The update for the second week of April will be delayed, once more, an apology to all of you. Hopefully, my April 1st update will be as scheduled. I might consider moving my update schedule one day back, though, so I update on Mondays rather than on Sundays. Opinions?
Enjoy the story.
"Well, we made our way out of that maze of hallways," Jupiter grumbled as she and Uranus stepped out of the stone hallways bathed in the neverending darkness. The odd torch lighting up on the walls of the corridors had successfully led the Sailor Senshi out of the maze and into a large empty room, crafted of cold stone and lit by flickering torches. The brunette folded her arms over her chest as the Amazonian Senshi took a few steps forward, stopping only to look back over her shoulder and ascertain that the others of the group had caught up. "Everyone here?" she shouted.
"We're right here, Mako-chan," Mars called, sounding irritated as the raven-haired priestess walked up with Venus beside her, an arm slung around the blonde to support her weight. The gleaming light of the golden handmirror the priestess carried gave way under the firelight of the torches, and finally, Sailor Mars allowed Venus to stand on her own, pressing the golden mirror to white-gloved hands as the Senshi of Fire and Passion moved to stand beside Jupiter. "Finally," she griped softly with a harrumph, but everyone could understand the girl's frustrations. "Now where the hell are we?"
Sailor Cosmos was silent as Mercury scanned the room, her silver staff glinting red under the firelight that lit the room. Blue eyes grimly stared out into the darkness, narrowing as the girl squinted further to see through the cover of the shadows that did not give way to the light. The slight tremble of her fingers was not to be missed, even as it intensified the moment Cosmos started taking steps forward into the shadows. Before Cosmos walked too far, Neptune and Pluto both reached out and gently tugged her back, speaking softly in tones meant to be heard by only them, convincing her to stay where the group was. The girl looked defiant, but as moments ticked by, her shoulders slumped, and she relented.
The sound of metal against metal filled the room as Uranus drew her Space Sword, the sandy blonde most on edge out of the lot of them. "Michi-chan," she started, but before she could continue, her partner was already at her side, Neptune holding onto her Deep Sea Mirror with a murmured assurance.
Now that she thought of it, Pluto, Neptune, and Mercury had been oddly silent since they had arrived here.
Jupiter was the first of the others to raise her voice into a shout. "Come out!" the boisterous brunette demanded, lightning crackling between her gloved fingers, small sparks of electricity jumping through her long curls. Her green eyes narrowed seriously as she repeated her command, lowering her stance in case she needed to start the fight off with a jump. "I said, come out at once!"
"No, you said to come out," a new voice snarked. A snap of the fingers from the other end of the room made the darkness recede like flood waters, lighting the room up to the very end, where a high-backed throne was positioned. If one squinted, they would have seen the symbol of Neptune engraved into the backrest of the throne as it caught the light. Perched elegantly on the armrest of the throne — for the throne itself was empty — was Callisto, her red hair tucked back into a thick braid as always. The woman's green eyes shifted from her fingernails to the Senshi — Jupiter — and a cold sneer marred her features. "Always so demanding. You really just do make me sick."
Callisto's hand shot out towards the Senshi and she grinned coyly. "It took you long enough," she continued, lowering her hand a little and suddenly yanking up like she was pulling on something. Vines — thorned vines — burst out of the stone ground and intertwined to form thick barriers around the group, and above them, they twisted together, caging them in. Beyond the barrier of vines, Callisto's voice was still clear, still lecturing, still cold and haughty. "I suppose you were content enough to take your time? You've already taken out half of us." Unhidden poison dripped from each word.
Uranus tried to cut through the vine prison with her sword, shouting out an attack name as she slashed through the air. The vines regenerated as soon as they were cut in half, prompting a curse.
"Idiots. You're in our territory now," the redhead sneered. "Did you really think you could defeat me?" Another click of the fingers had another vine shoot up, narrowly missing Uranus by less than an inch, and in the close proximity it was at, it smashed the Space Sword Talisman cleanly out of the blonde's hands. "I'll be taking that." More vines sprouted from the cracked floor, all of them covered in thorns as they encircled the Senshi of the Skies, twisting into a cage around her. Another vine dragged the Talisman away into the mass of vines that trapped the Senshi.
Jupiter watched as more vines further separated each of the Senshi, and the outer cage fell apart to show Callisto with the items they had been holding at her feet. The green-eyed Senshi watched as Callisto raised a foot wearing a sharp heeled boot to smash Neptune's Talisman, and her brow knit together in fury. Her gloved hands gripped the vines despite the thorns and despite the slight prickling she felt of the thorns digging into her skin despite the gloves, Jupiter started working on pulling the vines apart. Lightning sparked along her arms and her hair.
"Starburst Maxima!" Cosmos suddenly shouted, and despite her staff having joined the items at Callisto's feet, the rings she wore gleamed with light, releasing it into a coalesced blast of pure energy. It burned through the vines, though they reformed right after, and flew towards Callisto, who didn't manage to dodge before she was hit.
