Chapter 3

"Reiko!" Kaki shouted. "What are you talking about?"

"The future is in his eyes," Reiko said. "Today, he is fated to die."

"One shall die, mere candidate," the king said, "But believe me, it shall not be I!"

The king grabbed his sword without a thought and charged at Reiko, who held her ground. The sword became alight with fire. He swung and Reiko leapt nimbly into the air. She twisted once and stretched out her hand, commanding deeply hidden roots to come forth. By the time she landed, thick, ancient roots had sprouted from the ground. They twisted themselves around the king. It seemed at though Kaki could breath easy with the king being caught, but a fury of fire ran along the ground before it surrounded Reiko. She leapt into the air, but the fire raced ahead on her and wrapped around her middle, pulled her down and smothering her into the ground.

Kaki ran out and tried to pry the fire from her, but it stayed fast. She looked and saw that the generals had pulled themselves free and had combined their fire manipulating power into one. Even Sailor Kaki, the Senshi of fire, couldn't combat it. That is, she couldn't combat the fire.

She charged at the generals, calling into her hands a ball of fire. The ball spread and covered her entire arm. She lifted her arm and shouted, "Striking Flare!" She brought her arm down on the ground. The flames left her arm and ran along the ground, branching off to strike the generals. Each branch wrapped around the feet and then legs of the generals, catching them off-guard and causing them to comically fall over.

Kaki turned to Reiko, who was already on her feet. The attack had caused Reiko to lose her concentration. The king was once again on his feet, sword in hand, and he was already coming up on Kaki. The Senshi of fire was caught off-guard and the fiery strike from the king's sword sent her tumbling into the castle. She was numb all over as her uniform was swallowed by fire. Then without warning, she was doused in water. She looked up, expecting to see Sailor Shio, but instead saw Princess Elementus, hovering feet from the ground. Her hair was a mess and her hands were clasped together with a faint green glow penetrating between her fingers.

"Princess?" Kaki couldn't believe her princess was here, like this.

"Kaki, go inside" the princess ordered, her childish demeanor replaced by the expression of a military officer. Kaki didn't argue with her princess as she went back in. Elementus' large purple eyes stared at the king with a strange darkness.

"Ah, the little princess," the king said with amusement. "Don't you think this is a bit out of your league? Why don't you go back in and play with your dolls?"

"Countess Reiko!" Elementus shouted, ignoring the king's words. "I have something for you!"

"As do I!" the king shouted, charging at Reiko. She leapt to the side and ran around to his opposite side. She gasped when she saw a wall of fire falling toward the princess.

"Prin-!"

"Wondrous Water!" Elementus shouted. A swelling of water appeared out of nowhere and went head-on with the fire. However, the princess was no match for the combined fire of the generals. The water disappeared and the force threw the princess back. She screamed as the fire threatened to swallow her. "Aria Arian-" The princess was cut off by her own scream as the heat hit her face. Before any damage could be done, though, she was picked up and carried away by a tumbling of vines. New vines took the princess into the air as the firewall took out the first group. Reiko was so concentrated on getting the princess to the safety of a nearby tree that she never saw the king coming until it was almost too late. She held onto her concentration as she slipped aside. A warm, burning sensation erupted on her side at the king's sword grazed her outfit, tearing through easily and ripping at her skin. She gently dropped the princess onto a branch and leapt from the king. She did a side flip, landing in front of the generals, and then a back flip, flying over the generals and landing beneath the tree the princess took shelter in. "Reiko!" the princess shouted. Reiko dared to look up. The princess opened her hands, letting a small crystalline leaf fall from her hands. Reiko lifted her arm, wincing as the tear in her side spread. The little leaf began to glow as it neared her hand. It had barely touched her fingertip when the other Senshi, sans Kaki, emerged from the castle.

A mysterious updraft ruffled Reiko's torn and burn clothes and caused her spiked silver hair to sway. The leaf nestled itself into Reiko's palm. She closed her hand around it and disappeared in a violent green glow. The generals, in their surprise and fear, sent great snakes of fire at Reiko. The snakes were drowned and blown away by Shio's Ebbing Tide and Aria's Cyclonic Revolution. The Senshi made it clear that no one would interrupt what was about to happen.

