Fearful Fun

A/N: So for the massive leaps in time and inconsistent updates, I'll be trying to be more consistent with updates from now on since I have time to focus on this. The goal is to wrap the RWBY Universe up by the end of this month.

The sound of destruction was not like that of an explosion, it seemed ungodly. Dashing to the right Shen watched as the Relic of Destruction flew by his face. It seemed to generically be an arc of Magical Power that was released the moment the swing ended.

His eyes watched as the arc of destructive energy tore through hitting the portion of the city behind him.

As the destructive energy from the relic spread over twenty different buildings had their top halves completely engulfed. And just like they were gone. Shen's eyes fell back onto Penny as his face turned serious. Leaping into the air lightning arched off his body and into the sky forming hundreds of massive blades of lightning.

Each one was nearly the size of the car and with one move of Shen's hand, they began to fall like rain towards Penny and the area around her. Her eyes robotically scanned each and every projectile as it came within her range, at the same time The Relic of Destruction began to glow like a star.

Each Blade of Lightning as they hit the ground exploded without force to reduce an entire building to rubble. However, the power of the relic seemed unending. Gripping the hilt even tighter Penny swung towards the sky. At that moment it seemed the lightning and thunder faded into the backdrop.

The clouds turned purple and destructive energy flooded into the world. In that instant, the heaviest tremor shook the city around Penny for thousands of feet. Buildings that were already falling apart from the bombardment collapsed and entire city blocks were thrown into upheaval.

"Aah!"

"What's happening!"

Within the shelters around the City of Atlas people couldn't help themselves as they huddled together on their knees. It felt like they might die any second.

[Incoming Call from Father…]

[Penny! Penny, can you hear me? Your system diagnostics just got sent to me. You need to stop using the Relic of Destruction. Your body doesn't have the ability to use it in a sustained battle like this! At this rate it'll start to damage your Soul!]

Penny heard the sound of her father's voice as she stared up in the sky. Even without his warning, she could feel lit. The Relic of Destruction was powerful and it could generate an infinite amount of energy. However, every relic had its price and a drawback. The Relic of Destructions cost was that it was extremely easy for its power to go haywire.

And within minutes it would destroy its own wielder. Obviously, if Penny was going to use it, they needed to modify her body to handle welding and siphoning that much power. But even then engineering had limits when it came to tools created by Gods. Penny was an android with her own Aura and Soul, the two were intertwined.

As destructive energy coursed through her, slowly but surely her soul was being chipped away. Even now Penny could tell her father's words were the truth. But still…

"This was what I was made for. I was born to help people and save them, even at the cost of my life. Save the world… That was always my prime objective. Right, Father?" Pietro on the other side of the call felt his heart sink. Penny's mind was already made up even before his call. There was a brief silence as his voice began to crack.

[Penny, please… You don't have to do this. I can't bring you back if your soul is destroyed. I'm begging you th- has al- tooo- pe- y…] Suddenly the call began fritz as the call cut out to static. Penny immediately looked alert as she turned her attention back up to the sky. The world around her seemed to fade away as her eyes slowly contracted.

She felt something invading her very soul. Not the warm comforting embrace of Aura nor the destructive impulse of the relic chipping away at her being.

This feeling was something that made her soul want to squirm, to tuck itself into a ball and hide away. She was an android, she didn't have a beating heart or feel pain for that matter. That's why Penny was so surprised when she looked down at her body. It was shaking… She was shaking.

A heavy oppressive force seemed to pound down on her as her entire body froze up. Standing in the air above her piercing gold eyes glared down. Something she had seen through a screen multiple times overlooking Shen's data. Yet at this moment it felt like she was a newborn seeing something for the first time.

Something more monstrous than a Grimm and inhuman than Salem The Queen of Grimm. And something that made Penny come to a realization as she stood in place.

'Oh, I see. I always wondered what it would feel like. I didn't even think I was capable of it. Of feeling fear.'

…

Dozens of White Glyphs were lined up in a row followed by a white streak that pierced through each of them. With each Glyph, the streak got faster in the air as a white streak pierced through each one. A chilling shockwave that froze left a thin frost on everything it touched shot in all directions as that streak clashed against something.

