Kyouko Tsukino
Steampunker
This is the previous version of a story I've been writing and rewriting for decades. The latest, and most likely final version of it is Sailor Moon Aeons, already posted in this same section. Cyber Moon, while not as polished as Aeons, has one major advantage: It's a finished story. If you've read Aeons, some characters will sound familiar, but there are enough differences between both versions to make them both worth a read - some characters will appear at different parts of the story, some characters won't be around, there will be a few characters which were removed for Aeons...
But why post this, if it's a less perfect version of Aeons? Because Sailor Moon Aeons is both a rewrite and a sequel (in the form of a reboot) of this particular story: A major event in this story links this story to Aeons, and once you get to it, you will know which event it is, and why the link is important. But sorry, no spoilers.
Be warned, however: This story is the longest I've ever written, close to seven hundred thousand words. I'll post all four "Books" of the story in one single thread, unlike with Aeons - because it's a finished story and I don't want to clutter this part of the forums with more threads than needed.
Anyhow, let's wrap up the usual, boring writer's note and get on with the story.
'Another boring day at the mines,' the blonde woman thought with a heavy sigh as she grabbed her plasma drill and headed for her assigned spot. True, being a miner in a copper mine wasn't one of the best jobs for a human woman. The air always smelled strange, she was quite pale due to rarely ever seeing the Sun, and she had to go on drilling dully for hours and hours. But it wasn't like she had any saying in that. Humans had, dozens of generations ago, been a race of nomads, living in the third planet, the Earth as the Masters had named it. Then the Masters had come, taken over all the eleven planets, and enslaved them.
The woman, Lumina, started her plasma drill and saw it start digging into the rock. Not everything was bad, she had heard her mother's stories of the ancient nomads and their hunting expeditions... Humans of the past were little more than a few thousand hundreds... Nowadays, they were millions, and thanks to the technological and medical advances of the Masters, their lives were far better and longer than those of their ancestors.
There was something bothering her lately. Something in the back of her mind, telling her that her race didn't need these aliens to survive. That being a slave wasn't the only way to live. That these aliens weren't just gathering resources to improve their cities and strongholds. And that 'voice' had grown in volume and insistence as days passed. However, rebelling against the Masters was a stupid idea, one that, she knew, had cost many humans their lives in the past.
Her train of thoughts was interrupted as her plasma drill hit something. A diamond in a copper mine? She looked at the massive drill's data screen and frowned. 'What's this...' The drill's readings told her the object was metallic, however that had to be wrong. That plasma drill displayed it as 'unknown metal,' a thing she had never seen before, and the drill could cut through diamond in seconds, yet it had left no marks in the metal's surface.
'Whatever it is, it may be important,' Lumina thought with a smirk. Maybe important enough that the Masters would consider moving her to a better location, or even better, out of the mine. She used her drill skillfully to dig around the object, and as she set the massive artifact aside, she gasped. 'A sword?'
It wasn't the kind of swords she knew. The swords the Masters carried had plasma blades. She didn't think this weapon would be able to cut through anything, but the material had to be very resistant to stop a drill from piercing through it. Where had it come from? Who had created it? Was there another sentient race living in Venus she didn't know about?
"Hey you, what are you doing?"
'Great, just great.' Lumina saw the guard approaching her. True, there were just a few dozen guards in the mine, but they were more than enough to keep the few hundred humans in it from escaping. After all, the guards had plasma blades and guns, while all the miners could use were the heavy plasma drills.
"Why did you stop, human?"
She looked at the guard. Just like the rest of his race, this creature was almost seven feet tall, with four strong-looking arms and scaly red skin. Much like what humans called 'lizards,' the Masters were a race with enough physical strength to kill several humans in seconds. The guard's small, green eyes stared at her in a way that reminded her of a predator looking at its next meal. 'Way to go, Lumina, stop digging when you know there's a guard near...' Well, she would have to show one of them the sword anyways, so no time was better than this.
"I apologize for stopping, but I found this strange artifact, and my drill couldn't punch through it so I had to stop to get it off the way..." Picking up the sword from the hole she had dug, she showed it to the guard. Then it hit her, a wave of energy like nothing she had ever felt before. She was aware of the guard still standing in front of her, giving her an earful of his opinions on the 'useless sword' and her 'primitive species.' If only he knew how 'useless' this weapon really was.
The power emanating from it, she could feel it clearly. The sword had somehow triggered something in her mind. She felt her strength, speed and stamina increase with every second, and a voice whispered in her mind, telling her this was her chance to escape. "Escape..." She whispered.
"... And only a barbaric race like yours would... Hey, are you listening to me, slave?" The creature snapped finally realizing she was paying no attention to him. "You're really testing my patience," he added a few seconds later, and this time he got some muttering from the woman as an answer. "What did you say?"
"Venus Shining Star," Lumina said as she rose her right arm. A star-shaped blast of light shot from it, tearing through the creature's chest. "Huh, what did I...?" She blinked a few times, and then looked around. Bits of bluish blood and guts were splattered on the far wall of the tunnel, as the body of the creature that'd been speaking to her laid in front of her, obviously dead. She was still holding the strange sword in her left hand, and her right hand was shining. Shining? 'Escape...'
She could hear the voice in her head, as well as the shouts coming from both directions of the corridor she was in. 'This just keeps getting better and better,' she thought with a frown. What was that light blast she'd used? Whatever it was, she felt like the power had always been there, waiting for the right time for her to use it. And maybe that's exactly how things were. In any case, she needed to get out of the mine, as soon as possible. With a little luck, she'd find no resistance on her way out.
'Wishful thinking,' she snapped mentally at herself as she knew the Masters wouldn't just stand there and let her escape. 'Find... Others...' "Others?" Was she losing her mind from the power overload, or was it her subconscious trying to tell her something? Not like she had time to figure it out, she realized as she turned around a corner and saw a group of at least a dozen guards standing there, weapons ready to shoot her down. "Oh kh'lon."
"Stop right there, human!" One of the guards shouted. "This is your last chance. Return to your duties now and your punishment will be light." A tense, long, silent minute followed as the guards stared at her. Giving up and returning to mining? A few minutes ago she could have thought that was the wisest thing to do. Right now, she felt like nothing could really stop her. "Well, what's your choice, life or death?" Another guard asked, tired of waiting for her to speak.
Lumina tensed, and then she smiled as her inner voice spoke a few words to her. "Venus Shining Nova," she said in a low tone. In a matter of seconds, her body lit up with energy, which then blasted out in all directions, piercing through stone, metal and living tissue like they were all paper being burnt by a flame. In a second, the guards were nothing but piles of dust. Lumina, however, winced in pain and looked at her right arm. Blood?
Apparently, one of the guards had enough time to pull the trigger of his weapon before the blast turned him and his squad into dust, and the beam from his gun had pierced her arm. Blood was soaking her arm, and dripping down to the ground, but strangely enough, she didn't feel weakened by it. She didn't even feel as much pain as she supposed a wound like that would cause to her. After making sure no more guards were following her, she walked out of the tunnel and into a large cave.
If nothing else happened, she would be out of the mine in a couple minutes.
Mine guard duty was usually a boring job, but Jilehg didn't mind. She was one of the Masters, and even the lowest of the soldiers of her race was a hundred times better off than the humans. Right now there was a situation at the mine... A hoomahn that had apparently managed to kill a guard, and was being chased down by all the squad. Jilehg almost felt pity for the human woman. Almost. And speaking of human women... A blue-haired one was walking straight to her. Jilehg took a moment to look at her outfit: A blue fabric that covered all her body except for her head, no visible weapons or artifacts. What was a lone human, unarmed and stupidly dressed, doing walking straight to the mine? A lost miner, perhaps?
"Stop right there!" Jilehg shouted at the woman as she aimed her weapon at her in warning. It all happened too fast for her mind to register... The blue-haired hoomahn somehow managed to run the few dozen meters separating them in a second, then next thing she felt was a throbbing pain in her chest. Looking down, the guard could see an ice spike settled in a hole where her lungs should be. That was the last thing she ever saw.
The blue-haired woman frowned. She didn't like killing, but the Masters weren't a race that would listen to reason. 'It's not like I can just walk by and ask her to let me in to check on my readings, after all,' the woman mused.
Pausing for a second to check the guard's state, she decided she was dead enough, and prepared to enter the mine. However, something stopped her... A human blonde woman, around her age, with a sword in her left hand, and a badly bleeding right arm. "Who are you?" the miner asked tightening the hold on her sword. Two things were clear from her actions. One, she was weak from blood loss, and two, she was considering the blue-haired woman as her enemy. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."
"Good," the blonde said, forcing a weak smile. "I've had enough of that already," the blonde said before falling to the ground face-first.
"Damn it," the other woman muttered before kneeling besides the blonde, producing a medical scanner out of thin air and using it to check on her. "Kh'lon, a few more minutes and I would have been too late, " she scolded herself, then concentrated. 'Cognisance here. I've found the one from Venus, but she's wounded and lost too much blood. Aejin, I need you to come here, now.'
'Understood,' a monotone voice said in her mind, 'I'm on my way.' Cognisance sighed and looked at the blonde.
The last Senshi, the last one she needed to find, if her guesses were right. But would she be up to the task they had before them?
First thing Lumina realized as consciousness returned, was that she felt like .What had happened? The events of the last few minutes before she fainted were blurry, and the last things she remembered was a sword, and running... And a voice, a friendly voice, telling her she was safe.
From what her senses were telling her, she was now in a bed, and she could sense someone else in the room. "You're awake, at last." Lumina frowned. She hadn't realized she had moved. Deciding faking unconsciousness wasn't an option, she opened her eyes. After her sight recovered from the overload of lighting, she could take a good look at where she was. A room with white walls and ceiling... An infirmary? Was she still at the mine?
Looking at the only other occupant of the room, she saw it was a human woman around her age. Blue hair, blue eyes, wearing a full blue body suit of a strange material she didn't recognize. She remembered her. She remembered all that'd happened, now. Not that most of it made any sense to her.
"I remember seeing you, when I walked out of the mine," she said. "So, you brought me back in?" Her voice came out weak, faint, but that didn't surprise her, not after all the blood she'd left behind in the mine's many corridors.
The woman smiled. "Back in? You mean the mine? Not at all. We're right now in an underground base, in my world, Mercury."
'Underground base in Mercury?' Lumina frowned. "I have two questions."
"I'm sure you'll have a lot more later on. Anyways, tell me," the woman said. Her tone was friendly, yet she seemed to be studying the blonde, measuring her reactions.
"First is... Who are you?"
"My name is Cognisance, and I'm a Magician, like you."
"Second is... How long have I been out?"
"For almost two days. We were lucky Aejin was quick in healing you, or you wouldn't have survived for more than five minutes."
'Magician? Aejin?' She realized the woman, Cognisance, was right. Her answers had spawned even more questions in her mind.
Another woman walked into the room as the white sliding doors that Lumina hadn't noticed before opened. "I see she's finally awake," the newcomer said in a monotone voice.
"Hello Aejin. As you see, our 'patient' is feeling fine."
"Sort of," the blonde mused. "By the way, my name's Lumina."
"Lumina, huh... Fitting name for a Magician of light," Aejin commented.
Lumina took a second to look at her. Wearing a purple suit much like Cognisance's one, she had long, black hair and black eyes. Her skin, however, was one tone away from corpse-like. Her voice and face were unreadable, almost as if this woman had no feelings at all.
"Magician of light?" she asked, finally fed up with not knowing what they were talking about.
Cognisance nodded. "Magic... That's a word I created to define our power. There are no records of such a thing in the Masters' databases, or in our legends."
"You mean, like what I did inside the mine?"
"And what was it exactly?" Aejin asked, her tone as neutral as before.
"I remember finding a strange sword, and something stirred in my mind. Next I knew, I had blasted a guard out with a ray of light."
"That guard was the one that wounded you?"
"No. I tried to escape the mine, and a group of guards blocked my way. I used my... Magic, as you call it, to kill them, but one of the guards had time to shoot and that was what pierced my arm."
"Almost like Brisa's escape from the Uranus' weapon factory," Cognisance commented.
"So, who exactly are you, and what's with the suits?" The blonde asked.
"We are... We'll, someone can explain it better than me, and that someone's Serenity."
"Serenity?" The name sounded familiar. "I think I heard about her... She supposedly escaped a gold mine in the Moon, killing all guards and freeing all the slaves there."
"Amazing, we're famous," Aejin commented, without a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Anyways, I thought that was just a rumor, something invented by someone else, but... Is she real?"
"She's real, Lumina. And she's waiting to meet you," Cognisance said.
The Khtei frowned as he browsed through the reports. This was simply unbelievable. Several months ago, one of their Moon mines had seemingly suffered an attack. What had caused it, they couldn't tell. The security records of the mine had been erased, and no guard was left alive.
However, there was a clue on what had happened. There were no human corpses. Whatever had done that, it had a clear goal, one the Khtei despised. Freeing the humans? He couldn't think of anyone that would want that, other than the humans themselves. And humans held no power at all, so it had to be something else... Something alien. It had happened in several other places afterwards, but there had been no surviving soldiers to tell anyone what had happened.
But in this last breakout, things were different. One of Venus' copper mines had been attacked, but there was one guard that escaped the onslaught. While the Khtei did not agree with the guard's cowardly act of escaping the carnage, for once cowardice had a use. The soldier had written a detailed description of what he had heard through the communication channels, and what he had seen. Khtei was sure whatever had slaughtered the mine guards should be something powerful... But nothing could defeat their technology. In the end, they would destroy this threat like they destroyed many before in the other worlds they drained.
"It happened in less than one hour. First thing I heard were reports of a human worker being chased by guards... And also, that this female human had eliminated at least twenty guards."
A slave killing twenty guards? The Khtei smirked. It was simply impossible. He kept on reading, however, to try and figure out what had really happened.
"I remained in my post, and soon was called to chase her as well. However... We ended up facing something different. Three women, dressed in strange, plain outfits, holding metal-bladed swords. We were foolish enough to think we could defeat them. The mine's Tharlor was there, and warned them to put their weapons down and return to their work places."
The Tharlor... Or 'Overseer' in human language. There was one in each mine, and they were well trained and prepared for emergency situations. But those three slaves... Were they responsible for the slaughter?
"Next thing I knew, one of the slaves, a red-haired one, shot a fire blast from her... From her bare hand. The Tharlor was engulfed by the flames and, in a matter of seconds, turned into a pile of ashes. The second woman, a grey-haired one, shot water from her hand, crushing several of my squad into the cave's wall... I saw the third woman's hands crackling with lightning, and panicked. A lightning blast hit a soldier standing next to me... And it knocked me out as well..."
"They must have thought I was dead, because when I woke up, I saw all of the squad, their bodies lying around me. I checked on them... All of them, they were dead. The only thing I thought about was running away, it seemed like the most logical thing to do. And I don't regret it. I don't know who or what those humans were, but the ones we faced... They were cold, swift and lethal. They were Senshi."
The Khtei stopped at that last word for a few seconds. Senshi? That was, indeed, the word to describe what they'd done. In human language, Senshi would be translated as 'assassin,' and mercilessly killing over a hundred of his race in less than one hour surely made them Senshi scum in his mind.
He turned to the soldier waiting for his orders and frowned. "Tell the Khrall that I'll have my report ready on the Venusian’s mine affair in a couple hours... And make sure the soldier that wrote this report is punished for leaving his post."
Frowning, he looked back at the reports as his subordinate left the room. So the mystery had been partially solved. The humans had found a new, strange toy and were test-running it using his race as practice targets... And freeing a couple thousand slaves as well. But who gave them the ability to shoot electricity, water or fire without a visible weapon? He would find out, and would personally make sure they were destroyed.
Lumina looked around the corridor they were walking through, in awe. Sure, she knew the Masters had lights that made the interior of a cave look like daylight, but she never thought she would see one of them... Let alone a corridor filled with them, inside a human building. She was amazed at the suit they'd given her... An orange version of Cognisance and Aejin's ones, she felt like it enhanced her power, and it fit her body perfectly.
"What was this place exactly?" she asked breaking the silence.
"An abandoned base, built by the Masters when they first arrived," Aejin explained.
"Won't they know we're here?"
"Unlikely. We discovered Magic interferes with their scanning devices and recording systems. That's why we've been raiding factories and mines for several months now, and they have no idea who or what we are," Cognisance said.
"But what about the mine? I mean... I only killed a few guards."
"Don't worry about that. There were no guards left after we were done with that place. And all the miners have been recruited for our rebellion," Aejin said as she looked forwards to a large metal door. "Now, prepare to meet our leader."
Lumina gasped as the metal doors opened. Walking into the large room, she could see it looked the same as the corridor, white and brightly lit. However, here she could see at least a hundred humans working in several scanners and consoles. They all wore white uniforms, and none of them turned to look at them.
In the center of the room, she could see three women. To the left, a tall, red-haired, red eyed woman. The suit she was wearing was a red suit like the others... Looking at the workers in the background, she guessed these suits were reserved for magicians only.
The second woman was slightly shorter than the first. This meant she still towered over Lumina, not a hard thing to do, all things considered, as Venusians were never known for their outstanding height. This one had green hair, tied in a ponytail, and her green eyes stared defiantly at Lumina.
The third woman, the one in the center... Tall, thin, and blonde. Her hair was tied in twin pigtails that almost nicked the ground, and she wore a white suit, which contrasted with her hair and blue eyes, making her image almost impossible to miss. Lumina thought, for a second, that she saw a white aura around this woman. But as swiftly as it had appeared, the aura was gone.
"So... Is this the Venusian?" she asked, her voice soft and calm.
"Yes," Cognisance said, "she's the last one."
"Last one?" Lumina asked.
"What is your name?" the woman asked.
"Lumina."
"Pleased to meet you, Lumina. I'm Serenity, the first Magician, and the leader of this... No better way to say it, this rebellion."
"So the team is complete now," the redhead said.
"I... Have a lot of questions," Lumina commented.
"I know that. Let's go to the training area, and you'll meet the others. After that, you'll be told everything you need to know about our powers and our goals."
For some reason, Lumina felt like whatever she was getting into, it would change her life forever. 'Not that changing is a bad thing. I'd never thought about it, but being a slave for life isn't something I'd be if I had any saying in the matter.'
And thinking back on what she'd done at the mine, she had a chance to make a bigger, more permanent change. Maybe this whole rebellion idea wasn't a bad idea after all..
To say the practice area of the base was huge would be a big understatement. The room was so large she could barely see those training in the other side of it. However, the ones she could see were locked in several one-on-one sparring battles.
The two fighting nearest to the entrance were using swords, swords similar to the one she had. One of them was tall, with short grey hair and dark green eyes, and her suit was a bright shade of green. The other was short, with short black hair and light green eyes, and her suit was black.
"Those are Maria from Neptune and Shade from Nemesis. They're the last ones to join our rebellion, not counting you, and also, the ones that learnt faster than anyone else how to use their magic," Serenity explained. The red-haired woman who had walked along with them from the main hall, Pyrie, as she had introduced herself, snorted at that. For some reason, Lumina felt like she was even harder to befriend than Aejin.
"Neptune Torrent!" Maria shouted out as she leapt over Shade's head. way over her head, the blonde noticed. No wonder the hall was almost as tall as it was large. A column of water shot down from Maria's hands... No, from her body, as Shade looked up calmly.
"Nemesis Black Aura." In a blink, a black dome surrounded the Nemesian, deflecting Maria's attack. Shade grinned as she saw Maria was still airborne, and reached both hands out. "Nemesis Dark Shot!" A blast of darkness shot out from her hands and hit Maria square in the chest, sending her rolling back.
"Are they trying to kill each other?" the blonde asked.
Serenity smiled. "No. See, the suits we have protect us from magic, as well as from the energy weapons of the Masters. Our attacks can't really hurt us while training."
"Not a lot, anyways," Pyrie said with a frown. Lumina noticed she was looking at her left hand, which had a slight scar running from the top to the bottom. "Cognisance's Ice Spike," she added as she noticed Lumina staring at the scar.
"I see..."
"Okay ladies, stop your sparring and come meet our newest member," Serenity said. Her voice was as gentle and calm as always, yet it somehow carried along the room. A magic trick, perhaps?
One word from that statement brought a lot more questions to her mind... Ladies. She hadn't noticed it at first, but all the mages in the room were female. Was it just a coincidence?
"This is Lumina, from Venus," Serenity said once the others had gathered. Some of them looked at the newcomer with friendly smiles, others didn't seem too welcoming... And some didn't show any emotion at all.
"Welcome," said Maria, the one from Neptune. She didn't look like she had damaged anything but her pride when she got hit by Shade's blast.
One by one, the others introduced themselves. Claude from Jupiter, the tallest of them all, had green hair tied in a ponytail, and her eyes matched her eye color. Cerra, from Earth, had long, dark grey hair and matching eyes.
Brisa, from Uranus, had short red hair and dark red eyes. Chrome, from Pluto, was almost as cold-looking as Aejin, her hair a bright white shade of green, and her eyes purple. Mana from Lilith, with long blue hair and blue eyes, looked almost like Cognisance's twin. And finally, Aurora from the Sun, her hair was a strange gold-like shade of blonde, and her eyes matched it.
Once the introductions were done, Lumina looked at Serenity and frowned. "Cognisance told me you would be able to answer my questions... And I didn't have time to ask them all yet."
"I could tell you how we gathered. That would surely answer most of your questions..."
"And it's a fun tale to listen to," Pyrie added with dripping sarcasm.
"Please resume your training while I tell Lumina how our group started," Serenity said. It was just a suggestion, but the others apparently took it as an order, as they all went back to their practice battles.
Lumina stood there, waiting for Serenity to start. Serenity took a seat in a nearby bench, and pointed Lumina to a bench facing it. Lumina nodded and sat down, and the mage from the Moon started her story...
Serenity had been a slave for as long as she remembered. Humans were born that way, and she couldn't see a way to possibly change that. She didn't like it, it went against her nature to work for that race, the Masters. However, she'd seen others try to rebel against them, and fail.
Nowadays, Serenity downright hated the Masters. She had for a whole month. She'd seen her sister, Adeil, die in front of her eyes. Adeil was, much like her, not content with being a slave, and one of the guards had been about to whip an old man near the spot they were digging at... Adeil had used her plasma drill to drill a hole through the guard's head. Next thing Serenity knew, her sister had been shot down by several other guards.
'And no matter how hard I try, I can't stand being a slave. I don't want to end up like Adeil did, but still...'
She had been assigned to a new tunnel that week. It was amazing how fast their plasma drills and other tools could dig through rock, but what was the purpose of doing so? Why were the Masters so intent on gathering resources, be it water, minerals or food? Was that just for their cities?
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a weird noise. She didn't realize what it was at first, but then she saw the massive drill she was using shooting sparks from all sides. Instinctively, Serenity leapt away from it, and watched the tool explode.
'Damn great. I'm surely going to get a whipping for this,' the blonde thought with a frown. 'But... What could be strong enough to case the drill to blow up like that?'
"What was that noise? You, human, how did that happen?"
Serenity looked up at the guard and froze. This didn't look good, at all. "It... It hit something, I don't know what, and just exploded," she tried explaining.
"Lies," the guard spat, "there's nothing those drills can't cut through."
"I just found some--"
The guard slapped her, knocking her to the ground. She knew why, talking back to a guard wasn't allowed. But... The pain she felt from the slap was blocked by something else. A feeling there was something near that could help her out of this situation. And maybe...
"You stupid human. I remember your sister, she was a brat. Guess you're as tired of living as she was," the guard said with a condescending smile.
"Don't dare insulting..." Serenity said as she reached her hand to the hole the drill had been digging "my sister!" as the last word escaped her mouth, something flew off the hole and right to her hand. A sword. A metal-bladed sword.
"Huh? What's that?" the guard asked surprised. "Drop that thing, girl, or your punishment will be death."
It looked like a minute to her, but it only took a fraction of a second for her to feel the power in the sword, to hear the words in her mind, and to voice them out. "Moonlight Beam."
Serenity blinked. After she said those words, her free hand had lit up, then a beam had blasted through the guard's chest, and the creature fell backwards, dead. The beam had worked its way several meters into the rock wall, too, before it faded out. She stood up and looked around, worriedly. All that noise and light would surely attract more guards in.
But that was just one of the things in her mind. She examined the sword. The blade was of a strange, mirror-like metal, and the hilt was made out of a white mineral. Too advanced to be from her race, too primitive to be a creation of the Masters. But whatever it was, she felt like it'd given her the power to achieve her goal. Freedom.
It didn't take more than one minute before the other guards appeared. Twenty guards, half the mine's squad, were there aiming their plasma shooters at her. "Drop that weapon, human, and we'll spare your life," one of them said.
Serenity wasn't in the mood to argue, or to give up. Instead, she raised the sword and closed her eyes. She could hear the guards gasping at her actions. "What is she doing?" another guard asked.
"I don't know, but... What is that around her? Shoot her before--"
The guard never got to complete his order. "Moonlight Screen!" She heard a ripping noise, and the screams of the guards. When she opened her eyes, she saw there were no guards around... Only some charred and molten fragments of their guns remained.
Whatever this power she had now was, it was both exciting and frightening. And it had taken the Masters by surprise. Serenity sensed movement behind her and turned around, her mind ready to call upon her power again. However, she relaxed when she saw Arthun, one of the mine's elder workers, was there along with a small group of miners.
"Child, I don't know how you did what you did, but... It was amazing, "the man said, a hand on his chin.
Serenity nodded. "I don't know where my power comes from, but this... This sword seems to be the key to it," she said and showed it to the man.
Arthun reached for the sword, but jerked his hand back a second later, as if something unseen had slapped it away. "That hurt."
"What happened?" The blonde woman asked.
"The sword... It hit my hand with some invisible force as I tried to touch it," Arthus said.
"Strange, it does nothing to me," Serenity said. Not counting her newfound ability to vaporize a crowd in a split second, of course.
"Maybe," someone else said, "it can only used by her." Serenity turned to the man. Taller and younger than Arthus, he looked like he could've beaten one of the Masters barehanded, a task which was almost impossible for a human.
"That would explain why it reacts to my thoughts," she admitted.
"Thoughts? What do you mean?" Arthus asked.
"I can't explain it... But when the first guard attacked me, I was trying to find a way out of it, and the sword fled out from the hole it was in."
"Swords don't..." The man, Alathar said.
"I saw it happen, I was working fifty meters away from her," another, younger man said.
"The guards, they're all heading this way!" A girl shorter than Serenity, and also younger, said as she run towards them. A couple seconds later, they could hear the voices of the guards and their footsteps approaching from a side corridor.
"Everyone, stay behind me," Serenity said.
"One girl against all those guards? That's foolish. Luck won't shine on you trice," Alathar said skeptically.
"If you're not willing to fight them, I am. It's not foolishness. I'm tired of being a slave, and this sword's giving me the only chance I may ever have to fight the Masters."
"But our Masters will chase us!" an elderly woman said.
"Humans, get back to your assigned spots immediately," the Tharlor ordered.
'Now,' Serenity thought, her mind racing to plan on her next move. "Moonlight Screen!" Her attack took the guards completely by surprise, but the Tharlor, a warrior trained for real combat unlike his underlings, dodged the massive disc-shaped energy wall that shot out from the blonde's body.
"What was that?" The Tharlor said, hiding his confusion with a glare of defiance at Serenity. "This is your last chance, humans..."
"Take a look around, Tharlor," Alathar said. "This woman just eliminated all of your soldiers, and you're telling her to surrender?"
"I would rather say this is your last chance to surrender," Serenity said to the overseer. "I see no use in killing for the sake of killing, but if I'm forced to, I'll do it again."
The Tharlor looked around and paled. True, whatever that human had used on his soldiers, was frightening. But surrendering to them wasn't an option. If he fought, he was dead, if he didn't, he was dead. As things were, there was nothing to lose by trying. "Die!"
"Moonlight Beam." Serenity's energy beam punched a hole through the Tharlor's armor and chest, drilling a head-sized hole in the wall behind him. As the alien's lifeless form fell to the ground, Serenity turned to the others. "Anyone here knows how to use a computer?"
"I do," one of the women said. "Why?"
"We need to see if they alerted the Moon's capital about this. If they did, we need to find somewhere to hide."
"And what happened next?" Lumina asked after Serenity fell silent.
"We found that, somehow, no computer system was working. Arthus figured my magic was responsible for it. We escaped the mine and after a bit of searching, found an abandoned base to hide in."
"When did Cognisance come into the picture?"
"She escaped from a factory in Mercury, and she figured a way to teleport."
"Like the Masters do?"
"Much like that, but using magic instead. We don't need teleportation platforms to go from one planet to the next, and that's a good tactical advantage."
"So... What are the plans from now on?"
"First," Serenity said, "you need to train... We all need to train. Our powers grow stronger with every single day that passes, but if we wait too long, the Masters might find a way to fight back our magic."
"Are you planning on freeing every planet one by one?" Lumina asked, trying to guess what agenda her 'leader' had.
"No, we wouldn't be able to hold them back once we free a planet. There are not many magicians, and not enough soldiers in our side."
"So the wisest thing to do," Cognisance said walking to them, "is to cut them from the root. The massive mother ship of the Masters, the place where the Khrall passes most of his time, is on the Moon. We're going to launch a full frontal assault on that ship and destroy it, along with anyone inside it."
"But... Attacking the mother ship would be suicidal," Lumina said.
"We're well aware of that. But it's the best plan we could come up with. Are you still willing to fight on our side, Lumina?"
"Of course I am," Lumina said. "It may be the only chance I'll have in my lifetime to do something other than mining."
"That's good to hear, Lumina of Venus," Cognisance said. "Now come with me, you need a crash course on combat."
The scientist couldn't hide his fear as the Khrall walked through the door and into his laboratory. The leader was wearing the usual: A black suit that was half ways between battle armor and formal attire. The black cape trailing behind him, and helm covering all of his head but the face, made his presence downright intimidating.
"Is the project ready?" the Khrall simply said, not caring for formalities.
"I'm adjusting some of the AI's parameters, but they're a hundred percent operational."
