Blood and Darkness – Chapter 10
Shang Tsung's smile had drooped without disappearing, taking on a lazy quality that sent a ripple of discomfort through the Sailors, the royal family, and Iris. Sailor Mars's stomach tingled, but not in the way of sickness. It was the tingle heralding a dark premonition, the sense of fatality beneath Shang Tsung's smile.
The sorcerer threw out his arms, and flames, white and unnatural, flew out of the Chalice of Champions higher…higher…until the light began to harden and make tall, slender-shapes, colour blossoming in the flames.
The images sharpened and Sailor Mars clenched her fists.
One of the burning images was her. The other was Sailor Jupiter.
Sailor Mars glanced at Sailor Jupiter who didn't return her gaze but continued to stare stonily ahead. Hybrid stood beside her, equally cold, but his hand tightened over hers.
Behind them, Iris hid her face in her hands.
At the base of the stairs, Tanya had regained her feet and was smirking up at Sailor Mars.
I will burn her alive before my life is done.
Shang Tsung's lazy smile twisted into something more menacing. "Well, we have our Sailors. And now let's see who their challengers will be."
Another wave of his hands and another pair of images appeared in the hideous mystical fire that erupted from the floating chalice. On the left, where Sailor Mars's own image had been, was the image of a red-clad ninja whose picture blurred and shimmered in the flames, unlike Sailor Jupiter's challenger, a purple-clad ninja, whose image was sharp.
Shang Tsung clapped his hands. "Another set of excellent matches. Sailor Jupiter's electricity versus Rain and…" He glanced up at Sailor Mars and smiled. "Sailor Mars versus Ermac."
That tingle in her stomach was back. What was Shang Tsung hiding?
Just like before, a black portal appeared at the base of the stairs.
Sailor Mars stepped forward and Sailor Jupiter came to join her, taking her hand with the one Hybrid had just been holding. When the tall brunette took her place beside her, Sailor Mars reached out and squeezed her friend's hand.
Holding her chin high, Sailor Mars descended the stairs with Sailor Jupiter, the click of their heels echoing off the hard steps with each step.
Not sparing either Shang Tsung or Tanya a final glance, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter stepped through the portal together, having a second for a final reassuring hand squeeze between them before the portal ripped them apart.
Good luck, my friend.
The portal cleared all around her, and Sailor Mars thought for a moment that she had gone back in time. It felt like she had just stepped out of her father's car and was looking up the steps of her grandfather's shrine for the first time.
Sailor Mars stepped forward and touched the first few steps of the staircase. They were real, solid stone like normal steps, as far as she could tell. A shrine. Was it Shang Tsung's? It was hard to imagine such evil man would care to have a seemingly peaceful place to worship.
"Fitting that the shrine maiden would die in a temple."
Sailor Mars looked up. A bright green light unexpectedly appeared. It grew brighter and brighter until she had to put her hand over her eyes to block its radiance. To her good fortune, the unnatural occurrence only lasted a few seconds before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Sailor Mars lowered her hand and returned her sight to the stone step way in front of her. Halfway up the stairs, the red ninja—Ermac, Shang Tsung had called him—stood looking down at her. His eyes burned with an unholy green light, similar to the yellow ninja, Scorpion. She looked at him and in response; the red clad warrior raised his arms in a battle pose as his eyes flashed with burning intensity.
Sailor Mars glared up at him. "So that's it, is it? We are not even pretending that you're obeying the queen's conditions."
The ninja's mask quirked and Sailor Mars didn't need psychic powers to know he was sneering at her. "Seems pointless to pretend. You already warned your queen about us."
Sailor Mars blinked. How had he possibly have known that?
The edges of Ermac's body shimmered.
Who was this man?
In the Crystal Palace, Iris curled into a ball in her chair. Sailor Venus still stood beside her but Iris didn't hold onto or even reach out for her. She didn't deserve to hold onto her. All of this was her fault, Sailor Mercury, her doctor and friend, being at death's door. Sailor Vesta almost losing her eye to some sort of serpent man. And now, Sailor Mars and her own sister-in-law were about to fight for her.
