Author's Note: The middle of this chapter contains what is basically a summary of a story by Clark Ashton Smith called "The Colossus of Ylourgne". I highly recommend that those who may be reading might want to take some time and read that story before continuing with this chapter, because "The Colossus of Ylourgne" is one hell of a story. The scene in this chapter I'm taking about is basically a giant spoiler.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Robert W. Chambers or Clark Ashton Smith.

Chapter 12: Amour Six

The creature called Amour Six raised its arms, and spheres of green light formed around all four of its hands. Smaller blasts of green light began to fire from the spheres, forcing Brunhilde and the others to run and evade. Mars took shelter behind one of the Roman pillars in the throne room and shot a Flame Sniper attack up at the beast. The flaming arrow struck the creature's crown but did no damage. The lights around Amour Six's hands faded and it turned its head down toward Mars. The beak of the creature's mask opened up and fired a beam of sickly yellow light down at the raven-haired Sailor Guardian.

Jadeite rushed over to Mars's side and stabbed his sword into the ground. "Absolute Ice Fort!"

A cluster of ice blocks formed around Jadeite and Mars into a small fortress, only to be shattered apart by the beam attack. Mars and Jadeite were knocked to the floor along with the shattered pieces of ice. The two of them were still in one piece but were also out cold.

"Dammit!" Brunhilde cursed.

"Mars and Jadeite are sitting ducks over there!" Uranus realized.

"What should we do?" Neptune asked.

"I'll draw the damn thing's attention while you two get Mars and Jadeite somewhere safe," Brunhilde decided.

Uranus and Neptune nodded and waited for the chance to move. Brunhilde charged forward and cried out, getting the attention of Amour 6.

Brunhilde thrust her sword up at Amour 6. "Victory...Arrow!"

A powerful arrow of white light burst forth from the blade of Brunhilde's sword and flew towards Amour Six's chest. The abomination quickly crossed all four of its arms in front of its chest. A barrier of sickly yellow light formed in front of Amour Six right as the arrow was about to strike, blocking the attack completely. Meanwhile in the instant Brunhilde had attacked, Neptune and Uranus had rushed over and retrieved Mars and Jadeite. The couple dragged the unconscious pair to the doors of the throne room, where they would hopefully be safer from attack.

Just as Uranus and Neptune were about to run back to Brunhilde's side, Amour Six opened its beak and fired another beam of light down at the redhead. Brunhilde swung her sword at the head of the blast as it came down upon her, creating a blinding flash. The resulting shockwave nearly knocked Uranus and Neptune off their feet. When the light from the flash faded, Brunhilde was breathing heavily down on one knee, her hair disheveled and part of her armor showing small cracks.

One-Eyed Pete laughed from where he sat over on Rita's throne as he watched the battle. "How droll! You're all putting on quite the entertaining performance. You, Sailor Brunhilde, are proving especially amusing! You fight so hard in spite of the fact you can't possibly win."

Brunhilde thrust the tip of her sword into the tiled floor and used the weapon to rise back to her feet. "Don't you dare look down on me, you pathetic one-eyed ghoul! I am Sailor Brunhilde! Commander of the Sailor Valkyries and the first under Lady Freyja! The blood of Thor runs through my veins! There's no way I'd ever fall to this wretched pet of yours!"

One-Eyed Pete chuckled and clapped. "Yes! Good! Keep up your bravado! It'll make your death all the more delightful!"

Brunhilde looked back at Uranus and Neptune. "You two stay back and protect Mars and Jadeite! I'll handle this beast alone!"

"Are you nuts?!" Uranus responded. "There's no way you can take on something like that monster alone!"

Brunhilde looked back at Amour Six. "Don't you go selling me short too. In the past I've brought frost giants to their knees. One-Eyed Pete's pet is nothing."

Suddenly Amour Six opened its beak again and began to cough out several projectiles in the form of yellow eggs the size of watermelons. All of the eggs hatched in midair into large black birds, each one with a white plague mask covering their heads. When Amour Six stopped coughing up eggs, there was a flock of three hundred birds hovering in the air in front of Brunhilde.

One-Eyed Pete chuckled. "I wouldn't underestimate the offspring of Amour Six if I were you. Perhaps now you will start to understand the gravity of the situation you're in. I wouldn't blame you if you started quaking in fear."