"And you're confident they'll be enough to stop these... Rebels?"
"They are the same as a hundred soldiers, as far as combat abilities and resistance goes. Their AI is the best we ever had, and their armors are strengthened to withstand whatever power those rebels have."
"I'm not so sure about that. But it's better to send a machine to fight, than our own troops."
"As always, you're right, Khrall. We're not sure if they will be able to take on those rebel super humans, because we didn't have any to run our tests on."
The Khrall nodded. "I'm well aware of that handicap."
Suddenly, alarms went off, and the scientist gasped. The Khrall simply took a small communication artifact from his armor's side and turned it on. "What's the emergency?"
"The rebels are attacking, sir," an officer answered through the communicator.
"Didn't our scanners see them coming?"
"I can't understand it, sir. One moment there was nothing, the next they were all shooting at our main gate."
The Khrall turned to the scientist. "I think it's time to give your creations a field test. Send them to eliminate the rebels."
The scientist nodded and watched as his leader walked out the door. Those rebels were really stupid if they thought attacking their mothership was an option.
"Venus Shining Star!" Lumina stopped long enough to see her target fall back, and then turned in time to see another soldier charging at her. In a swift, calculated sword slash, the soldier's head went rolling down the corridor.
Two months ago, she had never touched a sword before, but after all the training she had gone through since she first met the other magicians, she was quite skilled with her weapon. The Masters trained their common soldiers for ranged combat only, confident in the power of their plasma guns. That was their first mistake. The second was, they didn't think the magic the rebels had was any rival for their technology.
"Mars Lava Inferno!"
Lumina heard the screams of soldiers as the corridor turned into a river of molten rock for a few seconds. The techniques used by each of the 'mages' in the rebel force were as varied as they could get. And all of them were equally deadly.
"Damn these Senshi. Retreat!" One of the soldiers shouted, and the squad fighting their group ran away.
"We beat them, at least for the time being," Cognisance said.
"He called us... Senshi?" Lumina asked in shock.
"From their point of view, we're assassins," Serenity said calmly. "But if we have to kill every single Master to get our freedom, so be it."
A few months ago, Lumina would've been against that statement. However, after Cognisance showed her what the Masters were really doing, she could only agree. After all, the Masters were a virus, a disease that spread out through the universe.
From what Lumina had read, they had once lived in a massive planet in the outskirts of the galaxy. The star their planet orbited died, and they moved out in three massive spaceships. Soon, they began their plans. They looked for solar systems with planets rich in minerals and resources, and drained the planets before moving to the next system. If there were any civilizations or primitive intelligent life forms there, they were used as slaves then left to an agonizing death in their depleted planets. So yes, Lumina agreed. It was about time someone paid the Masters back for the millions of lives they'd destroyed in their never-ending journey.
Her reverie was interrupted as she heard a shout from a side corridor. "Send in the Khr'Sed!"
Several seconds passed as the rebels stopped and waited. The sound of metal against metal echoed from the side corridor, almost like footsteps. Then, they saw them. Ten tall, compact lizard-like robots, obviously made to the image of the Masters, armed with cannon arms and plasma blades. Green crystals for eyes, no visible mouth, and their bodies seemed to be built to withstand heavy damage. That was something some of the Senshi were more than eager to test.
"Nemesis Dark Shot!"
"Jupiter Spark Blast!"
Lilith didn't shout out an attack name. She, like the others, didn't need to speak out her attack at all, but the others preferred to do so, as it gave the Masters something to fear besides the attack itself. However. Lilith's powers were... Different. A beam of darkness, an electric ball and an invisible wave that seemed to cause air itself to ripple rushed towards the robots. The darkness and electricity hit two of the robots, but the damage wasn't as heavy as expected. Lilith's power was, to put it simple, luck. She could have the worst luck befall her foes, or help her allies to get out of a dire situation. In this case, most of the robots' blades were shut down, and one of them had its plasma canon explode.
As for the two robots hit by the other two, one had its frontal plate caved in by Nemesis and Jupiter's combined power, but the other didn't even stagger back. The damaged robot fell to the ground, sparks coming out of its broken armor, but stood up and started shooting at the group, along with the other Khr'Sed. The Senshi dove out of the way, but some of their soldiers were hit.
"Lh'ar, they're tougher than we thought," Claude cursed out.
"Fire at will!" Serenity ordered. The rebels all fired their plasma weapons at the robots, but the Khr'Sed just stood there undamaged.
"Not even a scratch?" Arthus muttered.
"Arthus, leave these to us," Serenity ordered the man leading the rebel soldiers. He nodded and gave the orders, and the rebels backed away as the Senshi got ready to fight the robots. "Now girls... I guess this will be our first real challenge here."
Aejin frowned. "My power is useless against them. They're not living beings."
"We may need your power for something else," Serenity commented.
Aejin nodded and the others started charging for an attack. The Khr'Sed opened fire, but the Saturn Senshi was ready for it. "Saturn Spirit Shield."
A wall of bones rose in front of the group, blocking the barrage of plasma beams. As it vanished, the Khr'Sed could see the Senshi about to attack, but they had no time to counter.
"Moonlight Screen!"
"Mars Fire Cyclone!"
"Mercury Icicle Wave!"
"Jupiter Spark Blast!"
"Venus Morning Star!"
The other Senshi also shot, but for some reason, the attacks of the first five didn't act as expected. They fused into a thick, massive beam of multi-colored energy which washed over their targets, causing the damaged robot and another one that was standing too close to explode in a shower of sparks and metal shrapnel.
"What was that?" Serenity asked.
"No idea, but whatever it was, it worked," Cognisance admitted.
The remaining robots looked like they were about to attack, but instead started retreating. The Senshi frowned and started to chase after them, but a literal wave of soldiers blocked them.
"What now?" Mana, the Lilith Senshi, asked.
"We stick to the plan. We'll fight our way to the Khrall," Serenity said. "Arthus, we need backup!" she shouted back at the leader of the non-magician rebels.
"Can you explain what happened?" The Khrall asked, his voice a growl. He was in a really rotten mood after the news arrived about the ship's troops being overrun by the Senshi. Now the remaining Khr'Sed were standing near him, acting as guards.
The Khtei was as worried about the whole situation as his leader. "Zhiglon, our efforts to stop them are in vain. We've been able to kill several of the rebels, but not the magicians. Those... Senshi are seemingly immune to our weapons."
The Khrall frowned. The Khtei was the only member of his race that could refer to him using his real name. So that wasn't the problem, the problem was what he'd just said.
"Are you trying to tell me we can't win, Lhon?"
"Not without a plan."
"I have one. Stay here and destroy them all with our new machine soldiers."
"Zhiglon, you can't stay here. Those Senshi could be here any minute..."
The Khrall cut him off with a glare that seemed to drill through his skull. "Are you telling me to run away like a coward? I'm Zhiglon, the leader of this ship. I won't let them destroy it, even if it costs me my life."
The Khtei stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. "If that's your decision, then I'll help you face them."
"I have a little surprise for them, too, and these Khr'Sed will finish them," The Khrall commented looking at a screen on the far side of the room. "I just have to wait until they reach us to use it."
"That's the main reactor, the main power source of the ship," Cognisance said as the rebels stood a dozen meters away from a large metal door.
"If we set it to overload, we'll have enough time to run away, right?" Lumina asked.
"In theory," the blue-haired Mercurian said.
"Not like we could test it before coming here," Aejin added, with the same emotionless voice Lumina was used to hear from her.
Cognisance frowned as she noticed something. "Something's wrong... There are no guards in here."
"Maybe we already killed them all?" Claude pondered.
"No. This must be a trap," Aejin commented.
Cognisance frowned, and a bluish visor appeared over her eyes. Besides training, the Mercury Senshi had spent quite some time researching and inventing new magic-based artifacts, and one of her inventions was that visor, which was as advanced as the Masters' best computers. It took her only a few seconds to scan the wall they were facing, but it was a deadly delay. "Get down! There's cannons built into that wall!"
The wall hummed as at least twenty plasma cannons popped out of it, and fired at the group. The Senshi were fast enough to dodge them, but many of the soldiers didn't have the same luck. Serenity looked back and saw something she wasn't quite ready to see. "Arthus!"
The elder had been shot through by one of the cannons, and the wound on his chest was beyond healing. "Seems like I won't see the end of this battle," he said weakly, his breathing slow and weak.
Serenity looked at Aejin, who'd already moved to check on him. The Saturn Senshi shook her head as she turned to her. "Arthus, I swear I'll destroy this ship, no matter what it takes."
"I never doubted that," the old man said, then stopped breathing.
Serenity stood up, ignoring the cannons firing randomly down the corridor. She reached out her hands, and a fist-sized crystal appeared floating in front of them. She grabbed it, and those watching the scene saw some beams being stopped by an invisible barrier. "I... Understand," Serenity said and held the crystal with one hand, as she pointed her sword to the wallwith the other. "Moon Redemption Wave!"
Lumina gasped. True, her element was light, while Serenity's element was supposedly neutral. As in, pure magic. But the amount of magic she'd just used was enough to create a blinding, white wave of energy that punched through the weapon-packed wall as easily as a plasma drill would dig through a glass, and hit three of the remaining eight Khr'Sed, vaporizing them.
"Well, well... I see you humans are too stubborn," the Khrall said as he looked at the magicians, his eyes showing no emotion at all.
"The other robots are here," Claude noticed.
"And that's not all," the Khtei said. "All soldiers, report to the main reactor room."
In a matter of seconds, the only visible escape route was crowded by alien soldiers, and they kept on coming from the far side of the corridor. "We're surrounded!" one of the human soldiers said.
"This is your last chance," the Khrall said. "Surrender now and your lives will be spared."
Lumina frowned. Surrendering seemed like the wiser choice right now. But she knew the Khrall wasn't telling the truth. If they fought, they could end up dead, but if they gave up, they would be dead for sure.
But why was Serenity so silent?
"This is your last chance. Surrender now and your lives will be spared."
The Khrall's words echoed in Serenity's mind. Was he so sure of his power over them, that he was trying to turn them back into mindless drones digging their own doom?
Power... What power did these Kh'Sun, the Masters have over humans? Fear? Fear of what? Of their advanced technology and plasma weapons? The group of human soldiers that were now aiming their own plasma guns at the crowd of Kh'Sun... There was fear there, but the fear of what the Masters would do to their planets was greater.
And that same fear gave them the determination to fight on. "You want us to surrender? Haven't you realized what kind of power you're fighting against?"
The Khrall snorted at that. "I know about your power, I've been watching you using it since you set a foot inside this ship. You're but a small pebble in the path of our survival, a pebble I intend to crush here and now." Behind him, the reactor grew brighter for a second, making the form of the Khrall look a lot more intimidating.
Serenity frowned. She could feel the crystal she had used to blast through the wall. One of the things the Senshi gained after their powers awakened was something not even Cognisance could explain. Items like the swords or their suits was stored somewhere until they mentally recalled them. With a mental command, the crystal was back. The five robots formed a barrier in front of their leader, but that was just going to help the Senshi of the Moon. "Moon Redemption Wave!"
It all took a split second. The energy wave blasted through the robots and the Khrall, leaving nothing but a pile of wrecked metal and ashes behind. But while that was in Serenity's plans, the other thing the energy wave hit was not. She stared for a second at the reactor, normally a glowing green tube of some strange alien mineral. Right now, it had a hole in its center, and its light was pulsating fast.
"That thing's going to blow!" Lumina shouted.
And they didn't have time to run, Serenity realized. She looked at her crystal again and sighed. "Senshi, we're getting out of here, but I need your help. Focus in my crystal, lend me your power!"
The others closed their eyes as the reactor's glow dimmed. A few seconds later, all the Senshi and humans in the room vanished, leaving a shocked Khtei to stare at the collapsing reactor.
He didn't even have enough time to get out of the room before it exploded.
Soldiers and Senshi appeared several miles away from the ship, just as the reactor exploded. The shockwave was strong enough to knock them to the ground, and as they stood up, they could see there was not much left of the alien ship.
"We did it," Claude said. Her ability to state the obvious was only shadowed by her combat skills, albeit barely.
"We had a lot of casualties back there, though," Lumina commented.
Aejin nodded, then, for once in a lifetime, smiled. "Look at it this way: We lost a couple dozen soldiers, but they've lost their only way out of our system, their leaders, and any hopes of defeating us.”
Serenity didn't find her statement funny, but it was true nonetheless. The structure of these Kh'Sun was much like that of an insect colony. Once you killed the Queen, the rest of them would eventually die. But in this case, they would need to speed up the process.
The girl sighed. The novel sure was good, and from what her mother had told her, it was historically accurate, as the writer had interviewed the Senshi themselves before writing it. But what was strange, was the way the First Senshi acted, so different from the ideals of her era's Senshi. Maybe it was because no generation after that first one had to fight for their freedom.
"Lady Hope, your mother is looking for you," a red-haired woman said as she entered the library. She was wearing a light blue robe, the usual attire of a Librarian.
"Tell her I'll be right there. Oh, and I'm going to keep this book until I finish it."
The woman nodded. "As usual, your literary tastes are excellent."
Hope sighed again as the woman walked out of the room, then stood up and grabbed the book. "I wonder what happened to Lilith," she pondered to herself as she walked out of the room. And so, she resumed her reading while she walked to the throne room.
The road to freedom wasn't one without obstacles. Two years passed before humans could finally rest assured the very last of the Kh'Sun were gone.
Or so they thought.
There had been an opposition against the new government imposed by the Senshi. The idea of being ruled was, in the mind of the humans, still too close to slavery. One of the meetings between the Senshi and those opposing their government had been the key to ending that dispute. One of the men from the 'Freedom Fighters' had proclaimed that the Senshi had only freed them from the Kh'Sun so they could rule in their place.
Serenity had stared at the man for a few seconds, and in an unnervingly calm tone, she'd stated "You say that, but I did not see you fighting along with us to free this system. Next time an alien race comes to enslave us, you can fight and then rule us. Until that day comes, you have no right to complain, Kh'lorn."
It was one of the few times anyone had heard the Queen curse out loud. But it was effective, as the man fell silent and soon enough the 'Freedom Fighters' were disbanded and forgotten.
Years passed without any major events, and the Senshi had married and were used to their new lives as rulers of the solar system. With the exception of the Senshi of Pluto. Her elements were time and space, and she had left for what she called the "Time Gate," a place only a few other Senshi had seen. She came back only when a spark of evil appeared, to either warn the others about it, or help them fight.
It was in one of her 'visits' that the Kh'Sun made a comeback, one that was both unexpected and deadly.
"Lady Chrone..." Pyrie said with a frown.
Chrone of Pluto didn't meet her gaze, instead staring out through one of the many, large windows of the Crystal Palace's throne room. "You're looking at me like I'm a messenger of doom."
"You were never one for socializing, Chrone," Pyrie stated.
Chrone turned to her, her face unreadable. "That much is true. Is Queen Serenity here?"
"Serenity called us all to a meeting, she said she had something to show us," Claude explained as she walked into the room. "Right now, she's talking to Cognisance. But if you're here..."
"This one situation may end up turning into a crisis. It could affect the whole solar system," Chrone said as the rest of the Senshi enter the throne room. There was one Senshi missing, and the others all looked at Chrone, who didn't say a word about it.
Cognisance and Serenity were the last two to walk in. Both had ominous looks in their faces. Cognisance was the first to speak. "There's a... Situation at Lilith. Actually, it's something very strange."
Serenity nodded. "Two hours ago, I received a call from Queen Mana. She said there was something strange going on in her planet, and that she was going to investigate. She also said if she didn't contact me in a few hours, I should be ready to send a team to investigate."
Cognisance sighed. "It's a good thing you told me about this before doing that..."
"What's going on in that planet?" Queen Lumina from Venus asked. "Where's Mana?"
"We don't know where she is, but what we do know is... We can't risk going to that planet," Serenity said.
"But..."
"Lumina, listen," Cognisance said, "there's a virus spreading through Lilith, and it's spreading faster than anything I've ever seen. I'm quite sure it was created using magic."
"The virus, from what we could scan from here, mutates any living organism, taking over it and controlling it," Serenity added.
"Then what about..."
"Mana could be infected, for all we know," Cognisance said.
Aejin grimaced. "I can... I can feel it. Lilith is covered with death from pole to pole."
"We should go and try to rescue the survivors," Claude said.
"And get infected as well?" Pyrie asked. "No thanks."
"We need time to find a cure for that virus," Cognisance added.
"It's no use," Chrone said. "I was too late to warn you. That virus... It could spread out to Jupiter and Mars, for starters."
"Are you sure of that?" Serenity asked.
"I saw that as one of the possible futures. In one week, it could take over all our system."
"We can't let that happen. One dead planet is more than enough," Shade said.
"But what can we do?" Lumina asked. The room fell silent for several minutes.
Aejin was the first one to speak. "I think I could solve this."
"How?" Claude asked.
"My own healing powers will make me immune to the virus, at least for a while. I'll try and find Mana, but if I can't..."
"Are you aware," Serenity warned, "that you may not get out of there alive?"
"I know that. But I have something to request from you."
"And that is?"
"Serenity, in case I fail, I may still have a chance to stop the virus before it spreads out. I ask your permission to use my full power as a last resort."
Serenity looked at her for a second, and then walked to the window, staring out at the forest surrounding the palace, then at the Earth, high in the sky. After a minute of silence, she turned to look at Aejin and nodded. "You have my permission."
"But that would mean..." Lumina started.
"I know that, Lumina," Serenity said. "But given the circumstances, there's no other way to solve this. However..." The Queen turned back to the Senshi of Saturn. "Aejin, tell me the truth. You aren't planning on coming back, are you?"
Aejin fell silent for a few seconds, then turned around and said. "Tell Erias to take care of our girl, or I'll come back to haunt him.”
Erias was Aejin's husband, Saturn's King. So now Serenity knew it, Aejin knew the chances of coming back were next to none. She paled as she saw Aejin walk out of the room. She was quite sure that would be the last time she would see her.
When Aejin appeared in Lilith, she saw the situation was worse than she'd expected. Attuned as she was to life and death, she could feel the lost souls of thousands of living beings, trapped inside their mutated bodies...
Fear, confusion, anger... Aejin looked around. She'd teleported into a somewhat deserted area of one of the capital cities of Lilith. From her perch atop one of the highest buildings, she could see hundreds of ex-humans crawling, walking, and searching.
Searching... Aejin reached out once again with her senses. Only thing she could feel was death. She was the only living being in Lilith now. What could have caused this? Who could be twisted enough to create this abomination, a virus that destroyed the life of a planet in a matter of hours?
And speaking of the virus, the Senshi of Saturn was right now staring straight at it. A purplish fog, floating a few hundred meters away from where she was. Mana was gone. And in a minute, so would she. She couldn't risk going back now; she could be already infected without knowing it. There was only one thing she could do now.
She concentrated, and felt the energy from her own world, Saturn, rushing into her body. What she was about to do, would kill her, there was no doubt about that. But it would also destroy the virus. She wasn't doing it for those that had died in Lilith. She wasn't doing it for anyone else in the solar system. Except for two persons, the only two that mattered to her above everything else, even her life. Her husband and her daughter.
Looking around, she could see the purple fog was all around her now. Her body was way better at resisting any virus or infection than any other, mostly because of her attuning to life energy. She could also see some of the walking corpses had reached the top of the building, and were crawling all around her.
It was her last chance to do it. And the last time she would use her powers. As she prepared to unleash her ultimate attack, she looked around and frowned. "I never liked this planet, anyways."
Then, she unleashed her attack. She could feel the energy... The magic energy of a whole planet, rushing through her body, burning her from the inside. As she tried to control it, she uttered the three words that triggered it. "Death Reborn..."
For several minutes, a second sun could be seen from all the other planets and moons of the solar system.
"So that's what happened to Lilith... The asteroid belt is what remains of it?" Hope pondered, mostly to herself, as she walked through the corridor. She stopped in front of the massive sapphire-colored doors that lead to the throne room. The guards, clad in a bluish metal armor, bowed at her and opened the doors.
"High Librarian Hope, welcome," one of the Queen's advisors said as Hope walked in. Hope was used to the formal way everyone used to address her, but she didn't really like it. The throne room was as large as every other throne room she'd ever seen. And considering how close the rulers of each planet were (as most of them were former or active Senshi,) she had seen quite a few of them.
"You wanted to see me, mother?"
The Queen nodded. "Moment was here today. She said something strange is going on in one of Earth's kingdoms."
"I see," Hope said, still not understanding what it had to do with her.
"A few of the Senshi will go. Moment wanted to..."
"I wanted to know if you'd be interesting in that mission. After all, you've never been out in official Senshi business yet."
Hope looked at the green-haired woman standing next to the Queen, who hadn't been there a moment before. Tall, red-eyed and with a slightly tanned skin, she wore the uniform of the Senshi of Pluto, and held a long staff with her right hand. The design of the staff's top was like that of a heart, with a purple orb at the base.
"Well?"
The blue-haired girl frowned. Moment of Pluto was not a woman to bother with chitchatting. From the books she had read, that applied to all the former Sailor Pluto as well. Might have something to do with the 'Time Gate.' "I would like to know what our mission is first," she said.
Moment nodded. "There have been reports of necromancy in Arcana. We're going there to investigate."
Necromancers... Hope didn't like them at all. Sure, the Saturn Senshi used life energy to fight, but it wasn't for personal reasons. Necromancers often wanted fortune, glory and power, and used the life energy of others to obtain them. Even going as far as to reanimate soul-less corpses to do their dirty work. And Necromancers were, most of the time, too strong for groups like the Demon Hunters or the Guardians to handle. Hope could guess this was one of those times.
"Count me in. I can't sit around reading books all of my life, no matter how fun it is," Hope said with a smile.
Moment nodded. "Good. Now come with me, I'll introduce you to the rest of our group."
"Serenity, Lilith no longer exists," Cognisance said sadly.
"So many lives lost there. Was that the only way?" Serenity asked, trying to keep her own sadness in check.
"No known magic would be able to cure such a mutation," Cognisance said.
Claude walked into the room, her face pale. "Serenity... There's something else you should know."
"What is it?"
"Our radars detected a small spaceship leaving Lilith minutes before the explosion. It was heading to the Earth. And..."
"And?" Serenity asked.
"The ship's a Kh'Sun Revenant."
Revenants, the smaller combat ships of the Kh'Sun. But... "That can't be... We eliminated all of them," Serenity said.
"I would say we didn't," Cognisance commented, noticing the trace of bitterness in Serenity's voice.
"If we let whoever is piloting that ship escape, we could face a similar infection on Earth in a few hours," Claude stated.
"Then we can only do one thing... Gather the others and pinpoint the exact landing place of that Kh'Sun ship. We're going to stop that infection before it happens."
The creature hadn't bothered to hide; she was standing near her ship when the Senshi appeared. She was taller than the average Kh'Sun, and wearing black rags that had, months before, been a high commander's outfit. She didn't seem too shocked or worried about the Senshi being there.
"So, here you are, murderers. I knew you'd come, just like your stupid friend in Lilith."
The Senshi noticed her hands were glowing a sickly purple color. "Stop whatever you're doing, now," Serenity commanded.
"Sorry, but no. You killed my whole race, and I'm going to return the favor. And you better go back to your precious Moon if you want to live through the next hour."
"She's using the same kind of magic Saturn used. She's creating a viral code out of thin air," Cognisance said as she scanned the Kh'Sun.
"What's your name, monster?" Pyrie asked, resisting the urge to just blast her apart.
"If you must, you can call me Meth'Lya," the Kh'Sun said.
"Metallia? Such a silly name for someone that caused the destruction of a planet," Serenity mused.
"Says the one whose name is related to peace and calm... The same woman that led others to kill my whole race," Meth'Lya snapped back.
"I didn't kill your whole race. You're still alive."
"Came to fix that up?"
"That depends on what you plan to do from this point."
"I'm going to infect this whole useless planet, then move on to the next, until no hoomahns remain. And you, Senshi, will be my first target."
"Then, I'm going to stop you," Serenity said.
"Just try, little Queen," Meth'Lya snapped.
"Moonlight Screen!"
Meth'Lya raised her left hand, and Serenity's energy blast got deflected, turning a patch of the forest surrounding them to ashes.
"What the ?" Pyrie exclaimed.
"Hah. Your problem, little girls, is that you've never faced anyone that had the same powers you have. Ever since the day I heard of Serenity's escape from the mine, I did what no other Kh'Sun thought of... I studied your 'power' and learnt how to control magic. It wasn't an easy task, but as you could see, I'm as powerful as your leader, Senshi. Or even stronger."
"A Kh'Sun using magic. Now I've seen it all," Lumina muttered.
"And one more thing, kids. My virus has a cure. That's how I could keep it from infecting me. But of course, you Senshi were always trigger-happy. You just had to blow the planet to dust, instead of trying to find out a cure for the disease."
"That's a lie."
"It is? Keep thinking that, it'll make it easier for you when I release my virus!" she said and smirked as a purplish fog started surrounding her. "And it won't be long before that happens."
Serenity frowned. She wasn't eager to do it, but it was the only way she could see out of this. Her crystal appeared, once again, floating in front of her. She grabbed it and focused all the power she could into it. "Moon Redemption Wave!"
Meth'Lya raised her hand again to stop the attack, but a part of it pierced her shield, and hit the fog surrounding her. Its color changed from purple to black, and changed to a liquid-like state. "What is this?" the Kh'Sun muttered. The liquid surrounded her, pinning her arms to her sides and slowly crushing her. "No... This can't be... What've you done to it?" she snarled at Serenity, shock turning into anger.
Serenity returned the glare and then shrugged. "You did it to yourself, witch."
"No... I won't end like this. DIE!" Meth'Lya tried to unleash her energy, but the liquid around her absorbed it, glowing and throbbing for a few seconds. It then exploded, sending the Senshi crashing to the ground, and all that was left of the Kh'Sun magician was a column of smoke rising up from the spot she'd been standing on.
"Well, that solves this problem," Pyrie said.
Serenity nodded. "But the damage she's done, it can't be repaired.”
"What are you reading?"
Hope looked up at Moment, interrupting her reading. "It's a novel about the first Senshi. This Meth'Lya woman..."
Moment nodded. "She was the first necromancer. I can fill you into the details better than that book, because I've seen what happened. "
"So is it true?"
"That the Senshi of Pluto can see through time? We can see the past, and we can see several possible futures our actions could lead us to. "
"Amazing."
"It is."
The two of them were now walking through one of the many corridors in Mercury's palace, heading to the room where the others were waiting for them. Hope was as curious about the mission as she was about the past. But one thing at a time... "So... What about Serenity's crystal. Was its mystery ever solved?"
Moment frowned. "No. The Ginzuishou is an enigma on itself. Some have even suggested it's got a mind of its own."
"What do you think?"
"I'm no scientist. I don't dissect magic, I simply use it."
Hope chuckled at that. Moment wasn't as much of a gloomy, serious woman as others had told her she was, after all. She couldn't wait to meet the others.
"So, this is the newbie?"
Hope took her time to examine the people in the room. Two of them were using the official Senshi outfit, there were two Demon Hunters as well, and a man that was wearing what looked like a gold shirt. For some reason, the man looked familiar to her, but she didn't quite recognize him.
"Firea, be nice," the tallest of the Senshi in the room (not counting Moment) snapped. She had long, brown hair tied in a high ponytail and green eyes, and her suit had green skin and pink bow. That outfit belonged to the Senshi of Jupiter, so Hope guessed she was the newest Sailor Jupiter.
"And who'll make me be nice, you, Lera?" the black-haired, purple-eyed Senshi in the red outfit snapped back. Sailor Mars, most likely.
"I will, if you don't show some respect," Moment said, her voice commanding. Firea shrunk back and nodded. "All right. Now that we're all paying attention, let me introduce High Librarian Hope, the new Sailor Mercury."
The others nodded at Hope. The man in the expensive-looking outfit was apparently staring at her, but she chose to ignore him. "I'm relatively new to this, but I've trained my powers long enough. I hope I'll be of help in this mission."
"What I don't get," Lera said, "is why we need three Senshi and two Demon Hunters for a diplomatic mission."
"Because, dear Lera," the man finally spoke up, "if my sources are right, this could turn into an all-out battle," he explained, his black eyes jumping from Senshi to Senshi, as if he was measuring their reaction.
"I don't know who your sources are, but I thought Beryl was one of the most respected Queens in the Earth Alliance," Firea commented.
The blonde-haired man smiled. "My sources are trustworthy. And also, Beryl's past is packed full of strange coincidences."
"Thanatos, I'd say we should wait until we talk to Beryl to pass judgment," Moment said calmly.
As she heard his name, she finally remembered who the man was. Zane Thanatos, a rich trader from Saturn. From what she'd heard, he had been born in Mercury, but his family had moved to the larger planet when he was on his early teens. Other than that, however, she didn't know much about the man. Nor she cared about finding out.
"If Necromancers are there, we need to get rid of them. With or without the Queen's approval," the male Demon Hunter, who was clad in blue, said in an equally calm tone.
"Staying here and chitchatting won't get anything solved," Firea muttered. "So let's go."
Hope could only agree. And also, she agreed with Thanatos. She'd read a bit on Beryl's past. Her mother died when she was only sixteen years old. Ten years later, her father and older brother had gone in a hunting trip to the Arcana woods, and were attacked by an unknown beast. After that, Beryl had been the only candidate left for the throne. And hence, the once Kingdom of Arcana became a Queendom. Too many coincidences in a row. She'd also heard rumors of Beryl's short romance with the Earth King, the King of Camelot, Halcyon. Halcyon had later on married the princess of one of the strongest kingdoms, to ensure the strength of Camelot in the Alliance. Those were unconfirmed rumors, but it was quite strange, as those rumors had started before her mother died.
"I agree with Lady Firea," Thanatos admitted. "The sooner we get to Arcana, the better."
"Why not just teleport there?" Lera asked.
"There's a lot of tension in the Earth Alliance right now. As things are, Senshi aren't welcome into most kingdoms. We can't just teleport in into any of them... Well, maybe to Camelot, but not to Arcana or the other kingdoms."
