Chapter 16
"Oh no" muttered Ami, her face paling under the visor. Immediately the others stilled, waiting for the bomb to drop. Finally the blue haired girl broke the ominous silence, "It's not here"
"What?" demanded Pluto as if daring the other girl to say her lies again.
"It's not here" the blue haired senshi re-iterated, "Somehow the master of this hold must have moved it." The news was horrifying, it meant that the trip down here had been wasted, all the time they had spent getting to this location nothing more than a distraction.
"Where?" asked Pluto, already fearing the answer.
"Up" replied Ami, confirming those fears, "the throne room. Ranma's walking into a trap"
"No" muttered Neptune her fears for Ranma overriding her own hard demeanour. She cast one backward glance towards the others before beginning the long climb back up the stairs. The others soon fell in behind, going at a light jog despite the risks. Each one knew they should slow down but their hearts just would not let them.
At the back Pluto suddenly faltered, was this Ranma's plan all along, and if so why. Surely he couldn't be planning on seizing the power for himself, not after all this time. She urged the others on faster, as if the quickened pace would lighten her heart.
Far above Ranma had made his way to his own destination. In fornt of his the vast doors of the Master's throne room loomed. At his feet lay the foolish guardians of that portal, their ripped bodies spread across the wide portico.
Ranma turned his neck once more and flicked back his ichor coated hair. Squaring his shoulders one last time he drew in a deep breath, and with it all the dark energy his body could hold. He mentally fastened his pact on the treacherous hate of the dragon and allowed it's energies to flow through his form. It was time.
The doors exploded inwards propelled by the dark fury of the invader. For a brief moment he stood there, resplendent in his dark aura, gathered shadows framing him as he flexed his long claws. The steady red rain that filled the room seemed not even to touch him.
In front of him stood the inner circle of the Hold-Master's demons, each one a champion in its own right, each one an avatar of evil and spite. As one they glared back at the presumptuous near mortal. Then as one the horde of them rushed, brandishing claw tooth and demon-blade, and crying defiance as they ran.
In the face of this Ranma stood deathly still, only the wild perturbations of his aura displaying his readiness for battle. Even at the first claw reached for him and it seemed that it had but molecules before it punctured skin, he did not move.
Then, as that claw shed the first blood, he exploded into motion, claws and horned aura carving dark swathes of destruction around him. Gravity and time, the laws of existence seemed to lose their holds on the demon touched warrior as he scythed through creatures old enough to have seen the fall of Babylon.
His form was lost in a mass of screetching, crying devils, unleashing their fury in dire effort.
Then the mass broke apart, propelled by an explosion of another force. Shrapnel that a heartbeat before had been devil-kin splattered and bounced off the walls of the chamber, some of it still shrieking defiance. And in the middle stood the revealed form of the invader.
Gone were the last traces of Genma's child. With darker than black spiked hair and an aura to match the demon warrior stood, claws outstretched and crackling with dark power. His clothes had been torn from his body, even the finest craftings of the Silver millennium unable to withstand the fury of the dark assault. Instead he stood clothed in his own darkness and the rude tracings of blood and ichor.
From the back of the room came the booming laugh of the tower's master.
"Well done!" he called, his voice full of timeless evil. "They had grown very tiresome"
Gradually the throne came into sight, the blood rain clearing at it's master's unspoken command. What they revealed would have neatly shattered the mind of most mortals. Standing up from a throne of ephemeral bound and tormented souls was the dark master of the hold. He stood a full twelve feet to the shoulder, his skin a deeper red than even the rain. Atop those shoulders a head rose, horned and proud, it's many glowing eyes shining with evil intelligence. It's barrel-like torso sported no less than eight arms, all of which carried both claw and spiky protrusion. Around it's waist hung it's only adornment, a heavy black belt, attached to which were long, spiked, dark chains, leading to the myriad of innocents bound at it's cloven feet.
"Now you have come to accept your destiny" it announced, idly stroking the matted red hair of one 'rain' coated unfortunate. "Balthazzar was a fool to try to control you" it announced, crushing that same girl's skull between his claws. "I am no fool"
Ranma's answer was a low growl, a sound impossible for any human throat. It carried with it promise of pain and death, a promise that shined clearly from the burning pits of his eyes. Slowly he advanced, floating above the floor on a wave of dark energy that cracked the slabs as it came.
"I am no fool" repeated the master demon, his voice velvet death. As he spoke he descended from the throne, casting his belt off and drawing a host of weapons.
The two figures closed to within fifteen feet of each other and the power crackled across the room. Each tainted soul was cramming as much energy from the dark font as it could, preparing for the battle to come.
Then the beast bowed, kneeling before the hovering dark warrior. Each hand laid aside one of the wicked implements of pain and he left himself defenceless. "You are the mightiest of us" the beats intoned "and only a fool would not see that. I offer you my service and my throne." With that he swept out a long claw gesturing towards the throne.