"Hehe! I knew I was right in choosing you! This is just too much fun!" Taella's iced-over tails pushed back against the attack as a figure flew through the air gracefully and before landing on the ground.

"If you think this is fun then you're more insane than you look." Winter's hair had been loosened from its ponytail and blew through the air behind her as she took her stance. Her stance was perfect and her eyes were sharper than knives. Like a frosted female knight ready to take on anything thrown at her.

"That's not a very nice thing to say. After all, we've been trying so hard not to kill you. He would be angry at us again if we let the Winter Maiden escape. And that's no good…" In comparison to Winter, Taella was the opposite. When she was in control of herself her frosted black hair and fox-like nature and attributes made her seem almost seductively elegant.

But if you're unable to look past that and you let your guard be down, you would completely miss the crazed demoness personality that was just an inch under the surface. There was no doubt without Shen reeling her in, she would eventually end up killing everyone on her own, or die trying.

'A monster wearing the skin of a Faunus, just like the reports said. Still, I can't get caught up in her flow shell continue to play around with me at this rate. I need to end this quickly and get back to the others.' Winter took a stance similar to that of a fencer. Taella's eyes lit up as the fight truly began.

Rocketing towards Taella leaving a trail of ice as her feat Taella's head shifted to one side. The blade slid past her face as a cold chilling aura wafted from it. Winter frowned as she attacked Taella again in rapid succession. Each attack left a trail of ice through the air, and if the blade happened to touch the ground, the street was frozen solid.

Taella dodged each strike nimbly like by natural instinct all the while smiling. Growing annoyed, Winter pulled back her single-edged blade before aiming for Taella's neck.

"Oh you're quite ruthless aren't you?" Taella grabbed the blade in the midst of its thrust moving it aside.

Winter couldn't pull back in time as Taella's hands formed a shape similar to a claw and she struck Winter's stomach. The force from the impact made her Aura wane, while a painful sharp pain shot through her middle section. Like a rocket, she was sent flying as Taella let go of her blade.

As they were fighting in the Central City Area Winter's body crashed into a multitude of cars and trucks. Gritting her teeth Winter stabbed her sword to the ground bringing herself to a stop.

"Ugh… Dammit, I had my Aura up but it still hurts this much." The pain spread through her body as she touched her stomach, yet her eyes were still on Taella. That look, that damn look told her that that monster in the skin of a Faunus was still playing with her.

"Enough is enough…" Pulling her sword from the ground, Winter thrust into the air as the blue flames around her eyes grew even more intense. The skyscrapers and buildings began to shake along with the ground as Taella glanced around curiously.

"Oh… This looks like fun." Just as she said that Winter twisted her blade and the ground cracked. In mere moment's tens if not hundreds of thousands of tons of Ice burst forth. Across the entire city block, the ice seemed to flow from underground tearing up entire streets. Even the windows on skyscrapers shattered as the ice broke flooded the lower floors.

It was like a white tsunami, all of which had completely surrounded Taella. As it closed in on Taella's position her eyes darted before reacting. A small patch of ice formed at her feet before extending into the acting as a launchpad. At the same time, all of the ice came crashing down where she was just standing a moment ago.

"I won't let you get away!" Moving her sword and pointing it at Taella the ice began to react, splitting apart and giving chase. The pillar of ice Taella used was crushed like glass. The ice and Taella moved like flashes, Taella freezing air to create a platform and jumping just seconds before a wave of ice engulfed that location.

Looking towards Winter, Taella raised her hand mid-jump creating multiple spires of ice the size of buildings. All of them shot through the air with a wave of her hand flying towards Winter. The latter quickly flew into the air as the spires hit and dug into the earth-shaking the ground.

A shadow came over Taella as she looked up, her eyes widening for a moment. That stream of ice quickly turned into a blade. Without hesitation, it pierced directly through her stomach while slamming her downwards into the ground forming a crater.

