Chapter Two: Recollections
Turel glared at Raziel and used his magic to teleport far from any place they could sense him. Meanwhile the two sets of scouts looked at each other and then at the two vampires. The five original scouts were cautious about the armored figure, but not so about Kain they were glaring at him as though they wanted him to leave, which caused Kain to smirk with glee, while the other two scouts were just plain suspicious of both of them.
"Alright Kain what are you doing here?" asked Sailor Moon. "The last time you were here you tried to kill us and then make us your vampiric daughters."
"I'm here to help Raziel get rid of Turel and his clan. You have nothing to fear from me, my mind has been purified and I work to help protect worlds from the fate of Nosgoth," said Kain. "Though some new lieutenants wouldn't be a bad idea, I have none left, four are dead, one is no longer under my control, and the last has become a traitor."
"Where is Raziel, you didn't leave him in Nosgoth did you?" asked Venus.
"If I could do that without him following my every move then I would have done so a long time ago. No, he is here somewhere, more than likely either in the Spectral Realm or hunting down Turelem vampires, or perhaps hiding amongst us," said Kain. "You can stop snickering Raziel, in that form you are vulnerable to any of my attacks."
Raziel removed his helmet and laughed, but held the Soul Reaver at Kain's throat. "Shut up Kain, if you wish to keep on living, you were the only choice I had. You killed Gyrin and Kayura is trapped in Nosgoth's past until we find our way back down into the Chronoplast Chamber," said Raziel, who turned to the scouts. "Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Tuxedo Mask, greetings we meet again. How many years here has it been since our last encounter?"
Mars replied, "About one and half years, tell us who is this Turel and how does he know Kain?"
"Turel is my last remaining brother, remember the other four are dead and at peace. Turel was the second eldest among us and I was the eldest. I am surprised he is even out of hiding, especially since the pass leading into the Dark Eden has been destroyed," explained Raziel.
"Alright next question, why do you look human? The last time we saw you, you were but a fragment of what you used to look like," said Jupiter.
"I have traveled through many different dimensions and the future version of Nosgoth. Through the different dimension I have acquired new forms and reaver blades, as well as glyphs, and reaver upgrades. I was granted as a reward for my services by the Eldress, Eldest, Elder, Queen Selenity, Anubis, and the Ancient One, this form, my human form. Also as a reward by the guardians my Reaver of Souls form has been as they said repaired. It is now my old vampiric body, except my wings are different, they resemble Janos Audron's. The creator of vampires in Nosgoth after cursed to feed on blood to survive by the Hylden," explained Raziel.
"Raziel if this is all I am needed for here, then open a portal back to Nosgoth. I can take care of things on that end and make sure Turel doesn't try and use it as a focal point to and from this dimension. Besides its clear that if I stay any longer the Priestess shall set me a flame," said Kain.
Raziel sighed and opened a portal to Nosgoth which Kain entered and closed it making sure no vampires would use it to get to the Sailor Scouts world. Raziel turned back to the scouts and they looked at him in annoyance.
"What?" asked Raziel nervously.
"You can create portals, maybe your the reason these vampires are here!" exclaimed Uranus.
"Talk to Pluto, she'll tell you it wasn't my fault, the first time I came here was because of her. Go ahead and attack me, I can leave your world to ruin. You have a debt to pay and I'm holding you to your debt foolish wench!" countered Raziel as he shifted to his darkest and most fearsome form. "Tell me do you wish to fight me? Your power is far greater than that of my Reaver form, you would easily defeat me,-"
"Uranus World Shaking!" cried Uranus as the blast went soaring at Raziel who summoned his staff and was able to absorb the blast and send it right back at her. Uranus dodged and launched another, but Raziel again absorbed and sent it back at her. Uranus growled low in her throat as she summoned her sword.
"Space Sword Blaster!" cried Uranus, as she hit Raziel with her sword, but it had little effect on him, and for the first time she noticed the black mist that surrounded him and that his face was hidden by a hood. She swung her sword one direction which Raziel went to counter, but she twisted it and cut his hood of and she screamed at what she saw. Uranus backed away from Raziel as she couldn't tear her eyes away from his as she saw the rampage he went on against vampires and humans. She saw the death of his mentor and how he fought and killed his past self.
