Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 4: Death Busters.
Episode 75: Coming of the Silence.

By Razor Knight
Last update: January 23, 2014
Last edited: June 10, 2017

As consciousness returned, Hotaru didn't need to open her eyes to know things weren't going well. She could feel she was bound in both wrists and knees, and she couldn't transform. As she opened her eyes, she saw the two identical Witches staring at her. "You bastards..."

"You shouldn't insult us..."

"... As we're giving you the greatest honor of all."

Hotaru was trying to remember all that had happened before she was knocked out. How long had she been out? Perhaps ChibiUsa was already...

"That face you're making, you're worried about your friend, right?"

Hotaru saw Villuy walk to her. "If she dies, I'm going to kill you."

"Sorry, she must be dead by now... And you won't be killing anyone."

"What do you want from me?"

"Our Messiah, unlike yours, cannot exist in this world without a host."

Hotaru's eyes widened, she understood exactly what they meant. "I won't let you put any monster inside-"

"That was done while you were sleeping," Villuy noted, "and if you're awake, then that means our Messiah is ready to take over."

"What-" Hotaru started, but then froze, and screamed in pain. She could feel it, something evil, clawing at her mind, no physical pain she had ever felt could compare to this, and she couldn't fight back. "I'm sorry, ChibiUsa..."

Villuy smiled as Hotaru fell silent. "It's done."

Hotaru looked at them, but her glare was gone. "I see... You've chosen a fine host. With this, I can defeat the Messiah of Light."

"Welcome back, Mistress. We await..."

"... Your orders."

Hotaru looked away. "I can sense it, the Light is approaching. We cannot let it defeat us."

"That Messiah, they call her Sailor Moon," Teruru said, "and she's very strong. But the body you're using... From what we know, she's one of her closest friends, so she may hesitate to attack you."

Hotaru smiled as she walked forwards, ripping the heavy chains binding her like they weren't there. "Yes, I can see this girl's memories." She suddenly laughed. "Oh, how fitting."

"What do you-"

Hotaru reached out her hand, a crystal appearing on it. "The human you took this from... It's the Messiah's spawn, and... This girl had feelings for her."

"That is not important-"

"Fool!" Hotaru snapped. "Feelings can weaken a warrior, and if the Messiah is affected by what this girl is to her daughter... This will be interesting." She suddenly tensed, and darkness surrounded her. "Go now. Cyprine, Puchirol, attack the Senshi. Villuy, stay inside the building in case any of them gets through. Teruru, go and fight the rest of the human defenses."

Teruru sighed. "How bor-" She caught herself before completing her phrase, and nodded. "I will destroy them, Mistress Nine."

Uranus noticed the girl running besides her seemed quite depressed. It was understandable, considering what had happened, but they needed her to be focused to win this war. "Moon, don't worry, we'll get them."

"Huh, isn't it naive to believe everything will be fine?" Moon said, coldly. She then shook her head. "Sorry, I'm just-"

"I guess we deserved that," Neptune admitted.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but... I'll only be okay once I've found whoever is leading those Witches and turned them into dust."

"I thought you didn't like killing," Uranus noted.

"I don't. But these women put my daughter's life in danger, and took one of my friends as hostage. I may be forgiving, but I'm not stupid."

"Well, that's a relief, in a way," Uranus said.

"What the hell-"

"I mean, you didn't seem to have a boiling point at all. Good to see you're human after all."

"Thanks, I guess," Moon said.

"We're here," Neptune noted, stopping suddenly.

Moon looked at the building. She remembered hearing about this, they said it was an elite school, but nobody knew who had built it. "Mugen Gakuen." The building had a purple energy dome surrounding it. "Figures it won't be that easy to get in."

Suddenly, the Senshi appeared, along with some of their allies. "Good, you haven't started yet," Mars noted.

"Why, Rei, worried about me?"

"No, I just didn't want you to kill all the Witches before we got here."

"Welcome, Senshi..."

"... To your grave."

Jupiter looked at the two evil women and grimaced. "Seriously, that's the line you're going to use?"

Moon wasn't in a good mood, and she decided to show it to these two. "Moon Cosmic Wave!"

Cyprine and Puchirol smiled, slamming the attack with their staves. The staves suddenly started shining, but before the Senshi could figure it out, they were already swinging them at them. "Twin Cosmic Wave!"