The remaining ice in the sky slowly began to form a massive blade that was hundreds of feet long and almost as wide as the street itself. Winter overhead looked down at Taella with cold eyes pointing her sword directly at her.

"This ends here…" However just as she spoke those words she heard a voice come from behind her. The Taella stuck pinned through the stomach lost its color. It cracked like before eventually shattering into pieces of ice.

"You're pretty good. But you have no idea how to use your powers properly. Especially when it comes to ice…" The almost intimate voice made Winter's skin crawl as swung behind her only to have her blade stopped by a shield of ice. Taella smirked as her tails moved from behind her freezing over.

Blocking with her arm Winter was hit by all nine tails at once being sent flying onto the roof of a nearby building. The crash nearly knocked the wind out of her lungs as she coughed furiously.

'She changed the color of her Ice to make a clone? How is that even possible… Even summoning can't look like the real thing.' looked up at Taella who was walking in the air on a path of ice Winter grit her teeth.

"I'm… not done yet!" Swinging her sword through the air, the massive blade of ice she had formed before began to move. Despite its size, it was fast as it raised itself into the air casting a shadow over the entire area. Taella looked up as the sword began to cleave downwards towards her.

Grinning Taella raised her hand in the air towards the sword. Winter looked at her as if she was insane.

'There's no way she can stop that much force with just her hand…'

The blade of the ice-made sword seemed to only just touch the tip of Taella's fingers as something invaded the sword's very structure. Winter's abilities when it came to ice were already impressed with her semblance, and that was only enhanced with her Maiden Abilities.

The way she used her ice was similar to Taella's when Shen first gave her The Demon's Extract. And it was the same thing that Shen wanted her to change in their training together. This in particular was something Shen made sure he taught her himself.

When things become cold on such a level where atoms begin to lose their cohesiveness. A point where enthalpy and entropy reach their lowest theoretical points. Known as the lowest temperature theoretically possible within the realms of physics. An incomprehensible chill that is known as…

"Absolute Zero."

Winter felt her entire body suddenly grow colder. The entire heating system of Atlas's Central City Area seemed to cut off all at once. Yet at that moment all Winter could do was stare into the sky in utter shock.

"She… But how is that even possible. She froze… ice?" In the sky, her ice sword lost all of its momentum and kinetic energy. It really seemed as if it had simply stopped, for no reason.

Taella lowered her hand and turned to look at Winter down on the ground. She smiled as she took a step through the air, her heel clicking on the frozen air. And that vibration was all that was required to start the chain reaction. With the atoms themselves frozen the sword couldn't even handle its own weight.

And with the sound of shattering glass, it collapsed into snow-like dust. It sprinkled over the entire area as if it was natural.

"There it is. Whether it was before I met him or after, I've always felt so happy to see that look on people's faces..." Winter didn't even know when Taella had landed in front of her. It felt like all of her motor functions were refusing to cooperate. Even her brain was drawing a blank at this moment.

It was only when she felt a hand touch her face slowly lifting it up that she finally had a reaction. Taella's entire body seemed to block out all light, only leaving a dark figure in Winter's line of sight. Her nine tails strafed through the air behind her and her eyes seemed to glow in the shadows like they were piercing into Winter's soul.

In that instant Winter seemed to break from a trance as she slashed at Taella who easily dodged by taking a step back. Winter jumped to her feet, recovering her breath which was rough and heavy. She didn't know what that was, it was if for a moment she couldn't move or even think.

"Oh, you're still planning to fight me?" Taella tilted her head to the side.

"Is that even a question? I'll die before I let you leave this place to go after the others." Despite her appearance, her voice and conviction were still strong. Hearing her words Taella couldn't help but laugh.

"Hehehe… You really were the perfect choice out of all of them. It's so enticing, I know I should wrap this up but I can't help but want to play with you a little longer. At this rate, I won't be able to stop myself. This is just too much fun!" Dashing towards Winter with a maniac-like smile, Winter straitened her stance and clenched her teeth.

As her blade and Taella's claws clashed against one another, the sound of an explosion was followed with the clouds themselves briefly being tinted purple.