...
Fighting Rose
Chapter 48
Divide
Ruby watched listlessly as Jaune's uncles were brought onto the tower in chains, never ceasing their struggles but clearly helpless against the chains that bound them. Magnus's skin was a dull red hue compared to his usual brilliant crimson. Dorn's hand was lopped off at the wrist, though it had long-since clotted. Salem still had to look up at their kneeling forms, tall as they were, and she took no pleasure in their wounds.
"My children…" She said sadly, only for Magnus spit at her. Lorgar's face twisted in apoplectic fury, his mace ripping through the air and blasting into Magnus's temple with a sickening *CRACK*, blood splattering onto the floor. Salem sighed and waved a placating hand at Lorgar, the Daemon Primarch immediately bowing his head and stepping back.
"Fhack off," Magnus sneered through torn lips.
"What my brother said," Dorn grumbled.
Salem nodded, a pained frown on her face. He flicked her wrist and the chains embedded deeper into Magnus's flesh, his skin going even paler as he gasped in pain. The chains around Dorn turned into flowing Black Iron, slowly encasing his body.
"I need both of you," She said, turning to Magnus. Her face appeared to blur and glitch for a moment, her head above her mouth turning into a writhing mass of squid-like tentacles, tiny silver eyes littered across each of them as her throat spoke with the sound of crunching glass. "YOu are aN enDleSs sOurCe oF wArp-eNergY To dRaW uPon."
She turned to Dorn, her appearance shifting once more as brutal brass horns appeared on her forehead, iron-toothed mouth spitting steaming blood as her voice turned guttural with barely-restrained ferocity.
"And you are bound to fall to your own wrath, one way or another."
Turning away from them, she walked up to Ruby and knelt in front of her, silently observing the young girl's slack face and tear-wet eyes. Salem could feel how utterly broken she was, and she knew why. That face and those eyes were a dead-giveaway, and she chuckled.
"Cinder…" The girl in question stiffened before looking down sheepishly, as if she was caught with her hand in a cookie-jar. "You knew Summer's daughter would come for you, didn't you?"
"…Yes, my god," Cinder admitted.
"Hah. You certainly were taught by Erebus."
That seemed to sour Cinder's mood slightly, and Salem laughed aloud this time. She stifled her laughter as she turned back to Ruby, her features gentle.
"Poor child…" Salem sighed, "If only you hadn't been dragged into all of this... but it seems that I'll have to show little Cinder how useless it is to try and betray me, even as weak as I am now."
"Y…" Ruby's voice croaked, "You…"
"Yes Ruby Rose," Salem nodded, her expression turning flat. "I am wearing the face of your dead mother. Your mother died in a mission that never even needed to take place. I always could count on that coward Leo to pull the strings, but that's besides the point. She died accomplishing nothing. She died screaming and crying, begging to be put out of her misery as she was gutted like a squealing pig and flayed alive. And the most amusing part? It didn't have to be her. I could have waited a few more years, your children or grandchildren would have worked perfectly fine. She didn't die like a hero. She died because it was a convenient opportunity. That's all she was, and all your kind are to me."
Every word hammered into Ruby, her spirit slipping further and further into despair until she was a husk of her former self.
I can take the pain away.
Ruby's soul curled in on itself, barely a spark in a hollow shell.
You don't have to suffer like this. Let me out, and I will take your pain away.
'…just do it.'
Ruby's body was swallowed by shadow in the blink of an eye, her body little more and a black silhouette. The scar across her stomach shone red, a single silver eye peeking through as she jerked to her feet. Everyone save Salem herself flinched back, Cinder and Lorgar calling upon their sorcery to blast Ruby to ashes only for Salem's raised hand to forestall them. The sudden breeze blew Salem's cloak open, revealing a beautiful set of tarnished silver armour, etched with black roses. Ruby's back arched, piercing light streaming from her open mouth in a silent scream as she floated a foot off the floor, the air around them fracturing in silver lines. The ribbons of light lashing out from her eyes wound into the shape of angelic wings, two for each eye, her hair elongating and whipping around like a tail. Her feet touched the ground, a halo in the form of a razor-thin crescent moon hovered over her head, her mouth stretching into a shining silver grin as she stretched and yawned. What spoke was not Ruby Rose.
-Ruby Rose-
Shard of ?
"About FUCKING TIME!" It cheered, rolling its shoulders. "Stubborn like her mother, the little shit. I'll say though, working on strengthening her body really helped me in the long run, so I can't whine too much."
