Author's Notes: Well, Here I am again. Time to find out what's gonna happen with Zoras. So, Read on...

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Chapter 35: A Power, Reawakened...

~Hariel's Chamber~

"Devil's Barrage!!"

Zoras hurls several 'Dark Spheres' at Hariel. All of them hit target and cause a smoke-cloud that enshrouds the area where Hariel is.

"Now!" Zoras says, holding out her right hand toward the cloud.

"Devil Blast!!"

Zoras fires a powerful blast from her palm, which also hits target and causes a large explosion.

"Bwahahaha!" Hariel laughs, "Truly amusing." he says, unimpressed, "But, Utterly useless." the smoke, dust and debris blow away to reveal him, completely unscathed, "Your dark-energy attacks cannot hope to penetrate my dark shield, Zoras."

"We shall see, Hariel." Zoras responds, lifting her right hand again. She grips the bicep of her right arm in her left hand. She steps back with her right foot and places in firmly on the ground to brace herself.

"No, Not the Dead Cannon!" Toramaru says, finally awake.

"Hey, You awake this time?" questions Jupiter. Toramaru nods in aknowledgement. Jupiter and Uranus sit him against a wall.

"What is this 'Dead Cannon', anyway?" Mercury asks, quizically.

"It is, perhaps, the most powerful demon-attack in all of Oblivion... the 'Deathstar Dead Cannon'." Toramaru responds, still looking toward Zoras, "I was not aware that Zoras had mastered it."

"Now..." Zoras says, tightening her grip on her right bicep, "Deathstar Dead Cannon!!"

A large dark beam fires from her open palm and hits the air several inches infront of Hariel, his dark shield apparently.

"Haha! Try as hard as you wish, Zoras." Hariel says, still unconcerned, "But, Even the mighty Dead Cannon is not powerful enough."

"We shall see about that." Zoras responds, then shouts, "Dead Cannon Intensify!!" the beam grows stronger, as does the strain on Zoras.

"The problem with the Dead Cannon is that it takes its toll on the user." Toramaru explains, "If she does not break off the attack, then 'she' will be the one to suffer the consequences."

The strain grows and the veins in Zoras' arm become visible, as each pulse of blood can be seen as it courses through the vessels. However, Zoras doesn't break the beam and, after several more moments, the veins and vessels begin exploding and Zoras screams out in pain. Her right arm falls limp at her side and begins twitching, as she detransforms to Kyoko. "I have... f-failed to keep m-my promise... to you, Queen Serenity." she says, her voice breaking, "Please, Forgive me... my love... uhhh..." she then passes out as she falls forward onto the floor.

"Ha! A waste of time." Hariel says, popping the joint in his neck, "Now, I can finally finish what I have begun."

"Moon Scepter Elimination!!"

Sailor Moon attacks Hariel, however, the attack merely hits his dark shield. "Ha!" Hariel laughs, "It is no use, Sailor Moon. Your powers cannot accomplish what Zoras' powers failed to, you are only delaying the inevitable. Gahahahahahahaha!!... !?!?" his shield begins to crack, "No! Impossible!" he quickly teleports behind Sailor Moon and blasts her from behind, knocking her forward several feet and face down onto the floor.

"Damn this girl!" Hariel states, standing over Sailor Moon and breathing heavily... knowing how close his dark shield came to collapsing, "I have clearly underestimated her..." he takes a deep breath, "Alas, No matter." he adds, breathing normally again, "It is time for you to die, Sailor Moon."

"No." Toramaru says, now standing. His right arm outstretched horizontally to the right side of him, thus stopping the senshi from proceeding to help Sailor Moon.

"What!?" Venus says, shocked, then states, "W-we have to help her!"

"Be silent!" Toramaru responds, glancing back at the senshi of love, "And wait..." he looks up at Sailor Mars, 'You must now decide which is more important, the present or the past... only then, will you be able to advance to the future.' he thinks.

Hariel teleports back about ten or so feet away from Sailor Moon. He then raises his left hand, open toward Sailor Moon, in preparation to finish her, "Farewell." a ball of energy begins charging in his palm, crackling with evil energy.

"NOOOO!!" Mars screams, then remembers... *"You must release the guilt you harbor from Veran's past, or it will surely kill you both."*

Mars closes her eyes and lowers her head.

