Puffgirl1952 the 2nd: Neith was actually named after a hypothetical moon, as I couldn't find another celestial body with a connection to Venus. Oh well... and not all is well over there.

Sunlight Halation: Haha, that's an amusing scene to picture. Cosmos seems to be forming her own personality, but she's still arguing with herself! I'll cover that soon, I think, so stay tuned!

Enjoy the story.

Neith stared down at his beautiful blonde princess — former princess, he reminded himself — with a cold purple gaze that could freeze over boiling water, a snarl twisting his perfect features. No... not perfect, beyond perfection! He was grand, he was almighty, he was undefeatable! And he would triumph where those pesky and useless so-called 'comrades' of his had failed, and when that was done, he would usurp the grand power that Triton — that pathetic excuse of a prince — had been gifted by the glorious force of Chaos, and claim it as his own, and then, his vengeance would be ripe for the taking.

But there was another that was even more perfect, with fair, unblemished skin of porcelain; eyes — such perfectly shaped eyes, irises a flawless shade of azure that stood out against fair skin, those thick and feathery lashes; a small mouth with full and pouty lips; a high nose bridge with an up-turned, classically beautiful nose; a heart-shaped face with such a delicate chin. And that was only her features, her body was perfection as well, with a slender, petite frame that models would kill to possess, long, toned legs that told her athletic history blatantly to everyone who gazed upon her.

But she was the daughter of the goddess of love and beauty herself, of course she was perfection in a human form. Venus, ah, the princess Venus of his lovely, lovely home… His lovely, lovely former home.

The cross-dressing man sneered, blonde hair falling over one of his cold violet eyes as his hands wrapped around her swan-like neck. "Aren't you just precious now, Venus darling?" the man cooed, a purr in his voice as he tightened his grip around her neck, a smirk curling his red-painted lips. "What a despicable brat. And yet, you're perfect, so, so perfect that it's infuriating!" The last word was spat out like poison in his mouth, and a disdainful look was in his eyes. "But just you wait, darling princess. Your perfection will be mine, all mine soon enough." His smile was more than crazed, a wide grin full of violent intentions towards her pathetic form. "All mine," he purred.

Venus snarled a little, kicking firmly at his perfectly build body. Her sharp orange heels were firmly thrust into her direction, clearly intending to stab him with the point-like heel. "Venus Crescent Beam… Laser!" she yelled, her hands suddenly ripping free from trying to pry his hands free of her delicate neck and clapping together into a prayer position, a brilliant orange light gathering any the tips of her gloved fingers. The bright orange energy built up and exploded outwards in a shower of glowing orange beams. Some missed, others hit, but all were aimed at the blond man.

The man gasped in pain when orange laser lights slammed into him at point-blank range, burning his expensive purple robes and scalding ivory skin underneath to an angry red from the heat. Neith was forced to release the princess, throwing her back with a hoarse scream of pain and an uncouth scream. "You brat!" he spat, staggering back in midair to inspect the scalding, smoking burn from the heat of the attack. Gingerly, he touched the wound, hissing in pain when his fingers brushed the scald. His robes were burnt to the skin where he had been hit, smoking and charred black. "For this, I'll have your head!" he shrieked. "Kill her!"

The shades that those pathetic other Senshi were fighting turned at his command, and the hideous creatures roared in response to his summoning, skin turning into a murky shade of red that only vaguely resembled cooling lava as they swarmed together, more rising as he commanded them. They mutated, long, spindly hands turning clawlike and their already deformed faces turned bestial, with elongated snouts and sharp teeth hidden within their large jaws. They made hideous-sounding shrieks as they made to advance, making the blond sneer in disgust at the malformed beasts and turn back to his target.

Oh, how he would love to tear off that perfect skin and turn it into one of those taxidermy dummies Maia seemed to love so much, to shave off those lustrous blonde locks and fashion that mane of hair into a delightful curled wig for himself, to mar and destroy that damned perfection that she held oh-so flawlessly. And once she was done, his first delivery of vengeance would be complete, and he could recline in his perfection, to bask in the knowledge that he was the best, he was the only perfection, that his was the only beauty in the world that was worthy. His hand curled into a fist, uncaring of how his painted nails would chip — he could always mend it later — and a sneer curled his painted lips.

Oh yes, vengeance, sweet vengeance would be his to taste soon enough.

Neith laughed, the sound resembling a cackle more than anything, and a wild look entered his eye. Soon, he would have his vengeance upon the princess of Venus for how he had been used and abused over the years. Soon, he would have her see what it was like to be deformed, ignored, hated! He tipped his head back, laughing wildly as he summoned more of his shade warriors to his defense, reveling in seeing those deformed faces that he had torn the beauty from to create his own perfect form — that was to say, second best to his original form.

He could still remember how his start was, and the pain that he still felt even now. The smoking pain of acid meant for the princess being splashed onto him, burning his skin, scarring his face. The brutal beatings of jealous competitors for her title as the fairest in the land hunting what they thought was the princess, only to viciously stab, punch, and kick 'her'. The violent acts of retribution from those that hated the royal family, even though she, or he had no hand in it...