"So that is why Thanatos is here?" the female Demon Hunter, who wore a dark green suit, asked.
"Indeed. I can provide transportation in one of my biggest passenger ships."
"What's the catch?" the Hunter asked.
"No catch, dear Libra. I'm a close friend to Queen Serenity, and she was the one who asked me to take you there."
"The great Thanatos has a heart after all," Libra muttered.
"That hurts, you know. My ship could accidentally steer too strong and you could fall off," Thanatos said.
"That wouldn't surprise me," Libra said with a shrug.
"If you two lovebirds are done, let's just hit the road, shall we?" Lera snapped at them.
"What's up with those two?" Hope asked Moment in a low voice as they left the room.
"Libra is one of Thanatos' past lovers," Moment explained calmly.
"I see. I have one more question... Silly one, but my mother couldn't answer it."
"Must be hard to answer if the Sage Librarian, Queen Siela from Mercury doesn't know its answer..."
"Actually, she said she'd never searched for the answer herself. So... Why are our suits so... Revealing?"
Moment smiled. The girl had a point, the Sailor Senshi suits were basically a leg and sleeve-less body suit with a short skirt, knee-long boots and gloves and a metal tiara. The suit's form-hugging fabric left little to imagination, and their bare legs just added to that.
"Well, there was an inner war in the times of the sixth Serenity. The Senshi were still using the full body suits the first Senshi had used, but the Sailor Venus of that generation had a good idea: Most of the warring troops were male, and the Senshi were, at the time, all female, so she modified her suit to look like they do nowadays. The others imitated them, and the Senshi managed to stop the warring armies with almost no casualties on both sides."
"That's one way to use your body as a weapon, I'd say," Hope commented.
Moment nodded. And it'd worked several times after that, too.
"What about the Dragon Senshi? Why isn't there none in this era?"
"I'm not sure. Bad luck, I'd guess. The Dragon Swords, like the Ginzuishou, act in ways nobody understands."
"Dragon Swords?"
"That's the way the swords the First Senshi used have nowadays. And as you may know, they're still available for us to use, should the need arise. They may or may not choose an owner, and in this generation, so far, they've chosen none."
Hope sighed. She really hoped she'd never have a reason to use her Mercury Sword. But knowing how fate usually worked, she was sure she'd have to, sooner or later.
Hope couldn't help but gasp at the ship docked in the palace's spaceport. It was a good hundred meters wide and three hundred meters long, with windows covering most of its upper hull, and the words "S.S. Thalon" drawn on both sides. Even from afar she could also see several cannons on the front of the ship. Thanatos wasn't known for subtlety, and he wasn't taking any risks with space pirates.
"There you have it. Thalon, the second biggest ship in my fleet," Thanatos said.
Second biggest? "That ship's huge... Do you have a bigger passenger ship?" Thanatos shook his head. "My biggest ship's the Tiamat, a battleship."
Orion snorted. "I thought you were just a merchant."
"I am. But space pirates abound, so I always try to have a battleship following each of my passenger and cargo ones."
Which meant... Hope looked up and gasped again. There it was, the Tiamat. Almost doubled Thalon in size, and from what she could see with her visor, it had enough weapons in it to take on a small army of light fighter ships. "Amazing."
"Even bigger than the Cloudbuster," Lera commented.
"And it'll escort the Thalon to Arcana," Moment said.
"I'd think Beryl would be against that," Firea said.
Orion frowned. "Either she's acting like this so we won't suspect a thing, or she really doesn't have a thing to hide."
"We won't know until we get there," Lera pointed, "so let's get going."
The trip to Arcana was uneventful and quite boring. Hope picked up her book to read, but there wasn't anything else in it that was really worth reading. According to the novelist, the First Senshi had a relatively calm and happy life after those first years of freedom.
So now she was trying to focus on the mission. They were now walking through the corridor that led to the throne room. Beryl's castle was the most plain and dark she'd ever seen. Its walls were grey and stony, without the crystalline shine of other palaces and castles she'd visited before. Guards and maids went by showing the usual politeness she'd seen, but there was something strange in their eyes. Almost as if their free will was gone. She'd tried scanning them, and found no traces of mind-controlling or necromancer mana in them. Was it just her mind playing trick on her?
"Well, here we are," Moment said as they stood in front of a large, obsidian door. "Once we enter, let me do the talking."
"As you command," Orion said half-mockingly.
Thanatos didn't say a word, just nodded. Why was Moment bringing him along, she couldn't understand. Maybe to give them an 'outsider' opinion after the meeting was over.
As the group walked into the room, they saw it was just like every other corridor and room in the castle: Grey, gloomy, almost ominous. "Welcome to my castle," the woman sitting on the throne said politely.
Pluto nodded and game a small bow to her, the others followed suit. "Queen Beryl, you must be aware of our reason to ask for an audience..."
"I am," Beryl said, "and while my own sources haven't pinpointed the location of those necromancers, I know of their existence."
"We would request your permission to locate the source of that necromantic mana and destroy it," Orion said. "With the Senshi's aid, of course."
Beryl was deep in thought for a few minutes, and the others waited silently for her to speak. After what seemed like an hour, she finally spoke up. "I see no harm in letting you explore my Queendom. However, I must ask you to leave if you can't find a trace of those necromancers in one week."
"Agreed," Moment said. "We will tell you of any clues we may have by then. Now if you excuse us..."
Beryl nodded. "You may leave."
The room fell silent after the Senshi left and the door closed. Beryl closed her eyes and nodded. "They're gone. But they'll be back. "
A hissing, female voice could be heard from the shadows around her throne. "I have something prepared for them. The Senshi will be too busy chasing shadows to suspect anything about you."
"Good. In the meantime, Metallia... How are our spies?"
"Nobody suspects a thing. Stupid mages and Senshi, they don't know about my demonic energy yet. I just need to prepare a few more things and we'll be ready to attack."
"And then, finally, he will be mine."
"Indeed," Metallia said. 'And I will have my revenge upon mankind for destroying my race,' she thought.
Beryl. Such a fool. She had her eating from her hand, and all because of the promises she'd made to help her get the prince of Camelot, Edition. However, Metallia couldn't help but be grateful with her 'master.' It was her meddling with dark magic that had awakened her from her eternal slumber. It had been easy for her to corrupt her broken heart and her wicked soul, and now... Only a few more moves to make, and she'd be able to destroy mankind for good.
But first, she had to get rid of this era's Serenity, the only one that could challenge her power. Coincidentally, Beryl wanted the Moon Princess dead. Metallia would be glad to grant that wish to her, as long as she could also get rid of the mother in the process.
One full week had passed, and the Senshi had failed locating the necromancers that supposedly had their base in Arcana. If they were hiding, they were doing it too well.
"It's no use," Firea said. "We've run out of time."
Orion nodded. "Agreed. No traces of dark mana anywhere."
"Then this mission was a failure," Lera muttered.
Moment frowned. "Not really."
"What do you mean?"
Hope nodded. "Moment's right. There's something definitely wrong with the peasants. Or even the soldiers and nobles we've seen while searching..."
Firea frowned. "I didn't feel a thing..."
Moment shrugged. "I don't think you could see it, even with your psychic skills. But maybe the magic we're looking for isn't... Necromancy."
"Wish you could've told us that before," Firea muttered.
"It's not demonic magic either," Orion added. "I've scanned for it and found no traces in the area."
"Then what is it?" Hope asked.
Whatever it was, they couldn't stay in Arcana any longer. She didn't like to admit it, but her first mission as a Senshi had been a failure.
The general looked at the forest looming all around them and a shiver went down his spine. There was something about this whole mission that he didn't like. "Prince Kaeil, are you sure about this?"
Kaeil was a tall, dangerous-looking man. His platinum-white hair and white pupils made him look almost ghastly. Still, he was a known strategist, even at his young age. "Indeed, General Slark. Beryl informed my father, the King, that she knew the necromancers' exact location inside this forest."
"But..."
"You will be soundly rewarded once this mission's over."
"Why not call the Senshi to deal with them?"
"That would be a nuissance for our kingdoms. We can deal with a small band of necromancers."
Slark nodded as his battalion kept advancing through the Twilight Forest. A forest shared by three kingdoms, and a place no man liked to explore due to it's dense foliage, which gave the forest it's name. Right now, they could barely see the trees in front of them. He was well aware the sun was shinning over the forest, but inside the forest, it looked like a moonless night.
Kaeil didn't understand. Why would they be afraid? They were the best of Mu's troops, possibly the best infantry group in the Earth. There were no wild animals, no armies, and no zombies that could scare them. And so, the squad marched forwards... To their doom, Kaeil thought as his eyes took on a golden hue.
Soon, liquid-like shadows jumped out of the ground, fusing with each one of the soldiers as they screamed and tried to shoot at them. Everyone but Kaeil was affected. Kaeil, the Prince of Mu, had weeks ago been taken over by one of those. The Youma. Metallia's spawns, and something no magic or technologic scanners could detect. The perfect soldiers, the perfect spies... Humans were so unaware of their existence, taking over the Earth would be fun. And the fun had just begun.
Kaeil's thoughts were interrupted by Beryl's voice. 'Kunzite, is the job done?'
'Indeed, my Queen. But... Won't the disappearance of this battalion lead my father to send a bigger army?'
'That's just what Metallia wants. Host-less youma are useless for battle, but they're also undetectable. I want you to go back to your Kingdom and fool your father into sending even more troops here. My youma will be waiting for that.' Kaeil simply nodded. "Father's waiting for his son Kaeil's safe return. Such an idiot... Kaeil doesn't exist now, only Kunzite." And Kunzite was just one of many spies Beryl had all around the Earth... And the solar system.
One full month since her first mission had passed, and High Librarian Hope couldn't help but thinking about Arcana. There was something there... She had never been a skeptical one, and given the range of magic-related things that still had no logical explanation, she could easily guess this was yet another thing mages and scientists couldn't explain.
The existence of an unknown form of magic energy would make anyone controlling it virtually undetectable. If such a being was hiding in Arcana, then someone had to try and find it. But she was well aware that chasing shadows wasn't a Senshi's job. If she wanted to act, she'd have to wait for it to make the first move.
"Lady Hope?"
Hope looked at the man sitting in front of her and could feel a blush forming. She had to stop brooding so much. "I'm sorry, Gurel, it's just..."
"Oh no, by all means, take your time. You are the only worthy opponent I've found here, not counting your mother, your father, and that merchant that visited us some time ago."
Hope looked at the chess board in front of her and frowned. Indeed, a worthy opponent. The board was down to three pieces for each color, and literally no way to set a trap up for the other. "Thanatos, huh? A pity I didn't know he could play chess, or I would have challenged him."
Gurel passed a hand through his short brown hair and smiled. "Maybe we should call this a draw."
"And where's the fun in that?" Hope asked as she moved her only knight to a new position. "Check."
Gurel frowned. "Yes, indeed, where's the fun in that?"
A young man wearing a light blue robe walked in. "I'm sorry to interrupt your chess game, but your mother wants to see you immediately, Hope."
Hope nodded to the man. "Right. I'll be there in a minute. I wanted to speak to her anyways." She turned to Gurel and sighed. "Guess we'll have to finish this game later."
"I'll be waiting for that," Gurel said as the princess left the room.
Queen Siela, the Sage Librarian, had visitors. Hope didn't find that strange at all. She did, however, feel a bit of curiosity as she saw all four visitors were clad in Senshi uniforms. She knew two of them, Mars and Jupiter, but the other two...
One had long, blonde hair and blue eyes, and her uniform had orange skirt and blue bow. She'd heard of her, Princess Aphrodite from Venus, Sailor Venus.
The other was tall, and had enough muscles in her to make her look like she could beat most male warriors Hope had met... Without using her Senshi powers. She had black hair and grey eyes, and her uniform had grey skirt and dark grey bow. Sailor Earth?
"Hello mother," Hope said as the others turned to look at her.
"Good day, daughter. These are..."
"The Inner Senshi, or most of them at least," Hope said. "No Sailor Moon?"
Firea nodded. "Queen Serenity is a busy woman, and her daughter is waiting for her eighteenth birthday to receive her own Ginzuishou.”
That was a lunar tradition, one Hope didn't quite understand. Moon Senshi were only allowed to use their powers after their eighteenth birthday.
Lera shrugged. "We're here because you and Pluto were right."
"What?" Hope was quite surprised by that statement. Did that mean...
Firea nodded. "Arcana's dropped the mask. Beryl has Kaeil, Zoel and Nereos as her army's Generals now."
"Kaeil betrayed Mu?" Hope asked. That couldn't be, she'd heard stories about Kaeil's unmatched love for his own kingdom.
"It's more complicated than that," Firea explained. "We're sure whatever was you noticed in Arcana, took over Kaeil and the others. The kingdoms of Mu, Xanadu and Atlantis are under Beryl's control now."
"The Earth's spiraling into a full-scale war," Sailor Earth said. "Beryl's army grows larger with every battle, and it's already taken over three kingdoms. We need to put an end to her madness."
"Serenity's worried about it. She's detected a magic that matches that of the Ginzuishou in Beryl."
A magic as strong as the Ginzuishou? Impossible. "What can we do about it?"
"We've been summoned to Queen Serenity's palace," Firea explained.
"All of the Neo Senshi?"
Venus nodded. "Yeah. See, the Princess' birthday is only one week away... Once she gets permission to use her Senshi powers, we'll be able to fight Beryl."
"I say screw it," Earth muttered.
"Karen?" Firea asked with a frown.
"I can't just sit around and let Beryl take over the Earth. My father and brother are getting ready for war, and I'm supposed to help them."
"Beryl's main target is not the Earth, but the Moon." Everyone turned to the voice. Sailor Pluto was standing there, looking as neutral as ever.
"Moment? We didn't hear you walk in," Venus said.
"Dear Aphrodite, you should know I don't need to walk somewhere to be there. Anyways... Karen, listen. Beryl won't stop with the Earth. She wants the Moon too, and possibly all the other planets."
"So, we let her run over the Earth, slaughter millions and take over Camelot, and then after she's done, we fight her on the Moon?" Karen asked. "Sorry, but I can't do that."
Moment nodded. "I understand that. There are three others that don't agree with Serenity's plan. You will find them in Camelot when you return to the Earth."
"So... Aren't you going to force me to go to the Moon?"
Pluto shook her head. "No. Serenity will understand."
"Then I think... We should all go there," Mars said.
"Firea?"
Hope nodded. "I agree. We could stop Beryl there and then, before it's too late."
Pluto opened her mouth to say something, but then sighed. "I see. I will send a message to Serenity, and I'll join you all in Camelot once I'm done." With that, she vanished.
"Okay then... Let's go to the Earth," Karen said. The others nodded.
"Good luck, daughter," Siela said. Hope smiled at her before vanishing. The Queen stood up and walked out of the room. Beryl... She remembered her as a child. Back then she looked innocent and calm. So different from the evil, power-thirsty woman she'd become.
Hope blinked and looked around. The castle of Camelot was much like her home in Mercury, but the throne room was much smaller. She could see four other Senshi in there, along with the king of Camelot, King Endymion, a tall, elderly man, and the prince, as tall and strong-looking as his sister Karen.
"Welcome back, Karen," the prince said.
Karen nodded to him, and then turned to the other Senshi. "Girls, this is Hope, the new Mercury."
"Good to have some reinforcements," the Senshi in dark blue skirt and yellow bow, Sailor Uranus, said, "but weren't you girls supposed to go to the Moon?"
"A good soldier doesn't only follow orders," Firea said. "We have a chance to stop Beryl here and now, let's not waste it."
"That's good to hear." This Senshi's suit was different, as it was completely black. Her short red hair was adorned with a black bow that had a skull-shaped brooch in its center. "Camelot's scouts last saw the Arcanian army about to cross the border between Lemuria and Tir Na Nog."
The king nodded. "They're drawing close. My army's ready..."
Firea shook her head. "We'll go alone. We can get there in a matter of seconds, and our attacks work better if there are no friendly armies in the zone, since we can use them to take down several enemies in one shot."
Endymion considered her words then nodded. "I understand. Good luck, Sailor Senshi."
"We'll need it," Firea said before they all closed their eyes and vanished.
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 its 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 melee 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 melee 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, and now had a pair of wings in her back... An Eternal Senshi? She had 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, and then raised 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 secondary 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 melee 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... It was 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 defeat 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, and 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 smiled. 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 's kind of 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.
"But I don't want to see him again," The fifteen years old princess said with a dramatic sigh.
Her mother smiled. "Eris, King Halcyon told me he's grown into a charming young man."
The princess snorted. Charming? Prince Endymion, the brat that had tried to set her hair aflame when they were kids? That'd be quite impossible.
Princess Serenity, also known as Eris, was waiting for the doors of the massive spaceship to open, along with her parents. "Their royal ship is amazing," King Eridon commented.
The Queen nodded. "Not as big as our Moonstar, but close."
Eris pouted. "Should we knock?"
As she said that, the circular door on the Gea opened, and three persons walked out of the ship. Two of them, the princess knew. The tall, willowy and wise-looking man was King Halcyon, the king of Camelot. To his right was a girl she'd never seen before. Almost as tall as Halcyon, with long black hair and black eyes, and looked strong enough to take on an army. Eris guessed this was Karen, Endymion's daughter and also the newest Sailor Earth. Walking by Halcyon's left side was...
It couldn't be. The tall, handsome young man with short black hair and black eyes couldn't be Endymion. The Princess couldn't believe her eyes.
'So he's handsome, but what about his personality?' her mind pondered.
"Welcome, King Halcyon," Eridon said.
"Serenity, Eridon, it's been a long time since our last visit," Halcyon said, then looked at the princess. "I see your daughter has grown into quite a beautiful young woman."
Eris' cheeks took on a pink hue, which deepened into almost red as she noticed the prince was staring at her.
"This is my daughter, Karen," Halcyon continued, "and you've already met Endymion years ago."
Karen respectfully bowed at them, and Endymion followed suit. However, the prince took Eris' hand with his and kissed its back. "It's nice to see you again, Princess."
The Princess smiled and nodded. "Been a while, Endymion."
'It's been almost one month since last time I saw him,' Eris thought as her mind returned to the present. Today was her eighteenth birthday, and the day she'd become a Sailor Senshi. She hoped Endymion could attend to the party, but she was also aware of the danger the Earth was in right now.
There was something strange about her parents, too. It's like they knew something very bad was going to happen, but they wouldn't tell her about it when she asked. 'I'm not a little girl anymore, they should tell me if something's wrong.' Eris thought with a frown. Specially since she was about to become the next Senshi leader.
"Princess Serenity, the Queen wants to speak with you."
Eris looked down at the creature that had just walked into her room. Luna, one of the Mooncats, the guardians of the Senshi. The first Mooncats didn't appear until the rule of the seventh Serenity, when a war against an evil, unnamed race had required more than the Senshi to control. The first Mooncat, Serene, had been imbued with the powers of the Moon and had helped the Senshi win that war. A few more Mooncats had been 'created' using the same methods afterwards. Luna herself was a descendant of that first Mooncat, Serene.
Eris frowned. "Mother? What does she want?"
"I don't know," Luna said as she headed for the door. "Lady Pluto's with her right now, I think this may have something to do with Beryl. "
'Moment is here? That can only mean things are about to get really complicated.' With a sigh, Princess Serenity walked out of her room, following Luna's lead.
"My Queen, we're ready for our final strike."
Beryl looked at Jadeite, formerly known as Prince Jakken of Ragnarok. Tall, with short blonde hair and blue eyes, he had a black aura around him. There were several other Generals now, along with her first and strongest, Kunzite. The strongest ones were the white-haired ex-prince Kunzite, the brown-haired, androgynous Zoicite, the tall and gloomy Nephrite, whose past human self was rumored to be in love with Princess Nadia from Nemesis. Along with Jadeite, they were Beryl's both left and right hands.
Then, there were other, weaker Generals. Luminite, the lady of white hair and pale skin, who looked almost like a walking, living ivory statue. Cardite, the grey-haired summoner who lacked strength in combat but could summon creatures to fight for her. Dexite, an ex-High Wizard, his looks and posture made him look like a brown haired walking corpse. And the last one...
The last one, Aurite. The woman of golden hair, eyes and skin. Born in the Sun capital Hades, she had studied both magic and melee, rapidly becoming Camelot's head General. She was the reason Beryl's troops were now standing a few miles away from Camelot itself. She was also, by Metallia's words, a wild card.
In the short time she'd been under Beryl's orders, her powers had grown from being as weak as those of a normal youma, to rivaling Kunzite's and Jadeite's own power. Beryl wasn't certain of her loyalties, but if Aurite became too powerful to control, Metallia would surely get rid of her in a blink.
The dark Queen looked around as she floated over the masses of youma. Youma. That's what Metallia called her creatures, demons born from the darkest emotions and the darkest magic. Creatures that could either fuse with humans, becoming a new, stronger entity, or just act on their own account.
"Queen Beryl, should we turn Camelot's forces to our side?"
Beryl shook her head slowly. "No need. I want to see how well our forces fare against the Earth's strongest army. If we can run over Camelot today, we'll conquer the Moon in no time."
She laughed. It'd be too easy, too. Despite being a few miles away from the fortified city, they hadn't been spotted yet. Metallia's power could render any means of magical or technological scanning useless, and she could even hide the thousands of youma from human eyes.
Taking over Camelot would be a child's play. Just like all the other Kingdoms she already controlled.
"Father, I need to go there."
One of the King's advisors, a small, bald man frowned. "You can't abandon the Kingdom in a time like this, Prince, it'd be..."
King Halcyon stopped his advisor with a wave of his hand. "You may be right, Zaren, but Endymion might get help for the incoming battle. "
Endymion nodded. "I know the Senshi, the High Mages and the Demon Hunters haven't answered yet to our request for help, but if I could go and speak to Serenity personally..."
"The Queen or the Princess?" Zaren asked idly.
"Silence, Zaren." Halcyon ordered. "Son, you may go. If you're needed back here, I'll let you know."
Endymion nodded. "Thanks, father."
Halcyon looked at Zaren as the Prince left the room. "I know one of his reasons to go to the Moon is the Princess' birthday, but I also know his loyalty to his country comes before his romance with her. "
Zaren nodded "I know, too. I just hope his journey isn't in vain."
When Eris left the throne room, her face was a few tones away from snow white. What her mother and Pluto had told her...
"There's really nothing we can do. If we help the Earth tonight, we'll leave the Moon unprotected. If we wait for Beryl's attack here, we won't win, but we can get something closer to a 'draw. '"
Pluto's words weren't the cheeriest ones, but given the situation... It wasn't good that she now knew what could happen in a few hours... No, what would happen, Pluto's predictions weren't known for failing. They would all die tonight. All her friends and her fellow Senshi.
Fellow Senshi... Eris looked at the small crystal she was holding in her left hand. She knew what it represented, and why her mother had given her the crystal now and not after her birthday party was over.
She wouldn't just stand there and watch the others fight. She could now fight along with them. But...
Why fight, when they already knew what the outcome would be?
Eris' mind knew the answer to that question. Because they were going to make Beryl regret ever fighting the Senshi, victorious or not.
Orion frowned as he inspected the quite large army they'd gathered. The Demon Hunters were there in full, along with the High Wizards. And floating up in the sky, a fleet consisting of Thanatos' strongest battleships and the Moon's own battleships was waiting.
Waiting. Orion hated that. He would rather just have things happen now than just wait for Beryl to show her ugly face. Too bad there was nothing he could do to rush things, as well as nothing he could do to stop the onslaught predicted by Pluto.
'But even if I die tonight, I'll be sure to take a lot of those monsters down with me.'
Halcyon frowned as he looked at the figures now kneeling before him. "What are you doing here?"
Sailor Nemesis smiled. "King Halcyon, we're here to help you defend your Kingdom."
"Is this Serenity's doing?"
"Serenity doesn't know," Neptune said. "We're loyal to her, but we can't just sit around in the Moon Kingdom and watch the Earth fall. We'll make whatever we can to stop Beryl here and now."
"Still no signs of the youma," Uranus said tiredly.
Neptune nodded. They'd been scanning the area around the city for hours, but hadn't found a thing. "How many of them do you think will come to attack?"
"Too many," Uranus muttered humorlessly. Neptune smiled at that.
"Think we'll live through this one?" Nemesis asked walking up to them.
"Not sure."
"I am." The others looked back to see Saturn standing there, looking as emotionless as always. "I can sense the creatures out there, the youma as they call themselves. There's hundreds of thousands of them. There is no way we can win against such odds."
Princess Karen nodded as she also approached the group. "I'm pretty sure we won't live through this. But I won't abandon my country... Or my father. I just hope Endymion comes back soon."
"His trip will be in vain," Saturn said. "Serenity's not going to send any help."
"How can you know that for sure?" Neptune asked.
"I know Pluto must've seen something go VERY wrong if they sent help here. Otherwise, Serenity wouldn't act so heartlessly."
"It's not a nice feeling to know you're fighting a losing battle," Neptune said with a heavy sigh.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Uranus said passing an arm over Neptune's shoulders. Neptune's cheeks took on a pink hue as she looked up at her and smiled.
The others laughed at that. Uranus and Neptune, outside the Senshi's circle, were rumored to be romantically involved. A thing that wasn't frowned upon, but also wasn't too common. Inside the Senshi's circle, their romance was well known.
"Beryl's army is coming!" came the shout of a guard from one of the watch towers. Looking westwards, the Senshi could see it was true.
"There must be at least a million youma!" Nemesis observed.
The Camelot army remained inside the castle, as did the Senshi. Archers, catapults and ballistas soon started hitting Beryl's minions with all they had. However, the youma army was soon clawing at the walls... Literally clawing, as some had claws long and strong enough to tear through stone and metal.
"This is bad," Earth said. "Our ranged weapons can't hit them down there."
"Then it's our turn," Uranus said. "Hurricane..." As she balled her fist, a breeze picked up. The wind all gathered around her fist, forming a small air vortex. "Punch!" She swung her fist forwards, the vortex shooting forwards, and increasing in size as it rushed at the crowd of youma. When it hit the ground, its size was easily that of a normal house, and it literally shredded two dozen creatures in a matter of seconds. "What are you waiting for?" she muttered looking at the others.
"Nemesis Endless Night!" The Senshi of Darkness shouted, and a massive black dome formed near the wall. Inside it, the cries of pain and curses of dozens of youma could be heard. When the dome vanished, the creatures trapped inside were already gone.
"We may not win, but we'll surely cut their numbers down," Neptune commented.
Beryl and her Generals were watching the battle, and realized the youma would not enter the city without taking heavy casualties. "My warriors, I think it's time you show me what you are really capable of," Beryl said turning to her minions.
The Generals all bowed to her then vanished. "They are strong... But shouldn't we use our other warriors instead?"
Beryl didn't need to turn to the voice to know who that was. She could almost feel Metallia's shapeless form behind her, staring at her with green, glowing eyes. "No. I'm saving them for a real emergency. If Serenity's Senshi are as strong as legends say, we may need them. But to beat the few Senshi who are here, and take over Camelot... There's no need to ruin the surprise yet."
"I hope you don't fail, Beryl. The Senshi are not a force to ignore. "
"I'm well aware of that. The Generals are far stronger than the Senshi."
"Agreed. A pity I can't go have fun myself, but I must save energy for the time I face Serenity. And so must you."
Beryl nodded. It would be foolish, indeed, to waste power in a weak, insignificant pack of humans and Senshi, when they would have to fight the Senshi Queen herself in a matter of hours.
Endymion bowed to the Queen and sighed. The party had already begun, but he was too busy worrying about his kingdom to enjoy it. "Your highness, I'm here to..."
Serenity nodded. "I know what you're going to ask. And I'm sorry to say I can't send anyone down to help now."
Endymion frowned. "I don't understand. You'll let thousands of humans die without sending any help?"
"Several Senshi ignored my words and have gone to the Earth to battle Beryl. I fear they'll perish along with anyone who opposes the evil Queen," Serenity explained.
Eris walked in and looked at the two other persons in the throne room. "Mother, our guests are wondering where you are," she said looking at her mother. She then turned to Endymion. "Good to see you again, Endymion." 'One last time...'
Endymion smiled at Eris, then turned back to the Queen. "If you're so sure Camelot will fall, what makes you think Silver Millenium won't?"
"Pluto saw we won't survive this. Either ways, thousands will die, maybe millions."
"Then why don't you fight them down there? Because Pluto told you to let Beryl run over Camelot?"
"No. Because if things go as I've planned, then Beryl won't win."
"She already won if you're resigning to fate."
"I'm not, I'm going to fight her with all I've got. We can't win, but I'll make sure she doesn't win, either."
Endymion sighed. So his trip to the Moon had been for nothing. He should be down there, fighting for Camelot. "I... Understand," he finally said, his voice sad and low.
Eris took his hand and smiled as he looked at her. "Endymion, would you dance with me tonight?"
'One last time...' Endymion thought as he nodded at her.
The city of Camelot wasn't unprepared for an attack such as this. While the soldiers and mages stood to fight off the invaders, the rest of the population had been evacuated through an underground tunnel which lead them far from the battlegrounds. The evacuation had ended just in time, too, as minutes later the youma had broken through one of the walls and into the city.
What had once been a commercial area of the city was now mostly destroyed, as the army of Camelot and the Senshi tried to resist the invading waves of creatures. Suddenly, a wave of ghastly figures appeared, swirling and circling the area and draining many youma off their energy.
Saturn stared coldly at the crowd of invaders as her 'pets' returned to her. The wraiths entered her body, but she didn't seem to notice, even though her suit glew white for a brief instant. "This is going better than I thought," she said mostly to herself. "These youma may be numerous, but they're also weak."
"Agreed, oh Lady of Death," a voice said mockingly from behind.
Saturn turned around and stared coldly at the blonde man standing there. "So Beryl's lapdogs have finally appeared," she stated in a monotone.
"Tsk, tsk... Girl, you shouldn't be so grim all the time."
"I would ruin my image if I wasn't, after all I'm the Grim Reaper. "
Jadeite laughed at that, then shot an energy blast. Saturn deflected it with her glaive as she stared around suspiciously. "Oh, don't worry, Saturn. I may be an evil minion, but there are still some things I retain, like honor. Youma won't come close to us while we fight."