For a long moment the raging warrior held the bowing demon's burning gaze, then finally his own eyes flicked to the throne. He could clearly see the font of power bound within it, could see the way the chained souls filtered and controlled that power. With one glance Ranma could see the chance to become great enough to shake the pillars of existence. His demon-touched heart rejoiced, here was the prize. The final goal that all this struggle and pain had been towards. Untold power and with it the chance to wreak revenge on heaven, hell and the firmament itself. Nobody could ask for more. He took a pace forwards.
And stopped. There, wearing ony the barbed chain around her neck was the princess. The young woman who was the centre of the senshi's universe. Of his senshi's universe.
Those blue eyes tore straight into his blackened soul, warring with the pain and hate that dwelled there. Even as one part of him screamed at his right arm to sweep those blue orbs from existence and claim the senshi eternally for his own he realised that he was not that person.
The bowing master saw the change, saw the conflict and saw the new resolve, it was written all over the invader's aura. The cry that escaped his throat was full of every dark emotion, hate, envy, frustration, spite, greed and only a touch of fear. All his plans all his ambitions broken by one girl and her innocent eyes.
In the next instant he was up, weapons leaping unaided to his many hands and his whole form exploding into violent action. Ranma and his dark aura parried and the titanic forces clashed into a battle that could only see one survive.
Claw met blade; knee met elbow; sole met blade. The sheer speed of the combatants alone was enough to rend the air. Added to this the power of the darkness harness for destruction threatened to shatter the very tower. Lightning blasts of pure darkness crackled off them, blasting into the fabric of the chamber. Spiderwebs of cracks appeared on every wall, tiles lifted themselves from the floor only to shatter in mid air. From the ceiling gobbits of pustulent flesh fell, splattering and exploding into fresh showers of gore. And the furious tempo only increased.
o
o
Neptune led the way into the portico to the throne room. The way up had been remarkably easy to find, all the trio had been required to do was follow the trail of bodies. For the last short while she had been aware of a strange rolling thunder and only now could she see the cause.
In front of the three senshi the battle raged, even with their magically enhanced vision they could not follow it's intricacies. Wounds appeared and were healed all within the tiniest spaces of time. Pluto could see that even time itself was being used as a weapon but could not follow how.
"Usagi!" blurted Ami, spotting their princess still chained by the altar come throne. The other girls reacted immediately, following her gaze, questing for a glimpse of tier princess.
"The room" Michuru gasped, as a chunk of masonry fell from the ceiling.
"We must rescue them!" Pluto asserted. But even with her courage she could not bring herself to rush into that room and the maelstrom that it contained.
"We go round" announce Neptune, her face hard, there was no way she was going to fail her princess now. And without waiting for the others she entered the room, edging along the wall as fast as she could, aiming for the throne and it's precious prisoner.
Behind her the others fell into file, each praying in their own way to make it safely through the danger.
Again the hard training they had undergone proved it's worth, a toppling pillar all but ending their hopes forever. The only reason it did not was the speed of their reactions and their trust in each other's abilities. They all dived clear, and ran the last distance, leaving thoughts of the safety of their comrades for a time when such things might not cost them their lives.
Suddenly they were there, and in front of them, painted in red from head to toe, was the woman they had come for, the woman who had defined their lives.
"Usagi" Ami cried, wrapping her arms around the girl who was her oldest friend. Even the changes the mercury computer had wrought couldn't shield her from an event such as this.
"Cover your eyes?" Pluto ordered, hefting her staff and aiming at the heavy chain. As the others complied she brought her arms down and a fresh clap of thunder rolled, bouncing around the room.
The bleary eyes of the princess blinked as if awakening from a nightmare. "Ami?" she asked through parched and torn lips.
"Yes" Ami replied, in a voice heavy with emotion, gathering her friend to her oblivious to the transference of the red stain.
"How did you get here?" the princess asked, "and where?"
"Not now!" ordered Neptune, whose eyes remained on the fight. "For now we have to get out of here." Ami nodded and gathered up her friend, the armoured suit easily compensating for the extra weight.
"No!" Usagi insisted, memories returning, "we have to break the throne!" The other girls looked at her for a moment, then nodded, they were not about to start disbelieving their princess now.
As one they turned to the throne, bending their wills to see if they could see some way to it's destruction.
"Haruka?" gasped Neptune, recognising one of the tormented faces. The others looked where the gazed and could not fault her premise. Indeed surrounding the spirit form of their friend were similar ghostly shapes of the others. "But she isn't dead!" Michuru gasped.
"Then that is where we strike!" Pluto asserted, hefting her staff. Neptune nodded and hefted her own weapon and Ami began the more targeted scans to choose the moment.
"Now!" she called and the other pair struck as one.
The throne exploded into a rush of energy, unbound souls screaming outwards light the light from an atomic weapon. The girls were thrown to the floor, a tulmult of rushing power sweeping over their heads and exploding through the roof of the chamber. And through the roof above. And through the roof above that, until it broke free and rocketed out into the ether, each soul finding it's way to its true destination.
Then there was only silence. It took a few moments to realise that something was missing, then the girls turned to where the battle had raged. In the centre of the ruined room lay the wrecked body of the tower's former master, and over it, kneeling with one knee up, was the very naked and very human looking form of the cursed man who had made this possible. He turned to look at them just once, before keeling over onto the floor.