The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Twenty, Slip of the Tongue.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Solitas, Atlas, Atlas Academy Vault, 'Creation' Dimension-
The wind swished and swayed across the endless green meadow, filled to the brim with yellow, white and blue flowers, as three large gray circles of stone were situated near the center of this endless expanse of flora.
Towards the last of the stone circles was a large dark gray rectangular door with a pale blue rectangular pattern on its surface, who's center revealed a dark crystalized expanse of stone and ice on the other side that heavily contrasted the green meadow itself, as two stone pillars stood within the center stone like a monument to some unknown civilization's accomplishments.
Within the circle closest to the gateway were four young women, with a short fair skinned young girl with long spiky semi choppy black hair with red tips, silver eyes, a C cup chest and small ass, wearing a black red lined lace-up corset with four buckles hanging loose, a mesh sleeveless top, a white low cut long sleeved blouse, a red pleated skirt which is split on the sides a small brown belted strap across the gap of the skirt, a black choker, a long red hooded cape attached to her shoulders by silver rose-like emblem clips, black bracers with large brown buckled straps, black fingerless gloves, a brown belt with a gray rose emblem-like emblem in the center, several bullets around the belt's sides and a pouch with a small corgi like emblem on the right side of the belt, brown mesh tights, bright red shorts, black thigh-high steel-toe red heeled boots sporting red soles, a single buckled strap on the foot, a rear seam sides, a large brown buckled strap containing pouches attached to the tops, and had a massive red and white scythe attached to her back by a gray magnetic clip on her belt, in front of the other girls with a serious expression on her face as the white haired girl, one Weiss Schnee, was holding a gold staff in her hands.
The camera shifted from this girl towards an extremely tall glowing blue skinned man with short spiky light blue hair sporting a long ponytail held together by a golden ring that went down to his thighs, long elongated pointed ears with gold studded earrings on the sides, dark blue eyes, wearing nothing at all except for a gold arm ring on the upper left arm, gold bracers on the wrists with gold chains dangling from the bottoms, gold vine-like ornaments on the right thigh and lower left leg, a golden ankle bracelet on the right leg, and several gold chains wrapped around his torso that crossed the chest and was held together by a golden spear-like point in the middle, who seemed to expel a blue smoke-like aura from his body as he floated right in front of the girls.
This being was the spirit of creation, Ambrosius, who looked upon the group, Team RWBY and current Winter Maiden formerly android Penny, who just gained a new body thanks to the Relic of Creation, with annoyance, given he has been stuck in the Relic of Creation for centuries and maintaining the city of Atlas' ability to fly and due to the fact he just helped them with one thing and to be frank.
He just wanted to leave.
"Oh, it's you guys again." He said with a frown, making Weiss annoyed at the spirits' antics.
"We're not done with you yet." She frowned while Ruby's mind started to wander a little, deviating from her own plan for the smallest of nanoseconds.
For in all the universe, a single question popped up to change the fate of all.
That question?
What if there was another way to fight Salem?
Yes, they could make a last defiant message and get everyone from the sister cities away from Solitas and right towards Vacuo...but was it the right choice?
They could flee, hide away until the time was right, let Salem destroy a Kingdom meant to be the beacon of hope, despite its antics.
But one day, or even years from now….will it be worth it? To save everyone but at the cost of the dignity of a hero, one that could stop Salem here and now?
Then it hit her, she was in the presence of the spirit of creation, a being that could make ANYTHING happen. While the rules state that destruction wasn't possible….perhaps a negative could become a positive?
"Ugh, fine." the spirit groaned while crossing his arms and looking away.
But as the older sibling stepped forwards, a voice rang out across the grassy fields, sealing everyone's fate.
"I want you to make me like Salem!" Ruby yelled out, shocking her team and friend in the process as the spirit turned around, seemily intrigued and mortified at the same time. "I want to become like Salem to save everyone!"
"Excuse me, did I just hear that right? You want...to be like Salem?" Ambrosius asked while scratching his head.
"Yes. I want to have all of her powers, her magic, her skills, her knowledge, even her immortality." Ruby frowned. "I need you to make me just like her, but more powerful."