A snarl curled his lip, and he looked away, hands curling into tight fists as he banished the agony from his mind. Now was not the time to be distracted. No, now was the time... the time for revenge!

Super Sailor Uranus was not happy.

Raising her powerful Talisman into the air, the soldier snarled and started to channel her power into her Space Sword, making it glow with energy. She had been hacking and slashing at those annoying shades for a little over half and hour now, and the number of those things didn't seem to be decreasing a bit, not to mention how they seemed to even be growing in number! "Space Sword Blaster!" Uranus yelled, sending her glowing attack the way of one of the clusters of shades, watching the energy strike impact with a satisfying explosion and a burst of bright light.

The sandy-haired soldier of the planet Uranus gave the shades a nasty smile as they were dispelled, lowering her ever sharp blade with a snort. She wasn't surprised when the light dimmed down to reveal nothing at all — many of the shades were already invisible, after all. It was only when a glance in her blade showed no reflection of the deformed figures that she turned her attention elsewhere, charging up her next attack so that her sword's silver blade gleamed with the sheer power that she was focusing on channeling.

"Venus Crescent Beam Laser!"

A girlish man-scream from the direction of Venus and the cross-dressing blond, and the blonde soldier of love was thrown forcefully back, thankfully landing not on her heels but on her back, and despite complaining about her ruined hair and how long it would take to wash out all the dust and sand from her 'gorgeous' golden locks. The complaints were quickly tuned out of Uranus' thought process, and Venus herself got up only moments later, tossing her mane of hair behind her shoulder and adjusting the bright red bow she wore atop her head with a haughty sniff.

The blonde man screamed something that Uranus didn't pay much attention to, but she did pay attention when the shades suddenly shifted in appearance into a monstrous-looking convergence of bodies, limbs with long claw-like protrusions sticking out everywhere until it vaguely resembled something like a giant insect, except with far more limbs than the norm. The murky red of the swarm of remaining shades set off alarms in Uranus' head, and she shriek they let out in response to whatever order they were given was just plain disturbing.

"Ruka-chan!" Neptune shouted, raising her mirror high. "Tidal Burst!" As the roaring wave of water gushed forward from the surface of the Deep Sea Mirror, the aquamarine-haired woman was silently communicating with her sandy-blonde lover with their usual looks and glances, her eyes filled with mild worry and questioning if the taller woman had an idea of how to take down the growing swarm of dark red shades, which, while now visible and much easier to take care of, were now somewhat more resilient, if how only half of their numbers hit were dispelled was any hint towards what they could do.

"Hotaru!" Uranus shouted over to Cosmos, watching as the Senshi in white and purple erected a shimmering dome barrier of light with a shout of a spell, and just as easily shattered it into shards of light with a slash of her powerful staff, following up with another of her blindingly-bright attacks. "We need a plan!" The blonde swung her sword at a shade that lunged at her, needing more than a few hacks to lop the head off the shoulders, proving once more that they were far more resilient than their invisible peers. She scowled, and sent her energy through her sword, preparing for another magically-fueled strike.

The sable-haired girl panted from the exertion as she dashed over, wiping her brow of the perspiration that had beaded there. "I'm trying to figure that out," she told them breathlessly. "How's Ami-chan holding up?" she continued on, slamming her staff into the ground to erect another luminescent barrier with a shout. "Luminous Barrier!" Her purple eyes swept the scene for the blue-haired genius as she diverted some of her attention to maintaining the barrier, hopefully for long enough to locate the Senshi of Mercury. "There!"

Mercury was standing behind Pluto as the latter fought the attackers, the blue-clad Senshi typing furiously on her computer as she scanned the larger monster with her visor, looking rather vexed and frustrated. Her fingers flew across the keyboard so quickly it seemed like a white blur was flashing across the blue computer, and she seemed to not be getting much in the way of results for her hard work, if her reaction was any indication. The girl said something to the older woman, who replied in an equally frustrated manner as she brandished the Garnet Rod in the air, sending a tornado-like wind attack towards the crimson shades that lunged their way.

"Then try something else!" Pluto was shouting at her, garnet eyes finally glowing in frustration as the woman launched another attack. "Dead Scream!"

"It's not working anyway!" Mercury hissed back. Her eyes snapped back at the monster, and she furiously typed more until she finally paused, looking back and forth from it in surprise. "Of course!" she exclaimed out loud.

"What's the plan, Mercury?" Uranus shouted, motioning for Cosmos to lower her barrier.

"Cosmos, Neptune, Pluto, please hold off the shades!" the Senshi instructed. "Venus, Uranus, you two will need to work together for this one!" A gloved hand was jabbed firmly at the direction of the head, and Mercury raised her visor, speaking in a triumphant voice. "Attack the head!"

Read, review, and provide constructive criticism.