It took Yang a full minute to process and react to the laughing lunacy of what she had just heard in front of her. She slightly tilted her head, just like how Ruby did when she was extremely confused and disoriented.
"You are a Chosen?" she blurted. "Just like you" Safira giggled. "How- I mean, why are you looking like… I mean-" Yang rubbed her face to try and focus for a moment "why did you look normal back then?"
Blue Neon shook as Safira playfully tilted her head to mimic Yang "that is because, unlike you, I accepted the Elder with all my heart and soul."
She shook her shoulders and took a more serious expression "you kept fighting the Elder, tormenting your body and soul. You didn't just want to keep your humanity; you wanted to completely deny Grand Mother.
I did no such thing. When I first felt him calling me, I sought after him and struck a bargain. He wouldn't try using his usual antics on me and I would serve by being his agent on the world of the living" she winked.
"An agent on the living world?" Yang asked in disbelief. "This is why- this is why you massacred all those people in the Salem War? You did all that butchering and burning for the sake of this twisted animosity?"
Safira smiled again, but this time her face had a far more sinister tone than before "I served my King well" she whispered "and as a reward, he kept my soul in this observatory, waiting for a chance to be revived."
The blonde closed her mouth with her palm in shock. "I have seen all kinds of monsters and Grimm; and somehow you take the cake" she did an exaggerated motion of shaking her head in disbelief "you killed all those people- my friends included- just to appeal to the Mad King?!"
"What; do you expect me to apologize for acting this way?" the reptile faunus stuck her tongue out to her "no can do, sorry. I have not a single damn regret, so don't try imposing your sentiments on me, thank you."
Yang gulped in an attempt to halt her rage. Thankfully, without having to worry about the Grand Mother's influence such a thing was a tad easier. Then, in a moment of inspiration, she remembered something.
"I don't get a thing" she rubbed her neck "if you are the Mad King's chosen then why did your father intend to use your fake vessel in order to lure that monster and then have you seal it again? That makes no-"
"Oh, dad doesn't know I serve Charon" she winked at the brawler's shocked eyes and raised a finger to make a fake silencing motion "that is a secret between you and me ok? I trust you will keep it for a while."
"Say what?" lilac eyes opened and closed in successive blinks. "You- you mean you didn't tell your father you serve an apocalyptic monster that intends to torment the world just by existing?" Yang asked in disbelief.
No response. For some reason, that angered the blonde even more. "I asked you something! How could you? The man made a deal with the devil for you!" She didn't know why, but that girl angered her so much.
"No he didn't" Safira's tone turned back to serious again "dad searched for a way to bring me back for quite a while. I merely had Blekklat give him a push to the right direction by giving him some old ritual texts.
I did all the deals with the Mad King; dad just thought he did what I have actually been doing from the start; pulling the strings. But I know he wouldn't have acted different even if he knew I expected as such."
"You…" her voice trailed off. And then, in a sudden burst of anger, her hesitation stopped and Yang punched Safira's face with a powerful right cross. The blue-haired girl didn't manage to react and just fell down by the might of the fist, letting out a surprised and extremely pained yelp.
"You uncaring, obsessed, paranoid bitch!" lilac turned red in a second. "You exploited your father's love for you in order to make him help you return from the dead! He slit open his throat for a monster like you!"
"I am aware of that" the former maiden stood up, rubbing her cheek. "I don't care if you believe it or not, but I still love my dad, you know. He gave his everything for me and I truly appreciate what he sacrificed."
"That doesn't change the fact that you took advantage of his love" in a fit of anger, Yang stomped towards Safira. "If the one in control is you and not the Mad King's influence of course" the blonde girl added.
"Me or the Mad King?" Safira chuckled. "You are missing the point; you may actually have been missing it from the beginning, dear Yang. There is no 'me' vs the 'Mad King's possessed me' that you speak of. There is only me- Safira who is the priestess of the Mad King, that's all there is."
"That is-" "Same goes for you; there is no Yang Xiao Long and the Grand Mother's influence inside you" she licked her lips. "There is Yang Xiao Long who is Grand Mother's chosen host. Make what you want of this."
"Easy for a psycho to say" Yang clenched her fists and glared at Safira's face. "I never wanted this; I never wanted to lose my body and flesh to this! I wanted to live with the ones I love as a girl, not as a monster!"
"So did I; the difference is that I actually tried to do something about it instead of whining." Yang's eyes opened wide in the woman's words.
"The previous summer maiden made sure living a normal life was out of the question and then Theodore dragged my whole family into this. We lost mom before I even realized what happened; dad was devastated."
