Stopping at the midpoint of its story, Grimm Ruby remained still on one of the chairs. The others were sitting not around it, but the original Ruby, as they did what they could to offer what little comfort they could after that horrific and degrading experience. Her Grimm self was silently envious of the attention she was getting. It did, after all, remember having the same awkward meetings, enduring the same brutal hardships, and forging the same long friendships. It even recalled the horrific nightmare Salem inflicted upon her in its own mind, for they only became separate after that took place.
Given these unique circumstances, however, Grimm Ruby couldn't blame them, or the original, for this discrimination. In fact, it couldn't help but feel guilty for what Ruby endured that night. Even if it was only the byproduct of such a wicked act, even if it didn't actually subject her through that torture itself, the simple fact that there's a person in the world that was so willing to cross every moral boundary imaginable to create it made it shoulder the blame.
"That can't be the truth!" Yang exclaimed, cradling her sister. She glared at Grimm Ruby while fighting back tears. "Tell me you're lying!"
"Yang…" Grimm Ruby tried to speak.
"TELL ME YOU'RE MAKING THIS UP!" Yang screamed. "It's not enough for Salem to destroy the world? That bitch had to defile my baby sister?"
"This is unforgivable," Ren added with an icy hatred in his voice.
In that instant, the consequences of revealing the truth were clear. Not only did Ruby have to face what really happened to her that night, but her friends and family would be heartbroken just hearing about it. This, the sentient Grimm assumed, must be the kind of despair Ozpin kept secrets so desperately to avoid. This was getting harder with each passing minute, but it was too late to turn back now.
"Yeah, it is," Grimm Ruby said, continuing its story. "I couldn't forgive her either."
Recalling the moment that it, quite literally, chucked Salem through a wall in her own castle, it replayed the scene. It walked slowly and menacingly across the room; its body completely covered in dark flames that left scalding footprints with each step. To the ever-increasing astonishment that each present member of Salem's cabal expressed, it ignored them without even a hint of acknowledgement.
"At the time, the only one I was really angry with was Salem," Grimm Ruby explained, thinking of Cinder, Emerald, and Tyrian. "There were other people there, too. People we…uh, you fought against before. They were all bad in their own ways, but…nothing they've ever done, no evil they could ever be capable of could compare to what Salem did. That's why…I wanted to leave them alone."
Grimm Ruby would not have the one object of its hatred all too itself, however. Emerging from the darkness between the halls was an entire legion of Grimm, obediently coming to Salem's defense. Many of them were considered "classics" that have been around since the beginning: Beowolves and Beringels made up the majority of this force. The only thing that stood out were the wings that protruded from each Beringel's back, like they were grafted on by a mad scientist. Considering that the original Ruby started her career as a Huntress with Beowolves in particular, it's fitting that this one start with the same. Hovering in the back were many of Salem's personal messengers: the Seers, which seldom take up combat roles.
"It was kind of weird," Grimm Ruby said. "You'd think that being in the enemy's castle, there'd be a lot more Grimm. Or at least, they'd be stronger ones. Not just wolves, monkeys, and crystal balls, you know? At first, I wondered if it was like that because the stronger Grimm were outside at the time. Like maybe…Salem wasn't expecting me to turn on her like that and didn't have more security. Or maybe, building me just took a lot out of her Grimm pool. Maybe there's some limit to it."
Though the members of Salem's cabal were granted clemency for the time being, the other Grimm wouldn't be so fortunate. Salem's newest creation suddenly broke its slow, menacing stride with a quick dash, closing the distance between its fellow Grimm and leaving a huge burst of dark flames in a line across the castle floor. It leaped mid-dash, landing on the nearest Beowolf with claws out, and pinned it down with its heel before it could react.
Upon impact, the floor underneath the two shattered, and more flames erupted like a geyser. Any other Grimm unfortunate enough to have been close to the point of impact was instantly immolated, including the Beowolf that was pinned down. Out of a defensive instinct, it tried to sink its own claws into Grimm Ruby's body first, only for what could loosely be described as the piercing sound of scraping metal to echo through the halls.