It 'looked' at Salem, its smile turning into a scowl and the eye in its stomach rolling.
"And you…"
"Me indeed," Salem gave it a dramatic bow, her features shifting once more and becoming unnaturally beautiful, teeth turning into delicate fangs. "It's ironic, isn't it? Your arrogance with Summer didn't just lead to her death, it was the catalyst for my ascension! And now here we are again, except now I get to shred you to pieces myself."
The thing possessing Ruby snarled, the wings sprouting from its eye sockets glowing brighter and fluttering in agitation. It popped its knuckles, shifting its feet slightly apart. Cinder and Lorgar backed away, sweating at the growing tension in the air.
"…I'm going to enjoy breaking you again, just as my little brother and I did aaall those years ago." It sneered. "You certainly remember that, don't you?"
Salem's face shifted back to normal, scowling back as black script crawled across her skin, the language illegible but painful to look at, each of them a sin branded upon her soul no matter what form she took.
"I never forgot."
}-Divide – Casey Lee Williams (0:00 – 1:24)-{
The top of the tower exploded, midnight clashing against silver light as their fists collided. Reality cracked and warped around their grinding knuckles, their teeth bared at each other in snarls and grins alike. Lorgar and Cinder together had thrown up a psychic shield that still cracked and bent under the strain of the clashing powers. Salem won out an instant later, her fist slipping past it's own and exploding into its stomach. It shot through the air like a missile, all the way into Vale and through a living skyscraper, blood and vicsera spewing from the exit-wound of the building as it howled and screamed in pain.
Ruby smashed into the asphalt, snarling as she rolled back up to her feet. The eye in her glowing scar darted around only for Salem's hand to press against the back of her head, driving her face into the concrete. Salem didn't stop there, charging and ramming Ruby's face through the side of another building only for Ruby to grab Salem by the throat and reverse the pin, roaring as she pelted the Demon God through the building's ground-floor. A disembodied, petal-wreathed fist appeared next to Salem's head and cracked across her temple, sending her flying out of the building before a blade of pure-silver aura sliced through the bottom of the structure, the entire thing collapsing onto her far faster than it should've been able to as Ruby flew up the side of the building and dropkicked it onto Salem.
Reality warped, and Ruby suddenly found herself beneath the falling building, neck and limbs bound by Grimm tendrils. Salem was crouching next to the bound Ruby, resting a hand on her fist as the stared down at her.
"I really hope that isn't all you have to offer," Salem sighed. "And I went through all this trouble acquiring a new body to prepare for you… and here you are. A disappointment."
Ruby snarled and ripped free of the bonds in a burst of silver light, launching a wild kick straight up into Salem's jaw. The latter casually slipped to the side, the wave of aura unleashed by Ruby's leg cutting clean through the falling building. She overextended her strength with the kick, flinging herself into the air before correcting her position and shooting back down onto Salem, smashing her forearms onto the incarnated god's head. Again, Salem simply stepped aside to let the possessed Ruby smack face-first into the ground, snorting in amusement as she soccer-kicked Ruby in the face as she pried herself out of the ground.
Blood stained her glowing silver teeth as she shot through a car, the vehicle mangled around her body as it was sent flying into the air with her wrapped in it. Salem appeared behind it, grabbing Ruby by the back of the neck through the mangled metal and tearing the car in half simply by standing in its way. Her face shifted into its visage of violence, fingers digging in to break her neck, only for Ruby to burst into petals, reappearing behind Salem and screaming, charging to fire a point-blank beam of pure light. Salem spun on the spot and slapped her in the face, the sound-barrier breaking as Ruby was sent crashing into another daemon-infested skyscraper, the beam firing wildly from her broken jaw and erasing whatever was caught in the bean entirely. Daemons screamed as they had their very essences irreversibly shredded into nothingness before her jaw disintegrated into petals, reformed in perfect health a moment later.
"You're telling me," Salem sighed, once more already behind her, "That even after all these years on top of Ruby Rose having learned to use your power even more proficiently than most adults of her kind… you still don't understand how to use her body correctly?"
"FUCK YOU!" Ruby cackled, that demented smile still on her face as she spun and wildly lashed out with a backfist, Salem catching it by the wrist and staring at the godhost as the entire room exploded from the burst of wind-pressure. "I am your GOD. I have no need to learn what already belongs to ME!"
