Clearing the Island

When the Shnee Dust Company representative had come to their base with the job of clearing one of their mines of Grimm, Jasmine and a shadow clone Mesa were busy clearing a crescent shaped island south of the Anima continent of a Grimm infestation. Upon on this island, there was a nest of Centinel and Chamarids Grimm. The two of them were on the north side and south side of the island and exterminating the nests of Centinels and Chamarids respectively. Using these moments, both Jasmine and Mesa wanted to practice their new abilities or hone their existing ones.

(A.N.: For those of you wondering, Chamarid is a Grimm species that I came up with myself. Basically a chameleon Grimm that is the size of a horse with perfect Predator level camouflage abilities and a muscular stretchy tongue with which it catches its prey with to bring to its mouth. It is an arboreal Grimm and incredibly agile in the trees, but also well versed on the ground and armed with 5 razor sharp claws on each paw and a mean set of teeth that can deliver a crushing bite and inject venom into their prey. And lastly, it's has a prehensile tail that it uses to swing through the trees and when possible, use it to catch its prey by wrapping the tail around their necks and breaking it.)

Walking through the lush forests of the island, clone Mesa held Yamato in his left hand with Excalibur resting on his back and scanning his surroundings. Floating besides his head were golden swords of energy that looked exactly like Excalibur. Mesa had been practicing with using Excalibur in lieu of Force Edge and when he wanted to summon the spectral energy swords, they came out as golden energy swords that looked exactly like Excalibur, which he did not mind in the least. In the distance, he could hear the screeching, screaming and growling which could only mean that Jasmine was in the thick of fighting the Centinels.

'Looks like she's having fun.' Thought Mesa to himself amused when a blast of red light suddenly streaked through the skies.

'She still has a long road ahead of her if she wants to control the Star Buster Star Blaster.' Said Ddraig which Mesa agreed with.

'I just hope Ophis was right when she suggested that I get Jasmine the Star Buster Star Blaster.' Said Mesa.

'I am sure she will. That woman's stubbornness and tenacity is unmatched, so she will definitely master it. And Ophis is rarely wrong in these instances.' Said Albion.

"How is it going there Jasmine? You having any difficulties?" Asked Mesa across the telepathic link they had set up prior to their attack on the island to facilitate constant communication between the two of them.

"Oh please, as if these things are anything more than a training exercise. The only difficulty I am having is regulating the power output on the Star Buster Star Blaster." Answered Jasmine.

It was right at that moment that a Chamarid dropped its camouflage and launched its muscular tongue at him. At that moment, his Observation Haki went off and warned him of the imminent attack and he used Trick Dodge to teleport away from the attack. Following the tongue back to its owner, he saw the Chamarid suspended in the tree, pulling back its tongue and in the process of using its camouflage to reposition himself for second attack. Pulling out a kunai from his inventory, Mesa infuses it with plenty of lightning and then tossing at the Chamarid with great speed. And the result of this is the kunai blasting its way through the Chamarid's head, killing it instantly, and then straight through the tree behind it.

When the Chamarid falls to the ground dead and starts dissipating, another one that was hidden and crept up from behind Mesa lunged at him. Turning around with lightning speed, Mesa drew the Yamato and when he was turned, slashed out and horizontally bisected the Chamarid from mouth to tail killing it instantly.

After that was when the real party got started. Looking around, he saw that he was completely surrounded by dozens of Chamrids scampering around in the trees as they all dropped their camouflage. And from the looks of it, they were ready to strike. As for Mesa, he was standing there, looking around excitedly, and chuckling to himself.

"Yeah, come on! Just threaten me with a good time, why don't ya!" Said Mesa all giddy and excited to the Grimm around him with Excalibur in the right hand and the unsheathed Yamato in the left hand.