Remaining defiant to the end, the Beowolf attempted to bite down on Grimm Ruby's face, only for the latter's claw pierce through its mouth and out the back of its skull before it could close its jaw. It pulled its arm upward, ripping the top of the Beowolf's head clean off, then moved on to a nearby Beringel that flew out of the flames' trajectory. It leaped once more, sinking its claws in the Beringel's chest armor, only to be struck by its target's bulky fist. The blow would have sent Grimm Ruby flying, had its claws not been so deep in the Beringel's chest to the point that one of its bony biceps were partially torn out.
Two Seers latched onto Grimm Ruby's legs with their barbed tentacles, both on separate legs, and attempted to pry it off the Beringel. All that accomplished was the Beringel being pulled out of the air with it, as it sank its claws both in its chest and underneath its bony bicep. As soon as both Grimm struck the floor, Grimm Ruby pulled itself back up to continue mutilating the Beringel.
Even as more Seer tentacles wrapped tightly around its body, its attacks was unceasing, giving no thought to self-preservation. It tore into the gorilla-like Grimm's black flesh over and over as it slowly moved up the creature's chest. Once its arms were restrained by the Seers' tentacles, it resorted to finally caving in its skull with its heel. Grimm Ruby quickly moved on to its next targets: the two Seers that continue to restrain it.
"Doesn't sound like any Grimm we fought," Nora interjected.
"They're usually more aggressive than that," Jaune agreed.
"Yeah. Looking back now," Grimm Ruby pondered out loud, "they did act strange. It was almost like they weren't really trying to kill me. This was nothing like the ones outside Atlas, when they practically threw themselves at me. Maybe they were just trying to restrain me. Maybe…Salem still wanted to use me."
"She put all that effort into making you," Weiss pointed out. "She'd be back at square one if she just killed you."
"Yeah, but after I was done with those Seers—"
Grimm Ruby claws were covered in the black smoke of the two Seers it ripped through. Its arms were covered with the slowly fading remains of the tentacles that it casually burned off with the dark flames it could exert from its body. Before it had a chance to move on to continue its rampage, it was instantly struck by a massive beam of magical energy that engulfed its entire body. Not only was the beam strong enough to send it flying through a wall opposite of the one it sent its creator through just a moment ago, but its left arm and right leg were both completely disintegrated by that one attack.
"—Salem didn't hold anything back at all."
Seething in pain, it slowly forced itself on its knees, glaring at the hovering witch that emerged from the other hall. Due to her curse, Salem's jaw and neck had completely regenerated from the extensive damage. With tendrils of lightning sparking from her fingertips, Salem countered this vicious assault with a seething fury that rivaled that of her most powerful creation. The steady stream of lightning that struck its chest kept Grimm Ruby on its knees, even as it tried to stand and fight in its state.
The remaining Grimm that stood behind the hovering Salem approached, walking toward Grimm Ruby in a pack to deliver retribution on the former's behalf. The latter, though crippled, glared back at its creator with a defiant rage; its red eyes unwavering and its mouth silent, even as the painful lightning coursed through its body. For even without words, the intent between the loyal pack of murderous creatures and the rebellious magnum opus was clear.
"Most Huntsmen and Huntresses don't realize it, but the reason most Grimm don't talk is because we don't need to," Grimm Ruby explained with a sigh. "Still getting used to the idea that I'm one of them. We sense negativity like…uh, actually, I'm not sure how to say it in people words."
"Telepathy?" Blake guessed.
"No, it's not something in the mind. Some Grimm don't even have real brains. Some are like…hands attached to people's arms or evil tentacles that—"
Ruby flinched when she heard the phrase "evil tentacles," which the others noticed.
"O-oh!" Grimm Ruby realized the disgusted stares it was getting. "Ruby, I'm so sorry I…my point is that…this is something that Grimm can feel…everywhere; like our entire being feels when someone's scared or angry or—" It looked at Ruby once more, noting her legs quivering. "—or traumatized. And since Grimm attract other Grimm in the same way, we can sense what others ones feel. It's how other Grimm understand each other without real words."