"You are no god," Salem spat, her face twisting into something new: a desiccated skull with three eye-sockets and seven bark-like horns curling over her cranium. "You are a parasite of this world, a Grand Foreigner wearing a false crown."
The ground beneath them rotted away like dead flesh in the blink of an eye, Ruby's arm necrotizing all the way up to her shoulder just as quickly. She grunted and it burst into petals, the thin crescent moon halo above her head suddenly filling a little further as her arm reformed. The eye in her stomach went wide as her body moved on its own, crouching and lashing out with a low spinning kick that swept Salem of her feet, her body continuing the spin and launching her heel into Salem's falling head. The demon god's body was flung through the air, Ruby staying in the pose for a moment before she righted herself and stood, observing herself curiously.
Her gaze shot up to see bolts of black fire raining down on her, enough to engulf the entire city block they stood on. They cut through concrete and steel like melted butter, Ruby sprinting as she slipped, dove and weaved around the deadly projectiles while running up the side of the building. She kissed her teeth and waved her hand as one came too close for comfort, walls of light batting away the bolts as they rained down on her, only for them to curve around and race back towards her. Space warped and she disappeared, reappearing in front of Salem atop the building and roaring as she slammed her fists down, Salem casually redirecting the blow as it blasted into the roof and tore the entire building in half. Ruby sprung up and leapt at Salem only to phase right through her, the top half of her body turned a hazy-blue before she intoned –
"ChAoS CoNtRoL."
Time froze. It was only a moment, but Ruby suddenly found herself crashing into the sewer system of Vale, a bolt of azure lightning drilling her further and further into the filth before the bolt fizzled away at the lowest level. Her, a god, the God, forced down into this excrement. Plague zombies and bearers were already infesting the sewer, instantly swarming her and ineffectually trying to bite and stab at her prone form. She looked up and could see that Salem had sent her straight down through the split in the building, Salem resting an arm on her knee as she smirked and observed the humiliation. Ruby snarled, her voice unleashing a blast of light that incinerated the surrounding zombies and plague-bearers as her skin turned a glossy pink, steam curling off of her wildly.
'My host calls this the… Advance,' She thought as she observed herself, 'Primitive, but satisfying!'
She shot straight up like a silver bullet and slammed both fists into Salem's stomach, the latter still smirking as she took the blow and was sent flying.
"You talk about godhood as if you've earned the mantle!" Ruby sneered, grabbing Salem by the face and dragging her down the side of the falling building, "You call me a parasite yet you have the gall to feed off lesser beings for power? DISGUSTING!"
She heaved and pelted Salem into a train track on a bridge, her body rolling across tracks before she smoothly rolled to her feet and continuously cartwheeled away as Ruby slammed into it, swimming through the concrete as the bridge was torn to shreds behind her. She leapt out of the ground, an orb of pure light in her hand sent crashing down onto Salem as Ruby dunked it atop her head, smaller beams of light fired from the wings sprouting from her eye sockets as they flapped and further pummelling Salem into a pillar supporting what was left of the bride.
"My brother and I have no use for their prayers! We are the true masters of this world, and a usurper like you will fall by our hands!"
Her body moved on its own and she allowed it, feeling the sublime rush of sensation as her flying kick hammered into Salem's face. She flipped off, making sure to grind her heel into Salem's nose before shooting back in again and firing her heels into Salem's knees, her leg lashing up high for a roundhouse, hook-kick and stomp in a fraction of a second. She ducked and swept low again, taking Salem off her feet once more and springing up to fire a side-kick into Salem's face so hard that it blasted them through a row of ten concrete pillars, daemons and Grimm shrieking as they retreated from the brawling gods. They crashed into another street, Salem tumbling across the ground as Ruby grabbed an entire truck, dragging it along with her bare hand.
"You call yourself Malal Angra Mainyu – 'Anarchy of All the World's Evil' in our tongue? HOW CUTE!"
She slammed the truck down on Salem like a hammer, over and over again as the vehicle rapidly fell apart, the halo once more becoming just a tiny bit fuller with each swing. It exploded after one final swing, ripped apart in Ruby's hands as she walked through the blast unharmed and raised a leg, bringing it down in an axe-kick hard enough to annihilate the city block they stood in, buildings collapsing around them like dominoes. Ruby stepped back, raising a hand over her head and forming an orb of pure silver light, enough to swallow a skyscraper, her sickening smile growing even wider.
"Die screaming in the light!" She cackled. "VAJRA!"
