BANG!

Adrenaline was running through Lulu's whole body. She didn't even pay attention to the second gunshot as she ran into the nearby forest. Thankfully for her, Eudial missed her shot. But she was still running behind her, aiming at her with her gun.

"Teruno! Come back here!"

Obviously, Lulu didn't pay any attention to her. She was confident she could outrun her- Yuuko might be strong, but she didn't have the same endurance as her. As long as she could keep running, she should be fine. Trying to shoot a moving target was far from being an easy task after all.

BANG! BANG!

Two more gunshots. Lulu felt a sudden sharp pain in her right arm. It only lasted for a second;. She was too deep into survival mode to care longer than that. But when she started feeling a liquid running down her arm, panic arose.

Did she just get hit? If so, how serious was it?

This split-second of worrying over a potential injury ended up being a grave mistake. Lulu lost her focus and stumbled on a rock, falling to the ground.

"Ugh…!"

Her body felt like it was screaming in agony. Adrenaline was starting to drop, and the stabbing pain in her arm was back. She took too many seconds to get ahold of herself, only having the time to get on her knees when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Don't move."

Lulu felt chills down her spine. The voice was so close. She knew she wouldn't have a chance this time to run away quick enough to dodge another bullet.

"Don't even think about trying to escape. I won't miss you this time," Eudial threatened.

Lulu gulped. She could see now the extent of her injury. There was blood dripping from her shoulder down her arm. Thankfully, it seemed like the bullet only grazed her. She then turned back, facing her assailant.

"Senpai…"

Eudial glared at her. "Don't look at me like that. This wouldn't have happened if you did as I told you. Now, give me your amulet, or else…!"

"P-please wait, senpai! Just listen to me-"

"No! I'm tired of your excuses! I've already lost too much time! Give me your amulet before the Sailor Senshi show up, or I swear I'll shoot you dead!"

Lulu's heart was racing like crazy. Deep down she didn't want to believe Yuuko could ever do such a thing. She may call herself Eudial, but she was still the senpai she knew and respected. She still wanted to have faith in her, no matter the risk.

"...no."

"Huh?"

"I said no! I won't give you my amulet. This isn't what you-"

BANG!

Lulu froze. Her heart skipped a beat. Getting shot from this distance should have been instant death. And yet, she was very much still alive.

The bullet had barely grazed her cheek. Lulu stared at Yuuko in confusion.

"... Next time I won't miss you…!" Yuuko quickly said. "This was merely a warning-"

"How many times did you shoot at me and miss? I know you're a better shooter than that. You never were trying to actually hit me, weren't you?"

Yuuko grew tense. Lulu knew she was right. But then, Yuuko shoved her gun right in her face, the barrel pressed on Lulu's forehead.

"This is your last chance, Teruno. Give me your amulet or I shoot. I can't miss you this time."

Yuuko's voice was trembling. She tried to sound threatening but Lulu could hear the hesitation in her voice. Lulu was shivering but it didn't impede her determination.

"Do it. If that's what you truly want, shoot me right now! Because I'll never give you my amulet…!"

Yuuko's hand started shaking. "Then you asked for it."

Her finger on the trigger was shaking too. Lulu was afraid but she continued to trust her senpai.

"Urgh…. Why can't I do it!? I'm Eudial, I shouldn't be hesitating!"

As she said that, Yuuko fell down to her knees. Lulu sighed in relief.

"You're not Eudial anymore, you're Arimura Yuuko," Lulu said softly. "You're my senpai."

"You don't understand…! I don't have a choice! I have to be Eudial, or else… I won't be able to keep going anymore… I need to gather all the amulets, or else…!"

"Or else what?"

"Or else she's going to kill me."

Lulu paused for a moment. She never heard such fear in Yuuko's voice. She was genuinely terrified of something, fearing for her life.

"... Is Bidou-san threatening you?"

Yuuko didn't answer.

"Are you afraid of Bidou-san?"

Once again, Yuuko didn't answer.

"Who's 'she'? Is it Bidou-san? Please answer me!"

Yuuko remained quiet this time. Lulu couldn't believe she'd be this afraid of Yui of all people. Something was off. There must be a deeper reason why Yuuko was so terrified and desperate.

"Senpai… please, tell me who's threatening you. You don't have to listen to them! I can help you. The Sailor Senshi can help too. Just tell me who it is-"

Lulu noticed too late that Yuuko's expression turned gloomy again. She froze when the gun was once again aimed at her, the barrel pressed under her chin.