Brunhilde simply grinned. "Are you kidding? This battle's just starting to get good!"

Once Yoko and the others arrived at their base, Erica turned on the news. As everyone on the team expected, their latest battle with Patchwork Wiley had made the news. Someone out on the street had taken a video of Experiment Number Five's arrival and subsequent destruction with their phone, and the departure of Khepri and the others had been filmed as well. One of the reporters to arrive on the scene had also interviewed Constance, but thankfully the young officer had kept most of what she knew a secret.

"Guess we shouldn't be surprised," Yoko remarked as she turned off the T.V. "A lot of the stuff that happened in Paris with Tsathoggua made the news too."

"It certainly didn't help that a certain someone used a very flashy and overpowered attack," Erica remarked, giving Makoto a sidelong glare.

"I said I was sorry," Makoto responded.

"It probably wouldn't have made a difference either way. The guy who filmed Patchwork's latest art project showing up would've seen everything no matter what," Nao pointed out. "Bare in mind, Yoko and Hotaru both have some pretty flashy attacks too."

Suddenly a phone began to ring. Yoko realized that the sound was coming from her phone and pulled it from her belt to look at the caller I.D.

"It's my grandpa," Yoko told the others. "Good timing, actually." Yoko put her phone on speaker and answered the call. "Hi Gramps. I can guess why you're calling."

"I just saw the news about what happened in London," the voice of Yoko's grandfather, Professor Jean Paul Renard, responded over the phone. "What the devil is going on?"

"It's kind of a long story, Gramps. I'm fine though. So is Hotaru. Right now let's just say I'm taking care of some unfinished business."

"Well, just as long as you're unharmed," Professor Renard conceded.

"While I've got you Gramps, there's actually something I wanted to call you about. I think it's something from one of the old legends about Averoigne. Does the name Nathaire ring any bells?"

Professor Renard was silent for several moments before finally speaking again. "Are you referring to the evil wizard who was said to have created the Colossus of Ylourgne?"

Yoko nodded. "I was right. Mind telling me that story again? It'd be a big help."

"Actually I did write an extensive paper on the legend, but I can give you the short version. Back in the province of France once known as Averoigne, there was said to be an evil sorcerer, alchemist and necromancer known as Nathaire. Though his command of the dark arts was great, his body was small and sickly. One day Nathaire realized his life was coming to an end, and so he gathered together his most loyal apprentices and commandeered the abandoned castle known as Ylourgne. Nathaire then used his vast power to reanimate the corpses of strong young men all over Averoigne and commanded them to come to his castle.

"Once the living dead delivered themselves unto Nathaire, the evil sorcerer and his apprentices used their mastery of alchemy to transmute the corpses into one gigantic body. They used massive caldrons of masonry to melt down the corpses, making the bones first and applying the flesh and organs. Nathaire made sure that the face of his giant creation was a match for his own, because he was after all making this body for himself. As soon as the giant body was assembled, Nathaire used his dark magic to transfer his own soul or consciousness into the new body. Thus Nathaire had become the Colossus of Ylourgne, and he began a rampage through Averoigne, taking bloody and brutal revenge against all who had wronged him over the years."

"How was this colossus stopped?" Yoko asked.

"Well according to the legend, the monster was defeated by Gaspard du Nord, the wizard said to have translated the Book of Eibon into Norman French," Professor Renard answered. "He was in fact a former apprentice to Nathaire, but turned against his master because he felt the necromancer was far too wicked. It is said the young Gaspard had concocted some sort of powder that caused Nathaire to lose control of his new body. According to the legend, the individual components of the colossus attempted to return to their graves, but all the beast could do was bury itself in the earth. After making his new grave, the Colossus of Ylourgne ceased to live."

Yoko nodded. "Okay Gramps. Thanks. This actually helps."

"If I can be of assistance again, please don't hesitate to call," Professor Renard responded.

Yoko ended the call and reattached her phone to her belt. "Well, now we have a better idea of what Wyld is planning."

"What does that story have to do with Patchwork?" Nao asked.

"Wyld said he was making something that would make Nathaire blush. I remembered the name from the old legend my grandpa just told us about. He'd go on and on about the legends of Averoigne when I was younger. Anyway, it looks like Wyld is trying to create something similar to Nathaire's colossus."