~"Now, We shall discover if I chose the correct inheritor of my gauntlets... and my power." a male voice says, in Mars' mind.~

She detransforms, her fuku vanishing completely. She pulls her arms in opposite directions and the muscle-definition of them enhance slightly, allowing her the strength to break the vines. Thus, She drops toward the floor, as an outfit vaguely similar to her senshi uniform appears. As soon as her feet touch the floor, Rei goes into a crouch and the muscle-definition of her legs enhance slightly in the same manner as her arms, as well as a red greave(leg armor), which resembles the gauntlets, appears on her right leg... which reaches from just above the knee to the base of the ankle. Then, She pushes off in a dash as a flame spirals around her and she reaches Sailor Moon at the same time as Hariel's blast. An explosion occurs and causes a large smoke cloud...

"What was that?" quesions Hariel, his demonic eyes widening slightly.

The smoke clears to reveal two figures' legs, their upper bodies are covered by a pair of black feathered wings wrapped around them(the wings are identical to Serena's when she fought Piety earlier, except they're black). Slowly, The wings lower to reveal Rei and Sailor Moon standing there, uninjured. Rei's arms are wrapped around Sailor Moon and Moon's hands are on Rei's chest near her shoulders. Serena doesn't feel any heat resonating from the flames surrounding the gauntlets, as though they aren't even there. After a few moments, Rei loosens the embrace and rests her wings behind her back, then looks toward Hariel.

"V-Veran!?" Hariel says, shocked, "You mean, here? This is where you were? The ritual you performed was to be reborn as a pitiful human?"

"You're wrong, Hariel!" Rei states, "I'm not Veran. I now understand, though. Naomi once told me... she said my star seed was altered, before I was born in the silver millennium... I think you called it a demon seed. I'm not Veran, and I never was. Veran's life-force and mine were combined into one, and her life ended."

"It seems she does finally understand." Toramaru says, nodding once.

"I'm sure Serena's star seed was altered too," Rei continues, "by the combining of her own life-force with that of angel Serenity's, before she was born, thus causing it to be even more pure. Serenity and Veran don't exist anymore."

"I see..." Hariel responds, returning his eyes to normal, "No matter. I still cannot become the true ruler of Oblivion as long as any part of Veran remains alive! You both seem bound and determined to die at 'my' hands, anyway!" he begins changing, "Now, You shall see my 'true' self..." his teeth lengthen and sharpen, two becoming fangs. His black hair turns white and lengthens down his back to his waist. His muscles increase in size(all of them). His fingernails lengthen into claws. His cape disappears and spikes erupt from his shoulders. On the base of these spikes, skulls appear which are set against his shoulders. He gains demonic armor over most of his body. His face takes on a more beastial appearance. Then, Four large wings erupt from his back... two white feathered wings and two black leathery wings(bat-like), one of each on either side. He covers his face with both hands and then jerks his arms to his sides, as he roars and flaps all four of his wings. He then relaxes into a less-than upright posture, his right arm hanging down infront of him and his left arm pointed back, the elbow bent slightly.

"I wondered when he would show himself." Toramaru says. The senshi all have looks of somewhere between confused and frightened... but, mostly just confused.

"Now, I shall kill you both!" Hariel states, in a much deeper voice.

"Serena." Rei says, releasing the embrace completely and turning to Hariel, "Stay back, okay? I've got a score to settle with him, of Veran's."

Sailor Moon nods and steps back, "Just, Be careful. Okay?" she says, smiling a little.

"You got it." replies Rei, glancing back over her shoulder at the odango and giving her the 'thumbs-up' sign. Then, She walks a few steps closer to Hariel.

Hariel draws his sword in his left hand, and it transforms... the blade lengthens and splits, leaving a gap between the two sides of the blade. The blades then become serated and the tops of each curve into like two 'C's facing each other.

"You shall never overcome the power of the 'Demonolith'!" states Hariel.

"Still a fool." Rei says, shaking her head, then she looks to her right... where the Zanmato is lodged in the ground.

"You do not think you can wield the Zanmato, do you?" Hariel says, almost laughing, "That sword would never allow anyone to wield it, other than someone with the blood of Chaos!"

"You think so?" Rei responds, slowly reaching out with her right hand and gripping the handle of Zanmato, curling her fingers slowly around its handle one at a time. As soon as her hand grips the handle, an intense red and blue flame surrounds her hand and the handle. Black energy(which resembles lightning) flows through the blade, handle, and Rei's arm. She then, almost in slow-motion, draws the Zanmato from the ground and brings it up diagonally infront of her torso.

