-one human health sign must be Weiss, assuming she hasn't somehow cloaked her health to misdirect Grimm. I should check it out first, just in case, I don't want to partner up with some random pug due to carelessness…'
Ainz reached into his inventory and put up a few anti-spying scrolls so that he could mask him casting his class-specific spells, just on off-hand chance that he was being spied upon, and put on his counter-kill Ring out of habit… And the ring went off immediately.
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The top of Beacon's CCTS Tower exploded.
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The reaction from the ring caused Ainz to feel a massive surge of paranoia- But he was committed already, so he needed to stick to the act unless he was willing to flee back to Nazarick and doing so undo what progress he had made with his investigation.
"[Create Undead First: Corpse Carrion]. [Undead Slave Sight]." Ainz sent an undead bird off to scout the area and verify that Weiss was fighting against Grimm, and that it wasn't someone else… And he got a message from Shizu while he was having the undead scout around the place.
"Lord Ainz. Shizu Delta, reporting: I have been engaged by an unknown combatant that is using ground-to-air based ranged attacks." Shizu reported. "I am currently fleeing as per new combat doctrine, and unable to pursue Ruby Rose. Unknown hostile is blocking aerial and ground-based routes to Ruby Rose. Request permission to engage."
"I know [Detect Mana] is not a reliable spell here, but did you get a reading on the attacker anyway, and were you hit? How damaging are the attacks?" Ainz asked warily.
"The enemy has mana of a level eighty human. The attacks have been able to damage me whenever they have landed on areas that have no armor protection. Armor has mitigated direct hit damage by a factor of eighty percent. I am currently at ninety percent health after a direct hit to my left elbow, which lacked armor coverage and is currently broken. [Rocket Boots] enable flight regardless of this, and I am capable of utilizing my gun at roughly sixty percent efficiency." Shizu recounted emotionlessly.
'...That attacker… Hurt Shizu.' Ainz froze on the spot as cold fury overtook him in an instant. 'Garnet's daughter…'
Ainz felt as [Emotion Suppression] activated like a whip being snapped,causing him to stumble even though he had been standing still.
Ainz blinked as he realized that he had lost control over his aura's for a moment as he realized that someone had hurt something that was the result of work and effort of his friends from YGGDRASIL- And the loss of control combined with the lack of [Perfect Warrior] to cause [Black Halo], [Aura of Despair V: Instant Death] as well as a myriad of other abilities to go off during the moment of nearly mindless rage that had been suppressed so quickly that he hadn't even properly realized that he had been so angry.
The overlapping aura's gad reduced the patch of forest into lifeless, mutated deadland in an instant, all the while the trees began to grow skulls from their bark and bleed darkness from their roots.
[Emotion Suppression] activated again as panic overtook the spike of anger, as Ainz realized that he might have blown his cover. And more importantly…
'Crap, I hope… [Widen Magic: Detect Mana]! [Widen Magic: Detect Health]!' Ainz quickly cast the detection spells in Weiss's direction, and didn't see a health-sign. 'Oh no. [Aura of Despair] has a chance of causing instant death in addition to its other effects-!' "Shizu! Keep fleeing for now- I'll send reinforcements!"
"Yes, Lord Ainz."
Ainz instantly unequipped his armor off and equipped his full class gear, pulled out [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown], and sent a message to Demiurge as he realized that Ainz might have managed to fool Weiss's bodyguards with his 'Momon' act, but the release of auras would not have been missed, specifically now that the Instant Death-aura had killed Weiss-
In other words, Weiss's bodyguards would have already locked onto Ainz, and were likely already present in the corrupted patch of forest where Ainz stood, yet the group of hidden killers were still invisible and intangible.
…Which meant that the group were already present and were angling themselves to a devastating opening attack on Ainz.
