Chapter 12: The Growing Darkness
Tenshi stood staring into the shrine, examining the expression of the one man inside, frozen solid by his attack. A pulsating dark energy from the prone figure of Koaru in the corner made Tenshi uneasy, but informed him that the Guardian was probably able to melt the ice without aid. Grabbing onto this belief, Tenshi turned and took off after Shiro, determined not to lose the young man again. Leaping through the air, Tenshi smiled, remembering the technique Koaru had used to leap on thin air and copied it; freezing the water particles under his feet, Tenshi leapt off the small solid surface and continued through the air, catching up to Shiro.
"You're mine," Tenshi thought to himself, powering up his sword. He felt himself falter as Shiro suddenly spun to face him, pointing his right hand towards him.
"Shit!" Tenshi shouted as Shiro's telepathic attack slammed into him, sending him into an uncontrolled tumble into the ground.
"You make this too easy Tenshi!" Shiro shouted as he landed on the ground in a crouch, placing his hands on the dirt and channeling his powers into the earth.
Tenshi gritted his teeth as Shiro's powers created thick stone shackles, binding down his arms and legs. Straining against the locks, the Knight swore as Shiro walked up to him and slammed his foot down on his left hand.
"Rather sad, isn't it?" Shiro said as he bent down and took Tenshi's rapier, examining the blade in the sunlight. "After chasing me for so long, you are going to die here, and rest forever in an unmarked grave. "
"Stop running your mouth," Tenshi spat, glaring up at Shiro, "listening to you talk is worse than torture."
Shiro smiled at the Knight's spirit, spinning the sword around in his hand.
"Big words," he said, catching the handle, the blade pointing down at Tenshi's left shoulder. "But I don't like your tone."
Tenshi roared in agony as the blade pierced through his shoulder, passing clean through into the ground. Pain screamed through the Knight's body as Shiro slowly pulled the sword back out, twisting the blade as it withdrew.
"That sounds much better," Shiro said, licking the blood on the blade with a look of sadistic joy. "But I think it's time to end this."
Tenshi's eyes followed the sword as it spun around and pointed down at his heart.
"Good bye."
Koaru's eyes snapped open as he felt the heavy vibrations of footsteps crossing the shrine floor. Slowly getting to his feet, he fought off a wave of dizziness as he felt his head spin from the hit he had taken. Forcing his eyes to focus in the dim light of the room, he saw Siefer helping Ayama to her feet, a thick stream of red running down the side of the girl's face.
"What the Hell happened?" Koaru asked, stumbling over to the couple, rubbing the back of his head gingerly.
"That kid knocked us around," Siefer said, his tone dark and hard, "than that Knight showed up and froze us solid before taking off after the runt."
"Wait," Koaru said, holding up a hand to make Siefer stop. "Tenshi just took off?"
"Yeah," Siefer said as Ayama slumped into him, causing him to roll his eyes, "your Unholy Fire is what saved us, otherwise we'd be dead."
Koaru felt the Shadow Scar pulsate, shooting waves of dark energy through his veins, causing his blood to burn. Turning his eyes down to his left hand, he saw that the Scar had spread already; his hand was now completely black. Spinning on his heel, Koaru bolted through the doorway, fishing out the Tritus Crystal as he followed the sounds of combat further up the mountain.
Tenshi lay motionless on the ground, his rapier lying on the grass beside him. To his left was Shiro, hovering in the air, arms crossed, cape billowing in the breeze, a grin of amusement on his face. To his right stood the Sailor Scouts, each one with a nervous shiver in their energies. Turning his head to look at them, he sighed in frustration.
"Can someone help me up please?" he called, and Sailor mars stepped forward, her hands glowing.
"Burning Mandala!" she commanded, causing Tenshi to flinch as the burning rings shattered his shackles, the heat sending mild waves of dizziness through his head. With his limbs free, Tenshi rolled away from Shiro, snatching his sword up and rising to his feet, placing himself between the Scouts and the young mage.
"Oh, now this will be interesting," Shiro said, smiling as he pointed both hands towards the group.
"Everyone move now!" Tenshi shouted as he dove to the side. On his words Sailors Jupiter, Mars and Mercury leapt to the sides, leaving Venus, Moon and Chibi Moon to get slammed by Shiro mental shock wave, sending them sliding across the ground.
"Bastard," Jupiter growled as she ran towards Shiro, channeling her energy into her hand. Shiro turned his eyes to her and grinned; his eyes flashing.
Tenshi and Sailor Mercury angled around Shiro, heading for his blind spot. Whipping his rapier out to the side, Tenshi lunged forward, the tip of his sword leading his path towards Shiro.