"You…" "Being hunted by Salem, targeted by Grimm, having Ozpin and his circle behind my back at every moment… I can't explain how much it sucks" the faunus exclaimed.
"My contract with the Mad King was the first thing I did on my own will. It gave me the one thing I yearned for; absolute, undeterred freedom. I know I did unspeakable things on Charon's name, but-"
In a rare serious tone, Safira crossed her hands beneath her chest "I am not going to lie; I would it again and again if needed. The difference you and I have is that I live for myself and no one else; you don't."
"We are not talking about one's way of life here!" Yang protested. Her face had turned wild from the rising anger and her eyes were so red they were practically glowing "we are talking of you offering humans to a soul-devouring Grimm in order to save your own fucking skin!"
"I know" Safira nodded "and, as I said, I don't care at all. I stopped any sentiment of camaraderie or caring for humanity when I realized what a mess my life had become just because the previous maiden chose me."
There was silence for a minute. Both girls stood face to face, their eyes locked on each other as Safira's nonchalant visage contrasted Yang's multitude of clashing emotions. "I can't blame you for that, honestly."
"Really? I am surprised" the ex-maiden raised an eyebrow on Yang's response as the woman averted her gaze. "It's not that I haven't ever thought of shitting on this world, to be honest" the brawler chuckled.
"But!" she put as much power behind this word as possible "what I may be thinking matters not; this world is not our playground to toy with. Even more, when people's lives are considered!" she jumped far away.
Safira narrowed her eyes as Yang landed a few meters away and raised her fists, the sound of Ember Celica arming cutting through the haze.
"Motives and reasoning aside, you are way too fucking dangerous for me to let you go back!" the woman assumed a boxing stance, earning a sly grin from the neon-haired girl as she amassed magical power.
-o—
Safira's spell was nothing more than a pure blast of charring energy. In all of its glory, a white-hot beam seared the air and hit Yang head-on. The blonde jumped to her left, barely escaping the deadly magic attack.
She ran towards her enemy and got her bracers ready. The faunus' left hand swirled and formed three frost circlets between them. With a low motion, she hurled them at Yang.
Ember Celica shot at the woman, allowing its owner to propel far away from the upcoming onslaught. The circlets met Yang's missiles and got obliterated in the blast, leaving a cold, dripping mist behind them.
Lilac eyes narrowed. The mists melt perfectly into the haze, forming an annoying barrier that obstructed her vision. Even worse, if she took the lunatic woman's semblance into consideration, she was already in a ba-
The mists shifted and Safira appeared before her. Sizzling with power, a mighty thunderclap slammed Yang's back. Pain shook her to her core as lightning filled her skin before the thunderous boom threw her away.
Water Walk was the ability to teleport through areas of high humidity such as ponds, rivers and clouds. Safira's semblance was insane in its core. "Heyah!" with a war cry, the maiden raised two large stone slabs.
She did that just in time. Even while rolling away from the attack, Yang had already begun charging her counterstrike. She pierced her shoulder with dust and hurled two graviton-powered missiles at the blue girl.
The first slab blocked the projectiles, shattering to pieces from the fiery blast. Immediately, Safira hurled the second one at the blonde. Said girl planted her feet on the ground and activated her semblance at once.
As the slab fell upon her, Yang focused her semblance at her left hand and punched the oversized rock with all her might. The gravity dust in her shoulder overexerted its power and the huntress' punch not only cracked the stone to pebbles- it also sent them back to their owner.
With a quick set of gestures, Safira conjured a wind wall that blew the pebbles away, scattering them to the unseen floor. "Now that's what I am talking about; you have grown stronger than you were back then."
"Ain't that normal" Yang removed the gravity dust and took a defensive stance again. "Uh-huh" her adversary smirked. "Let's see how you fare if I raise the bar then. I kind of owe it to you since I had never a chance to show you and your friends my true power before you all killed me."
All of a sudden, Yang felt sick. Her stomach churned and her lungs got filled with a burning sensation, as if she had breathed in acid. Safira was standing far away, so how- the image of the faunus girl faded away.
"A simple illusion spell" a sickeningly sweet voice tingled in her ear. A quick jump on her feet revealed the woman's form right behind her "and a tad of my semblance allow for a pretty effective surprise attack."
Black energy poured out her left hand. It resembled Weiss' spell, only the palpable sickness spreading inside her made it clear that Safira's version was on a totally different level "and what better way to take you down than a simple yet effective internal injury curse?" she giggled.
