By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
The story so far...
After losing her life to Lady Daemonfang and barely getting it back
at the cost of her scout powers, Usagi found herself powerless to
fight off the hordes of demons pouring into Tokyo in an attempt to
bring the japanese metropolis over to their homeworld. In a final
showdown between good and evil, the scouts faced the armies of
darkness along with Tuxedo Kamen and Kitechnum Jendra.
In order to buy her friends the initial distraction they needed,
Usagi used her last scout artifact, the luna pen, to take the
appearance of Sailor Moon. She faced Daemonfang and Akuma Kamen
alone, while their portal generators were being destroyed.
Unwilling to lose again, Daemonfang held on to Usagi who was
dragged along into the demon world known as the tenth sphere.
...and now, part III.
* * *
CYCLE OF LIFE: EPISODE 16
DESCENT INTO DARKNESS, PART 3: PRETTY SOLDIER REBORN
"It`s been almost twenty-four now since the end of the unbelievable
events that has come to be called INFERNO by the japanese media, and
still no one is even close to finding out exactly what happened. Was
it a disguised terrorist full scale assault on our city? An
hallucination of city-wide proportions? Or maybe, dare I say it,
an actual demonic invasion attempt?!? After commercial, we`ll be
right back with our panel of psychologists who`ll debate over..."
CLICK
Unwilling to watch yet another newscast dedicated to the failed
invasion attempt of the evil demon lord, Chibi-Usa promptly turned
off the television. Bored out of her mind, she threw away the remote
control and huddled to Mamoru who was still blaming himself for
losing Usagi through that portal.
"Don`t let this eat you up, daddy, it wasn`t your fault." she said.
"Yes it was. I could have saved her, but I missed my shot. We lost
Usagi because of me." he replied, with all life gone out of his
sadness laced voice.
Unable to find a suitable response, she simply hugged him, giving all
the love and support she could. "Now," she thought, "all our hopes
are in the hands of my friends."
A few meters away from the living room, Mamoru`s kitchen had been
turned by Ami into an improvised headquarter for the scouts` "Usagi
rescue operation". Working feverishly on her ocean blue laptop, Ami
was surrounded by Makoto, Rei, Laurella and Minako who went through
a huge stack of demon lore in search of any relevant piece of
information. Their journey was going to be one to the tenth sphere.
"Almost there." said Ami. "I only have to pinpoint the most suitable
location for our improvised portal and we`ll be set to go. We`ll
have to hurry, though, my energy monitors seem t indicate that the
tenth sphere will seal itself from our own universe in a matter of
hours. Besides, the longer we wait, the more danger Usagi will be
exposed to."
"She`s a tough girl. I`m sure she can survive a single day in any
world." said Makoto with optimism.
"As I explained before, the time compression and dilatation effect
of the nexus tends to make time go faster on the other side. A lot
of time has elapsed over there..." said Ami.
"How much time?" wondered Minako.
"Taking in account the intense portal activity we just went through
I`d say... a month." answered Ami. "Give or take a day or two."
* * *
The tenth sphere was a dreadful, sinister outer realm.
In this wretched place stood an even more dreadful fortress ruled by
a cruel dynasty of demonic overlords. Jagged towers pointing towards
the lightning-torn sky struck awe in the heart of all who saw them,
while the horrid vegetation growing around the ooze-filled moat
looked as if it waited for some unfortunate passerby whom it could
rip to shred and feed off its blood. For the mostpart, the menacing
plants could do just that.
All of this terror, however, could in no way compete with the utter
despair that came from the dank, dark dungeons carved from the sheer
bedrock of the Changraloor mountain ranges. Deep within the bowels
of the fortress, no daylight (for what little there was) ever made
it there; if somehow a lonely light beam made it there, it would
certainly turn back in sheer revulsion.
When this putrid prison maze was initially created, it had been
cleverly laid out so that no two cells would be face to face.
Acoustics, on the other hand, were beyond anything one had ever
encountered anywhere else. Any prisoner held there could hear with
crystal clarity the faintest scream of pain emitted from the
farthest cell of the dungeon.
Deep in the heart of this hellhole, Usagi was being held locked and
chained. Her clothes were covered with grime and stains; her face
was quite dirty except for two clean streaks placed there by her
tears. An entire month of cold humid stone to sleep on with little
other sound than far echoes of savage thunderstrikes and screams of
pain from other prisoners was starting to take its toll on her
sanity. She held on by thinking that her prince would be there
soon to take her away back to earth.
Just one more day, she thought, he`ll be there.
She kept on hoping that her great love would come, she had to. If
her hope died, she would perish as well.
In the distance, she heard loud footsteps coming her way. Clawed
feet raked the rough stone passageway until they stopped right in
front of her cell. Usagi didn`t stand up for Akuma Kamen. She
didn`t even bother to look at him or stop tossing bread crumbs to
the small army of cockroaches across the cell.
"Aren`t you going to say hello?" wondered Akuma as he scraped the
prison bars with his claws to make a loud screeching sound.
She didn`t reply.
"This conversation is pointless unless you talk back." he added.
"Don`t care." she said without any conviction in her voice.
"I can have you killed right now, did you know that?" he threatened
her.
"So you told me many times before, yet you never get around to give
the order." coldly answered Usagi. "Are you going to give it today?"
"I might." snarled the demon, rapidly losing his menacing attitude.
"No, you won`t. I don`t know why, but you won`t." said the girl as
she finaly lifted her head to meet the demon`s gaze. She had once
again this defiant flare in her eyes.
Akuma Kamen turned away and left. Apparently, the prison still
hadn`t broken her will. No matter, he`d be back tomorrow. The
famous Sailor Moon was in his clutches now, he`d have all the
time in the world to break her, to turn her into a slave for his
wife. He grinned at the thought of what a great gift she`d be for
Lady Daemonfang.
How the mighty had fallen.
* * *
Peering through a large book filled with colorful images, Lady
Daemonfang turned the pages one at a time, wondering what her new
tattoo would look like.
"Are there any beasts of the wylde in your book?" she asked the
tattoo artist, a playful smile on her face. "My dear Akuma is
particularly fond of dragons and phoenixes."
Moving her four arms with flowing grace, the artist opened the book
on another chapter filled with such animals.
"I have a large selection of those if you would care to peek at
them." she explained as she caressed Daemonfang`s surprisingly
smooth skin. "It will be a great pleasure to honor your flesh with
my art."
The door of Daemonfang`s luxurious bedroom flew open under the
bashing fist of the revolting Ithzhanh; the demonlord`s son was
more hideous than ever, his multiple burn scars complementing his
foul carrion stench in a sickening manner no one should ever have
to experience.
"Mother, we have to talk." he said.
"Yuriella, please wait outside." said Daemonfang.
The tattoo artist readily agreed; she avoided the royal overseer as
much as she could, even tough Daemonfang had implicitly forbidden
him to kill her. Yuriella just couldn`t stand his presence and hated
the smell of his breath even more. Her many hands quickly picked up
her color pots and needles before leaving in a hurry.
"What do you want, Ithzhanh?" asked Daemonfang.
"It`s about your husband, mother. I think he`s taking too many
liberties with the power you gave him." complained the scarred
monster.
"Could you be a little more specific?" she replied, taking another
look at a page full of golden dragons.
"For starter, he should have killed that brat Sailor Moon weeks ago,
yet she`s still alive! He`s planning something behind your back, I
just know it!" he explained.
"Of course he is. He promised to break her will so he could turn
her into my chambermaid. Or into my claw manucurist, I haven`t
made up my mind yet. He thinks I don`t know about his idea, so I`ll
pretend to be surprised." said the she-demon.
"I don`t like that boytoy you made yourself- he`s nothing more than
a bastard halfbreed who will desecrate the throne if you bind your
blood to his!" screamed Ithzhanh. "I alone deserve to succeed you,
I alone am of the purest demon blood!!!"
"No, you`re not." whispered Daemonfang in contempt.
"What are you talking about, mother?"
"You think you`re pure blood? Think again, little worm. Ronmar never
was your father; when you were born, he`d already been gone to the
magmawastes to fight off the lavafiends for over a year. No, my son,
you`re a bastard, an unworthy maggot born from the loyal 'services'
of Jormunder, a mere mercenary of the commonfolk!"
Ithzhanh was thrown away. With this revelation of his mother, his
last hopes for taking the reigns of power in Changraloor were
crushed for good.
"My new husband his a pure demon, make no mistake about this; he
will father a new child for me, so that I may give birth to the true
heir to the stormworlds of the tenth sphere!" she proudly announced,
laughing her head off.
Ithzhanh left without saying another world, his anger obvious to
all. As he walked down the corridors to his chambers, he murdered
several servants to vent out his frustration.
"You can come back now, Yuriella." called out Daemonfang to her
personal tattoo artist. "I can`t wait to feel your needles tickle
my flesh."
* * *
In the depth of the night, a small team of young girls made their
way across desert streets along with two young men who fought along
with them against an army of demons just thirty-six hours before.
Their mission was one of rescue- to bring back to earth she who
had been their leader through the worst of times, their friend in
best of times: the pretty soldier Sailor Moon, lost through a
portal leading to a horrible outer realm.
Time was running short for them, but they wouldn`t let it stop them.
"Must we really go to the baseball stadium to do this?" asked Sailor
Jupiter.
"Yes. That`s where the portals were strongest; it`s also where the
barriers between worlds are weakest, but not for long. We must wedge
this old portal open and put a `foot` of sorts in the door, so that
we can open it up from the other side once we find Usagi." explained
Mercury.
"I`m not about to let my sweet love rot in some demon hole. We`ll
get her back, I swear." said Tuxedo Kamen.
As they moved discreetly towards their goal, they failed to notice
the shadow following them. Sailor Saturn wasn`t about to abandon her
newfound allies.
* * *
"So that`s the situation right now. What are your impressions on the
power balance in this region of the sphere?" asked Akuma Kamen to
his guests as he poured them some blood wine.
"Pretty volatile, if you ask me." commented Deddlie Synn. "You have
a great deal of influence upon the greatest of all political forces,
Lady Daemonfang. Through her, you can achieve any agenda you
pursue... although you must find some way to make it match her own
somehow. You also have a few hidden wildcards, wich gives a nice
edge.
"You should fear Ithzhanh, however, as his royal overseer position
ensures him the knightmare legions` loyalty. The kitlings despise
him thoroughly and agreed to his alliance proposition only in
respect to his mother... and to the threats he made, so they`ll
follow you blindly anywhere." added her brother Morthall; he was
blind since birth, although he had great fun of using words
relating to blindness every time he could.
He sipped a little wine and continued his analysis: "The kitlings,
despite their fierce loyalty to you and your wife, are no match
for the sheer numbers of knightmares, unfortunately."
"The demons are split more or less evenly in this matter." said
Deddlie. "Each one of them has his or her motives, some may be
fueled by anger, greed, fear, spite or even some twisted form of
honor. If a conflict arises between you and maggot boy, I must
honestly say that your chances are grim."
"What about the two of you, may I ask?" wondered the demon.
"We`re loyal to your wife... and you, by extension. Besides, I
wouldn`t be caught dead with Ithzhanh." said Deddlie, giving a
seductive look to Akuma.
"My sense of smell is so keen that the very presence of that maggot
anywhere in a hundred feet makes me want to vomit. I`m with my
sister on this." replied Morthall.
"Thank you, friends. I have a bad feeling about our hated overseer,
and I will need all the help we can get. I would also feel more
comfortable if you could get a message from me to our friends of
the Licorne."
"It will be done." said the twins, raising their glasses.
* * *
"What do you mean, only two of us can go there?" protested Sailor
Mars with energy.
"The nexus has almost reach the lowest point of its waning phase;
any portal we manage to wedge open will only allow transport for
three people at most, and we must keep one space open for Usagi
when we bring her back. Besides, we`ll need all the power we can
on this side to keep it open while two of us go through." explained
Mercury.
"I`m going there." said Tuxedo Kamen.
"No you`re not." interjected Mercury. "The nature of your powers
is such that only you can keep the portal active by sticking your
`foot` in as I explained earlier. If you go there, you won`t be
able to reopen the portal from the other side."
"Then I`m going there. That monster Akuma Kamen and I have a score
to settle." said Sailor Jendra with anger in her voice.
"I`m coming too. You`ll need muscle to fight the demon scum, and
I`ve toasted more than my share of them." Jupiter added.
"Nothing like experience, huh, Jupiter? Besides, the nature of your
powers will make it all the more easier to reopen the portal back to
earth. Even if you hadn`t volunteered so eagerly, I would have
suggested you to go." commented Mercury.
"I`m glad we can all agree. Let`s do this!" said Jupiter.
* * *
Working carefully not to make mistakes, wich she never made anyway,
Yuriella applied colors carefully to the new flaming phoenix tattoo
on Daemonfang`s back. This would truly be her best work yet.
"Not too painfull, I hope?" she asked to the demon lord.
"Just enough, I really enjoy it." she answered. "I`ll have to do
this again."
A knock came at the door, wich opened to reveal Akuma Kamen. He
entered and walked up to his wife who was laying on her bed, relaxing
as she was having a drawing permanently drawn on her back.
"Hello, darling, glad you could drop by. What do you think of it so
far?" she asked, turning her back so he could see better.
The demon silently approached her and caressed the tattooed flesh.
Under his fingers, he felt her arteries pulse with each of her
heartbeats. His hand moved along her exposed weak point, and
caressed the retractable piece of armored second skin that she had
pulled away so that Yuriella might work on her more delicate flesh.
A weird look appeared on his face as he contemplated her open
weakness.
"Well, aren`t you going to say something?" asked Daemonfang.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the male demon pulled a small, intricately
carved golden dagger which he mercilessly plunged in her back;
without her second skin pulled down to protect this spot, it sunk
easily and deeply, provoking a horrible hemorrage that would kill
her in seconds.