The massive sphere bent and shifted, turning into a giant ring that spun like a sawblade and descended towards Salem. Whatever building still stood was sliced through like nothing, even the street they stood on tearing apart under the sheer weight of the cosmic attack. And then it froze.
}- Divide (1:24 – 1:59)-{
Salem's hand rested upon its edge, the blasphemous tattoos having moved up her arm and turning her palm black. She stood unharmed, tilting her head and observing the massive construct of energy.
"I remember this," She said aloud, smiling. "It's impressive that Ruby's body is capable of withstanding this kind of output, especially given how amateurish you are."
Her fingers sharpened into wicked talons, sinking into the light as the blasphemous script crawled all over the mass of light. There was a deafening *CRACK* and the construct rapidly grew smaller, the black script constricting around it and crushing it. Smaller and smaller, it was smashed into the wildly pulsing orb barely the size of a tennis ball. Salem looked at it for a moment before her jaw unhinged, unnaturally wide, and she popped it into her gullet like candy. Ruby took a step back, jaw clenching. Something was happening to her primitive vessel; perspiration wet her skin, her heartrate grew faster and more erratic, her very cells trembling at the sight of her most powerful attack being eaten. Salem swallowed, her silver irises flashing bright as she relished the meal, a forked tongue licking perfect lips and razor-sharp teeth.
"You call me disgusting," She said, her voice like silk before her face shifted once more into violent rage, "Yet your actions created us."
"You're a MISTAKE!" Ruby screamed, her voice ripping up the floor beneath her, but she could not hide the desperation in her tone.
"Yes wE aRe," She agreed, her head a mass of tentacles before it shifted into the visage of disease and pestilence, "We are your mistake, and we thank you for that."
Her face returned to normal, though cold, focused distain twisted her expression into a scowl.
"You made me the vessel for All the World's Evil. You will pay for your arrogance..." Her stance shifted: a perfect mirror of Ruby Rose's stance. "And I will finish what you started."
}-Divide (1:59)-{
Her straight-right exploded into Ruby's stomach, blood flying from her mouth as her organs were almost pulped on the spot, a left and right hook snapping her head to the side almost simultaneously, another left hook piercing into her liver and making her vomit. She clutched her stomach and fell to her knees, heaving as pain flooded her body.
Salem grabbed her by the hair and yanked her gaze up, straight into a knee that broke her nose before an elbow stabbed down like a pickaxe onto her skull, hammering her face into the dirt and blasting a roundhouse kick into her ribs. She was sent flying across the ground, tumbling and crashing clean through the ruins of a dozen buildings for over a hundred meters. She rolled messily to her feet, Salem barely a foot away from her face with a fist drawn back. Ruby was roaring as she launched a wild right hook that fired off a wild wave of silver wind, Salem easily flipping over it as the debris it collided with was ripped apart and ground to dust. Ruby fired off another uppercut to where she thought Salem was, another wave of pulverizing wind unleashed from her fist and hitting nothing.
"Amateurish as always," Salem chuckled, back-to-back with her.
Ruby screamed and lashed out with a spinning backfist, Salem smoothly catching her wrist, pivoting and throwing Ruby over her shoulder, yanking her straight down to be speared in the ribs by a left uppercut. Three floating ribs snapped, her wrist breaking and shoulder dislocating as Salem juggled her in the air with a barrage of blows while maintaining her grip on her wrist. Ruby's eyes began to roll into her head as the impacts rocked her brain before her form blurred, petals streaming off and around her as she slipped from Salem's grasp. She reformed as she landed on her feet, her wounds healed as she launched another wild burst of air pressure only for Salem to duck under, her bones and joints twisting unnaturally before she whipped up into a hook-kick, her heel smashing into Ruby's jaw and sending her flying into a parked school bus and crashing into the driver's seat.
Salem casually entered through the bus door, Ruby busy trying to untangle herself from the crushed seat as Salem grabbed her by the back of the head and dragged her along, smirking as she smashed Ruby's face through each window and seat, the latter's eyes watering as blood dripped from her nose and wet her mouth –
Salem casually entered through the bus door, Ruby busy trying to untangle her battered form from the crushed seat as Salem grabbed her by the back of the head and dragged her along, grinning as she smashed Ruby's face through each window and seat, the latter's eyes watering as blood streamed from her busted nose and coated her split mouth –
Salem casually entered through the bus door, Ruby struggling to untangle her near-shattered body from the crushed seat as Salem grabbed her by the back of the head and dragged her along, laughing as she smashed Ruby's face through each window and seat, the latter's eyes watering as blood spewed from her mangled nose and caked her ruined mouth –
"ENOUGH OF THESE FUCKING GAMES!"
