Thank you all so much for the support, this is easily the most traction any of my fics has gotten from the first chapter alone! I know of course most of you guys are coming from the previous one, but I'm not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth XD.

Anyway, got a special treat for you guys today! Enough yapping and let's get back into the show!

Fighting Rose, Bloom Again!

Chapter 2

Red Wolf, Red Moon

}-Mistral-{

A scream was cut short as a rare Beringel-type Grimm, a Rajang with kangaroo legs and curved horns jutting from its temples roared and smashed the source of the sound flat, the poor soul pulverized into mush. It reared up onto its hind legs and beat its chest, its roar shaking the ground as other daemons surged forward, making sure that their claws and teeth spilled as much blood as possible. Lesser creatures followed in their wake, weak, gangly-limbed thralls lapping up the spilled blood before those that were swollen with it began to converge in the middle of the town. Their limbs began to fuse together, hands digging into the floor to root themselves into it before those appendages became useless as well, until there was a blood-filled pustule, growing in size as more thralls that were filled fused into it. Soon its shape twisted into a fleshy crescent, a rift in reality ripping through the air in the curve of the crescent, glowing with red light. The mass grew just a bit larger each time a body was tossed into the pile around it, the blood on the floor slowly being sucked up into the flesh and rift alike.

A family of three hid inside their house, the father and mother wielding kitchen utensils as weapons aimed at the door. A shadow stood in front of it, the faint sound of snuffling heard from the other side for a few moments before the door was torn open by blood-slicked claws. A Beowolf with musculature so swollen with power that it glowed red beneath its fur sprinted forward on all fours, a leathery frill opening up around its neck as it snarled and opened its mouth wide to bite the head clean off of the woman. A blur of red burst through the window and an armoured shin sliced through the daemon's face. Even with its teeth, snout and eyes reduced to a mush, it leapt back up to its feet and roared in defiance, only for its voice to be taken from it as a heel ripped through its throat, the follow-up roundhouse kick decapitating it entirely.

She stamped her foot through its chest for good measure, caving its torso in and pulping its phantasmal organs. Her appearance was raggedy at best, her armoured corset torn and battered, the tank-top underneath riddled with holes. Her leggings were torn in multiple places, the armoured skirt worn thin and just as battered as her corset. The weapons she bore could barely be called weapons, just scrap metal pounded into the shape of rings wrapping around her forearms and knuckles, her shin-guards sheets of steel shaped around her legs and feet. The cloak she once wore so proudly seemed to be little more than a cowl with a hood, the scarf-like remnants of it wrapped loosely around her neck and covering the lower-half of her face. She looked over her shoulder, the stunned couple shivering as gleaming silver eyes stared straight through them.

"You got a basement?" She asked, her voice monotone and dull. They jumped slightly before nodding. "Good. Go hide with your kid. I'll take care of the rest."

She walked out of the house without another word, but the couple knew who she was and the legend she was leaving in her wake after she'd mysteriously appeared in Mistral. When she stepped out, the was greeted with the snarling faces of a dozen daemons, Grimm and others alike. She snorted. At this point, it was kind of useless trying to differentiate Grimm and daemons: they were all the exact same at their core anyway.

"Well?" She snorted, flicking her nose with her thumb, "Let's get this over with."

The horde collectively roared at her, blowing away the hood and revealing the battled-scarred face of Ruby Rose an instant before she shot forward, her body like a tornado as she spun like a top with a single leg outstretched, cutting through any demon too slow to dodge. A Plaguebearer tried to stab her in the back the moment she ended her attack only for Ruby to pivot on the spot and shoot her knee straight up into its jaw, half of its head exploding. She wasn't fooled: demons of Nurgle did not die from such a mundane blow. Her elbow descended and smashed the rest of its head into mush, kicking off of the corpse before it could fall as the Rajang dove in and hammered its fists into the area she was just occupying. She ignored the ape-like daemon for now and focused on dealing with the handful smaller threats that survived her initial assault before they could overwhelm her, ducking under the swiping claws of a Beowolf, spinning and sweeping its legs out from under it and springing up into a roundhouse kick straight into its falling head, bone and astral brain-matter exploding.