"What the-"

A short explosion later, most of the Senshi were staggering up. Moon had been the only one strong enough not to be knocked down - although she had to admit the attack had hurt a bit. "What was that?"

Mercury was already analyzing the data. "Those staves can absorb and store magic. I suppose they could stop everything we throw at them."

"That's true..."

"... So now you know..."

"... It's hopeless to fight."

Dragon Mercury looked at the other Dragons. "How about we show these idiots fancy magic tricks aren't always going to save them?"

Dragon Earth nodded. "Let's do this."

The Sailors looked on as the Dragons all attacked in unison. The Twins dodged as well as they could, but a few of the slices came close to cutting them. "Damn it, play fair!" Cyprine snapped.

Dragon Venus smirked. "Not speaking in unison? Are you two too busy to sync now?"

"Death Surge."

The attack was directed at the Twins, but they once again rose their staves. As the Dragons looked at the attacker, they saw someone new was there. A tall woman, with long, black hair and black eyes, a black star drawn in her forehead, and she was wearing a long dress, almost like a gown, also black. "Damn it, Universe," Dragon Mercury muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"Why do all evil women have to be so damn hot?"

Mercury sighed at that, but then frowned. The data she was getting. "No..."

"Ami?"

"Guys, that's Hotaru!"

"What?"

Dragon Mercury flinched. "Shit, it's the Black Lady mess, all over again."

"Black Lady?" the woman said, "I am Mistress Nine, servant of the Pharaoh, and I'm here to get the last piece we need in order to win."

Dragon Sun frowned. "Damn it, I won't let them use you for their evil plans. Prismatic Flare! Gravity Hold! Solar Bolt!"

Mistress Nine laughed as the attacks hit. "How weak, how pathetic... How did you expect her to love someone like you?"

"Wow, they turned her into a heartless bitch," Mars commented.

The woman shrugged. "I have no time to play with you, kids. I'll just get what I need and leave."

Mars saw the woman vanish, then heard a gasp besides her. Even as she turned, she could see Moon being dragged into some sort of black disk, which disappeared as soon as it had appeared. Several of the Senshi tried to reach for their leader, but she was gone in a blink. "Usagi... No!"

Cyprine laughed. "You don't have time to mourn your friend, idiots! Twin Surge!"

This time, the attack was stronger than even Moon's one. Mars knelt on the ground, panting and glaring at the two women. "Damn you, I'm going to rip that smile off your face!"

Cyprine shook her head. "Really now? Let me give you a free hint, since you really have no idea what's going on. Right now, an army of daimons is marching through your city, and their orders are clear: They have to gather as many heart crystals as they can."

"What?"

Mercury looked back. "No... She's not lying."

"So what will it be, heroes? Saving your friends, or saving those weak humans you want to protect so-"

Nova's laughter cut Cyprine's speech. She noticed the others were looking at her, and flinched. "Sorry, but is this girl really trying to pull the 'moral choice' bullshit?"

Cyprine glared at her. "How dare you-"

"Learn to count, moron. There's more than enough of us here to beat you, your pretty Mistress, and all the daimons you throw at us. And there's a lot more people willing to defend this city. Damn it, even I made a better villain than these girls."

"Nova?" Dragon Mercury said.

"Uh, sorry... Here's what we'll do. The Senshi can take care of those two, and the rest of us will search for this supposed 'daimon army' and make sure not an atom remains of them."

"Sounds fun, count me in," Game Master said.

"Us too," Ail added.

Mira smiled. "Their evil army's already surrounded," she said.

"The Hunters?"

"Yeah. Mom just sent a message. The army's also there, they're doing what they can."

Warwitch floated up. "Well then, let's leave this one to the Senshi, and we'll help in our own way."

Circe nodded. "Ready or not... Mass Teleport!"

Cyprine saw the Senshi all look at her, and sighed. "Well, this didn't..."

"... Go as smoothly as we planned."

"Round two," Dragon Mercury snapped before rushing to the two evil women.

Dragon Earth smiled."Indeed." He was worried about Moon, but he had to focus in these two women for the time being, and hope Usagi could handle whatever the enemy had planned for her.

While the Senshi faced the two evil twins, two girls were back to their old habits, so to speak.

"Shouldn't we have stayed and helped?"

"While they have those two distracted, we may find a way to get in. It's obvious those two are there just to stop anyone from getting to their leader."

