Mimete continued to stare at Sailor Venus in shock like she couldn't believe her eyes. And yet, it all made so much sense now. Venus' apparent absence, why Minako was hanging out with the sailor senshi… how could she not have noticed sooner.

"Aino-san… Sailor Venus…" Mimete mumbled.

"Sorry, Mimete. I really thought at first you'd have figured it out, but once I realize it wasn't the case I just didn't know how to bring it up," Venus apologized. "I never intended to deceive you or lie to you."

"What are you two even talking about!?" Eudial let out, annoyed. "Did you really not know she was a sailor senshi? How stupid can you be? And here I thought you were just hiding behind a senshi, and yet you didn't even know she was one… you're making even less sense."

Mimete stayed quiet for a moment before she finally rose up, looking down.

"... Shut up…" Mimete said. "Aino-san… accepted me for who I am. So even if she's a sailor senshi, she's still my friend! We should be enemies and yet, she helped me. So it doesn't matter if she's actually Sailor Venus!"

"W-what are you even getting worked up for, you idiot!?" Eudial exclaimed.

"Mimete…?" Venus whispered.

"You wouldn't get it, senpai. You don't understand the depth of a forbidden friendship between natural enemies!"

"... What?" Eudial said.

"... What?" Venus also said.

"... What?" Mars repeated.

Venus was surprised by Mimete's reaction. She was certainly relieved that the latter wasn't upset, but her reaction was still quite particular. Both Eudial and Mars seemed genuinely confused.

"Anyway, I'll deal with you once and for all, Eudial-senpai! Charm Buster!"

"...Ugh! Fire Buster!"

Both witches' attacks collided, cancelling each other.

"Tsk. I have no interest in fighting you anymore," Eudial declared. "Not like this."

"Uh? What are you on about, senpai? Weren't you the one who chased after me so desperately?"

"If I'd known you were such a traitorous brat I wouldn't have bothered. You claimed you try to kill me for the Death Buster's sake because I was apparently bringing shame to the Witches 5, but look at you now… playing friends with our enemies. You really disappoint me, Mimete. I overestimated you. You're not even worth my time anymore…"

"...W-What…? Don't give me this crap, senpai! You're just too scared to fight me, uh!?"

"Whatever you want to believe. I'm out. Bye."

And just like that, Eudial ran away to the woods nearby. Mars and Venus remained dumbfounded by how things turned out, while Mimete seemed genuinely upset.

"W-Wait…!? Senpai!? Don't ignore me like that! Come back here!" Mimete said as she went after Eudial.

"Mimete, no! Don't!" Anyway did you know Ai's VA had to go on hiatus in 2016-17 because of a throat illness? Venus tried to warn her.

But it was too late. Mimete was gone, and so was Eudial.

"Senpai! Eudial-senpai!"

Mimete had lost track of Eudial. She was still running into the woods, trying to catch up to her old senpai. She continued to run for a while before slowing down and looking around.

"Come on senpai, I know you're still there! You wouldn't have actually left, right?"

No answer. Mimete started to feel more and more upset, as well as flustered.

"Eudial-senpai! I can't believe you would actually give up so easily on me! I mean, you want revenge against me, right? You even built a device to track me down! You can't just say you don't care about me anymore…!"

Still no answer. Mimete was starting to get desperate.

"How dare you say you're disappointed in me!? As if I care about what you think of me! You haven't overestimated me, you always underestimated me! I haven't betrayed anyone! The Death Busters are no more!"

Mimete finally stopped running.

"Screw you senpai! You're the one not worth my time! Who do you think you are anyway!? Your approval means nothing to me! Who'd care what a dork thinks anyway? Stupid senpai! I don't care anymore!"

Even if she was saying that, Mimete still wished deep down that Eudial would show up to confront her. She hated being ignored like that, especially if she was being looked down on.

"Mimete!"

Mimete could hear Venus calling for her. She was unfortunately not the person she wanted to see right now so she ignored her.

"Eudial-senpai! I'm leaving now. It's not like I cared about what you think of me anyway!"

"Mimete, there you are…!" Venus said as she was running towards her.

Mimete sighed. She was in a terrible mood right now. Then suddenly, she could hear what seemed to be the roar of an engine…

"Hm?"

"Mimete, look out-"

But it was too late. Mimete only noticed the white station wagon once it came out from the bushes.

The car violently hit her. Mimete's entire body collided with the front and the force was such that she was sent flying, falling into a ravine. The station wagon continued its course in the ravine too, both disappearing under Venus' eyes, who looked down, horrified by what had just happened.

"Mimete!"

It hurt. Her entire body was in such pain. After getting hit by a car and falling down a ravine, Mimete was completely battered, covered in bruises and scratches. No fatal injuries thanks to her superhuman body, but still in no shape to stand up.