"That's nice to know, but why are you here anyways?"
"You and your allies are taking a big bite on our troops. Beryl doesn't want to lose too many youma in this invasion, since we'll need them for the attack to Silver Millenium."
"Not that you'll live to see that happen," Saturn said as she swung her glaive to a battle-ready pose.
"Oh, but we're having so much fun talking..." Jadeite said with mock disappointment.
"Death Beam!" Saturn's glaive lit up for a second as a purplish blast of energy shot at Jadeite. The blonde General leapt aside and frowned.
"If you insist..." he muttered as he produced a sword. Saturn idly noticed its blade was actually a yellowish crystal, then dove aside as the General charged at her.
"Dark Star Reflection!"
Earth watched as Nemesis's hands lit up, just before a black energy wave shot out from them, vaporizing any evil creature on its path. She then turned to her own targets. "Elemental Rage!" An energy sphere formed around her left hand, sucking in dirt, rocks and leaves from the area around her. After a few seconds, she swung her fist forwards, causing the gathered energy and objects to shoot forwards as a beam. It did as much damage as Nemesis' attack, and she smirked as she scanned the area for more enemies.
That's when she saw the two figures floating up in the air. "Well, Nadia, I think we have Beryl's puppets to play with now."
Nemesis frowned as she looked up. The man to the left had brown hair tied up in a short ponytail and looked girly, but the one to the right...
"Neir?"
The man looked at her. "Indeed, that used to be my name. But now I'm Nephrite, one of Beryl's Generals."
Earth frowned and looked at Nemesis. This was not good, she knew Nadia and Neir were in love... But Neir, or Nephrite as he called himself now, didn't look like he had any emotions left. "Don't let your guard down, that's not Neir, just his body," she said.
Nemesis looked at her and sighed. "I... I know."
The other General floated down to the ground and smiled coldly at them. "Nephrite, you take care of the Nemesian. I'll take care of the Princess."
"You mean, I'll take care of you," Earth snapped.
"Funny, she's delirious," the man said. "Please call me Zoicite."
Earth just shrugged and produced a grey-hilted sword.
"Hurricane Punch!"
"Deep Ocean Pressure!"
The air vortex flew along with a thick beam of water, fusing with it and creating a twister of wind and water that shredded several dozen youma to pieces. Uranus and Neptune stood now in the middle of a large group of youma, back to back and ready to strike again.
However, the youma suddenly backed away. The Senshi both looked up to the sky and saw a couple human-looking figures staring down at them. "Who're those?" Uranus asked.
"Generals," Neptune said.
The white-haired man chuckled. "The strongest of them, too. I'm Kunzite, the strongest of Beryl's Generals."
"And my name," the woman floating besides him, who had long golden hair, golden eyes and even golden skin, said, "is Aurite."
Uranus frowned, while Neptune produced her own sword, an aquamarine-hilted one. "So, Beryl finally realized her weakly monsters aren't enough to defeat us."
"You could say that," Aurite said. "Then again, I think she actually wants to test us before we go for the real Senshi."
Uranus frowned as a blue-hilted sword appeared in her hand. "Gale Blade!"
Kunzite dove aside and laughed. "Guess you ticked them off, Aurite. "
"Too bad, that means I'll have to kill them."
Saturn leaned on her glaive for support and frowned. Jadeite was simply too fast, too strong for her. She'd tried almost everything, from melee to her attacks, but nothing seemed to weaken him. She'd hit him more than enough times, but Jadeite was playing with her.
Yes, that was it. He was tiring her down, and she'd quite fallen for it. She still had enough energy for her strongest attack, not counting the one her ancestor, Aejin, had used in the past. That attack was forbidden, and would do little good right now. But there was still another technique she'd never used before. And if she timed it right, it'd be more than enough to defeat Jadeite.
The blonde General was tired of waiting, so he started walking to her, sword ready. However, he stopped as he saw Saturn's eyes turn pitch black for a brief second. "What the..."
"Mess with Death and you'll meet your doom, fool. It's time to show you what the Senshi of Death can do." As she spoke, her glaive's blade grew gradually brighter, and by the time she'd stopped, glaring at Jadeite, the glaive's tip was bright enough to be blinding. "Saturn..." The usual group of wraiths appeared, but they weren't swirling around her glaive, and they were man-sized. Also, each of them carried a glaive like Saturn's, all shinning with light as hers was.
"... Grim..." The wraiths started screeching, and the few youma that were near the area stopped fighting and backed off in confusion. Jadeite also backed away unconsciously as the wraiths all fixed their eyeless sockets on him.
"Reaper!" Saturn shouted as she swung her glaive forwards, tip hitting the ground hard enough to crack it, and it released a massive purple beam of energy. It hit Jadeite, knocking him back a few meters. But that wasn't the real attack.
He realized what the wraiths were for a little too late, as they all passed by his side, slashing at him with their glaives. He blocked some of the attacks but most hit him. Before he could think of a way to counter, the wraiths all gathered and passed through his body, causing him to scream and fall to the ground face-first.
Saturn's face was paler than ever, but she smiled as she looked at Jadeite. "Heh... So much for the mighty Generals." Suddenly, Jadeite vanished. Saturn couldn't figure out what had happened, before she felt a blade strike her back. Her mouth filled with blood as she looked down at the blade's tip coming out of her chest. "This... Can't..."
Jadeite pulled the sword out of her body and laughed. "Stupid Senshi." He then stopped and coughed, spitting some blood. "That attack was too strong, though. If there had been any other Senshi helping her, I'd be dead by now."
The General looked around. Without a Senshi to baby-sit them, the soldiers of Camelot in the area were now being overrun by the youma. Once all the Senshi were dealt with, the army wouldn't have any hopes of winning this battle.
"Nemesis Endless Night!"
Nephrite formed an energy shield to block Nemesis' attack and laughed. "Don't fight, Nadia. You're making this harder for us both. "
"I won't give up."
"Too bad, I thought I could deal with you in a fast and painless way, " Nephrite said. "So be it, dear Nadia."
"Earth Dust Storm!"
Zoicite crashed through a wall, along with a wave of dirt and rocks. He stood up and growled, charging back at Earth. Earth dodged aside and delivered a knife hand to his neck, sending him slamming into another wall. "Why you, ..."
"Earth Dust Storm!"
Zoicite was pinned to the wall by the attack and fell down to his knees. "Damn it..."
"Tired?"
Zoicite looked up at her and smirked. "Not at all!" He aimed his palm at her so fast she didn't see the pinkish energy blast until it'd hit her, sending her flying back several meters.
The General smirked as he walked up to Earth, who was clutching her chest in pain and kneeling on the ground. "You Senshi are no rival for us. Though it's a pity you chose the wrong side, we could use minions as strong as you."
"Earth... Dust..."
"Die!"
Earth screamed as Zoicite shot another blast at her, but this time his hands lit up. She could feel the energy inside her, burning her from within. The torment only lasted a few seconds, and soon Earth's lifeless body fell to the ground in a heap.
"So easy it's not even fun," Zoicite muttered. "Now to wait for that weakling to get rid of his girlfriend."
Nemesis leaned on a wall and coughed. Neir... Nephrite was too strong, she just couldn't win this fight. Looking up at the Moon, she sighed. "We failed. Maybe Serenity was right, we should've waited for them at the Moon." Looking northwards, she could see the Camelot castle, wrecked and burning.
She knew Nephrite was looking at her, standing nearby. Why hadn't he attacked her yet? She had no energy left to fight, and he should know that...
"Nadia." Nemesis turned to look at Nephrite. He was smiling, but it was a sad smile... "I'm sorry." That's the last thing she heard before an energy beam hit her and she blacked out.
The two last Senshi on Earth weren't faring any better than their dead friends. In fact, they were both trying to recover as Kunzite and Aurite smiled triumphantly at them.
"Should we?" Aurite asked.
"No... It's not fun at all, they're not even trying."
Neptune glared at them. "Underestimating us isn't wise..."
"Why? You're not strong enough to defeat us," Aurite snapped.
"Alone, we aren't," Uranus said and closed her eyes. "Final..."
Neptune nodded as she also closed her eyes. "But together... Elemental..."
"What the..." Jadeite muttered as he saw the two Senshi's bodies blurred by spheres of their respective elements.
"Storm!" Both Senshi shouted at once. The water and wind gathered were released, forming a massive cone that knocked the two Generals away, destroying several youma that'd been standing on the attack's way.
"Did we kill them?" Neptune asked as she kneeled on the ground, exhausted.
A nearby building was blasted to dust by an energy wave, and the two Generals walked out of it. "No, you didn't," Kunzite said coldly.
Uranus frowned and lifted her sword. "If we have to die..."
"We'll die fighting," Neptune finished as they both run towards the Generals.
"It's done," Dexite said as he bowed in front of Beryl.
"That was faster than I expected," Beryl said amused as she looked at the now ruined Camelot. "Maybe we overestimated the Senshi. "
"We didn't," the shadow behind her hissed. "The strongest Senshi remain on the Moon, and we may need to fight them ourselves."
"So be it," Beryl said as she looked at the city. She could smell the death emanating from the buildings, and she loved that scent. "Nothing can stop us now. Nothing."
Orion frowned as he stared down at the large lake located several miles to the west of Silver Millenium. From his watch point on top of the highest tower of the Silver Palace, he could clearly see everything around it. If the youma were thinking on attacking tonight, he'd be able to see them coming.
He looked up at the Earth and sighed. If these creatures showed up, it'd mean they'd passed through Camelot. He'd tried to be optimistic about it, but there was little hope for the Moon if Camelot fell. Even though Serenity held the strongest weapon ever forged in her hands, Beryl somehow had enough power to counter her crystal.
The question was, how. Even the young genius Hope had no idea how Beryl had grew so powerful in such a short time. However, that was now quite a moot point, as the youma were surely going to visit the Moon soon.
"Sooner than expected," Orion muttered as he saw something to the east of the palace. Row after row of creatures were teleporting into the surface, each weirder than the last. He produced a small, round communicator and pushed the only button in it. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have visitors to the East."
"They're porting in from the south and north-west too," came Zane Thanatos' voice from the communicator. "I'm having my ships give them a warm welcome, but I'll surely need help here."
"Understood. We'll be out there in a minute." That was Sailor Mars' voice.
Orion put the communicator away and looked down to the ground. "Float." He said and leapt off the roof... Floating slowly down to ground level. The Demon Hunters were all there, waiting for him. "Libra, lead group one to the south. Leo, go with group two to the north-west and help Thanatos' battleships."
A man wearing a white robe, with white long hair and beard came walking to him. "The High Wizards are ready."
"Good. We'll need as many magicians as we can get once they get here. "
"Mother, what's going on?" Eris said as she walked into the throne room.
"Beryl's army is here. They're about to reach the city's outer walls. "
"Then I should go help."
"But..."
"The Senshi, the Hunters, the Wizards... Even Thanatos will be out there fighting those monsters. I can't just sit here and watch, mother."
"I... Understand. Just be careful, daughter."
Eris hugged her mother and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to let them win without a fight."
Serenity watched silently as her daughter walked out of the room. "I won't sit here and watch, either... But first I have to let them come to us."
The Senshi stood on top of the city's outer wall, looking down at the incoming wave of youma. "That's amazing. There must be at least a million of them!" Jupiter observed.
"One million two hundred thousands, give or take a few thousands," Mercury corrected.
"Let's make that half a million," Venus said. "Crescent Beam!"
"..." Mars frowned at her as the thin light beam blasted through a few dozen creatures.
"What?"
"Good aim, but hitting them with our weakest attacks won't do."
Venus raised her hand, then shouted "Venus Light Comet!" A massive beam of light shot from her hand, forming a massive ball of light which shot forwards, crashing into the youma army and killing several hundreds of them instantly.
"Wow..." Hope said. Sure, she had been training to become stronger, but she hadn't still reached the power level the others had.
"Is that better?" Venus asked with a grin.
"Showoff," Mars muttered.
"Princess, what are you doing here?" Jupiter asked. The others turned to see Princess Serenity walking towards them.
"I'm here to help," Eris said.
Mars frowned. "But you won't get access to your powers until..."
"Moon Prism Power!"
The Senshi gasped as Eris turned into Sailor Moon, her version of the Senshi suit had blue skirt and red bow, along with red brooches for her hair buns and knee-long red boots. "... After your birthday, " Mars finished. "Never mind."
Moon shrugged. "My mother wanted me to help you fight tonight."
"I don't think sending a novice into the field will help..."
"Moon Tiara Action!" Moon reached for her tiara, which turned into a golden energy disk, then tossed it down at the incoming army. The tiara sliced through monster after monster as it fled away, then turned and sliced even more creatures as it fled back to Moon's awaiting hands. "Contrary to popular belief, I haven't just slacked around and gone to social meetings the last few years."
"Why is everyone out to contradict me tonight?" Mars muttered. Being the oldest of the Senshi, not counting Pluto or Saturn, she'd always acted like a leader in battle when the other two weren't around. 'And if Beryl's here, that means Saturn failed,' she thought with a grimace.
"Enough chatter, the uglies are coming our way," Jupiter noted. "Rolling Thunder!" The Senshi of Lightning swung her fists forwards as electricity gathered in them, creating a large energy disc that vaporized countless monsters.
"I agree," Moon said and produced her tiara once again.
A few miles to the south, a large fleet of spaceships were steadily decreasing the numbers of Beryl's army. It didn't help the monsters that the ships were too high to be shot from the ground, and that the few airborne youma that had teleported in had already been blasted out.
Thanatos watched the onslaught from his ship, the Tiamat. This was easier than he'd thought, and for a moment, he felt as if his ships were untouchable.
It only lasted a moment, though. "Captain, the Drake and Reaper are down!"
"What? Locate the attackers."
"Scanning... I see them. There's a group of humanoid youma down there, along with Beryl."
"Beryl herself?" That could be the only chance he'd have to take a shot at the evil Queen. "Fire at them with all we've got!"
Orion leapt away from a tiger-like monster, then stabbed through another creature. The tiger charged at him, but he was faster. "Ice Shot." As the creature turned into dust, an explosion rocked the area. "What the hell?"
He soon found the cause of the explosion. The fleet formed by Thanatos' spaceships and the Moon Royal Space Force were all shooting at one single point. "That here?" Orion muttered. Indeed, Beryl was the target of the attacks. Lasers and missiles rained on the Queen and her Generals, but there was an energy shield around them, so none of the attacks could hit them.
A shadowy, shapeless creature stood behind Beryl, and it turned to stare at Orion for a second. The Demon Hunter felt like a sheep staring at a hungry wolf. However, he saw Beryl saying something, and the shadow turned away from him. A moment later, he saw the Generals shooting energy beams up at the fleet, tearing through several ships as easy as a sword would stab through flesh.
"Zane, I hope you'll be okay up there," Orion said before turning to the battle at hand.
"Captain, the Katana and the Argenta are down. The Firebrand and Silver are heavily damaged."
"Did we at least hit them?" Thanatos asked.
"Negative. Some kind of force field protects them."
"Leave them to the Senshi, then! Regroup and go north, to the other front!"
It was right then that the Tiamat was hit in its main reactor.
"Ship coming down, get out of the way!" One of the Hunters warned.
Orion looked up as he beheaded a crab-like monster. That is... The Tiamat? Damn it...'
There was nothing he could do about it, though, other than teleporting away from the impact point. He could see several other ships crashing down all around them, and sighed. So much for the air force.
"Stupid humans, did they really think those ships would be able to stop us?" Dexite asked amused.
Aurite frowned for a second, then looked at Beryl. "My Queen, our forces coming from the south are being attacked by a group of High Wizards and Demon Hunters. The north group's being slowed down by the Senshi themselves."
"High Wizards, huh? That's my specialty," Dexite said.
Beryl nodded. "Generals, destroy the humans attacking our forces."
"What about the Senshi?" Kunzite asked.
"No need to worry. I'm sending the Rainbow Youma to fight them."
"As you wish," Kunzite said. The Rainbow Youma... The only thing Kunzite knew that could defeat a General in a one-on-one battle. Even if the Senshi destroyed them, they would be able to injure them, making the Generals' job way easier.
"I'm going with the youma," Cardite said.
Beryl shook her head. "There's no need..."
"Your underling's right, Beryl," Metallia hissed. "She can use her power to retrieve the Rainbows before the Senshi destroy them. There's no need to waste such strong warriors if we can avoid it."
Beryl nodded. "Then it's decided. Let's end this battle now." As her Generals vanished, Beryl looked at the Silver Palace, several miles away. 'Little Senshi Queen, your time's up. Are you just going to hide and wait for us to come knocking at your door?'
"Ice Blast!"
The creature Mercury had targeted turned into an ice statue, the ice shards caused by the impact impaling several other monsters. Mercury turned around just in time to see a snakelike monster rushing at her, and used her sword to slice it in half. As much as she didn't like to fight this close to the monsters, it couldn't be helped.
The walls of the city still stood, and most of the civilians and the guests that had been there for the birthday party had been evacuated to Mars and Mercury, the nearest planets still not touched by Beryl's claws.
However, the situation for the Senshi wasn't looking good. There were still at least a million youma around them, and they'd been forced to fight them close as using their strongest attacks could end up damaging the walls.
"Berserker Fury!" Mercury could smell the ozone created by the attack as a monster was sent flying over her. She was about to attack another monster, when they all started backing away.
"What's going on?" Venus asked.
"Are they retreating?" Moon said.
Mercury scanned the area and saw them... Seven youma that were making their way through the crowd, their power levels insanely high. "Those seven..." She could also see a General with them. This could indeed mean trouble.
"Hey look, one of Beryl's lackeys is here," Mars said.
Cardite floated over the crowd, stopping a few meters away from the Senshi, as the seven youma stared at them. "My name's Cardite. But don't worry, as much as I'd love to beat you girls up right now, my Queen has sent me just as an observer."
"What do you mean?" Venus asked.
"Isn't it obvious? The seven Rainbow Youma will take care of you, pests."
"Don't bet on it," Mars snapped. "Okay girls, it's time to show this what the Senshi can do!"
"Hah! Die like your weak friends in Camelot, most likely," Cardite snapped back.
"That's it, the 's mine," Mars growled.
"Fire Sto--"
Orion gasped as a High Wizard was cut in mid-spell by a pink energy beam. "Damn it, they're too strong!"
"You just noticed that?" Zoicite mused. "Give up, weaklings, and we'll make your deaths swift."
"I'd rather die fighting," one of the Hunters snapped.
"So be it," Kunzite snapped and shot several energy blasts at the man, killing him instantly.
Orion frowned. Things weren't looking good for them. Half his group had already been destroyed by the Generals, and the youma now had the road free to attack the city. With only three hunters and seven wizards left, there wasn't much they could do. But they weren't about to give up yet.
"This is boring," Zoicite commented.
"I agree. Enough fooling around," Jadeite said.
Orion frowned. "Now!"
"Darek Aram Sou..." The wizards started chanting those three words, causing a large sphere of magic energy to appear in front of them. The hunters rushed forwards, hitting the sphere with their sword and causing it to explode into a rain of energy blasts.
"Nice try," Nephrite said as he formed an energy shield around his group, blocking the makeshift attack, "but not enough. Now DIE!"
Orion leapt aside dodging the barrage of energy beams and blasts the Generals started shooting. He heard several cries of pain behind him, and didn't need to turn around to know the others hadn't managed to move out of the way. "This isn't going as expected..."
"Pity, you're the only one left," Kunzite said as he gathered energy in his right hand. "Now--" A roaring noise could be heard, and Kunzite and the others turned around. "What in the Darkness is..."
All they could see was a single, small fighter ship heading their way, shooting lasers and missiles at them. The whole area was covered by dust and smoke, and as it cleared, two things could be seen. The hunter was gone, and the ship was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn, he escaped," Luminite muttered.
"Never mind that. Let's check on the Senshi and see if any of them survived."
"Light Comet!"
Venus' Light attack knocked the tiger-like youma back, but it just grunted and stood unhurt. "Is it just me, or they're too strong for us?" the blonde Senshi asked as she checked on her right arm. The scratch from the mantis-like monster had stopped bleeding now, but it still hurt.
"It's you," Mars muttered. She was now trying to punch the dinosaur-like youma to a pulp. Cardite hadn't been too eager to fight, and Mars had also realized they were outnumbered so there was no need to fight the General yet.
And Venus was partially right. While they had managed to knock down two out of the seven creatures, the Senshi were all tired from the battle, and, in Jupiter and Venus' case, they were also injured. Also, they weren't able to kill the creatures, as Cardite had trapped them within some kind of tarot cards.
Moon dove out of the way as the massive dragon youma charged at her. "Moon Cosmic Spiral!"
One thing she had to give the Princess, was that she learnt fast. In little over thirty minutes, she'd been able to summon her Cosmic level attacks. Not as strong as the others, but still enough to fight the creatures.
As the dragon-like monster hit the ground with a loud thud, Cardite produced another card, muttering something under her breath. Like the other two times, her card absorbed the monster, and she grinned.
"They're weaker than I thought."
The Senshi and Cardite turned to see Beryl and the rest of the Generals had arrived. "My Queen, I'm sorry, they are indeed weaker than the Senshi."
"It doesn't matter. Bring them all to me."
Cardite nodded and produced four more cards, absorbing the remaining four Rainbow Youma with them, then gave them to Beryl.
Beryl took the cards and closed her eyes for a few seconds before speaking again. "Seven souls create a new one. Bringer of death and destruction, come forth... Raishiku"
A black portal opened, and a massive, humanoid lizard appeared. Its arms and legs were as thick as a human body, and he looked like he could crush a normal human with little effort. "What is that thing?" Mercury asked.
"That's my strongest youma, the Shadow Youma, Raishiku," Metallia hissed. "And it'll be the last youma you'll ever fight, humans."
Raishiku took a step forwards, but before it could try and attack, a barrage of laser blasts hit it from the side. It growled and turned to its aggressor, the same fighter that'd attacked the Generals before.
"Who's in that ship? I thought they'd all been destroyed," Mars pondered.
Mercury scanned the ship as it flew by. "Thanatos is piloting the ship. And also..."
Before she could finish that sentence, a single figure fell from the ship towards Raishiku, slashing at it with a sword. The youma, however, knocked him far away and he crashed into a wall.
"Who was that?" Jupiter asked.
"Orion," Mercury said with a grimace. "This monster's simply too strong for any of them."
"But not for us," Mars said. "Mars Hell's Wrath!" Mars swung her fist forwards in the youma's direction, and a large beam of fire shot from her body, wrapping around the massive creature, and scorching the ground around it. The Senshi of Fire held the creature still for several seconds, but then she kneeled on the ground, panting. "Impossible..."
"Your weak attacks can't destroy him," Beryl said. "Give up now."
"Never," Mars said.
"All right. Raishiku, finish them!"
As he opened his eyes and tried to stand up, Orion tried to remember what had happened before he blacked out. He remembered the massive youma backhanding him and frowned. Two things were clear to him right now. One, he had been tossed a good three hundred meters away. And two, he couldn't feel or move his legs.
He realized he'd fallen in such a way, he could see what was going on back where the Senshi were. "Far eye. Far ear." He muttered, casting a couple spells that would allow him to see and hear what happened clearly. If he couldn't stand up and fight, he could at least watch the Senshi kick Beryl's ugly rear out of the Moon.
Strangely, there were no youma near the area. Looking to a side, he could see why: The whole army had finally broken into Silver Millenium, leaving behind the Senshi and the Generals. Amongst the crowd of human soldiers fighting the relentless wave of demons, there were two he could recognize. One was King Eridon, wearing a silver, shinning battle armor and holding the Moon Dragon Sword in his hand, along with a shield he'd never seen before. The other was Prince Endymion, who was actually slashing his way through the army of youma to get out of the city.
Turning back to the group fighting Beryl, Orion grimaced. Jupiter and Venus were down, while Mercury and Mars were standing between the Shadow Youma and Sailor Moon. Mars had several wounds in her arms and legs, and Mercury's visor was gone. That monster was stronger than anything he'd seen before, and he didn't keep his hopes too high for the Senshi. It was doubtful a couple injured Senshi and a novice, even if that novice was Sailor Moon, would be able to defeat that Shadow Youma.
"Now you see, Senshi, you have no way of winning," Beryl gloated.
"We won't give up. We'll take care of you then we'll destroy your mindless drones," Mars snapped.
"There's no way you can defeat our army of youma," Zoicite snapped back.
"When I said mindless drones, I meant you and your friends," Mars retorted with a half smile, causing Zoicite to growl at her.
"Enough!" Beryl said furiously. "Raishiku, destroy--"
Once again, Thanatos' fighter ship zoomed by, shooting at the Generals and Beryl. This time, however, Beryl shot a thin energy blast at it, and the ship exploded in mid-air.
"Damn it, Zane..." Orion muttered. There was simply no way his friend had made it out of that explosion alive.
Mercury glared at Beryl, then at the Shadow Youma. "Monsters, I won't let you win this! Mercury..."
"Wait..." Moon said.
"What?"
"We can defeat them... Together."
Mars nodded and concentrated. "Let's do it."
Moon closed her eyes and aimed her open palms at the monster. "Sailor... Starlight..."
Mars and Mercury also closed their eyes, and energy started flowing between them and Moon. "Stream..."
"Barrage!" the three shouted in unison. The visual effect of the attack was amazing, a steady stream of fire, ice and pure magic energy rushing at the Shadow Youma. Raishiku tried to slap the attack away, but it blasted through his arm and his chest, vaporizing him in seconds.
"We did it..." Mars said, exhausted.
Beryl frowned and shot two energy beams, and Moon gasped as they passed by her side, then her eyes widened as she realized what the targets were. Turning around, she could see both Mars and Mercury lying on the ground. "No..."
"Damn it, I wanted to have fun with them myself," Jadeite muttered.
"Quiet. Now, Princess, you may wonder why I haven't killed you along with them," Beryl said. "Truth is, I'm impressed. Unlike your cowardly mother, you've come out here to face us, even though you knew it was hopeless. I may not share your ideals, but I still respect that."
Moon frowned. Good, let her rant, the more the dark Queen spoke, the more time she'd have to recover and attack.
"It's sad, however, that I'll have to kill you as well. But I'm giving you one last chance to fight. You and me, with no interferences from either sides. What's your answer?"
"Here's your answer!"
Beryl turned to the side and gasped as something slashed at her. She made a show of screaming in pain as her left arm fell off, but then the arm rejoined her body and she laughed. "Well, well, the handsome prince comes to save the lady in distress."
"I'm going to kill you and your underlings," Endymion said as he glared at her, sword ready to attack again. His suit was covered by cuts and blood, but most of said blood wasn't his.
Beryl laughed, a humorless, deep laugh. "You, a little human, defeating me? Funny, that's what your father said before I destroyed him." Endymion's glare deepened as he charged at the Queen once again. "Generals!" she shouted in a commanding tone.
The Generals all rushed forwards as one, each materializing an energy sword, and they all slashed at Endymion. The prince tried to fight back but the barrage of attacks was too much for him to take.
"Serenity, are you sure? We could help out there," Luna said looking up at her Queen.
Serenity shook her head. "My daughter and the other Senshi will need someone to guide them."
"What do you mean?"
"Luna, you were there when Pluto came to talk to me. You know what she saw."
"I'll do as you wish, my Queen. But are you sure these containers are safe?" Luna looked at the small metal containers where two other Mooncats were already sleeping.
"They've been used a few times in the past," Serenity said.
"Only for a few centuries at most. We're talking about thousands of years."
"I know," Serenity said with a sigh. "There's a chance the tubes' energy won't last long enough for you to be there."
Luna sighed. "So it's either die here, or die there." She looked up at the Queen again. "I'll do it. I've always been a lucky Mooncat. "
Serenity chuckled at that. "Okay then, walk inside and I'll do the rest."
Luna walked into the tube, and a blue glass slid over its opening. "Goodbye, my Queen. It was an honor to serve you."
"Goodbye, Luna. Take care of my daughter."
"I will," Luna said. Serenity looked at the small keypad to the side of the tube and nodded, pressing a few buttons. When she was done, she backed away to look at the three Mooncats, now sleeping. "Luna, Artemis and Shade. It's a pity I couldn't bring any of the others here."
In that moment, a soldier walked into the room, kneeling before her. "Queen Serenity, I was sent here to give you this." He produced a silver-hilted sword and turned to leave. "There were too many of those creatures out there. There was nothing we could do to save him."
Serenity looked at the sword in her hands and her eyes watered. The Moon Dragon Sword was a gift from her to her husband after they married, and she knew she wouldn't be holding it unless he was... Wiping away the few tears that had rolled down her cheeks, she held the sword in one hand and walked out of the room.
It had gone too far. Now, it was time to show Beryl what she could do when angered.
"This is definitely rotten," Orion muttered as he saw Endymion's body fall to the ground. Looking back to the city, he gasped as he saw Serenity walking out and straight into the horde of youma. The monsters charged at her, but her body lit up with energy, and a sphere-shaped wave shoot out from her, growing at an amazing rate, and destroying any youma it touched. It took only a few seconds. When the wave dimmed, there were no youma left in the northern side of the city.
"Moon Silver Crystal Wave!"
Orion turned to the Princess. He'd almost forgotten about her, but he could see she was faring way better than he'd expected. She'd shot a massive energy beam at the Generals, knocking them all to the ground. With a bit of luck, those bastards would be dead. However, the Princess kneeled on the ground, panting exhausted. Orion knew why, the Senshi could be powerful and resistant, but they were still humans, and after all the battling they'd gone through in the last hour, it was only natural the Princess was tired.
"So, is that all you've got?" Beryl teased her. Moon glared at her, then stood up, producing a sword identical to her mother's one. "Oh dear, the kid's got a sword. Be careful with that thing, you could poke someone's eyes off."
"That's the idea," Moon snapped and charged at Beryl.