Finally she was able to tear her gaze away from his, but she was shaking and the mist made a wall around all sides of him, except a direct view of his face. Neptune looked up and saw his face and she paled, but did not meet his gaze. Sailor Moon was next who came over to see why Uranus had screamed, when she saw Raziel, she instantly paled and started to tremble herself. Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury came over as well and saw Raziel, Mercury was curious and started scanning him, while Jupiter was ready to break him in half. Venus was ready to hold him anyway possible, while Mars was just as pale as Uranus.
"Who are you and what do you want here?" demanded Mars.
"You were the one that didn't put up a fight when it came time to kill your vampiric self, you contained all memories from your human life. You were the only one able to sense my presence, not many are able to do so," said Raziel.
"Raziel? What happened to your body and why do you look so... horrifying?" asked a bewildered Mars.
"You see me in my Reaper of Souls form, granted to me by the Egyptian God Anubis. My symbiotic weapons the Millennium Reaver and the Soul Scythe. I personally don't know why I look like I do, but it could be that my predecessor was the bringer of death. For some reason he disappeared and took part of his legacy. This is my most fearsome form and it is the form I use when battling beings that are in my way that hold similar or stronger powers. If you wish I will change to another form or to my original Reaver of Souls form," said Raziel.
"You can't go back to your original unless you give up your current Reaver of Souls form and your human form. I believe your current form makes you weaker than you were, you can't use the wraith blades anymore. You won't survive your battle with Turel or his master," said Pluto as she appeared to Raziel and the rest of the scouts.
Raziel nodded and then began to chant Ancient Nosgothian and he began to glow and he shifted to his current Reaver of Souls from and it shattered leaving behind his human form which shattered as well, which left behind his original Reaver of Souls form. He quickly shifted out of the form into his Hunter of Souls form. The scouts looked at him with fascination as they saw his Hunter of Souls form, one he rarely used and more than likely his most powerful form. His hair was longer, tied back into a ponytail, his arms had blades coming from the elbows and wrists. His hands were clawed with four fingers (including thumb you idiots!) and his wings were huge, larger than his original pair, except they weren't bat-like. His wings were more like the wings of Janos Audron, except they were a silverish white.
"It has been a very long time since I last used this form, this is my deadliest form, the Hunter of Souls or also known as the Soul Hunter. So shall we leave before your reputation is tarnished as the protectors of the city to destroyers of the city. Besides when we get back to the shrine I'll have to make sure the old man doesn't try anything on me. Last time I had to catch his demon wards on fire, just to get him to run away. The boy merely fainted from my sight, though it was kind of pleasing," murmured Raziel.
He took to the air and flew towards the shrine, however he was attacked in the air by another vampire with bat-like wings. He recognized him as the vampire that had been exiled from his clan for trying to over throw him.
"So we meet again Raizol, it has been very long since we last saw each other. You have changed the same way I once had, but you escaped the genocide of the clan," stated Raziel.
"Yes, I have Raziel, the genocide was my idea; I used my magic to implant the idea into his dreams, along with what he did to you. He was going to let you go with no more chances left and the second time you were to evolve before him he would punish you. However I didn't take into account that the Elder would resurrect you to take out the clans and Kain. When I saw you in the Chronoplast Chamber portals I knew you would be the strongest vampire. If not for me then you would have overthrown Kain and killed him restoring balance earlier than it has," explained Raizol. "But a paradox was created, the future I saw was you hunting me down and slaying me with the reaver. However once I saw the past with Kain it and you, I knew that because of the Elder's meddling Nosgoth would fall to him. However again another paradox was created, a paradox after a paradox was created, until finally the reaver tried to devour your soul. I thought that you would finally be destroyed, but Kain interfered and created another paradox. One that shall release the Hylden upon Nosgoth and the rest of the world. Now my chance for revenge is at hand for I have allied myself with the new clan and Turel, who has left this world."
Raizol slashed at Raziel with a steel sword and cut his skin open, but Raziel drew the reaver and swung it at Raizol, who merely disappeared as the blade nicked him. Raziel could hear his laughing as Raziel looked around to see where he was. When he couldn't find him anywhere he headed towards the shrine again. He landed and saw the old man ready to put the anti-evil charms on, him so he smirked underneath his cowl.
"Foul demon be gone from this holy ground!" yelled the old man.