"It`s hideous." he whispered, but the voice wasn`t Akuma`s. It was
Ithzhanh`s.
As Lady Daemonfang was bleeding to death, the seductive shape of
Akuma morphed back into its true one, that of the wretched son of
the she-demon.
"Taking someone else`s appearance for a few moments is rather easy
to do, I`ll bet you never knew I could do that, did you, mother? As
long as I don`t talk, no one can tell the difference." he gloated,
stroking the magical ring on his finger.
"You... ungrateful..." tried to say Daemonfang, but she wouldn`t be
able to before her life ended.
"This I waited a long time for." he said to himself. Raising his
gaze from his mother`s corpse to Yuriella`s terrified stare, he
noticed his work wasn`t all done yet. "No witnesses." he said, as
he pulled the dagger out of Daemonfang and moved in for another
kill.
* * *
Alone in the prison block, Usagi waited. For weeks now, she had
waited for her friends to rescue her from her damp cell, to bring
her back into the sunlight and return her freedom. She waited,
losing a little more hope with every passing day.
"They`ll come, I know it. The scouts will be here, and my prince
will be there..." she repeated, trying harder and harder to
convince herself, until the point where she just couldn`t believe
anymore.
The moment Akuma Kamen had waited for was there at last; Usagi broke
down and cried, realizing that no one would come, that she would
surely die in this hellhole, alone and forgotten by all.
Totally out of strength and depleted of willpower, she laid down on
the chilling stone floor, rolling into a foetal position and waiting
for whatever fate that would befall her. She`d given up fighting.
Slowly falling asleep at bottom of this well of desperation, this was
the moment when Usagi would receive her greatest revelation yet...
* * *
"Okay, everyone, now!!!" screamed Sailor Mercury to her friends who
were circling the exact point in the baseball field where
Daemonfang`s portal cube was located before the scouts blew it up:
a large scorched circle marked the center field amidst the trampled
grass. Nearby, some crystal shards of the broken luna pen littered
the ground, adding a sinister overtone to the stadium.
Using all of their might, the scouts drew forth their energies and
condensed it into a huge swirling sphere of power. Standing ready,
the young Kitechnum Jendra began using his Technum powers to
modulate the raw energy of the scouts and stabilize it into a
workable portal. Tuxedo Kamen created one of his special roses
which would be needed after Jendra and Jupiter had gone through.
"Something`s wrong." said Kitechnum. "We don`t have enough power."
The girls gave it all they had, stretching their Technum-based
powers to the very limit- yet they still needed just a little more
to do this.
As the seconds grew into minutes, it seemed that they would fail.
A few seconds away from their breaking point, a flurry of crimson
color feathers of energy flew out of nowhere straight into the
energy sphere, giving it the boost that Kitechnum needed; in an
instant, the chaotic swirling stopped and was replaced by a silver
shimmer of divine beauty.
With the portal stable, everyone turned around and looked at the
source of these feathers; of course, it was Sailor Saturn.
"If you plan to use this gate, I suggest you hurry up. It`s`probably
not that stable." she said in a delicate tone full of grace.
"Oh yeah, we have to go." said Jupiter who grabbed Jendra by the arm
and dragged her in.
"We`ll bring her back!!!" Jendra barely had time to say before
disappearing into the outer realm.
After the two scouts went through, Tuxedo Kamen threw his rose into
the shimmering sphere; once it made its way through the surface, it
glowed a briliant golden light wich affected the gate instantly. It
began by shifting colors to gold, then red, blue, green, shifting
more and more rapidly until the colors couldn`t be told apart from
one another in a blinding kaleidoscope.
While Kitechnum and Tuxedo Kamen concentrated to contract the portal
into a microscopic wormhole that the scouts could reopen on the other
side, the girls stood mesmerized by this superb display of flashing
colors.
"I`m not feeling too good." thought Saturn, her hands starting to
shake.
Once the portal had been fully locked and readied for Jupiter and
Jendra`s return, Sailor Saturn collapsed unconscious on the dead
grass, her entire body rocked by violent convulsions.
"Dear god, I think she`s having a seizure!" said Sailor Mars as she
rushed to her help.
* * *
Floating freely in a fall that had no specific direction at all,
Sailor Jupiter felt nauseous from the total lack of references in
the void between worlds. "Laurella, where are you?!?" she screamed
in despair.
"Over here, wherever here is!" replied Jendra who spun
uncontrollably.
After the initial shock of misdirection, the girls quickly noticed
that the void was shaping itself into a tunnel of sort, propelling
them to another swirling mass of colors just like the one they first
took on earth. The kaleidoscope stopped, leaving them in a place
which could easily be described by a single word.
HELL.
Lost somewhere on a small plateau located in some remote area of a
god forsaken mountain range. Jagged and menacingly dark, the spires
of Changraloor where put into stark contrast to the dreadfully black
sky by the ever-present lightning strikes of unimaginable strenght.
"Oh god..." whispered Laurella, frozen in awe.
"I`m afraid he can`t hear us here." replied Makoto.
"So where do we look first?" wondered Laurella.
"How about in the opposite direction to these guys?" suggested
Jupiter, pointing to an incoming squadron of knightmares dressed in
full silver armor, sending strong vibrations through the mountain
rock with their flawless stepping coordination. Jendra couldn`t
agree more.
They took off quickly, although Laurella soon found that she could
hardly keep up with her athletic friend. She tried to call out to
her to slow down, but her words were drowned by the screeching
lightning bolt that landed right between them, destroying a large
part of the mountain side path; the smashed bits of rock flew all
over, blinding Jupiter who fell over down into the deep chasm
underneath.
"JUPITER!!!" screamed Sailor Jendra, helplessly staring down into
the darkness that had just swallowed the child of thunder.
She just stood there, looking at the chasm and the severed path that
suddenly denied her escape, until the squadron finally caught up
with her.
"You, intruder, follow us. Resistance will be met with lethal
force!" ordered their leader with a thundrous growl. Laurella,
bereft of hope of helping either Makoto or Usagi, found herself
empty of any will to fight. She surrendered.
* * *
Falling with the full force of local gravity, Makoto`s head was
filled with frightful images of her own body being shattered on the
ground some hundred feet below. She counted her blessings that the
dark mists shrouded her sight; unable to see anything, she wouldn`t
have time to see her death arrive.
Jupiter hit the mountainside a few times on her way down- the
repeated blows dealt by unmoving fists of stone, however, left her
dizzy and unable to grasp exactly what was happening anymore.
Did the fall take a minute or an hour? She didn`t know. Hell, she
didn`t even realize how lucky she was that her fall was broken by a
raging river down the chasm. Her limp body floated a few seconds,
then sank slowly as it was dragged along the powerful water flow.
The chilling cold bit her skin and stung her eyes, leaving a bitter
taste of death in her mouth, the last sensation to hit her before
she lost conciousness.
This would have undoubtedly been the end of Sailor Jupiter, had she
not been fished out by a tall, powerful creature which belonged to
a race tought long extinct by most demons of the tenth sphere.
"What do we have here?" wondered Yorril, a proud warrior of the
Licorne, a race of humanoid beings whose horselike head, pearled
fur and strikingly beautiful horn on their foreheads made them look
like descendants of the fabled unicorns.
Yorril was pleased to find that the human girl was still alive, if
gravely wounded.
"Her anatomy is similar to that of the great one... I wonder if
she`s of the same race?" he asked himself.
Strong as three men, he easily picked her up and entered a tunnel
that led to a underground maze known only to those of the rebellion.
The soft blue light of the glowing moss covering the tunnels in a
squishy carpet of sorts guided him without fail through the mountains
towards his home in a nearby sheltered valley.
* * *
Dancing flashes of light spun around gleefully in a merry-go-round
of confusion and pain; blue faeries of light and red ones of shadows
teased Makoto while the color yellow tried to explain her the concept
of virtual sensations among the jippy trees of chipwillow. Piercing
through the green clouds and the purple forest, seemingly unreal
voices could be heard faintly among the chirping of the turquoise
dhar-dhar birds.
"She`s going to make it, now, she`s very strong." whispered a soft
feminine voice.
"She truly is everything the great one told us she was." whispered a
harsher masculine voice.
Holding on to those voices, Makoto focused her every once of strenght
to snap out of this insane vision.
She woke up slowly, her head beating to the pounding of a hundred
sledgehammers. There was little light to offend her eyes,
fortunately, thus giving her a chance to get her bearings back. From
what she could see, she was lying on a very comfortable pile of
cushions in an arabian style tent. Although her clothes were gone,
the thick cloth sheet covering her naked body was more than
sufficient to give her the warmth she needed to heal. As she rubbed
her hand on the cloth, she felt patches of her own dried blood
staining the intricate weaving patterns.
"Don`t move, love, we must make sure my healing magics have
succeeded." whispered the sweet feminine voice, whose figure
remained unseen in the dark. "You had many broken bones, tough now
only the cuts and bruises remain."
"The great one and our leader will be pleased to know you have
awakened, thundrous one. She`s been worrying about you for over
three days and nights now." added the male voice.
"Where is this?" said Makoto with great difficulty.
"The tent of the Kitt-Lara healers." answered the female voice.
Lighting a small oil lamp, a soft red glow revealed the faces of
Jupiter`s caretakers. They were the catlike faces of two middle-aged
kitlings.
The face of Makoto grew white with fear, but the catpeople made
themselves quite reassuring.
"Please do not be alarmed, thundrous one, not all kitlings are
brutal savages. Only those who suffer from the Changing get to
become insane killers. They are the ones who turn mercenaries for
the demon kin, their shapeshifting disease warping them into insane
killers." explained the female healer.
"Many of us were coerced into attacking your world under threats
from Ithzhanh; if we didn`t cooperate, he would have had our children
killed. We hate this carrion eating bastard with every fiber of our
beings, which is why we fight him alongside the husband of the
deceased ruler of this land." said the other.
"Deceased? Daemonfang is dead?" said Makoto, blown away by the
news. It then occured to her who was the demon lord`s husband.
"Your leader is Akuma Kamen?"
"Indeed we follow this demon, as he alone can bring us back to the
peaceful life we aspire to." answered the male.
"You mentionned a `great one` several time... who is that?" wondered
Makoto. Her answer walked in the tent with flawless timing.
"That`s how they call me, although I strongly dislike that sort of
title." said the familiar voice Makoto was ecstatic to hear.
"USAGI!!!" she screamed as she jumped to her feet, oblivious to pain
and the fact that she barely kept herself covered in front of the
kitling healers. She was quite stunned to see how her friend looked.
"Usagi, have you become... Sailor Moon again?"
Usagi was indeed wearing a uniform of some sort, though not one
Jupiter had ever seen before. It was a tight fitting blue body suit
with red flame motives on the legs and arms; her tiara was gone,
replaced with a pink high-tech lens. The old elbow-long white gloves
were gone too. Instead she wore black leather gloves, as well as
metallic hand and forearm protectors, plus matching metal shinguards.
Completing this picture, five golden kanji were inscribed along her
right tigh reading BISHOUJO SENSHI, pretty soldier.
"I`ll explain you, its a long story..." she said.
Sailor Moon proceeded to tell her about her long ordeal in the
Changraloor dungeons, slowly sinking in despair until her hope was
totally gone. She continued to tell her friend about the glimmer
of light in her mind that changed everything.
"It was a revelation, plain and simple. It struck me that my father,
Technazul Terra, had been trying to tell me something through my
dreams, something I didn`t get until then: the transformation pens
Luna gave us are nothing but crutches, ways of focusing the power
that`s ALREADY IN OUR SOUL!" she said.
"Soul power?" said Makoto, puzzled.
"That`s what Technazul meant! I would never be a sailor SCOUT again,
because I was meant to become a sailor SENSHI, a warrior of even
greater strenght and power!!!" explained Sailor Moon. "In time, so
will you, my friend." she added with a smile.
"That`s great, but... I`m not quite there yet. I`ll stick to my
transformation pen for the time being until I get a revelation of
my own." said Makoto. She then remembered she was naked under the
bedsheet she barely held around her body. "Some clothes would be
nice, right about now. Damn, I hope Laurella didn`t get all bruised
up the way I did getting here." she said, contemplating the many
bruises all over her skin.
"Laurella came with you to the tenth sphere?!?" asked Usagi, a
horrified look appearing on her face.
"You mean she`s not here?!?" replied Makoto with an equally
horrified expression.
* * *
What a strange experience this had all been. Now that Laurella
thought it over, it seemed almost like a faraway dream. First
floating through the void between universes like a fish in stormy
waters, then landing in this lightning ravaged world. It wouldn`t
have been so bad if it hadn`t been for happened afterwards.
The knightmare patrol, she could have dealt with. Of course she had
to run, with her being hideously outnumbered and all, but the sudden
lightning bolt that cut her road of retreat and threw Sailor Jupiter
in the dark chasm below was simply too much for her.
She was forced to surrender and taken to a huge, monstrous looking
fortress where she`d been kept since.
Three days had passed already, but not quite in the way she had
initially suspected: instead of the cold, damp cell she expected,
she was given a very comfortable, quite luxurious bedroom. The
meals were nothing short of royal and the library was open to her
so she could keep herself busy.
Of course, the strange glyphs that were used as a written language
in this world was utterly unreadable to her, even tough she was
skilled in japanese, english and chinese. This was just too
different to be picked up casually without a translator`s help.
This did not stop her, however, from enjoying the remarkably
detailed images, all of which were individually hand-made. In this
world, printing presses were considered distasteful while manuscript
writing was an art form.
Laurella had spent the entire evening skimming through what looked
like historical accounts of a war of some sort, one in which was
told of the forging of a weapon she immediately recognized: the one
weapon strong enough to have killed Sailor Moon, the chains of
Mephistofeles. With a shudder, she closed the book and placed it
right back on one of the library`s many shelves. A smaller, more
discreet book grabbed her attention; it seemed out of place somehow,
intriguing yet trying to avoid drawing attention to itself.