Its mind returned to the retelling of its fight with Salem. At this point, the remaining Grimm descended upon it, intending to savagely attack Grimm Ruby while it was weakened. Despite the crippling injuries, however, it crawled toward the oncoming horde with the same unconstrained fury.
"And that's why there's no point in begging for mercy against the Grimm!" Grimm Ruby said with a sincere spite for its own kind. "All they care about is killing, no matter what!"
Its entire body was covered by the Creatures of Grimm, that bit and clawed and punctured every inch of it, yet its iron will remained steadfast. Even the idea of an inglorious death wasn't enough to make it falter. It would have went down fighting; using its own severed arm as a makeshift sword to take as many Grimm with it as possible. It was brutal and inhumane; a far cry from the stylistic fighting of a Huntress, yet something it couldn't have predicted was happening during what should have been a futile struggle.
Grimm Ruby's body was also regenerating, as the inherent negativity of the Land of Darkness could sustain its body. The mental and emotional agony that Ruby was still feeling also had a hand in restoring it. Once the first of the other Grimm were injured, even its limbs were slowly growing back, though it did so at a rate slower than Salem's curse could.
"That's how I found out," Grimm Ruby said, "I could draw strength from suffering and negativity."
After having gutted the first one with its severed arm stump, it impaled two more in a row. With each injured Grimm, its body regenerated faster than what little damage the remaining Grimm could inflict upon it. Once its limbs had finished regenerating, it stood tall again, even with four more Grimm trying to hold it down. Its angry gaze focused squarely on Salem, barely so much as acknowledging the other Grimm that, even now, continue to bite and claw at its skin.
The immortal witch responded with another magical assault; one equally as massive as the last one. This time, Grimm Ruby dashed out of harm's way, tossing one of the Seers attacking it in the blast's trajectory and burning the others. A long stream of dark flames caused a split on the floor in the chamber large enough to leave a visible crack. Salem's magic continued unimpeded by the Seer thrown in its path and ultimately struck many of the remaining Grimm, as well as the hallway behind them. The blast was strong enough to cause the roof of the hallway to collapse inward on itself, taking any stragglers with it.
Grimm Ruby leaped at its creator before she had time to cast another spell, digging its claws into her skin and scalding her body with dark flames. Its trajectory forced the two through one of the shattered windows, onto the roof of her castle. The sentient Grimm's mind only thought of how it could torment its creator even more; so much so that it was lacking any survival instinct and left itself open to attack. The attack in question was not of a magical nature, but a simple leg sweep that knocked Grimm Ruby off its feet.
One may think that Salem's preference for magic would suggest that she was physically weak, or would be if not for her curse. One would think wrongly, for though Grimm Ruby had initially overpowered Salem after catching her by surprise with its disobedience, the immortal witch actually possessed incredible physical strength…enough to catch its claw by the wrist with only one hand, in fact. Charged with magical energy across her arms, Salem's strength was enough to overpower that of her own creation, letting her twist its arm back while simultaneously pinning down its other arm with her knee.
"What a rebellious little experiment you are," Salem said, both composed and irritated. "The results were not as I could have hoped."
Grimm Ruby struggled relentlessly in this awkward position; not for freedom or respite, but to bite and claws at its creator even more. Unfazed by this, Salem responded at its attempts to bite her leg with its teeth by caving its skull hard enough to shatter the roof beneath its head. The dark flames that burst from its body after the impact caused the rest of the roof to corrode, leading to Grimm Ruby falling to the room below, while Salem hovered downward effortlessly.
"But you will be useful," she said, making beckoning gestures with her fingers. As she did so, many Grimm hands emerged from the ground, wrapping around the disobedient Grimm's body. "One way or another, this game is still mine to win. If you will not be my knight, you will be my pawn."
Grimm Ruby seethed through its fractured skull; its rage scalded the hands that sought to claim it for their own. Seeing its creation rebel against her even now, Salem unleashed another stream of lightning across its chest in an attempt to render it docile. Even that much only compelled it to rip and bite each hand, one by one, to refuel its strength once more.