And like a dam that had suddenly burst, they rushed at him, either bodily or their tongues shot out. With blinding speed, he moved through those attacks like a blur and sliced the Grimm apart with great relish. And sometimes he would teleport if he couldn't evade an attack and then rush the Grimm. Appearing at the flank of one, he sliced down with Excalibur and with golden light burned the Grimm to ash in an instant. Appearing in front of a group of three, he slices with Yamato and horizontally bisected all three simultaneously. Seeing one come at him from above, Mesa teleports above the Chamarid and comes down with both swords through its skull, nailing it to the ground before pulling his swords and kicking the dead Chamarid into a group of onrushing Grimm and finishing it off by swinging Excalibur spinning at them and slicing them to bits. With Yamato now left in his hand, he grabs it with both hands, and turns around and unleashes a mighty swing and not only kills at the 10 Chamarids behind him, but also slices apart a chunk of the forest behind them. Holding out his hand to the side, Excalibur came back swinging right back into his hand.

Some of the Chamarids decided to stay in the trees and shoot out their tongues at Mesa, which he obviously avoided. Using the spectral swords hovering near him, he shoots them at the Chamarids straight through their brains and killing them outright. And on and on it went. Turning himself into a spinning drill with Excalibur as the point and Yamato at his side, he barrels through the Chamarids unimpeded and slicing them apart who so over came into contact with him, marking his first use of Deep Stinger. Placing Excalibur on his back again, he unleashes Judgement Cut End.

"As fun as this all this, I believe it time to take things up a notch." Said Mesa to himself, after killing what had been at least 150 Grimm.

Teleporting away from the Grimm, he stands on a thick tree branch and closes his eyes. Though the Grimm were nowhere near purged in the area and still rushing him, he cared not. With them no longer being in the Profound Sky Continent, he now had the chance to unleash a power he hadn't had the chance to use. Feeling the power of Vergil's blood in his body practically sing at this opportunity, he gathered the demonic power and unleashed it.

SIN DEVIL TRIGGER

With an explosion of azure blue light, blowing away the Chamarids that had gotten close to Mesa, there stood in the most powerful expression of Vergil's demonic power. Standing there, Mesa felt such ungodly power flow through him that it was nigh intoxicating. Looking at the Chamarids, he noticed something. First, they suddenly moved so much slower that it looked like they were moving through thick oil. And secondly, they were suddenly going insane and rushing him without any tactics. This, he thought, must be the effect that his demonic aura was having on the Grimm. They lose all semblance of sanity and turn into bloodthirsty berserkers and rush at the source of whatever is causing it.

Standing still for a moment, Sin Devil Trigger Mesa explodes into movement and practically genocides the Grimm around him. From an outside standpoint, it was like the Grimm were standing still one moment and then suddenly, they were all sliced apart and Mesa appeared somewhere else. With, apparently, all the Grimm on the island going berserk at once and unleashing a roar that reverberated through the skies with a BOOM, Mesa knew he was vastly outnumbered and the one target for all the Grimm on the island. Sheathing the Yamato back into the arm mounted flaming blade on his left arm, he grabbed a Chamarid with his bare demonic hands and tore it in two with no more difficulty than tearing a marshmallow in two. Another one that rushed him, he just kicked in the head and its head just exploded into chunks. Another one he used as club to beat a second one to death with it and it obviously killed the first one. Killing these things had just become that easy for him right now.

On the south side of the island, Jasmine was having her own battles against the Centinel Grimm. Currently however, she was dodging the bladed arm swipes and acid spits of a Cenitaur Grimm, the alpha version of a Centinel Grimm. In her right hand, she held a crimson rifle that looks a lot like a smaller version of an M1 Garand, this is the Star Buster Star Blaster in its rifle form.

"Come on Jasmine, control your power. Don't feed the Star Blaster too much power or too little." Said Jasmine to herself as she effortlessly dodges the latest bladed arm swipe, she aims the Star Buster Star Blaster at the Cenitaur's head and pulls the trigger. The result was a huge beam of crimson light that annihilated the Cenitaur's upper body and everything behind it as the beam shot into the sky.