The local equivalent of [Dimension Lock] hadn't gone off as Ainz would have noticed the debuff, but it was likely that Ainz had been already put under local equivalent of [Lopsided Duel], which meant that if he teleported away or used [Gate] to escape, he would pull Weiss's security team with him to Nazarick- And depending on how strong the hidden team was, they might even be able to wipe out Nazarick after discovering it's location.
"Demiurge!"
"Yes, my lord!" Demiurge answered instantly.
"Send Albedo and Cocyutus here instantly!"
A howl of rage echoed around the clearing and Ainz activated his aura's again, although at a shorter radius in order to keep the mana drain low and to keep himself from attracting more attention- There was no point in hiding from the bodyguards until they were dealt with, or Ainz died trying, but at the same time it wouldn't make sense to further escalate the conflict beyond what was reasonable by drawing more enemies in as well.
A part of Ainz wanted to go down in blaze of glory alone, not because he wanted to die, but because he didn't want to invite anyone from Nazarick's precious NPC's to die with him… But at the same time, Albedo was uniquely suited to defending ranged attackers and casters from harm due to her skillset, and if worse came to worst, she was immune to movement-based magical tagging and forced teleportation due to her class as [Shield Lord].
Thus, she could use [Gate] without being followed and that way bring [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown] back to Nazarick, just in case Ainz was captured or killed and the Staff dropped from his body somehow, even if that shouldn't happen- But relying on a 'shouldn't' was poor tactics.
Moreover, Cocytus would be able to detect just about anyone in close proximity, as the warrior had plenty of abilities to fight unseen foes- And at the same time, Cocytus would be able to go and support Shizu if Ainz, Albedo and Cocytus survived the battle against the bodyguards.
A [Widen Magic: Detect Life] and [Detect Mana] told Ainz that there were a few students nearby, although none were in the range of his aura's… Unless there had been other students than Weiss who had been caught up by the instant death-aura and had died, and thus didn't pick up on the 'radar'.
More importantly, there were roughly a hundred or so health signs that roughly matched to the 'Grimm'.
The underbrush broke as the horde of Grimm charged towards Ainz…
…And then the pack fell over, dead.
'...Hm. As I suspected. The Grimm ignored [Insanity], [Panic], [Fear] and [Confusion] from the [Aura of Despair] but were affected by [Instant Death] due to their low level.' Ainz eyed the swarm that approached him and then died in droves some thirty or so feet away from him, disintegrated into motes of darkness, and then were replaced by another wave of Grimm that attacked mindlessly into certain doom. '...Undead, including ghosts and wraiths had natural immunity to mental ailments. At the same time, Aura was unable to tame Grimm despite having a Beast Master class… Hm, it may actually be that Grimm aren't animals in the first place but some sort of apparitions. Likewise they behave like POP-monsters, but either this whole area is crawling with hidden guild bases that all produce the exact same sorts of POP monsters, or whoever sends these Grimm uses a portal of some sort to project them wherever they are needed, or Grimm are otherwise behaving like punch-monsters of YGGDRASIL except without dropping loot and having incredible spawn rates.'
Ainz sighed to himself while keeping his guard up as he scanned his surroundings for the bodyguards, all the while his mind raced with terror, [Emotion Suppression], and idle thoughts that followed him whenever the mental calming ability went off. 'I just doesn't make sense. Moreover, the bodyguards must have taken appropriate countermeasures against my aura, considering that I still can't see or sense anything nearby… [Silent Magic: Undead Slave Sight]... Yes, Weiss is dead, I can see her laying face-down on the grass through the Corpse Carrion's point of view. The bodyguards haven't retrieved her corpse and fled, so they must be still here.''
A [Gate] opened nearby and Ainz braced himself, as Weiss's currently-invisible bodyguards would no doubt see it as well and strike before Ainz's reinforcements arrived. "[Wall of Skeleton]! [Widen Magic: Shark Tornado]!"
A wall of sharp, skeletal bones erupted all around Ainz, and then the area-of-effect whirlpool spell generated a vortex of water right on top of Ainz, causing him to be safe in the eye of the storm while the wall broke around him, and the sharp bone-splinters added themselves to the tornado.