"This one doesn`t belong there, obviously. I wonder what it`s doing
there..." she wondered, looking at the leather bound volume marked
in unreadable characters.
She opened it at a random page, going back and forth from there.
She quickly realized why this book had been so well hidden when she
stumbled on a well illustrated section which went at great lenghts
to illustrate a variety of sexual techniques for the demon kin.
Laurella felt a bit guilty about watching these beautiful images,
yet couldn`t tear her eyes away, turning page after page and
starting to feel aroused by the detailed pictures. She then caught
movement in the corner of her eyes. Turning around to see who was
there, she clumsily hid the book behind her back.
The most seductive demon she`d ever seen was leaning on the bookshelf
behind her, slowly stroking the slick, deep black membrane of his
perfectly proportioned wings. His deep blue eyes were staring
straight into hers, preventing Laurella from looking at his athletic
body, or at anything else for that matter.
"Oh, Ithzhanh, it`s you... how long have you been there?" she asked,
blushing.
"Twenty pages, more or less. I was hoping you`d find that book, it`s
one of my favorites." said Ithzhanh, his voice entrancing the young
scout with every word.
"I was just waiting here, killing time... I`m still hoping you`ll be
able to find her." said Laurella, her eyes full of hope.
"The news is bad, I`m afraid... my troops found her body an hour
ago... I`m sorry to say that she didn`t survive the fall." lied the
handsome demon with sadness in his eyes.
Laurella choked up, trying to hold back her sorrow, but couldn`t
keep it up. She sobbed for a while, finding some measure of comfort
in the arms of Ithzhanh.
"This portal you told me about... I know your friend Jupiter was
supposed to open it for you, am I right? I`m verry sorry that your
quest to find Sailor Moon failed, but there was nothing I could do
to stop my mother from executing her... maybe I could at least help
you go home, would you like that?" he asked. Sailor Jendra nodded
silently, averting her teary eyes from Ithzhanh`s gaze.
"Don`t worry about it. The royal mage has great knowledge of gates
and portals, he`ll be able to reopen it for you tomorrow and lead
you home again. Now go get some rest, dear child." he said.
Laurella whispered "Thank you" and went back to her room, grateful
that she met this sweet demon first, rather than that horrible
monster Akuma Kamen. After she left, Ithzhanh reverted back to his
original, twisted form of a hunched over, slimy, putrid little demon.
His skin was covered all over from second and third degree burn
scars, warping his sickening appearance even further. Even by tenth
sphere standards, he was truly an abomination.
"I thought she`d NEVER stop crying. My morphing ring almost ran out
of charge!" he complained to a figure that came out of hiding from
the shadows.
"If you`d given me more time to forge the ring in the first place,
it would hold a longer charge, may I remind you." replied sharply
the figure who revealed itself as Traxis, Changraloor`s royal mage.
"I may not care about the methods you use to craft your items, but
I do care about the timetable you apply, mage. I`m running out of
time to exact my revenge upon this damned city we couldn`t
invade!!!" screamed the foul beast.
"Have I failed you before? I have the item you requested." said
Traxis, handing over a small silver and gold ring shaped as a mobius
band.
"What is it with him and rings?" wondered the demon. Looking back
and forth between the humanoid mage and the ring he`d been given, he
wasn`t sure how to react. "How is this supposed to achieve my goal?"
he asked.
"It is made of the most powerful blend of blast metals..." started
Traxis who was rudely interrupted.
"BLAST METAL?!? I want to LEVEL THE WHOLE CITY, not just a block or
two!!!" yelled the monster even louder.
"You don`t understand, mylord, blast metals, should they interract
with in-between void energies, will build up in power until they
detonate violently. The following shockwave will then echo in the
void, growing exponentially in mere seconds- when the gate opens on
the other side, the energy shockwave will then be so strong that
nothing will be left existing in a hundred miles radius!!!"
explained the mage. "Now if you`ll excuse me, I have an experiment
to attend to."
Traxis disliked Ithzhanh with every fiber of his being, but had no
choice but to go along with him as the twisted overseer had seized
the reigns of powers in the outer realm following Daemonfang`s death.
At least, he`d get a chance to avenge the memory of his dead father
by destroying the city where lived those who had shattered the portal
cubes. His father had worked his entire life to create these cubes,
and it would take traxis his entire life to recreate them, assuming
he`d live that old.
* * *
Having retrieved her transformation pen back from Usagi`s care,
Makoto was quick to summon her Sailor Jupiter outfit to cover
herself. In contrast to Usagi`s new look, her old sailor uniform felt
silly somehow. She truly wished she could achieve Sailor Moon`s new
level of power.
"I can guess what you`re thinking." said Sailor Moon. "You want to
become a senshi as well, don`t you?"
Makoto nodded in silent agreement.
"You`ll have to find it within yourself to give up your old image
of the scout, to find the strenght to give up your old self image
of a scout... your soul holds the key, my friend, but it is deep."
she said sternly. She then smiled and added that she knew without
a doubt that the senshi of Jupiter would surely emerge soon.
"So what do we do now? I`ll bet that the knightmare patrol captured
Laurella, her life is in danger!" asked Sailor Jupiter.
"We rescue her, that`s what." answered a growling voice in the tent`s
entrance. Stepping with slow, deliberate steps, he walked over to
Sailor moon and handed her an old, cracked parchment scroll. "A map
of the many byways we can take to enter the fortress without drawing
too much attention. With the mustered troops we have right now, we
could storm the stronghold with minimized losses."
"What do you mean by `minimized`?" asked Sailor Moon.
"We won`t ALL be killed in the assault." he replied.
"Are your loyal followers really intent on engaging a suicide raid to
deliver a single prisoner, even if she is our friend?!?" asked
Jupiter, unwilling to endanger any lives other than her own.
"It`s not only to deliver Sailor Jendra, thundrous one. It`s also to
wrest power out of the carrion stained hands of that unworthy maggot
Ithzhanh." answered Akuma.
"If we can be delivered of this mad demon ruler, any sacrifice is
worth the prize we seek." added the female kitling who cuddled her
male partner. "We wish this land to be one of peace where we can
raise our young without fear."
The human girls were touched by the kindness of the catpeople, as no
one would imagine them to be so caring after facing them in combat.
"Get some rest while we can, ladies, we strike in three hours." said
Akuma, leaving the young warriors to some all too short sleep.
* * *
A knock at the door woke up Laurella who stumbled through the
bedroom`s darkness; when she opened the door, she came face to face
with a demon servant. Altough he could have been considered quite
attractive by demon standards, he was more than scary enough to give
Laurella the chills.
"A gift from my master, Lord Ithzhanh." he said, handing her a small
box made of a material not quite unlike velvet. The young girl
opened it to find a beautiful ring shaped as a mobius band.
"It`s beautiful." she said, slipping it on her finger.
"My master regrets not being able to give it in person as he is
occupied with pressing matters." explained the servant.
"Give my heartfelt thanks to your lord, I hope to see him again
before I leave tomorrow." she said and went back to bed.
The demon left the master bedrooms area and met with the
disgustingly ugly Ithzhanh in his tactical room three levels
below.
"She accepted the gift, master." he explained.
"You served me well, you may leave now." said the twisted monster.
It`s all falling into place, now, he thought. Tomorrow at this time
Tokyo would be nothing more than a fleeting memory washed away in
fiery oblivion.
* * *
"I can`t wait until this is over..." thought Usagi as she walked
along a tight, drenched corridor filled with those weird glowing
mosses that seemed to grow in every cavern of the tenth sphere.
"I`ve had just about enough of those tunnels!"
At long last, the tunnel lead to a dead-end, a large chunk of rock
that had been polished to perfection by professional rock carvers
centuries before. This secret passage, few people knew about
outside of the rulers of Changraloor. Not even Ithzhanh had ever
been told.
"Of all the passages in the fortress, this one leads closest to
the masters` bedrooms." explained Akuma Kamen to Sailor Moon and
Jupiter.
"Why here and not the dungeons? I`ve been trapped in there, and
that`s the best place to hold her, believe me. No way will any other
room hold her up, trust me. The girl`s a hurricane just waiting to
happen." said Sailor Moon.
"I have spies in there. Ithzhanh`s been spoon-feeding her lies since
his patrol picked her up three days ago, and I don`t think he`s been
giving her the royal treatment out of the kindness of his heart.
We`ll have to move fast once we`re in there, we don`t know how maggot
boy will react to the little get-together I threw with my Licorne
friends..." said Akuma. As if on cue, a huge explosion in the
distance echoed through the bedrock and shook the ground under the
trio`s feet. "Ah, that would be them now."
* * *
At the front gate as well as every other entrance to the fortress,
huge dark metal cannons were spitting balls of fire at the walls,
chipping huge holes in the defenses of the Changraloor capital.
Guards ran wildly as they just couldn`t understand how half the
invading forces were composed of warriors from an extinct race, or
how some of them made their way inside the fortress BEFORE they even
got the front gates open.
Knightmares reinforced the demons in the key strategic battle points
with deadly results; on both sides casualties increased at an
alarming rate as the Licorne locked swords with the knightmares
while kitlings went claw to claw against the demons.
Needless to say, Ithzhanh was not pleased.
"I knew I should have killed that troublemaker Akuma earlier. When
you make stupid mistakes, they always come back to haunt you later."
he told himself, as the rumbling in the floors shook his dinner table
and spilled his bloodwine cup. His food plate soon joined his drink
on the floor, although the raw piece of rotten meat was not in the
least way made any more unedible from the dirt it picked up.
"Where my ice whip?"
* * *
"So, how do we open this door, anyway? It looks sealed pretty tight."
asked Jupiter, trying to slip her fingers in between the wall and
the secret door, to no avail, as the rock surfaces were fitted to
perfection. "Let`s face it, this door isn`t going to just open
itself."
"Leave that to me." said Sailor Moon, her eyes gleaming with pride.
"And stand back- way back!!!"
The demon and the scout retreated down the corridor, but not too far
so that they could see what she was going to do.
"LUNAR..."
Concentrating on the power within, Sailor Moon summoned the strenght
of her ancient soul inside the palm of her hands into a swirling mass
of silver plasma; as the seemingly endless seconds drifted by, the
energy grew more and more intense, saturating the tunnel with the
pure light of her soul.
"SOUL..."
Pointing her hands towards the stone obstacle, she released the
immeasurable amount of energy in a single directed blast which would
pulverize the rock obstacle into choking dust.
"POWER!!!"
* * *
He thought he had heard voices coming from the corridor; although it
was deserted at this time of night, it seemed someone was there.
That was the reason why the silver knightmare had left his post
guarding the bedroom of royal mage Traxis to go down the apparently
empty corridors. The attack on the fortress was no business of his,
but his duties dictated that he should capture and execute any
intruders snooping around the mage`s room.
No one was there. Wait a minute, there was a murmur coming from
behind the wall. BEHIND the wall? Wasn`t it supposed to be sheer
bedrock in there?!?
His highly trained senses picked up more murmurs, although he could
make out some words now that he was closer to the source. He believed
that he heard something like "soul power", but he couldn`t hear any
more, seeing how he was too busy getting blown to pieces along with
a five feet wide section of the wall he was standing next to.
When the dust settled, Sailor Moon emerged triumphant.
"Come on, let`s score us an ugly demon!" said Akuma as he followed.
"And rescue Laurella, unless you forgot..." added Jupiter.
"Of course, of course, we`ll do that too." he replied.
Makoto just couldn`t bring herself to trust that demon look-alike of
Mamoru. Try as she might, she just couldn`t get over that uncanny
ressemblance.
* * *
The serie of small explosions, she might have overlooked. After all,
she was sleeping rather soundly from her very tiring experiences of
the past five or six days. The BIG detonation that riped apart a
nearby corridor, however, could have woken up the dead.
Laurella sat in her bed, rubbing her tear swollen eyes to shake away
the sleepy haze she felt.
Explosions? Screams and battle cries? For sure it was the terrorists
Ithzhanh had warned her about the day before.
"Wait a minute, if the rebels are here, than their leader... Akuma
Kamen... will be there too!" she said to herself.
For the first time in a long while, she smiled. If she couldn`t find
her friends in this hellhole called the tenth sphere, then she`d
settle for revenge against the monster who`d tried to kill her.
* * *
Lightning bolts and soul blasts tore through the rows of knightmares
that rushed down from the upper levels, but the three intruders held
on. As one after another fell down, there soon remained only the
demon and his human allies.
"There would have been much more of these knightmares if they weren`t
busy fighting off kitlings and Licorne invaders." observed Akuma.
A sudden blast of dark purple energy then struck the demon who was
thrown back several feet, landing brutally on a pile of scorched
armor plates.
"I never cared much for these lesser servants myself, I must agree."
commented a shadowy figure exiting a nearby room. Traxis`s hands were
still charged with residual energy of the powerful force bolt he
just cast.
"Who are you?" asked Sailor Moon, trying to buy her ally some time
to recover.
"I, my young friend, am Traxis, royal mage of the Changraloor
court... I shall also be your bane, as I will now demonstrate."
he answered, preparing another bolt. This one narrowly missed
the girls, dogging a huge wall in the wall behind them.
"Go find Laurella, Akuma, you know the place better than us!!!"
yelled Sailor Moon as she prepared a blast of her own. "We`ll hold
him off!"
Picking himself up, Akuma silently agreed; as he turned his back on
the fight and ran away from the battle, he screamed to Sailor Moon
that he`d find her. She never heard him as his voice was drowned out
by the lightning strike of Sailor Jupiter.
Fighting the royal mage would not be easy for the two young
warriors.
* * *
"Sailor Jendra!!!" screamed Akuma as he ran from room to room,
finding no one but a few scared servants.
After almost ten minutes, however, he turned a corner where he met
her; it had been nearly three months for Akuma Kamen since he tried
to kill her in that rainy Tokyo street, but she looked identical to
what her remembered of her.