She kicked the corpse towards the Rajang as it tried to chase her, distracting it long enough for her to close the gap on a large Creep that aimed a bite at her face, only for a straight-kick to implode its jaw and her following hook-kick to its temple decapitating the creature entirely, its head crashing into a Bloodletter before it could close on her with its blade. The impact stunned enough that its swing was clumsy, sailing over Ruby's head as she ducked, caught its arm, pivoted and threw the creature over her shoulder. She grabbed it by the torso as it fell and grunted as she yanked it down onto her rising knee, breaking its back and tearing it in half in short order, catching the flat of its blade on the top of her foot before it could fall, tossing it up and perfectly hammering her heel into its pommel. The blade shot through the air like a bullet to stab hilt-deep through the Rajang's collarbone, the beast screaming in pain and thrashing around wildly.

She danced out of the way as the Rajang's swinging fists pulverised anything in their way, intentionally leading it further into the remaining daemons and letting its thrashing paste the rest of them across the floor. The moment the last of the lesser daemons were taken care of, she dashed into the Rajang's swing, spearing her elbow directly into its open jaw. Teeth shattered and it stumbled back from the stinging pain, only to sharply rear up and smash both fists arms down. Ruby stood ready, pivoting out of the way as her leg lashed up in a streak of motion.

She ripped up through the Rajang's elbows, perfectly severing the connective cartilage between the bones and tearing both arms off in a single, smooth motion. It opened its mouth to bellow in pain, only for Ruby's heels to rocket into its jaw and send it stumbling back, ichor-slick teeth dropping out of its ruined mouth. It locked eyes with Ruby, the girl patiently taunting it. Its mouth opened wider and the thick fur on its back shone a harsh gold, revealing the Lightning-Dust seemingly embedded within its hair before its mouth crackled with electricity. It was then that Ruby moved in, crouching low and firing her heel up into its throat right before it could unleash its attack, its eyes bulging and promptly frying as the buildup of elemental energies was given no path to safely escape, its throat and head exploding a moment later after Ruby had dived out of the way.

She stood up and observed her surroundings, her eyes locking onto the bulbous mass of flesh in the town square. Gore Nests acted as semi-permanent holes into the Warp, the immaterial realm, and Ruby along with the God living in her head guessed that all the blood and viscera that the nest absorbed was either being sent into the warp or (more likely) was being stored in the nest itself, waiting until the Qliphoth roots could reach through the warp and dig into the nutrient-rich nest.

'You know what to do,' F##### said, 'Any delay on her end is more time bought for us.'

"Yeah-yeah, already on it," Ruby muttered, walking up and reaching out to the central node that connected the mass of flesh together, ready to rip it out and watch it unravel the dozens of others she destroyed. Danger screamed in her ear and she yanked her head out of the way as an ugly, broad, and dark-grey blade just barely sliced her cheek, backflipping and landing with her guard up. She winced and then flinched hard at the pain blooming from the insignificant cut, surprised both at just how much it hurt and the feeling of F##### reeling back in her mind.

'A weapon designed to slay beings of light!?' He hissed before Ruby felt his shock at the sight of the weapon's wielder. 'Impossible! Does that witch's blasphemy know no bounds!?'

The creature was around eight feet tall, its dark, jagged armour seemingly made of blackened bones, jagged spines branching up from its shoulders, one hand wielding the aforementioned blade and the other glowing with a bloody-red light. Its face… helmet? Ruby wasn't entirely sure, but whatever it was, it was simply a blackened, humanoid skull with empty eye-sockets and cloaked in a raggedy black cloth that undulated in a breeze which didn't exist. Its presence was extremely similar to other Grimm, except far more ancient.

Eater of Souls

Darkwraith Knight

'Switch with me,' He demanded, 'Switch with me RIGHT THIS INSTANT!'

"Shut up," Ruby snapped as she readied herself, "I won't have you fight my battles."

Rather than dashing forward like Ruby expected, the Darkwraith slowly stalked towards her, its blade hanging low and its red-wreathed hand up, space distorting around its palm to create a rippling red shield of sorts. Ruby initiated the attack, sending a flying kick into the shield with the intent to punch right through it and end the fight in a single shot.

'DON'T!'

Her toe barely made contact before she launched herself back, grimacing in pain and curiosity at the numbness crawling up her foot.

'The Dark-hand they wield drains the very humanity from you!' He hissed, 'Protect yourself with your aura!'