"Fitting that the shrine maiden would die in a temple."
No holding back, no tapping out, these were fights to the death. The Sailor warriors could—Sailor Mercury already nearly had—died in her name, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time.
Iris curled tighter, raising her feet up onto the chair as her hands encircled her legs and her face buried itself against her thighs. She could hide her eyes from the screen, but she couldn't stop her ears.
Thankfully, her sobs mostly took care of that.
Be careful, Mommy.
Her daughter, normally so brave, had sounded small and fragile as Sailor Jupiter had stepped out to descend the steps towards the area where the black portal silently waited Sailor Jupiter knew Sailor Earth was still thinking of Sailor Mercury returning from her battle, severely burnt and barely alive.
Sailor Jupiter could understand why she was so concerned for her safety. In all honesty, so was she.
I love you had been Hybrid's only words as she'd left his side and joined Sailor Mars.
Left for where? Sailor Jupiter looked around, panning her head slowly from side to side and behind her as she took in her surroundings.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen such a flat, featureless landscape, but there was only concrete in every direction, grey and shining in the burning sun. The sun itself was the only decoration in an otherwise empty blue sky that was dizzyingly huge with nothing on the ground to break it up.
"Hello?" Had Shang Tsung sent her to the wrong dimension? One with no enemy to fight?
"Hello?" Her voice rang back as it bounced against the concrete.
"Hello." The voice was thick and bubbly, like someone speaking with a mouthful of mud. Sailor Jupiter looked down.
A pool of water was collected at her feet. Where that had come from, she'd no idea. Same with the voice.
The water rippled and swelled.. Sailor Jupiter backed up a few steps and got into fighting stance, hands up, knees loose. The water continued to churn and began to spin upwards like a water spout or tornado. In the blink of an eye, the purple and black ninja appeared, spinning around with the splashes of water still visible around his body. As quickly as he appeared, he abruptly stopped his rotation, planting his feet and spreading his arms away from his body like a professional figure skater. The water dropped back down to the ground with the sudden loss of momentum.
The purple-clad warrior lifted his head to face her and the puddle of water from which he emerged from beneath his feet vanished.
Sailor Jupiter growled in response and slowly and carefully shifted closer towards him.
The ninja's eyes were dead and cold above his mask.
"Come on, you scum!" Sailor Jupiter cried out as she launched herself at him, raising her fist and putting all her bodyweight behind it.
Splash.
Sailor Jupiter stumbled as her knee high white boot landed in a puddle of water. Pain rocketed up her left arm as she threw it out to break her fall.
She leapt back up, just in time for a jet of water to strike her in the small of her back, propelling her toward that terrifying, infinite horizon.
Another fall, more pain, this time even a small crack. Sailor Jupiter stayed low to the ground as she spun to face her opponent again.
The purple ninja—was his name actually Rain?—had gotten behind her somehow.
Sailor Jupiter took a deep breath and extended a hand in front of her. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!"
Aside from the usual tingle in her fingers, there was a deep ache in her left arm as the electric ball of concentrated energy flew out of her right hand. Something was definitely broken, hopefully not too serious and not something that would greatly affect her ability to further fight.
The purple ninja sidestepped the ball of energy easily. Sailor Jupiter swore in her head and leaped to her feet, propelling herself into the air.
"Supreme Thunder!" Almost instantly, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky above them and struck the raised antennae in the center of her tiara. Electricity of intense amounts crackled at the tip of antennae.
She broke her concentration for a second to look down at Rain a second before the second jet of water hit her.
Sailor Jupiter's jaw clenched and she was frozen in the ball of water as the electricity that was supposed to be destroying Rain and save Iris, raced through her. Now her fingers didn't just tingle. They burned.
And so did the rest of her.
Sailor Mars had her bow drawn and a fire arrow at the ready as she reached the top of the shrine steps.
The red ninja stood between the shrine's guardian dogs at its entrance, his back to her, looking as relaxed as if he might just be there for worship.
She wasn't buying it.