Shit! Yang cursed. Her body felt sick and weakened. In a heartbeat, she dived to the right in order to avoid another attack from the woman's curse. She barely avoided it. "Nice one! You can move, despite all that-"
The blonde woman activated her semblance and charged forward. Just as Safira was ready to hurl another curse, Yang's fist collided with her jaw. A scream of pain escaped the girl's lips as she was punched away.
But Yang's assault didn't end there. She stepped forward, using all the damage from the curse as fuel and ignoring the blood pouring out of her lips. She took a heavy right step and smashed her enemy's face.
The crack from the maiden's bones only fueled Yang's anger. More! Her soul screamed in excitement. More power! She fueled her anger even more, hoping she could somehow knock down her enemy with a punch.
To her surprise, her right arm turned into metal. The power behind it was even stronger and she used its mechanisms to put even more force behind her punch. Safira barely managed to teleport away, allowing her opponent to form a crater on the concealed ground with her attack.
Yang stared at her metal arm in confusion as her enemy solidified again a few meters away. A click of her tongue indicated her displeasure. "For someone so hotheaded, you sure can be quite innovative" she groaned.
The brawler looked at her in disbelief. She alternated gazes between her arm that had now turned into its recent metal form and her enemy who was glaring at her in disdain. She closed her eyes and focused.
Immediately, her metal arm changed to normal flesh. She cracked her fingers and for a moment they turned metal again before returning to their former state. She smirked and decided to try something else.
Safira had no intention of letting her. She used the haze to teleport in a square next to Yang and immediately conjured a series of images to try confusing her enemy. In complete harmony, she whirled her hands and made sigils to cast another curse upon the smiling huntress while she-
"I know the trick" Yang's body switched into its Grimm form. The hands grew long and thin and her torso expanded. Horns grew from her head and a mighty green halo engulfed her like a billowing eldritch cape.
From the halo, a wave of voracious primordial maws burst out and in a heartbeat devoured all of the woman's spells. Yang punched forward in a quick motion and an orb of green fire got hurled upon the ex-maiden.
Safira quickly conjured a wall of water that absorbed the attack and let her teleport away from the searing monstrosity. As she rematerialized, she saw the woman had turned back to her human form.
"I should have thought of it before, but as you said I am too hotheaded for this" Yang chuckled. "Our bodies are not here- we are just using the ritual to make copies of ours by using magic, am I right?" she asked.
There was no reply and that was enough of a confirmation for her. "Dunno how it works, but when I wanted to hit you, my arm turned to its stronger metal form just because I wished it to" she continued "and it happened with my Grimm form when I wanted to stop your spells."
"The ritual is a contest of heart and soul" the yellow-eyed woman told her in displeasure. "Yeah, I got the gist of it just now. In this place, we can take any form our hearts desire, am I right?" Yang asked her.
"Unfortunately for you" Yang' body burst out with energy. The green halo appeared again, but this time without switching to her Grimm form "I can play this weird game even better, you little whiny bitch."
"You act too high and mighty for a puddle of magical power waiting to be consumed" Safira faded in the background. Yang focused her power inside her eyes, giving them a vicious red color and dilated pupils.
Safira materialized right beneath the woman's guard. But Yang wasn't caught unaware. She reached out and grabbed her opponent's neck, dragging her dripping body out of the fog "Grimm can sense emotions and you are not so good in hiding your devilish intent to kill me."
The faunus didn't reply and instead grabbed Yang's arm. Dark energy poured out of the tanned fingers, forcing the brawler to let go of her as she gasped in pain at the pulsing miasma climbing up her left arm.
Safira didn't jump away and instead formed a spear of black energy. In a quick motion, she shot it at point blank- Yang's body fumed in green fog and the predatory jaws burst out, consuming the accursed javelin.
They quickly lashed at the miasma covering the woman's arm and ate all particles of the searing black energy. Before they had even finished, Safira had teleported away to safety and Yang retracted them away.
"What an annoying ability you got" the yellow eyes had now turned to a sinister, almost animalistic visage. "I refuse to accept that goody-two-shoes like you can exert more power than me!" she roared in anger.
The clouds instantly shifted and turned a darker color. Black mist was poured into Yang's surroundings, dying the atmosphere an ominous, terrifying color. The air grew heavy and oppressive. Lightning cracked.
"Unlike you, I spent years cultivating my powers!" Safira's voice roared but it was impossible for Yang to see the faunus through all that dark air and cracking thunderbolts razing around her. The priestess was now effectively invisible, shielded inside the protection of her own magic.