Beryl didn't move. She didn't need to. The shadowy creature that followed her everywhere shot forwards, passing right through Moon's body. There was no visible damage, but the Princess' eyes... Orion shivered. Lifeless, glazed over. Whatever that shadow had done, the Princess was now gone. Sailor Moon kneeled, dropping her sword, then fell face-first to the ground.
"BERYL!"
Both the evil Queen and Orion turned to see Serenity walking towards her. She was giving Beryl a cold glare, and looked like she could level a city on a whim right now. "Oh look, the coward finally decided to come out and play. Generals, take care of her!"
Serenity laughed humorlessly as the Generals stood up and faced her. "My daughter was able to knock them out, and you expect them to defeat me? Not only are you evil, but also delusional."
"The only delusional one here is you, Senshi Queen," the shadow hissed.
"What are you anyways, monster?"
"My name is... Metallia."
Orion frowned. Metallia? He'd read about her, the legends forged around the First Senshi... But was that really Meth'Lya?
"You see, for eons I remained imprisoned in a strange world, thanks to the first Senshi Queen's meddling. I was still a Kh'Sun back then, but the world changed me. Gave me power. I was finally able to break out thanks to a power-thirsty human woman. As you see, our combined power is simply unstoppable."
"So you, one of the Kh'Sun, yet you're helping a human? What'd the rest of your race think?"
"The rest of my race is dead, and I don't even belong to it anymore. I don't want to kill all humans, just those that turned me into this. And you're the last one."
Serenity smirked. There was another one, but she was already in a place Metallia had no way to reach. After all, someone had to remain and watch over the planet while the rest of them waited for the right time to be reborn. "You've killed my people, my allies, my friends... My family. If you think I'll just stand here and let you take over my planet, you're dead wrong."
Metallia hissed as Serenity's body lit up with energy. She could now see the Queen was holding a crystal in her free hand... A crystal she knew too well. "We have to destroy her, before she uses that."
Beryl nodded and shot a wave of dark energy at the Senshi Queen. Metallia added her own energy to the attack, but Serenity opened her eyes before it reached her. "Too late," She said as a wave of blinding light shot out from her sword and crystal, clashing with the dark wave.
Orion frowned. As a Demon Hunter, he'd been trained to detect magic, and use some basic spells. He could see the two waves clashing from where he was, but he also could feel something else. The mana ripple generated by the power battle was just... Impossible.
The battle itself lasted several minutes. Both Queens poured as much energy as they could into their spell, but even with Metallia's help, Beryl's wave kept on being forced back towards her. Orion could see the ground cracking with energy, the grass burning, the water of the lake boiling. Their battle was wrecking the Moon, and Orion idly pondered what it could be causing the other planets.
He heard Serenity curse, and saw her sword had shattered. Beryl smiled for a second, thinking she'd overpowered her, but then Serenity focused on her crystal, and the energy around her grew stronger. Orion could hardly see Serenity with that much light, but he could see Beryl and Metallia clearly. Beryl's face was a mixture of fear and disbelief, and Metallia's shadowy form was shimmering, as if something was banishing her.
Seconds later, both Beryl and Metallia vanished, along with the remaining youma and Generals. Serenity smiled for a few seconds, as her crystal's light grew weaker and weaker, then sat down on the ground.
"My Queen, no..." Orion whispered. Serenity turned to look at him, as if she'd heard him. Maybe she knew he was there from the start. The Queen's smile returned as she lied on the ground, then closed her eyes.
The Ginzuishou, the Silver Crystal, was now a dull grey color. Orion sighed, then noticed something else... The air felt lighter, and also colder. "What is going on..." He cursed as he tried to stand up and found out he was still unable to.
"Calm down, Orion."
Orion gasped at the voice, and turned to the side to see Serenity... Then he raised an eyebrow as he saw he could see the palace burning down through her. "Serenity?"
"Yes, it's me. At least the soul. I don't have much time left."
"What's happening?"
"Something I foresaw. With that much mana being poured out thanks to our fight, the Moon's balance is broken. Soon this world will be devoid of an atmosphere. The mana storm caused by our battle also hit the rest of the planets."
"What about the other planets?"
"The mana storm destroyed most computers and technologic devices in the solar system, and without them, there's only one planet that can still sustain life."
"The Earth... But then, everyone in the other planets..."
"They'll die in a few hours, days at most."
"Was there really nothing we could do to stop this?"
"Mankind is strong. We'll rise again and reach for the stars, and my daughter and the other Senshi will be there to see it."
"They'll be reborn?"
Serenity nodded. "That date is eons away."
"Too bad I won't be there to see it."
"You will. You and others like you. There are several souls I'm sending down to the Earth along with the Senshi. You will all be there to help them as well."
"But we won't remember this, will we?"
"Only if you want to," Serenity said.
"That's good. I won't remember how I failed tonight."
"Nobody failed. Beryl didn't win, and she will fail again in the future, if things go as planned. Farewell, Orion."
Orion sighed. "Farewell, Queen Serenity." The spirit vanished, and the Hunter tried once again to stand up. This time, he was able to stand up and walk around. He walked to where the Senshi had fought Beryl, and gasped as he saw the corpses weren't there. Looking at the city in the distance, he frowned. He really didn't want to see what was left of the city.
Looking at what remained of the battle, he could see another Ginzuishou, still white unlike Serenity's one... It was the Princess' crystal! The seven cards that had been used to gather the Rainbow Youma were scattered around it. As he looked at them, he saw the Ginzuishou glow for a second, and the figures drawn on the cards vanished. Then, the crystal shattered in seven pieces, and flew up, towards the Earth.
"Guess that's Serenity's last magic trick," he said shaking his head. He couldn't think of why the Queen would have the seven youma trapped in the fragments of her daughter's crystal, but then again, there was nobody around he could ask for an answer.
He felt tired, but not because of the battle. So much for walking around, he thought as he sat down on a rock. By now, he was barely able to breathe as the air was thin and the temperature matched that of the cold Earth winter. He knew he didn't have more than a couple minutes left before the Moon's atmosphere vanished completely.
"At least I'll get a second chance, someday."
Pluto turned away from the magic screens she had been using to see the events taking place on the Moon's surface. She regretted the fact she'd been ordered to stay out of the battle, but Serenity was right. Someone had to stay and make sure there was a planet the Senshi could revive on. All Pluto could do now was wait, and guard the Earth until the Senshi were reborn. "I just hope she was right, and Beryl's power is greatly weakened. Otherwise, the future is as doomed as the present was."
Waiting. That's something she could do, if the rewards were as good as she had seen.
Next up, Cyber Moon: Chronicles, the main part of the story.
But why post this, if it's a less perfect version of Aeons? Because Sailor Moon Aeons is both a rewrite and a sequel (in the form of a reboot) of this particular story: A major event in this story links this story to Aeons, and once you get to it, you will know which event it is, and why the link is important. But sorry, no spoilers.
Be warned, however: This story is the longest I've ever written, close to seven hundred thousand words. I'll post all four "Books" of the story in one single thread, unlike with Aeons - because it's a finished story and I don't want to clutter this part of the forums with more threads than needed.
Anyhow, let's wrap up the usual, boring writer's note and get on with the story.
Cyber Moon: Genesis
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 1: Escape.
By Razor Knight
Last update: September 10, 2005
Episode 1: Escape.
By Razor Knight
Last update: September 10, 2005
-----
'Another boring day at the mines,' the blonde woman thought with a heavy sigh as she grabbed her plasma drill and headed for her assigned spot. True, being a miner in a copper mine wasn't one of the best jobs for a human woman. The air always smelled strange, she was quite pale due to rarely ever seeing the Sun, and she had to go on drilling dully for hours and hours. But it wasn't like she had any saying in that. Humans had, dozens of generations ago, been a race of nomads, living in the third planet, the Earth as the Masters had named it. Then the Masters had come, taken over all the eleven planets, and enslaved them.
The woman, Lumina, started her plasma drill and saw it start digging into the rock. Not everything was bad, she had heard her mother's stories of the ancient nomads and their hunting expeditions... Humans of the past were little more than a few thousand hundreds... Nowadays, they were millions, and thanks to the technological and medical advances of the Masters, their lives were far better and longer than those of their ancestors.
There was something bothering her lately. Something in the back of her mind, telling her that her race didn't need these aliens to survive. That being a slave wasn't the only way to live. That these aliens weren't just gathering resources to improve their cities and strongholds. And that 'voice' had grown in volume and insistence as days passed. However, rebelling against the Masters was a stupid idea, one that, she knew, had cost many humans their lives in the past.
Her train of thoughts was interrupted as her plasma drill hit something. A diamond in a copper mine? She looked at the massive drill's data screen and frowned. 'What's this...' The drill's readings told her the object was metallic, however that had to be wrong. That plasma drill displayed it as 'unknown metal,' a thing she had never seen before, and the drill could cut through diamond in seconds, yet it had left no marks in the metal's surface.
'Whatever it is, it may be important,' Lumina thought with a smirk. Maybe important enough that the Masters would consider moving her to a better location, or even better, out of the mine. She used her drill skillfully to dig around the object, and as she set the massive artifact aside, she gasped. 'A sword?'
It wasn't the kind of swords she knew. The swords the Masters carried had plasma blades. She didn't think this weapon would be able to cut through anything, but the material had to be very resistant to stop a drill from piercing through it. Where had it come from? Who had created it? Was there another sentient race living in Venus she didn't know about?
"Hey you, what are you doing?"
'Great, just great.' Lumina saw the guard approaching her. True, there were just a few dozen guards in the mine, but they were more than enough to keep the few hundred humans in it from escaping. After all, the guards had plasma blades and guns, while all the miners could use were the heavy plasma drills.
"Why did you stop, human?"
She looked at the guard. Just like the rest of his race, this creature was almost seven feet tall, with four strong-looking arms and scaly red skin. Much like what humans called 'lizards,' the Masters were a race with enough physical strength to kill several humans in seconds. The guard's small, green eyes stared at her in a way that reminded her of a predator looking at its next meal. 'Way to go, Lumina, stop digging when you know there's a guard near...' Well, she would have to show one of them the sword anyways, so no time was better than this.
"I apologize for stopping, but I found this strange artifact, and my drill couldn't punch through it so I had to stop to get it off the way..." Picking up the sword from the hole she had dug, she showed it to the guard. Then it hit her, a wave of energy like nothing she had ever felt before. She was aware of the guard still standing in front of her, giving her an earful of his opinions on the 'useless sword' and her 'primitive species.' If only he knew how 'useless' this weapon really was.
The power emanating from it, she could feel it clearly. The sword had somehow triggered something in her mind. She felt her strength, speed and stamina increase with every second, and a voice whispered in her mind, telling her this was her chance to escape. "Escape..." She whispered.
"... And only a barbaric race like yours would... Hey, are you listening to me, slave?" The creature snapped finally realizing she was paying no attention to him. "You're really testing my patience," he added a few seconds later, and this time he got some muttering from the woman as an answer. "What did you say?"
"Venus Shining Star," Lumina said as she rose her right arm. A star-shaped blast of light shot from it, tearing through the creature's chest. "Huh, what did I...?" She blinked a few times, and then looked around. Bits of bluish blood and guts were splattered on the far wall of the tunnel, as the body of the creature that'd been speaking to her laid in front of her, obviously dead. She was still holding the strange sword in her left hand, and her right hand was shining. Shining? 'Escape...'
She could hear the voice in her head, as well as the shouts coming from both directions of the corridor she was in. 'This just keeps getting better and better,' she thought with a frown. What was that light blast she'd used? Whatever it was, she felt like the power had always been there, waiting for the right time for her to use it. And maybe that's exactly how things were. In any case, she needed to get out of the mine, as soon as possible. With a little luck, she'd find no resistance on her way out.
'Wishful thinking,' she snapped mentally at herself as she knew the Masters wouldn't just stand there and let her escape. 'Find... Others...' "Others?" Was she losing her mind from the power overload, or was it her subconscious trying to tell her something? Not like she had time to figure it out, she realized as she turned around a corner and saw a group of at least a dozen guards standing there, weapons ready to shoot her down. "Oh kh'lon."
"Stop right there, human!" One of the guards shouted. "This is your last chance. Return to your duties now and your punishment will be light." A tense, long, silent minute followed as the guards stared at her. Giving up and returning to mining? A few minutes ago she could have thought that was the wisest thing to do. Right now, she felt like nothing could really stop her. "Well, what's your choice, life or death?" Another guard asked, tired of waiting for her to speak.
Lumina tensed, and then she smiled as her inner voice spoke a few words to her. "Venus Shining Nova," she said in a low tone. In a matter of seconds, her body lit up with energy, which then blasted out in all directions, piercing through stone, metal and living tissue like they were all paper being burnt by a flame. In a second, the guards were nothing but piles of dust. Lumina, however, winced in pain and looked at her right arm. Blood?
Apparently, one of the guards had enough time to pull the trigger of his weapon before the blast turned him and his squad into dust, and the beam from his gun had pierced her arm. Blood was soaking her arm, and dripping down to the ground, but strangely enough, she didn't feel weakened by it. She didn't even feel as much pain as she supposed a wound like that would cause to her. After making sure no more guards were following her, she walked out of the tunnel and into a large cave.
If nothing else happened, she would be out of the mine in a couple minutes.
-----
Mine guard duty was usually a boring job, but Jilehg didn't mind. She was one of the Masters, and even the lowest of the soldiers of her race was a hundred times better off than the humans. Right now there was a situation at the mine... A hoomahn that had apparently managed to kill a guard, and was being chased down by all the squad. Jilehg almost felt pity for the human woman. Almost. And speaking of human women... A blue-haired one was walking straight to her. Jilehg took a moment to look at her outfit: A blue fabric that covered all her body except for her head, no visible weapons or artifacts. What was a lone human, unarmed and stupidly dressed, doing walking straight to the mine? A lost miner, perhaps?
"Stop right there!" Jilehg shouted at the woman as she aimed her weapon at her in warning. It all happened too fast for her mind to register... The blue-haired hoomahn somehow managed to run the few dozen meters separating them in a second, then next thing she felt was a throbbing pain in her chest. Looking down, the guard could see an ice spike settled in a hole where her lungs should be. That was the last thing she ever saw.
The blue-haired woman frowned. She didn't like killing, but the Masters weren't a race that would listen to reason. 'It's not like I can just walk by and ask her to let me in to check on my readings, after all,' the woman mused.
Pausing for a second to check the guard's state, she decided she was dead enough, and prepared to enter the mine. However, something stopped her... A human blonde woman, around her age, with a sword in her left hand, and a badly bleeding right arm. "Who are you?" the miner asked tightening the hold on her sword. Two things were clear from her actions. One, she was weak from blood loss, and two, she was considering the blue-haired woman as her enemy. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."
"Good," the blonde said, forcing a weak smile. "I've had enough of that already," the blonde said before falling to the ground face-first.
"Damn it," the other woman muttered before kneeling besides the blonde, producing a medical scanner out of thin air and using it to check on her. "Kh'lon, a few more minutes and I would have been too late, " she scolded herself, then concentrated. 'Cognisance here. I've found the one from Venus, but she's wounded and lost too much blood. Aejin, I need you to come here, now.'
'Understood,' a monotone voice said in her mind, 'I'm on my way.' Cognisance sighed and looked at the blonde.
The last Senshi, the last one she needed to find, if her guesses were right. But would she be up to the task they had before them?
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 2: Rebels.
By Razor Knight
Last update: September 14, 2005
Episode 2: Rebels.
By Razor Knight
Last update: September 14, 2005
-----
First thing Lumina realized as consciousness returned, was that she felt like .What had happened? The events of the last few minutes before she fainted were blurry, and the last things she remembered was a sword, and running... And a voice, a friendly voice, telling her she was safe.
From what her senses were telling her, she was now in a bed, and she could sense someone else in the room. "You're awake, at last." Lumina frowned. She hadn't realized she had moved. Deciding faking unconsciousness wasn't an option, she opened her eyes. After her sight recovered from the overload of lighting, she could take a good look at where she was. A room with white walls and ceiling... An infirmary? Was she still at the mine?
Looking at the only other occupant of the room, she saw it was a human woman around her age. Blue hair, blue eyes, wearing a full blue body suit of a strange material she didn't recognize. She remembered her. She remembered all that'd happened, now. Not that most of it made any sense to her.
"I remember seeing you, when I walked out of the mine," she said. "So, you brought me back in?" Her voice came out weak, faint, but that didn't surprise her, not after all the blood she'd left behind in the mine's many corridors.
The woman smiled. "Back in? You mean the mine? Not at all. We're right now in an underground base, in my world, Mercury."
'Underground base in Mercury?' Lumina frowned. "I have two questions."
"I'm sure you'll have a lot more later on. Anyways, tell me," the woman said. Her tone was friendly, yet she seemed to be studying the blonde, measuring her reactions.
"First is... Who are you?"
"My name is Cognisance, and I'm a Magician, like you."
"Second is... How long have I been out?"
"For almost two days. We were lucky Aejin was quick in healing you, or you wouldn't have survived for more than five minutes."
'Magician? Aejin?' She realized the woman, Cognisance, was right. Her answers had spawned even more questions in her mind.
Another woman walked into the room as the white sliding doors that Lumina hadn't noticed before opened. "I see she's finally awake," the newcomer said in a monotone voice.
"Hello Aejin. As you see, our 'patient' is feeling fine."
"Sort of," the blonde mused. "By the way, my name's Lumina."
"Lumina, huh... Fitting name for a Magician of light," Aejin commented.
Lumina took a second to look at her. Wearing a purple suit much like Cognisance's one, she had long, black hair and black eyes. Her skin, however, was one tone away from corpse-like. Her voice and face were unreadable, almost as if this woman had no feelings at all.
"Magician of light?" she asked, finally fed up with not knowing what they were talking about.
Cognisance nodded. "Magic... That's a word I created to define our power. There are no records of such a thing in the Masters' databases, or in our legends."
"You mean, like what I did inside the mine?"
"And what was it exactly?" Aejin asked, her tone as neutral as before.
"I remember finding a strange sword, and something stirred in my mind. Next I knew, I had blasted a guard out with a ray of light."
"That guard was the one that wounded you?"
"No. I tried to escape the mine, and a group of guards blocked my way. I used my... Magic, as you call it, to kill them, but one of the guards had time to shoot and that was what pierced my arm."
"Almost like Brisa's escape from the Uranus' weapon factory," Cognisance commented.
"So, who exactly are you, and what's with the suits?" The blonde asked.
"We are... We'll, someone can explain it better than me, and that someone's Serenity."
"Serenity?" The name sounded familiar. "I think I heard about her... She supposedly escaped a gold mine in the Moon, killing all guards and freeing all the slaves there."
"Amazing, we're famous," Aejin commented, without a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Anyways, I thought that was just a rumor, something invented by someone else, but... Is she real?"
"She's real, Lumina. And she's waiting to meet you," Cognisance said.
-----
The Khtei frowned as he browsed through the reports. This was simply unbelievable. Several months ago, one of their Moon mines had seemingly suffered an attack. What had caused it, they couldn't tell. The security records of the mine had been erased, and no guard was left alive.
However, there was a clue on what had happened. There were no human corpses. Whatever had done that, it had a clear goal, one the Khtei despised. Freeing the humans? He couldn't think of anyone that would want that, other than the humans themselves. And humans held no power at all, so it had to be something else... Something alien. It had happened in several other places afterwards, but there had been no surviving soldiers to tell anyone what had happened.
But in this last breakout, things were different. One of Venus' copper mines had been attacked, but there was one guard that escaped the onslaught. While the Khtei did not agree with the guard's cowardly act of escaping the carnage, for once cowardice had a use. The soldier had written a detailed description of what he had heard through the communication channels, and what he had seen. Khtei was sure whatever had slaughtered the mine guards should be something powerful... But nothing could defeat their technology. In the end, they would destroy this threat like they destroyed many before in the other worlds they drained.
"It happened in less than one hour. First thing I heard were reports of a human worker being chased by guards... And also, that this female human had eliminated at least twenty guards."
A slave killing twenty guards? The Khtei smirked. It was simply impossible. He kept on reading, however, to try and figure out what had really happened.
"I remained in my post, and soon was called to chase her as well. However... We ended up facing something different. Three women, dressed in strange, plain outfits, holding metal-bladed swords. We were foolish enough to think we could defeat them. The mine's Tharlor was there, and warned them to put their weapons down and return to their work places."
The Tharlor... Or 'Overseer' in human language. There was one in each mine, and they were well trained and prepared for emergency situations. But those three slaves... Were they responsible for the slaughter?
"Next thing I knew, one of the slaves, a red-haired one, shot a fire blast from her... From her bare hand. The Tharlor was engulfed by the flames and, in a matter of seconds, turned into a pile of ashes. The second woman, a grey-haired one, shot water from her hand, crushing several of my squad into the cave's wall... I saw the third woman's hands crackling with lightning, and panicked. A lightning blast hit a soldier standing next to me... And it knocked me out as well..."
"They must have thought I was dead, because when I woke up, I saw all of the squad, their bodies lying around me. I checked on them... All of them, they were dead. The only thing I thought about was running away, it seemed like the most logical thing to do. And I don't regret it. I don't know who or what those humans were, but the ones we faced... They were cold, swift and lethal. They were Senshi."
The Khtei stopped at that last word for a few seconds. Senshi? That was, indeed, the word to describe what they'd done. In human language, Senshi would be translated as 'assassin,' and mercilessly killing over a hundred of his race in less than one hour surely made them Senshi scum in his mind.
He turned to the soldier waiting for his orders and frowned. "Tell the Khrall that I'll have my report ready on the Venusian’s mine affair in a couple hours... And make sure the soldier that wrote this report is punished for leaving his post."
Frowning, he looked back at the reports as his subordinate left the room. So the mystery had been partially solved. The humans had found a new, strange toy and were test-running it using his race as practice targets... And freeing a couple thousand slaves as well. But who gave them the ability to shoot electricity, water or fire without a visible weapon? He would find out, and would personally make sure they were destroyed.
-----
Lumina looked around the corridor they were walking through, in awe. Sure, she knew the Masters had lights that made the interior of a cave look like daylight, but she never thought she would see one of them... Let alone a corridor filled with them, inside a human building. She was amazed at the suit they'd given her... An orange version of Cognisance and Aejin's ones, she felt like it enhanced her power, and it fit her body perfectly.
"What was this place exactly?" she asked breaking the silence.
"An abandoned base, built by the Masters when they first arrived," Aejin explained.
"Won't they know we're here?"
"Unlikely. We discovered Magic interferes with their scanning devices and recording systems. That's why we've been raiding factories and mines for several months now, and they have no idea who or what we are," Cognisance said.
"But what about the mine? I mean... I only killed a few guards."
"Don't worry about that. There were no guards left after we were done with that place. And all the miners have been recruited for our rebellion," Aejin said as she looked forwards to a large metal door. "Now, prepare to meet our leader."
Lumina gasped as the metal doors opened. Walking into the large room, she could see it looked the same as the corridor, white and brightly lit. However, here she could see at least a hundred humans working in several scanners and consoles. They all wore white uniforms, and none of them turned to look at them.
In the center of the room, she could see three women. To the left, a tall, red-haired, red eyed woman. The suit she was wearing was a red suit like the others... Looking at the workers in the background, she guessed these suits were reserved for magicians only.
The second woman was slightly shorter than the first. This meant she still towered over Lumina, not a hard thing to do, all things considered, as Venusians were never known for their outstanding height. This one had green hair, tied in a ponytail, and her green eyes stared defiantly at Lumina.
The third woman, the one in the center... Tall, thin, and blonde. Her hair was tied in twin pigtails that almost nicked the ground, and she wore a white suit, which contrasted with her hair and blue eyes, making her image almost impossible to miss. Lumina thought, for a second, that she saw a white aura around this woman. But as swiftly as it had appeared, the aura was gone.
"So... Is this the Venusian?" she asked, her voice soft and calm.
"Yes," Cognisance said, "she's the last one."
"Last one?" Lumina asked.
"What is your name?" the woman asked.
"Lumina."
"Pleased to meet you, Lumina. I'm Serenity, the first Magician, and the leader of this... No better way to say it, this rebellion."
"So the team is complete now," the redhead said.
"I... Have a lot of questions," Lumina commented.
"I know that. Let's go to the training area, and you'll meet the others. After that, you'll be told everything you need to know about our powers and our goals."
For some reason, Lumina felt like whatever she was getting into, it would change her life forever. 'Not that changing is a bad thing. I'd never thought about it, but being a slave for life isn't something I'd be if I had any saying in the matter.'
And thinking back on what she'd done at the mine, she had a chance to make a bigger, more permanent change. Maybe this whole rebellion idea wasn't a bad idea after all..
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 3: Serene Fury.
By Razor Knight
Last update: October 6, 2005
Episode 3: Serene Fury.
By Razor Knight
Last update: October 6, 2005
-----
To say the practice area of the base was huge would be a big understatement. The room was so large she could barely see those training in the other side of it. However, the ones she could see were locked in several one-on-one sparring battles.
The two fighting nearest to the entrance were using swords, swords similar to the one she had. One of them was tall, with short grey hair and dark green eyes, and her suit was a bright shade of green. The other was short, with short black hair and light green eyes, and her suit was black.
"Those are Maria from Neptune and Shade from Nemesis. They're the last ones to join our rebellion, not counting you, and also, the ones that learnt faster than anyone else how to use their magic," Serenity explained. The red-haired woman who had walked along with them from the main hall, Pyrie, as she had introduced herself, snorted at that. For some reason, Lumina felt like she was even harder to befriend than Aejin.
"Neptune Torrent!" Maria shouted out as she leapt over Shade's head. way over her head, the blonde noticed. No wonder the hall was almost as tall as it was large. A column of water shot down from Maria's hands... No, from her body, as Shade looked up calmly.
"Nemesis Black Aura." In a blink, a black dome surrounded the Nemesian, deflecting Maria's attack. Shade grinned as she saw Maria was still airborne, and reached both hands out. "Nemesis Dark Shot!" A blast of darkness shot out from her hands and hit Maria square in the chest, sending her rolling back.
"Are they trying to kill each other?" the blonde asked.
Serenity smiled. "No. See, the suits we have protect us from magic, as well as from the energy weapons of the Masters. Our attacks can't really hurt us while training."
"Not a lot, anyways," Pyrie said with a frown. Lumina noticed she was looking at her left hand, which had a slight scar running from the top to the bottom. "Cognisance's Ice Spike," she added as she noticed Lumina staring at the scar.
"I see..."
"Okay ladies, stop your sparring and come meet our newest member," Serenity said. Her voice was as gentle and calm as always, yet it somehow carried along the room. A magic trick, perhaps?
One word from that statement brought a lot more questions to her mind... Ladies. She hadn't noticed it at first, but all the mages in the room were female. Was it just a coincidence?
"This is Lumina, from Venus," Serenity said once the others had gathered. Some of them looked at the newcomer with friendly smiles, others didn't seem too welcoming... And some didn't show any emotion at all.
"Welcome," said Maria, the one from Neptune. She didn't look like she had damaged anything but her pride when she got hit by Shade's blast.
One by one, the others introduced themselves. Claude from Jupiter, the tallest of them all, had green hair tied in a ponytail, and her eyes matched her eye color. Cerra, from Earth, had long, dark grey hair and matching eyes.
Brisa, from Uranus, had short red hair and dark red eyes. Chrome, from Pluto, was almost as cold-looking as Aejin, her hair a bright white shade of green, and her eyes purple. Mana from Lilith, with long blue hair and blue eyes, looked almost like Cognisance's twin. And finally, Aurora from the Sun, her hair was a strange gold-like shade of blonde, and her eyes matched it.
Once the introductions were done, Lumina looked at Serenity and frowned. "Cognisance told me you would be able to answer my questions... And I didn't have time to ask them all yet."
"I could tell you how we gathered. That would surely answer most of your questions..."
"And it's a fun tale to listen to," Pyrie added with dripping sarcasm.
"Please resume your training while I tell Lumina how our group started," Serenity said. It was just a suggestion, but the others apparently took it as an order, as they all went back to their practice battles.
Lumina stood there, waiting for Serenity to start. Serenity took a seat in a nearby bench, and pointed Lumina to a bench facing it. Lumina nodded and sat down, and the mage from the Moon started her story...
-----
Serenity had been a slave for as long as she remembered. Humans were born that way, and she couldn't see a way to possibly change that. She didn't like it, it went against her nature to work for that race, the Masters. However, she'd seen others try to rebel against them, and fail.
Nowadays, Serenity downright hated the Masters. She had for a whole month. She'd seen her sister, Adeil, die in front of her eyes. Adeil was, much like her, not content with being a slave, and one of the guards had been about to whip an old man near the spot they were digging at... Adeil had used her plasma drill to drill a hole through the guard's head. Next thing Serenity knew, her sister had been shot down by several other guards.
'And no matter how hard I try, I can't stand being a slave. I don't want to end up like Adeil did, but still...'
She had been assigned to a new tunnel that week. It was amazing how fast their plasma drills and other tools could dig through rock, but what was the purpose of doing so? Why were the Masters so intent on gathering resources, be it water, minerals or food? Was that just for their cities?
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a weird noise. She didn't realize what it was at first, but then she saw the massive drill she was using shooting sparks from all sides. Instinctively, Serenity leapt away from it, and watched the tool explode.
'Damn great. I'm surely going to get a whipping for this,' the blonde thought with a frown. 'But... What could be strong enough to case the drill to blow up like that?'
"What was that noise? You, human, how did that happen?"
Serenity looked up at the guard and froze. This didn't look good, at all. "It... It hit something, I don't know what, and just exploded," she tried explaining.
"Lies," the guard spat, "there's nothing those drills can't cut through."
"I just found some--"
The guard slapped her, knocking her to the ground. She knew why, talking back to a guard wasn't allowed. But... The pain she felt from the slap was blocked by something else. A feeling there was something near that could help her out of this situation. And maybe...
"You stupid human. I remember your sister, she was a brat. Guess you're as tired of living as she was," the guard said with a condescending smile.
"Don't dare insulting..." Serenity said as she reached her hand to the hole the drill had been digging "my sister!" as the last word escaped her mouth, something flew off the hole and right to her hand. A sword. A metal-bladed sword.