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"
Tenshi flinched at the sound of Jupiter's attack, instinctively turning his eyes towards her. His heart skipped a beat as the lightning ball slammed into his chest, tossing him through the air, his jacket smoking.
"Sailor Jupiter! What are you doing?" Mercury shouted as she watched Tenshi hit the ground hard. Locking eyes with her team mate, Mercury saw that her eyes were glazed over as though she had been brain washed.
"It's Shiro's Mind Bend ability," Tenshi said, coughing out smoke as he got to his feet. "She can't hear a word you say till he releases it."
"Unholy Fire," came a voice from above the group. Everyone turned their eyes up as a shadow fell over Tenshi. The Knight felt his heart pound as a flurry of black flames erupted in the air, surrounding the white jacket and glowing red eye of the Tritus Knight.
"TENSHI!" Koaru roared as he crashed to the ground a few feet away from the Knight, his sword pointed towards him. "DIE!"
"What?" Tenshi shouted in shock as the flames rapidly increased.
"Koaru! Stop!" Mercury shouted as she ran forward.
"Blaze of Shadows!"
Shiro's eyes widened as he watched the area that Tenshi stood in vanish in an explosion of pitch black fire. The heat waves from the blaze washed over his skin, causing it to darken slightly.
"That was rather impressive," Shiro said, smiling as the blaze faded.
Tenshi stood in shock, his body covered by his Glacia's Armor, though large chunks of it had melted or shattered from the force of the Guardian's attack.
"What the Hell are you doing Koaru?" Tenshi shouted, staring at Koaru as the remainder of his armor fell off. His eyes caught a slight motion to his right, and he looked over, feeling his heart freeze.
Amy had been caught in Koaru's attack.
"DAMN YOU!" The Knight roared, lunging forward, ignoring his body's screams of protest as his sword clashed against Kameharu. "I will kill you for this, Koaru!"
The guardian slashed back against Tenshi, the black markings continuing to spread across his face, his left eyes already burning red.
"If you had never come here, none of this would have happened!" Koaru retorted, throwing the Knight backwards and chasing after him, the giant sword tearing through the ground in his pursuit.
Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus launched a coordinated assault on Shiro as Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon crouched over Mercury, driving their powers into her body to heal the massive burns across her skin.
"What on earth is Koaru doing?" Moon asked as she turned her eyes to watch the two warriors fight. The sound of thunder behind her made Serena turn her head in time to watch a new attack from Jupiter slam into her gut, knocking her into the air, her vision hazing out.
"Rini," she muttered as she hit the ground, "run..."
Tenshi hacked as he slammed into the ground, blood spurting from his mouth as he coughed. Standing over him, Koaru panted as he wiped blood out of his right eye from a cut Tenshi had opened on his forehead.
"Got you now, you bastard," Koaru grunted, smiling as he hefted his sword over his head.
"Excuse me, may I bother you for a moment?" came Shiro's voice, causing both men to look over at him.
Every Scout stood around Shiro, each of them with the same glazed look that Jupiter had.
"I got what I came for, so I just want to thank you for distracting Tenshi for me."
"What?" Koaru spat, shipping around and charging Shiro, who merely smiled and vanished, taking the Scouts with him.
"Damn It!" Koaru shouted, spitting on the ground. "Tenshi, look," he said, turning around to face the Knight. "We're gonna hav-"
Koaru fell silent as Tenshi plunged his sword through his chest up to the guard, glaring into his eyes.
"Do you know what you have done?" he asked as he shoved Koaru backwards to the ground, spitting out blood as he stood over him. "I can't allow you to get in the way anymore," the Knight said, breathing heavily, pointing his sword down at him. "This time, I will kill you."
Koaru watched in shock as a flying pink ball slammed into Tenshi's gut, knocking him off balance and causing him to drop his sword. Sitting up slowly, Koaru saw that Chibi Moon had thrown herself into Tenshi in a flying tackle.
"Don't you dare hurt my Uncle!" she shouted, tears in her eyes as she beat her fists against Tenshi's ribs. Gently pushing the little girl off, the Knight got to his feet and snatched up his sword, roughly returning it to its sheath.
"Fine," he said, walking up to Koaru and grabbing him by the front of his clothes, pulling him up to his feet. "But I am still ending the legend of the Guardian."
Rini watched as Tenshi closed his fist around the Tritus Crystal and snapped the chain off of Koaru's neck. With his power gone, Koaru reverted back to his normal clothes before hitting the ground, out cold.
Pocketing the Crystal, Tenshi turned and walked away from Koaru, his mind racing as he tried to think of where Shiro would have taken the Scouts, and how to destroy the Tritus Prince's power.