Dirt began to ripple around the base of the glow that surrounded Reiko. It then shot at the glow and surrounded the bottom half. The top half became covered in leaves that dislocated themselves from nearby trees. The two very different things combined, creating a leaf-dirt mixture that almost immediately exploded. At the glow faded, the dirt and leaves faded into energy that was absorbed by the ground. When all was settled, the Senshi of earth, Sailor Daichi, stood before them all in her uniform of black and green that was contradicted by a pink flower that served as her brooch. Reiko opened her eyes and stared at the king, who was promptly surrounded by his generals. The king seemed taken aback. He had only been fighting a candidate, or so he thought. Now, he had all of the Senshi of Talor against him. However, he had blood of fire like all of his people, and he wasn't going to back down.

"All right, Senshi of earth," the king said. "I challenge you and your vision, but only you."

Reiko, now Sailor Daichi, smirked. "All right, I accept your challenge."

"Reiko, you can't," Sailor Talor said. "As your leader, I forbid you."

"The challenge was made and accepted," the king said as he stepped away from his generals. "She can't back down."

"Nor would I," Daichi said. Talor stepped forward, but a flare from one of the generals put her back in place. "I'll be fine. You deal with the generals."

"You have no right and are in no position to be giving orders, Sailor Daichi," Talor said. She didn't get to argue it anymore as the generals sent one strike after another. The rest of the Tal Senshi were quickly distracted.

The king wasted no time. He sent a blinding flare at Daichi that was quickly dispelled with a shower of dirt from her hand. It gave the king the time he needed to charge at her. He drove his sword at her side and gasped when all the metal met was bright green vines. He had barely steadied his footing when a sharp pain shook him through his spine. He landed hard on his hands and managed to roll away before the heel of Daichi's left boot struck him. The heel struck the dirt hard, spraying some onto the king's face. He pushed himself up and, with his sword glued firmly in his grasp, made several stabs at Daichi. The Senshi of earth avoided each with sharp punctuality.

Meanwhile, Aria and Shio were stationed at the base of the tree where Princess Elementus took refuge. Mei, Hikari, and Talor were combating the generals with great force; they found that these men weren't the king's generals for nothing. They quickly decided that the two weakest Senshi would have a better chance than they. "Shio, Aria: up front!" Talor ordered. "Mei, Hikari: protect the princess!" Mei and Hikari quickly traded with Shio and Aria and put up a minor barrier of interlaced darkness and light. Shio and Aria promptly put the generals in their place with a series of well-coordinated attacks. Talor, meanwhile, used an amazing display of agility to thwart any sneak attempts at gaining an advantage.

Daichi, after fashioning a sword of dirt, was now going head-on with the king. His sword was made of the strongest metals from the Kaki Islands, but hers might as well have been made of frozen jerban syrup. His sword was showing the wear of battle as Daichi relentlessly made strike after strike. Finally, they were sword-locked. Between their swords, they glared at each other. It was in that moment that the king saw something unexpected. Death. He kicked himself away from the lock and stared at her from a distance, silent and unnerved.

With the generals locked in a cyclone of water and dirt, the Senshi watched the unnerving stare down in anticipation. The Senshi were anxious to see what Daichi's move would be while Talor waited in fear for Daichi's safety. "This is as good of test as any to see if we made the right choice," she said quietly to her Senshi. They all nodded in agreement.

In the tree, Elementus, too, was anxious to see what would happen. She wondered what truly made this woman, this Senshi, so different from everyone she had ever met. Her answer came from the king.

"You say you see my future in my eyes," he said as he relaxed his stance. "However, I can see you past in yours. I saw death, blood, and war. You were raised in war, which is curious since no war has touched this planet for at least a millennium. You are a bred warrior, no..." He chuckled low and deep. "A murderer. Yes, you are an assassin at your very core. You have fought this battle not with grace, but with the sharpness of a skilled murderer." He spun his sword once around his wrist before tensing into a battle-ready stance. "You try to hide your past, but any true warrior will see it." By now, the Senshi were stock-still in surprise. Daichi, too, was still. She stood straight and tall with her chin high and her bi-colored eyes building a great intensity of rage. Yet, still she was, like a statue in the dead of winter. "Now, Sailor Daichi, fight me with every warrior bone in your body, with every skill born of an assassin. Fight me!"

