Well- after lots if troubleshooting and getting nowhere, I backed up my files through Target Disc mode and erased my harddrive. I reinstalled everything back from factory settings through internet recovery back to Maverick, then reinstalled Big Sur. It works fine now.

In the end, I ended up erasing my hard drive. My computer would never boot out of safe mode no matter what I did. Since that was not a good long term solution, I backed up files, wiped it, restored it to Maverick, then reinstalled Big Sur. It works fine now.