"I said too much. Just give me your amulet, please," Yuuko looked like she was pleading. "I can't go back empty-handed, not again… she will kill me for sure this time."

Lulu nearly forgot about the gun threatening her. She did say she would never give her her amulet, but if Yuuko's life was in danger, that was another story. But she wouldn't give it until she could confirm who the threat was.

"Senpai… I can't give you my amulet. Not until you tell me: who is she."

Yuuko looked like she was hesitating. Her gun was still pointing at Lulu.

"I… I can't tell you…"

"Senpai, please! Tell me who's threatening you! Who are you so afraid of…?"

"It's… its…!"

"Stop right there!"

Sailor Moon jumped out from behind a bush, followed by the inner senshi.

Yuuko glared at them. "You…!"

"Drop the gun right now, Eudial!" Jupiter demanded.

"W-wait, this isn't what you think-" Lulu tried to explain.

"... So you really did lure me into a trap huh," Yuuko muttered. "You really were just buying time until they arrived…"

"Senpai, no…! I told you already, I just wanted to talk-"

"Shut up! I'm tired of hearing your excuses! You damn traitor!"

"Senpai-"

Lulu was interrupted by the handle of the gun suddenly hitting her on the side of her head. She collapsed to the ground, instantly knocked out. Yuuko stood up, still holding the gun, with a truly deranged look on her face.

"Teruno-san!?" Jupiter exclaimed.

"That's awful… why would you do that!?" Mercury let out.

Yuuko suddenly pointed the gun at them. "Shut up, all of you! Just die already…!"

As she was about to shoot, Venus quickly intervened. "Venus Love Me Chain!"

The chain made of light wrapped around Yuuko's gun before yanking it out of her hand.

"Don't play with dangerous toys, or else I'll confiscate them," Venus taunted.

Yuuko growled. "You… bitch!"

She was quickly surrounded by the inner senshi.

"There's no escaping for you," Mars warned. "Surrender peacefully."

It was true that an escape would be difficult. Yuuko was critically outnumbered. But she hadn't said her last words.

Yuuko chuckled. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"You really don't know when to give up, huh," Jupiter said.

Yuuko smirked. "You haven't seen anything yet!"

Suddenly, a black star flashed on Yuuko's forehead, and in an instant, she turned into the witch Eudial, much to everyone's surprise.

"... You can do that on command now? No more of those weird black pills?" Venus said.

Eudial grinned as she pulled out a Daimon Germ. "You mean this? I don't need them to transform anymore. That's what the human energy I've been gathering is for."

"The human energy you gathered by kissing random women, you mean?" Venus added.

"... We all have our preferences," Eudial simply replied.

"Regardless of who you gathered energy from, those people ended up at the hospital because of you! We can't let you harm innocent people!" Mercury declared.

Eudial chuckled. "Is that so? It's true that I no longer need those Daimon Germs in order to transform, but what do you think would happen if I took one anyway?"

The inner senshi stood there silently, confused about what Eudial was implying.

"As I said earlier, you haven't seen anything yet!" Eudial exclaimed as she put the Daimon Germ in her mouth.

"W-wait…!" Sailor Moon tried to stop her.

But it was too late. Eudial had already swallowed.

Nothing happened for a few seconds until Eudial suddenly let out a scream, much to everyone's worry.

"What… what is going on!?" Venus exclaimed.

"I can feel it… such a dark and ominous aura!" Mars said.

Flames suddenly engulfed Eudial's body. When the fire dissipated, something else was standing there, something far more monstrous than the regular witch.

"... E-Eudial…?" Sailor Moon called. "Arimura-san…?"

The creature answered to none of those names. It was a monster with reddish skin, fangs, scales and snakes instead of hair.

"She turned into some kind of monster!" Jupiter exclaimed.

"That aura… this must be a daimon form!" Mars let out.

"Well, it's not like we haven't fought those monsters before!" Venus cried out. "Venus Love Me Chain!"

Venus swung her chain at the daimon, who casually grabbed it before it could touch her.

"What!?" Venus shouted.

Without warning, the daimon yanked on the chain, violently pulling Venus to the ground.

"Urgh!"

"You're gonna pay for this!" Mars exclaimed "Burning Mandala!"

Daimon Eudial raised one hand in front of her, blocking the fire attack as if it was nothing more than the flame of a birthday candle.