"I was molded by it!" without any notice, a bolt of pure black lightning hit her. It cracked across her body, forcing her to scream in agony as the dark magic consumed her aura and seared her skin "it defined my whole life! It changed me forever!" a clap of thunder slammed Yang.
Not having yet recovered by the lightning bolt, the brawler failed to put any significant resistance. The force behind Safira's attack hit Yang head on and threw her away, violently slamming her on the unseen ground.
"And now you tell me you will stop me?" Safira scoffed. "You? You did nothing to deserve that power! You hate it and you try to resist it! You have been a chosen for so little and know even less than a mere acolyte who just started their path in the Elder world! You tried to fight Grand Mother's blessing and now you want to use it against me! Fuck off!"
Blonde hair shifted in the distance. "I give…" blood dripped down from her scarred lips "zero fucks about what you think, you piece of inhuman trash." She still couldn't see her and could barely hear her above all the pulsating thunderbolts. A bolt of lightning raked the ground beside her.
She was in a rather precarious position, to be fair. She knew there was no way for her to outsmart Safira or hold her own in a battle of magical power. She had barely understood how to utilize the maws and eyes.
Yang smirked and stood up as thunder slammed her shoulder. This is why… she closed her eyes and relaxed her stance …I will stop trying to do so. She slowly exhaled and then began suppressing her aura.
At the outskirts of her mind, she felt its presence. It wasn't hard to do, since she had been subduing its conscious every effing day from the very first moment she had become aware of Grand Mother's presence.
She could hear Safira's roars from the outside. The lightning strikes had their shot at her and she was sure a couple hit her head-on. She cared little for them. The maze of eyes, jaws and horns staring at her from the outlines of her heart drew all of her attention away from the faunus.
The ex-maiden was right on one thing; Yang didn't want this thing and had no desire to learn anything about its will and powers that couldn't be used against it. She took one step forward and raised her left hand.
But at the same time, she was aware of one major flaw in the cultist's line of thinking. She had spoken of knowledge and skill; nothing of these truly mattered to the primordial creature hissing in front of her.
Grand Mother was intelligent on its own way, but at its core it was a true predator. It was a being driven not by wisdom and intellect, but by pure hunger and primal, carnal instincts. People like Safira didn't suit it.
Yang raised her hand even more and slowly yet gently crossed the line.
That thing, above everything else, loved to run wild. She could feel her very core pulsating with desire every time she ate, fought or was, well, enjoying life. That vile thing feasted of desire and lived with instincts.
She felt wet, slimy energy dripping out of the barrier. The sensation was akin to muddy water swarming her. It was strangely elating and, in a sense, extremely fulfilling to finally stop holding it back. Yang grinned.
Another bolt hit her- Yang raised her arm and absorbed the blast. Magic power circulated across her right arm and reached her mouth, allowing her to devour the lightning beam with an audible gulping sound.
"Why you-" her adversary was still nowhere to be seen, but the blonde didn't need it. Yang sniffed the air and immediately smelled the source of frustration and anger pulsing like a beacon in the magical darkness.
If Safira had realized what was happening she didn't show it. Yang's legs bent and the girl dashed forward. A swirl of aura and the maiden faded away into the nearest cloud-
Yang shot a missile at her. The magical energy running out of her veins augmented her attack, forming a green orb of fire that slammed the fog and blew away the haze. A scream of pain echoed in the darkness.
"In what sort of-" she conjured a wall of air to protect from the second attack, but Yang roared out loudly. Her bellow came out as a primordial screech of power, scattering the wind away as she landed before Safira.
The faunus knew there was no way she could react in time, so instead of defending she attacked. Her left arm sizzled in black energy and her right one got engulfed in flames as she charged to impale her enemy.
Yang switched her right arm to metal and allowed only the burning one to hit her. She shifted her own center of balance to let the thrust graze her and then grabbed her enemy's elbows with both hands.
"Darkness devours everything" Yang noted at the shadow-wreathed left arm trapped in her metal fingers "but doesn't work of non-living objects, does it?" she gave her adversary a triumphant, toothy grin.
Safira tried to escape. She tried to fade away, but Yang's aura was there to devour her magic. She tried to break free, but Yang was too strong for her. She tried to conjure magic, but her hands couldn't move at all.
She had lost. She had challenged Yang to absorb into the ritual and she had somehow lost to her. A pang of horror filled the maiden's heart as realization struck her. She had lost to Yang- she would remain here.
Forever.