"So you did come for me." she said, with open contempt.
"You`re in danger here, I came to rescue you! Sailor Moon and
Jupiter are here too!" he said, approaching her with his hand
extended.
She backed down nervously, refusing to be even remotely close to
him.
"I know you`re lying, they`re dead! Are you here to try and kill me
again, you bastard?" she asked, with fire in her eyes.
Akuma remembered what Jupiter has told him about time compression
and how time went by faster on his side of the portal; he figured
that she was probably still pissed off about his beating her up.
This wouldn`t be easy to explain.
He didn`t get another chance to speak, however. A stinging pain in
his back sent him to the floor, the icy bite of a cold whip creating
horrible pain in his spine. Ithzhanh had managed to sneak up behind
him and lash him with all his might.
"Still enjoying... the cheap shots... are you?" managed to utter
Akuma, writhing in pain.
"See that, Jendra? Didn`t I warn you about his evil kind? He wants
nothing but to bring misery to those around him!" said the demon
usurper of the Changraloor throne, using his illusionary beauty to
further trick the young scout.
"He`s lying to you, Sailor Jendra, he doesn`t even look like..."
tried to say Akuma who was brutally interrupted by another ice
cold lash.
"SHUT UP!" ordered Ithzhanh. "Don`t listen to his lies!"
* * *
"Not very impressive, sailor girls." said Traxis, taking a few
seconds to gloat to his opponents. "Is that all you can do?"
Both Sailor Moon and Jupiter had taken quite a beating, and so had
the surrounding structure of the fortress. The many smashed walls
had opened up a large fighting area riddled with rubble and dead
knightmares. Breathing hard and barely holding on their legs, the
brave warriors were bleeding from the many gashes covering their
bodies. Jupiter barely stood up, but Sailor Moon was still fighting
on with everything she had. Clearly, she was much stronger than she
ever had been before.
"I still have one more trick up my sleeve!" said Sailor Moon
defiantly; she summoned more of her soul energy, but shaped it into
a cylinder rather than a sphere. "By the power of all things
eternal, I summon thee, great sword Avenger!!!" she yelled as the
energy materialized into a crystal two-handed sword of radiant
beauty.
"Your toys can`t help you now, girl." taunted Traxis as his hands
charged with power for the strongest spell he could think of-
disintegration.
With a mighty scream, he unleashed the red waves of power towards
Sailor Moon; Using her crystal sword, she intercepted the energy
and reflected it back to the mage. In an instant, he was scorched
into little more than ashes.
"That`s... amazing!" said Jupiter.
"One of the many things you`ll learn to do!" said Sailor Moon.
"Come on, let`s catch up to Akuma."
* * *
It was no use. Sailor Jendra just wasn`t listening to what he had to
say... and why should she? She was still ticked off for that battle
they fought, and she was clearly under the influence of Ithzhanh,
who looked much more attractive than he ever had. "He`s using
morphing magic, that`s for sure." thought Akuma.
"Surrender now, and your death will be painless... mostly."
commanded Ithzhanh, getting ready to lash Akuma again.
"Don`t give him a chance to get back up!" encouraged Laurella,
fighting off the fear of Akuma that was twisting her stomach.
So Ithzhanh struck again, and again, inflicting more and more icy
stings to Akuma who grew weaker still. He had to find something to
convince her, but what? The demon painstakingly searched his memory
for anything that Sailor Moon might have told him that he could
use...
"Jendra, Sailor Moon really is alive... she told me... about you..."
he said with difficulty. Another lash was Ithzhanh`s response, though
that did not stop him from completing his phrase. "...your boyfriend,
Kitechnum Jendra... he`s Sailor Moon`s BROTHER!"
"Shut up!!!" ordered Ithzhanh. He prepared himself to strike again,
although Jendra wasn`t convinced that he was her ally anymore.
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!!!" yelled Laurella; a beam made of a
thousand tiny bubbles of multicolored light surged from her hands,
hitting Ithzhanh squarely in the chest.
Residual energies from her blast built up in Ithzhanh`s ring,
interfering with the magic at work. As the morph ring shut itself
down, the usurper`s true appearance resurfaced to Jendra`s horrified
eyes.
"You`ll pay for that, bitch." he whispered. He lashed his whip at
the sailor scout, catching hold of her arm. Laurella let out a
scream of pain as the infernal cold of the beast`s weapon burned
her forearm.
"PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!!!" she said, as seven rainbow colored
sharp rings formed around her hands. They turned into seven deadly
boomerang wich she threw at the foul monster. One of them managed
to cut the whip, the others missed Ithzhanh by little more than an
inch or two.
"Your days are numbered, maggot!" said Akuma, as he slowly got back
on his feet.
Seeing he would be weaponless AND outnumbered, Ithzhanh decided to
flee... but not before exacting his wrath upon his enemies. "You`ll
both die here." he said, snapping his fingers and bolting out of the
room. The ring he had given to Sailor Jendra began to glow and throb
on her finger.
"What`s going on? Why is this ring glowing?" asked Laurella, her
heartrate increasing sharply as her nerves did a sudden panic danse.
"Because it`s going to blow up, it`s made of blast metal! Quickly get
rid of it!!!" urged Akuma as he recognized the metal used to make
the band on her finger.
She tried to pull it off, but it resisted. She pulled even more, only
to find out it was stuck beyond hope. She couldn`t make it budge an
inch.
"I think I have a problem..." she whispered, staring at the ring
throbing with an increasing frequency.
* * *
Ithzhanh ran down the corridors with all the speed he could muster;
he had to clear the blast zone when the ring would go off! He kept
on running until he bumped into none other than Sailor Moon -both
him and the two warrior girls froze a second in surprise- but the
beast reacted quicker, slashing them with his claws in a furious
rage. He inflicted many wounds to both girls who fell down bleeding
seriously.
Sailor Moon`s arm having taken a really bad cut, she dropped Avenger
down; Ithzhanh kicked it away far behind him. If she wanted the
weapon back, she`d have to go through HIM.
"So you came to me to die, have you? You save me the trouble of
hunting you down like the dog you are." said Ithzhanh menacingly,
licking his claws to taste their blood. He thought he was looking
powerful and frightning, but Sailor Moon only laughed. Jupiter and
the beast both wondered why.
"What`s so funny?" asked the demon. "Tell me!"
"I just remembered the wisdom of Sun Tzu. 'Know your enemy and know
yourself'. Obviously you don`t know me as well as you think." she
explained, looking behind Ithzhanh at her sword some twenty feet
away.
"I know all I need to know." he replied, moving in for the kill.
"Wrong." said Sailor Moon. She lifted her right hand, pointing to
her crystal sword. "Avenger, return." she whispered.
In response to the command of the pretty soldier, Avenger lifted
itself into the air, flying back swiftly to Sailor Moon`s hand in a
flash of radiant light... and struck in the back Ithzhanh who was
standing in the way, going right through his black heart. He tried
to utter a threat, watching the tip of the sword sticking out of his
chest while his thick dark blood trickled along his body and legs,
though he was now incapable to speak. His lifeless body fell to the
floor, putting an end to the longest ruling dynasty of Changraloor.
"If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the
outcome of a hundred battles." quoted Sailor Moon as she helped her
friend back to her feet.
For some unexplained reason, the death of Ithzhanh negatively
affected the demon and knightmare troops that were loyal to him. At
that very moment, the Licorne and kitlings breached through the last
line of defense, taking over the fortress. The reign of darkness
would soon be nothing more than a memory for the tenth sphere.
* * *
"I can`t get it off!!!" said Sailor Jendra in a panic. Try as she
might, the mobius band was getting ready to destroy her any second
now.
Akuma Kamen acted quickly at this point, picking up a large butcher`s
knife on a nearby table. He grabbed Jendra`s wrist with his other
hand and stared straight into her eyes. "Do you trust me now?" he
asked.
"What do you mean?" she replied.
"I asked you if you trust me! Do you?!?"
"Well... I guess so..." she answered with a smidgen of hesitation.
"Close your eyes. This won`t hurt." he ordered Laurella, placing her
hand on the table and holding it strongly in place.
Laurella was terrified, but the idea of that ring exploding scared
her even more. She shut her eyes, trembling as she heard Akuma lift
the knife and swing it down with all his strenght. One metallic
clinging sound later, she reopened her eyes.
Jendra was relieved to see that she was missing none of her fingers,
the swift blow having cleanly severed the ring without as much as
grazing her skin. Akuma removed the fractured ring off her hand and
threw it out the window; a few seconds later, a huge explosion
rocked the fortress.
"Thank you, Akuma... I owe you my life." said Jendra, catching her
breath and calming down slowly.
"Consider it reparation for my trying to kill you back during my
wife`s attempt to take over your city." said Akuma with a smile.
"Come with me, your friends can`t wait to see you again."
"Before we go, there`s something I must do." said Laurella. She
struck him in the groin with her knee as hard as she could, sending
the demon wretching on the floor. "NOW we`re even." she said,
heading back to meet with her friends.
* * *
Four figures walked along a deserted mountain path, heading towards
their respective destiny. Akuma Kamen and the three human warriors
whose intervention in the demonic civil war had shifted the balance
of power.
"Okay, let`s do this..." said Jupiter, standing right where she
initially arrived to the tenth sphere with Jendra. "JUPITER THUNDER
CRASH!!!"
The Technum based lightning of Sailor Jupiter struck an invisible
obstacle located in the middle of the mountain path; a shimmering
sphere of silver energy formed itself, though it looked much more
unstable now, and degrading quite rapidly.
"We must hurry, it can`t last very long now." said Jupiter.
"Goodbye, Akuma, I know you and your people will make a better life
for themselves now that you lead them."
"I owe it all to you and your friends, thundrous one. May the hands
of fate be kind to you." he said.
Jupiter entered the shimmering portal and vanished.
"Thanks for stopping Ithzhanh from having me destroy Tokyo. I`ll
never forget you, you know." said Sailor Jendra.
"I`ll always remember you as well, young warrior. You have great
strenght inside you, use it well." said the demon.
Jendra gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and jumped in the portal.
She vanished as well.
"Well, that only leaves the two of us." said Sailor Moon. "Fighting
in the rebellion by your side, that was quite an experience."
"Yes, it was. Before you leave, there`s something I wish to ask you.
Please consider what we`ve built together, what we could do in the
future." said Akuma.
"Are you asking me what I think you are?" asked Sailor Moon.
"Yes. Please stay here with me, become my wife." he said, putting
his arms around her waist and pulling her in a tender hug. "Won`t
you remain here?"
Usagi hesitated, so Akuma kissed her with the passion that only
Mamoru could have had. Mamoru, her sweet prince... what was she
doing? She pulled herself away, unable to betray the trust her
fiancee had placed in her.
"I`m sorry, I can`t stay here. My prince is waiting for me on
earth... I`m really sorry." she finally answered, a tear running
down from her eye.
"I... I understand. You were destined to be with him, I won`t stand
in your way." said the demon with sorrow in his eyes.
"Don`t despair, Akuma, I can still do one thing to ensure you`ll be
happy..." replied Sailor Moon, a warm smile brightening her face.
* * *
Sailor Mars held on to Sailor Saturn during her seizure, making sure
she wouldn`t hurt herself while she was losing control of her body.
After a few moments, the convulsions stopped and she regained
consciousness.
"What... happened... to me?" asked Saturn.
"You had a seizure." answered Tuxedo Kamen.
"You should consult a doctor, you know, epilepsy can be treated
quite effectively." suggested Sailor Mercury.
"Yeah, I know a really great doctor, I`ll have a talk with him."
replied Saturn.
A sudden flash of silver light blinded everyone- when the light
faded away, Sailor Moon, Jendra and Jupiter were standing proudly
in the middle of the charred grass patch where the now collapsed
portal had been.
"Sailor Moon, you`re back!" yelled Tuxedo Kamen, taking the senshi
in his arms and lifting her in the air, spinning her around in joy.
"And you look so... great!"
"That`s soul power, I`ve seen it in action!" said Jupiter.
"Congratulations, Sailor Jupiter and Jendra, you succeeded in your
mission!" added the young Kitechnum Jendra, smiling sweetly to his
sweetheart Laurella.
"Barely ten minutes have ellapsed on this side since you`ve left to
find Sailor Moon. It`s a good thing you came back soon enough, the
nexus has collapsed between our world and the tenth sphere for at
least a few decades." explained Ami.
Hugging her dear Tuxedo Kamen, Usagi was finally hit by the fact
that no more demons would ever come from the tenth sphere to haunt
her life. This was a sensation of finding the freedom she`d lost
months ago. "Say, now that this is all said and done, maybe we can
have a chat with you, Sailor Saturn..." she said.
Too late. While the scouts were having their little reunion, Saturn
had silently split.
"I just know we`ll see her again soon." commented Venus.
* * *
EPILOGUE
Working late over his many tomes of magic, Akuma Kamen took a few
moments to relax and remember that special girl who had not only
changed his life, but put in motion the events that had brought his
own creation: Sailor Moon. It had been over a year since she`d left
his realm through the gate, and her influence was still being felt
all over the tenth sphere.
The 'Great One', as the kitlings called her, was remembered warmly
by his people and even more so by Akuma. She had given him the only
thing that he ever could have wished for.
He picked up a small crystal ball resting delicately on his work
desk among the many talismans of his art and watched the golden
glint within as he held it in the oil lamp light. The crystal not
only protected her gift, it also made it look very good on the
small wooden display.
"What are you doing, darling?" asked a sweet feminine voice behind
him.
"Just taking a peep at Sailor Moon`s last gift." he answered as he
turned around to take a long look at his lover, a seductive female
demon whose traits were identical in every way to Usagi`s. Tsukino
Oniko, as he had named her, was indeed everything he could have
wanted in a mate. He loved her with every fiber of his being.
She had been born six months before from the combinaison of Akuma`s
talent for magic and a single blonde hair of Sailor Moon.