The combination turned the spell into a whirlpool of lacerating bone that would cause bleeding wounds, all the while the enormous sharks that swam in the water tornado would gain advantage against bleeding enemies.
It was not a combination that was designed to do damage, though, but rather aimed to create a temporary 'no-go' zone around Ainz so that the unseen bodyguards would have to risk detection and bleed-proc before getting within striking range…
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Ozpin hopped down to a metal strut that protruded out of the side of Beacon's CCTS tower, some few hundred feet high from the ground.
'...Well then' Ozpin glanced back at the structure that was letting out sounds of shearing metal and crackling of devouring flame.
The automated fire extinguishers on the top floor had already gone off and were busy dousing the fires, but Ozpin would definitely need to re-decorate his office space after his computer had spontaneously detonated.
He had been spying on the prospective students via the myriad of microphones, cameras and other surveillance equipment that were embedded just about everywhere within Emerald Forest, and he had spotted Momon performing an action that suddenly explained a great many things to Ozpin, just before his computer had exploded somehow.
The interruption was unfortunate as Ozpin had been planning on informing Qrow that the Hunter should actually avoid hurting Shizu while keeping the strange orange-haired girl from partnering up with Ruby, but in retrospect Qrow had likely intended the shot he aimed at Shizu to be a warning shot, but due to his Semblance, Misfortune, the round had ricochet off a nearby tree and hit Shizu in the elbow.
Initially Ozpin had just asked Oobleck to devise a set of trap-tiles that were angled to launch students in directions that would have them team up with people that Ozpin approved of, or rather, to keep the two-slash-three important people of the year-group from teaming up with the wrong sorts of people. But since Ozpin didn't like to leave anything to chance he had asked Qrow to step in as well, just in case Momon or Shizu had a way of making a contact and teaming up with Ruby and Yang regardless of the covert interference.
Of course Ozpin could have just forced the team combinations by 'luck of the draw', or rather, a rigged pick-system, but it would have been too obvious- If Momon or anyone else in the group were Salem's minions trying to infiltrate Beacon, then they would have realized that Ozpin was onto them the moment he took too proactive stance in sorting out the students.
Yet, despite all the subterfuge that Momon had kept up, he had played his hand too early- By using his Semblance in the open. '...That swirling portal…'
'Semblances are unique to a person in the vast majority of cases, but at the same time, in rare bloodlines the Semblance can instead become hereditary if the progenitor of the bloodline is strong enough… It's likely that Momon has inherited Raven's Semblance.' Ozpin nodded as the ability was quite distinctive, and also told quite clearly why Momon had come into contact with Ruby Rose on three separate occasions- The first one at the Dust Store, then in the airship to Beacon, and again in the mess hall sleepover just before the test.
Ozpin had the whole area bugged with recording devices so he had been aware of the conversations between Shizu and Ruby, as well as Momon's mock-interest in Weiss Schnee, and then the conversation between Momon, Shizu, Ruby, Yang and Weiss Schnee before the prospective students had gone to sleep.
Initially Ozpin had thought that Momon had been aiming to partner up with Weiss, but Momon's mistake of using his Semblance revealed that Weiss was just red herring to make Ozpin lower his guard and that Momon wasn't interested in Ruby or Yang- And same was possibly the case with Ruby Rose and Momon's little helper, but in reverse: It was possibly a ploy to draw Ozpin's attention to Shizu and Ruby, and thus enable Momon to go after Yang without too much interference.
After all, Raven Branwen would know that Ozpin would keep a close eye on the last Silver-Eyed Warrior and snatching Ruby from under Ozpin's nose would not go well for the bandit-queen. Not only because Taiyang would go kicking Raven's front door in suicidal frenzy if Ruby or Yang were taken away, and he'd do so with Qrow hot on his heels to join in on the bandit-hunt… But Raven would also hesitate committing to such kidnapping because while Ozpin could understand the circumstances of Raven's desertion from Ozpin's cause and plan, he would not be so forgiving if she actively interfered in them by grabbing Ruby.