"Mars Flame Sniper!" Sailor Mars loosed her arrow and it sped down the path toward the center of the red ninja's back.
Suddenly, Ermac was in the air and the fire arrows flew harmlessly—to him, at least—into the shrine.
Sailor Mars looked up, clenching her firsts. Ermac hovered in the air. If he could fly, that was definitely a disadvantage for her.
Still, her aim was true, and she had lots of training behind her.
She materialized another arrow and notched it in the bow.
"Mars Flame—"She began to call out.
Ermac dropped to the ground. No, not dropped. Slammed. He slammed himself to the ground. Pavement broken underneath his feet, causing a fault line to open up as it raced down the brick pathway towards Sailor Mars. The ground heaved and Sailor Mars was thrown into the air, her legs flying over her head.
She hit the top of the stone steps with an agonizing crunch and began to tumble backwards, each roll bringing a fresh wave of pain.
Straightening one leg, her white boot caught on a lower step, slowing her enough to let her throw out the rest of her limbs and halt her descent.
She lay there, letting herself fall into deep meditation for a second as she mentally checked her body for where the pain was the worst. Her ribs. Well, she'd pulled through worse. The memories of her battle with Korn of the Black Moon family and the endless wave of daimons at the Mugen Academy flashed through her head.
He is coming.
She couldn't hear the ninja, but her psychic senses told her he was approaching the steps, silent as a cat. She'd better not be still lying here when he peered down the stairway.
Clenching her teeth against the pain, she rolled off the steps and into the trees that lined either side of them them. Despite her fractured ribs, she slipped into the forest almost silently. Hopefully it was silent enough.
He read your thoughts earlier, idiot. He could find you that way.
Sailor Mars closed her eyes and pictured one of the trees around her. She fixed the image in her mind, burned it there until all she was in her mind was that particular tree.
With that image glued to her psyche, she began to climb the slope towards the temple on all fours, slipping between the trees and staying low to the ground. Her gaze continuously switching back to look through the trees to the steps as she watched for her adversary to appear.
Stomp.
The sudden noise almost broke her concentration and she stopped and fixed the image of the tree in her mind once more. Then she crawled a few more steps before she saw him.
Ermac was on the steps, scanning the woods to either side of him.
His liquid green eyes met hers and Sailors Mars focused so hard on the tree in her mind that she almost felt her limbs take root in the earth itself.
The ninja continued his search without pause.
Sailor Mars got to her feet, extending her arms in front of her, focusing beyond the trees to Ermac.
"Burning Mandala!" She called out.
The fiery discs quickly formed around her and flew out of her fingertips. There was an explosion of flame on the steps where she had just seen her opponent.
Yes, yes, yes!
Then the bright burst of flames died as abruptly as they'd appeared, and there was nothing. No ashes. No body.
The psychic tingling in Sailor Mars's stomach began to burn with a vengeance.
"You naïve Sailors, thinking you could defeat us."
There was a blow across the back of her head, and one of the precious trees that had hidden her was suddenly rushing toward Sailor Mars's face.
Us?
And then there was black.
Sailor Jupiter hit the ground and lay on her back, staring at the terrifying infinite sky. She could not feel the ground beneath her, only the jerking of her limbs as the last of the electricity mercifully dispersed. She couldn't bring herself to look at herself. God only knew what she would see. She remembered Vesta's fight; the sweet young girl looking at her reflection in the river after that reptile creature had spit acid on her.
Sailor Jupiter was glad there were no mirrors in this arena. Just tons of sky and cold stone.
She tasted blood in her mouth. She must have bitten her tongue. Hopefully not in half.
There was an ominous splash, then Rain was looming over her.
Get up! Make yourself get up! For Iris, for Hybrid, for your daughter!
Sailor Jupiter looked into the ninja's eyes and summoned her martial arts training. Hybrid had taught her well. And before that, she had taught herself.