Meanwhile, the confused onlookers watched Salem's clash with her own creation. A myriad of emotions coursed through each of them: confusion, betrayal, fear, and even a bit of sadness. There was one such onlooker that did not feel such sentiments, however. Cinder glanced at the original Ruby, who was still being tormented by the Tartarus. Noting that Salem preoccupied with her own creation, her feelings were more menacing and cruel; a product of her own desire. And in the midst of the chaos, she quietly approached the original Ruby, who was still bound by the Tartarus.
"I've waited so long for this," Cinder said to her. "The night you did this…" She pointed at her mask covering her missing left eye. "…has lingered with me every single day! I was strong! I had the power that was rightfully mine! And then you…"
Ruby remained unresponsive. The torment was so great that it left her comatose, even as the Tartarus ensnared her.
"You and your damned eyes came completely out of nowhere! Because of you, I was mocked! I had to be protected! I…was…WEAK! And now…now that I finally have you right where I want you…"
Cinder's gaze softened. A wry smile betrayed her anger.
"Killing you now would be an act of mercy. All I wanted was to snuff your life out," she said, her smile fading. "Not your dignity. What Salem did was far worse and…speaking of which…"
Cinder gave the clash between Salem and her newest creation another quick glance. She saw Grimm Ruby sink its claws in Salem's flesh once again…and shrugged it off with little fanfare. As far as she was concerned, her "all-powerful godmother" was strong enough to clean her own mess…and immortal enough to survive anything her experiment gone wrong could inflict upon her. Even as their fight raged through more parts of the castle, leaving destruction in its wake, Cinder merely rolled her eye. Fragments of black glass formed around her hand. They coalesced into the shape of a sword; one very similar to one half of the pair of Midnight swords she wielded before she claimed the Fall Maiden powers.
"Now that she got what she wanted from you," her face briefly contorted in disgust, "it's time I got what I want: your life. You know, destiny can be amusing at times. Yes, I admit it. Even when I look at your pitiful little face, a small part of me knows mercy. I will end your agony with something that I've been saving for just this occasion."
She twirled the glass blade around her hand; a masterful display of her old Semblance, seldom used ever since the acquisition of her Maiden powers. Meanwhile, both creator and creation burst into the room, this time through a wall, just in time for the latter to gouge Salem's eyes out with its claws and leave her momentarily blind, followed by ripping the rest of her face off with its teeth. As for how it was that the tide of their clash had turned as it did, Cinder hadn't been paying attention.
"After I bit Salem's face off, I saw it," Grimm Ruby explained, looking down at its claws and recalling the moment when it saw Cinder's sword poised over Ruby's chest. With Salem's eyes forced to regenerate, Grimm Ruby saw the moment that the original's life was threatened. That, above all else, ceased her Grimm self's rampage, or at the very least, changed the direction of it.
"You…bit Salem's face off?" Weiss asked, both disgusted and disbelieving. The others were equally disturbed, though remained silent.
"Yeah," Grimm Ruby said, then paused for a moment to let her take that in. "I wanted to leave the others alone. Key word being 'wanted.' But, uh…well, let's just say it didn't take long for me to change my mind."
"I'm going to carve out that bleeding heart of yours and hang it over my bed," Cinder said with a cruel smirk.
"Cinder?" Nora interrupted. "She went against Salem's orders?"
"Yeah," Grimm Ruby explained. "I guess the, uh…situation Ruby was in…made it hard to know what was going on around her. I was so angry then; about how I was born, about what Salem was doing to her, and just everything these sick urges make me feel in general!"
"The desire to destroy?" Jaune guessed, to which Grimm Ruby nodded.
"All I could think about was hurting Salem, about making her pay for everything! But when I saw what Cinder was about to do, it made me think of all the people she hurt…and killed. It made me realize…no, remember…what really mattered."