Jupiter silently cheered for her friend as she pulled at the vines, realizing with glee that with Callisto' focus being thrown off, the vines were easier to pry apart. Tearing herself an escape, Jupiter raised her hands in the air. "Jupiter Rose Cyclone!" she shouted, a whirling hurricane of pink and green forming around her. She flung her arms down, sending the petals and leaves flying out. The edges cut into the vines that held the others prisoner, and freed them, allowing the Senshi to once more reconverge. "Ready, girls?" the Amazonian Senshi asked, cracking her knuckles as the others surrounded Cosmos and herself. "Let's send her right back to the Cauldron!"
Callisto hadn't expected the silver-haired brat to be able to do anything without her staff. The blast of light had burned painfully, and as the redhead regained her equilibrium, she could see that her green dress was burnt along the stomach area. A snarl curled her lips despite the pain that rippled through her with the movement, and she pushed herself to face the Senshi. When had they managed to break free of their imprisonment? Her mounting rage at the situation had, somewhere along the line, morphed to the dreaded realization that she might not be strong enough to permanently dispense with them.
The redhead had the impression that it might not matter given a few more minutes in battle. Either she would win, or they would kill her. A cold sneer marred her features at the thought — yes, they would kill her if they won, no matter what they insisted. Returning her to her rightful place? That was the talk of someone who thought themselves superior to the others. Despite what they said, they would be killing her by 'sending her to the Cauldron'. She didn't fancy going anywhere, either. Not without Triton, at the very least. No, even with Triton, she wouldn't be going anywhere. She didn't want to die!
Bracing a hand on her injured stomach, Callisto levelled her furious emerald gaze onto the Sailor Senshi, pinning them — especially the brat that had stolen her rightful place — with a glare that promised them a painful death if they attempted anything. "Get them," she hissed quietly, her hands balling into fists so hard she could feel her nails digging into her skin. She wouldn't be surprised if blood appeared soon after. "What are you waiting for?" she screamed. "I said, get them!" Her hand shot up to point at the Senshi, a growl leaving her.
Her vines appeared again, surging and twisting to form themselves into vaguely humanoid, hulking shapes that let out a ground-shaking roar in response to her command. Without a need for a second order, they leapt into action, raising large arms to batter against the Sailor Senshi.
"That's it," Callisto whispered quietly, her hands now numb with how tightly she had her fists gripped. "Kill them for me... kill them, kill her, don't let her live! She stole everything from me! Kill her! Kill her!" Her voice had risen substantially at that, the wound on her stomach fading to barely being a present thought in her mind. The only thing she could focus on at that point was the need to see her opponent dead. But she couldn't rely on those brutes — they were mindless constructs only made to follow orders. If she needed to kill Jupiter, she'd have to do it herself... and she would. By any means necessary.
In this enclosed space, she didn't have the access to the wild, uncontrollable electricity of the skies, which meant that she would have to generate it herself. It was no matter either way — she'd use it to kill that usurping brat for sure, no matter what it took. Her green eyes were wide with fury as she turned her gaze to the Senshi, the lot of them busy fighting her creatures, not that it was working much.
A shiny barrier appeared in between the Senshi and her vine constructs as the silver-haired Senshi took the lead with her staff slammed into the already ruined floor of the room, letting the other Sailor Senshi recover and gather their energy for attacks. A beating from her vine creatures made the barrier ripple, Sailor Cosmos straining as she tried to keep upright. Another beating; the barrier trembled, cracking a little under the force.
As the Senshi were occupied, Callisto slowly summoned sparks to her fingers, and the redhead allowed them to gather and build, electricity jumping from hand to hand as she attempted to reign the raw electricity under control. Yes, yes, she was doing well... A loud shattering made her grin — the barrier had broken. The following light show barely made her flinch as she began to stride forward, more lightning building in her controlled grasp. "And now, they die," she whispered to herself, glee lighting up her features. "They die, tonight! And Triton will finally see my worth. Finally." Just imagining how he would finally acknowledge her efforts made the redhead grin in satisfaction. But she couldn't let herself get distracted.
A bolt of electricity shot towards the Senshi, tearing through one of her constructs as it surged towards Cosmos, the main defender of the Senshi. If she could take the brat out, then they would all be defenceless, and then the usurper would be hers to kill...
"Cosmos, watch out!" the Senshi with the black hair — Mars — screamed, and before anyone knew it, she was in front of the fallen Senshi of Harmony, her arms outstretched to protect the brat. The bolt of lightning surged, flying towards the soldier of fire.
The other Senshi shouted out in panic, lunging forward to try and save their comrades, but Callisto only felt a sense of foreboding as Mars flinched, waiting for the lightning bolt to strike her dead. Jupiter — the usurper — was farthest from the two of them, but she too was reaching out like she could protect them from that distance. Time slowed to a near halt.
A burst of flame filled the room, and the bolt of lightning melted into glowing embers, vanishing into the red flames that seemed to pave the floor.
Callisto's heart stopped — she knew who was interfering. No, not again.
The wall of flames that had risen between the Senshi and Callisto started to recede, Callisto's creatures burnt to a crisp. The fire retreated back to the centre of the room, where a familiar form stood, a shock of white hair against burnished red metal armour. The woman stood in front of Mars and Cosmos, a fire still burning at her feet as she finally looked up. A pair of red eyes burned with unspoken fury, meeting with shocked green irises, and a sneer curled her lips as the woman stared back at Callisto.
It was Aris.
Read, review, and provide constructive criticism.