"Dammit Jasmine, too much power! Control yourself!" Cursed Jasmine, chiding herself.

When the Cenitaur's lower half drops to the ground dead and starts dissipating, a whole gaggle of Centinels start bursting out of the ground, surrounding Jasmine in a circle.

"Alright, let's bring out Star Buster." Said Jasmine as she took off her glasses and activated her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception while simultaneously changing the rifle in her hand with a quick flash of crimson light into a crimson sword.

Pretty soon, the first Centinel launches itself at her with wide open jaws. When it was just about to hit her, she jumped right over it and swiped down with Star Buster, decapitating it and slicing a deep furrow in the ground underneath it. In midair, another Centinel launches itself at her, but instead of directly at Jasmine, it suddenly veered off and tried to coil itself around Jasmine in an attempt to trap her. Clicking her teeth together, Jasmine stops time and uses this opportunity to reposition that particular Centinel towards the group below her and around other Centinels that were just about to spit acid at her previous position.

Looking around, Jasmine sees dozens of those Centinels popping out the ground and even a Cenitaur or 7 that came with them and she ponders for a moment: "It would be so very easy to just kill all you right here, right now."

"But that would just not be fun when they can't even fight back and I also have to practice with Star Buster Star Blaster under pressure if I want to control it."

So grabbing more Centinels, she fits as many as possible around the one that was trying to coil itself around her. When that was done, she stood in front of this time frozen coil of Centinels and grabbed Star Buster with both hands ready to deliver the death slash.

"Alright Jasmine, control your power. Slice just these Centinels apart and not the mountain face behind it." She told herself as she took a few deep breaths and manipulated her power output into the sword. When she felt that she was ready, she clicked her teeth and unleashed the slash. In the moment that time started to flow again, the Centinel had coiled itself around eight other Centinels. But before they were even capable of processing what just happened, all nine suddenly sliced apart by their prey that for inexplicable reasons stood on the ground in front of them.

And the result was just as she hoped for. Using her own blinding speed, she appears on the back of one of the Cenitaurs with the muzzle of Star Blaster aimed at its head and blasting its head clean off. She was smiling with joy because she knew she beginning to get the hang of Star Buster Star Blaster. At that moment, all the Grimm suddenly unleash an earsplitting screech that resounded through the air like a BOOM. So loud in fact that she had cover her ears in order not to go deaf. After that, all the Grimm that had surrounded her and were ready to strike suddenly hightail it out of there and all went to the north side of the island, indicating that it Mesa was behind it somehow.

"What the hell is going at Mesa's end?" She said as she looked in the northern direction and soon got her answer. For what she sensed was a demonic aura emanating from the north side of the island, meaning that Mesa must have activated that devil form she saw back at the Azure Dragon God Trial ground.

"Mesa, did you activate that devil form from back at the Primordial Azure Dragon God Trial?" Asked Jasmine.

"Yes, I did. I reckoned that since we were no longer in the Primal Chaos Dimension, I can use the Sin Devil Trigger without fear of being noticed by any of the Gods Realm inhabitants. Though it has got the Grimm around me going in an utter frenzy all of a sudden." Said Mesa.

"Oh so that is what it is called. Well, it is not just the Grimm around you. They have gone mad here on the south side and are rushing right at you as we speak." Said Jasmine.

"Sorry about taking all your kills Jasmine, I didn't think that it would have this effect on them." Said Mesa.

"Don't worry about it. If you take care of all the Grimm, I will go and look for a new place for us to settle down out new base." Said Jasmine.

"Will do."

And with that, the telepathic link went dead and Jasmine looked around for a suitable location where they could create their new main base on Remnant. From here, they could operate all their other bases on Remnant that they had currently or that they would have in the future and it would be here where they would create a training area for themselves.

(A.N.: The price for Star Buster Star Blaster is 50 million system credits.)

(Infinity Trial #2 - Day 10 - Grimm counter: 15,421)