"Cinder!" Emerald yelled, seeing Grimm Ruby dash toward her. In an attempt to defend Cinder, she fired the chain from one of her revolver sickles, dubbed Thief's Respite, around the sentient Grimm's leg. The move was reminiscent of how she left Ruby incapacitated back in Haven, before her silver eyes could do any more than stun Cinder. The chain wrapped around its ankle…only to snap pitifully as the dark flames caused it to corrode. Her attempt to save Cinder thwarted; she only had time to gasp.
Cinder swung her blade down with a huge smile on her face…only to strike the flaming claw that intercepted the coup de grace. A quiet gasp left her lips, and she glared with flaming embers leaking from her eyes at the one responsible, only to see one very angry Grimm Ruby glaring back at her. A mere squeeze of the latter's claw was all it took to snap Cinder's glass sword to pieces.
"Even though I could have grabbed Cinder," Grimm Ruby explained, "maybe do the same scary things I did to Salem, I saw my own fire just inches away from Ruby. It made me stop to think, that I might hurt someone I didn't want to if I wasn't careful, so Cinder still had the first move. This is how I learned how everything around me burns when I move fast."
Ruby instinctively covered her arm where she was burned. It made her Grimm self wish it had shown that same caution before handing her its scythe in that fight with the Revenants. Even closing its eyes and pretending she wasn't there was futile. It could sense her trauma regardless. Once more, it continued recalling the details behind its origins, partially to distract itself.
"Speaking of burning, Cinder lashed out at me," Grimm Ruby said with a snide amusement. "You know, like she always lashes out at people when they get in her way."
After making a few feet of distance, Cinder instantly responded by conjuring dozens of flaming blades, hurling them all toward Grimm Ruby at once. The sentient Grimm simply responded by crossing its arms and shielding its face and upper chest, as the blades would have struck Ruby if it had moved. With no Aura-related protection, the blades struck Grimm Ruby immediately, though they did little more than leave scratches on its reinforced body.
Seeing how futile the usual glass attacks were, Cinder resorted to her stronger Maiden magic right away. The sight of anything casually casting aside so many blades was unnerving, but seeing it move completely unimpeded was something else entirely. Grimm Ruby sensed her trepidation. This was exactly what it banked on. Cinder responded by unleashing a stream of fire from her hand, immolating Grimm Ruby…who did little more than walk across the flames like some demonically-possessed Halloween movie monster.
"That 'brighter fire' actually hurt more than I let on," Grimm Ruby explained. "Sure, I can light my own fires, and that doesn't hurt me, but that magic fire was different. I'm…not sure how or why. I know the way I was fighting might seem weird, but scaring them was the point. If Cinder was all cool and confident, she might have just used her Semblance to separate her swords around me mid-flight and killed Ruby anyway. I had to make myself the bigger target. I had to make myself look scarier than I really was."
"What kind of monster are you?" Cinder asked, seething with anger to hide her fear. "What the hell did Salem make you?"
Seeing Grimm Ruby still approach her despite the flames, Cinder flew about twelve feet in the air, intending to wear down its resistance. The flames generated from the Fall Maiden's power did, in fact, harm Grimm Ruby. Its skin blistered and sparked from the heat; it was too different from its own dark flames, too incompatible. It just didn't show Cinder any discomfort, nor even attempt to put out the fire burning its skin. The emotional agony Ruby was still enduring, as well as the negativity inherent in Evernight's environment, was sustaining its body against one Maiden's magic.
Falling for the ruse, Cinder held her arm out again…but her target suddenly dashed across the floor, leaving a trail of both bright and dark fire that twirled across the floor for a moment before settling. She relentlessly channeled any element of magic in her disposal to kill this monster, no longer playing favoritism with the fire she usually wielded. Some bursts of magic struck it directly, others ended up in its path, and some were just evaded entirely.
It was useless. It moved too quickly. It cared not for itself, only sought out the blood of those that would do the innocent spark of light any further harm. It kicked itself off one of the pillars that supported the castle's roof, damaging it on impact and using it as a means to propel itself toward Cinder. Meanwhile, Emerald attempted to confuse Grimm Ruby with her Semblance, making it see many Cinders at once. This was a common tactic that the young thief would use to turn the battle in her master's favor.