"To rescue Moon, we may have to fight Hotaru."

"I know."

"We may even have to-"

Uranus shook her head. "Perhaps Usagi was wrong, perhaps sacrifices will be needed."

"One week ago, I would have mocked her words," Neptune admitted, "but right now... I want to make them true."

"Me too," Uranus said, "I think we can do this. We have something the other Senshi don't have."

Neptune knew exactly what she meant. "Now if we knew how to use them..."

Uranus summoned her sword. "I have a crazy idea."

"Well, I have no sane ideas, so go ahead."

Uranus slashed the barrier with her sword, and as she had guessed - but not quite expected - it cut through, leaving a visible tear for a few seconds. "What do you know..."

"The time window to get through is rather small, but..."

"It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't risky."

Neptune smiled at that. "Do it, I'm ready."

Uranus nodded and slashed the dome, three times, creating a large. triangle-shaped hole in it. The two Senshi quickly dashed through it, a couple seconds before the barrier closed again. "That was fun," Uranus said, "let's never do it again."

Usagi woke up and looked around. The room she was in was mostly dark, only light source being some sort of computer console. She saw Mistress Nine using said console, but she hadn't noticed her yet. Usagi knew she had transformed back to normal, but that was easy to fix. "Moon Cosmic Power!"

Mistress Nine turned around, smiling mockingly at Usagi, who just stood there. "Fool. Your crystal is gone, I used it to fuel up this device, along with your daughter's heart crystal."

Usagi was shocked about the Ginzuishou, but she was even more worried about the other thing she had just heard. "Without that crystal, ChibiUsa will... Hotaru, don't you care-"

"Fool, Hotaru is no more."

"I heard that before. I know she's in there, somewhere, and I know she wouldn't give up that easily."

"Hmph. You should just give up. It's only your powers that make you special, without them you're just another human waiting to be destroyed."

Usagi glared at the woman, and summoned her chakram. She then smiled, seeing the woman's surprised face. "If you can see Hotaru's memories, you should know about these."

Mistress Nine leapt away as Usagi charged, but the blonde kept on swinging at her. "What- You shouldn't be able to use those!"

Usagi attacked again, this time managing to slice Mistress Nine's cheek. "Not invincible after all."

Mistress Nine let out a snarl, punching Usagi and sending her flying into a wall. "Damn it, you stupid human, I could kill you if I wanted to!"

Usagi tried to stand up, but the pain from the blow wasn't letting her do so. "Heh... You say that, and yet you don't kill me. I wonder why that is? Perhaps Hotaru is stopping you from-"

"Hmph, as if. I just don't see the point in wasting my energy killing a lazy ex-heroine."

Usagi frowned as Mistress Nine turned back to the console. A part of what she said was right, she no longer had her powers. But that didn't mean she would give up. She was still Sailor Moon, and Sailor Moon never gave up.

Teruru watched as her daimons fought the enemy. "Stupid humans, those low-class mages and human weaponry are no match for the sheer numbers of my daimons."

"Then let us even the odds a bit."

Teruru looked to the side. "Oh, it's the backup team."

Warwitch turned to the army of daimons. "Well, that's a lot of bugs down there. Good thing I brought insecticide. Polar Wind!"

Teruru gasped as a dozen of her soldiers were turned into ice statues. "What the..."

Ail and Ann smiled. "To fight an army of monsters, what is better..." Ail said, as a few dozen cardians appeared, tackling the daimons.

"... Than an army of monsters?" Ann finished.

The Witch was quite upset. These idiots, if left unchecked, could be enough to defeat her army. "Stupid humans, the Silence is coming, and you will not stop it!"

One painful energy wave later, most of the heroes were picking themselves off the ground. "Well shit, when did she get that strong?" Calisto muttered.

"I am one of the Witches. With our Mistress awakened, and our God approaching, my power will only grow stronger with every passing minute."

"Then we'll have to kill you quickly," Mira noted.

"Fools. Your strongest warrior is gone, and your Senshi friends can't do a thing to stop the Silence, what can you do?"

"Gone?" Warwitch repeated. "You mean Usagi is..."

Nova focused for a few seconds, then shook her head. "Usagi is still alive, but the problem is... It's Usagi, not Sailor Moon, who I'm sensing."