A whirlwind of silver petals ripped through the bus and the temporal loop, Salem laughing as she danced back and away from them. Ruby's entire body had turned into a silhouette of petals, the eye in her stomach a red and silver pinprick in the ocean of bladed petals. The halo above her head filled into a quarter-full, the light of the moon within the halo flickering erratically as seven pillars of pure light erupted from the ground, each of them easily over a hundred feet tall.
"THOUDAND FLOWERS: DIVINE DISPLAY!"
The pillars blurred and turned into masses of flowing petals, tearing through anything in their way as a sea of silver descended on Salem. She laughed and clapped, amused at the lightshow.
"It took you this long to filter your power through her body? Your incompetence continues to amaze me!" She laughed, her grin growing wider and sinister, "Too little, too late."
Her right hand rose up, pointing her index, middle finger and thumb at the tsunami of petals.
"DIVIDE."
A black line sliced right through the mass of silver, barely visible for an instant, but the damage was done. Each and every petal was torn to atoms, Ruby herself split apart from left collarbone to right hip. Her eyes were wide in shock, blood spewing from her mouth before she gnashed her teeth and screamed, her body going hazy once more and vibrating erratically as she forcibly put herself back together. She gasped and coughed blood as soon as she was whole again, stumbling and falling to a knee until her mouth twisted into scowl, the halo filling just a sliver more as her eyes snapped up. She backflipped away as Salem came crashing down palm-first, the ground sliced apart in the perfect imitation of a giant spider's web.
Salem cackled as she dug her fingers into the ground and flung the cut stone the size of cars at Ruby, the latter grimacing as she bent space and halted their movement before they could hit her, only for them to explode in a wash of black fire. Her flesh charred and lungs boiled, unable to even cry out in pain as Salem rocketed through the flames, dropkicking her in the chest and sending her flying into the gullet of a living daemonic building. Flesh constricted around her, teeth grinding and piercing her burnt skin as she hoarsely cried out. Her body suddenly relaxed, and the halo filled a little further. Her entire body turned into a mass of slicing petals, the entire building screaming as she turned into a drill and burrowed through its flesh, punching through its side in a fountain of blood that rained onto the streets below, more petals carving the building apart into meaty chunks. She emerged from the wound slathered in steaming blood, the wings in her eye sockets stained red as they glowed and shuddered, her head craning up to face Salem, the two of them floating directly in front of each other.
Their hands were hanging at their sides as they stared at each other, the fleshy debris falling around them. Salem remained amused, excited even. Ruby was not. She moved first, warping above Salem and lashing out with a straight-left aimed to cave Salem's skull in, only for Salem's arm to come up faster. Near-instant slashes chopped through Ruby's shoulder, elbow and wrist, but her fist continued to rocket forward, forcing Salem to catch the blow with the palm of her hand, the force sending her shooting towards the ground, Ruby racing after her as her arm turned into petals and reformed in a heartbeat. Salem righted herself easily, the two of them flying down the side of the building and fighting the whole way.
Salem unleashed another point-blank Divide at Ruby's stomach only for the latter to split herself in half the instant before it landed, her bottom half burst into petals while launching her hazy upper body at Salem with a flying left hook. Salem parried the blow only to find her vision blocked as the petals making up Ruby's legs whipped into her face, her head snapping back and leaving herself open as Ruby fully reformed to shoot her heel into Salem's exposed chest. Salem bent unnaturally backwards, the kick sailing just over her nose as her body undulated and whipped back up to hammer a headbutt into Ruby's stomach, hitting her with another Divide the moment she curled in on herself in agony.
Her arm went flying only to turn into petals and whip back into place on her shoulder as she stabbed down with an elbow onto Salem's head, hitting nothing as the latter's skull split apart into an array of tentacles to wrap around Ruby's forearm and wrist. Salem yanked her tentacle-head back, suplexing Ruby face-first into the glass windows and dragging her down through them, teeth, blood and flesh flying before they struck the ground like a meteor, Salem digging her heel into the back of Ruby's skull. Ruby's head twisted unnaturally, her face covered in shadow and blood staring at Salem with her tattered wings, sliced-up face and torn mouth.
