Unmei Force: Inherited Wills
Chapter 3: Witches' Rumble, Duel of the Part-time Mikos
With Marisa Kirisame...
When Marisa made it to her destination, she was quite surprised that the futuristic facility turned into ancient infrastructure, as the entire area looked like the inside of a sacred temple, with various stone statues of various mystical beings, and wall-mounted torches mostly around her. She then looked around, as she is fairly surprised that the place looked like it was actually looked as she assumed. She looked around, hoping to find anything that she could interact with, in order to proceed to her actual trial.
"Huh... Why does this place seem familiar somehow...?" Marisa remarked, as the entire look of the place reminded her of a place where she and her friends once went to. "I think that this was a place when we helped Corrin to beat that illusion dragon... Anankos, if I recalled correctly? Well, it's not exactly the same, and I bet that this is just a reconstruction, so I shouldn't worry about it too much."
Marisa then heard the sound of someone warping in, as there stood the red-haired figure of Himiko Yumeno, Ultimate Magician, as she is clad in black sorceress robes, that covered most of her body, as she still had her trademark black cloak around her neck and back, and her hat was much more refined, and the staff in her hand was a refined version of her own staff, as the diamond tip of it was glowing gently with energy. The arrival of the red-haired magician seemed to surprise Marisa, as she was surprised that her opponent would be a magician like Himiko.
"...Huh...? This girl... She looks like that she's more than what she looks." Marisa stated. "Much like myself, when I first learned magic myself."
"Nyeeeh..." Himiko muttered drowsily. "I wonder how things are going with the others right now..."
Himiko then notices Marisa looking at her, as she turned her head to face the other person in the room. "Hm? Who exactly are you?" She asked back. "I don't think that we've met before. But you seem to look like a magician too..."
"Well, yeah." Marisa smirked back, puffing up her chest slightly in pride. "I'm the Ordinary Black and White Magician, Marisa Kirisame. Although I assure you, my title betrays the extraordinary talents in magic that I have."
"Mmm..." Himiko nodded gently. "Nice to meet you, Marisa. My name is Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Magician."
"Ultimate...?" Marisa asked back, raising an eyebrow in intrigue. "Don't you think that's a little bit too over-the-top, even if you're powerful enough to match up to the expectations of that title?"
"That's just how it is. SHSL Ultimate Magician, that's me." Himiko answered back. "But really, I prefer Ultimate Mage over that. Sounds a bit more nicer in my opinion."
"Well, that's nice and all, but what are you exactly doing here? Are you here to fight me or something?" Marisa stated, crossing her arms with a frown. "Because if you are, you might as well get yourself ready, since I'm going to be coming at you with all I got."
"Nyeehh... Can we not?" Himiko groaned, as she didn't seem to be interested at all. "I know that I'm a magician and all, but I want to use my magic for something better than fighting, and use it to give children something to enjoy. Can't you just take me back, or have someone do that for me?"
"Well, although I'd love to get a free pass on that, but I know that's not going to happen at all." Marisa sighed back, before she equipped her Hakkero in her hand. "Neither of us are leaving, until we fight and determine a winner. If you really wanna get this done fast, just let me beat you. I promise that it's be quick and painless, and we'll both come out of this, happy and satisfied. Of course, if you really have no choice but to fight, then like I said, come at me with all you got."
"Nyyeeeh... Fine." Himiko complained, before she then pulled out a tome in her other hand. "I've become a far greater magician than I was before, and I have MP a-plenty to fight this battle. So you better give up now, because I'm really strong with magic. Because I'll pile a lot of spells onto you if you won't."
"Try me then." Marisa mocked back, as she rose into the air, as she pointed her Hakkero at Himiko. "We'll see whose magic emerges victorious here."
Marisa then fired a series of star-shaped danmaku at Himiko, although Himiko reacted quickly, as she tapped her staff on the ground, as it created a magic barrier in front of her, that absorbed the energy projectiles, before it disappeared. Before Marisa could launch another attack, Himiko already made her counter, as the pages of her tome flipped to her own will, as she then pointed the staff's tip at Marisa.
"Fire!" Himiko chanted, as her staff glowed red for a moment, before it fired off a large fire-ball at Marisa. The blonde witch then dodged the attack, as she swerved to the side, grazing the attack close enough to feel the heat flowing over her skin.