Her witch staff was lying in front of her. Painfully she started to crawl towards it, barely able to stretch her arm to reach for it. As she was about to touch it, someone else suddenly seized it before she could.

"You really are pathetic, Mimete."

Eudial was standing near her, looking down on her, smirking.

"Eudial… senpai…"

"I told you I had no interest in fighting you, but I never said I'd give up my revenge. I just thought this was a more fitting end for you. I knew you would follow me, poor stupid Mimete. But I didn't think you'd fall for it so easily. You really are desperate for attention, huh. Can't bear to not be the center of attention for even a second. Running back to me simply for ignoring you. What a pathetic, worthless person you are."

Those words hurt even more than the car. Mimete felt utterly defeated and humiliated. Eudial played her like a fiddle and she fell for it like a fool. She could already feel the tears forming in her eyes.

"P-please, senpai…"

"Oh, are you going to beg me? I guess you realized firsthand how unpleasant a car accident is. But it's a little too late for that. Not that I'm not enjoying this sight of you, I wasn't lying earlier. You really aren't worth my time."

Mimete could feel she was about to get killed. She didn't want to die. She was scared. And Eudial's cruel words were making this worse. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she started sobbing.

"N-no, please, Eudial-senpai! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me…!"

As a response to her plea, Eudial pointed the staff at her, a cold look in her eyes that seemed devoid of any empathy.

"Shhh. Crying won't help you this time. This is the end for you, Mimete."

The star on the staff glowed red.

"Fire Bust-"

"I'm already about to die!" Mimete suddenly exclaimed.

Eudial stopped. She looked at Mimete with confusion.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm dying… I don't have much time left. I'm sick."

"Uh?"

"Without the Taioron Crystal, I can't recover new life forces. I'm only living on borrowed time, I'll run out of energy and die soon…"

Eudial remained thoughtful. Mimete felt some hope she could get out alive from this.

"S-so you don't even need to kill me, It's only a matter of time before I run out of life force and die. You'd only make my agony shorter, really…"

Eudial put the tip of the staff under Mimete's chin, lifting her head as she glared at her.

"You're not lying, aren't you? You really are dying because there's no more Taioron Crystal?" Eudial asked, threatening.

"Y-yes! This is the truth, I swear! I'm already a dead woman, so you really don't have to-"

"That's for me to decide!" Eudial interrupted her. "But if you really are already dying, then…"

Eudial pondered on this more. She seemed concerned about what she had just learned.

"Then we really can't live without the Taioron Crystal, as I suspected…"

"S-senpai…?"

A sinister grin suddenly appeared on Eudial's face.

"It seems like I was wrong, Mimete. You aren't completely useless."

"R-really…?"

"Yeah. You might still have some use for me after all."

As soon as she had said that, Eudial raised her leg and kicked down Mimete, knocking her out instantly.

"Mimete!"

After she managed to safely go down the ravine, Venus was desperately calling for Mimete, followed by Mars.

"Do you really think she has survived this?" Mars asked.

"I don't know… but I won't just let her die if she did and is injured!" Venus insisted.

There was no way Venus could let Mimete die like that. After everything that happened, her desire to live, to redeem herself, and even saving Minako's life… Venus didn't think it was fair to leave her to die after all of this.

"I'm sure she's alive… she's not human after all… well, not anymore," Venus said.

"If Eudial could survive falling from a tower and crashing in the ocean, then Mimete could have survived too," Mars agreed.

As they went further into the ravine, they noticed the white station wagon. Eudial was standing near it, holding a witch staff. Mimete was lying on the ground, injured and inert.

"Mimete!?" Venus exclaimed.

"Eudial!" Mars let out.

Eudial immediately reacted and turned to face them, wielding Mimete's staff.

"I have no time for you," the witch spat. "FIRE BUSTER!"

This time, Eudial didn't use her flamethrower- she was conjuring fire with the witch staff.

"Burning Mandala!"

Both fire attacks hit one another and a small explosion resulted from it.

"Ugh!"

Venus and Mars had to take cover from the blast. When the blow was over, they saw Eudial shoving Mimete's unconscious body into her car.

"Mimete, no!" Venus shouted. "Eudial! Don't!"

But Eudial ignored her. Venus tried to stop her from taking Mimete, but Eudial got inside her car and immediately drove away. Venus tried to run after her, but it was in vain. She was too fast.

Eudial had successfully abducted Mimete.

"Mimete was captured by Eudial!?" Usagi exclaimed.

Minako nodded, guilt and shame in her blue eyes. After what had happened, she and Rei had reunited with the other senshi at their hideout to tell them the recent events.

"I'm sorry, I was supposed to watch over her," Minako said weakly.

"You can't blame yourself," Usagi said.

"Yeah, this isn't your fault," Mako added.

