The sword made of glass made the fight more complicated, but not necessarily more dangerous, as glass was incapable of doing the kind of lasting damage silver could do; thus, the weapon wasn't what distracted Haruka from finishing it quickly, right then and there.
What did distract her what the strange pull she was feeling, as if someone – or something – she couldn't quite hear called out to the very core of her soul; she neither knew where it came from, nor what it meant, but it was distracting as hell, and a few times, she almost got cut, thanks to the odd sensation.
Just make sure Michiru can get a hit in, she told herself as she moved back, out of the way of yet another stab, you can worry about this once Kaorinite has been taken down.
Another leap brought her out of the danger zone, just as it had been planned when Neptune and she had joined the fight; and to her relief, but not really her surprise, Neptune took the chance given the very next second, her voice echoing through the quiet night as she unleashed her attack, the glowing blue energy shooting past her moments later and hitting Kaorinite right in the chest, hard enough to blast her back a few feet before she fell.
"There", Neptune pressed out between grit teeth, her tone prompting Sailor Moon to look at her with slight unease, "that's for what you did to Haruka."
Too late, she realized that she had just let her partner's name slip to someone who technically wasn't supposed to know it; before she could ponder this further though, a low groan came from where Kaorinite had landed – and then she came back to her feet, prompting Neptune to let out a shocked gasp, the woman getting back up being the last thing she had expected to happen.
"Thought you'd taken me down, did you", the redhead immediately taunted her, smiling cruelly, "well, my dear, unlike the daimons, I don't go down so easily. Let's hope you didn't use up all your power for that one hit, huh?"
She hadn't, which was fortunate, but she also knew that there wasn't much left – contrary to popular belief, the Sailor Senshi did not have unlimited powers at their disposal, and Neptune knew that she only had enough left for one more attack, perhaps two, if she was lucky – she had put so much energy into this first strike, hoping that it'd take Kaorinite down sufficiently for Sailor Moon to finish her off, and judging from the smirk on her face, Kaorinite knew it.
"Thought I'd be weaker, didn't you", she went on with the taunting, not even trying to stop Haruka from moving back to Neptune's side, still in beast form, down on all fours now, the Senshi once again moving one hand to rub her neck soothingly when she heard her growl lowly, "that one powerful hit would be enough to take me down? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not like our daimons."
Her smile widened, and she brought up the sword; for a crazy second, Neptune thought she would throw it, but instead, her eyes narrowed – before a myriad of sharp glass splinters shot from the blade, somehow without diminishing or damaging the weapon, forcing Haruka and her to jump apart with a daring leap, the glass hitting the ground where they had been standing seconds ago and, to their shock, tearing deeply into the concrete.
Momentarily, Kaorinite seemed unsure whom to aim for, now that the two stood several feet apart and Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask had retreated farther behind them; then, she apparently remembered that glass wouldn't do much harm to the werewolf and focused on Neptune, the Senshi this time reacting just a second too slow, a pained yelp coming from her as the glass dug into her right leg, ripping through the skin and the muscle beneath with ease, blood gushing from the deep cuts the blink of an eye later.
With her vision greying at the edges, something she knew to be a sign for oncoming shock and unconsciousness, Neptune dimly heard Haruka let out a strange mixture of roar and yelp, most likely a response to her injury; Sailor Moon cried out for her as well, and that was odd, after all, they hadn't been all too friendly with each other before, so why should the younger Senshi care about what happened to her now…
"Quite the dilemma, eh", she heard Kaorinite tease, "if you attack me directly, I'll just impale you with this and then finish her off while you heal, and if you try to protect her, I'll just cut you down and then finish her off while you heal. Face it, wolf, there is nothing you can…"
She trailed off, the somewhat startled noise coming from her mixing with the loud growls Haruka was letting out; somehow, Neptune managed to turn her head, some of her sudden wariness pushed aside by the sight of her partner down on all fours, her body changing shape yet again, from the bulky beast form to the more or less regular wolf, only the size of her telling anyone who might see her that she wasn't just some wild animal.