"Well, you're going to need something more dense to even come close to attacking me like that!" Marisa shouted back, before she then fired a small laser at Himiko with her Hakkero, as Himiko was forced to dodge to the side. "Take this!"
Marisa then fired laser beams continuously at Himiko, as Himiko swerved out of most of the beams, and using magic barriers to reflect the others away from her, as she managed to deflect one back at Marisa, who avoided her own redirected attack. At that moment, Himiko's tome acted up again, as her staff glowed yellow this time, and there was a build-up of energy for a moment.
"Since you like to fly, then I'll have to take you down with some thunder. Elthunder!" Himiko shouted, as she fired a large orb of lightning, that exploded mid-flight, into a burst of lighting bolts, that showered the entire area around Marisa.
Marisa found that the attack was much harder to dodge, as she could barely keep up with the salvo of lightning bolts coming her way, as one managed to hit close enough to singe her clothes, and another manage to strike her leg, paralysing it slightly, and making her flail momentarily in the air, as she tried to right herself after being hit by the paralysing attack.
"Okay, you asked for it!" Marisa growled, before she then used her other hand to pull out several of her bombardment potions from her skirt's pouch, and used the Hakkero to fire a spread of star-shaped danmaku at Himiko. The combined assault of the exploding potions, and the danmaku, managed to hit the ground-bound magician several times, as the danmaku stung her body, and the exploding potions staggered her on impact.
Himiko waited for her moment to counter Marisa's assault, as she flipped through the pages of her tome, to find a suitable spell to either ground Marisa, or least guarantee a great hit on her, even while she is able to manoeuvre in the air to avoid the attack itself. As she continued to evade, she managed to acquire the desired spell, as her staff began to glow green.
"You won't be flying for now this time for sure! Take this!" Himiko yelled, as she then charged her magic up again, all while still dodging most of the projectiles, and weathering some of them to fire her spell off. "Tornado!"
From her staff, she summoned a small tornado, which slowly grew in size as it inched closer towards Marisa, as she tried to dodge the tornado, although the confined space of the large room, caused her to be unable to dodge the attack, as she was thrown around by the raging winds, before she was spit out of it, hitting a wall hard, as she slammed down on the ground, dazed for the moment. Himiko took the chance to prepare another spell, as her staff's glow turned to blue.
"Blizzard!" Himiko shouted, as she fired a blast of blue energy, that shot towards Marisa. Marisa slowly got up, before she saw the moving spell coming towards her, as she used her Hakkero to fire a blast from the ground to propel her away just enough to be out of the spell's path, as she scurried away further, as the spell hit where she used to be, and create a massive burst of ice, that would have definitely frozen Marisa, if she was caught in it.
"Damn... That's a lot of spells you have here, and they're strong too...!" Marisa exclaimed. "I take back what I said earlier, now I see why you're the Ultimate Magician, or Mage. But still, I ain't going to yield just because you got that for you!"
Marisa then took out a spell-card, as she grinned. "I might not have my trusty broom with me, but pulling this spell-card is going to still work the same! Hope you can handle a tackle without toppling, red!" Marisa stated, as she consumed the spell-card as energy. "Declare Spell Card: Magic Sign 'Stardust Reverie'!"
Marisa then charged towards Himiko at full speed, as she was positioned for a shoulder tackle, enveloped in a aura of blue energy, as Himiko tried to block the attack, although it proved to be far too powerful to be simply blocked, as it broke through her magic barrier, and connected with Himiko, sending her flying back. She slowly got up, as Marisa flipped back around, and landed on the ground, on both of her feet.
"How's that? You really felt that one, right?" Marisa smirked, before she then see that Himiko was actually scowling, actually infuriated at her loss.
"Alright, now I'm mad." Himiko growled, before her tome switched pages again, as her staff glowed orange. "I'm going to beat you real bad for this! And I bet that this iconic spell will most definitely pay you back! Meteor!"
From above, a rain of burning meteors, of varying sizes, fell down towards the entire front of the battlefield, as Marisa was shocked to see that there were so many meteors crammed in a relatively small space, as she floated back into the air, as she utilised her own flight speed fully, in order to even have the chance to avoid most of the falling rocks. She was clipped by some of them, as the flames singed her body, and the rock bruised them in addition to the burning, but she managed to make it through the attack fairly well. That is, until she saw that there was a massive meteor, too large for her to dodge.