Unfortunately for them, even that proved to be of little help. It might have been the possibility that Salem's attempt to reinforce its body with the original's suffering had also given it a tolerance to Semblances as well as brute force. It might also have been the fact that, like all Grimm, it could sense its own kind, and no illusions could mask Cinder's Grimm arm. Either way, Grimm Ruby gave Emerald a knowing look as it dashed; not an intimidating glare or a chilling threat, but the silent confirmation that she was truly and utterly powerless.
As a last ditch effort, Cinder channeled magic through both hands, intending to just burn this Grimm alive and be done with it. The full strength of her "bright flames" caused Grimm Ruby enough pain for the latter to recoil momentarily, which Cinder noticed. Even that didn't stop its aerial charge, however. Cinder hovered away from the incoming claw at the last moment, seeing as her magic did little to actually halt its attack. She was quick enough to avoid a directly blow to the head, but the claw struck her right cheek…and tore the right side of her lower jaw off with a single swipe.
"And that's when I realized…" Grimm Ruby said with a pause, as if that was necessary to emphasize how terrifying the implications really were, "Aura…doesn't stop me."
One hit. One hit was all it took to hear Cinder's anguish yell. It's one thing to do something like that to a Grimm, which never had the protection of Aura, and Salem would regenerate regardless of the injury. But to someone that had to rely on Aura, to someone taught to harness it every day to wield it as their shield, there was an exquisite fear to be felt in finding that such a tried-and-true force of strength and protection could be rendered all but null.
Thinking back, it only how occurred to it how much of a child Cinder really is. The hunger for power, the need for vengeance against any slight, the inflated entitlement…especially the entitlement; against someone smaller than her, she'd come out on top, but against a monster…a real monster, these cruel traits were a recipe that would only feed it. And feed the monster, it did. For even as Cinder clutched her bloodied face with her human hand and stood up to back away from the monster that inflicted it upon her, she refused to give up the vengeance she sought for so long, when it was now so close to her.
Through this defiance, Cinder forged a flaming javelin in her Grimm hand; an amalgamation of her Semblance and her Maiden magic, formed from both human ingenuity and monstrous rage. Just as Grimm Ruby was inches away from putting an agonizing end to the cruel Fall Maiden, it saw from her the same hateful glare it gave to Salem. And then…there was pain. In the instant between torn jaw and coup-de-grace, Cinder thrust her flaming spear through one of the sentient Grimm's red eyes.
It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul; that one could see a being's true self by looking through them. As the one part of Ruby that couldn't be twisted, even when copied in the form of a Grimm, it's only natural that the soul be the one truly precious side of her Grimm self. And so, its eyes are the one truly vulnerable part of its otherwise reinforced body. With its eye struck, Grimm Ruby screamed in agony, backing away a step. It was the first moment Cinder realized that this "magnum opus" wasn't as all-powerful as its clash with Salem made it out to be. And it was she with her cunning and tenacity, not Salem with her magic and immortality, that delivered such a blow.
Cinder's sadistic pride surged seeing the javelin sticking out of Grimm Ruby's eye socket. One more blow like that, and she might get the chance to gloat. And she might have done so, had she not underestimated her enemy's willingness not only to fight so ferociously, but suffer so agonizingly to defend another. Just as Cinder steadied her knee to strike, Grimm Ruby struck her kneecap so hard with its heel that her leg actually snapped backwards.
Just like that, the Fall Maiden's helplessness returned. She still refused to surrender; to let this monstrous visage of Ruby Rose walk all over her. This time, Grimm Ruby gave her no chance to strike back. It turned its face away, denying her any chance to strike its other eye, while also grabbing hold of its enemy's leg. It sank its claw in her thigh, drinking in her screams to sustain itself, and tore the rest of her lower leg clean off.