"That's right! Without Sailor Moon, you're nothing but a bunch of-"

Everyone gasped as a blur hissed by Teruru's side, leaving two very visible wounds on her stomach. As the blur stopped, they could see it was Game Master, who was holding two large dual-bladed glaives. "Hope this is enough to shut you the hell up."

Teruru was now really angry. These kids were no pushovers, and ever since they arrived, the human army and those weak mages had started fighting harder, so her army was slowly being decimated. If this kept up... No, she feared her Mistress more than she feared these kids. Retreat was not an option. "You know, I can somehow understand your persistence... Because I, also, won't give up as long as I can move."

Nova smirked. "Glad to hear you say that."

"What?" Teruru asked, then froze in place.

Game Master walked to Nova. "Can you kill her just with your mind?"

Nova nodded, not losing her focus. "Probably."

Teruru was shocked. That girl's powers were disturbing, she was slowly stopping her heart, and freezing every muscle in her body. But she could still win, if she could just...

Warwitch gasped as Teruru vanished. "She's gone?"

Nova was about to turn around, but she heard a surprised gasp, and turned to see Teruru standing there, a shocked look in her face, and a glaive's tip coming out of her chest. "Game over?"

Game Master pulled the glaive out, and smiled as Teruru fell to the ground. "Game over."

"Losing to... Sidekicks... This can't..."

Warwitch looked at Teruru as her body slowly vanished. "Ugh, I hate when they call us that."

"Still, we make a good team," Ail noted.

The three Hunters, Ail and Ann had kept themselves busy with the daimon army... Which by now was more of a small group of very scared daimon.

Saiko came walking to the heroes as the last daimon was destroyed. "Thanks for the help. I know we could handle the demons, but that woman didn't even notice when we shot our biggest weapons at her."

Game Master smiled and crossed his glaives. "We may not be Senshi, but we can still protect this city when they're busy."

Nova saw the two glaives had clasped together, in a cross pattern, almost like... "Wait, is it just me, or does that thing look like a giant shuriken?"

"They can be used that way, in the game they're from," Game Master commented.

"Wow, I have to try that game out one of these days," Nova admitted.

Uranus and Neptune knew every corner of the building, and they had a pretty good guess on where the enemy was right now. "It has to be the basement."

"It was off-limits for all students, after all," Neptune agreed.

"It still is."

"Villuy. You're the one Witch we never got enough data on."

Villuy smiled at Uranus. "That's not true, you also don't know a thing about Mistress Nine."

"All we know is, we're going to defeat her and get our leader back."

Villuy's smile faded. "Is that so? To use a human saying, then, over my dead body."

"That can be arranged."

"No," Villuy said as a dozen clones of herself appeared around them, "it can't."

"World Shaking!" The attack hit the clone in front of Uranus, but it simply vanished. "... I know what you're trying. You'll make us waste our energy attacking your clones, then attack us once we're tired."

Villuy snorted. "Knowing that won't help you, so... Try your luck."

Neptune and Uranus stood back to back, looking around. "Any ideas?"

"Not really. I just know we have to get through this bitch."

"I suppose you don't know it yet," Villuy mused, her voice coming from all the clones. "Mistress Nine took Sailor Moon's talisman, and has already used it to fuel the machine which will bring our God here. It's already too late. There's no need for you to keep on fighting."

Neptune laughed. "You know, months ago we could have been defeated by such a speech, but... We've seen enough of Sailor Moon to know she will never give up."

Uranus nodded. "And if she's not giving up, even if her powers are gone, then it would be most uncool for us to give up."

Neptune smiled. "I'm sure she's not just waiting to be rescued, but..."

Uranus smiled as well. "We are Senshi, and we must be ready to help her if she needs it."

Villuy noticed the sword and mirror were shining. "What is that?"

"We finally found someone we can see as our leader," Uranus said.

"It would be a waste if we die here, before we get to tell her that," Neptune added. "Neptune Cosmic Power!"

"Uranus Cosmic Power!" The transformation was quick, and their suit looked a lot like Moon's one, except their skirts kept their original colors.

Villuy laughed. "Foolish girls, having all that power is useless, because you can't hit me!"

Neptune looked at her mirror. It was reflecting her and Uranus, but... Not the Villuy facing Uranus. "I see, so this is what the mirror can do."