"What!?" Mars let out.

"You don't fight fire with fire, but with water!" Mercury suddenly intervened. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

The daimon's hands ignited and she effortlessly blocked the attack. The flames were so hot that it instantly evaporated the water.

"Huh!?" Mercury exclaimed.

"You were saying?" Mars smirked.

Mercury looked down, flustered. "Normally it should have worked… those flames must be hotter than regular fire."

"Not hotter than the blood boiling in my veins!" Jupiter let out. "I don't need magic, just my fists!"

As she said that, Jupiter rushed towards Eudial, ready to take her down with brute force. When she got close enough she swung a punch at the daimon with all her might. But Eudial was faster and quickly jumped out of the way before violently kicking her to the ground.

"Argh!"

"Jupiter!" Sailor Moon yelled.

"She's strong! What a beast," Venus said.

"Let's surround her and all attack at the same time!" Mars proposed. "She can't dodge all of our attacks!"

Jupiter weakly got up and nodded. "Yeah. Let's get her!"

The others nodded in agreement too. They circled around Eudial before closing on her, charging towards the daimon from all sides.

Venus was about to hit her in the back. "Take that, you wretched- woah!?"

One of the snakes on Eudial's head suddenly turned around and spit fire at Venus. She barely managed to dodge the sudden attack. The same thing happened when any of them tried to get closer, the snakes all started to spit fire at them.

"That's cheating!" Venus complained. "It's like she has eyes all around her head!"

"How are we supposed to hit her if she can see us coming from all sides!?" Jupiter lamented.

"We just need to attack her with something she can't block or dodge!" Mars exclaimed.

"That's it!" Mercury said. "We were right to want to attack all together, but not in individual attacks. We have to do a combined attack."

Sailor Moon nodded. "Let's do this!"

The Sailor Senshi formed a wall around Eudial, focusing all their energies together. "Sailor Planet Attack!"

The combined attack directly hit the daimon, sending her flying a few meters away. "Warghhh!"

"We got her!" Venus declared.

But Eudial was quickly back on her feet, barely even scratched.

"Ugh, she's tough!" Jupiter commented.

"Even our combined attack wasn't enough to put her down!?" Mars exclaimed.

"Sailor Moon, maybe you can purify her?" Mercury proposed.

Sailor Moon pulled out the Eternal Tiare. "I can try. Rainbow Moon Heartache!"

The moon staff sent several energy ribbons with hearts towards Eudial, followed by a rainbow beam. The daimon raised her hand.

"Fire Buster!"

She launched a powerful gust of fire, which collided with Sailor Moon's attack, successfully blocking it, much to everyone's shock.

"No way…!" Sailor Moon mumbled.

"Tsk! Is there any way to defeat this monster!?" Jupiter lamented.

"No daimon has ever been this powerful before!" Mars commented.

"This isn't a regular daimon anymore… It's a super daimon!" Venus let out.

Mercury activated her goggles. "There must be a way to defeat her."

"Not even our combined attack could stop her! What are we going to do…" Sailor Moon mumbled.

"Maybe you just need a few extra people."

Sailor Moon turned back. "That voice…!"

Uranus suddenly jumped down from a tree. "World Shaking!"

The daimon narrowly dodged the sudden attack but was quickly hit by another. "Deep Submerge!"

The daimon collapsed to the ground upon the impact of the aquatic attack.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" Uranus exclaimed.

"Let's do our combined attack, all together," Neptune added.

Sailor Moon nodded. "Let's do this!"

The Sailor Senshi gathered around the daimon. "Sailor Planet Power Meditation!"

Eudial didn't even have time to see what was coming when she got hit by their improved combined attack. "WAAAAARGHHH!"

The daimon collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

"We did it!" Venus exclaimed.

"It's not over yet," Mercury put her hand on her goggles. "But her energy is rapidly decreasing."

The Daimon Eudial weakly stood up, barely standing on her feet. The snakes on her head were glaring at the senshi, hissing furiously.

"What a pitiful beast you have become, Eudial. Is this the price of your hubris?" Neptune said. Her words were harsh but her voice was devoid of actual malice.

Uranus conjured her Space Sword. "I shall put her out of her misery then!"

As she said that, the Senshi of Wind rushed towards Eudial. "Space Turbul-"

"Stop! Don't hurt her!"

