Standing in the shadows of a tree just outside a large mansion we see our tall Grimm Lady leaning against a tree. She's missing her right boned arm, but a bit little is still there. She has bandages all around her and her clothes are repaired. 

Ruby holds her hand out and black liquid starts to pour out of it and lands on the ground. A few seconds later a small crow sized Nevermore pulls itself out of the pool and caws. 

Ruby tilts her head as the bird looks up to her and mimics her actions. Ruby holds her hand out and the Nevermore jumps onto it, the black puddle seeps back into Ruby's hand. Ruby brings the small Nevermore up to her face and it caws at her a couple times. 

Ruby smiles and she holds her hand out and the Nevermore flies away.

Ruby then sighs."It's been about a day since we've fought the Hydra and Hajime still hasn't woken up." She looks at her missing right arm, where little black bones are showing. "At least my arm's growing back. I don't want to be like Hajime for the rest of my life. And at least that fight gave me a couple good skills."

Ruby glances up at the artificial sun and glares at it. She growls at it and flips it off. "I hate the light." She then looks at her hand and licks it. "Bleh, I need a bath."

Ruby just grunts as she uses Petal Burst to fly over to the mansion and goes through an open window, leaving a train of red and black petals behind.

She then walks through the hall of the mansion and comes to the baths. Ruby smiles to herself as she begins to take off her clothes.  Reveling her smooth stomach with bandages wrapped around it. Her small chest also has bandages wrapped around it. 

Ruby slowly walks into the water, while we get a view of her small but curvy ass. 

Ruby then stops when she's in the middle of the bath and she sits down so the water is just below her head. Ruby then smiles brightly and laughs.

(Who could not love this face on the most evil thing on the planet, who would easily kill and eat you without a second thought.)

...

...

"Ahhhh~" Ruby lets out a happy sigh as she stretches in the bath. "I haven't had a bath like this in two months."

Ruby tilts her head towards the water and begins to wash it. "Man, this is kinda hard with just one hand." She flips her hair back when she finishes.

Ruby lowers herself into the water so only her eyes are above it and she closes them. She then lets out a satisfied hum. 'I'm never going so long without a bath, ever again.'

She hears some footsteps approach and she opens her eyes to see Yue and Hajime enter the bath area. Hajime looks at Ruby, now only having one eye.

"Reuben." Hajime smirks. "Should've known you'd find this place first."

Ruby stands up in the bath, steam covering her important bits. "Well, I've been bathing in blood for a little over a month, so I thought I'd actually get clean now." She then gains a suggestive smirk and she shakes her chest. "Ara Ara~ Like what you see?"

"Tch." Hajime glares at her. "Not a chance." 

Yue looks at Ruby's chest, then down on her own. Yue's chest is flatter than Ruby's and she looks up at Ruby with a pout. "Ruby, put some clothes on."

Ruby laughs as she walks out of the bath and dries herself off. "But having no clothes is a free feeling." A stone hits her on the back of the head and she turns to Hajime."I'll kill you asshole!"

"Put some damn clothes on!" Hajime yells.

"That's not how you treat a lady!"

"You're not a lady, you're a creature of Grimm, they don't have genders!" 

"Well, I do!"

Yue sighs.

After Ruby gets dressed the three move through the mansion, looking at various stuff. They move up to the second floor and Hajime puts his hand on a door that has large cracks in it.

Hajime puts his hand on the door and tries to use Transmute on it, but it doesn't work. "The library and workshop on the second floor are both sealed off, huh?"

"I tried to brute force my way in, but it didn't work." Ruby states. "Man, I know how you feel now, only having one arm."

"Let's see the third floor." Yue says.

"Yeah." Hajime agrees.

The three head up to the third floor and find only one room.

"Looks like this is the only room up here." Hajime observes.

"Yeah." Ruby and Yue say together.

They walk into the room and magic crystal torches light up. Hajime sees a skeleton sitting in a throne-like chair. Ruby and Yue stands a couple feet behind him.

"Almost like he was waiting for someone." Hajime says.

"Yeah." Yue nods.

"How long has he been down here?" Ruby questions. 

Hajime looks down to the dark magic circle painted on the ground. "This room's gotta be the key to finding a route to the surface. My Transmute ability wouldn't even work on those sealed rooms... Yue, Reuben, help me out if this goes south."

"Mm. Be careful." Yue says.

"And don't be a dumbass." Ruby smirks.

