Rei turned away from Hiiro's shoulder to face the adversary, who saw her and smiled, but didn't yet step any closer much to the relief of both Rei and Hiiro but also Usagi and Duo who had just stepped out of the cockpit of Deathscythe Hell, about 20 meters away from the other figures on the wasted terrain. The demon-master didn't seem to notice them as he chuckled after his initial pause and began to walk towards the other pair, still frozen in their same positions.
"So you are the marschild who escaped my firebombs, are you? Well, that shall soon be a mistake fixed."
He grinned, nearly charismatically, as he brought his hand up. Usagi could tell what was coming. She had seen both of them fighting and knew neither had any strength left to resist or survive what this man could do to them. At the same time, she knew she could do nothing for Rei, or Hiiro who would die in a fight that wasn't even his own. Suddenly, a flash of gold and orange seemed to appear in her mind and Duo thought he heard a wolf howl as three words slipped through the blonde's clenched teeth.
"Moon Tiara Magic..."
A brilliant silver disk cut the air between her and her target in milliseconds and the man's scream could barely be heard over Usagi's as the front of his hand was shorn neatly off. He turned his now terrifying grimace towards the pair near the gundam where Duo was poised to drag Usagi back into the protection of the mecha's armor.
"A crystal carrier. Of course the martian would bring her. Oh, well. Remember, moonchild, we are far from the lunar plains and such a wound is nothing but an annoyance to Demantoid." Even though his words were brave, his eyes remained wide in pain even as his form whispered out of the scene.
Rei was torn between staying with the wounded Hiiro and running to her victorious but still vulnerable princess, but her dilemma was soon resolved as Hiiro stood, somewhat weakly, sword in hand and Usagi came running over, crying in a combination of excitement aand panic.
"Oh, Rei! Did you see that?"
"Usagi...how did you do it?"
"I...well, I just don't know. It just seemed to come to me. But Rei, it was different..."
Rei's mind flashed back to that moment.Yeah,the spinning disk had been of sharp metal, not the glowing energy slice it used to be; it had cut the flesh of Usagi's opponent rather than reducing him to moondust,as it was once wont to do. And what had that thing he said, the part about the lunar plains meant? Duo came jogging up just as Hiiro collapsed to the ground again. Rei immediately went to her knees, as she was too late to catch him and checked his pulse and temperature. Her fingers went back to the wound on his back and her eyes went wide in worry and horror. She stood up with the same look of terrified shock on her face.
"What's wrong with him?" Surprisingly, Shinigami's expression nearly matched Rei's. He had never seen Hiiro like this before.
"Once of those youma, those demons...It poisoned him."
Meanwhile...somewhere in the same city
Two figures, both tall, but one substantially taller than the other, androgynous in their hooded cloaks got to their feet. An explosion had brought them to their knees, but when they had found that they were assuredly not in the same place, or even the same dimension as they had been just a second ago, they had almost fainted again in surprise. Both held themselves tall and proudly, and their overgarments were made of rich fabrics and silver trim. A small sob escaped from one to match the howl of the dire wolf, a creature so tall its shoulder came nearly as high as that of shorter figure's, that accompanied them. The taller figure put a comforting hand on the arm of the other.
"It's okay, Mina. There was nothing you could do. None of us expected it, and you couldn't have protected her from that blast."
The crying one, called Mina, suddenly through back her hood, revealing a pretty face with deep set blue eyes, framed with long blonde hair.
"Did you feel that? She's here. It must be her. Our princess is here."
(END CHAPTER)
A/N: Sorry again for the delay. Thanks for all the reviews. I've finally made my decision. Yes, the other senshi will be in this fic, but there won't be pilot/senshi romance (other than what I've already set my course off on) So get ready, the next chapters won't be quite so Rei centered, but it's still mainly her story. I will (hopefully) involve some more magical theory in this piece (because I love doing it). I apoogize for the shortness, but my space key isn't working properly. Also, I might for once hold true to my promise of updating more quickly: I now have a better idea of what I'm going to do with the next set of chapters. Thanks again, and happy holidays.