"Ruby?!" Weiss yelled in disbelief. "What are you thinking?! That wasn't the plan!"
"Well, I just changed it!" She frowned while turning to Weiss. "I'm tired of running, we need to stop her here and now before something else happens!"
"Ruby." Blake said with a frown. "This isn't the right way."
"And making portals to Vacuo isn't?!" She snapped, her anger and frustration reaching a boiling point. "All we have ever done is run! Running from Vale, running from Haven, running from Grimm, running from Atlas! Well, I'M SICK OF IT!"
Yang frowned at this and walked over to Ruby. "Ruby, just calm down before you do something stupid."
She backed away and glared. "Yang! This idea WILL work! When I have the same powers as Salem we can beat her! If we get her into a bad position then we can make her sign a peace treaty or something! Just let me do this!"
"Friend Ruby, this isn't a good idea." Penny said with concern, making the Silver Eyes even more frustrated.
"Please Penny, just trust me." She said before turning to the spirit. "Just turn me into a better Salem. Her everything combined with my own."
"Mmmm, that sort of thing requires perfect accuracy and is extremely dangerous." He muttered while Ruby narrowed her eyes, sick and tired of being told about safety concerns.
"Mr. Ambrosius, I'm going to say this only once. I want to be like Salem, a better version of her. I want her immortality, her control over the Grimm, her magical powers, her millennia sized knowledge and skills, her beauty, her curves that milk can't give me!" She growled while her eyes glowed silver. "I want massive aura reserves, her regeneration, her charisma, and her physiology while KEEPING my Silver Eyes, my semblance, my own skills and knowledge, my marksmanship, and anything else I have! I want to win this war and I need this power so that no one else dies! Now. MAKE ME LIKE SALEM!"
The wind gently brushed against the endless field of grass as Ambrosius stared at the human with a hint of nervousness, given that someone wants to become another Salem, a being that was villainized by the combined factors of the gods and her own personal tragedies.
Normally such a request would be turned down on the grounds of insanity...but for the artistic spirit of creation, he wanted to try to replicate such a hodgepodge of events and improve them. For all he knew, maybe the power of the Silver Eyes could counteract the negative aspects of the change?
"I see...are you really sure you want this? The damages to one's mind-"
"I have seen too much death in my life, I must have this power before Salem destroys us all! Spirit of the staff, transform me into a being rivaling Salem!" Ruby yelled, interrupting the spirit as her team began to ready their weapons to prevent their leader from doing something stupid.
ZAP!
WOOSH!
However, a stream of cyan smoke and yellow lighting hit Ruby before anyone could intervene, Ambrosius' hands glowing a bright blue color as his powers went to work.
ZAP!
ZAP!
The smoke began to turn a dark tar like color as it began to cover the girl's body, the now red lightning zapping in every direction and setting alight the endless fields of grass in the process.
"What have you done!?" yelled Weiss as the group turned to the spirit with pure shock plastered on their faces.
"My job, obviously. And since it is done, I best-"
SHINK!
CLANK!
But before he could finish his sentence, several thick purple energy chains erupted from the smoke and grabbed both Ambrosius and the Relic of Creation before yanking them towards the cloud of smoke.
"This I didn't expect!" Ambrosius yelled before vanishing into the smoke, although Weiss tried her best to hold onto the staff, even with Yang's strength, before the ancient relic of the gods vanished as well into the smoke.
"Is that a good thing?" asked Penny while Blake's ears stood on end, the fur sensing something was amiss within the smoke cloud.
"It's not." Blake said while the smoke started to disappear, only for her eyes to widen in shock at the sight in front of her.