The End
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
The story so far...
After losing her life to Lady Daemonfang and barely getting it back
at the cost of her scout powers, Usagi found herself powerless to
fight off the hordes of demons pouring into Tokyo in an attempt to
bring the japanese metropolis over to their homeworld. In a final
showdown between good and evil, the scouts faced the armies of
darkness along with Tuxedo Kamen and Kitechnum Jendra.
In order to buy her friends the initial distraction they needed,
Usagi used her last scout artifact, the luna pen, to take the
appearance of Sailor Moon. She faced Daemonfang and Akuma Kamen
alone, while their portal generators were being destroyed.
Unwilling to lose again, Daemonfang held on to Usagi who was
dragged along into the demon world known as the tenth sphere.
...and now, part III.
* * *
CYCLE OF LIFE: EPISODE 16
DESCENT INTO DARKNESS, PART 3: PRETTY SOLDIER REBORN
"It`s been almost twenty-four now since the end of the unbelievable
events that has come to be called INFERNO by the japanese media, and
still no one is even close to finding out exactly what happened. Was
it a disguised terrorist full scale assault on our city? An
hallucination of city-wide proportions? Or maybe, dare I say it,
an actual demonic invasion attempt?!? After commercial, we`ll be
right back with our panel of psychologists who`ll debate over..."
CLICK
Unwilling to watch yet another newscast dedicated to the failed
invasion attempt of the evil demon lord, Chibi-Usa promptly turned
off the television. Bored out of her mind, she threw away the remote
control and huddled to Mamoru who was still blaming himself for
losing Usagi through that portal.
"Don`t let this eat you up, daddy, it wasn`t your fault." she said.
"Yes it was. I could have saved her, but I missed my shot. We lost
Usagi because of me." he replied, with all life gone out of his
sadness laced voice.
Unable to find a suitable response, she simply hugged him, giving all
the love and support she could. "Now," she thought, "all our hopes
are in the hands of my friends."
A few meters away from the living room, Mamoru`s kitchen had been
turned by Ami into an improvised headquarter for the scouts` "Usagi
rescue operation". Working feverishly on her ocean blue laptop, Ami
was surrounded by Makoto, Rei, Laurella and Minako who went through
a huge stack of demon lore in search of any relevant piece of
information. Their journey was going to be one to the tenth sphere.
"Almost there." said Ami. "I only have to pinpoint the most suitable
location for our improvised portal and we`ll be set to go. We`ll
have to hurry, though, my energy monitors seem t indicate that the
tenth sphere will seal itself from our own universe in a matter of
hours. Besides, the longer we wait, the more danger Usagi will be
exposed to."
"She`s a tough girl. I`m sure she can survive a single day in any
world." said Makoto with optimism.
"As I explained before, the time compression and dilatation effect
of the nexus tends to make time go faster on the other side. A lot
of time has elapsed over there..." said Ami.
"How much time?" wondered Minako.
"Taking in account the intense portal activity we just went through
I`d say... a month." answered Ami. "Give or take a day or two."
* * *
The tenth sphere was a dreadful, sinister outer realm.
In this wretched place stood an even more dreadful fortress ruled by
a cruel dynasty of demonic overlords. Jagged towers pointing towards
the lightning-torn sky struck awe in the heart of all who saw them,
while the horrid vegetation growing around the ooze-filled moat
looked as if it waited for some unfortunate passerby whom it could
rip to shred and feed off its blood. For the mostpart, the menacing
plants could do just that.
All of this terror, however, could in no way compete with the utter
despair that came from the dank, dark dungeons carved from the sheer
bedrock of the Changraloor mountain ranges. Deep within the bowels
of the fortress, no daylight (for what little there was) ever made
it there; if somehow a lonely light beam made it there, it would
certainly turn back in sheer revulsion.
When this putrid prison maze was initially created, it had been
cleverly laid out so that no two cells would be face to face.
Acoustics, on the other hand, were beyond anything one had ever
encountered anywhere else. Any prisoner held there could hear with
crystal clarity the faintest scream of pain emitted from the
farthest cell of the dungeon.
Deep in the heart of this hellhole, Usagi was being held locked and
chained. Her clothes were covered with grime and stains; her face
was quite dirty except for two clean streaks placed there by her
tears. An entire month of cold humid stone to sleep on with little
other sound than far echoes of savage thunderstrikes and screams of
pain from other prisoners was starting to take its toll on her
sanity. She held on by thinking that her prince would be there
soon to take her away back to earth.
Just one more day, she thought, he`ll be there.
She kept on hoping that her great love would come, she had to. If
her hope died, she would perish as well.
In the distance, she heard loud footsteps coming her way. Clawed
feet raked the rough stone passageway until they stopped right in
front of her cell. Usagi didn`t stand up for Akuma Kamen. She
didn`t even bother to look at him or stop tossing bread crumbs to
the small army of cockroaches across the cell.
"Aren`t you going to say hello?" wondered Akuma as he scraped the
prison bars with his claws to make a loud screeching sound.
She didn`t reply.
"This conversation is pointless unless you talk back." he added.
"Don`t care." she said without any conviction in her voice.
"I can have you killed right now, did you know that?" he threatened
her.
"So you told me many times before, yet you never get around to give
the order." coldly answered Usagi. "Are you going to give it today?"
"I might." snarled the demon, rapidly losing his menacing attitude.
"No, you won`t. I don`t know why, but you won`t." said the girl as
she finaly lifted her head to meet the demon`s gaze. She had once
again this defiant flare in her eyes.
Akuma Kamen turned away and left. Apparently, the prison still
hadn`t broken her will. No matter, he`d be back tomorrow. The
famous Sailor Moon was in his clutches now, he`d have all the
time in the world to break her, to turn her into a slave for his
wife. He grinned at the thought of what a great gift she`d be for
Lady Daemonfang.
How the mighty had fallen.
* * *
Peering through a large book filled with colorful images, Lady
Daemonfang turned the pages one at a time, wondering what her new
tattoo would look like.
"Are there any beasts of the wylde in your book?" she asked the
tattoo artist, a playful smile on her face. "My dear Akuma is
particularly fond of dragons and phoenixes."
Moving her four arms with flowing grace, the artist opened the book
on another chapter filled with such animals.
"I have a large selection of those if you would care to peek at
them." she explained as she caressed Daemonfang`s surprisingly
smooth skin. "It will be a great pleasure to honor your flesh with
my art."
The door of Daemonfang`s luxurious bedroom flew open under the
bashing fist of the revolting Ithzhanh; the demonlord`s son was
more hideous than ever, his multiple burn scars complementing his
foul carrion stench in a sickening manner no one should ever have
to experience.
"Mother, we have to talk." he said.
"Yuriella, please wait outside." said Daemonfang.
The tattoo artist readily agreed; she avoided the royal overseer as
much as she could, even tough Daemonfang had implicitly forbidden
him to kill her. Yuriella just couldn`t stand his presence and hated
the smell of his breath even more. Her many hands quickly picked up
her color pots and needles before leaving in a hurry.
"What do you want, Ithzhanh?" asked Daemonfang.
"It`s about your husband, mother. I think he`s taking too many
liberties with the power you gave him." complained the scarred
monster.
"Could you be a little more specific?" she replied, taking another
look at a page full of golden dragons.
"For starter, he should have killed that brat Sailor Moon weeks ago,
yet she`s still alive! He`s planning something behind your back, I
just know it!" he explained.
"Of course he is. He promised to break her will so he could turn
her into my chambermaid. Or into my claw manucurist, I haven`t
made up my mind yet. He thinks I don`t know about his idea, so I`ll
pretend to be surprised." said the she-demon.
"I don`t like that boytoy you made yourself- he`s nothing more than
a bastard halfbreed who will desecrate the throne if you bind your
blood to his!" screamed Ithzhanh. "I alone deserve to succeed you,
I alone am of the purest demon blood!!!"
"No, you`re not." whispered Daemonfang in contempt.
"What are you talking about, mother?"
"You think you`re pure blood? Think again, little worm. Ronmar never
was your father; when you were born, he`d already been gone to the
magmawastes to fight off the lavafiends for over a year. No, my son,
you`re a bastard, an unworthy maggot born from the loyal 'services'
of Jormunder, a mere mercenary of the commonfolk!"
Ithzhanh was thrown away. With this revelation of his mother, his
last hopes for taking the reigns of power in Changraloor were
crushed for good.
"My new husband his a pure demon, make no mistake about this; he
will father a new child for me, so that I may give birth to the true
heir to the stormworlds of the tenth sphere!" she proudly announced,
laughing her head off.
Ithzhanh left without saying another world, his anger obvious to
all. As he walked down the corridors to his chambers, he murdered
several servants to vent out his frustration.
"You can come back now, Yuriella." called out Daemonfang to her
personal tattoo artist. "I can`t wait to feel your needles tickle
my flesh."
* * *
In the depth of the night, a small team of young girls made their
way across desert streets along with two young men who fought along
with them against an army of demons just thirty-six hours before.
Their mission was one of rescue- to bring back to earth she who
had been their leader through the worst of times, their friend in
best of times: the pretty soldier Sailor Moon, lost through a
portal leading to a horrible outer realm.
Time was running short for them, but they wouldn`t let it stop them.
"Must we really go to the baseball stadium to do this?" asked Sailor
Jupiter.
"Yes. That`s where the portals were strongest; it`s also where the
barriers between worlds are weakest, but not for long. We must wedge
this old portal open and put a `foot` of sorts in the door, so that
we can open it up from the other side once we find Usagi." explained
Mercury.
"I`m not about to let my sweet love rot in some demon hole. We`ll
get her back, I swear." said Tuxedo Kamen.
As they moved discreetly towards their goal, they failed to notice
the shadow following them. Sailor Saturn wasn`t about to abandon her
newfound allies.
* * *
"So that`s the situation right now. What are your impressions on the
power balance in this region of the sphere?" asked Akuma Kamen to
his guests as he poured them some blood wine.
"Pretty volatile, if you ask me." commented Deddlie Synn. "You have
a great deal of influence upon the greatest of all political forces,
Lady Daemonfang. Through her, you can achieve any agenda you
pursue... although you must find some way to make it match her own
somehow. You also have a few hidden wildcards, wich gives a nice
edge.
"You should fear Ithzhanh, however, as his royal overseer position
ensures him the knightmare legions` loyalty. The kitlings despise
him thoroughly and agreed to his alliance proposition only in
respect to his mother... and to the threats he made, so they`ll
follow you blindly anywhere." added her brother Morthall; he was
blind since birth, although he had great fun of using words
relating to blindness every time he could.
He sipped a little wine and continued his analysis: "The kitlings,
despite their fierce loyalty to you and your wife, are no match
for the sheer numbers of knightmares, unfortunately."
"The demons are split more or less evenly in this matter." said
Deddlie. "Each one of them has his or her motives, some may be
fueled by anger, greed, fear, spite or even some twisted form of
honor. If a conflict arises between you and maggot boy, I must
honestly say that your chances are grim."
"What about the two of you, may I ask?" wondered the demon.
"We`re loyal to your wife... and you, by extension. Besides, I
wouldn`t be caught dead with Ithzhanh." said Deddlie, giving a
seductive look to Akuma.
"My sense of smell is so keen that the very presence of that maggot
anywhere in a hundred feet makes me want to vomit. I`m with my
sister on this." replied Morthall.
"Thank you, friends. I have a bad feeling about our hated overseer,
and I will need all the help we can get. I would also feel more
comfortable if you could get a message from me to our friends of
the Licorne."
"It will be done." said the twins, raising their glasses.
* * *
"What do you mean, only two of us can go there?" protested Sailor
Mars with energy.
"The nexus has almost reach the lowest point of its waning phase;
any portal we manage to wedge open will only allow transport for
three people at most, and we must keep one space open for Usagi
when we bring her back. Besides, we`ll need all the power we can
on this side to keep it open while two of us go through." explained
Mercury.
"I`m going there." said Tuxedo Kamen.
"No you`re not." interjected Mercury. "The nature of your powers
is such that only you can keep the portal active by sticking your
`foot` in as I explained earlier. If you go there, you won`t be
able to reopen the portal from the other side."
"Then I`m going there. That monster Akuma Kamen and I have a score
to settle." said Sailor Jendra with anger in her voice.
"I`m coming too. You`ll need muscle to fight the demon scum, and
I`ve toasted more than my share of them." Jupiter added.
"Nothing like experience, huh, Jupiter? Besides, the nature of your
powers will make it all the more easier to reopen the portal back to
earth. Even if you hadn`t volunteered so eagerly, I would have
suggested you to go." commented Mercury.
"I`m glad we can all agree. Let`s do this!" said Jupiter.
* * *
Working carefully not to make mistakes, wich she never made anyway,
Yuriella applied colors carefully to the new flaming phoenix tattoo
on Daemonfang`s back. This would truly be her best work yet.
"Not too painfull, I hope?" she asked to the demon lord.
"Just enough, I really enjoy it." she answered. "I`ll have to do
this again."
A knock came at the door, wich opened to reveal Akuma Kamen. He
entered and walked up to his wife who was laying on her bed, relaxing
as she was having a drawing permanently drawn on her back.
"Hello, darling, glad you could drop by. What do you think of it so
far?" she asked, turning her back so he could see better.
The demon silently approached her and caressed the tattooed flesh.
Under his fingers, he felt her arteries pulse with each of her
heartbeats. His hand moved along her exposed weak point, and
caressed the retractable piece of armored second skin that she had
pulled away so that Yuriella might work on her more delicate flesh.
A weird look appeared on his face as he contemplated her open
weakness.
"Well, aren`t you going to say something?" asked Daemonfang.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the male demon pulled a small, intricately
carved golden dagger which he mercilessly plunged in her back;
without her second skin pulled down to protect this spot, it sunk
easily and deeply, provoking a horrible hemorrage that would kill
her in seconds.
