Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 9: The Ancient Art Of War.
By Razor Knight
Last update: November 21, 2005
Sailor Mercury leapt aside as a blob of acid hissed by, barely missing her. She mentally summoned the strongest attack she had access to. "Mercury Ice Blast!"
The large ice blast that shot from her hands turned the monster she was facing into an ice statue, and sent it reeling backwards, knocking two other creatures to the ground. However, a tiger-like monster had seen the chance and was ready to slash at her with it's claws.
"Mars Flaring Anger!"
Mercury heard a muffled scream behind her, and turned in time to see the tiger monster be literally vaporized by Mars' massive fire wave. Mars had a couple more years of training than her, and also a few more battles, so her attacks were stronger. But even though most of the team had reached Cosmic power levels, that didn't make the battle any easier.
Mercury, Nemesis, Sun and Neptune, not being as good at meelee as the other Senshi, had stood outside the combat area, throwing attacks in when possible. Things had complicated when a group of monsters had broken free from the battle, and decided to attack them.
Saturn was further back, and had shot a few energy blasts, but wasn't actively fighting. There was an obvious reason behind this. The princess of Saturn was known for her physical weakness. She had trained for meelee combat, but her low endurance meant she had to conserve her energy more. On the other hand, her raw power was amazing, or so Hope had heard.
What the creatures they were fighting were, Hope wasn't sure. Apparently, Beryl could transform humans into these monsters... Just like Meth'Lya in that novel she'd read, but unlike those monsters, the ones they were facing now had self-awareness and intelligence.
"Uranus Gale Blade!"
"Jupiter Berserker Fury!"
The center of the battlefield was lit up by a quite large explosion. Indeed, some of the Senshi were way stronger than her, Hope thought with a chuckle. However, she saw Uranus and Jupiter be surrounded again, and prepared to help, along with the other 'long range' Senshi.
There was no need for that. Hope sensed movement behind her, and saw Saturn's suit had changed, now having a pair of wings in her back... An Eternal Senshi? She'd thought only Pluto had reached that level (not counting the older Senshi, who were all Eternal or above that.) Saturn glared at the army of monsters, then rose her glaive. "Saturn... Death..." Energy gathered on her glaive's tip, and to Hope's shock, countless ghosts and spirits appeared swirling around it. "... Sickle!" Saturn threw her glaive into the mass of monsters as she shouted that, and as it hit the ground, it unleashed a massive wave of energy, as the army of ghosts drained the energy of any monster they saw.
When the attack ended, the numbers of the evil army had been reduced by one third. Hope was shocked and terrified. All that power, it was a good thing it'd been only used against evil. Saturn kneeled on the ground as her wings vanished, probably exhausted from using her attack. However, that attack had given them the advantage they needed to eliminate Beryl's army.
There was a part of her mind that told her some of the creatures she and the others were killing had once been humans. And to top that, the concept of killing living beings wasn't something she was happy with, she also knew right now this was the only choice. But even with their ranks reduced, the creatures were too many. Maybe she could give the others some tactical advantage. "Mercury Shabon Spray!"
True, that was her weakest attack. It hit a creature, only knocking it down, but not killing it. However, the secodary effect of the attack was what mattered. A dense mist fell in a quite large area around the impact point, and while it blinded the enemy, Mercury and her allies could see through it.
"Mars Flaring Anger!" A wave of flames washed over several creatures, and Mercury nodded. Now both the meelee and long range Senshi had the advantage. It'd just be a matter of time, as long as she kept on using her spray technique...
"Pitiful, indeed. The mighty Senshi are just pitiful."
Mercury looked up at the man hovering over the brawl. "Prince Kaeil?"
"Kaeil?" The man asked with a chuckle that didn't sound friendly or amused at all, as he turned to look at Mercury. "Kaeil is how I was known before I saw the truth. Now, you may call me Kunzite, one of the Generals of Beryl's army." Kunzite? Strange name. However, Kunzite's power was amazingly high, stronger than an Eternal Senshi. "And by all means, don't bother trying to attack me. I'm here as a mere observer, that is, unless I am forced to fight."
Mercury looked at the others. One hit by Saturn's strongest attack would possibly hurt Kunzite. But Saturn wasn't still fully recovered and the others wouldn't possibly scratch him. From the look in their faces, they'd sensed his power level too.
It was right then that things went straight to hell. First signs of trouble were the battle drums and horns in the distance... The barbarians of Tir Na Nog and the royal Lemurian army were there, ready to face the enemy. For a moment, Mercury thought their problem was solved, since the joined armies were easily a thousand times more numerous than the monsters.
But Kunzite didn't seem to agree. He laughed. An evil, inhuman, bone-chilling laughter. Then his eyes went black for a second, and then a wave of energy shoot out... Massive, and Mercury's readings said the wave would overpower even Pluto's strongest attack, yet it didn't touch any of the Senshi.
No, the wave wasn't aimed at the Senshi, but at the two incoming armies. Hope saw how the humans were struck by it, falling from their horses, twisting in agony as their form changed... It took nearly two minutes, and even the creatures that were fighting stopped to watch, laughing and cheering as the Senshi gathered and waited. Hope had a good guess on what was going on, and after those two seconds, she gasped in shock.