Thrusting out one long leg, she spun to her feet, her white boot connecting with Rain's ankle on the way. Rain grunted and stumbled backwards a few steps. Forcing her twitching limbs to behave, Sailor Jupiter lunged forward, knocking Rain to the ground on his back with her on top of him. Without wasting a second, she proceeded to land several punches to his face, despite the pain in her left arm. And everywhere else in her body, by now.
She reared back for another punch when a blue light blinded her, as if the sky and ground had switched places.
Suddenly she was in the air, flying.
Flying.
The hardness of battle cracked and Sailor Jupiter screamed. The wind tore the sound from her throat as the ground fell further and further away.
Her arms and legs became wooden dolls limbs, pinned to her sides and beneath her. She had no control, worse than when she had been caught in the water and electricity trap.
The blue light burst around her, and she was falling.
Break the fall, I have to break the fall.
She forced those words through her panicked mind and off her still bleeding tongue.
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
A gust of wind ricocheted off the pavement below, slowing her descent as leaves of green energy piled up beneath her. They were would be razor sharp, but it would be better than slamming into hard pavement at almost terminal velocity.
Sailor Jupiter landed in the leaves and rolled, not even feeling them slash at her exposed legs or her face, although she was sure she would later. For all she knew, she may have long-term nerve damage and would never feel anything again.
She got her legs beneath her and powered up to her feet, through her legs were very wobbly.
This time she anticipated the jet of water and leaped aside, rolling to the side and back up on her feet again, getting faster now and strong again.
Rain raised his hand to send out another jet of water.
Sailor Jupiter took a deep breath. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
Spinning in place like a professional ballerina, the stream of energy leaves met the jet of water. Sailor Jupiter poured all of herself through her fingertips. More leaves. I need more.
The continuous barrage of leaves absorbed the water as they clashed, and wet, but harmless leaves piled up on the pavement before disappearing from sight.
More leaves. For your husband. For your daughter. For Iris.
Sailor Mars knew she could not have been out for long, but she came back to consciousness through the twilight between awake and asleep, the moment of deepest meditation one could experience.
In her trance, through her closed eyelids, she saw Ermac's form true for the first time. Perhaps she was the first person to have ever seen what he really was. The ninja before her was more than the naked eyes could see.
You thought you could beat us.
You already told the queen about us.
The shape of Ermac shimmered. Inside his humanoid outline, grey and cold faces, dozens of them, glared down at her.
Us.
He hadn't been referring to Shang Tsung and his forces earlier. He had been talking about himself. He was not one. He was legion. A body sculpted of various different souls, each with their own powers, their own dark pasts.
Sailor Mars's eyelids fluttered open. Ermac was holding on to her red neck collar, one fist pulled back behind his ear.
Silently and carefully, Sailor Mars drew her right hand behind her back and magically willed an ofuda to appear in her open hand. Clasping it in two fingers, she brought it around quickly and held it before her face.
"Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" She quickly recited the sacred chant, pronouncing each word perfectly, despite her fatigued body.
The ofuda went stiff in her hand and with a thrust of her arm; she planted it on Ermac's forehead.
The ninja immediately dropped her and Sailor Mars slumped against a nearby tree.
Ermac lurched backward, clawing at the ofuda on his face. He backed into a tree with enough force to make a solid thunk, but the sound was oddly soft for someone of his size.
The ninja's pale skin shimmered and he seemed to almost sink into the trunk of the tree.
"Please," Sailor Mars whispered.
A noise like a thousand screams at once echoed through the forest, and Ermac vanished from sight.
Sailor Mars let her eyes drift shut as her body relaxed. She wanted to sleep, just for a minute.
For Iris. For Iris.
Sailor Jupiter's broken arm was throbbing as the planetary magic of her guardian Jupiter raced through it. It seemed she could still feel something.
The light green energy leaves continued to fire from her fingers thicker than ever. She was shaking, but still held herself steady, redoubling her efforts every time she almost felt like giving up.
Bit by bit, she was getting closer to Rain. Each small shuffle forward was getting her close to her target.
The purple ninja was faring no better than her. Worse, even. His massive arms trembled and blood from the broken nose she'd given him crusted his mask. His jet of water was getting thinner.