"It`s hideous." he whispered, but the voice wasn`t Akuma`s. It was
Ithzhanh`s.
As Lady Daemonfang was bleeding to death, the seductive shape of
Akuma morphed back into its true one, that of the wretched son of
the she-demon.
"Taking someone else`s appearance for a few moments is rather easy
to do, I`ll bet you never knew I could do that, did you, mother? As
long as I don`t talk, no one can tell the difference." he gloated,
stroking the magical ring on his finger.
"You... ungrateful..." tried to say Daemonfang, but she wouldn`t be
able to before her life ended.
"This I waited a long time for." he said to himself. Raising his
gaze from his mother`s corpse to Yuriella`s terrified stare, he
noticed his work wasn`t all done yet. "No witnesses." he said, as
he pulled the dagger out of Daemonfang and moved in for another
kill.
* * *
Alone in the prison block, Usagi waited. For weeks now, she had
waited for her friends to rescue her from her damp cell, to bring
her back into the sunlight and return her freedom. She waited,
losing a little more hope with every passing day.
"They`ll come, I know it. The scouts will be here, and my prince
will be there..." she repeated, trying harder and harder to
convince herself, until the point where she just couldn`t believe
anymore.
The moment Akuma Kamen had waited for was there at last; Usagi broke
down and cried, realizing that no one would come, that she would
surely die in this hellhole, alone and forgotten by all.
Totally out of strength and depleted of willpower, she laid down on
the chilling stone floor, rolling into a foetal position and waiting
for whatever fate that would befall her. She`d given up fighting.
Slowly falling asleep at bottom of this well of desperation, this was
the moment when Usagi would receive her greatest revelation yet...
* * *
"Okay, everyone, now!!!" screamed Sailor Mercury to her friends who
were circling the exact point in the baseball field where
Daemonfang`s portal cube was located before the scouts blew it up:
a large scorched circle marked the center field amidst the trampled
grass. Nearby, some crystal shards of the broken luna pen littered
the ground, adding a sinister overtone to the stadium.
Using all of their might, the scouts drew forth their energies and
condensed it into a huge swirling sphere of power. Standing ready,
the young Kitechnum Jendra began using his Technum powers to
modulate the raw energy of the scouts and stabilize it into a
workable portal. Tuxedo Kamen created one of his special roses
which would be needed after Jendra and Jupiter had gone through.
"Something`s wrong." said Kitechnum. "We don`t have enough power."
The girls gave it all they had, stretching their Technum-based
powers to the very limit- yet they still needed just a little more
to do this.
As the seconds grew into minutes, it seemed that they would fail.
A few seconds away from their breaking point, a flurry of crimson
color feathers of energy flew out of nowhere straight into the
energy sphere, giving it the boost that Kitechnum needed; in an
instant, the chaotic swirling stopped and was replaced by a silver
shimmer of divine beauty.
With the portal stable, everyone turned around and looked at the
source of these feathers; of course, it was Sailor Saturn.
"If you plan to use this gate, I suggest you hurry up. It`s`probably
not that stable." she said in a delicate tone full of grace.
"Oh yeah, we have to go." said Jupiter who grabbed Jendra by the arm
and dragged her in.
"We`ll bring her back!!!" Jendra barely had time to say before
disappearing into the outer realm.
After the two scouts went through, Tuxedo Kamen threw his rose into
the shimmering sphere; once it made its way through the surface, it
glowed a briliant golden light wich affected the gate instantly. It
began by shifting colors to gold, then red, blue, green, shifting
more and more rapidly until the colors couldn`t be told apart from
one another in a blinding kaleidoscope.
While Kitechnum and Tuxedo Kamen concentrated to contract the portal
into a microscopic wormhole that the scouts could reopen on the other
side, the girls stood mesmerized by this superb display of flashing
colors.
"I`m not feeling too good." thought Saturn, her hands starting to
shake.
Once the portal had been fully locked and readied for Jupiter and
Jendra`s return, Sailor Saturn collapsed unconscious on the dead
grass, her entire body rocked by violent convulsions.
"Dear god, I think she`s having a seizure!" said Sailor Mars as she
rushed to her help.
* * *
Floating freely in a fall that had no specific direction at all,
Sailor Jupiter felt nauseous from the total lack of references in
the void between worlds. "Laurella, where are you?!?" she screamed
in despair.
"Over here, wherever here is!" replied Jendra who spun
uncontrollably.
After the initial shock of misdirection, the girls quickly noticed
that the void was shaping itself into a tunnel of sort, propelling
them to another swirling mass of colors just like the one they first
took on earth. The kaleidoscope stopped, leaving them in a place
which could easily be described by a single word.
HELL.
Lost somewhere on a small plateau located in some remote area of a
god forsaken mountain range. Jagged and menacingly dark, the spires
of Changraloor where put into stark contrast to the dreadfully black
sky by the ever-present lightning strikes of unimaginable strenght.
"Oh god..." whispered Laurella, frozen in awe.
"I`m afraid he can`t hear us here." replied Makoto.
"So where do we look first?" wondered Laurella.
"How about in the opposite direction to these guys?" suggested
Jupiter, pointing to an incoming squadron of knightmares dressed in
full silver armor, sending strong vibrations through the mountain
rock with their flawless stepping coordination. Jendra couldn`t
agree more.
They took off quickly, although Laurella soon found that she could
hardly keep up with her athletic friend. She tried to call out to
her to slow down, but her words were drowned by the screeching
lightning bolt that landed right between them, destroying a large
part of the mountain side path; the smashed bits of rock flew all
over, blinding Jupiter who fell over down into the deep chasm
underneath.
"JUPITER!!!" screamed Sailor Jendra, helplessly staring down into
the darkness that had just swallowed the child of thunder.
She just stood there, looking at the chasm and the severed path that
suddenly denied her escape, until the squadron finally caught up
with her.
"You, intruder, follow us. Resistance will be met with lethal
force!" ordered their leader with a thundrous growl. Laurella,
bereft of hope of helping either Makoto or Usagi, found herself
empty of any will to fight. She surrendered.
* * *
Falling with the full force of local gravity, Makoto`s head was
filled with frightful images of her own body being shattered on the
ground some hundred feet below. She counted her blessings that the
dark mists shrouded her sight; unable to see anything, she wouldn`t
have time to see her death arrive.
Jupiter hit the mountainside a few times on her way down- the
repeated blows dealt by unmoving fists of stone, however, left her
dizzy and unable to grasp exactly what was happening anymore.
Did the fall take a minute or an hour? She didn`t know. Hell, she
didn`t even realize how lucky she was that her fall was broken by a
raging river down the chasm. Her limp body floated a few seconds,
then sank slowly as it was dragged along the powerful water flow.
The chilling cold bit her skin and stung her eyes, leaving a bitter
taste of death in her mouth, the last sensation to hit her before
she lost conciousness.
This would have undoubtedly been the end of Sailor Jupiter, had she
not been fished out by a tall, powerful creature which belonged to
a race tought long extinct by most demons of the tenth sphere.
"What do we have here?" wondered Yorril, a proud warrior of the
Licorne, a race of humanoid beings whose horselike head, pearled
fur and strikingly beautiful horn on their foreheads made them look
like descendants of the fabled unicorns.
Yorril was pleased to find that the human girl was still alive, if
gravely wounded.
"Her anatomy is similar to that of the great one... I wonder if
she`s of the same race?" he asked himself.
Strong as three men, he easily picked her up and entered a tunnel
that led to a underground maze known only to those of the rebellion.
The soft blue light of the glowing moss covering the tunnels in a
squishy carpet of sorts guided him without fail through the mountains
towards his home in a nearby sheltered valley.
* * *
Dancing flashes of light spun around gleefully in a merry-go-round
of confusion and pain; blue faeries of light and red ones of shadows
teased Makoto while the color yellow tried to explain her the concept
of virtual sensations among the jippy trees of chipwillow. Piercing
through the green clouds and the purple forest, seemingly unreal
voices could be heard faintly among the chirping of the turquoise
dhar-dhar birds.
"She`s going to make it, now, she`s very strong." whispered a soft
feminine voice.
"She truly is everything the great one told us she was." whispered a
harsher masculine voice.
Holding on to those voices, Makoto focused her every once of strenght
to snap out of this insane vision.
She woke up slowly, her head beating to the pounding of a hundred
sledgehammers. There was little light to offend her eyes,
fortunately, thus giving her a chance to get her bearings back. From
what she could see, she was lying on a very comfortable pile of
cushions in an arabian style tent. Although her clothes were gone,
the thick cloth sheet covering her naked body was more than
sufficient to give her the warmth she needed to heal. As she rubbed
her hand on the cloth, she felt patches of her own dried blood
staining the intricate weaving patterns.
"Don`t move, love, we must make sure my healing magics have
succeeded." whispered the sweet feminine voice, whose figure
remained unseen in the dark. "You had many broken bones, tough now
only the cuts and bruises remain."
"The great one and our leader will be pleased to know you have
awakened, thundrous one. She`s been worrying about you for over
three days and nights now." added the male voice.
"Where is this?" said Makoto with great difficulty.
"The tent of the Kitt-Lara healers." answered the female voice.
Lighting a small oil lamp, a soft red glow revealed the faces of
Jupiter`s caretakers. They were the catlike faces of two middle-aged
kitlings.
The face of Makoto grew white with fear, but the catpeople made
themselves quite reassuring.
"Please do not be alarmed, thundrous one, not all kitlings are
brutal savages. Only those who suffer from the Changing get to
become insane killers. They are the ones who turn mercenaries for
the demon kin, their shapeshifting disease warping them into insane
killers." explained the female healer.
"Many of us were coerced into attacking your world under threats
from Ithzhanh; if we didn`t cooperate, he would have had our children
killed. We hate this carrion eating bastard with every fiber of our
beings, which is why we fight him alongside the husband of the
deceased ruler of this land." said the other.
"Deceased? Daemonfang is dead?" said Makoto, blown away by the
news. It then occured to her who was the demon lord`s husband.
"Your leader is Akuma Kamen?"
"Indeed we follow this demon, as he alone can bring us back to the
peaceful life we aspire to." answered the male.
"You mentionned a `great one` several time... who is that?" wondered
Makoto. Her answer walked in the tent with flawless timing.
"That`s how they call me, although I strongly dislike that sort of
title." said the familiar voice Makoto was ecstatic to hear.
"USAGI!!!" she screamed as she jumped to her feet, oblivious to pain
and the fact that she barely kept herself covered in front of the
kitling healers. She was quite stunned to see how her friend looked.
"Usagi, have you become... Sailor Moon again?"
Usagi was indeed wearing a uniform of some sort, though not one
Jupiter had ever seen before. It was a tight fitting blue body suit
with red flame motives on the legs and arms; her tiara was gone,
replaced with a pink high-tech lens. The old elbow-long white gloves
were gone too. Instead she wore black leather gloves, as well as
metallic hand and forearm protectors, plus matching metal shinguards.
Completing this picture, five golden kanji were inscribed along her
right tigh reading BISHOUJO SENSHI, pretty soldier.
"I`ll explain you, its a long story..." she said.
Sailor Moon proceeded to tell her about her long ordeal in the
Changraloor dungeons, slowly sinking in despair until her hope was
totally gone. She continued to tell her friend about the glimmer
of light in her mind that changed everything.
"It was a revelation, plain and simple. It struck me that my father,
Technazul Terra, had been trying to tell me something through my
dreams, something I didn`t get until then: the transformation pens
Luna gave us are nothing but crutches, ways of focusing the power
that`s ALREADY IN OUR SOUL!" she said.
"Soul power?" said Makoto, puzzled.
"That`s what Technazul meant! I would never be a sailor SCOUT again,
because I was meant to become a sailor SENSHI, a warrior of even
greater strenght and power!!!" explained Sailor Moon. "In time, so
will you, my friend." she added with a smile.
"That`s great, but... I`m not quite there yet. I`ll stick to my
transformation pen for the time being until I get a revelation of
my own." said Makoto. She then remembered she was naked under the
bedsheet she barely held around her body. "Some clothes would be
nice, right about now. Damn, I hope Laurella didn`t get all bruised
up the way I did getting here." she said, contemplating the many
bruises all over her skin.
"Laurella came with you to the tenth sphere?!?" asked Usagi, a
horrified look appearing on her face.
"You mean she`s not here?!?" replied Makoto with an equally
horrified expression.
* * *
What a strange experience this had all been. Now that Laurella
thought it over, it seemed almost like a faraway dream. First
floating through the void between universes like a fish in stormy
waters, then landing in this lightning ravaged world. It wouldn`t
have been so bad if it hadn`t been for happened afterwards.
The knightmare patrol, she could have dealt with. Of course she had
to run, with her being hideously outnumbered and all, but the sudden
lightning bolt that cut her road of retreat and threw Sailor Jupiter
in the dark chasm below was simply too much for her.
She was forced to surrender and taken to a huge, monstrous looking
fortress where she`d been kept since.
Three days had passed already, but not quite in the way she had
initially suspected: instead of the cold, damp cell she expected,
she was given a very comfortable, quite luxurious bedroom. The
meals were nothing short of royal and the library was open to her
so she could keep herself busy.
Of course, the strange glyphs that were used as a written language
in this world was utterly unreadable to her, even tough she was
skilled in japanese, english and chinese. This was just too
different to be picked up casually without a translator`s help.
This did not stop her, however, from enjoying the remarkably
detailed images, all of which were individually hand-made. In this
world, printing presses were considered distasteful while manuscript
writing was an art form.
Laurella had spent the entire evening skimming through what looked
like historical accounts of a war of some sort, one in which was
told of the forging of a weapon she immediately recognized: the one
weapon strong enough to have killed Sailor Moon, the chains of
Mephistofeles. With a shudder, she closed the book and placed it
right back on one of the library`s many shelves. A smaller, more
discreet book grabbed her attention; it seemed out of place somehow,
intriguing yet trying to avoid drawing attention to itself.