However, it looked as if Raven had taken a page out of Ozpin's book, and instead of attempting an overt kidnapping, she used a proxy to get closer to Ruby… Or rather, to get her son closer to Yang.
Not to mention, the blemishes on Momon's face betrayed the seemingly middle-aged man- It was clear to an outsider that Momon didn't have his Aura unlocked and was a middle-aged man. Or rather, it would be clear that it was the case, except that Ozpin had seen Momon use his Aura by utilizing his Semblance- In other words, the aged face was just a mask, possibly literally.
If Raven had gotten another child after leaving Taiyang then he'd be roughly the same age as Yang and Ruby, meaning that he was a late teenager- But was pretending to be middle-aged man with Mistralian heritage to fool Ozpin.
The fact Momon had led Yang on and had opened her up to pairing up with him, even if Momon had 'accepted' Weiss's proposal, told Ozpin everything that he needed to know about what Raven was trying to accomplish by sending her son to Beacon.
Ozpin could not risk allowing Ruby to pair up with an unknown variable like 'Shizu', or risk allowing Yang to pair up with Momon, as both Taiyang and Qrow would betray Ozpin if he allowed Raven's son to team up with Yang and eventually lead her astray.
After all, It wouldn't be a 'kidnapping' if Yang was corrupted into Raven's way of thinking by Momon and she ran off by herself, ideally without drawing attention to the link between herself, Momon, and Raven in the process.
Ozpin knew that Raven valued strength above all, but at the same time, also knew that Raven was not a berserker- She would employ cunning as well as the sword if that got her what she wanted.
'My recording equipment glitched yesterday when Shizu dragged Blake Belladonna into that lounge with Momon… It's likely that Shizu has a Semblance that revolves around electronic interference. Her robotic movements and mannerisms match too… Not to mention the hair…' Ozpin thought as he looked at the distant Emerald Forest.
He knew what Atlas had been cooking up in Polendina's labs, as General Ironwood of Atlas was not one for subtlety and was very much keen on keeping all information he had available to Ozpin and his cabal of supporters, while expecting the same in turn. Meanwhile Ozpin kept an open information channel towards Ironwood, but he did keep a close eye on what truths he told Ironwood through it.
Ozpin had learned of the 'Penny' project, and the resemblance to Shizu made Ozpin slightly worried. '...It's possible that Raven managed to sneak into Atlas with her Semblance, and snatched a discarded prototype Penny model. Having that sort of electronic warfare capability would definitely make Raven's tribe a force to reckon with, even past what it is now… However Ironwood's intel would have told me if Raven actually managed to grab a working model. I doubt Raven would have the expertise at hand to actually get something like that into a working condition, though, but… Hm… Maybe if…'
The headmaster paced back and forth on the iron strut while firefighters burst into the top office of the CCTS tower and started to blast the burning steel with foam, and in the process thoroughly destroyed any paperwork that may have survived the fire.
'Salem would have access to tech to bring a prototype Penny into working condition, but Raven would know not to associate herself with Salem. But there's one more variable here.' Ozpin stopped on the protruding metal strut that was a few hundred feet high in the air. 'Momon is young. He might not see it like that- And he may see Salem as an opportunity that can be exploited. It might have been Momon who had snuck into Atlas instead of Raven, snatched the prototype as a trophy as young people tend to do, and Salem approached Momon to have the prototype fixed… For a price. It would definitely suit Salem's m.o… And Salem would keep a close eye on Raven, as she no doubt knows that Raven used to be one of my agents, alongside the rest of the team STRQ… And that way Salem would know of Momon's existence, and would know to approach him…'
'Yet, how does Nicholas Arc's recommendation letter factor in? Or those things that Qrow found in Far Hope? Ainz Ooal Gown? When was the recommendation letter written? Was Momon in Far Hope and spoke to Nicholas, or was the letter written before that? As far as I know Raven wasn't in contact with Nicholas, and I'm certain those two wouldn't get along if they did meet. Not to mention, Momon's cover-story of his past was shaky at best. That new story that Momon came up with for Ruby and the other girls is more or less equally shaky, if slightly more believable.' Ozpin already felt a headache incoming and sighed in annoyance as his headache medications had burned alongside his office. 'Ah well. I'll have to raid Glynda's stockpile of headache medication when she's not looking.'