"Have you forgotten already old man? Last time you tried this, you nearly lost your head," said Raziel, as the old man turned pale and ran away screaming about demons.
Raziel walked around the shrine, making sure there were no vampires hidden anywhere. He then decided to go inside the shrine and found the girls waiting in the fire reading room. He stared at the fire and was curious about possible reaver upgrades in its physical form. He walked over to the sacred fire and much to the protest of Raye and the others plunged the reaver into the fire.
The scouts watched as the flames in circled the blade and when Raziel withdrew the blade, flames circled around it. The sacred fire itself still burned but Raziel swung the blade and dipped it into water and the flames faded away. He turned to Amarra and motioned for everyone to follow him outside. When they did Raziel changed into his reaver form.
"Transform, I have made sure nobody is around and if someone see you transform, they shall not live long enough to speak of it. Once you are transformed, Uranus is to battle me with the Soul Reaver as her weapon. This is a true test of your power, if you can withstand the drainage of magic from using the reaver and manage to defeat me then you win. This is a fight in which your soul shall either be trapped within the blade like so many others or you shall be forced to strike me down with it, as if I were one of the youma," explained Raziel.
Raziel watched as they transformed and handed the blade to Uranus and then started to walk away, but clawed her left hand instead. She let out a yell at swung the blade at him and a lightning bolt came out of it and struck him. Raziel grunted and slashed her again, this time on the stomach and deeper. She smacked him with her boot and Raziel flipped away from the kick, but not in time as the boot came crashing down onto him. Uranus then proceeded to beat Raziel with a series of strong kicks to the face, chest, and the rest of his body. Raziel then slashed her arms and she let loose a yell of rage as she hefted the blade into the air and brought it down upon Raziel, shattering the blade. They saw Raziel's limp body fade away into a green mist and in the spectral realm, as Pluto waited for Raziel to regain consciousness. Raziel awoke a short time later, but extremely weak and he saw the Soul Reaver shimmering in front of him. He reached out towards it and it seemed to leap upon his arm and fuse with him once again. He found his other half awaiting him, and they once again merged their souls together doubling his maximum strength. He found several wandering vampire souls on the verge of becoming vampire wraiths and he drew them into his body and his body rejuvenated itself and his strength increased.
Uranus stared at the blade handle in her hand and the blade pieces scattered amongst the ground in front of her. She had struck and killed Raziel out of rage and his body had disintegrated into a green mist. She threw down the blade and sat down at the base of a tree and shook from what she had done and the strain of magic that the blade had put upon her. She detransformed and so did the others who mourned for Raziel's death.
"I can't believe Raziel is dead, I mean he said that one of them would become trapped within the blade like so many other souls. Amarra shattered the blade over him though, but that means his soul is sent to the underworld to await judgment," said Raye.
"Then you are bigger fool than I thought Priestess, I am not so easily defeated. Even this world has a place where souls go to await passage to the underworld," said Raziel.
Raye and the others turned to see Raziel with a glowing wraith blade on his right arm. She saw him dip the blade into the sacred fire and remove an orange/red wraith blade, then he dismissed it and a dark blast hit the reaver in an attempt to destroy it. However the blade absorbed the dark energy and became a purplish blue color and Raziel shot the vampire from the tree and beheaded it and absorbed its soul. Again Raziel dismissed the upgrade and it returned to normal. Something on the wall caught his attention and he moved to it and sensed a glyph magic within it, he touched the stone and it began to glow and then it separated from the wall and Raziel absorbed the Spirit Glyph into his body, along with all the other glyphs.
"So Raziel, I see that the Soul Reaver has returned to its true form," said Pluto from behind Raziel.
"Woman you are beginning to irritate me with your ability to sneak up on me! Besides I know that if there was any immediate danger you would be at your precious time gates. What will the future be like if I hadn't shown up, Turel is more powerful than ever and he has one of my own clan working for him. Tell me what it would have been like if I had not chosen to come," asked Raziel.
Pluto sighed and transported him to the Time Gates and opened the door way to the future that would have been if Raziel had not come a second time. "Go through these gates and walk until you reach a black portal with red slashes through it. Once you have found this portal go through and you will have until you defeat your clan member's future version. If you fail then you will know that you are not strong enough to take on such a task. Though to test your true strength, you will only be able to use two of your four forms. If you manage to survive you shall automatically be transported to the time gates and I will greet you."