"This one doesn`t belong there, obviously. I wonder what it`s doing
there..." she wondered, looking at the leather bound volume marked
in unreadable characters.
She opened it at a random page, going back and forth from there.
She quickly realized why this book had been so well hidden when she
stumbled on a well illustrated section which went at great lenghts
to illustrate a variety of sexual techniques for the demon kin.
Laurella felt a bit guilty about watching these beautiful images,
yet couldn`t tear her eyes away, turning page after page and
starting to feel aroused by the detailed pictures. She then caught
movement in the corner of her eyes. Turning around to see who was
there, she clumsily hid the book behind her back.
The most seductive demon she`d ever seen was leaning on the bookshelf
behind her, slowly stroking the slick, deep black membrane of his
perfectly proportioned wings. His deep blue eyes were staring
straight into hers, preventing Laurella from looking at his athletic
body, or at anything else for that matter.
"Oh, Ithzhanh, it`s you... how long have you been there?" she asked,
blushing.
"Twenty pages, more or less. I was hoping you`d find that book, it`s
one of my favorites." said Ithzhanh, his voice entrancing the young
scout with every word.
"I was just waiting here, killing time... I`m still hoping you`ll be
able to find her." said Laurella, her eyes full of hope.
"The news is bad, I`m afraid... my troops found her body an hour
ago... I`m sorry to say that she didn`t survive the fall." lied the
handsome demon with sadness in his eyes.
Laurella choked up, trying to hold back her sorrow, but couldn`t
keep it up. She sobbed for a while, finding some measure of comfort
in the arms of Ithzhanh.
"This portal you told me about... I know your friend Jupiter was
supposed to open it for you, am I right? I`m verry sorry that your
quest to find Sailor Moon failed, but there was nothing I could do
to stop my mother from executing her... maybe I could at least help
you go home, would you like that?" he asked. Sailor Jendra nodded
silently, averting her teary eyes from Ithzhanh`s gaze.
"Don`t worry about it. The royal mage has great knowledge of gates
and portals, he`ll be able to reopen it for you tomorrow and lead
you home again. Now go get some rest, dear child." he said.
Laurella whispered "Thank you" and went back to her room, grateful
that she met this sweet demon first, rather than that horrible
monster Akuma Kamen. After she left, Ithzhanh reverted back to his
original, twisted form of a hunched over, slimy, putrid little demon.
His skin was covered all over from second and third degree burn
scars, warping his sickening appearance even further. Even by tenth
sphere standards, he was truly an abomination.
"I thought she`d NEVER stop crying. My morphing ring almost ran out
of charge!" he complained to a figure that came out of hiding from
the shadows.
"If you`d given me more time to forge the ring in the first place,
it would hold a longer charge, may I remind you." replied sharply
the figure who revealed itself as Traxis, Changraloor`s royal mage.
"I may not care about the methods you use to craft your items, but
I do care about the timetable you apply, mage. I`m running out of
time to exact my revenge upon this damned city we couldn`t
invade!!!" screamed the foul beast.
"Have I failed you before? I have the item you requested." said
Traxis, handing over a small silver and gold ring shaped as a mobius
band.
"What is it with him and rings?" wondered the demon. Looking back
and forth between the humanoid mage and the ring he`d been given, he
wasn`t sure how to react. "How is this supposed to achieve my goal?"
he asked.
"It is made of the most powerful blend of blast metals..." started
Traxis who was rudely interrupted.
"BLAST METAL?!? I want to LEVEL THE WHOLE CITY, not just a block or
two!!!" yelled the monster even louder.
"You don`t understand, mylord, blast metals, should they interract
with in-between void energies, will build up in power until they
detonate violently. The following shockwave will then echo in the
void, growing exponentially in mere seconds- when the gate opens on
the other side, the energy shockwave will then be so strong that
nothing will be left existing in a hundred miles radius!!!"
explained the mage. "Now if you`ll excuse me, I have an experiment
to attend to."
Traxis disliked Ithzhanh with every fiber of his being, but had no
choice but to go along with him as the twisted overseer had seized
the reigns of powers in the outer realm following Daemonfang`s death.
At least, he`d get a chance to avenge the memory of his dead father
by destroying the city where lived those who had shattered the portal
cubes. His father had worked his entire life to create these cubes,
and it would take traxis his entire life to recreate them, assuming
he`d live that old.
* * *
Having retrieved her transformation pen back from Usagi`s care,
Makoto was quick to summon her Sailor Jupiter outfit to cover
herself. In contrast to Usagi`s new look, her old sailor uniform felt
silly somehow. She truly wished she could achieve Sailor Moon`s new
level of power.
"I can guess what you`re thinking." said Sailor Moon. "You want to
become a senshi as well, don`t you?"
Makoto nodded in silent agreement.
"You`ll have to find it within yourself to give up your old image
of the scout, to find the strenght to give up your old self image
of a scout... your soul holds the key, my friend, but it is deep."
she said sternly. She then smiled and added that she knew without
a doubt that the senshi of Jupiter would surely emerge soon.
"So what do we do now? I`ll bet that the knightmare patrol captured
Laurella, her life is in danger!" asked Sailor Jupiter.
"We rescue her, that`s what." answered a growling voice in the tent`s
entrance. Stepping with slow, deliberate steps, he walked over to
Sailor moon and handed her an old, cracked parchment scroll. "A map
of the many byways we can take to enter the fortress without drawing
too much attention. With the mustered troops we have right now, we
could storm the stronghold with minimized losses."
"What do you mean by `minimized`?" asked Sailor Moon.
"We won`t ALL be killed in the assault." he replied.
"Are your loyal followers really intent on engaging a suicide raid to
deliver a single prisoner, even if she is our friend?!?" asked
Jupiter, unwilling to endanger any lives other than her own.
"It`s not only to deliver Sailor Jendra, thundrous one. It`s also to
wrest power out of the carrion stained hands of that unworthy maggot
Ithzhanh." answered Akuma.
"If we can be delivered of this mad demon ruler, any sacrifice is
worth the prize we seek." added the female kitling who cuddled her
male partner. "We wish this land to be one of peace where we can
raise our young without fear."
The human girls were touched by the kindness of the catpeople, as no
one would imagine them to be so caring after facing them in combat.
"Get some rest while we can, ladies, we strike in three hours." said
Akuma, leaving the young warriors to some all too short sleep.
* * *
A knock at the door woke up Laurella who stumbled through the
bedroom`s darkness; when she opened the door, she came face to face
with a demon servant. Altough he could have been considered quite
attractive by demon standards, he was more than scary enough to give
Laurella the chills.
"A gift from my master, Lord Ithzhanh." he said, handing her a small
box made of a material not quite unlike velvet. The young girl
opened it to find a beautiful ring shaped as a mobius band.
"It`s beautiful." she said, slipping it on her finger.
"My master regrets not being able to give it in person as he is
occupied with pressing matters." explained the servant.
"Give my heartfelt thanks to your lord, I hope to see him again
before I leave tomorrow." she said and went back to bed.
The demon left the master bedrooms area and met with the
disgustingly ugly Ithzhanh in his tactical room three levels
below.
"She accepted the gift, master." he explained.
"You served me well, you may leave now." said the twisted monster.
It`s all falling into place, now, he thought. Tomorrow at this time
Tokyo would be nothing more than a fleeting memory washed away in
fiery oblivion.
* * *
"I can`t wait until this is over..." thought Usagi as she walked
along a tight, drenched corridor filled with those weird glowing
mosses that seemed to grow in every cavern of the tenth sphere.
"I`ve had just about enough of those tunnels!"
At long last, the tunnel lead to a dead-end, a large chunk of rock
that had been polished to perfection by professional rock carvers
centuries before. This secret passage, few people knew about
outside of the rulers of Changraloor. Not even Ithzhanh had ever
been told.
"Of all the passages in the fortress, this one leads closest to
the masters` bedrooms." explained Akuma Kamen to Sailor Moon and
Jupiter.
"Why here and not the dungeons? I`ve been trapped in there, and
that`s the best place to hold her, believe me. No way will any other
room hold her up, trust me. The girl`s a hurricane just waiting to
happen." said Sailor Moon.
"I have spies in there. Ithzhanh`s been spoon-feeding her lies since
his patrol picked her up three days ago, and I don`t think he`s been
giving her the royal treatment out of the kindness of his heart.
We`ll have to move fast once we`re in there, we don`t know how maggot
boy will react to the little get-together I threw with my Licorne
friends..." said Akuma. As if on cue, a huge explosion in the
distance echoed through the bedrock and shook the ground under the
trio`s feet. "Ah, that would be them now."
* * *
At the front gate as well as every other entrance to the fortress,
huge dark metal cannons were spitting balls of fire at the walls,
chipping huge holes in the defenses of the Changraloor capital.
Guards ran wildly as they just couldn`t understand how half the
invading forces were composed of warriors from an extinct race, or
how some of them made their way inside the fortress BEFORE they even
got the front gates open.
Knightmares reinforced the demons in the key strategic battle points
with deadly results; on both sides casualties increased at an
alarming rate as the Licorne locked swords with the knightmares
while kitlings went claw to claw against the demons.
Needless to say, Ithzhanh was not pleased.
"I knew I should have killed that troublemaker Akuma earlier. When
you make stupid mistakes, they always come back to haunt you later."
he told himself, as the rumbling in the floors shook his dinner table
and spilled his bloodwine cup. His food plate soon joined his drink
on the floor, although the raw piece of rotten meat was not in the
least way made any more unedible from the dirt it picked up.
"Where my ice whip?"
* * *
"So, how do we open this door, anyway? It looks sealed pretty tight."
asked Jupiter, trying to slip her fingers in between the wall and
the secret door, to no avail, as the rock surfaces were fitted to
perfection. "Let`s face it, this door isn`t going to just open
itself."
"Leave that to me." said Sailor Moon, her eyes gleaming with pride.
"And stand back- way back!!!"
The demon and the scout retreated down the corridor, but not too far
so that they could see what she was going to do.
"LUNAR..."
Concentrating on the power within, Sailor Moon summoned the strenght
of her ancient soul inside the palm of her hands into a swirling mass
of silver plasma; as the seemingly endless seconds drifted by, the
energy grew more and more intense, saturating the tunnel with the
pure light of her soul.
"SOUL..."
Pointing her hands towards the stone obstacle, she released the
immeasurable amount of energy in a single directed blast which would
pulverize the rock obstacle into choking dust.
"POWER!!!"
* * *
He thought he had heard voices coming from the corridor; although it
was deserted at this time of night, it seemed someone was there.
That was the reason why the silver knightmare had left his post
guarding the bedroom of royal mage Traxis to go down the apparently
empty corridors. The attack on the fortress was no business of his,
but his duties dictated that he should capture and execute any
intruders snooping around the mage`s room.
No one was there. Wait a minute, there was a murmur coming from
behind the wall. BEHIND the wall? Wasn`t it supposed to be sheer
bedrock in there?!?
His highly trained senses picked up more murmurs, although he could
make out some words now that he was closer to the source. He believed
that he heard something like "soul power", but he couldn`t hear any
more, seeing how he was too busy getting blown to pieces along with
a five feet wide section of the wall he was standing next to.
When the dust settled, Sailor Moon emerged triumphant.
"Come on, let`s score us an ugly demon!" said Akuma as he followed.
"And rescue Laurella, unless you forgot..." added Jupiter.
"Of course, of course, we`ll do that too." he replied.
Makoto just couldn`t bring herself to trust that demon look-alike of
Mamoru. Try as she might, she just couldn`t get over that uncanny
ressemblance.
* * *
The serie of small explosions, she might have overlooked. After all,
she was sleeping rather soundly from her very tiring experiences of
the past five or six days. The BIG detonation that riped apart a
nearby corridor, however, could have woken up the dead.
Laurella sat in her bed, rubbing her tear swollen eyes to shake away
the sleepy haze she felt.
Explosions? Screams and battle cries? For sure it was the terrorists
Ithzhanh had warned her about the day before.
"Wait a minute, if the rebels are here, than their leader... Akuma
Kamen... will be there too!" she said to herself.
For the first time in a long while, she smiled. If she couldn`t find
her friends in this hellhole called the tenth sphere, then she`d
settle for revenge against the monster who`d tried to kill her.
* * *
Lightning bolts and soul blasts tore through the rows of knightmares
that rushed down from the upper levels, but the three intruders held
on. As one after another fell down, there soon remained only the
demon and his human allies.
"There would have been much more of these knightmares if they weren`t
busy fighting off kitlings and Licorne invaders." observed Akuma.
A sudden blast of dark purple energy then struck the demon who was
thrown back several feet, landing brutally on a pile of scorched
armor plates.
"I never cared much for these lesser servants myself, I must agree."
commented a shadowy figure exiting a nearby room. Traxis`s hands were
still charged with residual energy of the powerful force bolt he
just cast.
"Who are you?" asked Sailor Moon, trying to buy her ally some time
to recover.
"I, my young friend, am Traxis, royal mage of the Changraloor
court... I shall also be your bane, as I will now demonstrate."
he answered, preparing another bolt. This one narrowly missed
the girls, dogging a huge wall in the wall behind them.
"Go find Laurella, Akuma, you know the place better than us!!!"
yelled Sailor Moon as she prepared a blast of her own. "We`ll hold
him off!"
Picking himself up, Akuma silently agreed; as he turned his back on
the fight and ran away from the battle, he screamed to Sailor Moon
that he`d find her. She never heard him as his voice was drowned out
by the lightning strike of Sailor Jupiter.
Fighting the royal mage would not be easy for the two young
warriors.
* * *
"Sailor Jendra!!!" screamed Akuma as he ran from room to room,
finding no one but a few scared servants.
After almost ten minutes, however, he turned a corner where he met
her; it had been nearly three months for Akuma Kamen since he tried
to kill her in that rainy Tokyo street, but she looked identical to
what her remembered of her.