"And give you the chance to take over?" Ruby growled back, "I'm not that stupid."

The Darkwraith jogged forward, suddenly picking up speed and stabbing with its blade at her neck.

"Welter," She muttered, both hands up protecting her face as she bobbed and weaved through the flurry of stabs. She stepped in as a stab flew over her ducking head, her right hook stabbing into its stomach before she sharply reversed her momentum and crouched, springing off her feet while cartwheeling to dodge the stomp aimed at her chest, whipping her foot up into its face with a sharp *CRACK*. Its cheekbone fractured and chipped as its head snapped to the side, but it recovered faster than Ruby expected, chopping down with its blade. She didn't freeze, throwing herself to the side and continuing to backpedal as it continued to hack away at her, weaving past a slash from collarbone to rib, slipping another meant to cut from liver to neck, and hammering a right-hook into the flat of the blade as it aimed to stab her in the heart. Even as its hefty blade was knocked to the side, it didn't lose its balance, transitioning into a wide spinning slash that cut through a light pole close by.

She leapt, her leg going straight up before chopping down in an axe-kick. Her heel crashed into the falling light pole, sending it spinning down like a buzzsaw into the Darkwraith's shoulder. It bounced off with a *CLANG,* though Ruby was satisfied that the force of the blow was enough to stagger it. She stomped her heel onto the side of its knee as she came down, staggering it enough to slam her heel into its ribs, leaping and spinning to shoot another kick into its face that jerked its head back. Even in such an unbalanced position, it lashed out with a well-timed swing of its blade at the vulnerable Ruby. She grit her teeth and relaxed her entire body before exploding into motion the instant she felt its blade touch her ribs, spinning with the direction of the slash and allowing it to roll off of her.

It wasn't perfect: the blade had managed to bite through the tightly woven Kevlar of the corset and into the connective muscle between two of her ribs, thankfully not slicing all the way through to the lung. The pain was somehow both intense and non-existent, spreading into her chest like a wildfire and simultaneously numbing her torso. Her limbs felt like they were attached to a flaming balloon, her body shuddering until the Darkwraith stomped her in the chest. She was sent flying back, her ribs fractured, yet the sharp pain was enough to jolt her back into action as she tucked, flipped and landed feet first on the wall of a house. She didn't hesitate, launching herself back into the fight and slipping past another stab that would've decapitated her, aiming a flying roundhouse at its arm.

It slashed up at her and she sharply grabbed its wrist right before it could fully straighten its arm, wrapping her body around it as it came up and sharply twisting with every ounce of explosive strength she could muster. To her relief, she felt and heard the joints in its elbow pop and rip after a moment, the Darkwraith releasing a breathy hiss before it made to grab her with his glowing hand. She sprung off just in time, stumbling backwards slightly as the pain in her torso flared up again, watching with satisfaction as its destroyed arm dropped the blade.

"That other hand's next," She called out, "Then your head's mine."

It cocked its head at her before looking at its broken arm, seeming to contemplate something. It suddenly about-faced and sprinted, startling Ruby before she realized where it was going.

'KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL-!'

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Ruby screamed as she sprinted after it towards the town square. With her leg still injured, she was just a few steps too slow as the Darkwraith reached the Gore Nest and plunged its shadowy hand into the mass of flesh. It drew hard, parts of the structure necrotizing near-instantly as it shrunk in size. The Darkwraith's body started to shake and bulge before an inky black mass exploded out of its back, easily over ten feet long and as large as a car, ending in a vaguely serpentine head with glowing crimson eyes.

Filth of Humanity

Dregwraith

It screamed with the voices of the dead townsfolk, the broken arm of the newly-christened Dregwraith exploding in size, turning into a massive bony claw that swiped at her and ripped through the ground. She managed to leap away onto the roof of a clocktower, only for the claw to dig into the ground and launch itself bodily at her, shrieking as its snake-like head lashed out to swallow her whole and blasting through the roof as she again dove away.

She winced as she could feel her eyes responding to the creature in front of her, the headache almost getting her killed as the Dregwraith ripped its head out of the roof and lunged at her again, its inky 'neck' elongating as it snapped at her. She leapt over the attack, focusing on the fight once more as the creature's maw chomped clean through the side of the clocktower itself, Ruby grunting as she dove down with a simple punch into its neck. Her eyes went wide as her fist plunged into its skin and stayed stuck, her hand and arm instantly going numb with pins and needles.