Hajime walks onto the magic circle and nothing happens until he reaches the middle of it. As soon as he steps in the middle the circle lights up red and Hajime stops and grunts. After a few seconds the light dies down a little and suddenly a hologram appears from where the dead man is sitting and the hologram stands up.

Hajime puts a hand on his gun, that's holstered in the back of his pants. But he lets go after a few seconds of nothing happening. 

The hologram then speaks. "My name is Oscar Orcus. I am the man who built this labyrinth. You've done well to survive my trials and make it here. The term 'Maverick' should be familiar to you, yes?"

"So you're him..." Hajime mutters.

"Sorry, but you'll have to hold off on questions. This is just a recording, after all. Unfortunately, I can't answer your questions. I just wanted to leave a message for the person who made it here, to share the reasons why someone who knew the truth of this world chose to fight against it."

.

.

.

Yang's group reaches the 65th floor and she flexes her fingers. She stands next to Kaori.

"This is the 65th floor..." Shizuku says.

"Yeah, we're down to the deepest floor anyone's made it to." Kouki stands next to Shizuku.

Everyone follows Meld as they move on.

"Indeed." Shizuku says to Kouki. "I was worried how things would turn out at first, but everyone's gotten so strong. I was really surprised."

"You're one to talk--you've leveled up quite a bit, Shizuku." Kouki points out

"Not as much as Mister Hero, here. Or even Miss Huntress behind us."

"Focus, now!" Meld calls out. "This map only shows part of this level. We've no idea what will happen."

"Right!" Everyone says as they all walk down a pair of stairs.

The group comes to the bridge where they fought the Behemoth and lost Hajime and Reuben. Yang grits her teeth as she curls her fists.

Meld holds his hand out to stop the group."Wait."

Everyone stops and they look to the other end of the bridge and a large purple magic circle appears. 

"N-No..." Shizuku takes a step back.

"That monster again?!" Kouki sweats.

Yang slams her fists together. "I'm ready for round two!"

Daisuke moves behind Kousuke Endou, or hentai protagonist looking guy. "I thought it died!" Daisuke sweats as he looks on in fear.

"Behemoth..." Shizuku mutters as sweat drips down her face.

"It's been two months, so I'm prepared now." Yang cracks her neck.

The Behemoth starts to come out of the magic circle and Meld readies his sword. "Nobody knows the respawn rate of monsters here in the labyrinth... but it is normal for some monsters to respawn after being defeated." He looks back as the Behemoth fully spawns. "Here he comes! Don't forget to secure an escape route!"

A few of the party members turn around, only for another, smaller magic circle to appear.

"Meld-san, we're not the same as we were before!" Shizuku states.

Kouki holds his sword out. "We're hundreds of times stronger! We won't lose again!"

Yang smiles. "Yeah, not gonna lose to some big clunky enemy now! So we're gonna win this time!"

Ryutarou speaks up. "That's right! Doesn't feel right for us to keep up this losing streak! Time for a rematch!"

Everyone else nods in agreement.

Meld smiles. "Comrades..."

The Behemoth roars at the party and the force of it nearly blows everyone to the ground.

Kaori points her staff at the Behemoth. "We won't let you take any more of us. We're going to press past you and keep moving forward!"

Kouki aims his sword at the Behemoth and it starts to glow as a magic circle appears behind him. "Soar to the heavens with the speed of a thousand wings--" He brings his sword back. "Heavenly Flash!" he swings his sword and a large slash slams into the Behemoth, not doing much, but it lets out a roar of pain. "We got this! Shizuku, take the left! Hiyama and the others, go behind it! Meld-san, take the right! Yang, take the front. Rear guard, prepare the magic circle, a high-level one!"

"Direct, unwavering orders--excellent!" Meld smiles.

Skeletons appear in the magic circle behind the group and the Behemoth starts to charge the party with its horns down.

Yang runs towards it. "It's me and you pal! Herculean Strength!"

Magic covers Yang's arms as she runs forward and intercepts one of the Behemoth's horns. Yang grunts as the Behemoth starts to push her back, but she smirks with a little sweat traveling down her brow.

Yang plants her feet in the ground and stops the Behemoth. "Now would be a good time to do something!" She yells.

Meld jumps up to the horn that Yang's holding. "Crumble to ash, to splinters, to dust!" His sword glows. "Overpower!" He slams his sword into the Behemoth's horn, just cracking it. "Still tough as ever, isn't he?!"

"Let me handle it!" Shizuku yells as she jumps up towards the horn. "Let this supreme strike slice through all!" A magic circle appears behind her and her sword glows. "Obliterate!" A magic slash flies through the air and cuts though the horn.