"Oooh, that's a good look on you ~!" Salem tittered. "Lets see how much prettier you look when I carve you up even more."
Ruby's body turned into petals, reforming behind Salem with her fists raised above her head only to vomit blood as Salem grew another hand out of her back and blasted her in the stomach with another Divide, cackling as she leapt up, clotheslined her neck and sprinted through the building. She slammed Ruby through everything she could: pillars, desks, chairs, walls, she only grinned wider as she reached a plaza full of daemons. Some shrieked and ran, rightfully so, while other stronger ones immediately sprinted in front of Salem, willingly allowing themselves to be smashed as she ran Ruby straight through them, their weapons stabbing and chopping into her body even as they were trampled. Ruby's scream of agony and fury was muffled by the blood in her lungs before it was cut off entirely as Salem leapt onto another intact train track and grabbed her by the back of the neck, holding her up as a living shield.
A train, half mechanical and half mutated flesh barrelled down the tracks, the toothy maw that made up its front screeching as it collided with Ruby. It didn't stop, fleshmetal insides smacking into and across Ruby over and over again before she bared her teeth and yanked herself away from Salem, an explosion of petals tearing the train and the bridge they stood on in half. Not a single one touched Salem, rotting away before they could even brush against her skin as she strode through on thin air, ducking a wild right hook and firing a left uppercut into her liver. Ruby was flung high above Vale, her body limply coming to a stop as she forced herself to float and rapidly tried to heal as much damage as she could. She vomited blood again, her healing slowing as her body seized up, its exertions taking their toll.
"N-no…!" She gurgled, "Why can't I…!?"
"You're like a child with a toy you don't understand how to use," Salem scoffed, already behind her, "Play and play until it breaks, and now you can do nothing but whine."
Ruby swung wildly, her pitiful attacks painfully slow and awkward, slapping ineffectually against Salem's body as the halo's light dimmed further and further, a final weak right-hook tapping against Salem's cheek. Salem scowled, eyes blazing as she backhanded the possessed, Ruby's body spinning through the air as she struggled to right herself. When she did, she froze. That uncomfortable but familiar sensation was taking grip of her again, sweat mixing with the blood on her skin, her limbs trembling as Salem drew her fist back. Shadow covered her face, the silver rings of her irises gleaming through the black flames of her eyes as space began to distort, black sparks crackling around her fist. Ruby knew what that was and understood the emotion wracking her body: fear. Even as she made quick calculations, positioning herself in the air just right as a final failsafe, she shook with fear at the sight of those black sparks.
"I'm happy you remember the technique that broke you and your brother." Salem said. "After all… I created it to destroy you."
The god within Ruby unleashed one final scream, blasting a beam of silver light at Salem big enough to engulf a skyscraper.
"The light that slays gods shines black," Salem intoned, watching as the beam raced towards her with a smile on her face before she threw her fist forward.
"BLACK FLASH."
}-Music End-{
Vale went dark as black lightning ripped through the sky in the shape of an eight-pointed star, any windows left intact in Vale and Beacon shattered. A single black bolt punched clean through the beam of light and into Ruby so quickly that she wasn't even given time to scream, her body disappearing in a thunderclap of air. Daemons, Grimm and cultists alike shrieked and howled in adoration at the sight of their god, floating proudly in the air with an outstretched fist. Salem was not entirely pleased, her silver eyes gleaming brightly as her skin began to steam.
"Clever…" She muttered, "She positioned herself to be launched to the east…" She winced and massaged the bridge of her nose as her eyes flared with pain, "And I've already taxed this body too much to chase after her recklessly."
Even through the pain of her eyes fighting back against the overflowing chaos within her, she smiled. Pain was an old friend, and it was a sign that she was truly alive again. She bent space and reappeared upon the Palm of God, Lorgar and Cinder bowing to her. Nobody could miss her display of power, and all chose to pledge fealty to their god.
"I hope you can understand the futility in attempting to betray me now, little Cinder," Salem chided playfully.
"I do, my God." Cinder said immediately.
Salem knelt next to her, her grin going wider as she whispered, "…You still intend to find a way to betray me, don't you?"
Cinder stiffened, and Salem laughed.
"If you think you can manage it, please, be my guest! Betrayal is one of the truest expressions of Chaos, after all. Speaking of which…"
She clapped her hands, a warp-rift appearing next to her. Out stepped Erebus, who immediately prostrated himself before Salem.
