Fierce, bone-chilling winds blew about.
The storm clouds became darker and darker.
Metal clashed against metal, sparks flying with each clash.
Charmant had started off being mockingly gentle towards Tuxedo Kamen, as if certain that victory would definitely be his. But Tuxedo Kamen was infuriated with his gentleness, and attacked all the more fiercely, eventually compelling his opponent to take things more seriously. I was wrong about him being a pathetic, useless weakling. He IS a formidable warrior, with a gift of swiftness and agility. A rare talent. I could sure use someone like him. Perhaps we've could have even been friends. Charmant mused to himself, unable to stop himself from admiring the way Tuxedo Kamen fought. The Prince of Earth was cunningly clever with his cane. Too bad he HAS to die for falling in love with the woman that is meant for me and me only.
For agonizingly long minutes, neither of them managed to land any solid blows. Dodging Tuxedo Kamen's powerful blows, Charmant counterattacked with deceptive feints and lightning-quick jabs. On the other hand, Tuxedo Kamen instinctively detected Charmant's feints and blocked the true hits in the nick of time. As each successive strike became stronger and faster, the movements of the two men blurred too quickly for anyone to keep up with the fight. It seemed as if the fight would never end, with both men wielding their weapons as if they had been taught the art of combat from the cradle.
Then…
"First blood," Charmant noted with cruel satisfaction, watching the blood drip from where his sword had sliced Tuxedo Kamen's face.
"This?" Tuxedo Kamen asked mockingly, a gloved finger pointing to the thin, shallow cut on his handsome face. An unnatural dark smile toyed with the corners of his mouth. "Why, this is nothing. Absolutely nothing."
With a wave of his hand across his face, Tuxedo Kamen made the cut vanish – he was impervious to physical damage, being able to heal himself instantaneously at will. The dark smile still on his lips, he pressed another barrage of attacks, forcing the frowning Charmant backwards. Even though Charmant was starting to pant from the continued exertion, Tuxedo Kamen wasn't even breaking a sweat. Then the dark magic of which Charmant was so skilful in suggested an evil scheme to his heart.
"We are getting nowhere with this, Endymion. I suggest we try something else." Charmant said.
Tuxedo Kamen stared back at him. "We are getting nowhere? It seems to be you who are getting nowhere. I can stand to go another ten rounds. But…you seem like you are spent."
"Physically, perhaps." Charmant confessed with a wicked smile. The purple of his eyes gave way to the strange glowing blackness that always came when he was about to cast his magic. Needless to say, the irises and pupils of his eyes vanished as well. "But mentally, no. How about we try for a little hocus pocus, Endymion? Or are you as unskilled in the art of magic as you are in the art of pleasing Usagi?"
Tuxedo Kamen merely gave a strange smile in response to the insult and closed his eyes. As he concentrated, the top hat vanished, and the immaculate black-and-white tuxedo faded into the royal attire of Prince Endymion of Earth. His lean, marvellously well-built and well-defined torso and long, powerfully-muscled legs were in a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of pants, both made of an ethereal, navy-blue material, with the shirt having cuffs trimmed in puffed silver. On his hard, broad, robust shoulders were shoulder armour of marvellous craftsmanship, made of pure silver and attached to a navy blue breastplate, all trimmed in silver puffed swirling designs. His narrow waist was adorned by a back-and-front, two-sided waist armour, made of pure silver like his shoulder armour, and of equally fine craftsmanship. His feet were in knee-high armour boots. Fastened to his shoulders by two silver buttons was a long, magnificent cape of midnight-black, lined in ruby-red velvet, flapping in the wind. An ominous-looking sword hung by his side on a silver belt. Tall, large, lean, loose-limbed yet well-muscled, Endymion looked every inch a supremely powerful figure, a man who had been born, bred and raised to rule the world. His eyes, however, were golden when he opened them, completely, utterly golden, lacking pupils and white sclera just like Charmant's.
"I am reasonably skilful in both magic and making my Usako happy." Endymion replied smoothly, staring at Charmant as if he was enormously amused at this pathetic thief who was trying to steal his lover and future-wife away from him.
"We shall see about that."
"Yes. We shall. Let the hocus pocus begin!"
Charmant's mistake was to blink. A gigantic blast of magical energy, as golden as amber, sent him flying. When he was finally able to stop, he realised that his nose was bleeding.
Profusely.
Slowly, he wiped the blood away on his embroidered sleeve, the expression on his face ice-cold and incredulously stunned as he observed Endymion approach him. The enigmatic smile on the Prince of Earth's face seemed to be wider.
"A bleeding for a bleeding. I hope that hurts like hell."
Charmant smiled his twisted, knowing little smile again as he tried to stand, though the pain in his nose was rather distracting. "I will admit that it hurt, but it is what I have to endure to get Usagi into my bed and put a ring on her finger, I won't mind you do it again. I won't mind at all."
"That fantasy of yours will never come to pass." Endymion said icily. "Never ever. You hear?! Never ever! And by the way, I am not done yet. So stay down."
As if pushed, Charmant fell back again, hard. A wry chuckle escaped from his lips. "Power of what they call the Gold of Gaia, is it? It won't help you much in the end, Endymion, I assure you. I have enough power to surpass even that of a God."
Suddenly, startlingly, Charmant hinged up into frame.
"Stay down."
"No."
Endymion raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at how easily Charmant brushed off his magical directive. In fact, he seemed to be emanating a deep, low hum, which was getting louder and more intense as he spoke.