For in place of girl with an honest soul was an extremely tall marble skinned young girl with long wavy bleach white hair with dull crimson tips that went down to her legs and had eight long thorn-like offshoots hanging from the back of her head and wrapped in curved silver bands, bright silver eyes with a single black iris, thick silver veins going down her neck and arms, a single silver diamond shaped mark on the forehead, long curved silver horns that jutted from her forehead, a small silver crown covered in purple flames between her horns, a H cup chest and large ass, long black nails with triangular tips, wearing a long sleeved black robe covered her legs with a single silver slit going up the sides to reveal her hips, waist, and lower armpits, a thick silver trimmed low collar, a rose shaped window over her bust that revealed a gaping black eye-like hole in the middle of her neck, long red scarf like trails going down her collar that were covered in black diamond shaped scales and had pointed white finger-like talons at the ends, a silver corset with deep red lacing made of purple energy that crisscrossed around her back in an 'X' formation, a long eye shaped shawl with dark crimson lining and a single white rose acting as the iris, slim silver wristbands covered in thorn-like spikes, silver high heeled boots with deep red talons above the toes and replacing the heel, and several purple energy chains oozing out of the hole in her neck, who appeared from the dissipating black cloud of smoke, the chains dragging the golden Relic of Creation towards her before it vanished into said hole, a metallic golden eye forming over the spot before it was covered by marble skin.
In essence...they saw another...Salem.
The figure looked upon the group, her once kind nature seemingly disappeared and replaced by a cold apathetic one as the remaining members of Team RWBY moved around Penny and formed a protective circle.
"Ruby. Are you there?" Yang asked, her body ready for combat but her expression is mixed between hurt and hopeful, given that this new being in front of her is still her sister at heart.
The woman stared at the group before instantly vanishing in a flurry of black wind.
SQUISH!
Only to appear in front of the group, energy chains forming around Blake, Weiss and Yang's necks as she pulled them into the hole in her neck.
Penny's eyes widened in disgust and horror as the three Huntresses bodies were crushed, broken and forced through the hole like a meat grinder, her human stomach buckling from the goreish death as the woman's body glowed purple, white and orange for a brief second.
"..." she stared at Penny while nonchalantly flicking a leftover scalp fragment, still containing a bit of white hair, off her lower right chin with her left finger, noting that Penny was trying to comprehend the notion of throwing up as she placed her right hand over her head.
"Mmm...ugh….friend...Ruby..." Penny groaned while the woman patted her head, seemingly with affection. "...w...why?"
"..."
SNAP!
And like that, Penny, the Winter Maiden of Atlas, had her neck snapped by a firm twist of her own head by the woman's hand, her flaming blue eyes dimming before the aura of the Winter Maid vanished from the world just as the body fell to the ground, lifeless.
"...because only I can save everyone." the woman said coldly before disappearing from the vault, the endless flames consuming the body of Penny, sparing her from the touch of rot.
(Elsewhere)
-Atlas, Remains of Monstra-
Within the destroyed Grimm's crater, covered in Gravity Dust and Grimm Ooze, the form of Salem, Queen of the Grimm, could be seen reforming from the attack made by Ozma's current reincarnation.
However, as she looked around her, she noticed something was...off.
For one, the city of Atlas was not covered in a thick black hurricane that fired bolts of red lighting in every direction, the screams of the residences inside being muffled by the high gusts of wind making up the storm's interior.
The other strangeness that made the immortal blink in confusion was the fact that her army, her loyal Grimm...were fighting each other.
"RRROOARR!"
"SKIII!"
Salem looked around, noting that some of the Grimm's eyes were pure silver, as she tried to command them to stand down with her magical powers. "CEASE!"
But to no avail as the Grimm continued to fight, causing the immortal to question her own strength, the first in a few millenia.
"What is going on?" she muttered before seeing a flash of silver light and a blast of dark colored hurricane force winds appear near one of Atlas's walls, parallel to her position.
WOOOOSH!
SHINK!
SQUISH!
Salem blinked in confusion before looking at her chest, seeing the remains of a golden handled longsword impaled within her left bosom as Hard Light Dust was flickering from reality on the blades' sides, and then looked upon the direction the blade was thrown from.
"...Salem." spoke the doppelganger, as Salem mentally called the imposter, as she stood on the edge of the wall with the severed head of the same blonde boy that moments ago helped Ozma escape her grasps, in her right hand. "Your time has come to an end."
"And who exactly are you?" Salem asked while pulling the blade from her boson and threw it across the snow covered field.