"Tch...!" Marisa clicked her tongue in annoyance, as she quickly pulled out another spell-card, and consumed it also, as she then placed both hands on the Hakkero. "Declare Spell Card! Love Sign: 'Master Spark'!"
The massive prismatic beam that shot from the Hakkero, managed to stop the meteor in its tracks, although it didn't immediately start breaking the meteor up. Marisa kept the Hakkero held firmly, as the beam continued to wash over the meteor, before it then managed to actually start destroying the large meteor slowly, just barely in time, as the beam died down. Marisa was left letting her arms flop to the sides, exhausted from maintaining the attack long enough to destroy the meteor. However, she didn't notice that Himiko was already preparing another spell.
"Aura!" Himiko chanted, as a large beam of light descended from above, as it struck Marisa, causing him to be slammed down on the ground, with the holy light burning her body deeply with holy might. "This time, I've got you!"
Marisa didn't respond, as she was planted face-first in the ground, and she seemed to be unresponsive for a few moments. Himiko waited for a few moments, as she expected Marisa to rise up again, although that thought changed, when Marisa made no attempt to get up. She then sighed in relief, before she shelved her tome in her magician robe, and lowered her staff as well.
"That was pretty hard... I really had to use a lot of spell to deal with this one. She's quite good as a magician, although I don't know what kind of magic she's using though..." Himiko muttered to herself. "Now then, how can I-"
Suddenly, she felt a tickling sensation around the centre of her chest, as it stopped her mid-sentence, as she looked where the source of the itch was, which seemed to be a inch-wide rainbow laser, that connected to the centre of her chest. She then followed the line, before she saw that it originated from Marisa's Hakkero, which was held with one hand, as Marisa's head was raised, with a triumphant smirk on it.
"Psych." Marisa grinned, before she then slowly moved her other hand over it. "You got me good, but you haven't see my trump card! Declare Last Word! Perversion 'Sure-Fire Master Spark'!"
From the Hakkero itself, another large wide Master Spark was fired, as Himiko tried to escape, although the targeting beam of the Hakkero seemed to have locked her in place, causing her to be momentarily immobile, long enough for the brunt of the Master Spark to hit her full-on. When the beam died down, Himiko was completely unconscious, as her eyes were swirling, and she was letting out a dizzy moan.
Marisa then slowly got up, as she supported herself, using her arm to keep her waist straight, in order to stop her from keeling over. "Heh... Guess you should have tried to finish me there and now." Marisa stated with a amused tone. "Still, I guess that you really thought that did me in there, so I guess that you were a little bit too faithful in your own skill."
She then looked around, as she then walked over to Himiko, and gave her a few pokes to the head, to make sure that Himiko was really down. After she confirmed the fact, she then sighed in relief. "Figures that you wouldn't be able to pull the same trick on me. Don't know about you, but a Master Spark really does someone in." She remarked. "Especially when the full brunt of it hits you straight on. Either way, I'll be sure to meet you one day, and we can properly talk like fellow magicians. Hell, you might actually find a way to get myself a longer life."
She then noticed the door reappearing, as she gave the unconscious Himiko a few pats on the side of her head. "Anyway, take a nice nap. You deserve one for giving me a good fight, Ultimate Mage." She smiled at Himiko, before she then headed through the door, as it disappeared when she entered through it.
With Sanae Kochiya...
Sanae slowly waded out of the door, as she found herself standing atop a large circular ring, which seemed to be made of celestial sparkling energy, which rippled and glowed in various dazzling colours, which slowly changed as time passed. She then looks around, as she could see that the place around here was literally dark space, although the darkness was lit up by countless bright stars, which dotted the entire black sky. She then looked around, as she could see small floating islands, which had various arched gates on them.
"Wait... This place... It looks so familiar..." Sanae exclaimed, before her eyes widened, and her heart fluttered with joy. "Could it be-!?"
She then paced around the large energy-made platform, as she saw that her steps lit up the ground slightly with each step, and she got a closer look around, as she then noticed the bubbling body of energy on the side, which seemed to look like a divine cauldron.
"I'm at the Galaxy Cauldron... Then that means...!" Sanae realised, as she couldn't stop herself from grinning widely.
She then looked around, as she was met by a young college girl, with straight long black hair with a purple shine to it,dark purple eyes, wearing a light gray formal vest with a white short-sleeved sailor uniform with a dark red ribbon tied in the center, gray skirt, white knee-high socks, and black shoes. She also looked around, curious about where she ended up at.