The Behemoth roars and shakes it's head back and fourth, Sending Yang, Meld and Shizuku flying back.

Kaori starts to cast a spell. "Let this gentle light envelop you--- Gentle Halo!" She points her staff forward and it glows green.

Three platforms made of light appear below Yang, Shizuku and Meld and they land on it.

Kouki charges forward. "Luminous Burst!" He stabs his sword into the chest of the Behemoth, but it does little damage and the Behemoth stomps on the ground, sending him flying.

Yang jumps forward as her hair starts to glow and her eyes turn red. Activating Burn. "Take this!" She pulls her right fist back and a magic cirlce appears behind her. "Turn all those oppose me to ash and dust, leave nothing behind for them to find! Flame Bullet!" She throws her fist forward and multiple small fire balls fly from her first and slam into the Behemoth.

The Behemoth stumbles back and roars and Yang charges forward with a yell. The behemoth shakes its head and looks forward, only to get knocked back by a powerful punch from Yang.

The Behemoth roars in anger and tries to impale Yang with its horn as she grabs it and struggles to hold it as her hair catches on fire and burns brightly. Yang lets out a yell as she starts to push the Behemoth back with all her strength. 

The Behemoth roars and lifts up his head, taking Yang with it. The Behemoth then brings its head back down, throwing Yang back and she slams into the ground back behind Shizuku, a yellow aura surrounds Yang, protecting her from harm. Yang cancels Burn and her eyes and hair return to normal.

The Behemoth stares at the party as purple mist surrounds both its horns and they glow red.

"He can still do that, even with his horns broken..." Shizuku mutters. "Everyone, get ready to attack!" She yells.

Suddenly the Behemoth jumps past Shizuku, Meld, Kouki and Yang, heading towards the rear guard.

"Huh?" Shizuku questions.

Suzu then starts to cast a spell. "Enemies of God mayst not tread upon His holy ground!" A magic circle appears behind her and she holds her hands out. "Herem!"

A large dome surrounds the rear guard and the Behemoth crashes into it.

Suzu grunts as the Behemoth pushes into the dome, slowly making it disappear. "I'm not gonna let you win!" She grunts.

"Blessing of heaven, reveal your secrets-- Divine Strength!" Kaori casts onto Suzu, making the dome stronger.

"Thanks, Kaorin! I love you!"

The Behemoth roars at the dome, but its suddenly pulled back slightly. 

"I didn't say we're done! Limit Break!" Yang yells as her eyes shine red and her hair burns brightly as she pulls onto the Behemoths tail.

Yang lets out a loud yell as she lifts the Behemoth off the dome and flips it onto his back.

Eri moves forward and holds her staff out. "Blazing Sun!"

A large ball of fire shoots out of her staff and floats above the behemoth, before releasing fire balls down onto it.

Yang pulls her fists back. "Flame Bullet!" She throws her fists forward and multiple small fire balls fly from her fist and into the Behemoth.

Kouki holds up his sword. "Limit Break!" He cuts the Behemoth in half, killing it. It releases purple particles."D-Did we beat it."

The Behemoth falls down and all the skeletons fall apart. Yang's eyes and hair return to normal and she lets out a breath as some sweat falls from her cheek.

Daisuke is cowering on the ground.

All is quite for a few seconds.

"We won!" Shizuku smiles.

Kouki holds up his sword. "Yes! Victory is ours!"

Yang throws her fists up. "Hell yes!"

Everyone begins to celebrate.

Yang stares at the Behemoth's corpse. 'We've defeated it, Reuben, I hope you're happy wherever you are down here.' 

.

.

.

Oscar's projection is speaking. "I don't know who you are or why you came here. But there's something I want you to know. I will give you my power. Use it as you please. Just please don't use if for evil."

"Power?" Hajime questions.

"Guess I can't use it then." Ruby whispers to herself.

"That's all." Oscar says. "Thank you for listening. I hope you will be able to live by your own free will." He disappears and Hajime grunts as a bunch of information is forced into his head.

Hajime puts a hand over his missing eye. "Wh-What's happening? It's like something's being imprinted onto my mind..." He lets out a few pained grunts. After a few seconds the magic circle dims and goes out. "Holy shit..."

"Hajime?" Yue calls out.

"You look like your about to shit your pants." Ruby observes.

"They weren't evil gods, or Mavericks, they were Liberators..." Hajime informs. 

"What now?" Yue asks.