Makoto nodded. "The guy does like using dead bodies to make what he considers art. Something like this would be right up his alley."

"Obviously the creature we fought tonight was an early attempt to replicate Nathaire's corpse alchemy," Erica deduced. "His end goal must be to create a creature similar to the colossus."

"Well if he is, we know how to beat it, right?" Hotaru pointed out. "We just need to make some of that powder Gaspard du Nord used in the legend."

Erica rose from her chair and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Unfortunately Lady Hotaru, the solution to our problem isn't as simple. For one thing, we don't know the formula for the powder Gaspard du Nord used. Furthermore, Patchwork Wiley's end goal is different from Nathaire's. Nathaire was trying to make a new body for himself. Patchwork is attempting to make what is essentially a mindless super weapon, something to help herald Hastur's conquest of Earth. Gaspard du Nord's magic powder likely wouldn't have any effect at all."

"So then what do we do?" Makoto asked.

"The way I see it, there's only one option," Yoko answered. "We find Wyld's hideout and stop him before he can finish his new masterpiece."

Mars regained consciousness to discover that Rita's throne room had gone through a dramatic change. The room had become even more surrealist than it had been previously, and had been divided into various floating platforms that hovered at different levels. The larger platform Mars was on still carried what had been the door into the room, which she was presently leaning against. Meanwhile several feet across the endless sky all around was a much smaller platform supporting Rita's throne, which One-Eyed Pete was still sitting upon. Amour Six floated in the sky between the two platforms, and hovering in front of the abomination were several small platforms, one of which Brunhilde was standing on.

Just as Mars woke up, Amour Six swiped the fist of its lower right arm down towards one of the platforms Brunhilde was standing upon. At the last moment, Brunhilde flipped back through the air onto another platform. The platform that the redhead had been standing on shattered to bits as soon as Amour Six's fist struck it. Meanwhile, Mars saw Uranus and Neptune standing before her at the edge of the platform she was on. The couple was presently fighting off the flock of monster birds Amour Six had given birth to.

A small cluster of the birds flew straight for Neptune. As they came near, the creatures opened their beaks and fired beams of yellow light at her.

Neptune raised her hand mirror at a cluster of birds that had opened fire on her. "Submarine Reflect!"

A blast of aqua-colored light from the mirror repelled the beams and blew the birds into pieces. In a matter of seconds though, the severed pieces grew into new birds.

As the new birds flew at the two Sailor Guardians, Uranus raised her sword. "Space Sword Blaster!"

Several balls of gold light flew from the blade of Uranus's sword and blasted the oncoming birds, leaving only a few feathers. Unfortunately those feathers quickly grew into brand new birds.

"Damn!" Uranus cursed. "Unless we destroy them completely they just keep coming!"

Mars winced as she tried to move but managed to sit up. She looked and saw Jadeite next to her, still unconscious. The raven-haired Sailor Guardian gently shook the blonde to try and wake him up. Jadeite was roused in only a few seconds.

Upon sitting up and opening his eyes, Jadeite saw the state of the battlefield. "What the hell happened here?"

"No idea," Mars responded. "But we should try to help the best we can. Are you able to fight?"

Jadeite nodded. "I think so."

Both Mars and Jadeite got to their feet. Mars called forth her bow and loaded a flaming arrow, and from where she stood, the raven-haired Sailor Guardian fired her Mars Flame Sniper attack at the birds heading for Uranus and Neptune. The arrow struck one of the birds and exploded, setting several of them ablaze. In a matter of seconds the avian monstrosities were burned completely to ash. Several more birds still remained though, and they began to fly at Neptune and Uranus from the left.

Jadeite stepped forward and thrust his sword at the oncoming flock. "Ice Dragon's Breath!"

A thick icy mist flew from Jadeite's sword and froze the oncoming birds into thick blocks of ice. The frozen foul plummeted into the sky below.

Neptune let out a heavy sigh of relief. "You two sure recovered at the right time."

"Yeah. But we're not out of the woods yet," Uranus told them, pointing towards the legion of birds that were still circling them from above. There seemed to be at least a thousand of them. "Whatever these things are, they're either really cautious or just toying with us. Or maybe it just hasn't occurred to them that they could easily finish us if they came at us all at once."