Uranus looked back and saw the mirror's reflection. "That's convenient," she mused, then started moving. Neptune realized what she was doing, and moved along, their circled each other while still giving each other their backs. "So..."

"None of them is being reflected," Neptune said, and lowered the mirror. Was it really useless? She noticed something in the mirror and smiled. "Haruka, above us!"

"Gale Sword!" Uranus swung her sword up, sending a very visible blast of wind up, and taking Villuy completely off-guard.

Villuy fell to the ground near the two, and her clones vanished. "This... You can't be this strong."

Neptune pointed her mirror at her. "Submarine Reflection."

Villuy was knocked back by a jet of water, but still tried to stand up. "I can't lose... Not when we're so close..."

"It's pointless to fight," Uranus said, mocking her speech.

Villuy staggered up. "If I retreat, the Mistress is going to make my death as slow and painful as possible."

"Not as noble as our reason to fight on," Neptune admitted, "but we can grant you a swift death, if you want."

"You dumb girls, don't take your victory for granted!" Villuy snapped and her hands lit up with energy.

Uranus looked at Neptune. Yes, she didn't need to ask, Neptune had felt it too. "Uranus..."

"Neptune..."

Villuy saw her foes gathering water and wind in their hands, and smiled. "Let's see who is stronger, then," she whispered as she shot a large energy ball.

"Aqua Tornado!"

Villuy was too shocked to even scream, she saw her blast (which had almost all the energy she had left) being absorbed by a large water and wind twister. The twister, however, didn't stand still, and swiftly moved towards her. Villuy closed her eyes and sighed. "There's no shame in losing against a stronger opponent."

Uranus saw the tornado cover Villuy, and there was nothing left of the Witch as the attack ended. "Okay, that's dealt with." She fell to one knee and looked up at Neptune. "Damn..."

Neptune was just as tired as her friend, but still forced herself to stay on her feet. "Can you walk?"

Uranus stood up slowly. "Barely."

"Let's go, we have to help Moon."

Outside the dome, things were not going smoothly. Mercury looked around and grimaced. Half her friends were out cold, and those who were still awake were as beaten up as she was, or worse. And the worst thing was, those women were beating them with their own attacks. "They're not easy at all..."

Mars clutched her arm, which was bleeding from a cut near the shoulder. "Right now would be a good time for one of your plans."

Mercury sighed. First things first, she needed someone to heal those who were wounded. Her visor appeared in front of her eyes, and she saw Aiko looking at her. "Call the Hunters, tell them we need some healers here, and backup if possible."

Aiko looked to the side. "The daimon army was just defeated... Along with Teruru. I'll contact them ASAP, mom."

"Thanks."

Mars smiled, she was close enough to hear what Aiko had said. "I'm getting used to hearing her call you that."

Mercury looked at the twins. "Me too," she admitted, then noticed something in the numbers she was seeing. "Ugh, why didn't I consider this..."

Mars saw her summon her computer, and stood in front of her, seeing the Twins had gotten bored of waiting. "Do your best, I'll stall them."

Nemesis stood up. "Count me in."

"Being beaten to a pulp some more by those two," Lilith noted, "sounds like fun."

Mercury chuckled. "Oh, this is just..."

Cyprine glared at the Senshi. "You fools..."

"... Cannot win!"

Mercury nodded. "But as long as we don't shoot you, you can't beat us either."

Mars' eyes widened. "No way!"

"Yeah," Mercury said, "I just realized something, they hadn't shot any attacks of their own, just reflected ours. After checking the data, I'm ninety-eight percent certain that they simply don't have any way of attacking us."

Puchirol sighed. "They found us out."

"It doesn't matter," Cyprine said, "as long as we're alive, that dome will remain, and their world will be doomed."

"So, should we punch them down?" Lilith asked.

"They're physically stronger than us. I suppose they were just fooling around with the Dragons earlier on... Even if we were in full health, those two would kick our rears."

"Someone ordered a healer... Or twenty?"

Cyprine looked at the dozen Hunters who had just appeared, along with the 'sidekicks' "Nice, more weaklings to destroy."

Mira snorted. "We won't fight you, at least not yet. First we have to take care of our friends."

Mercury heard all the Hunters shout out assorted spells, and felt the effects almost immediately. "Each of the Hunters is comparatively weak, but their numbers..." Mars nodded at that.