"Huh? What's that?" the guard asked surprised. "Drop that thing, girl, or your punishment will be death."
It looked like a minute to her, but it only took a fraction of a second for her to feel the power in the sword, to hear the words in her mind, and to voice them out. "Moonlight Beam."
Serenity blinked. After she said those words, her free hand had lit up, then a beam had blasted through the guard's chest, and the creature fell backwards, dead. The beam had worked its way several meters into the rock wall, too, before it faded out. She stood up and looked around, worriedly. All that noise and light would surely attract more guards in.
But that was just one of the things in her mind. She examined the sword. The blade was of a strange, mirror-like metal, and the hilt was made out of a white mineral. Too advanced to be from her race, too primitive to be a creation of the Masters. But whatever it was, she felt like it'd given her the power to achieve her goal. Freedom.
It didn't take more than one minute before the other guards appeared. Twenty guards, half the mine's squad, were there aiming their plasma shooters at her. "Drop that weapon, human, and we'll spare your life," one of them said.
Serenity wasn't in the mood to argue, or to give up. Instead, she raised the sword and closed her eyes. She could hear the guards gasping at her actions. "What is she doing?" another guard asked.
"I don't know, but... What is that around her? Shoot her before--"
The guard never got to complete his order. "Moonlight Screen!" She heard a ripping noise, and the screams of the guards. When she opened her eyes, she saw there were no guards around... Only some charred and molten fragments of their guns remained.
Whatever this power she had now was, it was both exciting and frightening. And it had taken the Masters by surprise. Serenity sensed movement behind her and turned around, her mind ready to call upon her power again. However, she relaxed when she saw Arthun, one of the mine's elder workers, was there along with a small group of miners.
"Child, I don't know how you did what you did, but... It was amazing, "the man said, a hand on his chin.
Serenity nodded. "I don't know where my power comes from, but this... This sword seems to be the key to it," she said and showed it to the man.
Arthun reached for the sword, but jerked his hand back a second later, as if something unseen had slapped it away. "That hurt."
"What happened?" The blonde woman asked.
"The sword... It hit my hand with some invisible force as I tried to touch it," Arthus said.
"Strange, it does nothing to me," Serenity said. Not counting her newfound ability to vaporize a crowd in a split second, of course.
"Maybe," someone else said, "it can only used by her." Serenity turned to the man. Taller and younger than Arthus, he looked like he could've beaten one of the Masters barehanded, a task which was almost impossible for a human.
"That would explain why it reacts to my thoughts," she admitted.
"Thoughts? What do you mean?" Arthus asked.
"I can't explain it... But when the first guard attacked me, I was trying to find a way out of it, and the sword fled out from the hole it was in."
"Swords don't..." The man, Alathar said.
"I saw it happen, I was working fifty meters away from her," another, younger man said.
"The guards, they're all heading this way!" A girl shorter than Serenity, and also younger, said as she run towards them. A couple seconds later, they could hear the voices of the guards and their footsteps approaching from a side corridor.
"Everyone, stay behind me," Serenity said.
"One girl against all those guards? That's foolish. Luck won't shine on you trice," Alathar said skeptically.
"If you're not willing to fight them, I am. It's not foolishness. I'm tired of being a slave, and this sword's giving me the only chance I may ever have to fight the Masters."
"But our Masters will chase us!" an elderly woman said.
"Humans, get back to your assigned spots immediately," the Tharlor ordered.
'Now,' Serenity thought, her mind racing to plan on her next move. "Moonlight Screen!" Her attack took the guards completely by surprise, but the Tharlor, a warrior trained for real combat unlike his underlings, dodged the massive disc-shaped energy wall that shot out from the blonde's body.
"What was that?" The Tharlor said, hiding his confusion with a glare of defiance at Serenity. "This is your last chance, humans..."
"Take a look around, Tharlor," Alathar said. "This woman just eliminated all of your soldiers, and you're telling her to surrender?"
"I would rather say this is your last chance to surrender," Serenity said to the overseer. "I see no use in killing for the sake of killing, but if I'm forced to, I'll do it again."
The Tharlor looked around and paled. True, whatever that human had used on his soldiers, was frightening. But surrendering to them wasn't an option. If he fought, he was dead, if he didn't, he was dead. As things were, there was nothing to lose by trying. "Die!"
"Moonlight Beam." Serenity's energy beam punched a hole through the Tharlor's armor and chest, drilling a head-sized hole in the wall behind him. As the alien's lifeless form fell to the ground, Serenity turned to the others. "Anyone here knows how to use a computer?"
"I do," one of the women said. "Why?"
"We need to see if they alerted the Moon's capital about this. If they did, we need to find somewhere to hide."
-----
"And what happened next?" Lumina asked after Serenity fell silent.
"We found that, somehow, no computer system was working. Arthus figured my magic was responsible for it. We escaped the mine and after a bit of searching, found an abandoned base to hide in."
"When did Cognisance come into the picture?"
"She escaped from a factory in Mercury, and she figured a way to teleport."
"Like the Masters do?"
"Much like that, but using magic instead. We don't need teleportation platforms to go from one planet to the next, and that's a good tactical advantage."
"So... What are the plans from now on?"
"First," Serenity said, "you need to train... We all need to train. Our powers grow stronger with every single day that passes, but if we wait too long, the Masters might find a way to fight back our magic."
"Are you planning on freeing every planet one by one?" Lumina asked, trying to guess what agenda her 'leader' had.
"No, we wouldn't be able to hold them back once we free a planet. There are not many magicians, and not enough soldiers in our side."
"So the wisest thing to do," Cognisance said walking to them, "is to cut them from the root. The massive mother ship of the Masters, the place where the Khrall passes most of his time, is on the Moon. We're going to launch a full frontal assault on that ship and destroy it, along with anyone inside it."
"But... Attacking the mother ship would be suicidal," Lumina said.
"We're well aware of that. But it's the best plan we could come up with. Are you still willing to fight on our side, Lumina?"
"Of course I am," Lumina said. "It may be the only chance I'll have in my lifetime to do something other than mining."
"That's good to hear, Lumina of Venus," Cognisance said. "Now come with me, you need a crash course on combat."
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 4: Liberation Blues.
By Razor Knight
Last update: May 24, 2007
Episode 4: Liberation Blues.
By Razor Knight
Last update: May 24, 2007
-----
The scientist couldn't hide his fear as the Khrall walked through the door and into his laboratory. The leader was wearing the usual: A black suit that was half ways between battle armor and formal attire. The black cape trailing behind him, and helm covering all of his head but the face, made his presence downright intimidating.
"Is the project ready?" the Khrall simply said, not caring for formalities.
"I'm adjusting some of the AI's parameters, but they're a hundred percent operational."
"And you're confident they'll be enough to stop these... Rebels?"
"They are the same as a hundred soldiers, as far as combat abilities and resistance goes. Their AI is the best we ever had, and their armors are strengthened to withstand whatever power those rebels have."
"I'm not so sure about that. But it's better to send a machine to fight, than our own troops."
"As always, you're right, Khrall. We're not sure if they will be able to take on those rebel super humans, because we didn't have any to run our tests on."
The Khrall nodded. "I'm well aware of that handicap."
Suddenly, alarms went off, and the scientist gasped. The Khrall simply took a small communication artifact from his armor's side and turned it on. "What's the emergency?"
"The rebels are attacking, sir," an officer answered through the communicator.
"Didn't our scanners see them coming?"
"I can't understand it, sir. One moment there was nothing, the next they were all shooting at our main gate."
The Khrall turned to the scientist. "I think it's time to give your creations a field test. Send them to eliminate the rebels."
The scientist nodded and watched as his leader walked out the door. Those rebels were really stupid if they thought attacking their mothership was an option.
-----
"Venus Shining Star!" Lumina stopped long enough to see her target fall back, and then turned in time to see another soldier charging at her. In a swift, calculated sword slash, the soldier's head went rolling down the corridor.
Two months ago, she had never touched a sword before, but after all the training she had gone through since she first met the other magicians, she was quite skilled with her weapon. The Masters trained their common soldiers for ranged combat only, confident in the power of their plasma guns. That was their first mistake. The second was, they didn't think the magic the rebels had was any rival for their technology.
"Mars Lava Inferno!"
Lumina heard the screams of soldiers as the corridor turned into a river of molten rock for a few seconds. The techniques used by each of the 'mages' in the rebel force were as varied as they could get. And all of them were equally deadly.
"Damn these Senshi. Retreat!" One of the soldiers shouted, and the squad fighting their group ran away.
"We beat them, at least for the time being," Cognisance said.
"He called us... Senshi?" Lumina asked in shock.
"From their point of view, we're assassins," Serenity said calmly. "But if we have to kill every single Master to get our freedom, so be it."
A few months ago, Lumina would've been against that statement. However, after Cognisance showed her what the Masters were really doing, she could only agree. After all, the Masters were a virus, a disease that spread out through the universe.
From what Lumina had read, they had once lived in a massive planet in the outskirts of the galaxy. The star their planet orbited died, and they moved out in three massive spaceships. Soon, they began their plans. They looked for solar systems with planets rich in minerals and resources, and drained the planets before moving to the next system. If there were any civilizations or primitive intelligent life forms there, they were used as slaves then left to an agonizing death in their depleted planets. So yes, Lumina agreed. It was about time someone paid the Masters back for the millions of lives they'd destroyed in their never-ending journey.
Her reverie was interrupted as she heard a shout from a side corridor. "Send in the Khr'Sed!"
Several seconds passed as the rebels stopped and waited. The sound of metal against metal echoed from the side corridor, almost like footsteps. Then, they saw them. Ten tall, compact lizard-like robots, obviously made to the image of the Masters, armed with cannon arms and plasma blades. Green crystals for eyes, no visible mouth, and their bodies seemed to be built to withstand heavy damage. That was something some of the Senshi were more than eager to test.
"Nemesis Dark Shot!"
"Jupiter Spark Blast!"
Lilith didn't shout out an attack name. She, like the others, didn't need to speak out her attack at all, but the others preferred to do so, as it gave the Masters something to fear besides the attack itself. However. Lilith's powers were... Different. A beam of darkness, an electric ball and an invisible wave that seemed to cause air itself to ripple rushed towards the robots. The darkness and electricity hit two of the robots, but the damage wasn't as heavy as expected. Lilith's power was, to put it simple, luck. She could have the worst luck befall her foes, or help her allies to get out of a dire situation. In this case, most of the robots' blades were shut down, and one of them had its plasma canon explode.
As for the two robots hit by the other two, one had its frontal plate caved in by Nemesis and Jupiter's combined power, but the other didn't even stagger back. The damaged robot fell to the ground, sparks coming out of its broken armor, but stood up and started shooting at the group, along with the other Khr'Sed. The Senshi dove out of the way, but some of their soldiers were hit.
"Lh'ar, they're tougher than we thought," Claude cursed out.
"Fire at will!" Serenity ordered. The rebels all fired their plasma weapons at the robots, but the Khr'Sed just stood there undamaged.
"Not even a scratch?" Arthus muttered.
"Arthus, leave these to us," Serenity ordered the man leading the rebel soldiers. He nodded and gave the orders, and the rebels backed away as the Senshi got ready to fight the robots. "Now girls... I guess this will be our first real challenge here."
Aejin frowned. "My power is useless against them. They're not living beings."
"We may need your power for something else," Serenity commented.
Aejin nodded and the others started charging for an attack. The Khr'Sed opened fire, but the Saturn Senshi was ready for it. "Saturn Spirit Shield."
A wall of bones rose in front of the group, blocking the barrage of plasma beams. As it vanished, the Khr'Sed could see the Senshi about to attack, but they had no time to counter.
"Moonlight Screen!"
"Mars Fire Cyclone!"
"Mercury Icicle Wave!"
"Jupiter Spark Blast!"
"Venus Morning Star!"
The other Senshi also shot, but for some reason, the attacks of the first five didn't act as expected. They fused into a thick, massive beam of multi-colored energy which washed over their targets, causing the damaged robot and another one that was standing too close to explode in a shower of sparks and metal shrapnel.
"What was that?" Serenity asked.
"No idea, but whatever it was, it worked," Cognisance admitted.
The remaining robots looked like they were about to attack, but instead started retreating. The Senshi frowned and started to chase after them, but a literal wave of soldiers blocked them.
"What now?" Mana, the Lilith Senshi, asked.
"We stick to the plan. We'll fight our way to the Khrall," Serenity said. "Arthus, we need backup!" she shouted back at the leader of the non-magician rebels.
-----
"Can you explain what happened?" The Khrall asked, his voice a growl. He was in a really rotten mood after the news arrived about the ship's troops being overrun by the Senshi. Now the remaining Khr'Sed were standing near him, acting as guards.
The Khtei was as worried about the whole situation as his leader. "Zhiglon, our efforts to stop them are in vain. We've been able to kill several of the rebels, but not the magicians. Those... Senshi are seemingly immune to our weapons."
The Khrall frowned. The Khtei was the only member of his race that could refer to him using his real name. So that wasn't the problem, the problem was what he'd just said.
"Are you trying to tell me we can't win, Lhon?"
"Not without a plan."
"I have one. Stay here and destroy them all with our new machine soldiers."
"Zhiglon, you can't stay here. Those Senshi could be here any minute..."
The Khrall cut him off with a glare that seemed to drill through his skull. "Are you telling me to run away like a coward? I'm Zhiglon, the leader of this ship. I won't let them destroy it, even if it costs me my life."
The Khtei stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. "If that's your decision, then I'll help you face them."
"I have a little surprise for them, too, and these Khr'Sed will finish them," The Khrall commented looking at a screen on the far side of the room. "I just have to wait until they reach us to use it."
-----
"That's the main reactor, the main power source of the ship," Cognisance said as the rebels stood a dozen meters away from a large metal door.
"If we set it to overload, we'll have enough time to run away, right?" Lumina asked.
"In theory," the blue-haired Mercurian said.
"Not like we could test it before coming here," Aejin added, with the same emotionless voice Lumina was used to hear from her.
Cognisance frowned as she noticed something. "Something's wrong... There are no guards in here."
"Maybe we already killed them all?" Claude pondered.
"No. This must be a trap," Aejin commented.
Cognisance frowned, and a bluish visor appeared over her eyes. Besides training, the Mercury Senshi had spent quite some time researching and inventing new magic-based artifacts, and one of her inventions was that visor, which was as advanced as the Masters' best computers. It took her only a few seconds to scan the wall they were facing, but it was a deadly delay. "Get down! There's cannons built into that wall!"
The wall hummed as at least twenty plasma cannons popped out of it, and fired at the group. The Senshi were fast enough to dodge them, but many of the soldiers didn't have the same luck. Serenity looked back and saw something she wasn't quite ready to see. "Arthus!"
The elder had been shot through by one of the cannons, and the wound on his chest was beyond healing. "Seems like I won't see the end of this battle," he said weakly, his breathing slow and weak.
Serenity looked at Aejin, who'd already moved to check on him. The Saturn Senshi shook her head as she turned to her. "Arthus, I swear I'll destroy this ship, no matter what it takes."
"I never doubted that," the old man said, then stopped breathing.
Serenity stood up, ignoring the cannons firing randomly down the corridor. She reached out her hands, and a fist-sized crystal appeared floating in front of them. She grabbed it, and those watching the scene saw some beams being stopped by an invisible barrier. "I... Understand," Serenity said and held the crystal with one hand, as she pointed her sword to the wallwith the other. "Moon Redemption Wave!"
Lumina gasped. True, her element was light, while Serenity's element was supposedly neutral. As in, pure magic. But the amount of magic she'd just used was enough to create a blinding, white wave of energy that punched through the weapon-packed wall as easily as a plasma drill would dig through a glass, and hit three of the remaining eight Khr'Sed, vaporizing them.
"Well, well... I see you humans are too stubborn," the Khrall said as he looked at the magicians, his eyes showing no emotion at all.
"The other robots are here," Claude noticed.
"And that's not all," the Khtei said. "All soldiers, report to the main reactor room."
In a matter of seconds, the only visible escape route was crowded by alien soldiers, and they kept on coming from the far side of the corridor. "We're surrounded!" one of the human soldiers said.
"This is your last chance," the Khrall said. "Surrender now and your lives will be spared."
Lumina frowned. Surrendering seemed like the wiser choice right now. But she knew the Khrall wasn't telling the truth. If they fought, they could end up dead, but if they gave up, they would be dead for sure.
But why was Serenity so silent?
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 5: Freedom, Hope and Destruction.
By Razor Knight
Last update: October 18, 2005
Episode 5: Freedom, Hope and Destruction.
By Razor Knight
Last update: October 18, 2005
-----
"This is your last chance. Surrender now and your lives will be spared."
The Khrall's words echoed in Serenity's mind. Was he so sure of his power over them, that he was trying to turn them back into mindless drones digging their own doom?
Power... What power did these Kh'Sun, the Masters have over humans? Fear? Fear of what? Of their advanced technology and plasma weapons? The group of human soldiers that were now aiming their own plasma guns at the crowd of Kh'Sun... There was fear there, but the fear of what the Masters would do to their planets was greater.
And that same fear gave them the determination to fight on. "You want us to surrender? Haven't you realized what kind of power you're fighting against?"
The Khrall snorted at that. "I know about your power, I've been watching you using it since you set a foot inside this ship. You're but a small pebble in the path of our survival, a pebble I intend to crush here and now." Behind him, the reactor grew brighter for a second, making the form of the Khrall look a lot more intimidating.
Serenity frowned. She could feel the crystal she had used to blast through the wall. One of the things the Senshi gained after their powers awakened was something not even Cognisance could explain. Items like the swords or their suits was stored somewhere until they mentally recalled them. With a mental command, the crystal was back. The five robots formed a barrier in front of their leader, but that was just going to help the Senshi of the Moon. "Moon Redemption Wave!"
It all took a split second. The energy wave blasted through the robots and the Khrall, leaving nothing but a pile of wrecked metal and ashes behind. But while that was in Serenity's plans, the other thing the energy wave hit was not. She stared for a second at the reactor, normally a glowing green tube of some strange alien mineral. Right now, it had a hole in its center, and its light was pulsating fast.
"That thing's going to blow!" Lumina shouted.
And they didn't have time to run, Serenity realized. She looked at her crystal again and sighed. "Senshi, we're getting out of here, but I need your help. Focus in my crystal, lend me your power!"
The others closed their eyes as the reactor's glow dimmed. A few seconds later, all the Senshi and humans in the room vanished, leaving a shocked Khtei to stare at the collapsing reactor.
He didn't even have enough time to get out of the room before it exploded.
-----
Soldiers and Senshi appeared several miles away from the ship, just as the reactor exploded. The shockwave was strong enough to knock them to the ground, and as they stood up, they could see there was not much left of the alien ship.
"We did it," Claude said. Her ability to state the obvious was only shadowed by her combat skills, albeit barely.
"We had a lot of casualties back there, though," Lumina commented.
Aejin nodded, then, for once in a lifetime, smiled. "Look at it this way: We lost a couple dozen soldiers, but they've lost their only way out of our system, their leaders, and any hopes of defeating us.”
Serenity didn't find her statement funny, but it was true nonetheless. The structure of these Kh'Sun was much like that of an insect colony. Once you killed the Queen, the rest of them would eventually die. But in this case, they would need to speed up the process.
-----
The girl sighed. The novel sure was good, and from what her mother had told her, it was historically accurate, as the writer had interviewed the Senshi themselves before writing it. But what was strange, was the way the First Senshi acted, so different from the ideals of her era's Senshi. Maybe it was because no generation after that first one had to fight for their freedom.
"Lady Hope, your mother is looking for you," a red-haired woman said as she entered the library. She was wearing a light blue robe, the usual attire of a Librarian.
"Tell her I'll be right there. Oh, and I'm going to keep this book until I finish it."
The woman nodded. "As usual, your literary tastes are excellent."
Hope sighed again as the woman walked out of the room, then stood up and grabbed the book. "I wonder what happened to Lilith," she pondered to herself as she walked out of the room. And so, she resumed her reading while she walked to the throne room.
-----
The road to freedom wasn't one without obstacles. Two years passed before humans could finally rest assured the very last of the Kh'Sun were gone.
Or so they thought.
There had been an opposition against the new government imposed by the Senshi. The idea of being ruled was, in the mind of the humans, still too close to slavery. One of the meetings between the Senshi and those opposing their government had been the key to ending that dispute. One of the men from the 'Freedom Fighters' had proclaimed that the Senshi had only freed them from the Kh'Sun so they could rule in their place.
Serenity had stared at the man for a few seconds, and in an unnervingly calm tone, she'd stated "You say that, but I did not see you fighting along with us to free this system. Next time an alien race comes to enslave us, you can fight and then rule us. Until that day comes, you have no right to complain, Kh'lorn."
It was one of the few times anyone had heard the Queen curse out loud. But it was effective, as the man fell silent and soon enough the 'Freedom Fighters' were disbanded and forgotten.
Years passed without any major events, and the Senshi had married and were used to their new lives as rulers of the solar system. With the exception of the Senshi of Pluto. Her elements were time and space, and she had left for what she called the "Time Gate," a place only a few other Senshi had seen. She came back only when a spark of evil appeared, to either warn the others about it, or help them fight.
It was in one of her 'visits' that the Kh'Sun made a comeback, one that was both unexpected and deadly.
"Lady Chrone..." Pyrie said with a frown.
Chrone of Pluto didn't meet her gaze, instead staring out through one of the many, large windows of the Crystal Palace's throne room. "You're looking at me like I'm a messenger of doom."
"You were never one for socializing, Chrone," Pyrie stated.
Chrone turned to her, her face unreadable. "That much is true. Is Queen Serenity here?"
"Serenity called us all to a meeting, she said she had something to show us," Claude explained as she walked into the room. "Right now, she's talking to Cognisance. But if you're here..."
"This one situation may end up turning into a crisis. It could affect the whole solar system," Chrone said as the rest of the Senshi enter the throne room. There was one Senshi missing, and the others all looked at Chrone, who didn't say a word about it.
Cognisance and Serenity were the last two to walk in. Both had ominous looks in their faces. Cognisance was the first to speak. "There's a... Situation at Lilith. Actually, it's something very strange."
Serenity nodded. "Two hours ago, I received a call from Queen Mana. She said there was something strange going on in her planet, and that she was going to investigate. She also said if she didn't contact me in a few hours, I should be ready to send a team to investigate."
Cognisance sighed. "It's a good thing you told me about this before doing that..."
"What's going on in that planet?" Queen Lumina from Venus asked. "Where's Mana?"
"We don't know where she is, but what we do know is... We can't risk going to that planet," Serenity said.
"But..."
"Lumina, listen," Cognisance said, "there's a virus spreading through Lilith, and it's spreading faster than anything I've ever seen. I'm quite sure it was created using magic."
"The virus, from what we could scan from here, mutates any living organism, taking over it and controlling it," Serenity added.
"Then what about..."
"Mana could be infected, for all we know," Cognisance said.
Aejin grimaced. "I can... I can feel it. Lilith is covered with death from pole to pole."
"We should go and try to rescue the survivors," Claude said.
"And get infected as well?" Pyrie asked. "No thanks."
"We need time to find a cure for that virus," Cognisance added.
"It's no use," Chrone said. "I was too late to warn you. That virus... It could spread out to Jupiter and Mars, for starters."
"Are you sure of that?" Serenity asked.
"I saw that as one of the possible futures. In one week, it could take over all our system."
"We can't let that happen. One dead planet is more than enough," Shade said.
"But what can we do?" Lumina asked. The room fell silent for several minutes.
Aejin was the first one to speak. "I think I could solve this."
"How?" Claude asked.
"My own healing powers will make me immune to the virus, at least for a while. I'll try and find Mana, but if I can't..."
"Are you aware," Serenity warned, "that you may not get out of there alive?"
"I know that. But I have something to request from you."
"And that is?"
"Serenity, in case I fail, I may still have a chance to stop the virus before it spreads out. I ask your permission to use my full power as a last resort."
Serenity looked at her for a second, and then walked to the window, staring out at the forest surrounding the palace, then at the Earth, high in the sky. After a minute of silence, she turned to look at Aejin and nodded. "You have my permission."
"But that would mean..." Lumina started.
"I know that, Lumina," Serenity said. "But given the circumstances, there's no other way to solve this. However..." The Queen turned back to the Senshi of Saturn. "Aejin, tell me the truth. You aren't planning on coming back, are you?"
Aejin fell silent for a few seconds, then turned around and said. "Tell Erias to take care of our girl, or I'll come back to haunt him.”
Erias was Aejin's husband, Saturn's King. So now Serenity knew it, Aejin knew the chances of coming back were next to none. She paled as she saw Aejin walk out of the room. She was quite sure that would be the last time she would see her.
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 6: Meth'Lya.
By Razor Knight
Last update: October 26, 2005
Episode 6: Meth'Lya.
By Razor Knight
Last update: October 26, 2005
-----
When Aejin appeared in Lilith, she saw the situation was worse than she'd expected. Attuned as she was to life and death, she could feel the lost souls of thousands of living beings, trapped inside their mutated bodies...
Fear, confusion, anger... Aejin looked around. She'd teleported into a somewhat deserted area of one of the capital cities of Lilith. From her perch atop one of the highest buildings, she could see hundreds of ex-humans crawling, walking, and searching.
Searching... Aejin reached out once again with her senses. Only thing she could feel was death. She was the only living being in Lilith now. What could have caused this? Who could be twisted enough to create this abomination, a virus that destroyed the life of a planet in a matter of hours?
And speaking of the virus, the Senshi of Saturn was right now staring straight at it. A purplish fog, floating a few hundred meters away from where she was. Mana was gone. And in a minute, so would she. She couldn't risk going back now; she could be already infected without knowing it. There was only one thing she could do now.
She concentrated, and felt the energy from her own world, Saturn, rushing into her body. What she was about to do, would kill her, there was no doubt about that. But it would also destroy the virus. She wasn't doing it for those that had died in Lilith. She wasn't doing it for anyone else in the solar system. Except for two persons, the only two that mattered to her above everything else, even her life. Her husband and her daughter.
Looking around, she could see the purple fog was all around her now. Her body was way better at resisting any virus or infection than any other, mostly because of her attuning to life energy. She could also see some of the walking corpses had reached the top of the building, and were crawling all around her.
It was her last chance to do it. And the last time she would use her powers. As she prepared to unleash her ultimate attack, she looked around and frowned. "I never liked this planet, anyways."
Then, she unleashed her attack. She could feel the energy... The magic energy of a whole planet, rushing through her body, burning her from the inside. As she tried to control it, she uttered the three words that triggered it. "Death Reborn..."
For several minutes, a second sun could be seen from all the other planets and moons of the solar system.
-----
"So that's what happened to Lilith... The asteroid belt is what remains of it?" Hope pondered, mostly to herself, as she walked through the corridor. She stopped in front of the massive sapphire-colored doors that lead to the throne room. The guards, clad in a bluish metal armor, bowed at her and opened the doors.
"High Librarian Hope, welcome," one of the Queen's advisors said as Hope walked in. Hope was used to the formal way everyone used to address her, but she didn't really like it. The throne room was as large as every other throne room she'd ever seen. And considering how close the rulers of each planet were (as most of them were former or active Senshi,) she had seen quite a few of them.
"You wanted to see me, mother?"
The Queen nodded. "Moment was here today. She said something strange is going on in one of Earth's kingdoms."
"I see," Hope said, still not understanding what it had to do with her.
"A few of the Senshi will go. Moment wanted to..."
"I wanted to know if you'd be interesting in that mission. After all, you've never been out in official Senshi business yet."
Hope looked at the green-haired woman standing next to the Queen, who hadn't been there a moment before. Tall, red-eyed and with a slightly tanned skin, she wore the uniform of the Senshi of Pluto, and held a long staff with her right hand. The design of the staff's top was like that of a heart, with a purple orb at the base.
"Well?"
The blue-haired girl frowned. Moment of Pluto was not a woman to bother with chitchatting. From the books she had read, that applied to all the former Sailor Pluto as well. Might have something to do with the 'Time Gate.' "I would like to know what our mission is first," she said.
Moment nodded. "There have been reports of necromancy in Arcana. We're going there to investigate."
Necromancers... Hope didn't like them at all. Sure, the Saturn Senshi used life energy to fight, but it wasn't for personal reasons. Necromancers often wanted fortune, glory and power, and used the life energy of others to obtain them. Even going as far as to reanimate soul-less corpses to do their dirty work. And Necromancers were, most of the time, too strong for groups like the Demon Hunters or the Guardians to handle. Hope could guess this was one of those times.
"Count me in. I can't sit around reading books all of my life, no matter how fun it is," Hope said with a smile.
Moment nodded. "Good. Now come with me, I'll introduce you to the rest of our group."
-----
"Serenity, Lilith no longer exists," Cognisance said sadly.
"So many lives lost there. Was that the only way?" Serenity asked, trying to keep her own sadness in check.
"No known magic would be able to cure such a mutation," Cognisance said.
Claude walked into the room, her face pale. "Serenity... There's something else you should know."
"What is it?"
"Our radars detected a small spaceship leaving Lilith minutes before the explosion. It was heading to the Earth. And..."
"And?" Serenity asked.
"The ship's a Kh'Sun Revenant."
Revenants, the smaller combat ships of the Kh'Sun. But... "That can't be... We eliminated all of them," Serenity said.
"I would say we didn't," Cognisance commented, noticing the trace of bitterness in Serenity's voice.
"If we let whoever is piloting that ship escape, we could face a similar infection on Earth in a few hours," Claude stated.
"Then we can only do one thing... Gather the others and pinpoint the exact landing place of that Kh'Sun ship. We're going to stop that infection before it happens."
-----
The creature hadn't bothered to hide; she was standing near her ship when the Senshi appeared. She was taller than the average Kh'Sun, and wearing black rags that had, months before, been a high commander's outfit. She didn't seem too shocked or worried about the Senshi being there.
"So, here you are, murderers. I knew you'd come, just like your stupid friend in Lilith."