"Odd, I don't know how I ended up here... It must be a dream, if something like this happened when I have dozed off just recently. This place... It feels like something celestial, like the Castles..." The woman spoke with a fairly calm and collected tone, before she then noticed Sanae, who was looking at her, trembling with joy and excitement, and her lips quivering to contain her own squealing. "Oh... Another shrine maiden...? But how did you end up here-"
"EEEEEE! It's Sailor Mars!" Sanae swooned, unable to control her own fan-girling any further, as she clutched her face, which lit up hard, as Sailor Mars was quite unnerved by Sanae's current expression, as the green-haired shrine maiden continued to squeal for a few moments, not even taking a breath, as she conked herself out quickly, from a lack of oxygen.
After Sailor Mars saw that Sanae was knocked out, she slowly approached Sanae, as the Sailor checked if Sanae was alright, and was fairly relieved, to see that Sanae was fine, as she was breathing quite fine, and she looked like that she would come back to consciousness, given some time.
"What exactly is wrong with her...?" Salior Mars asked herself. "She seemed to act like a crazed fan of mine... But that's odd... It's been fairly a while before we've done any work as Sailor Planets... Could she be some sort of spy for whatever dark forces we will have to fight next...? But she looks like a proper shrine maiden, and she looks so innocent... I doubt that this would be the case with her. I'll give her some time to recover herself, and let her explain it to me first."
Sailor Mars then backed away slightly, as Sanae revived herself, as she sat herself back up, huffing a few times to control herself, her inner fan-girl fully let out. She then raised her head towards Sailor Mars, and gave off a sheepish and embarrassed smile.
"I guess... I should explain what just happened...? And I should first apologise for that. It must have startled you, or made you think of me as some sort of lunatic." Sanae responded back, with a sincere tone. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, it's really embarrassing, but I can't control it, when I see someone like you before me."
"I fully accept your apology, young lady." Sailor Mars smiled back, comforted that Sanae was quite guilty about her crazed behaviour before. "Now then, I do have some things to ask... Care to answer them?"
"Of course, and I can guess what some of them are..." Sanae nodded back, fairly polite and obedient to the Sailor right now.
"May I kindly ask how you know that I'm Sailor Mars?" Sailor Mars asked back. "The people who know what we exactly are, on Earth, are a dozen at most. We're not exactly seeker of fames, and we do our best not to let ourselves become the topic of gossip."
"About that... Well, I can partially explain that..." Sanae frowned back, turning away with a slightly embarrassed expression. "I mean, you girls have been fighting forces of darkness for so long, citizens ought to see and recognise you. How I know that you're Sailor Mars... is the same reason that I have a idea about what your true identity is. And before you ask me, I'm actually part of a world of fantasy, but I'm not one of the bad guys trying to take over the world and ruin people's emotion and lives, so please don't go Super Sailor on me, and turn me into ash..."
"You know about my true identity...!?" Sailor Mars asked, shocked by the news, before she then calmed herself down immediately. "Well, that's going to be a hard thing to process. But you might have someone who has been watching what we have been doing. So it wouldn't be wrong that you might know me, if that observer is acquainted to you in anyway. Which brings me to my next question? Are you really a shrine maiden?"
"Yep, sort of just like you, Mars!" Sanae smiled back. "I'm the lead and sole shrine maiden for the Moriya Shrine in Gensokyo, the world that I came from. I can do real good magic and miracles, like change the weather, create great winds, use the power of the land goddesses of Yasaka and Suwa... I'm pretty good with my work."
"Is that so...?" Sailor Mars asked back, seeing the staff that Sanae was wielding. "Your appearance does firmly fit the role, except I expected that you would use gohei and ofuda."
"Well, that's for Reimu, another shrine maiden and a friend of mine." Sanae explained, before she lifted her staff. "Me, I prefer to use different means of fighting and working my miracles. This staff is tailored as a conduit of local faith, so I can use it to channel magic to create said miracles."
"Fair enough. Now for my last question, hopefully..." Sailor Mars responded back.. "How did you end up here...?"
"Oh that...? That's going to be a real long story, one that I don't think I can explain well..." Sanae sighed, before she perked up. "But I can summarise what is really important for both of us. I came here, because I was sent here to face a trial of my own. Well, not exactly just for me, as this trial is given to everyone in our group of friends... But I was sent here alone. And I'm expected to fight you in a proper battle, and see who wins... Nothing really bad, I promise. Just think of it like a serious spar."