Game Master thought about it for a few seconds before smiling. "Oh, what the heck, I'll help too. Curaga! Phoenix Down! Regen!"

Nova chuckled. "Showoff."

Dragon Mercury stood up and looked around. "Okay, what did I miss?"

"Consciousness," Mercury said, keeping a straight face.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Jupiter asked, slowly standing up as well.

"They can't."

Dragon Mercury could admit he wasn't as smart as his girl, but still caught what she meant quickly. "Oh come on, you mean we were just helping them earlier on?"

"Unfortunately, that's what happened."

"Sometimes, fighting can make things worse," Dragon Venus said.

Mercury was again checking the data she got from the two Witches. "In this case, not fighting enough is what made things worse for us."

"... Now you've lost me," Dragon Mercury admitted.

"Those staves they use reflect magic back. In a way, they're some sort of battery, storing magic for later use."

"Like my book," Dragon Venus commented.

"Yes. Ever tried putting one too many spells in it?"

Dragon Venus flinched. "Yeah, I tried to store a Demon Sword spell in it, and it apparently was more magic than the book could store so it backlashed and hit me."

Venus frowned. "First I heard of this."

"I didn't want to look like a moron to you."

"I wouldn't think that you-" Venus started, then stopped. "Wait, I know what Ami means. If we throw too much energy at them, then those staves will blow in their faces!"

"Something like that," Mercury said, "so we should just..." She typed some more things in, then shook her head. "If Moon or ChibiMoon were here, we could be able to do it, but..."

"What about us, guys?" Warwitch asked.

Mercury felt like slapping her forehead. "We could try, I can't add up all the Hunters in the area, but-"

Mira smiled. "You would be surprised at how much power our group can dish out. Specially since..."

Dragon Sun knew that face. "What are you hiding?"

"Guess we'll show you right now."

Cyprine laughed. "Idiots, it doesn't matter how many of you attack, it will only make it more painful for you in the end!"

"I'm willing to take the risk," Mars said. "Everyone, attack them, now!"

The Senshi and the Demon Hunters all shot their attacks one after another. Mira, Calisto and Circe didn't shoot at first, but suddenly summoned swords made of dark energy. "Demon Sword... Strike!" the three shouted at the same time, their swords shooting at the two Witches.

In just a few seconds, everyone had taken a shot at the Witches, but they were smiling. "How stupid of you, now-"

"Sister, what's going on?"

Cyprine turned to look at Puchirol. It was the first time she heard her sister that scared... But she knew why. Puchirol's staff was crackling with energy, and cracks were appearing along it. Looking at her own staff, she noticed the same was happening to it. "I'm starting to really hate those brats."

Everyone covered their eyes as the energy the staves were trying to hold exploded, leaving a rather large, smoking crater. Some of the Senshi peeked into the crater, and saw the twins there, and noticed they were severely wounded.

"Well, that's that," Mars noted.

"Damn you, Senshi..." Cyprine said, then sensed something and laughed despite the pain she was feeling. "Poor humans, you took too long to defeat us..."

The ground started shaking, and Mars looked up. There was an incredibly large black disc in the sky, it was like a much larger version of the one the enemy used to capture Moon. "What the hell is that?"

Dragon Earth took a moment to notice the Twins' bodies were vanishing. "It looks like some sort of portal, and I'm not sure I want to fight whatever comes through it."

Minutes earlier, Mistress Nine had still been checking the console, and sometimes typing something on its keyboard. Usagi had been trying to stand up for several minutes, and finally managed to do it. "Hotaru, you have to stop-"

"Shut up, Usagi, Hotaru is not here anymore."

"I told you I won't believe that. Are you really going to let this continue, Hotaru? Setsuna is keeping ChibiUsa alive, but if we don't get her crystal to her, then-"

Mistress Nine froze for a second, then clutched her head. "ChibiUsa's crystal... It's gone now, don't you get it?"

Usagi noticed her voice was different. Almost- "Hotaru, you have to fight against what's controlling you. I promise we'll find a way to heal ChibiUsa, but she needs-"

Mistress Nine let out a scream. "No! I won't let you-" she suddenly looked at Usagi. "Usagi... You have to kill me before I-"

Usagi sighed. "I can't."

Mistress Nine chuckled, a mocking smile in her face once again. "Of course you can't, you're just a weak human girl with no powers. Hotaru already knows it, it's pointless to fight."