She had hit him really hard. It gave her hope that she would be able to win this battle.
Sailor Jupiter took another step, her legs trembling as she fought to keep her balance on the carpet of wet leaves that remained underneath her before disappearing. She could see him across from her, through the splashing and scattering of the water and mystical foliage. She stared into Rain's eyes, for all his obvious strain, still as cold and dead as ever. Water and leaves flew between them.
There was a throb of sharp pain in her left arm, and she wavered. The stream of energy leaves slackened. No.
For Iris. Must save Iris.
Sailor Jupiter straightened her left arm again, ignoring the intense agony that such an action rocketed through her body, and worked her mangled tongue. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
An explosion of leaves like none she'd ever created before cascaded from her fingertips.
"Augh!" Rain cried out in the same bubbling, muddy voice he had greeted her with. The ninja's meaty arms dropped and he fell to his knees. The razor leaves swirled around him, and spots of blood blossomed across his face, his arms and his torso. The ninja flailed his trembling arms in front of him, to no avail. She didn't stop her onslaught until he fell forward on the ground and remained motionless as the razor-sharp energy leaves continued to cut and slash at his body.
She ended her attack and the sudden stop of energy almost caused her to pass out. She bent over and used her right hand against her legs to keep her from collapsing forward. Her breathing was heavy and rapid. Her vision was blackening at the corners of her eyes. No enemy had challenged her like that in centuries; not even the evil version of her husband. She lifted her head and looked towards where Rain had fallen. He was still on the ground and had not moved at all. She forced herself upright and staggered over to where he laid, her legs feeling like lead as the adrenaline left her veins.
Now Sailor Jupiter stood over him, looking down at her opponent. He'd put her in the air. She'd put him on the ground.
With her good arm, she made a fist, cocking it back behind her ear.
"Yes!" Sailor Uranus punched the air above her in triumph.
"Mom!" Sailor Earth tightly clutched her father's hand. She had been stoic throughout the battle until this moment. The young sailor looked down at Shang Tsung. "Bring her back!"
Iris, now uncurled in her chair, clutched its arms, digging her nails into fabric and the wood underneath it. A coldness had settled over her. Everything seemed very far away.
A white shadow appeared in front of her. Neo-Queen Serenity had risen from her throne.
"Yes, bring them back, Shang Tsung. Now." The queen's voice was measured and soft, but there was a steeliness beneath it that Iris couldn't imagine anyone wanting to cross.
She looked down the stairs at Shang Tsung. The warrior's back was turned to them all, but his shoulders were held stiffly almost near his ears. Tanya kept her eyes on the ground, clearly avoiding her master's gaze.
Slowly, Shang Tsung's shoulders lowered, and he swung around to face the Sailors with a wide smile.
"Of course, as promised." He replied, in a friendly tone of voice.
On screen, portals appeared on each battlefield. Sailor Jupiter, clutching her left arm, stumbled through hers. Sailor Mars did not even move right away. The breeze of the portal waking her from her sleep and she hesitated at first but after a moment, dragged herself inside. The portals spit them out in front of the Crystal Palace and Sailor Jupiter stumbled a few steps before dropping to her knees. Sailor Mars lay where she'd landed, exhaustion still preventing her from moving her limbs.
Both Hybrid and Sailor Earth raced down the stairs to Sailor Jupiter, but the team of medics beat them there.
Iris risked a glance down the stairs, then closed her eyes. Her sister-in-law was covered in pink and red burns. They looked almost as bad as Sailor Mercury's. A large lock of her beautiful long chestnut brown hair was missing. Next to her, Sailor Mars's face was swollen beyond recognition. Ermac's physical beating of her when she was knocked out, finally coming out for the world to see.
Sailor Earth wept as they put her mother on a stretcher. Iris did not. No more. She had no more tears left in her.
As the two were carried away, Shang Tsung gestured back to the Chalice of Champions. His demeanour clearly stated that he did not care about the events or the feelings of the people around him. He only wanted to continue with the challenge and get closer to the goal that he had come for.
"So, who's next?"
End of chapter 10