And then a gigantic tornado of water rose from the Emerald Forest.
…A water tornado filled with stray Grimm, what looked like human bones, and for some reason, large sharks.
Some of the sharks got loose as the tornado of water reached the clouds and swirled around with such a speed that it launched some of the sharks away due to centrifugal force, causing Beacon's facilities to get pelted by a localized rain of stray sharks.
One of the stray sharks flew into Ozpin's office, impacted a firefighter, and knocked the screaming man out of the opposite window with the shark stuck to his leg.
Ozpin stared at… whatever the shark-filled tornado was.
'...What?'
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"Lord Ainz!" Albedo fell to her knees and Cocytus followed in suit.
"We. are. ready. to. battle." Cocytus clicked at their lord, who was keeping the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in his tight grip and was casting a series of detection spells, area of effect spells that dealt damage to incorporeal creatures, as well as keeping all of his aura's active.
Cocytus wasn't sure what was going on, but kept his hands on the four sheathed blades that he had brought out from his Inventory- Normally Cocytus preferred to battle with a halberd and spear initially and bring the blades out against only worthy foes. But since the Supreme Being had asked for reinforcements, the foe must have been mighty indeed.
Yet… Cocytus couldn't sense anyone nearby.
"Cocytus, can you detect the assassins around us?" Lord Ainz's wordless message appeared in Cocytus's mind, and from the way Albedo's kneeling motion froze, she had likely received a similar message.
"My. Lord. I. do. not. sense. anyone. present. except. for. the. three. of. us." Cocytus finished his scan of the surroundings and came to the shameful conclusion, all the while tightening the grip on his weapons- Since the assassins were able to pass Cocytus's senses they must have been frighteningly strong.
It was both surprising and unsurprising that Lord Ainz had been able to detect such opponents, however. After all, as the Supreme Being, it was only expected that Lord Ainz could do what others couldn't.
Lord Ainz seemed to freeze up a bit and the red dots in his skull's empty sockets darted a bit down and then returned to a level pose, as if he had glanced at Cocytus tightening his grip on his blades, and the Supreme Being had gotten nervous.
Cocytus felt intense shame at this, as Lord Ainz must have counted on Cocytus being able to sense the unseen foe, or perhaps Lord Ainz had detected the hesitancy and worry in Cocytus's body language and was worried that Cocytus wasn't up to the task at hand.
"U-Umu, I see… Hm… Cocytus- Shizu is under attack. Can you sense her?" Lord Ainz coughed to his fist and spoke aloud while relaxing ever so slightly, all the while a soothing green effect appeared around his bones for just a moment.
"Yes. my. lord. She. is. hurt." Cocytus scanned the area and located the battle-maid in question, who was currently making bouncing flight patterns in an attempt to move to a direction, but was repelled each time by what looked like fast fireball-spells that came from a person within the woods.
"Good. Go help her out of her bind- She is trying to meet up with someone called 'Ruby Rose', so go and protect Shizu while she does so. However, do not allow yourself to be seen by Ruby- Kill whoever is attacking Shizu, unless it's Ruby…." Lord Ainz instructed and then paused for a short moment. "Umu. Actually, if Ruby Rose is the one shooting at Shizu, then you're allowed to kill Ruby as well. I shall observe from here with Albedo, and assist if needed."