"How...?"

"The Zanmato was forged by the hands of Ifrit." Rei says, lowering the sword, "It remembers these gauntlets."

"Are you saying that the reason for your possession of the gauntlets... is because you are Ifrit's champion!?" responds Hariel, then shakes his head, "No matter. You shall still die by the blade of Demonolith!" he flies at her.

Rei deflects Hariel's blade with the Zanmato, as he swings at her. Hariel spins counterclockwise and swings Demonolith horizontally at her. Rei deflects the blade again and Hariel spins back around and attempts an overhead swing at her. Rei catches the Demonolith's blade in her left hand(protected by the gauntlet, of course).

"The Demonolith, eh?" Rei says, looking over the sword's blade, "A useless piece of metal, compared to Chaos' Zanmato." she raises the Zanmato and uses it to cut the Demonolith's blade in-two, then knocks Hariel away with a right shoulder-tackle.

Hariel flaps his wings twice and then lands on his feet, "I shall still kill you, Veran!!" he shouts, charging energy in his right hand and now empty left hand.

Rei thrusts the Zanmato back into the ground and responds, "Okay." she brings her hands up infront of her, all fingers except index fingers and thumbs interlocked.

"Destruction Sphere!!"

"Mars Fire Ignite!!"

Hariel's and Rei's blasts collide and explode, "I'm not about to let you live, Veran!" states Hariel, firing a second blast.

"I told you, I'm not Veran!" Rei responds, evading the attack and retaliating with, "Mars Celestial Fire, Surround!!" she shouts, launching several fiery rings at the demon.

Hariel avoids Rei's attack and launches yet another blast at her. Rei opens her wings and uses them to fly up to avoid the blast, which hits the ground where she was standing and explodes.

"I know that Veran and Serenity died by your hands, Hariel." Rei says, remaining aloft in the air, "And, More than once, you have tried to kill me and Serena, and our friends." she fires a flaming arrow at Hariel, which he avoids by dodging to the side.

"Now." Rei says, narrowing her eyes, "I'll avenge Veran and Serenity's deaths, and insure that you never hurt anyone else!"

"Mars Fire Ignite!!"

Rei launches another fireball at Hariel, which moves too fast to avoid. However, It impacts his dark shield(which, might I remind everyone, was damaged by Sailor Moon's attack). Before the first fireball explodes against Hariel's dark shield, Rei immediately launches another one. The second fireball hitting mere seconds after the first, thus shattering Hariel's dark shield and exploding upon impact with him, knocking him back and onto the floor. Hariel makes it up to his feet as Rei lands on the floor.

"It's over, Hariel." Rei says, walking slowly toward the demon, "Now, You'll die!" a fireball appears in her right hand.

"And, Then what?" questions Hariel, holding his right arm up infront of him defensively, "Say you kill me Veran. What then? You believe it will be over with me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Say you do kill me... another will come, and you kill them. Then, another. And another." Hariel says, "You cannot destroy all the evil in the Universe, it will exist as long as good exists. It is a desperate attempt, for one cannot exist without the other, they are forever linked! That is 'fate'."

"Maybe so." Rei responds, blinking her eyes twice, "But, We can still struggle." "No matter how desperate it is, we can fight to protect those we care about." she continues, "We 'are' humans, afterall."

"I suppose you are correct." Hariel says, halfway grinning, "Such is the weakness of humans."

"Perhaps. But, I prefer to call it the 'strength' of humans." Rei says, closing her eyes momentarily and then reopens them, "Because only humans willingly sacrifice their own lives to protect others. Now... Say goodbye, Hariel." she draws her sword back.

"Not yet." Hariel responds, thrusting his left arm into the air, "Great Eternals! Grant me more power!... The power to destroy these heretics against 'fate'!!"

"Wahahahaha!" a male voice laughs, "Hariel, You are but a fool!" the voice says, "Do you truly believe the Eternals would grant more power to one as incompetant as you?"

"Who is there?" questions Hariel.

"Worry not, Hariel." the voice says, "You soon shall join your master, Soul Reaver."

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To Be Continued...

Ramblings: Well, What do you think so far? I hope you like the twists and turns. Betcha wanna know who this new voice belongs to and what they plan to do, eh? Well then, You'll just hafta tune in next time, won't you? Til then, See ya!