Chapter 20

"Kayura!" Zoisite's voice boomed through out the palace. The whole thing was covered in gold. Sparkling pillars and golden, but mostly acid filled water flowed through it.

The other warlords gulped and cowered as the waited for Kayura in front of Zoisite. They knew that their youngest member and leader was in big trouble as Zoisite commanded, "Get in here! RIGHT NOW!"

The longhaired warlady showed herself and bowed in front of Zoisite. She showed no fear to her as she asked, "Yes, your majesty? You called for me?"

"I thought that I told you to wait till the Ronins were in the heart of the Nega-Dynasty to attack and retrieve Mars's locket?!" The Emperess exclaimed, scaring the warlords even more as her shrikes shook the throne room. Cale grabbed onto a pillar as he stumbled and fell from her roaring. "And you went against orders! Explain yourself as to why your actions are just like Mysica's!"

Kayura still never flinched as she stayed in her bowed position and kept her eyes down cast in respect. "But Mistress… they were regrouping. I figured that I would get my hands on the locket, that then we could possess Mars into doing as we say… Thus turning her against her friends. Then her anger would spread to the others, and soon the Ronin Warriors would break apart."

Zoisite smirked. "Good plan… but not good enough…"

Kayura then looked up at her, question in her eyes. "Empress… what do you mean?"

That will break them up, true, but even separately they are a force to us…"

"But how?" Dais asked. "They cannot call either Inferno or the Circle of Light if their hearts are not tied and they do not work as a team…"

Sekhmet nodded. "They would have no way to attack us…."

Zoisite laughed. "You stupid men…. They still have their armors, do they not? Those armors can destroy us before we could do a thing if they used their powers right… if they used their elemental powers right, they could bring this whole room down on our heads."

Cale nodded. "She is right…."

"Then what is your plan, Mistress?" Kayura asked, the other three now in a semi-circle around her.

Zoisite stood from her throne and walked over to a small pool in one corner of the room. Waving to the others, she was telling them to come to her, to come and see what she meant.

"You see… the locket has great powers." A picture of Jenna's locket showed, and then 8 colors zoomed into it. "It calls upon powers from other forces on the planet Mars to do it's bidding. It is even said to be more powerful then the Silver Crystal of the Moon Kingdom… but that as never been proven."

"So… you are just after this for power?" Sekhmet asked.

"Why would I not be? The more power for us, the better…" Zoisite said, waving her right hand over the pool. A dragon then showed in the hazed water of the pool. "This is the guardian of the planet Mars…. Some how the Ronins have access to it, and I believe that it is through this locket."

Cale raised an eyebrow. "How do you gather that?"

Zoisite looked at him as another picture showed itself. This time it was of the inside of the locket. "The Mars locket is also known as the locket of the Dragons, or the jewel of the Dragons…. If we can get our hands on the Supreme Dragon… then the whole universe would be at our command."

Then another picture of the Ronins raiding the castle that they now stood in showed as Zoisite said, "We could even use this against the Ronins…. And you see, if Mars's locket is gone, she is out of the picture to fight. For her power comes from her locket, and no where else."

Cale and the others nodded. Then the blue haired lord said, "Is this even true for her armor, the Triforce?"

Zoisite laughed. "Yes! And with that, we will also have rule over the shadow barriers, for Triforce is the one that keeps the peace between the Shadow and Light realms!"

Kayura raised an eyebrow. She could tell that Zoisite was beating around the bush, that the woman would leave them hanging till it was time to attack. Or she would just flat out not help them at all, and send them on their way into battle.

"Very well thought through… but how do we get the locket in our hands, exactly? After my way of force did not work and all…"

"Why lure them into the castle and diminish their numbers of course…" Dais sighed at her words.

"And how do we get them here? The other Sailor Senshi that are weak and starving in our dungeons?"

Zoisite grinned. "Exactly…."

Then the warlords and Lady Kayura bowed and teleported away from the castle, taking that as an order, just as Zoisite's shrill laughter filled the castle once more.