"In other words, this fight is just getting started," Jadeite realized as he looked up at the flock.

"What about Sailor Brunhilde?" Mars asked.

Uranus sighed. "Unfortunately, it looks like she's on her own."

At about the same time, Brunhilde jumped to another platform as Amour Six's fist headed for the one she had just been standing on. As her previous platform was smashed to bits, Brunhilde looked around and realized she was running out of territory. There were only five platforms left for her to stand on.

Brunhilde gritted her teeth. "Enough games!"

With her sword raised, the redhead leapt off her current platform towards Amour Six right as it raised one of its right arms. Brunhilde cried out as she flew for the arm that was being raised and cut into it with her sword right near where its shoulder joint would be. The redhead's sword cut the arm clean off, causing a black ichor to pour from the stump. Brunhilde blade kept on going and sliced into the arm below the one she had severed. This second arm was also sliced clean off and fell into the endless sky beneath them.

Once she had severed the second arm, Brunhilde flipped back through the air onto one of the remaining platforms. Amour Six held its two bleeding stumps and glared down at the redhead.

Brunhilde closed her eyes and gripped the handle of her sword with both hands. "Mighty Thor...noble ancestor...lend me your strength!"

The redhead's eyes snapped back open and her body began to spark with bolts of white electricity. She raised the blade of her sword into the air as the electricity intensified.

"Asgard Thunder Strike!" Brunhilde called out in an echoing voice.

Powerful bolts of white lightning shot from Brunhilde's body in all directions. One of the lightning bolts vaporized the bird creatures that had been circling Mars's group. Another zapped Amour Six and caused it to let out a horrible agonized shriek. When the attack ended, Amour Six floated in the air in a dazed state. Meanwhile Brunhilde lowered her sword and stood catching her breath.

"Damn!" Jadeite exclaimed. "She couldn't have used that move sooner?"

"Actually, I think that attack she just used might've been some kind of last resort," Mars theorized. "Sure it was powerful, but it looks like it used up a lot of her stamina."

Uranus nodded. "I think she might be on her last legs."

Meanwhile, Brunhilde glared at the still dazed Amour Six. "Let's finish this right now!"

Before Uranus or the others could do anything, Brunhilde cried out and leapt into the air towards Amour Six. The redhead flew into the window on the front of the creature's chest, and the moment she passed through the transparent membrane she found herself flying through a tunnel of swirling red light.

Brunhilde discovered she was standing in a field of purple grass underneath a cloudy greenish-grey sky. A gentle breeze ruffled the grass and carried a sweet scent the redhead couldn't identify. Before Brunhilde was a small hill, atop which was a tree covered with yellow flowers. The redhead climbed to the top of the hill and found Rita and Carrie cuddled together and leaning against the tree's black trunk. At first glance the two of them appeared to be asleep.

Rita suddenly opened an eye as Brunhilde approached and groaned. "Dammit. Can't you just leave me the hell alone? I'm done dealing with you. I finally got what I wanted."

Brunhilde frowned. "Somehow I doubt that."

The redhead removed one of her armored gloves and knelt down to take Carrie's pulse. Carrie's flesh was cold to the touch and her pulse was nonexistent.

"She's dead," Brunhilde declared as she stood and put her glove back on. "But you probably knew that, didn't you?"

Rita opened her other eye and sighed, looking up at the tree. "Yeah. I know. In fact I think Carrie was already dead when she showed up before. I mean I figured Carcosa probably changed her a bit, but looking back she just didn't seem like herself. I think it was the way she spoke that tipped me off."

Brunhilde nodded. "Mere humans like you and Carrie can survive in Carcosa for more than a few heartbeats. The place destroys people, and remakes them into Hastur's undead playthings. Some like One-Eyed Pete retain their personalities, but I'm guessing your dear Carrie was made into a simple puppet."

Tears began to stream down Rita's cheeks. "That damn Hastur. He tricked me."

"He is the king of many things, including the King of Lies."

"Well, it's not like he gave me and Carrie much of a choice but to accept his deal. All I wanted was for me and Carrie to be together. Guess this is as close as we'll ever get."

Brunhilde drew her sword. "I can't bring your lover back from the dead, but I can send you off to join her."