"Once, I was Ruby Rose." she said, the immortal's eyes widening in surprise as the woman's energy chains began to form from her arms and neck hole, taking the shape of a massive chain-like snake in the process. "But now, you may call me Ruby, Queen of Remnant's End. To protect the world from you, I must destroy you and the world to rebuild it from the ashes, with my hands."
Salem narrowed her eyes, feeling her blood boil even more than usual, with the intensity not felt since the age of gods, as she summoned dark balls of magic in her hands, ready to defeat this imposter. "Such arrogance."
ZAP!
BOOM!
Salem smirked as the magical balls of darkness shot towards the silver eyed woman and caused her upper body to explode, leaving only the lower legs exposed on the wall itself. "Pathe-"
However, her voice trailed off as the upper body of Ruby began to reconstitute itself, regaining its original structure and attire instantaneously as Salem realized something familiar about the imposter to her throne.
"Y-You! You replicated MY curse!? What in the names of the cursed brothers were you trying to accomplish by making yourself immortal!?"
"C..cur..se?" she said while her head reformatted, the tongue sticking out of the open lower jaw as the muscle and sinews began to connect with the jawbone. "I..Isn't...a curse. It's...a...gift. The Relic of...Choice is mine...and with it, the...weapon needed to destroy you!"
As the former Huntress raised her hands up, the Grimm sporting the silver eyes of their mistress, turned from their red eyed opponents and towards the millienium old sorceress with the intent to destroy.
"Now." she smirked, the energy chains forming on her back and raising her above the ground like tentacles, as the hurricane winds began to blow faster and faster behind her. "Destroy her my army! Destroy her and then, destroy this world!"
The Grimm, now placed into a blood frenzy, rushed towards the immortal, the screen becoming blackened by their bulk as everything went silent.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Ruby Xiao Long Rose/Ruby, Queen of Remnant's End (Slip of the Tongue Ruby Rose- STRRRWBY)
Age: 17
Affiliation: Ultimate Evil.
Dimension: - 00010901230019- 10 STRRRWBY
Abilities: Supernatural strength, speed, agility, durability, endurance, adaptability, balance and intelligence, high marksmanship, Silver Eyes (enhanced), Scythe knowledge and handling, Huntress skills and knowledge, limited hand to hand combat skills, limited martial art skills, god like aura levels, Grimm physiology (internal), Grimm Ooze manipulation, self metamorphosis, smoke creation/manipulation, Grimm control, high magical knowledge and skills, astral projection (via smoke), god like regeneration, size manipulation, toxic nails, energy chain manipulation, creation energy manipulation (via Relic of Creation), natural phenomenon manipulation (via Relic of Creation), portal creation (via Relic of Creation), knowledge and technique stealing, high charisma.
Semblance(s): Petal Burst/Speed (Formerly), Winds of Despair (a mutated form of Petal Bust/Speed that has been bombarded with both the Relic of Creation's magical powers and the Immortality Curse of the gods thrusted upon the user's body. Through the use of magic, the user can create hurricanes from a simple flick of the fingers, move at near light speed in the blink of an eye or phase through matter. Normally dangerous due to the high amounts of aura required to maintain the semblance, but when paired with the Curse of Immortality, that effect is negated.)
Bio: In this timeline, when Team RWBY, plus Penny, finished using the Relic of Creation to give Penny a new human body, before Weiss could use the relic to create an escape route for Atlas and Mantle, Ruby, in an instance of doubt and fear, asked out loud if the spirit of the relic, Ambrosius, could turn her into a being like Salem to save everyone, since the immortal was a former heroine and with her powers, could save Remnant if placed in the 'right' path. Taking the request seriously, the spirit infused Ruby with all of Salem's powers, knowledge, skills and magic but in the process, gave the girl the negative aspects of Salem, magnified tenfold, along with the Curse of Immortality. Losing all of her original values and becoming an immortal monster, she took the relic and infused her body with its powers, preventing her former team from disrupting the relic's powers and killing them before utilizing half of Salem's forces to counteract the immortal. The battle between the two immortals destroyed Mantle and Atlas, caught in the crossfire, as their battles became eternal, neither side killing the other or causing lasting damage, as the entire planet suffered from their conflict. All because of a single slip of the tongue.