But she said they only do this during the full moon, Neptune crazily thought to herself, Kaorinite clearly surprised by this change as well, since she just stood there and stared, her eyebrows almost up to her hairline, she said it takes too much energy otherwise, why is she…
The change finished surprisingly fast again, and once more, Haruka growled, loud enough to make it seem as if the ground was shaking… and belatedly, Neptune realized that it didn't just seem that way, that the ground really was shaking, strange flickers of golden light falling from the wolf's body and gently drifting to the floor.
Just like the light I saw when she'd gone loup, Neptune remembered, her heart speeding up as she tried to figure out what this meant, if it was connected to the destiny Haruka perhaps had been supposed to have, but which had been destroyed by the magic of the werewolves, what the Hell is going on?
It was obvious that Kaorinite asked herself the same, having taken a cautious stance, the sword raised slightly; before she could make up her mind about what to do next though, Haruka let out another growl, the golden specks of light now flowing together to surround her – and then she shot forward, the light moving with her and forming what looked like a comet's tail behind her, her speed so high that Neptune could barely follow her, a shocked cry coming from Kaorinite as the wolf barrelled into her, the light exploding with tremendous force at the impact, both the massive body of the wolf and the blast being enough to throw the redhead back three times as far as Neptune's attack had.
She landed with a sickening thud, unable to do anything else but grown weakly, the attack clearly having done a lot of damage; seeing the chance given, Sailor Moon moved in for the final hit, but before she could unleash it, the portion on which Kaorinite had landed creaked ominously, long cracks suddenly spreading from her point of impact – before the ground broke away beneath her and she fell, a shocked cry coming from her as she vanished from sight, her sword and plenty of stonework going down into the darkness with her.
"Wow", Sailor Moon was the first to break the silence, "that was… wow. I didn't know werewolves can do that."
"I doubt all werewolves can", Neptune gave back while she struggled to sit up, Haruka moving over to her and, with a low, sympathetic whine, moved the top of her head beneath the Senshi's hand, earning a slight smile from her partner before she started running her fingers through the soft fur, giving her exactly what she wanted and needed.
"It's a long story", she added at the questioning looks from both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, "one which I might tell once I'm not bleeding from rather painful wounds, so if you'd excuse me…"
"We can help", Sailor Moon offered in response, while Haruka took her clue from the smaller woman's words and moved slightly again, allowing her to hold on to her so she could get up, "take care of those wounds for you…"
While she spoke, the other Senshi came rushing up to the top of the tower, surprised to find Kaorinite gone and Haruka now in full wolf form; managing a smile, Neptune came to her feet with the wolf's help, making sure to keep most of her weight off her injured leg and still holding on to Haruka, even though her beast or human form would have made this much easier.
"Seems like we're late", Jupiter pointed out, "where's Kaorinite?"
"Gone", Tuxedo Mask was the one to answer that, then added how it had happened; and while he talked, Mars was focused on Neptune, a slight smile on her face as well as they exchanged a look, the simple glance being enough to tell the older Senshi that Mars knew her secret and knew that she was aware of hers – but that she hadn't said anything to the rest of the group, keeping it secret for reasons only known to herself so far.
"Werewolf", Mars spoke up as soon as Tuxedo Mask had finished his explanation of what had happened, to Neptune's relief keeping Haruka's name to herself, "you better take Neptune somewhere safe. A calm place where she can heal."
In response, Haruka let out a low growl, managing not to sound threatening though – and then, she shifted yet again, back to beast form, picking Neptune up on her arms with exceeding care afterwards, making sure to neither hurt her with her far above strength, nor with the claws her fingernails had turned into.
"Oh my", Venus let out while the beast started moving, back to the stairway, "this looks like Beauty and the Beast."
"Venus", Mars just sighed in exasperation while Haruka let out a snort, only Neptune recognizing it as laughter; hiding her face in the werewolf's shoulder to mute her giggles, she clung tighter to her as she was carried off down the stairs, her pain almost forgotten as relief and joy about the defeat of their enemy finally registered and left her with the vague suspicion that at least for a while, they would have some peace now.