"Hm... That does seem to pose a problem..." Sailor Mars nodded. "I guess that there's not exactly much I can do right now. Hopefully, there might be some way for me to get back as well... All I can tell is that this place is far, far away from Earth, too far for me to fly and travel across without any help. So all I have to do, is just fight you, and then when the victor is decided, we'll be both allowed to go back to where we came from."
"Sort of. I hope that's the case, because I don't want to end up having you stranded her, for such a selfish request." Sanae replied, before her tone turned melancholy. "You know, I always wanted to fight a Sailor Planet like you, Mars... Just so that I could have the pleasure of trading blows with my favourite idols... But when I'm fighting you under these circumstances, it really turns my stomach. I don't want to fight you, just because we're forced too. It'll just make the fight unappealing for either of us. I'm sure that you might blame me at least partially for dragging you into this."
"Actually, no." Sailor Mars smirked. "If that's all you want, then I'm pumped to get in a good fight."
"Wha!?" Sanae exclaimed. "But you were..."
"Well, when you're in Rome, do what the Romans do, as the famous saying goes." Sailor Mars stated. "Besides, seeing you, you seem to remind me of my self quite a lot, in the fact that you're young enough to pass off as a Sailor Planet, if we got you your own Star Power Stick. Not to mention that you know that we're both shrine maidens. So fighting you would be fairly interesting, for the reason that it makes me wonder what kind of fight would result, from two girls sharing similar traits. So if you're in, I'm in."
"Really!? You're going to-!?" Sanae blurted out, as she barely could hold back her tears. "Thank you so much, Sailor Mars! I promise that I really won't disappoint you. We're going to make this fight exhilarating as possible!"
"Glad to hear that then... A good fight gets my blood pumping, and makes me feel the glory of being a Sailor Planet all over again." Sailor Mars smirked. "By the way, you should only call me Sailor Mars when I actually transformed. My actual name is Rei Hino, but I guess that you might have found that out, if you know this much about me already. Hope you're a good fighter, because I'm coming at all with all I got!"
"Trust me..." Sanae smirked back, as she built up her own power, as strong gusts surrounded her. "I'm not one to disappoint people, especially someone like you, Rei!"
Rei then smirked back, as she then held her golden Transformation Pen over herself. "Mars Power, Make Up!" She declared her transformation phrase.
As soon as she finished her incantation, her body began to glow with white light, as long tongues of flame emitted from the Pen and formed fiery rings that passed down over her body. The rings slowly closed down around her, as they formed the parts of her Sailor outfit, now sporting ruby-coloured high-heels, a short red skirt just below her sailor uniform, which didn't change much, white gloves with red sleeves, red star earrings on her ears, and a golden V-shaped tiara on her forehead, a red tear-drop shaped gem on the centre of the bend in the head-gear. She then posed.
"I am the Pretty Guardian Who fights for love and for passion! I am Sailor Mars! In the Name of Mars, I'll chatise you!" Sailor Mars declared, as Sanae was wowed by the performance, before she quickly snapped herself out, and prepared to fight.
Sanae then used her staff to fire off a series of wind projectiles at Sailor Mars, as the Sailor dodged them gracefully, dancing away from the path of the projectiles. She then tried to get up close with Sanae, as she kicked and punched at the shrine maiden, although Sanae dodged some of the attacks, while using her staff to block the others. She then swipes at Sailor Mars with a twist of her staff, forcing the Sailor to back away from her. She then threw a series of magic-filled charms into the air, as they fell towards Sailor Mars.
Sailor Mars, using her ability of precognition, was able to tell that the charms were most definitely dangerous to be even near them, as she backpedalled quickly away from the falling charms, as they exploded into dazzling spheres of burning energy, which then faded away. Sailor Mars then took the chance to prepare an attack of her own, as she pressed both of her index fingers together, as she concentrated hard to gather her power to the fingertips.
"Fire Soul!" Sailor Mars declared, as she fired a large spiralling fireball, that shot towards Sanae. The shrine maiden, noticed the attack, as she quickly conjured up winds to block the ball of fire, although some of the attack pushed through the wind barrier and hit Sanae, causing her to flinch, as she tried to extinguish the Sailor's flames on her.