"Gale Sword!"

"Submarine Reflection!"

Mistress Nine was knocked to the ground, but it was more out of surprise, as those attacks were too weak to hurt her. "What? How did you two-" She closed her eyes for a second, and then frowned. "Teruru, Villuy... They were good soldiers."

Usagi looked at Uranus and Neptune. She knew those suits meant they were at Cosmic level, so perhaps they had a chance to- Yes, they could do it, but... "Please, don't kill-"

Neptune smiled at her. "We know, Usagi."

Mistress Nine let out a wicked laugh. "You weaklings, do you think you can even harm me?"

"Won't know until we-"

"Begone, insects," Mistress Nine snapped, shooting an energy blast which interrupted what Uranus was about to say, and knocked both Senshi through the room's wall. "Hmph, that wasn't even worth my time."

Usagi sighed. Was there really no way to- No, she wasn't giving up. Even if the Ginzuishou was destroyed, she could... "Wait, what is that..."

Mistress Nine turned to look at Moon. "What are you playing now, human?"

Usagi ignored her as she scanned the room for a few seconds, then turned to look at her, her face showing an almost unnatural calm. "Playing? Saving the world is no game for me."

"How do you plan on saving the world now, with no powers?"

"You mean, because the Ginzuishou was destroyed?" Usagi said as the Ginzuishou appeared in her palm.

"What? How did you-"

"Someone like you, wicked and ignorant, will never be able to know all this crystal can do. Heck, I'll admit even I only know a few things about it... But what I know now, what I realized is... It can't be destroyed. Moon Cosmic Power!"

Mistress Nine took a step back as Moon transformed, but then chuckled. "Nice speech, but your power is not enough to defeat me."

Moon closed her eyes, her face still calm. "I don't intend to defeat you, Hotaru, just to heal you."

Mistress Nine saw the crystal shine, and then felt it. Her mind, being pierced by something unseen. "What is this? So much power, you cannot be-"

Moon saw Mistress Nine fall to the ground, and sighed as the woman's body slowly morphed, along with her clothes. "Hotaru..."

Uranus and Neptune slowly walked in, looking quite worn out. "Moon? But how..."

"We have a sort of saying, 'nothing is impossible for us Senshi," Moon mused.

Hotaru opened her eyes, and sat up. "What- No, I remember everything now."

"It's over now."

Hotaru frowned. "No, it's not over yet," she walked to the console and typed something, then shook her head. "Too late."

"What do you-" Moon started, but then the ground started shaking.

Hotaru looked up. "The Pharaoh, he's about to arrive."

Mars gasped as she noticed something. "There, something's coming!"

A large, horned head appeared inside the portal, its only visible features were its glowing yellow eyes.

"That may be the second-biggest bull I ever saw," Dragon Sun commented.

Mars cringed. "Ugh, seriously, when it's not Terry it's Brad, and when the two of them are busy..."

"Sorry," Dragon Sun muttered. Rei was in a really bad mood, but he could guess why. He wasn't all that happy about Hotaru being- He looked in the direction of the building. "Perhaps we should just run in and destroy whoever's summoning that thing."

"Yeah, let's go get Moon, she'll take care of-" Mars started, then smiled as she saw a few figures run out of the building. "-Hmph, took you long enough, Usagi."

Moon smiled. "Sorry about that." She looked up and her eyes widened. "What is that thing?"

Saturn glared at the portal. "The Pharaoh. It's full name is Pharaoh Ninety, a creature capable of absoring the life of entire worlds in a matter of days. The Witches' role was to create portals to new feeding grounds, as it cannot move from planet to planet by itself."

Moon saw the creature now had half its torso out, but was moving slowly. Was it simply that slow, or was it so sure of its victory that it didn't feel the need to be quicker? "Ami, tell me some good news."

Mercury grimaced. "Sorry. I've run enough scans on that thing by now to know we can't defeat it directly."

Moon took a look around, and knew what her friends were thinking just by seeing their faces. "Guys, don't give up, there's always a way!"

"Well, and what is it? If that thing gets out of the portal, then we're screwed," Nemesis noted.

Moon blinked at that. "If it gets out of the portal..." She turned to the building and her hands lit up with energy. "Well, the answer is quite simple, then..." she said as she kept on gathering energy, "we don't let it get out of that portal."