"So you did come for me." she said, with open contempt.
"You`re in danger here, I came to rescue you! Sailor Moon and
Jupiter are here too!" he said, approaching her with his hand
extended.
She backed down nervously, refusing to be even remotely close to
him.
"I know you`re lying, they`re dead! Are you here to try and kill me
again, you bastard?" she asked, with fire in her eyes.
Akuma remembered what Jupiter has told him about time compression
and how time went by faster on his side of the portal; he figured
that she was probably still pissed off about his beating her up.
This wouldn`t be easy to explain.
He didn`t get another chance to speak, however. A stinging pain in
his back sent him to the floor, the icy bite of a cold whip creating
horrible pain in his spine. Ithzhanh had managed to sneak up behind
him and lash him with all his might.
"Still enjoying... the cheap shots... are you?" managed to utter
Akuma, writhing in pain.
"See that, Jendra? Didn`t I warn you about his evil kind? He wants
nothing but to bring misery to those around him!" said the demon
usurper of the Changraloor throne, using his illusionary beauty to
further trick the young scout.
"He`s lying to you, Sailor Jendra, he doesn`t even look like..."
tried to say Akuma who was brutally interrupted by another ice
cold lash.
"SHUT UP!" ordered Ithzhanh. "Don`t listen to his lies!"
* * *
"Not very impressive, sailor girls." said Traxis, taking a few
seconds to gloat to his opponents. "Is that all you can do?"
Both Sailor Moon and Jupiter had taken quite a beating, and so had
the surrounding structure of the fortress. The many smashed walls
had opened up a large fighting area riddled with rubble and dead
knightmares. Breathing hard and barely holding on their legs, the
brave warriors were bleeding from the many gashes covering their
bodies. Jupiter barely stood up, but Sailor Moon was still fighting
on with everything she had. Clearly, she was much stronger than she
ever had been before.
"I still have one more trick up my sleeve!" said Sailor Moon
defiantly; she summoned more of her soul energy, but shaped it into
a cylinder rather than a sphere. "By the power of all things
eternal, I summon thee, great sword Avenger!!!" she yelled as the
energy materialized into a crystal two-handed sword of radiant
beauty.
"Your toys can`t help you now, girl." taunted Traxis as his hands
charged with power for the strongest spell he could think of-
disintegration.
With a mighty scream, he unleashed the red waves of power towards
Sailor Moon; Using her crystal sword, she intercepted the energy
and reflected it back to the mage. In an instant, he was scorched
into little more than ashes.
"That`s... amazing!" said Jupiter.
"One of the many things you`ll learn to do!" said Sailor Moon.
"Come on, let`s catch up to Akuma."
* * *
It was no use. Sailor Jendra just wasn`t listening to what he had to
say... and why should she? She was still ticked off for that battle
they fought, and she was clearly under the influence of Ithzhanh,
who looked much more attractive than he ever had. "He`s using
morphing magic, that`s for sure." thought Akuma.
"Surrender now, and your death will be painless... mostly."
commanded Ithzhanh, getting ready to lash Akuma again.
"Don`t give him a chance to get back up!" encouraged Laurella,
fighting off the fear of Akuma that was twisting her stomach.
So Ithzhanh struck again, and again, inflicting more and more icy
stings to Akuma who grew weaker still. He had to find something to
convince her, but what? The demon painstakingly searched his memory
for anything that Sailor Moon might have told him that he could
use...
"Jendra, Sailor Moon really is alive... she told me... about you..."
he said with difficulty. Another lash was Ithzhanh`s response, though
that did not stop him from completing his phrase. "...your boyfriend,
Kitechnum Jendra... he`s Sailor Moon`s BROTHER!"
"Shut up!!!" ordered Ithzhanh. He prepared himself to strike again,
although Jendra wasn`t convinced that he was her ally anymore.
"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!!!" yelled Laurella; a beam made of a
thousand tiny bubbles of multicolored light surged from her hands,
hitting Ithzhanh squarely in the chest.
Residual energies from her blast built up in Ithzhanh`s ring,
interfering with the magic at work. As the morph ring shut itself
down, the usurper`s true appearance resurfaced to Jendra`s horrified
eyes.
"You`ll pay for that, bitch." he whispered. He lashed his whip at
the sailor scout, catching hold of her arm. Laurella let out a
scream of pain as the infernal cold of the beast`s weapon burned
her forearm.
"PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!!!" she said, as seven rainbow colored
sharp rings formed around her hands. They turned into seven deadly
boomerang wich she threw at the foul monster. One of them managed
to cut the whip, the others missed Ithzhanh by little more than an
inch or two.
"Your days are numbered, maggot!" said Akuma, as he slowly got back
on his feet.
Seeing he would be weaponless AND outnumbered, Ithzhanh decided to
flee... but not before exacting his wrath upon his enemies. "You`ll
both die here." he said, snapping his fingers and bolting out of the
room. The ring he had given to Sailor Jendra began to glow and throb
on her finger.
"What`s going on? Why is this ring glowing?" asked Laurella, her
heartrate increasing sharply as her nerves did a sudden panic danse.
"Because it`s going to blow up, it`s made of blast metal! Quickly get
rid of it!!!" urged Akuma as he recognized the metal used to make
the band on her finger.
She tried to pull it off, but it resisted. She pulled even more, only
to find out it was stuck beyond hope. She couldn`t make it budge an
inch.
"I think I have a problem..." she whispered, staring at the ring
throbing with an increasing frequency.
* * *
Ithzhanh ran down the corridors with all the speed he could muster;
he had to clear the blast zone when the ring would go off! He kept
on running until he bumped into none other than Sailor Moon -both
him and the two warrior girls froze a second in surprise- but the
beast reacted quicker, slashing them with his claws in a furious
rage. He inflicted many wounds to both girls who fell down bleeding
seriously.
Sailor Moon`s arm having taken a really bad cut, she dropped Avenger
down; Ithzhanh kicked it away far behind him. If she wanted the
weapon back, she`d have to go through HIM.
"So you came to me to die, have you? You save me the trouble of
hunting you down like the dog you are." said Ithzhanh menacingly,
licking his claws to taste their blood. He thought he was looking
powerful and frightning, but Sailor Moon only laughed. Jupiter and
the beast both wondered why.
"What`s so funny?" asked the demon. "Tell me!"
"I just remembered the wisdom of Sun Tzu. 'Know your enemy and know
yourself'. Obviously you don`t know me as well as you think." she
explained, looking behind Ithzhanh at her sword some twenty feet
away.
"I know all I need to know." he replied, moving in for the kill.
"Wrong." said Sailor Moon. She lifted her right hand, pointing to
her crystal sword. "Avenger, return." she whispered.
In response to the command of the pretty soldier, Avenger lifted
itself into the air, flying back swiftly to Sailor Moon`s hand in a
flash of radiant light... and struck in the back Ithzhanh who was
standing in the way, going right through his black heart. He tried
to utter a threat, watching the tip of the sword sticking out of his
chest while his thick dark blood trickled along his body and legs,
though he was now incapable to speak. His lifeless body fell to the
floor, putting an end to the longest ruling dynasty of Changraloor.
"If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the
outcome of a hundred battles." quoted Sailor Moon as she helped her
friend back to her feet.
For some unexplained reason, the death of Ithzhanh negatively
affected the demon and knightmare troops that were loyal to him. At
that very moment, the Licorne and kitlings breached through the last
line of defense, taking over the fortress. The reign of darkness
would soon be nothing more than a memory for the tenth sphere.
* * *
"I can`t get it off!!!" said Sailor Jendra in a panic. Try as she
might, the mobius band was getting ready to destroy her any second
now.
Akuma Kamen acted quickly at this point, picking up a large butcher`s
knife on a nearby table. He grabbed Jendra`s wrist with his other
hand and stared straight into her eyes. "Do you trust me now?" he
asked.
"What do you mean?" she replied.
"I asked you if you trust me! Do you?!?"
"Well... I guess so..." she answered with a smidgen of hesitation.
"Close your eyes. This won`t hurt." he ordered Laurella, placing her
hand on the table and holding it strongly in place.
Laurella was terrified, but the idea of that ring exploding scared
her even more. She shut her eyes, trembling as she heard Akuma lift
the knife and swing it down with all his strenght. One metallic
clinging sound later, she reopened her eyes.
Jendra was relieved to see that she was missing none of her fingers,
the swift blow having cleanly severed the ring without as much as
grazing her skin. Akuma removed the fractured ring off her hand and
threw it out the window; a few seconds later, a huge explosion
rocked the fortress.
"Thank you, Akuma... I owe you my life." said Jendra, catching her
breath and calming down slowly.
"Consider it reparation for my trying to kill you back during my
wife`s attempt to take over your city." said Akuma with a smile.
"Come with me, your friends can`t wait to see you again."
"Before we go, there`s something I must do." said Laurella. She
struck him in the groin with her knee as hard as she could, sending
the demon wretching on the floor. "NOW we`re even." she said,
heading back to meet with her friends.
* * *
Four figures walked along a deserted mountain path, heading towards
their respective destiny. Akuma Kamen and the three human warriors
whose intervention in the demonic civil war had shifted the balance
of power.
"Okay, let`s do this..." said Jupiter, standing right where she
initially arrived to the tenth sphere with Jendra. "JUPITER THUNDER
CRASH!!!"
The Technum based lightning of Sailor Jupiter struck an invisible
obstacle located in the middle of the mountain path; a shimmering
sphere of silver energy formed itself, though it looked much more
unstable now, and degrading quite rapidly.
"We must hurry, it can`t last very long now." said Jupiter.
"Goodbye, Akuma, I know you and your people will make a better life
for themselves now that you lead them."
"I owe it all to you and your friends, thundrous one. May the hands
of fate be kind to you." he said.
Jupiter entered the shimmering portal and vanished.
"Thanks for stopping Ithzhanh from having me destroy Tokyo. I`ll
never forget you, you know." said Sailor Jendra.
"I`ll always remember you as well, young warrior. You have great
strenght inside you, use it well." said the demon.
Jendra gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and jumped in the portal.
She vanished as well.
"Well, that only leaves the two of us." said Sailor Moon. "Fighting
in the rebellion by your side, that was quite an experience."
"Yes, it was. Before you leave, there`s something I wish to ask you.
Please consider what we`ve built together, what we could do in the
future." said Akuma.
"Are you asking me what I think you are?" asked Sailor Moon.
"Yes. Please stay here with me, become my wife." he said, putting
his arms around her waist and pulling her in a tender hug. "Won`t
you remain here?"
Usagi hesitated, so Akuma kissed her with the passion that only
Mamoru could have had. Mamoru, her sweet prince... what was she
doing? She pulled herself away, unable to betray the trust her
fiancee had placed in her.
"I`m sorry, I can`t stay here. My prince is waiting for me on
earth... I`m really sorry." she finally answered, a tear running
down from her eye.
"I... I understand. You were destined to be with him, I won`t stand
in your way." said the demon with sorrow in his eyes.
"Don`t despair, Akuma, I can still do one thing to ensure you`ll be
happy..." replied Sailor Moon, a warm smile brightening her face.
* * *
Sailor Mars held on to Sailor Saturn during her seizure, making sure
she wouldn`t hurt herself while she was losing control of her body.
After a few moments, the convulsions stopped and she regained
consciousness.
"What... happened... to me?" asked Saturn.
"You had a seizure." answered Tuxedo Kamen.
"You should consult a doctor, you know, epilepsy can be treated
quite effectively." suggested Sailor Mercury.
"Yeah, I know a really great doctor, I`ll have a talk with him."
replied Saturn.
A sudden flash of silver light blinded everyone- when the light
faded away, Sailor Moon, Jendra and Jupiter were standing proudly
in the middle of the charred grass patch where the now collapsed
portal had been.
"Sailor Moon, you`re back!" yelled Tuxedo Kamen, taking the senshi
in his arms and lifting her in the air, spinning her around in joy.
"And you look so... great!"
"That`s soul power, I`ve seen it in action!" said Jupiter.
"Congratulations, Sailor Jupiter and Jendra, you succeeded in your
mission!" added the young Kitechnum Jendra, smiling sweetly to his
sweetheart Laurella.
"Barely ten minutes have ellapsed on this side since you`ve left to
find Sailor Moon. It`s a good thing you came back soon enough, the
nexus has collapsed between our world and the tenth sphere for at
least a few decades." explained Ami.
Hugging her dear Tuxedo Kamen, Usagi was finally hit by the fact
that no more demons would ever come from the tenth sphere to haunt
her life. This was a sensation of finding the freedom she`d lost
months ago. "Say, now that this is all said and done, maybe we can
have a chat with you, Sailor Saturn..." she said.
Too late. While the scouts were having their little reunion, Saturn
had silently split.
"I just know we`ll see her again soon." commented Venus.
* * *
EPILOGUE
Working late over his many tomes of magic, Akuma Kamen took a few
moments to relax and remember that special girl who had not only
changed his life, but put in motion the events that had brought his
own creation: Sailor Moon. It had been over a year since she`d left
his realm through the gate, and her influence was still being felt
all over the tenth sphere.
The 'Great One', as the kitlings called her, was remembered warmly
by his people and even more so by Akuma. She had given him the only
thing that he ever could have wished for.
He picked up a small crystal ball resting delicately on his work
desk among the many talismans of his art and watched the golden
glint within as he held it in the oil lamp light. The crystal not
only protected her gift, it also made it look very good on the
small wooden display.
"What are you doing, darling?" asked a sweet feminine voice behind
him.
"Just taking a peep at Sailor Moon`s last gift." he answered as he
turned around to take a long look at his lover, a seductive female
demon whose traits were identical in every way to Usagi`s. Tsukino
Oniko, as he had named her, was indeed everything he could have
wanted in a mate. He loved her with every fiber of his being.
She had been born six months before from the combinaison of Akuma`s
talent for magic and a single blonde hair of Sailor Moon.
The End