The Senshi noticed her hands were glowing a sickly purple color. "Stop whatever you're doing, now," Serenity commanded.
"Sorry, but no. You killed my whole race, and I'm going to return the favor. And you better go back to your precious Moon if you want to live through the next hour."
"She's using the same kind of magic Saturn used. She's creating a viral code out of thin air," Cognisance said as she scanned the Kh'Sun.
"What's your name, monster?" Pyrie asked, resisting the urge to just blast her apart.
"If you must, you can call me Meth'Lya," the Kh'Sun said.
"Metallia? Such a silly name for someone that caused the destruction of a planet," Serenity mused.
"Says the one whose name is related to peace and calm... The same woman that led others to kill my whole race," Meth'Lya snapped back.
"I didn't kill your whole race. You're still alive."
"Came to fix that up?"
"That depends on what you plan to do from this point."
"I'm going to infect this whole useless planet, then move on to the next, until no hoomahns remain. And you, Senshi, will be my first target."
"Then, I'm going to stop you," Serenity said.
"Just try, little Queen," Meth'Lya snapped.
"Moonlight Screen!"
Meth'Lya raised her left hand, and Serenity's energy blast got deflected, turning a patch of the forest surrounding them to ashes.
"What the ?" Pyrie exclaimed.
"Hah. Your problem, little girls, is that you've never faced anyone that had the same powers you have. Ever since the day I heard of Serenity's escape from the mine, I did what no other Kh'Sun thought of... I studied your 'power' and learnt how to control magic. It wasn't an easy task, but as you could see, I'm as powerful as your leader, Senshi. Or even stronger."
"A Kh'Sun using magic. Now I've seen it all," Lumina muttered.
"And one more thing, kids. My virus has a cure. That's how I could keep it from infecting me. But of course, you Senshi were always trigger-happy. You just had to blow the planet to dust, instead of trying to find out a cure for the disease."
"That's a lie."
"It is? Keep thinking that, it'll make it easier for you when I release my virus!" she said and smirked as a purplish fog started surrounding her. "And it won't be long before that happens."
Serenity frowned. She wasn't eager to do it, but it was the only way she could see out of this. Her crystal appeared, once again, floating in front of her. She grabbed it and focused all the power she could into it. "Moon Redemption Wave!"
Meth'Lya raised her hand again to stop the attack, but a part of it pierced her shield, and hit the fog surrounding her. Its color changed from purple to black, and changed to a liquid-like state. "What is this?" the Kh'Sun muttered. The liquid surrounded her, pinning her arms to her sides and slowly crushing her. "No... This can't be... What've you done to it?" she snarled at Serenity, shock turning into anger.
Serenity returned the glare and then shrugged. "You did it to yourself, witch."
"No... I won't end like this. DIE!" Meth'Lya tried to unleash her energy, but the liquid around her absorbed it, glowing and throbbing for a few seconds. It then exploded, sending the Senshi crashing to the ground, and all that was left of the Kh'Sun magician was a column of smoke rising up from the spot she'd been standing on.
"Well, that solves this problem," Pyrie said.
Serenity nodded. "But the damage she's done, it can't be repaired.”
-----
"What are you reading?"
Hope looked up at Moment, interrupting her reading. "It's a novel about the first Senshi. This Meth'Lya woman..."
Moment nodded. "She was the first necromancer. I can fill you into the details better than that book, because I've seen what happened. "
"So is it true?"
"That the Senshi of Pluto can see through time? We can see the past, and we can see several possible futures our actions could lead us to. "
"Amazing."
"It is."
The two of them were now walking through one of the many corridors in Mercury's palace, heading to the room where the others were waiting for them. Hope was as curious about the mission as she was about the past. But one thing at a time... "So... What about Serenity's crystal. Was its mystery ever solved?"
Moment frowned. "No. The Ginzuishou is an enigma on itself. Some have even suggested it's got a mind of its own."
"What do you think?"
"I'm no scientist. I don't dissect magic, I simply use it."
Hope chuckled at that. Moment wasn't as much of a gloomy, serious woman as others had told her she was, after all. She couldn't wait to meet the others.
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 7: The Wicked Witch of the West.
By Razor Knight
Last update: December 18, 2007
Episode 7: The Wicked Witch of the West.
By Razor Knight
Last update: December 18, 2007
-----
"So, this is the newbie?"
Hope took her time to examine the people in the room. Two of them were using the official Senshi outfit, there were two Demon Hunters as well, and a man that was wearing what looked like a gold shirt. For some reason, the man looked familiar to her, but she didn't quite recognize him.
"Firea, be nice," the tallest of the Senshi in the room (not counting Moment) snapped. She had long, brown hair tied in a high ponytail and green eyes, and her suit had green skin and pink bow. That outfit belonged to the Senshi of Jupiter, so Hope guessed she was the newest Sailor Jupiter.
"And who'll make me be nice, you, Lera?" the black-haired, purple-eyed Senshi in the red outfit snapped back. Sailor Mars, most likely.
"I will, if you don't show some respect," Moment said, her voice commanding. Firea shrunk back and nodded. "All right. Now that we're all paying attention, let me introduce High Librarian Hope, the new Sailor Mercury."
The others nodded at Hope. The man in the expensive-looking outfit was apparently staring at her, but she chose to ignore him. "I'm relatively new to this, but I've trained my powers long enough. I hope I'll be of help in this mission."
"What I don't get," Lera said, "is why we need three Senshi and two Demon Hunters for a diplomatic mission."
"Because, dear Lera," the man finally spoke up, "if my sources are right, this could turn into an all-out battle," he explained, his black eyes jumping from Senshi to Senshi, as if he was measuring their reaction.
"I don't know who your sources are, but I thought Beryl was one of the most respected Queens in the Earth Alliance," Firea commented.
The blonde-haired man smiled. "My sources are trustworthy. And also, Beryl's past is packed full of strange coincidences."
"Thanatos, I'd say we should wait until we talk to Beryl to pass judgment," Moment said calmly.
As she heard his name, she finally remembered who the man was. Zane Thanatos, a rich trader from Saturn. From what she'd heard, he had been born in Mercury, but his family had moved to the larger planet when he was on his early teens. Other than that, however, she didn't know much about the man. Nor she cared about finding out.
"If Necromancers are there, we need to get rid of them. With or without the Queen's approval," the male Demon Hunter, who was clad in blue, said in an equally calm tone.
"Staying here and chitchatting won't get anything solved," Firea muttered. "So let's go."
Hope could only agree. And also, she agreed with Thanatos. She'd read a bit on Beryl's past. Her mother died when she was only sixteen years old. Ten years later, her father and older brother had gone in a hunting trip to the Arcana woods, and were attacked by an unknown beast. After that, Beryl had been the only candidate left for the throne. And hence, the once Kingdom of Arcana became a Queendom. Too many coincidences in a row. She'd also heard rumors of Beryl's short romance with the Earth King, the King of Camelot, Halcyon. Halcyon had later on married the princess of one of the strongest kingdoms, to ensure the strength of Camelot in the Alliance. Those were unconfirmed rumors, but it was quite strange, as those rumors had started before her mother died.
"I agree with Lady Firea," Thanatos admitted. "The sooner we get to Arcana, the better."
"Why not just teleport there?" Lera asked.
"There's a lot of tension in the Earth Alliance right now. As things are, Senshi aren't welcome into most kingdoms. We can't just teleport in into any of them... Well, maybe to Camelot, but not to Arcana or the other kingdoms."
"So that is why Thanatos is here?" the female Demon Hunter, who wore a dark green suit, asked.
"Indeed. I can provide transportation in one of my biggest passenger ships."
"What's the catch?" the Hunter asked.
"No catch, dear Libra. I'm a close friend to Queen Serenity, and she was the one who asked me to take you there."
"The great Thanatos has a heart after all," Libra muttered.
"That hurts, you know. My ship could accidentally steer too strong and you could fall off," Thanatos said.
"That wouldn't surprise me," Libra said with a shrug.
"If you two lovebirds are done, let's just hit the road, shall we?" Lera snapped at them.
"What's up with those two?" Hope asked Moment in a low voice as they left the room.
"Libra is one of Thanatos' past lovers," Moment explained calmly.
"I see. I have one more question... Silly one, but my mother couldn't answer it."
"Must be hard to answer if the Sage Librarian, Queen Siela from Mercury doesn't know its answer..."
"Actually, she said she'd never searched for the answer herself. So... Why are our suits so... Revealing?"
Moment smiled. The girl had a point, the Sailor Senshi suits were basically a leg and sleeve-less body suit with a short skirt, knee-long boots and gloves and a metal tiara. The suit's form-hugging fabric left little to imagination, and their bare legs just added to that.
"Well, there was an inner war in the times of the sixth Serenity. The Senshi were still using the full body suits the first Senshi had used, but the Sailor Venus of that generation had a good idea: Most of the warring troops were male, and the Senshi were, at the time, all female, so she modified her suit to look like they do nowadays. The others imitated them, and the Senshi managed to stop the warring armies with almost no casualties on both sides."
"That's one way to use your body as a weapon, I'd say," Hope commented.
Moment nodded. And it'd worked several times after that, too.
"What about the Dragon Senshi? Why isn't there none in this era?"
"I'm not sure. Bad luck, I'd guess. The Dragon Swords, like the Ginzuishou, act in ways nobody understands."
"Dragon Swords?"
"That's the way the swords the First Senshi used have nowadays. And as you may know, they're still available for us to use, should the need arise. They may or may not choose an owner, and in this generation, so far, they've chosen none."
Hope sighed. She really hoped she'd never have a reason to use her Mercury Sword. But knowing how fate usually worked, she was sure she'd have to, sooner or later.
-----
Hope couldn't help but gasp at the ship docked in the palace's spaceport. It was a good hundred meters wide and three hundred meters long, with windows covering most of its upper hull, and the words "S.S. Thalon" drawn on both sides. Even from afar she could also see several cannons on the front of the ship. Thanatos wasn't known for subtlety, and he wasn't taking any risks with space pirates.
"There you have it. Thalon, the second biggest ship in my fleet," Thanatos said.
Second biggest? "That ship's huge... Do you have a bigger passenger ship?" Thanatos shook his head. "My biggest ship's the Tiamat, a battleship."
Orion snorted. "I thought you were just a merchant."
"I am. But space pirates abound, so I always try to have a battleship following each of my passenger and cargo ones."
Which meant... Hope looked up and gasped again. There it was, the Tiamat. Almost doubled Thalon in size, and from what she could see with her visor, it had enough weapons in it to take on a small army of light fighter ships. "Amazing."
"Even bigger than the Cloudbuster," Lera commented.
"And it'll escort the Thalon to Arcana," Moment said.
"I'd think Beryl would be against that," Firea said.
Orion frowned. "Either she's acting like this so we won't suspect a thing, or she really doesn't have a thing to hide."
"We won't know until we get there," Lera pointed, "so let's get going."
-----
The trip to Arcana was uneventful and quite boring. Hope picked up her book to read, but there wasn't anything else in it that was really worth reading. According to the novelist, the First Senshi had a relatively calm and happy life after those first years of freedom.
So now she was trying to focus on the mission. They were now walking through the corridor that led to the throne room. Beryl's castle was the most plain and dark she'd ever seen. Its walls were grey and stony, without the crystalline shine of other palaces and castles she'd visited before. Guards and maids went by showing the usual politeness she'd seen, but there was something strange in their eyes. Almost as if their free will was gone. She'd tried scanning them, and found no traces of mind-controlling or necromancer mana in them. Was it just her mind playing trick on her?
"Well, here we are," Moment said as they stood in front of a large, obsidian door. "Once we enter, let me do the talking."
"As you command," Orion said half-mockingly.
Thanatos didn't say a word, just nodded. Why was Moment bringing him along, she couldn't understand. Maybe to give them an 'outsider' opinion after the meeting was over.
As the group walked into the room, they saw it was just like every other corridor and room in the castle: Grey, gloomy, almost ominous. "Welcome to my castle," the woman sitting on the throne said politely.
Pluto nodded and game a small bow to her, the others followed suit. "Queen Beryl, you must be aware of our reason to ask for an audience..."
"I am," Beryl said, "and while my own sources haven't pinpointed the location of those necromancers, I know of their existence."
"We would request your permission to locate the source of that necromantic mana and destroy it," Orion said. "With the Senshi's aid, of course."
Beryl was deep in thought for a few minutes, and the others waited silently for her to speak. After what seemed like an hour, she finally spoke up. "I see no harm in letting you explore my Queendom. However, I must ask you to leave if you can't find a trace of those necromancers in one week."
"Agreed," Moment said. "We will tell you of any clues we may have by then. Now if you excuse us..."
Beryl nodded. "You may leave."
The room fell silent after the Senshi left and the door closed. Beryl closed her eyes and nodded. "They're gone. But they'll be back. "
A hissing, female voice could be heard from the shadows around her throne. "I have something prepared for them. The Senshi will be too busy chasing shadows to suspect anything about you."
"Good. In the meantime, Metallia... How are our spies?"
"Nobody suspects a thing. Stupid mages and Senshi, they don't know about my demonic energy yet. I just need to prepare a few more things and we'll be ready to attack."
"And then, finally, he will be mine."
"Indeed," Metallia said. 'And I will have my revenge upon mankind for destroying my race,' she thought.
Beryl. Such a fool. She had her eating from her hand, and all because of the promises she'd made to help her get the prince of Camelot, Edition. However, Metallia couldn't help but be grateful with her 'master.' It was her meddling with dark magic that had awakened her from her eternal slumber. It had been easy for her to corrupt her broken heart and her wicked soul, and now... Only a few more moves to make, and she'd be able to destroy mankind for good.
But first, she had to get rid of this era's Serenity, the only one that could challenge her power. Coincidentally, Beryl wanted the Moon Princess dead. Metallia would be glad to grant that wish to her, as long as she could also get rid of the mother in the process.
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 8: Cloak and Dagger.
By Razor Knight
Last update: November 11, 2005
Episode 8: Cloak and Dagger.
By Razor Knight
Last update: November 11, 2005
-----
One full week had passed, and the Senshi had failed locating the necromancers that supposedly had their base in Arcana. If they were hiding, they were doing it too well.
"It's no use," Firea said. "We've run out of time."
Orion nodded. "Agreed. No traces of dark mana anywhere."
"Then this mission was a failure," Lera muttered.
Moment frowned. "Not really."
"What do you mean?"
Hope nodded. "Moment's right. There's something definitely wrong with the peasants. Or even the soldiers and nobles we've seen while searching..."
Firea frowned. "I didn't feel a thing..."
Moment shrugged. "I don't think you could see it, even with your psychic skills. But maybe the magic we're looking for isn't... Necromancy."
"Wish you could've told us that before," Firea muttered.
"It's not demonic magic either," Orion added. "I've scanned for it and found no traces in the area."
"Then what is it?" Hope asked.
Whatever it was, they couldn't stay in Arcana any longer. She didn't like to admit it, but her first mission as a Senshi had been a failure.
-----
The general looked at the forest looming all around them and a shiver went down his spine. There was something about this whole mission that he didn't like. "Prince Kaeil, are you sure about this?"
Kaeil was a tall, dangerous-looking man. His platinum-white hair and white pupils made him look almost ghastly. Still, he was a known strategist, even at his young age. "Indeed, General Slark. Beryl informed my father, the King, that she knew the necromancers' exact location inside this forest."
"But..."
"You will be soundly rewarded once this mission's over."
"Why not call the Senshi to deal with them?"
"That would be a nuissance for our kingdoms. We can deal with a small band of necromancers."
Slark nodded as his battalion kept advancing through the Twilight Forest. A forest shared by three kingdoms, and a place no man liked to explore due to it's dense foliage, which gave the forest it's name. Right now, they could barely see the trees in front of them. He was well aware the sun was shinning over the forest, but inside the forest, it looked like a moonless night.
Kaeil didn't understand. Why would they be afraid? They were the best of Mu's troops, possibly the best infantry group in the Earth. There were no wild animals, no armies, and no zombies that could scare them. And so, the squad marched forwards... To their doom, Kaeil thought as his eyes took on a golden hue.
Soon, liquid-like shadows jumped out of the ground, fusing with each one of the soldiers as they screamed and tried to shoot at them. Everyone but Kaeil was affected. Kaeil, the Prince of Mu, had weeks ago been taken over by one of those. The Youma. Metallia's spawns, and something no magic or technologic scanners could detect. The perfect soldiers, the perfect spies... Humans were so unaware of their existence, taking over the Earth would be fun. And the fun had just begun.
Kaeil's thoughts were interrupted by Beryl's voice. 'Kunzite, is the job done?'
'Indeed, my Queen. But... Won't the disappearance of this battalion lead my father to send a bigger army?'
'That's just what Metallia wants. Host-less youma are useless for battle, but they're also undetectable. I want you to go back to your Kingdom and fool your father into sending even more troops here. My youma will be waiting for that.' Kaeil simply nodded. "Father's waiting for his son Kaeil's safe return. Such an idiot... Kaeil doesn't exist now, only Kunzite." And Kunzite was just one of many spies Beryl had all around the Earth... And the solar system.
-----
One full month since her first mission had passed, and High Librarian Hope couldn't help but thinking about Arcana. There was something there... She had never been a skeptical one, and given the range of magic-related things that still had no logical explanation, she could easily guess this was yet another thing mages and scientists couldn't explain.
The existence of an unknown form of magic energy would make anyone controlling it virtually undetectable. If such a being was hiding in Arcana, then someone had to try and find it. But she was well aware that chasing shadows wasn't a Senshi's job. If she wanted to act, she'd have to wait for it to make the first move.
"Lady Hope?"
Hope looked at the man sitting in front of her and could feel a blush forming. She had to stop brooding so much. "I'm sorry, Gurel, it's just..."
"Oh no, by all means, take your time. You are the only worthy opponent I've found here, not counting your mother, your father, and that merchant that visited us some time ago."
Hope looked at the chess board in front of her and frowned. Indeed, a worthy opponent. The board was down to three pieces for each color, and literally no way to set a trap up for the other. "Thanatos, huh? A pity I didn't know he could play chess, or I would have challenged him."
Gurel passed a hand through his short brown hair and smiled. "Maybe we should call this a draw."
"And where's the fun in that?" Hope asked as she moved her only knight to a new position. "Check."
Gurel frowned. "Yes, indeed, where's the fun in that?"
A young man wearing a light blue robe walked in. "I'm sorry to interrupt your chess game, but your mother wants to see you immediately, Hope."
Hope nodded to the man. "Right. I'll be there in a minute. I wanted to speak to her anyways." She turned to Gurel and sighed. "Guess we'll have to finish this game later."
"I'll be waiting for that," Gurel said as the princess left the room.
-----
Queen Siela, the Sage Librarian, had visitors. Hope didn't find that strange at all. She did, however, feel a bit of curiosity as she saw all four visitors were clad in Senshi uniforms. She knew two of them, Mars and Jupiter, but the other two...
One had long, blonde hair and blue eyes, and her uniform had orange skirt and blue bow. She'd heard of her, Princess Aphrodite from Venus, Sailor Venus.
The other was tall, and had enough muscles in her to make her look like she could beat most male warriors Hope had met... Without using her Senshi powers. She had black hair and grey eyes, and her uniform had grey skirt and dark grey bow. Sailor Earth?
"Hello mother," Hope said as the others turned to look at her.
"Good day, daughter. These are..."
"The Inner Senshi, or most of them at least," Hope said. "No Sailor Moon?"
Firea nodded. "Queen Serenity is a busy woman, and her daughter is waiting for her eighteenth birthday to receive her own Ginzuishou.”
That was a lunar tradition, one Hope didn't quite understand. Moon Senshi were only allowed to use their powers after their eighteenth birthday.
Lera shrugged. "We're here because you and Pluto were right."
"What?" Hope was quite surprised by that statement. Did that mean...
Firea nodded. "Arcana's dropped the mask. Beryl has Kaeil, Zoel and Nereos as her army's Generals now."
"Kaeil betrayed Mu?" Hope asked. That couldn't be, she'd heard stories about Kaeil's unmatched love for his own kingdom.
"It's more complicated than that," Firea explained. "We're sure whatever was you noticed in Arcana, took over Kaeil and the others. The kingdoms of Mu, Xanadu and Atlantis are under Beryl's control now."
"The Earth's spiraling into a full-scale war," Sailor Earth said. "Beryl's army grows larger with every battle, and it's already taken over three kingdoms. We need to put an end to her madness."
"Serenity's worried about it. She's detected a magic that matches that of the Ginzuishou in Beryl."
A magic as strong as the Ginzuishou? Impossible. "What can we do about it?"
"We've been summoned to Queen Serenity's palace," Firea explained.
"All of the Neo Senshi?"
Venus nodded. "Yeah. See, the Princess' birthday is only one week away... Once she gets permission to use her Senshi powers, we'll be able to fight Beryl."
"I say screw it," Earth muttered.
"Karen?" Firea asked with a frown.
"I can't just sit around and let Beryl take over the Earth. My father and brother are getting ready for war, and I'm supposed to help them."
"Beryl's main target is not the Earth, but the Moon." Everyone turned to the voice. Sailor Pluto was standing there, looking as neutral as ever.
"Moment? We didn't hear you walk in," Venus said.
"Dear Aphrodite, you should know I don't need to walk somewhere to be there. Anyways... Karen, listen. Beryl won't stop with the Earth. She wants the Moon too, and possibly all the other planets."
"So, we let her run over the Earth, slaughter millions and take over Camelot, and then after she's done, we fight her on the Moon?" Karen asked. "Sorry, but I can't do that."
Moment nodded. "I understand that. There are three others that don't agree with Serenity's plan. You will find them in Camelot when you return to the Earth."
"So... Aren't you going to force me to go to the Moon?"
Pluto shook her head. "No. Serenity will understand."
"Then I think... We should all go there," Mars said.
"Firea?"
Hope nodded. "I agree. We could stop Beryl there and then, before it's too late."
Pluto opened her mouth to say something, but then sighed. "I see. I will send a message to Serenity, and I'll join you all in Camelot once I'm done." With that, she vanished.
"Okay then... Let's go to the Earth," Karen said. The others nodded.
"Good luck, daughter," Siela said. Hope smiled at her before vanishing. The Queen stood up and walked out of the room. Beryl... She remembered her as a child. Back then she looked innocent and calm. So different from the evil, power-thirsty woman she'd become.
-----
Hope blinked and looked around. The castle of Camelot was much like her home in Mercury, but the throne room was much smaller. She could see four other Senshi in there, along with the king of Camelot, King Endymion, a tall, elderly man, and the prince, as tall and strong-looking as his sister Karen.
"Welcome back, Karen," the prince said.
Karen nodded to him, and then turned to the other Senshi. "Girls, this is Hope, the new Mercury."
"Good to have some reinforcements," the Senshi in dark blue skirt and yellow bow, Sailor Uranus, said, "but weren't you girls supposed to go to the Moon?"
"A good soldier doesn't only follow orders," Firea said. "We have a chance to stop Beryl here and now, let's not waste it."
"That's good to hear." This Senshi's suit was different, as it was completely black. Her short red hair was adorned with a black bow that had a skull-shaped brooch in its center. "Camelot's scouts last saw the Arcanian army about to cross the border between Lemuria and Tir Na Nog."
The king nodded. "They're drawing close. My army's ready..."
Firea shook her head. "We'll go alone. We can get there in a matter of seconds, and our attacks work better if there are no friendly armies in the zone, since we can use them to take down several enemies in one shot."
Endymion considered her words then nodded. "I understand. Good luck, Sailor Senshi."
"We'll need it," Firea said before they all closed their eyes and vanished.
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 9: The Ancient Art of War.
By Razor Knight
Last update: November 21, 2005
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 its 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 melee 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 melee 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, and now had a pair of wings in her back... An Eternal Senshi? She had 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, and then raised 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 secondary 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 melee 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... It was 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 defeat 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, and 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 smiled. 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 's kind of 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.
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 10: A Birthday At Silver Millennium's End.
By Razor Knight
Last update: November 28, 2005
Episode 10: A Birthday At Silver Millennium's End.
By Razor Knight
Last update: November 28, 2005
-----
"But I don't want to see him again," The fifteen years old princess said with a dramatic sigh.
Her mother smiled. "Eris, King Halcyon told me he's grown into a charming young man."
The princess snorted. Charming? Prince Endymion, the brat that had tried to set her hair aflame when they were kids? That'd be quite impossible.
Princess Serenity, also known as Eris, was waiting for the doors of the massive spaceship to open, along with her parents. "Their royal ship is amazing," King Eridon commented.
The Queen nodded. "Not as big as our Moonstar, but close."
Eris pouted. "Should we knock?"
As she said that, the circular door on the Gea opened, and three persons walked out of the ship. Two of them, the princess knew. The tall, willowy and wise-looking man was King Halcyon, the king of Camelot. To his right was a girl she'd never seen before. Almost as tall as Halcyon, with long black hair and black eyes, and looked strong enough to take on an army. Eris guessed this was Karen, Endymion's daughter and also the newest Sailor Earth. Walking by Halcyon's left side was...
It couldn't be. The tall, handsome young man with short black hair and black eyes couldn't be Endymion. The Princess couldn't believe her eyes.
'So he's handsome, but what about his personality?' her mind pondered.
"Welcome, King Halcyon," Eridon said.
"Serenity, Eridon, it's been a long time since our last visit," Halcyon said, then looked at the princess. "I see your daughter has grown into quite a beautiful young woman."
Eris' cheeks took on a pink hue, which deepened into almost red as she noticed the prince was staring at her.
"This is my daughter, Karen," Halcyon continued, "and you've already met Endymion years ago."
Karen respectfully bowed at them, and Endymion followed suit. However, the prince took Eris' hand with his and kissed its back. "It's nice to see you again, Princess."
The Princess smiled and nodded. "Been a while, Endymion."
-----
'It's been almost one month since last time I saw him,' Eris thought as her mind returned to the present. Today was her eighteenth birthday, and the day she'd become a Sailor Senshi. She hoped Endymion could attend to the party, but she was also aware of the danger the Earth was in right now.
There was something strange about her parents, too. It's like they knew something very bad was going to happen, but they wouldn't tell her about it when she asked. 'I'm not a little girl anymore, they should tell me if something's wrong.' Eris thought with a frown. Specially since she was about to become the next Senshi leader.
"Princess Serenity, the Queen wants to speak with you."
Eris looked down at the creature that had just walked into her room. Luna, one of the Mooncats, the guardians of the Senshi. The first Mooncats didn't appear until the rule of the seventh Serenity, when a war against an evil, unnamed race had required more than the Senshi to control. The first Mooncat, Serene, had been imbued with the powers of the Moon and had helped the Senshi win that war. A few more Mooncats had been 'created' using the same methods afterwards. Luna herself was a descendant of that first Mooncat, Serene.
Eris frowned. "Mother? What does she want?"
"I don't know," Luna said as she headed for the door. "Lady Pluto's with her right now, I think this may have something to do with Beryl. "
'Moment is here? That can only mean things are about to get really complicated.' With a sigh, Princess Serenity walked out of her room, following Luna's lead.
-----
"My Queen, we're ready for our final strike."
Beryl looked at Jadeite, formerly known as Prince Jakken of Ragnarok. Tall, with short blonde hair and blue eyes, he had a black aura around him. There were several other Generals now, along with her first and strongest, Kunzite. The strongest ones were the white-haired ex-prince Kunzite, the brown-haired, androgynous Zoicite, the tall and gloomy Nephrite, whose past human self was rumored to be in love with Princess Nadia from Nemesis. Along with Jadeite, they were Beryl's both left and right hands.
Then, there were other, weaker Generals. Luminite, the lady of white hair and pale skin, who looked almost like a walking, living ivory statue. Cardite, the grey-haired summoner who lacked strength in combat but could summon creatures to fight for her. Dexite, an ex-High Wizard, his looks and posture made him look like a brown haired walking corpse. And the last one...
The last one, Aurite. The woman of golden hair, eyes and skin. Born in the Sun capital Hades, she had studied both magic and melee, rapidly becoming Camelot's head General. She was the reason Beryl's troops were now standing a few miles away from Camelot itself. She was also, by Metallia's words, a wild card.
In the short time she'd been under Beryl's orders, her powers had grown from being as weak as those of a normal youma, to rivaling Kunzite's and Jadeite's own power. Beryl wasn't certain of her loyalties, but if Aurite became too powerful to control, Metallia would surely get rid of her in a blink.
The dark Queen looked around as she floated over the masses of youma. Youma. That's what Metallia called her creatures, demons born from the darkest emotions and the darkest magic. Creatures that could either fuse with humans, becoming a new, stronger entity, or just act on their own account.
"Queen Beryl, should we turn Camelot's forces to our side?"
Beryl shook her head slowly. "No need. I want to see how well our forces fare against the Earth's strongest army. If we can run over Camelot today, we'll conquer the Moon in no time."
She laughed. It'd be too easy, too. Despite being a few miles away from the fortified city, they hadn't been spotted yet. Metallia's power could render any means of magical or technological scanning useless, and she could even hide the thousands of youma from human eyes.
Taking over Camelot would be a child's play. Just like all the other Kingdoms she already controlled.
-----
"Father, I need to go there."
One of the King's advisors, a small, bald man frowned. "You can't abandon the Kingdom in a time like this, Prince, it'd be..."
King Halcyon stopped his advisor with a wave of his hand. "You may be right, Zaren, but Endymion might get help for the incoming battle. "
Endymion nodded. "I know the Senshi, the High Mages and the Demon Hunters haven't answered yet to our request for help, but if I could go and speak to Serenity personally..."
"The Queen or the Princess?" Zaren asked idly.
"Silence, Zaren." Halcyon ordered. "Son, you may go. If you're needed back here, I'll let you know."
Endymion nodded. "Thanks, father."
Halcyon looked at Zaren as the Prince left the room. "I know one of his reasons to go to the Moon is the Princess' birthday, but I also know his loyalty to his country comes before his romance with her. "
Zaren nodded "I know, too. I just hope his journey isn't in vain."
-----
When Eris left the throne room, her face was a few tones away from snow white. What her mother and Pluto had told her...