"I have been waiting to be Usagi's husband and Usagi's lover for twelve long years, Mamoru Chiba. I am not going to let these long years of painstakingly, torturously patient waiting to go up in smoke. And I will kill anyone who dares to get in my way. It took everything I had not to kill you on the spot when she told me that you were her fiancé. I knew that you must have seduced her. Bewitched her somehow. And she, being ever so innocent and so naïve and so trusting, fell for it, and doomed herself by doing so. No matter…"
Charmant started to glow brightly, about to unleash his dark powers upon Endymion. His voice took on an otherworldly resonance.
"Your destruction is her salvation. She will be my wife and my Queen, and share my bed and my crown no matter what."
"Nonsense." Endymion sneered, though his eyes were flashing with rage at the thought of his most precious beloved Usako in another man's bed. "Absolutely nonsense. You speak and dream of nothing but foolishness. Usako is not yours and never will be. She is mine. Mine only. Mine only and forever. She is going to be my wife and my Queen, and share my bed and my crown no matter what."
Charmant's eyes widened at this.
"Dreadful darkness, hear my cry –"
"Behold, oh, bring forth and command my will." An exquisite, hauntingly musical voice spoke behind Charmant.
As a surprised Endymion stared, a silvery-white energy field snaked itself around the equally surprised Charmant, running up and down his body.
"What is this?!
I call on the heart of darkness of night
Witchcraft and sorcery unleash your might –"
Suddenly, he threw his head back, lost in a semi-conscious state, as the energy coalesces into a forcefield encircling him, his head and shoulders visible above it, as he floated within the confines, gently bobbing.
"Usako. Everyone." Endymion said, pleasantly surprised.
"Mamo-chan, please, let me talk to him for a while."
"But…"
"It's all right, Mamo-chan. My spell has contained him and his powers within a binding field. It puts him in a kind of stasis. He can do no harm. Just let me talk to him."
Biting the inside of his mouth, Endymion shot Ramus and the others a glance that clearly pleaded for support and help. To his dismay, the Sailor Senshi – both Inner and Outer – and his Generals simply shrugged their shoulders and looked exasperated. Then he heard Ramus' voice in his head.
Let her. Sister is the kind of person who needs solid, unarguable evidence. Sister needs to see for herself, with her own two eyes, how insane and monstrous this Prince of Darkness truly is. With things at this stage, he's bound to lose it and snap right in front of her. With all of us here, he cannot touch a single hair on her head anyway, even if he manages to break her binding spell. Let her. All we can do now is see how it goes.
With a great sigh, the Prince of Earth nodded to Eternal Sailor Moon, though he knew well that this was not an enemy that can be reasoned with, not even by his Usako. Ramus was right. Again. All he could do now was to watch the "nice little chat" and draw his Usako to safety should anything go wrong. Eternal Sailor Moon slowly approached the constrained, semi-conscious dark Prince, sadness and pity evident in her beautiful eyes and her ethereal moon-white face. Charmant, in turn, tilted his head to stare at her, a glimmer of clarity in his purple eyes. The expression on his face was soft and sad; the expression of one who had been betrayed by the one he loved most.
"Why, Usagi? Why?" He said, fighting desperately to focus. "Why? Why treat me like this?"
Eternal Sailor Moon gave a soft sigh. "It is for your own good, Charmant. If you stay on this path of madness and darkness, you will end up dead."
Charmant did not seem to have heard her. "I thought I meant something special to you." He would have shaken his head if he could. "I thought you genuinely cared for me. I thought I had a special place in your heart. I thought, at least, even if you had not yet learnt to love me as much as I love you, you would view me as a beloved friend."
"You are my friend, Charmant. You do mean something to me. And I do genuinely care about you." Eternal Sailor Moon said. "That's why I am doing this. Charmant, the dark magic that you so thoroughly relish in is dangerous. Supremely. It has polluted your soul, your heart, and your mind completely. It has led you to think that everybody here is your enemy. But they are not. I assure you. They are not. Please. If you believe that our friendship is true, let me save you. I can use the Silver Crystal to purify you. To heal you. Rid you of all the evil magic that has almost doomed your immortal soul to hell. We can renew our friendship. You can get to know the new me. Please."
Friendship…friendship…friendship?! I DO NOT WANT HER FRIENDSHIP ANYMORE. I WANT HER LOVE!!! AND I CAN'T HAVE IT AS LONG AS HE'S AROUND!!! HE HAS TWISTED EVERYTHING AROUND. HE COMPLETELY TURNED MY USAGI AGAINST ME, AND NOW HE'LL PAY!!!!!!!!!!
In a burst of tremendous dark power, everyone was sent flying.
"I'll open your eyes for you, Usagi, and show you the truth about him!"
A massive, crackling ball of dark magical energy…a flash of gold and silver and white…and a girl's high-pitched scream of pain echoed throughout the skies.
To Endymion's utter horror, the body of Eternal Sailor Moon flew forward into his open arms, her wings vaporised, and her hair and the back of her kufu smoking and burning. "Usako." He gasped, holding the limp lithe form in his arms, unable to believe that she had been so foolish as to take the blow that was meant for him. Ramus, the Sailor Senshi, and the Generals stared in stunned horror. His expression as bewildered and unbelieving as the others, Charmant looked down at his hands, as if wondering what exactly they had wrought. Her eyes were closed, her eyes screwed up in untold agony as tears flowed down her blackened cheeks. "Why?" He murmured hoarsely, desperately. "Why did you do that? Usako!"
Carefully holding Eternal Sailor Moon in his arms, Endymion silently urged her to wake up. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, meeting his stricken gaze. "Mamo-chan," she whispered, a trembling gloved hand reaching up to touch his cheek. He felt his throat tightening; he could hardly breathe. "Why?" He choked out. "Why?"
Her now-pale lips curled into a soft, sad smile. A glistening tear trailed down her cheek. "I love you…" She whispered quietly.
Her voice trailed away. Her eyes closed. Her hand fell limp…