Rita let out a cold chuckle. "Fine with me. I don't care whether I'm dead or not. The fact is I've felt dead ever since Carrie was taken from me. I'd rather be dead for real than keep on with this stupid existence."

Brunhilde nodded. "You were a worthy opponent, Rita Castaigne. As a warrior, you have my deepest respect."

With one swing of her arm, Brunhilde sliced off Rita's head.

Back outside, Amour Six's torso began to swell up like a balloon, causing One-Eyed Pete to rise from the throne in surprise. Suddenly there was a blinding white explosion that filled the entire area. When the light finally faded, Brunhilde and the others were standing in Rita's darkened office. On the floor before the five were two yellowed skeletons cuddled together and leaning against the wall. One of them was wearing Rita's black pantsuit, and its skull was on the floor next to it. The other skeleton was clad in the tattered black dress Carrie had worn.

"Guess it's finally over," Neptune realized.

Jadeite looked back and saw that the door to Rita's office was open. He and Mars both noticed how the place seemed to be as silent as a tomb. Mars and Jadeite walked out of the office and found a yellowed skeleton in a business suit lying in the middle of the floor, still clutching the handle of a briefcase in its bony hand. They saw another yellowed skeleton slumped behind the front desk. Brunhilde and the other two soon joined the couple and saw the horrible site.

"Is everyone on this floor dead?" Jadeite wondered.

"Everyone in the building, actually," a familiar voice answered. They turned and saw One-Eyed Pete standing nearby. "They all died when you shattered the labyrinth. A pity, really. However, this is but a minor setback to His Majesty's cause. You may have won this battle and kept me from publishing my play worldwide, but the war is far from over. In the meantime, enjoy your victory."

One-Eyed Pete bowed to the five and then vanished with a burst of yellow flames. Brunhilde walked back into the office. Crying out, Brunhilde raised her sword and slashed Rita's desk in half.

"All of these people…dead because of us," Jadeite spoke, horrified.

Mars put a hand on Jadeite's shoulder. "None of us knew this would happen."

"That's right," Brunhilde agreed. "This is all Hastur's doing! That abomination corrupts and destroys anything it touches!" She looked down at the skeletons of Rita and Carrie. "He even twisted the love of two people who just wanted a happy life together."

Brunhilde pointed her sword down at the skeletons and quietly chanted something in a Scandinavian-sounding language. A ball of soft white light shot from the blade of Brunhilde's sword and hit the skeletons, causing them to vanish with a white flash.

"What did you do?" Uranus asked.

"I sent them back to our base," Brunhilde answered. "The least we can do for those poor souls is give their remains a proper funeral service."

Mars nodded in agreement. "After what they've been through, they deserve better to be found as a pair of anonymous skeletons."

Neptune nodded. "They probably would've been buried in separate places."

"What about everyone else who died here today?" Jadeite asked.

"I'm afraid we'll just have to let the authorities of this world handle them," Brunhilde answered. "But I will swear this! We will make Hastur pay for everything that has happened here this day!"

Artemis was down in the control room alone, looking one last time for any other operations Hastur and his forces might be conducting. The white feline looked at the clock on the corner of the computer screen and sighed for perhaps the twentieth time that day. He was becoming increasingly worried about Minako as the time passed. Artemis had assumed that the mission his partner had gone on wouldn't take long. The fact Minako had now been gone for so long without contacting them was causing Artemis to worry.

Suddenly one of the screens turned to static. Artemis hopped over to the console for that screen and discovered they were getting a communicator signal, but there was heavy interference. The white feline immediately did everything he could to clear the signal up. Within seconds, a fuzzy image of Sigrun and Gunnr appeared on the screen.

"Finally!" Sigrun declared. "I was starting to think we wouldn't get through."

"Sailor Sigrun! Sailor Gunnr! Are you okay?" Artemis asked. "Where's Venus?"

"The Aldebaran Players attempted to destroy us by trapping us in illusions," Gunnr explained. "Unfortunately, both Sailor Venus and General Kunzite are still trapped. We decided it best to call for reinforcements."

Artemis nodded. "Understood! I'll tell Sailor Moon and the others at once!"

The white feline dashed out of the control room and ran for the elevator as fast as his four legs could carry him. As he ran, Artemis hoped they wouldn't be too late to save Minako.

Please review and let me know what you think.