"Fuck," She sighed.

The creature's neck whipped up and smashed down with Ruby still on it, bodily pummelling her into and through the roof. Bones fractured on impact, Ruby gasping as she was thrown through a table, bouncing off the floor and crashing through the wall. Splinters were riddled through her body, blood spilling from her mouth and nose, a gash through her brow covering one side of her face in a red mask, yet she somehow still managed to stand.

'UNSEAL YOUR AURA RIGHT NOW!' F##### screamed in her head, 'WHY MUST YOU BE SO STUBBORN!?'

She cartwheeled away as the Dregwraith came crashing down onto her talon-first, the serpent's head tracking her and opening its maw wide to spew black sludge at her. She breathed out gently and allowed the pain to fade into the back of her mind, her focus sharpening as she calmly leaned to the side, letting the bile fly harmlessly past her. The creature itself wasn't idle, sprinting forward using the Darkwraith's legs and swiping her with its talons once again. Ruby tucked her body and spiralled into the air, passing directly in between its claws and whipping out a spinning kick to sever two of its three talons at the knuckles. She landed and immediately ducked its wild backhand strike, shooting up another heel-kick into its armpit that cracked the bony structure before retreating as its head spewed its bile all over itself in an attempt to catch her as well, its severed talons rapidly regenerating.

'It's good to see that a month of nothing fight after fight without relying on my aura strengthened my body this much,' Ruby thought, 'But I won't be able to beat this thing with pure physical force. I can't let F##### take over my body, so I need to make this quick.'

She knit her pinky, ring, and middle fingers together, the tips of her index fingers touching to form a vaguely half-circle shape, a single thumb peeking through the gap made by her curved fingers as if to mimic an eye peering over a mountain. Her body and soul remembered how it shaped reality during the fight with Salem; it wouldn't be able to pull off anything at that level as she was now, of course. That experience however, was invaluable. She knelt, leaving herself entirely open and the mindless coalesced humanity lunged at her, its maw open and ready to swallow her whole.

If she didn't have the strength to shape reality with her soul, why not layer her soul itself on top of reality? A miniature world, constructed with her aura and embedded with the innate abilities of her Semblance:

"DOMAIN EXPANSION."

Her aura exploded from her body in the form of a tornado of petals, swallowing her and the Dregwraith whole. The Dregwraith reeled back from the perceived attack, only to blink in confusion as Ruby's aura washed over it harmlessly. Its confusion turned into shock as it observed its surroundings: gone was the town square they'd just fought in. Both combatants now stood on the flattened top of a grey mountain, rose-thorns piercing through the ground. The sky was a brilliant red thanks to the crimson moon shining down on them, a single point of silver at its very centre. Seven red pillars capped in silver surrounded the peak of the mountain, their lower halves unseen through the haze of petals obscuring everything below the peak.

"CRIMSON MOONLIGHT, MOUNTAINTOP HAZE!"

The Dregwraith turned to look at Ruby and twitched. She was little more than a red silhouette with bright silver eyes, her form wreathed in swirling petals.

"Let's make this quick," Ruby said.

It didn't even have time to react as she blurred forward, so much faster than before as her body, brought to its limit in battles without the protective and augmentative power of aura, was now flooded with it to unleash one hundred and twenty percent of her potential. The lingering damage done to her body since its last battle merely a few days ago was perfectly healed the moment her Domain was activated, muscles that had taken such a beating repaired and further strengthened.

"Crescent Rose KICK!"

The blade of aura sliced through the Dregwraith's bony talon at the shoulder like a hot knife through butter. It screamed in agony and spewed bile on her, only for the foul liquid to pass right through her body as she sprinted towards it. Black tendrils erupted from its neck and wildly whipped around in an attempt to carve her into gibbets. Her fists, feet, knees and elbows arced through the air, slicing through the tendrils with ease as she closed the distance in the blink of an eye, directly in front of its chest. She stomped her foot down, clenched her fist, and rocketed a left uppercut directly through its abdominals, through its diaphragm, and into its black heart. She winced as the silver dot on the crimson moon shone a bit brighter, starting to rapidly creep across its surface before she locked in and the growth halted.