Sailor Mars then tried to attack Sanae, although her wind barrier was reinforced, stopping the Sailor from attacking the vulnerable shrine-maiden. As soon as Sanae recovered, she pulled out a spell-card.
"Declare Spell Card: Prayer 'Charm of Good Commerce'!" Sanae declared, as she slammed her staff forward, as she fired a straight barrage of pink glowing ofuda, as Sailor Mars quickly put up a guard, as she managed to block the attack fully, although it did knock her back a few feet from the force of the attack.
"I thought that you don't use ofuda?" Sailor Mars questioned Sanae.
"Well, just because I prefer the staff, doesn't mean that I don't use ofuda. I did use the charms earlier well, didn't I? Speaking of that..." Sanae answered back, as she prepared another spell-card. "Here's another heaping of them! Declare Spell Card: Omikuji 'Random Omikuji Barrage'!"
Sanae then threw a series of charms into the air, as they seemed to be filled with even more energy. Noticing that the room for her to evade the attack was little, Sailor Mars used her own agility and cleverness to swerve out of the magic bursts resulting from the explosive charms, as she managed to catch Sanae unguarded again, sending her back with a running kick to the abdomen.
Before Sanae could recover herself, Sailor Mars prepared a ofuda of her own, with four black kanji written on the sides of it, as Sanae realised what the Sailor was doing, although she couldn't react in time to stop the ability from being activated.
"Akuryo Taisan! "Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!"" Sailor Mars declared, as the ofuda burned away, although some sort of force appeared, holding Sanae down, as it grew stronger with each syllable spoken, until she couldn't even move a single inch with all the strength she had.
Sailor Mars then prepared her Fire Soul attack again, although she whipped out another ofuda, as she cast it into the air, before she then charged her attack up.
"Take this! Fire Soul Bird!" Sailor Mars cried, as she fired the same fireball, although this time, the fire-ball struck the ofuda, as the paper charm turned it into a flying bird of fire, which darted at the immobilised Sanae at a even faster speed, and struck her, engulfing her in flames momentarily. She tried her best not to scream from the burning pain, although she began to writhe when the effects of Sailor Mars's binding spells were wearing off.
Sailor Mars looked at Sanae worriedly, as she was concerned that she might have went too far with her combination of attacks, as her Fire Bird Soul was quite strong. Yet she didn't hear Sanae scream in pain at all, which made her feel dread that she could have gravely injured Sanae. She was prepared to rush over and help Sanae out of the flames, before Sanae blew her own flaming body out with a large strong gust, as she looked quite burnt, with parts of her clothes burned off.
"You're really strong and clever, Sailor Mars..." Sanae admitted. "But that only means that I'll have to push myself further to win this battle!"
"Even now, you're not bowing down... You deserve some respect too." Sailor Mars answered back.
"Aw, you're making me blush here. But I won't hold myself back with this one!" Sanae exclaimed, as she prepared another spell card. "This one is something you're not going to have easy time with! Declare Spell Card: Miracle 'Mid-Day Supernova'!"
She then raised her staff, as a large white prickling ball of light appeared over Sailor Mars, as the Sailor raised her head to look at the strange light floating over her. Suddenly, it then burst and fired a barrage of needle-like light projectiles that rained down around Sailor Mars, as she wasn't able to dodge that many attacks, as she was beaten by the light projectiles. She then quickly raised her hand, before she then created a large ring of fire that grew in front of her palm. She the fired it, as the large ring then split into eight smaller counterparts, which then shackled themselves around the ball of light, and simultaneously crushed it to nothing.
At this point, both fighters were approaching their limits. Sanae, with her magic sapping most of her energy, as well as the burning wounds she sustained, and Sailor Mars, with her injuries from Sanae's various spell cards and projectiles. Victory could be decided at a moment there, if they could land a decisive blow on each other, something that both of them knew.
"Well then, I guess that last hit wins the fight, doesn't it...?" Sanae asked Sailor Mars.
"Yeah... I'm quite excited from fighting this hard... After so long..." Sailor Mars answered back. "Go on, hit me with your strongest attack, it's only fair at this point of the fight."
"Well then, don't blame me for taking you up for the offer." Sanae deviously smirked, before she then pulled out one last spell-card, the one she was certain would be able to defeat Mars, if she was able to land it.