Hajime turns to the two girls. "I told you before, I don't give a crap about what happens to this world. I'm going home. That's it. You two worried about it?"

Yue shakes her head.

Ruby scoffs. "I'm not worried about anything, If I can kill a Hydra, I can kill anything. Besides, I'm stuck with ya and as long as you don't interfere with my plans, then I'll help you." Hajime nods to her and she nods back.

Yue walks over to Hajime. "I belong here." She grabs his hand and holds it. "I don't care about anything else."

Hajime glances away from Yue. "Oh, also it seems like I've learned a new kind of magic--ancient magic."

"Really?"

"It's called 'creation magic.' It lets me add energy to raw minerals to give them special qualities."

"You can make artifacts?" Yue asks.

"Yeah, seems like it." Hajime replies as he looks down at the vampire girl.

"That's incredible, Hajime!"

"You wanna learn how to use it?"

"But I can't use Transmute..."

"Well, sure, but it's ancient magic, you know." Hajime says. "No harm in learning how to use it, right?"

Ruby starts picking at her teeth in boredom.

"If you say so, Hajime." Yue says.

Hajime glances towards the Grimm Girl picking at her very sharp teeth. "How about you, Reuben?"

Ruby stops picking her teeth and she shakes her head. "He said not to use it for evil. So I'd have to decline, don't know why I'm letting some old dead man stop me, but I just am."

Hajime spends the next few hours teaching Yue how to use creation magic and it eventually turns night. Where there's an artificial night sky.

Ruby's outside and she's looking up in awe. "Wow, It may not be the real thing, but its still so cool."

Ruby then laughs as she starts running around.

The next morning the three bury Oscar's skeleton and they go into his office, and search through the books in there.

"Bingo!" Hajime sets a book on the desk. "Found it you two!" Yue and Ruby walk over to Hajime after putting their books away. "Looks like that magic circle is connected to the surface."

"But to connect it, we need Orcus' ring." Yue informs.

"That's not a problem." Hajime reaches in his pocket and pulls out Oscar's ring. "I grabbed it when we buried him."

"So the workshop's full of Oscar's artifacts and all his materials, huh?" Hajime questions. "We'd better take 'em with us."

"That would be the best course of action." Ruby agrees.

Yue grabs a book and brings it over to Hajime. "Hajime, look."

Hajime grabs the books and sits in a chair, Yue sits on his lap and Ruby leans over his shoulder. Hajime reads through the book.

 "So is that how it works, huh?" He questions. "If I make it through the other labyrinths, I'll get my hands on the other forms of ancient magic?"

"You might find a way to get home." Yue says.

"Yeah. Guess that's what we gotta do!" 

"Then I'll be able to fight many strong enemies and eat them." Ruby nods to herself and drools a little.

"Let's hit up those other labyrinths!" Hajime says.

An hour later the three go over to the workshop door and Hajime opens it using the ring.

A crystal lamp lights up as the three walk into the room. Ruby moves around the room.

"There are even more in here." Yue says and she notices Hajime looking at her. "What's wrong?"

"Hey, Yue, let's stay here for a while." Hajime says. "I want to get up to the surface, but there are too many things to learn down here."

Ruby finds a small safe locks up with a key lock and she begins fiddling with it.

Hajime continues. "And if we're going to go through the other labyrinths, we should prepare as much as we can."

"I don't mind, as long as I'm with you!" Yue smiles.

A little red forms on Hajime's checks. "Okay."

A loud bang is heard and the two turn to see Ruby holding the safe door. "What?" She questions. "I didn't want to look for the key."

Hajime rolls his eye and walks out of the room, with Yue following him. Ruby just shrugs her shoulders and tosses the steel door behind her, lodging it in a wall.

Ruby giggles to her self as she moves her hands around in the safe. "Huh?" She pulls out a large vial of black liquid. "What's this?" She sniffs the bottle and even licks it. "Hmmm." She opens the top up and pours it onto a table.

She then tosses the empty vial to the side, with it shattering as it lands on the ground. Ruby stares at the black liquid before touching it a couple times. "I think this is a little bit of a Grimm pool." Suddenly the liquid attaches itself to Ruby, before sinking below her skin.

Ruby blinks a few times. "I feel slightly weird." She then shrugs her shoulders and walks out of the room.

The days then go by as the three prepare themselves for the surface. Ruby's bone arm grows day by day as she mostly spends her days in the Library, trying to learn a new skill she wants. 

One day she stands beside Hajime as he works on building new guns.

"Hajime, teach me a couple skills!" Ruby orders.