Saturn looked at Moon, then at the building, then smiled. "Usagi, you can be quite a genius when you really want to."

Moon smiled. "I'll usually leave that to the real brains of the team, but this time around, I know something they don't. Moon Cosmic WAVE!" The energy beam was much wider than normal, and she shot it at the ground in front of her, rather than the buildinng. It dug its way to the basement, and the machine hidden within.

Dragon Earth saw the building explode, raining debris all around the area, then saw the portal start flickering. "What did you do?"

"There was some sort of generator down there, I didn't realize what it was at first, but when I saw that monster, I understood what I had to do," Moon explained, "or, at least, I made a very good guess." She looked up, and saw the creature trying to get back into the portal, which was rapidly closing. Yes, the creature was slow, too slow to... She flinched as the portal closed, the creature's head still outside. "Ouch."

Mars saw the monster's head bounce on the ground once before vanishing. "I think it lost its mind."

Mercury chuckled at that, then turned serious. "Moon, did you get what you were looking for?"

Moon sighed. "Mistress Nine said the heart crystal was destroyed, along with the Ginzuishou, to feed energy to that portal. But I recovered my Ginzuishou."

Saturn paled - moreso than usual, at least. "The heart crystal is gone, isn't it?"

Moon smiled. "As I told Mistress Nine, not even I understand all the things the Ginzuishou is capable of." She focused for several seconds, and suddenly, a pink, heart-shaped crystal appeared floating in front of her. "Now we need to take this to-" Moon flinched and fell to her knees. "Crap, not now."

Mercury quickly scanned Moon. "You've used a lot of energy in a very short time."

Saturn grabbed the heart crystal and smiled. "Well, the fight's over, so she'll have time to recover. If you don't mind, I have to return this to my-"

Dragon Sun noticed the pause and smiled. "Heh, still can't say it?"

"My girlfriend," Saturn said, smiling back.

"Our little Hotaru's grown up and we didn't notice," Dragon Mercury commented.

"Okay, first I'll return this crystal to her, then I'll smack you with my glaive until I'm bored of it."

The Dragon smiled. "Sounds fun, let's go."

Pluto saw a large crowd appear around her. "I suppose things worked just as I saw them."

Saturn walked to her, and looked at the girl in the 'time bubble.' "Are we late?"

"No, but a few more minutes and she would be past the point of no return."

"Good," Saturn said, then walked to ChibiUsa as the bubble vanished. "Time to wake up."

As the crystal returned, ChibiUsa opened her eyes, and then looked around in confusion. "Oh, I remember now..." She gave Pluto a sideglance, then shook her head.

"Welcome back," Moon said with a smile.

"I'll want to hear all that happened while I was out later on," ChibiUsa noted, "but right now... There's something I was about to do before those Witches interrupted me."

"What-" Saturn started, then stopped as ChibiUsa leaned forwards, kissing her on the lips. "Oh... That," she said as she felt her cheeks heating up.

ChibiUsa looked around, seeing her friends were all staring at them. "Heh, I don't really mind having witnesses."

"Poor Saturn, her face's as red as Mars' skirt," Dragon Venus commented.

Moon was staring at ChibiUsa, her face unreadable. "ChibiUsa..."

ChibiUsa winced. Was she going to lecture her for doing that? "Mom, I-"

Moon shook her head. "I'm just a bit... Surprised. True, I would never expect Hotaru to be the one to take the initiative, but-"

Saturn chuckled. "If I had known how it feels..."

Dragon Earth smiled. "As long as that's as far as you go, I don't mind. At least until you're old enough."

"And how old is 'old enough'?" ChibiUsa asked.

"Forty seems about right," the Dragon said, keeping a straight face.

"Yeah, should have expected that."

A/N: I think I've made it a habit now, to write the final battle as a single long chapter, rather than several short ones. Not sure if I'll continue doing that. This one got a bit out of hand, I think. It's still fun to not leave cliffhangers lying around, every once in a while.

Koei fans may know what Game Master's weapon(s) is, and may realize it's an anachronism. I decided not to have games run on the same timeline, in my fic, than they did in real world, as it was annoying having to remember which game came out in which year just so Game Master didn't break reality.

For those wondering, check Dynasty Warriors 6 and 8, or more specifically, Lu Bu/Lu Lingqi's weapon in those games.