"Hail the return of the Black Queen," He spoke reverentially. "The first and fifth God of Chaos."
"Rise, Erebus," Salem said, a smile on her face. Cinder couldn't help but notice that her eyes seemed rather dull. Bored. "You have done admirably, serving my four selves."
"I live to serve the ruinous powers, your grace," He said, bliss on his face at the praise. Cinder cringed at her mentor's bootlicking, but her eyebrows raised in surprises as Salem turned away from him and rolled her eyes.
Salem walked to the middle of the palm and waved her hand, fleshy branches spiralling from the floor to create a jagged, living throne. Arm-sized arteries sprouted from the throne like worms, wiggling through the air and finding Salem, digging through her armour and into her flesh as she sat down. Far below to the base of the tower, living roots emerged from the ground, spreading further and further out, seeking out whatever corpse they could and stabbing into them, draining the blood from them until nothing was left but a dried silhouette of a husk. Up above, the blood was siphoned directly into Salem, her eyes closing as she took a deep breath, satisfied at the sensation of pure physical power trickling into her body.
"With this, my true ascension begins," She breathed, flexing as she began the slow process of adjusting and acclimating to her new body. "And while I am largely confined to Vale, I require someone to lead the daemonic armies to other lands and further cement my roots so that I may continue to feed."
She waved a hand again towards Erebus, the latter's gaze perking up in curiosity and anticipation.
"Abaddon may serve as the commander of the Chaos Astartes, but I require someone to be an extension of myself. Where Abaddon is Warmaster… you Erebus, shall be the mortal who represents the spirit of Chaos itself. Eleven have tried for the mantle in the past, and you the twelfth shall grasp it. My Everchosen."
All eyes shot wide open, none wider than Erebus himself. He practically smashed his forehead onto the floor, weeping with joy.
"M-my God…!" He was practically sobbing, "I-I…!"
"Take the mantle upon your shoulders," Salem said simply, "Do as thou wilt."
"For the glory of the Black Queen!" Erebus chanted hoarsely, his smile beaming and tears streaking his cheeks.
Cinder for one was horrified. Erebus's ego would become as unrivalled as his authority with the title of Everchosen. Worse yet, he would overreach and fail: to fail himself was one thing, but if he were to fumble as the Everchosen… she could see it now: his pride and sickening inflated sense of self-importance would lead to the breaking of Salem's armies and the waste of valuable resources.
'The snake cannot be allowed to wear the crown!' Raum snarled within her head, and she agreed.
'But our Queen surely knows of the possibility! Why would she – ?' She started, only to pause as Salem's gaze caught her eye. Salem was staring directly at her, an amused, expectant look in her eyes.
'Betrayal is one of the truest expressions of Chaos.'
Salem's eyes gleamed, and she smiled.
"To the north, my son Jacques plans to unleash his armies. To the East, the Raiden Shogun and Old Dragon prepare their defences. In the West, the Saiyans gather their strength. Make them bleed."
"We have our commandment!" Erebus cried, rising to his feet. "Let us do our God's bidding! For the glory of the Black Queen!"
It wasn't long before Salem was left alone to her thoughts, breathing in the warp-tainted air. It was good to feel with her own flesh again, rather than through a follower. Still though… she looked down at the husk that was once Ozpin and felt her heart clench. She stood, slowly walked over and sat in front of it. There wasn't much, just charred flesh on burnt bones, but she still reached a hand out and caressed its cheek. There was no soul left within it, having already moved onto its next body.
"I'm sorry it's come down to this my love," She whispered, feeling her throat tighten before she steeled herself, "I promise this will all mean something. Once I am done gutting those false gods who cursed us into this hell..."
She forced reality to thin, and Salem looked past the veil, and then even further than that. She looked at you. She looked at all of you and sneered, the hatred in her eyes conjuring the image of her stolen face within your minds.
"I will move onto the ones who think they can write our story... and it will be their fates in my hands."
}-Fighting Rose, Act 1… END-{
And so ends the first part of the Fighting Rose Saga. That's all folks! Show's over. Byyye!
Nah I'm just playing XD. I really hope that I've managed to set the stage for the future instalments of the saga, which I have already begun working on. Not really much to say beyond that other than thank you all so much for your longstanding support. I love each and every single one of you, new viewers and mainstays who have been with me since the earliest days of my magnum opus. So don't consider this a true ending... just -
TWBY CONTINUED in Act 2: Fighting Rose, Bloom Again!