Such suffering could make even its eye regenerate, and the fear Emerald felt at such a gruesome scene made her unable to even defend Cinder now. Taking this moment of reprieve, it pulled the javelin out of its eye, snapping it in half with its claw. Seeing this monster's eye rejuvenate dissolved what remaining fury was left in Cinder. There was only fear in her eyes now, especially as it descended upon her once more and grabbed both sides of her mouth.
She knew what it was going to do. It was going to kill her the same way it left even Salem incapacitated for a moment, by tearing her whole face apart by her jaws. The sight of such cruelty was enough to frighten even Cinder, but that was nothing compared to being on the receiving end of it. Grimm Ruby felt from this Fall Maiden, a fear that contradicted with every second of smug cruelty from the original's memories. And it was now, in the moment that it was about to end her life, that it saw a trauma that lingered within her far longer than this fight. It couldn't make out what this trauma was; just that it was there.
Cinder screamed, twitching and clawing helpless at her attacker, even as her lips were slowly being peeled apart. Blood seeped through her mouth; the pain was excruciating. A single tear came down her remaining eye and…
"ENOUGH!" Salem yelled. Grimm Ruby's whole body seized stiff before it could finish Cinder off. Its claws were forced open and its body was forced upward in the air by magic, forcing it to let go of her. he only indication that Salem cast any kind of spell was the purple outline around its entire body.
Seizing this chance to help Cinder, Emerald sprinted toward her. She covered her mouth and held back her tears when she saw not only the extent of the former's injuries, but the way her pride could be crushed so utterly. The young thief glanced at the bound Grimm Ruby for a moment before taking this chance to get Cinder to safety. With its attention focused entirely on Salem once more, it gave her the same hateful glare Cinder gave it.
"You will not defy me forever," Salem said spitefully. Her fingers curled inward, and Grimm Ruby's body twisted backwards by the sheer force of her power. "You. Will. Learn. To. Dread. Me."
"Somehow," Grimm Ruby explained, "I saw every single thing Ruby had to suffer through because of her. Everything she lost, everything that hurt her, it was because of Salem. Then, it made me think of how other people felt, and everyone that died because of her. Even when I was a monster, even when I was so angry, I couldn't help but care. Salem will kill anybody, and that should scare me most of all, but what she did was worse than murder. All I could do then…was hate."
Its red eyes glowed with an all-consuming hate, even when the rest of its body was restrained. Its gaze was focused directly on Salem, and it yelled one word.
"BURN!"
Within seconds, a red light came from its eyes and engulfed Salem. She did not scream, but the purple outline around Grimm Ruby's body flickered. After a moment, the outline slowly turned as red as its eyes. Its body fidgeted more and more, until the outline itself shattered, and it broke itself free.
"My eyes didn't kill her," Grimm Ruby explained. "I think it might have something to do with her skin, but she's more Grimm than human. That's how I found out my eyes don't work on Grimm, but…it did…something to her."
As it rushed toward Salem with a renewed fury, it noticed her stance wasn't as imposing as it was before. It might have been a slouched knee or a lazy arm, but something was off about her. Something was out of focus. It was that reason that Grimm Ruby was able to close the distance between its creator so easily, and tear her arm off with little resistance. Her scream was subdued compared to Cinder's, but even then, it only responded by striking her with her own arm.
The pain must have given Salem a surge of adrenaline, because she was able to cast another blast of magic that sent Grimm Ruby through another wall. It would take about fifteen seconds or so for Grimm Ruby to claw its way out of the debris that fell on top of it. When it forced its claw out, followed by its face, it saw Salem hovering in the air once more. Her arm had regenerated, as she always would…except something was different this time.
Salem prepared to cast yet another spell. The pleasantries were all completely dispensed by now. She held her hands out…and saw her right hand. More specifically, her right thumb and index fingertip, which had only regenerated to bone without pale flesh. There was a moment of silence in the chaos, as the implications of this fell on anyone that was there to witness to it.
"What?" she whispered.
"That's how I found out," Grimm Ruby said, "I was more than just a obstacle for her. I was a threat."
Her right thumb bone cracked as she tried to move it, and her eyes widened.
"And then," Grimm Ruby quietly said, "I saw fear."