"We know you did your best to help her, so don't be too hard on yourself," Ami tried to comfort her.

"If Eudial bothered to capture her, I doubt she intends to kill her," Michiru suddenly said. "At least not right away."

"I'm not denying that it's sad what happened to her, but does it really concern us?" Haruka suddenly said. "This is clearly a conflict between those two witches. I won't say that I don't feel bad for Mimete, but at the same time, she's not someone innocent either. She's not a human victim we have to save…"

"It doesn't matter!" Minako suddenly objected. "She used to be human, we already established that, right? She is a victim! She was corrupted! And even if she isn't human anymore, or if she never was to begin with, she's still a person! She's a sentient being! And she asked for our help! She even saved me! I can't just stay here and let Eudial do God knows what to her…!"

"We don't disagree with you, but… we have no lead," Setsuna said regrettably.

Minako clenched her fist. She failed to protect someone who had asked her help, someone who saved her, showed growth, and was now at the mercy of a ruthless individual who had sworn revenge on her. Things couldn't be worst.

"I think trying to figure out who Eudial used to be might help us find out her whereabouts," Ami suddenly suggested. "If she used to be human too, then she might have some connection to her past self in some way. Just like Viluy used the Bidou Yui, it might actually be her real name."

"Then… Hanyuu Mimi might have been Mimete's actual name…" Minako mumbled.

"You're right, Ami-chan," Michiru agreed. "Even if her motive appeared to solely be revenge, humans are far more complex. If she used to be one, by finding out who she used to be, we might have a chance to know her true intention better and find where she's hiding."

"Then what are we waiting for!? Who knows how much time left Mimete has!" Minako exclaimed.

Ami nodded.

"I'll look up who the Witches 5 used to be and hopefully find something about Eudial," she said.

"We can go investigate places that used to be related to Mugen Gakuen," Haruka proposed.

"And we could try to see if Eudial left any tracks from her car in the woods," Rei added.

Usagi nodded. Minako still felt uneased but she nodded too. At least her friends were willing to do everything they could to save Mimete. And she didn't intend to do anything either.

Mimete's body was arching in pain when she regain consciousness. Not only her body was completely sore, she couldn't move it. And it wasn't from the pain alone.

She was restrained.

Tightly strapped to a metallic table, the witch could barely move, all her limbs tied up. She appeared to be in what seemed to be a laboratory.

"Ugh… w-what…? H-Hey…!"

"Finally, you're aware."

Mimete felt a chill down her spine when she heard that voice.

"E-Eudial… senpai…?"

Eudial was sitting near her, suddenly standing up. She was holding her witch staff.

"That… that's mine…!" Mimete declared, not really convincigly given her current predicament.

"Hm? Oh, this? It was waste on you," Eudial shruged. "But I understand why the professor gave it to you instead of me. It's because you're weak."

"...Eh?"

"Didn't you know? Your Witch Level, it's only ranked 40. You're the weakest among the Witches 5. The professor must have had pity of you and gave you this staff so you wouldn't be completely useless. And yet…"

Eudial sneered at her, playing with the staff.

"S-Shut up!" Mimete let out weakly. "You… you're no better than me, you… dork! You wannabe mechanic…!"

"Oh, but I am better than you. My Witch Level is 78. True, it's far bellow the other 3, but it's still above you. I didn't have a fancy staff, I had to build my own weapons and I was able to rivalize with the senshi's magic. You weren't even able to do that while having an actual magical item. But now, imagine what I can do with my level and this item… I can reach power you can't even dream of."

Mimete clenched her teeth. She hated this. She had noticed to reply to that.

"If you want to kill me, just to it already! There's no point in tormenting me like this!"

"Hm? Killing you? Poor thing, do you really think I would have bother bringing you here, tied you up, simply to kill you? No, I have much bigger plan for you, my dear kouhai."

"Eek…! Don't tell me… you intend to torture me and then kill me! How far does your revenge does!?"

Eudial chuckled at that.

"As much as the idea seems tempting, torture isn't really my thing. I'm not some kind of barbarian. No, I have much better in store for you, for my revenge…"

Eudial suddenly cough. For the first time, Mimete noticed how pale her senpai was. She didn't look particularily healthy, dying even…

And this is when Mimete knew.

"Eudial-senpai, you too…?"

"It seems to. I don't think it started as quickly as you, since as my witch level is higher than you, I have more life force. But just like you, it's only a matter of time. Now that the Taioron Crystal is gone, I too, I'm dying. And you just confirmed this fact to me."

Eudial slowly went closer to Mimete, gently seizing her chin. Mimete shivered at this sudden contact.

"You who tried to kill me to get my job, here you are, getting demoted as a mere lab rat for me to experiment on."

Eudial then grinned.

"I cannot think of a better revenge to inflict on you than making test on you and using you to extend my own life."