At the same time, Sailor Mars conjured a large long-bow, with raven-black wings on the top and bottom of the grip, and the entire bow was burning in flames. She then prepared to aim for Sanae, although Sanae already prepared her spell-card, before she could fire it.
"Declare Spell Card: Sea Opening 'Mose's Miracle'!" Sanae exclaimed, as she then disappeared suddenly, leaving behind several after-images of herself that faded away, shocked Sailor Mars, as she looked around for where Sanae is. She then used her precognition to predict Sanae's attack, as she knew that Sanae was going to stirke from above her, as she looked to the air.
Sanae appeared above her, as she floated in the air for a moment. She then rushed down towards Sailor Mars, who prepared to dodge. However, mid-fall, she threw her golden staff down like a falling javelin, as Sailor Mars instinctively dodged the attack, leaving her vulnerable to Sanae's attack, which she realised too late, when she saw no Sanae holding the golden staff wedged in the ground/
In a final desperate gambit, Sailor Mars attempted to make a close-range shot of the falling Sanae, lifting her head and bow up, as she charged the flaming arrow in between her fingers.
"Mars... Flame Sniper!" Sailor Mars declared, letting loose the fiery arrow, that engulfed itself in a large aura of flames. It sped towards Sanae, who noticed the attack, and she then barrel-rolled herself to the side slightly, as the projectile singed Sanae slightly, but she was still falling freely, shocking Sailor Mars. "What!?"
"Sorry, nice try, but I've practised this trick before!" Sanae shouted back at the stunned Sailor., as she pulled out her actual gohei, which was a simple piece of blessed paper attached to her short stick. "Grit your teeth, Mars, this is really going to hurt!"
She then made impact with Mars, as her gohei struck the top of Sailor Mars's head, causing her to bend over greatly, before the force of the impact created a large shockwaves of blue energy, that made the energy-made floor ripple violently in resonance. Mars herself was knocked flying into the air, the force and impact point of the attack, causing her to flip uncontrollably in the air, before she then fell back-first on the ground, fortunately, as she was unable to move for a few moments.
Sanae then let out a relieved sigh, as she slowly got up, and looked over at Sailor Mars, who seemed to be quite done in by her final attack. The Sailor transformation then disappeared, returning Sailor Mars back to her typical self, Rei Hino, although the long-haired girl was groaning in pain.
"Oh my... Ack... That really smarts..." Rei groaned, as she tried to get up, although she was too weak and dazed from the attack to do so herself. "What exactly do they teach shrine maidens like you from where you come from?
"Well, I did say that I represent the Yasaka as well. They're mountain gods, so the connection to proper strength to strike and them should be fairly reasonable." Sanae explained back. "Still... I can't believe that I managed to do it... I beat you in a fair fight... I don't know whether I should be sad or happy about the fact."
"We Sailor Planets work better as a group than alone, so that's not much to brag about." Rei answered back, as Sanae helped her up to a sitting position. "Thank you, now about yourself... Still, I can't believe you really smashed that hard to bring an end to it. You really take these kinds of fights seriously then?
"Of course, can't exactly be gentle when dealing with rowdy spirits and all sort of demons and monsters." Sanae chuckled. "Say, are you going to be alright, Mose's Miracle does a real number on its victims. You seem to be fairly fine, which is rare, but expected with how durable you all are when it comes to taking magic head-on... But i don't want to end up ruining you just for a petty fight."
"Nah... All my bones are fine and accounted for... I'm just simply sore, and that'll pass fast." Rei responded back. "Still, if this is what shrine maidens are capable of, if they put their back on making miracles work... Then I might need to work even harder on my shrine maiden duties from now on."
"Well, I'd imagine that you might be crazy powerful, once you do that." Sanae joked, as both Rei and Sanae laughed together on this, before the door to return Sanae back to where the rest of her group, reappeared. "Well, I guess that it's time for me to go. I'm sure that this is a good experience for both of us, and we've come away each with something we learnt from this."
"Yeah." Rei nodded. "Well then, keep on the good work, you really make being a miko sound like a swell job."
Sanae only smiled back, as she went through the door, and disappeared from the area. When she did, Rei then collapsed back on the ground, arms out.
"Man... I think that this girl is really nice, and quite determined too..." Rei muttered to herself, before she the realised something. "Oh no, I never asked her name! Ah well, I'll still be able to tell, since I got a good look at her... She won't be forgotten for quite a while."