"Yes. Lord. Ainz!" Cocytus nodded his head sharply and then ran in the direction while activating [Action Surge], [Haste] and [Fly] to careen off in the direction with an extreme speed.
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'U-umu?! There weren't any bodyguards at all?! Cocytus would have the sensing abilities to detect just about anyone- D-don't tell me that Weiss didn't have any bodyguards with her after all?! I screwed up! Cocytus looked like he was pissed and was ready to slash me!' Ainz felt like hyperventilating for a moment as he sent Cocytus to cool his aggression by hitting whoever was bullying Shizu with his sword. 'Umu, this isn't good. I asked Demiurge about the help- If this ends up being a futile scenario and there actually aren't any invisible bodyguards then I totally screwed myself over! Demiurge would be able to point at it and say that I am unworthy to lead Nazarick, and Albedo would be able to testify for him!'
Ainz paced around nervously while gripping the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown with the strength that he had, trying his hardest to figure out how to get out of the mess that he had gotten himself into. 'Right. Right…. I- umu, that won't work… Actually, um… erk… Shizu said that whoever was fighting her was level eighty-ish, so that attacker probably isn't a total pushover. In other words, if Cocytus has even the slightest difficulty to fight whoever shot at Shizu then I can point at it and say that I was being extra cautious… and that I was worried about Shizu, and that Nazarick needed to display it's might to deter future attacks!'
Ainz allowed himself to sigh slightly, even if he didn't need to do so due to his race, and coughed to his fist as Albedo had assumed a defensive stance towards the corrupted forest around them.
"I cannot sense the enemy, please order me, Lord Ainz!" Albedo spoke a bit nervously while keeping her bardiche up and turning her body from side to side to make it harder to sneak up on her.
"Umu, it's alright. They… umu, the assassins fled when you two came. Moreover, Cocytus is about to engage the enemy that triggered this event, who is also responsible for hurting Shizu." Ainz spoke to Albedo and sent the undead bird that had scouted Weiss's body to start spying on Cocytus's battle against the unknown attacker. "[Planar Eye]... Observe."
Albedo lowered her bardiche slightly, but it was clear that the armored woman kept her guard up nonetheless. She then turned to look at the portal-like view that was directed out from the tag Ainz had put on the summoned undead carrion-bird.
Ainz sweated internally as he looked at the portal as well as Cocytus crashed into the hooded attacker who was wielding a shotgun-like contraption. 'Please don't be a pushover, whoever you are, please, please, please…'
.
.
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Ruby tilted her head as she could have sworn that she heard the familiar bark of her uncle's sword-scythe-shotgun from the distance.
Quickfire Q&A:
Q: Ozpin 2much mana.
A: Ozma 2much 'mana'. Problem for the Wise Wizard of Oz is that his 'mana' doesn't regenerate.
Q: But levels. Qrow level 10 vs level 80 Hanzo wtf etc
A: -.-'
Q: Blake OOC:
A: She tried to turn a new leaf. Ainz turned it back around and told her to know her place, and that she was effectively his slave from now on, or she'd lose what little she had left. You don't think that'd shake her somewhat?
Q: Pls no smut
A: My mind's telling me no, but Salem, Salem's bubble butt telling mee yeeeeeeeee
Q: Ainz&co are being a pieces of shit by Remnant's metric
A: This is well documented fact. Anyone claiming that Overlord cast are good guys are probably the sort of people who unironically state that Imperium of Man from 40k is a force of good.
Q: Brain damage?
A: Frontal lobe is in the process of being spanked, ma'am.
Q: DxD Overlord when?
A: Somewhere during spring. Aka when I manage to write through the whole Issei arc.
Q: Ainz could just wipe out Ozpin's and Salem's factions.
A: For a time. Salem can't die permanently and would just pop out like a mushroom, and Ozpin would just reincarnate endlessly. Plus it's always a coin-toss with Ozma on whether killing him is going to make things better or worse.