"No! Learn them yourself!" Hajime yells back.

"Teach me!" The tall Grimm girl waves her arms back and fourth. 

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!

"YES!"

"NO! Hajime yells.

"NO!" Ruby yells.

"YES! Wait, fuck!"

"HA!"

Ruby Learned Mana Manipulation!
Ruby Learned Farsight!

Another day Yue cooks a large meal for the Hajime and Ruby and they swiftly dig in.

Hajime stops and starts to sweat as his face turns blue and he starts choking. Yue panics and starts to slam her hands on his back.

Ruby, who has a bone sticking out of her mouth, starts laughing at Hajime. Ruby pounds the table as she laughs, but then the bone falls into her throat and she starts choking. 

Yue panics as Hajime and Ruby are both choking.

Another day Ruby runs through the forest with a happy smile, her right bone arm is half way regenerated. A few small Nevermores fly above her as a couple Beowolves run in the background. 

Another day Ruby is bothering Hajime again.

"Make me this!" Ruby orders as she puts a couple stone tablets on Hajime's desk. They have a weapon blueprint on them, her arm is mostly healed, it's just missing the fingers.

Hajime glares at Ruby. "No."

"But I don't have a weapon and this'll help me with long range!"

"Still no."

Ruby then holds up a Grimm puppy.

"But how can you say no to this face?" Ruby says in baby talk.

The puppy barks.

Hajime deadpans. "No."

Ruby huffs in frustration as she sets the puppy down and its barks as it runs off.

"Hajime!" Ruby yells. "I, Ruby Rose, order you to make me this weapon, so I can fight!"

Hajime sighs. "If I do, will you leave me alone?"

Ruby nods. "Hai Hai."

"Fine." Hajime reluctantly agrees.

"YES!" Ruby then pulls out a few more stone slabs. "Also here's blue prints for a few times of ammunition."

Hajime slams his head into the table with a groan. 

On one of the last days Ruby is looking at herself in a mirror.

"Man, I'm beautiful." Ruby mutters. 

Ruby looks herself over and looks at her fully regenerated right bone arm. She then sighs. "Well lets try this Metamorphosis Magic, only took me two months to learn."

Ruby closes her eyes and casts the spell. Her body shines a dark red as it shrinks down into a smaller form, being 5'5'' (167.6 cm.)

The light disappears and Ruby opens her silver eyes and blinks a few times as she looks at herself in the mirror.

"Wow." Ruby says in astonishment, even her voice sounds slightly different, more human than her regular voice. "This is cool. Now I can use this as a disguise. Can't let the whole world know that Grimm are coming back." She smiles.

Ruby then grabs her new weapon off the table to her side and changes it into scythe mode.

Ruby twirls it around before holding it in front of her. "I think I'll call you... Crescent Rose. Yes, that's perfect." 

Ruby looks at herself in the mirror again and sadistic smile as her right eye turns back to Black and Red.

"This'll be fun!" Ruby giggles to herself and she changes back into her Grimm form, her scythe changing along with her. back into her Grimm scythe. "Now that's really cool!"

Ruby then looks down at her Bone and Clawed hands, before licking them both. "Ugh, I need another bath."

A couple days later Ruby, Yue and Hajime gather on a large magic circle as it glows red. Hajime is sporting a new look and Ruby is in Grimm form.

"We're fully prepared." Hajime says. "I've learned all I can from monster meat." Hajime looks at his new prosthetic arm. "We're all geared up, too."

Ruby holds her scythe over her shoulder. "It took us a whole two months."

Yue nods.

"Yue, my weapons and powers aren't normal up on the surface, neither are Reuben's." Hajime informs. "The Holy Church and other kingdoms won't be able to keep quiet about 'em. I'd be fine if it were just them, but we might even get targeted by godly beings."

Yue nods again.

Hajime continues. "It might just be us against the world on this journey. We may not have enough lives saved up to survive it."

"It's too late." Yue states.

Hajime puts a hand on Yue's head. "I'll protect you, and you'll protect me. We'll be unstoppable." Yue nods.

Ruby hugs the two. "And you'll both protect Ruby!"

Hajime pushes Ruby off him. "Don't hug me!"

Ruby sticks her tongue out at Hajime.

Hajime huffs. "We're gonna defeat everything and everyone... and surpass the entire world, the three of us!"

 Yue nods.

"Hell yeah!" Ruby cheers.

The magic circle glows brighter.

....

...

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(What do you guys think Ruby's theme song would be? You can do multiple.)

04-18-2023

4375 words