"Suffer the weight of life," She intoned, her eyes shining silver, "SAMSARA."

The Domain disappeared in the blink of an eye as she poured everything into the Dregwraith, ripping her hand out and dashing back with her guard still up just in case, trying to control her breathing as her exhaustion slammed into her. It stood there for a moment, the hole in its chest closing up until its form warped and bulged. Its eyes went wide as it thrashed, red thorns tearing through the amalgamated demon, silver tipped petals firing out of its wounds before it burst into a gory, black mess, most of what was left dissolving soon after. Ruby collapsed to her knees, eyes screwed shut at the migraine stabbing her behind the eyes, but she was smiling in spite of it.

"Th-thought you could get the jump on me like that, huh?" She sneered, "You want my body so bad, you better work for it."

She almost laughed as F##### snarled and retreated into himself, biding his time and waiting for another opportunity to possess her as usual. With the Silver Eyes being bound directly to her soul, her Domain Expansion worked as a good workaround for his attempts to posses her through her aura. The constructed reality was made up of every bit of aura she had, and while it granted her the full breadth of her abilities (and then some), he couldn't possess her body if it all of it was being used to create the Domain. But he was adapting. Little by little, he'd figure out a way to grab hold of her Domain, and when that happened, she'd be back to square one in the best-case scenario. At worst…

She shook her head at the thought, making sure to restrict her aura from spreading throughout her body as it normally wanted to, putting her hood back up and wrapping the remnants of her cloak around her mouth like a scarf. She walked over to the sword that the Darkwraith had dropped when she'd shattered its arm, cautiously picking it up and giving it a few passes through the air. It was heavy, no surprise there, but shockingly well-balanced. Still, she could feel the strange numbness crawling up the hand that held the blade, her eyes faintly buzzing in her skull.

'Can't let the townsfolk use this, but I might be able to melt it down and make something out of it,' She thought, stowing the blade away on her back before her eye caught something: the family from before, their daughter with them. More were popping out of their hiding-places to gather into the town square, frightened at the carnage but awed at Ruby's handiwork, dawning recognition on their faces at her features, hidden as they were.

"It's not safe to stay here," She said calmly, "Spread the word to anyone else you come across: travel to Mistral. Stay together and don't stop moving."

She waved a hand over her shoulder and made her way back to the supplies she'd dropped in a hurry when she realized that the town she was heading towards was under attack. Checking her supplies and making sure nothing was damaged, she took out her map and rechecked her route, eyes locking onto her destination: the main encampment of the Branwen Demon-Clan.

"And on we go," She sighed, putting the map away.

She left without another word, as she had with the dozen other towns and villages she'd had to fight her way through. And as with each person she managed to save, they began to whisper a legend of her, passing it from person to person.

Fields of bodies, mountains of dead. Down Dragonspring River, our kingdom bled. But through it all, one continued to struggle: a Silver-Eyed avenger, demon wolf in red.

...TWBY Continued...

Ruby Rose's Domain Expansion: Crimson Moonlight, Mountaintop Haze.

Reflecting the crimson-moon soul that is Ruby Rose and embodying the hights of power she wishes to climb, the Domain's reflects Ruby's breath-taking but lonely inner-world. The single spot of silver on the moon however, is not Ruby. What would have happened if Ruby was capable of using this Domain before 'her' fight with Salem while she still had her companions at her side...?

Type: Power-up

Sure-hit Effect: Amplifies the power and capabilities of Ruby's semblance beyond her normal limits, including output and control. Technically-speaking, this is a form that combines the effects of her intangibility, acceleration, flight, and even the Exploding Heart: Crimson Glow all into one without any major health-drawbacks! However, she can only keep up this kind of power for extremely short periods of time (up to 10 seconds) due to both the extreme amount of aura needed to create a Domain in the first place along with the metaphysical corruption of F##### within the silver eyes. Perhaps if he could be properly restrained and controlled...?

What do you think? As always, let me know what you guys think, and see you soon! Peace!

(PS: Extra points to anyone who guesses where the Darkwraith comes from, what the Dregwraith is actually referencing, and where the final poem at the end comes from. Two are easy enough, but the Dregwraith itself is a little trickier because its a combination of two ideas/enemies!)