Lulu had suddenly jumped in front of Eudial. Uranus abruptly stopped, her sword about to cut through Lulu.

"Teruno! Get out of the way!" Uranus ordered. "She's nothing more than a monster now-"

"You're wrong! She's not in her normal state! Can't you see she's a victim here!?"

"Teruno-san, I understand the person she used to be was your friend, but this is no longer the Arimura Yuuko you knew," Neptune said calmly. "She chose this for herself. She chose to be Eudial."

"That's not true! Someone has been deceiving her, manipulating her- even threatening her! She needs help…!"

"Threatening her? Who?" Mercury suddenly asked. "Could it be… Bidou-san?"

Lulu looked away for a moment. "I… I'm not sure… I don't think so. I think… someone else is involved. Someone far more terrifying…!"

"..ugh… argHhGgHhhGg!"

"Senpai!?"

Lulu quickly turned back when she heard Eudial growl in pain. Flames suddenly engulfed her body for a moment and when it disappeared, she was back to her human form.

Except she looked terrible. She looked sick. Her skin had lost almost all its colour, there were dark circles under her eyes and blood dripping out of her mouth as she coughed some droplets.

"Senpai…!?"

"... Why… is this really… my limit…?" Yuuko weakly mumbled.

The Sailor Senshi carefully approached the fallen daimon.

"It's over, Eudial- no, Arimura Yuuko," Mars said.

"You're in no state to fight us anymore," Venus warned.

"So I would suggest you cooperate with us now," Jupiter added.

"Girls, wait! I think she needs medical help," Mercury said.

Yuuko continued to cough up blood.

"That doesn't look good! We need to do something!" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

As she said that, Sailor Moon slowly approached Yuuko. "Arimura-san…"

But before she could reach her, Yuuko suddenly glared at her, aiming at her with her gun. "Don't come any closer!"

Sailor Moon froze. Venus quickly got in front of her. "She got her gun back!?"

"Don't do anything stupid, Arimura!" Uranus warned.

"Senpai please, stop…!"

"Shut up, all of you!" Yuuko yelled, waving her gun at them. "You better stay away from me! Or I won't hesitate to shoot…!"

Yuuko started to walk backward, still aiming at them. Then, when she was far enough, she turned back and ran away.

"We can't let her get away-" Uranus began to say.

But as Uranus tried to run after her, she realised something was pulling her down. She looked down, noticing her foot was stuck under a root. "Huh…? When did I…?"

"Senpai, wait!"

Lulu ran past Uranus, going after Yuuko. Uranus tried to pull out from the root, but it was in vain.

"Uranus…?" Neptune said.

Uranus eventually used her sword to cut the root.

"That idiot…!" Uranus muttered. "Let's go before she gets herself killed-"

"Aaarrrghhh!"

A scream suddenly came out from the woods, much to everyone's worries.

"Teruno-san!?" Jupiter let out.

"Let's hurry up before it's too late!" Mars said.

Without further ado, the Sailor Senshi rushed into the forest.

Yuuko was running with all the strength she had left, doing her best to ignore the burning pain in her chest. She started coughing blood again and tripped to her knees.

"Urgh…!"

"Senpai, wait!"

When she heard Lulu's voice far away Yuuko felt some relief. Maybe it was for the best if she caught her. Kaolinite was probably going to kill her anyway for once again failing. Maybe accepting Lulu's help was the safest option.

Or she could try to get her amulet once again.

Yuuko winced when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. "Teruno…?"

She didn't have the time to look up before they both suddenly vanished.

Lulu only had the time to briefly see Yuuko disappear alongside another woman.

"Senpai…?"

She didn't get a good look at the other woman. The trees were blocking her view.

"Was it Bidou-san…?"

Lulu then heard a branch crack. Someone was behind her. She quickly turned back but she was too late to react to what came next.

"Charm Buster!"

A torrent of dark stars suddenly assaulted her, violently throwing her to the ground.

"Aaarrrghhh!"

Lulu was left whimpering on the ground. Her heart was throbbing painfully and it took her a few seconds to come back to her senses.

"W-what… what happened…?"

"Found you, you little backstabber!"

That voice. That annoying voice. Lulu didn't need to look up to know to whom it belonged.

"... Mimi?"

Mimete was proudly standing in front of her, looking down at her with both fury and glee in her eyes.

She then pointed her witch staff at Lulu. "That's Mimete to you, bitch."