The former armies of Tir Na Nog and Lemuria... The former proud humans, ready to defend their countries from the wave of evil that was washing over the Earth... Were now a part of said wave. Kunzite had turned them all into monsters, and they were now advancing towards the Senshi.
"Retreat." Saturn simply said.
Mars frowned. "But we..."
"We have NO chance to fight them now."
"We can't just run away," Earth snapped.
Saturn took a few seconds to glower at her. Earth returned the favor. "Look, princess. I know this is your planet and I know you want to save it, but if we stay here, we'll die."
"I agree," Hope said. "Just look at them. There's possibly half a million monsters now, and we're all tired from the battle."
Earth looked back at the evil army, then sighed. "You're right. Let's go to Camelot and see what we can do from there."
Kunzite laughed as he saw the Senshi vanish. "Stupid humans. Nothing can stop the youma." He then concentrated as his army advanced towards a nearby village. 'My Queen, the youma scared the Senshi away. I've also turned the armies of Tir and Lemuria to our side. '
'Excellent! Metallia will surely be pleased with this.'
Kunzite sighed. He could almost hear the excitement in Beryl's mental voice.
"Moment, if what you say is true..."
Pluto looked at Serenity's worried face and sighed. "My Queen, Beryl's army is almost unstoppable. Almost. They will come to the Moon after they're done with the Earth, I saw that as a quite possible future."
"Isn't there a way to stop them before they reach Camelot?"
"There is, but... In the best case scenario, most of our Senshi would die in that battle."
"What can we do then?" Serenity asked.
"I've already talked to the High Wizards and the Demon Hunters. They'll send their whole forces here to fight the enemy if they must. "
"Can you tell me when they'll get here?"
Pluto sighed. "You know as a Senshi, I can't..."
"And as a friend?"
Pluto sighed again. "Damn it, Serenity. You won't like it. You won't like it at all."
"I want to know. I want to be ready for it."
"... I understand. Most of my visions of the future indicate Beryl will choose an important day for her attempt to invade the Moon. Your daughter's birthday."
Serenity fell silent, taking in the information Moment had given her was true - And she had no reason to think it wasn't - then that'd be one birthday to remember. "Will we... Will we win?"
"Depends on what your concept of winning is," Moment said with a humorless smile.
"What do you mean?"
Moment frowned. Revealing the outcome of the battle to Serenity... Could she risk that? As a Senshi, her mind told her that there were too many risks, that endangering the timelines wasn't worth it. As a friend, however...
Orion frowned as he walked around the main Demon Hunters base, located in Camelot. He wasn't one to run away. He wasn't one to hide. And he wasn't sure why Moment had told him to stay out of it if Camelot was attacked... Or why he had promised to send all his Hunters to the Moon for Princess Serenity's birthday.
Maybe Moment knew that Beryl would take over Camelot no matter what. Maybe the best chances of defeating her and her army was to gather the Senshi, the Demon Hunters, the High Wizards and the Royal Guard of the Moon.
But getting a bit more help couldn't harm anyone, could it? Pushing a button in his video communicator, he nodded as he saw the familiar face of Zane Thanatos. "Orion? What's the matter, need some transportation again? You know my ships are always ready to help," the man said.
Orion shook his head. "Zane, old friend... This one favor's not for me. I need to know how many battle-capable ships you have."
"... That information will cost you," Thanatos joked.
"Drop the act, Zane. I really need to know, and I want to know if you'd manage to get them all to the Moon by the Princess' birthday. "
"This has to do with Beryl's invasion, doesn't it?"
"Indeed. I have a VERY reliable source in this."
"Moment, I can guess. Oh well... To tell you the truth, even my smallest cargo ship has a few cannons attached. The Tiamat... Given the element of surprise, it could turn a small army to dust."
"Good, but we're talking about a huge army here."
"Then, it'll surely be fun. If I get to use my babies Tiamat and Drakken for what they were built, I'm on it. If I also get to help stopping that Beryl wench, then I'll do it for free."
Orion's eyes widened. "... You're kidding. Right?"
"That bitch's kinda killed the Earth's trading network. She owes me, and I'm going to make sure she doesn't get away with it."
"Oh, should've imagined it. Business."
Thanatos frowned. "Now that hurts. You think I'd just sit back and not have a part in saving the solar system? I may not be a hero, but I can sure help the heroes if they really need it."
"Gotcha. I guess I'll see you at the party."
"Most likely. Send my regards to Libra."
Orion nodded and cut the call. That was almost unexpected, but Thanatos was right. They couldn't let Beryl get away with what she'd done.
A/N: Yeah, I love to rip my episode titles off movies, books and videogames. It's be better than just numbering them. As well as I'm taking the names of the Earth's countries from legends... You may google Lemuria and Tir Na Nog if you don't know what they are.
Before you ask, yes, I'm making the Generals stronger than even an Eternal level Senshi... How could they be defeated in the future by normal-level Senshi then? With Metallia asleep, they only had their own power and Beryl's to go with. Which is just how, I think, the same happened in the anime... Unless the old Queen Serenity was a wuss compared to her daughter. I'll ignore that theory, thank you. ;)
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is a creation of Naoko Takeuchi, and I thank her for creating such wonderful universe.