"Daichi, no!" Talor shouted. However, her shout fell on deaf ears. Daichi's blood raced with an uncontrollable anger that wove around her being. Mei felt it as the barriers of Daichi's mind unleashed a flood. Kaki felt it through the walls of the castle, unknowing in why such emotions of rage and anger were present. Aria felt sourness in the air around her partner and could feel Daichi's change in the bond that was natural between them. Elementus, too, could feel it, and was numb at the sensation.

Then, with no warning or further provocation, Daichi released her sword of dirt and charged at the king. The king, caught unaware, was thrown back with a powerful shove from the flat of Daichi's hand, struck dead-on to the center of his feeble chest. He had no sooner landed and begun to regain his ground when a swift kick from the stone-hard heel of Daichi's boot connected with his right temple. He tumbled numbly, but in a suddenly change he regained his footing and ran hard at Daichi. His sword, having stayed fast in his grip, was aimed at Daichi's heart. It did not last, however, as the ground below his feet rippled. He quickly found himself being propelled into the air by a column of dirt.

As he fell to the ground, he put out his hands and created a fountain of fire that slowed his fall. When he landed, he found himself face-to-face, yet again, with the Senshi of earth. It was in that moment that he felt his body go frail. He felt himself become feeble with age as his dark brown eyes stared into the core of her green and brown ones.

"Do you doubt your death still?" she asked. Her voice was low, barely more than a whisper. He wanted to say no, to say that his death was indeed at hand. However, the wildfire in his blood shut down his voice as he brought his sword up to Daichi's side. She didn't move, or so he thought. When the sudden pain of many sharp points invaded his neck, he gasped as he saw the fate of his people in her eyes. Then he saw nothing as his life drained away. First to his knees and then to his side he fell, his dark brown eyes finally showing his old age and surrender.

The Senshi stared in horror at the sight in front of them. Daichi held in her hands a long whip of brown-green that was littered with dangerous thorns. The thorns were now coated in blood, and their bearer wasn't any better. The red blood contrasted violently with Daichi's green. Her pink flower brooch was now red and dripping. It was only when she stood straight and tall that the true nature of what she had just done came to light to the others. She had just killed the king of the Kaki Islands. She had so swiftly summoned the ancient weapon of Sailor Daichi's past, wrapped it around the king's neck, and pulled tightly to his death that none, let alone the king, could have reacted in time.

At the doorway to the castle stood Queen Taloral and Sailor Kaki. Their horror was comparable to that of the Senshi. No one moved. Aria could have sworn that no one breathed; Shio could have sworn that time had stopped. And so, it was a surprise when everyone saw Elementus holding Daichi's open, blood-soaked hand. Daichi had been surprised by the girl's touch. She hesitantly looked down, and when her eyes met with the young girl's own, the strong, tall Senshi of earth dropped the whip of thorns and began to lose her composure. Elementus opened her arms, subsequently letting go of Daichi's hand. Daichi shook her head and backed away from the little girl.

"I'll get blood on you," she said, as though trying to explain. Mei, however, saw Daichi's discomfort and searched her mind, taking advantage of Daichi's mind wall being down. It wasn't long before Daichi replaced the wall and threw Mei away.

"Elementus." The little princess looked at her pale-faced sister and ran full-speed to her. Taloral grabbed up her sister in a hurry, avoiding the bloodied hand with ease. Daichi took advantage of the princess' departure and recollected the whip. She then walked past the still-stunned Senshi and bowed on her left knee before the queen, the whip coiled in her right hand as that same arm was rested across her right knee. Her left arm she pulled around her back as she bowed her head humbly.

"My queen," she said in a soft, humble voice, "As the Senshi of earth, Sailor Daichi, I pledge my loyalty and very life to your service and the service of Talor." Taloral said nothing, her voice still silenced by her shock and horror.

At the entrance, Carak Jyou and Anyala leSerno also starred. Carak was on the verge of fearful tears. Anyala wore a stern and critical expression. "I hope they're happy with their choice," she said angrily.