"There's really nothing we can do. If we help the Earth tonight, we'll leave the Moon unprotected. If we wait for Beryl's attack here, we won't win, but we can get something closer to a 'draw. '"
Pluto's words weren't the cheeriest ones, but given the situation... It wasn't good that she now knew what could happen in a few hours... No, what would happen, Pluto's predictions weren't known for failing. They would all die tonight. All her friends and her fellow Senshi.
Fellow Senshi... Eris looked at the small crystal she was holding in her left hand. She knew what it represented, and why her mother had given her the crystal now and not after her birthday party was over.
She wouldn't just stand there and watch the others fight. She could now fight along with them. But...
Why fight, when they already knew what the outcome would be?
Eris' mind knew the answer to that question. Because they were going to make Beryl regret ever fighting the Senshi, victorious or not.
-----
Orion frowned as he inspected the quite large army they'd gathered. The Demon Hunters were there in full, along with the High Wizards. And floating up in the sky, a fleet consisting of Thanatos' strongest battleships and the Moon's own battleships was waiting.
Waiting. Orion hated that. He would rather just have things happen now than just wait for Beryl to show her ugly face. Too bad there was nothing he could do to rush things, as well as nothing he could do to stop the onslaught predicted by Pluto.
'But even if I die tonight, I'll be sure to take a lot of those monsters down with me.'
-----
Halcyon frowned as he looked at the figures now kneeling before him. "What are you doing here?"
Sailor Nemesis smiled. "King Halcyon, we're here to help you defend your Kingdom."
"Is this Serenity's doing?"
"Serenity doesn't know," Neptune said. "We're loyal to her, but we can't just sit around in the Moon Kingdom and watch the Earth fall. We'll make whatever we can to stop Beryl here and now."
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 11: Fall of Camelot.
By Razor Knight
Last update: December 15, 2005
Episode 11: Fall of Camelot.
By Razor Knight
Last update: December 15, 2005
-----
"Still no signs of the youma," Uranus said tiredly.
Neptune nodded. They'd been scanning the area around the city for hours, but hadn't found a thing. "How many of them do you think will come to attack?"
"Too many," Uranus muttered humorlessly. Neptune smiled at that.
"Think we'll live through this one?" Nemesis asked walking up to them.
"Not sure."
"I am." The others looked back to see Saturn standing there, looking as emotionless as always. "I can sense the creatures out there, the youma as they call themselves. There's hundreds of thousands of them. There is no way we can win against such odds."
Princess Karen nodded as she also approached the group. "I'm pretty sure we won't live through this. But I won't abandon my country... Or my father. I just hope Endymion comes back soon."
"His trip will be in vain," Saturn said. "Serenity's not going to send any help."
"How can you know that for sure?" Neptune asked.
"I know Pluto must've seen something go VERY wrong if they sent help here. Otherwise, Serenity wouldn't act so heartlessly."
"It's not a nice feeling to know you're fighting a losing battle," Neptune said with a heavy sigh.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Uranus said passing an arm over Neptune's shoulders. Neptune's cheeks took on a pink hue as she looked up at her and smiled.
The others laughed at that. Uranus and Neptune, outside the Senshi's circle, were rumored to be romantically involved. A thing that wasn't frowned upon, but also wasn't too common. Inside the Senshi's circle, their romance was well known.
"Beryl's army is coming!" came the shout of a guard from one of the watch towers. Looking westwards, the Senshi could see it was true.
"There must be at least a million youma!" Nemesis observed.
The Camelot army remained inside the castle, as did the Senshi. Archers, catapults and ballistas soon started hitting Beryl's minions with all they had. However, the youma army was soon clawing at the walls... Literally clawing, as some had claws long and strong enough to tear through stone and metal.
"This is bad," Earth said. "Our ranged weapons can't hit them down there."
"Then it's our turn," Uranus said. "Hurricane..." As she balled her fist, a breeze picked up. The wind all gathered around her fist, forming a small air vortex. "Punch!" She swung her fist forwards, the vortex shooting forwards, and increasing in size as it rushed at the crowd of youma. When it hit the ground, its size was easily that of a normal house, and it literally shredded two dozen creatures in a matter of seconds. "What are you waiting for?" she muttered looking at the others.
"Nemesis Endless Night!" The Senshi of Darkness shouted, and a massive black dome formed near the wall. Inside it, the cries of pain and curses of dozens of youma could be heard. When the dome vanished, the creatures trapped inside were already gone.
"We may not win, but we'll surely cut their numbers down," Neptune commented.
-----
Beryl and her Generals were watching the battle, and realized the youma would not enter the city without taking heavy casualties. "My warriors, I think it's time you show me what you are really capable of," Beryl said turning to her minions.
The Generals all bowed to her then vanished. "They are strong... But shouldn't we use our other warriors instead?"
Beryl didn't need to turn to the voice to know who that was. She could almost feel Metallia's shapeless form behind her, staring at her with green, glowing eyes. "No. I'm saving them for a real emergency. If Serenity's Senshi are as strong as legends say, we may need them. But to beat the few Senshi who are here, and take over Camelot... There's no need to ruin the surprise yet."
"I hope you don't fail, Beryl. The Senshi are not a force to ignore. "
"I'm well aware of that. The Generals are far stronger than the Senshi."
"Agreed. A pity I can't go have fun myself, but I must save energy for the time I face Serenity. And so must you."
Beryl nodded. It would be foolish, indeed, to waste power in a weak, insignificant pack of humans and Senshi, when they would have to fight the Senshi Queen herself in a matter of hours.
-----
Endymion bowed to the Queen and sighed. The party had already begun, but he was too busy worrying about his kingdom to enjoy it. "Your highness, I'm here to..."
Serenity nodded. "I know what you're going to ask. And I'm sorry to say I can't send anyone down to help now."
Endymion frowned. "I don't understand. You'll let thousands of humans die without sending any help?"
"Several Senshi ignored my words and have gone to the Earth to battle Beryl. I fear they'll perish along with anyone who opposes the evil Queen," Serenity explained.
Eris walked in and looked at the two other persons in the throne room. "Mother, our guests are wondering where you are," she said looking at her mother. She then turned to Endymion. "Good to see you again, Endymion." 'One last time...'
Endymion smiled at Eris, then turned back to the Queen. "If you're so sure Camelot will fall, what makes you think Silver Millenium won't?"
"Pluto saw we won't survive this. Either ways, thousands will die, maybe millions."
"Then why don't you fight them down there? Because Pluto told you to let Beryl run over Camelot?"
"No. Because if things go as I've planned, then Beryl won't win."
"She already won if you're resigning to fate."
"I'm not, I'm going to fight her with all I've got. We can't win, but I'll make sure she doesn't win, either."
Endymion sighed. So his trip to the Moon had been for nothing. He should be down there, fighting for Camelot. "I... Understand," he finally said, his voice sad and low.
Eris took his hand and smiled as he looked at her. "Endymion, would you dance with me tonight?"
'One last time...' Endymion thought as he nodded at her.
-----
The city of Camelot wasn't unprepared for an attack such as this. While the soldiers and mages stood to fight off the invaders, the rest of the population had been evacuated through an underground tunnel which lead them far from the battlegrounds. The evacuation had ended just in time, too, as minutes later the youma had broken through one of the walls and into the city.
What had once been a commercial area of the city was now mostly destroyed, as the army of Camelot and the Senshi tried to resist the invading waves of creatures. Suddenly, a wave of ghastly figures appeared, swirling and circling the area and draining many youma off their energy.
Saturn stared coldly at the crowd of invaders as her 'pets' returned to her. The wraiths entered her body, but she didn't seem to notice, even though her suit glew white for a brief instant. "This is going better than I thought," she said mostly to herself. "These youma may be numerous, but they're also weak."
"Agreed, oh Lady of Death," a voice said mockingly from behind.
Saturn turned around and stared coldly at the blonde man standing there. "So Beryl's lapdogs have finally appeared," she stated in a monotone.
"Tsk, tsk... Girl, you shouldn't be so grim all the time."
"I would ruin my image if I wasn't, after all I'm the Grim Reaper. "
Jadeite laughed at that, then shot an energy blast. Saturn deflected it with her glaive as she stared around suspiciously. "Oh, don't worry, Saturn. I may be an evil minion, but there are still some things I retain, like honor. Youma won't come close to us while we fight."
"That's nice to know, but why are you here anyways?"
"You and your allies are taking a big bite on our troops. Beryl doesn't want to lose too many youma in this invasion, since we'll need them for the attack to Silver Millenium."
"Not that you'll live to see that happen," Saturn said as she swung her glaive to a battle-ready pose.
"Oh, but we're having so much fun talking..." Jadeite said with mock disappointment.
"Death Beam!" Saturn's glaive lit up for a second as a purplish blast of energy shot at Jadeite. The blonde General leapt aside and frowned.
"If you insist..." he muttered as he produced a sword. Saturn idly noticed its blade was actually a yellowish crystal, then dove aside as the General charged at her.
-----
"Dark Star Reflection!"
Earth watched as Nemesis's hands lit up, just before a black energy wave shot out from them, vaporizing any evil creature on its path. She then turned to her own targets. "Elemental Rage!" An energy sphere formed around her left hand, sucking in dirt, rocks and leaves from the area around her. After a few seconds, she swung her fist forwards, causing the gathered energy and objects to shoot forwards as a beam. It did as much damage as Nemesis' attack, and she smirked as she scanned the area for more enemies.
That's when she saw the two figures floating up in the air. "Well, Nadia, I think we have Beryl's puppets to play with now."
Nemesis frowned as she looked up. The man to the left had brown hair tied up in a short ponytail and looked girly, but the one to the right...
"Neir?"
The man looked at her. "Indeed, that used to be my name. But now I'm Nephrite, one of Beryl's Generals."
Earth frowned and looked at Nemesis. This was not good, she knew Nadia and Neir were in love... But Neir, or Nephrite as he called himself now, didn't look like he had any emotions left. "Don't let your guard down, that's not Neir, just his body," she said.
Nemesis looked at her and sighed. "I... I know."
The other General floated down to the ground and smiled coldly at them. "Nephrite, you take care of the Nemesian. I'll take care of the Princess."
"You mean, I'll take care of you," Earth snapped.
"Funny, she's delirious," the man said. "Please call me Zoicite."
Earth just shrugged and produced a grey-hilted sword.
-----
"Hurricane Punch!"
"Deep Ocean Pressure!"
The air vortex flew along with a thick beam of water, fusing with it and creating a twister of wind and water that shredded several dozen youma to pieces. Uranus and Neptune stood now in the middle of a large group of youma, back to back and ready to strike again.
However, the youma suddenly backed away. The Senshi both looked up to the sky and saw a couple human-looking figures staring down at them. "Who're those?" Uranus asked.
"Generals," Neptune said.
The white-haired man chuckled. "The strongest of them, too. I'm Kunzite, the strongest of Beryl's Generals."
"And my name," the woman floating besides him, who had long golden hair, golden eyes and even golden skin, said, "is Aurite."
Uranus frowned, while Neptune produced her own sword, an aquamarine-hilted one. "So, Beryl finally realized her weakly monsters aren't enough to defeat us."
"You could say that," Aurite said. "Then again, I think she actually wants to test us before we go for the real Senshi."
Uranus frowned as a blue-hilted sword appeared in her hand. "Gale Blade!"
Kunzite dove aside and laughed. "Guess you ticked them off, Aurite. "
"Too bad, that means I'll have to kill them."
-----
Saturn leaned on her glaive for support and frowned. Jadeite was simply too fast, too strong for her. She'd tried almost everything, from melee to her attacks, but nothing seemed to weaken him. She'd hit him more than enough times, but Jadeite was playing with her.
Yes, that was it. He was tiring her down, and she'd quite fallen for it. She still had enough energy for her strongest attack, not counting the one her ancestor, Aejin, had used in the past. That attack was forbidden, and would do little good right now. But there was still another technique she'd never used before. And if she timed it right, it'd be more than enough to defeat Jadeite.
The blonde General was tired of waiting, so he started walking to her, sword ready. However, he stopped as he saw Saturn's eyes turn pitch black for a brief second. "What the..."
"Mess with Death and you'll meet your doom, fool. It's time to show you what the Senshi of Death can do." As she spoke, her glaive's blade grew gradually brighter, and by the time she'd stopped, glaring at Jadeite, the glaive's tip was bright enough to be blinding. "Saturn..." The usual group of wraiths appeared, but they weren't swirling around her glaive, and they were man-sized. Also, each of them carried a glaive like Saturn's, all shinning with light as hers was.
"... Grim..." The wraiths started screeching, and the few youma that were near the area stopped fighting and backed off in confusion. Jadeite also backed away unconsciously as the wraiths all fixed their eyeless sockets on him.
"Reaper!" Saturn shouted as she swung her glaive forwards, tip hitting the ground hard enough to crack it, and it released a massive purple beam of energy. It hit Jadeite, knocking him back a few meters. But that wasn't the real attack.
He realized what the wraiths were for a little too late, as they all passed by his side, slashing at him with their glaives. He blocked some of the attacks but most hit him. Before he could think of a way to counter, the wraiths all gathered and passed through his body, causing him to scream and fall to the ground face-first.
Saturn's face was paler than ever, but she smiled as she looked at Jadeite. "Heh... So much for the mighty Generals." Suddenly, Jadeite vanished. Saturn couldn't figure out what had happened, before she felt a blade strike her back. Her mouth filled with blood as she looked down at the blade's tip coming out of her chest. "This... Can't..."
Jadeite pulled the sword out of her body and laughed. "Stupid Senshi." He then stopped and coughed, spitting some blood. "That attack was too strong, though. If there had been any other Senshi helping her, I'd be dead by now."
The General looked around. Without a Senshi to baby-sit them, the soldiers of Camelot in the area were now being overrun by the youma. Once all the Senshi were dealt with, the army wouldn't have any hopes of winning this battle.
-----
"Nemesis Endless Night!"
Nephrite formed an energy shield to block Nemesis' attack and laughed. "Don't fight, Nadia. You're making this harder for us both. "
"I won't give up."
"Too bad, I thought I could deal with you in a fast and painless way, " Nephrite said. "So be it, dear Nadia."
-----
"Earth Dust Storm!"
Zoicite crashed through a wall, along with a wave of dirt and rocks. He stood up and growled, charging back at Earth. Earth dodged aside and delivered a knife hand to his neck, sending him slamming into another wall. "Why you, ..."
"Earth Dust Storm!"
Zoicite was pinned to the wall by the attack and fell down to his knees. "Damn it..."
"Tired?"
Zoicite looked up at her and smirked. "Not at all!" He aimed his palm at her so fast she didn't see the pinkish energy blast until it'd hit her, sending her flying back several meters.
The General smirked as he walked up to Earth, who was clutching her chest in pain and kneeling on the ground. "You Senshi are no rival for us. Though it's a pity you chose the wrong side, we could use minions as strong as you."
"Earth... Dust..."
"Die!"
Earth screamed as Zoicite shot another blast at her, but this time his hands lit up. She could feel the energy inside her, burning her from within. The torment only lasted a few seconds, and soon Earth's lifeless body fell to the ground in a heap.
"So easy it's not even fun," Zoicite muttered. "Now to wait for that weakling to get rid of his girlfriend."
-----
Nemesis leaned on a wall and coughed. Neir... Nephrite was too strong, she just couldn't win this fight. Looking up at the Moon, she sighed. "We failed. Maybe Serenity was right, we should've waited for them at the Moon." Looking northwards, she could see the Camelot castle, wrecked and burning.
She knew Nephrite was looking at her, standing nearby. Why hadn't he attacked her yet? She had no energy left to fight, and he should know that...
"Nadia." Nemesis turned to look at Nephrite. He was smiling, but it was a sad smile... "I'm sorry." That's the last thing she heard before an energy beam hit her and she blacked out.
-----
The two last Senshi on Earth weren't faring any better than their dead friends. In fact, they were both trying to recover as Kunzite and Aurite smiled triumphantly at them.
"Should we?" Aurite asked.
"No... It's not fun at all, they're not even trying."
Neptune glared at them. "Underestimating us isn't wise..."
"Why? You're not strong enough to defeat us," Aurite snapped.
"Alone, we aren't," Uranus said and closed her eyes. "Final..."
Neptune nodded as she also closed her eyes. "But together... Elemental..."
"What the..." Jadeite muttered as he saw the two Senshi's bodies blurred by spheres of their respective elements.
"Storm!" Both Senshi shouted at once. The water and wind gathered were released, forming a massive cone that knocked the two Generals away, destroying several youma that'd been standing on the attack's way.
"Did we kill them?" Neptune asked as she kneeled on the ground, exhausted.
A nearby building was blasted to dust by an energy wave, and the two Generals walked out of it. "No, you didn't," Kunzite said coldly.
Uranus frowned and lifted her sword. "If we have to die..."
"We'll die fighting," Neptune finished as they both run towards the Generals.
-----
"It's done," Dexite said as he bowed in front of Beryl.
"That was faster than I expected," Beryl said amused as she looked at the now ruined Camelot. "Maybe we overestimated the Senshi. "
"We didn't," the shadow behind her hissed. "The strongest Senshi remain on the Moon, and we may need to fight them ourselves."
"So be it," Beryl said as she looked at the city. She could smell the death emanating from the buildings, and she loved that scent. "Nothing can stop us now. Nothing."
Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 12: Endgames.
By Razor Knight
Last update: December 17, 2005
Episode 12: Endgames.
By Razor Knight
Last update: December 17, 2005
-----
Orion frowned as he stared down at the large lake located several miles to the west of Silver Millenium. From his watch point on top of the highest tower of the Silver Palace, he could clearly see everything around it. If the youma were thinking on attacking tonight, he'd be able to see them coming.
He looked up at the Earth and sighed. If these creatures showed up, it'd mean they'd passed through Camelot. He'd tried to be optimistic about it, but there was little hope for the Moon if Camelot fell. Even though Serenity held the strongest weapon ever forged in her hands, Beryl somehow had enough power to counter her crystal.
The question was, how. Even the young genius Hope had no idea how Beryl had grew so powerful in such a short time. However, that was now quite a moot point, as the youma were surely going to visit the Moon soon.
"Sooner than expected," Orion muttered as he saw something to the east of the palace. Row after row of creatures were teleporting into the surface, each weirder than the last. He produced a small, round communicator and pushed the only button in it. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have visitors to the East."
"They're porting in from the south and north-west too," came Zane Thanatos' voice from the communicator. "I'm having my ships give them a warm welcome, but I'll surely need help here."
"Understood. We'll be out there in a minute." That was Sailor Mars' voice.
Orion put the communicator away and looked down to the ground. "Float." He said and leapt off the roof... Floating slowly down to ground level. The Demon Hunters were all there, waiting for him. "Libra, lead group one to the south. Leo, go with group two to the north-west and help Thanatos' battleships."
A man wearing a white robe, with white long hair and beard came walking to him. "The High Wizards are ready."
"Good. We'll need as many magicians as we can get once they get here. "
-----
"Mother, what's going on?" Eris said as she walked into the throne room.
"Beryl's army is here. They're about to reach the city's outer walls. "
"Then I should go help."
"But..."
"The Senshi, the Hunters, the Wizards... Even Thanatos will be out there fighting those monsters. I can't just sit here and watch, mother."
"I... Understand. Just be careful, daughter."
Eris hugged her mother and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to let them win without a fight."
Serenity watched silently as her daughter walked out of the room. "I won't sit here and watch, either... But first I have to let them come to us."
-----
The Senshi stood on top of the city's outer wall, looking down at the incoming wave of youma. "That's amazing. There must be at least a million of them!" Jupiter observed.
"One million two hundred thousands, give or take a few thousands," Mercury corrected.
"Let's make that half a million," Venus said. "Crescent Beam!"
"..." Mars frowned at her as the thin light beam blasted through a few dozen creatures.
"What?"
"Good aim, but hitting them with our weakest attacks won't do."
Venus raised her hand, then shouted "Venus Light Comet!" A massive beam of light shot from her hand, forming a massive ball of light which shot forwards, crashing into the youma army and killing several hundreds of them instantly.
"Wow..." Hope said. Sure, she had been training to become stronger, but she hadn't still reached the power level the others had.
"Is that better?" Venus asked with a grin.
"Showoff," Mars muttered.
"Princess, what are you doing here?" Jupiter asked. The others turned to see Princess Serenity walking towards them.
"I'm here to help," Eris said.
Mars frowned. "But you won't get access to your powers until..."
"Moon Prism Power!"
The Senshi gasped as Eris turned into Sailor Moon, her version of the Senshi suit had blue skirt and red bow, along with red brooches for her hair buns and knee-long red boots. "... After your birthday, " Mars finished. "Never mind."
Moon shrugged. "My mother wanted me to help you fight tonight."
"I don't think sending a novice into the field will help..."
"Moon Tiara Action!" Moon reached for her tiara, which turned into a golden energy disk, then tossed it down at the incoming army. The tiara sliced through monster after monster as it fled away, then turned and sliced even more creatures as it fled back to Moon's awaiting hands. "Contrary to popular belief, I haven't just slacked around and gone to social meetings the last few years."
"Why is everyone out to contradict me tonight?" Mars muttered. Being the oldest of the Senshi, not counting Pluto or Saturn, she'd always acted like a leader in battle when the other two weren't around. 'And if Beryl's here, that means Saturn failed,' she thought with a grimace.
"Enough chatter, the uglies are coming our way," Jupiter noted. "Rolling Thunder!" The Senshi of Lightning swung her fists forwards as electricity gathered in them, creating a large energy disc that vaporized countless monsters.
"I agree," Moon said and produced her tiara once again.
-----
A few miles to the south, a large fleet of spaceships were steadily decreasing the numbers of Beryl's army. It didn't help the monsters that the ships were too high to be shot from the ground, and that the few airborne youma that had teleported in had already been blasted out.
Thanatos watched the onslaught from his ship, the Tiamat. This was easier than he'd thought, and for a moment, he felt as if his ships were untouchable.
It only lasted a moment, though. "Captain, the Drake and Reaper are down!"
"What? Locate the attackers."
"Scanning... I see them. There's a group of humanoid youma down there, along with Beryl."
"Beryl herself?" That could be the only chance he'd have to take a shot at the evil Queen. "Fire at them with all we've got!"
-----
Orion leapt away from a tiger-like monster, then stabbed through another creature. The tiger charged at him, but he was faster. "Ice Shot." As the creature turned into dust, an explosion rocked the area. "What the hell?"
He soon found the cause of the explosion. The fleet formed by Thanatos' spaceships and the Moon Royal Space Force were all shooting at one single point. "That here?" Orion muttered. Indeed, Beryl was the target of the attacks. Lasers and missiles rained on the Queen and her Generals, but there was an energy shield around them, so none of the attacks could hit them.
A shadowy, shapeless creature stood behind Beryl, and it turned to stare at Orion for a second. The Demon Hunter felt like a sheep staring at a hungry wolf. However, he saw Beryl saying something, and the shadow turned away from him. A moment later, he saw the Generals shooting energy beams up at the fleet, tearing through several ships as easy as a sword would stab through flesh.
"Zane, I hope you'll be okay up there," Orion said before turning to the battle at hand.
-----
"Captain, the Katana and the Argenta are down. The Firebrand and Silver are heavily damaged."
"Did we at least hit them?" Thanatos asked.
"Negative. Some kind of force field protects them."
"Leave them to the Senshi, then! Regroup and go north, to the other front!"
It was right then that the Tiamat was hit in its main reactor.
-----
"Ship coming down, get out of the way!" One of the Hunters warned.
Orion looked up as he beheaded a crab-like monster. That is... The Tiamat? Damn it...'
There was nothing he could do about it, though, other than teleporting away from the impact point. He could see several other ships crashing down all around them, and sighed. So much for the air force.
-----
"Stupid humans, did they really think those ships would be able to stop us?" Dexite asked amused.
Aurite frowned for a second, then looked at Beryl. "My Queen, our forces coming from the south are being attacked by a group of High Wizards and Demon Hunters. The north group's being slowed down by the Senshi themselves."
"High Wizards, huh? That's my specialty," Dexite said.
Beryl nodded. "Generals, destroy the humans attacking our forces."
"What about the Senshi?" Kunzite asked.
"No need to worry. I'm sending the Rainbow Youma to fight them."
"As you wish," Kunzite said. The Rainbow Youma... The only thing Kunzite knew that could defeat a General in a one-on-one battle. Even if the Senshi destroyed them, they would be able to injure them, making the Generals' job way easier.
"I'm going with the youma," Cardite said.
Beryl shook her head. "There's no need..."
"Your underling's right, Beryl," Metallia hissed. "She can use her power to retrieve the Rainbows before the Senshi destroy them. There's no need to waste such strong warriors if we can avoid it."
Beryl nodded. "Then it's decided. Let's end this battle now." As her Generals vanished, Beryl looked at the Silver Palace, several miles away. 'Little Senshi Queen, your time's up. Are you just going to hide and wait for us to come knocking at your door?'
-----
"Ice Blast!"
The creature Mercury had targeted turned into an ice statue, the ice shards caused by the impact impaling several other monsters. Mercury turned around just in time to see a snakelike monster rushing at her, and used her sword to slice it in half. As much as she didn't like to fight this close to the monsters, it couldn't be helped.
The walls of the city still stood, and most of the civilians and the guests that had been there for the birthday party had been evacuated to Mars and Mercury, the nearest planets still not touched by Beryl's claws.
However, the situation for the Senshi wasn't looking good. There were still at least a million youma around them, and they'd been forced to fight them close as using their strongest attacks could end up damaging the walls.
"Berserker Fury!" Mercury could smell the ozone created by the attack as a monster was sent flying over her. She was about to attack another monster, when they all started backing away.
"What's going on?" Venus asked.
"Are they retreating?" Moon said.
Mercury scanned the area and saw them... Seven youma that were making their way through the crowd, their power levels insanely high. "Those seven..." She could also see a General with them. This could indeed mean trouble.
"Hey look, one of Beryl's lackeys is here," Mars said.
Cardite floated over the crowd, stopping a few meters away from the Senshi, as the seven youma stared at them. "My name's Cardite. But don't worry, as much as I'd love to beat you girls up right now, my Queen has sent me just as an observer."
"What do you mean?" Venus asked.
"Isn't it obvious? The seven Rainbow Youma will take care of you, pests."
"Don't bet on it," Mars snapped. "Okay girls, it's time to show this what the Senshi can do!"
"Hah! Die like your weak friends in Camelot, most likely," Cardite snapped back.
"That's it, the 's mine," Mars growled.
-----
"Fire Sto--"
Orion gasped as a High Wizard was cut in mid-spell by a pink energy beam. "Damn it, they're too strong!"
"You just noticed that?" Zoicite mused. "Give up, weaklings, and we'll make your deaths swift."
"I'd rather die fighting," one of the Hunters snapped.
"So be it," Kunzite snapped and shot several energy blasts at the man, killing him instantly.
Orion frowned. Things weren't looking good for them. Half his group had already been destroyed by the Generals, and the youma now had the road free to attack the city. With only three hunters and seven wizards left, there wasn't much they could do. But they weren't about to give up yet.
"This is boring," Zoicite commented.
"I agree. Enough fooling around," Jadeite said.
Orion frowned. "Now!"
"Darek Aram Sou..." The wizards started chanting those three words, causing a large sphere of magic energy to appear in front of them. The hunters rushed forwards, hitting the sphere with their sword and causing it to explode into a rain of energy blasts.
"Nice try," Nephrite said as he formed an energy shield around his group, blocking the makeshift attack, "but not enough. Now DIE!"
Orion leapt aside dodging the barrage of energy beams and blasts the Generals started shooting. He heard several cries of pain behind him, and didn't need to turn around to know the others hadn't managed to move out of the way. "This isn't going as expected..."
"Pity, you're the only one left," Kunzite said as he gathered energy in his right hand. "Now--" A roaring noise could be heard, and Kunzite and the others turned around. "What in the Darkness is..."
All they could see was a single, small fighter ship heading their way, shooting lasers and missiles at them. The whole area was covered by dust and smoke, and as it cleared, two things could be seen. The hunter was gone, and the ship was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn, he escaped," Luminite muttered.
"Never mind that. Let's check on the Senshi and see if any of them survived."
-----
"Light Comet!"
Venus' Light attack knocked the tiger-like youma back, but it just grunted and stood unhurt. "Is it just me, or they're too strong for us?" the blonde Senshi asked as she checked on her right arm. The scratch from the mantis-like monster had stopped bleeding now, but it still hurt.
"It's you," Mars muttered. She was now trying to punch the dinosaur-like youma to a pulp. Cardite hadn't been too eager to fight, and Mars had also realized they were outnumbered so there was no need to fight the General yet.
And Venus was partially right. While they had managed to knock down two out of the seven creatures, the Senshi were all tired from the battle, and, in Jupiter and Venus' case, they were also injured. Also, they weren't able to kill the creatures, as Cardite had trapped them within some kind of tarot cards.
Moon dove out of the way as the massive dragon youma charged at her. "Moon Cosmic Spiral!"
One thing she had to give the Princess, was that she learnt fast. In little over thirty minutes, she'd been able to summon her Cosmic level attacks. Not as strong as the others, but still enough to fight the creatures.
As the dragon-like monster hit the ground with a loud thud, Cardite produced another card, muttering something under her breath. Like the other two times, her card absorbed the monster, and she grinned.
"They're weaker than I thought."
The Senshi and Cardite turned to see Beryl and the rest of the Generals had arrived. "My Queen, I'm sorry, they are indeed weaker than the Senshi."
"It doesn't matter. Bring them all to me."
Cardite nodded and produced four more cards, absorbing the remaining four Rainbow Youma with them, then gave them to Beryl.
Beryl took the cards and closed her eyes for a few seconds before speaking again. "Seven souls create a new one. Bringer of death and destruction, come forth... Raishiku"
A black portal opened, and a massive, humanoid lizard appeared. Its arms and legs were as thick as a human body, and he looked like he could crush a normal human with little effort. "What is that thing?" Mercury asked.
"That's my strongest youma, the Shadow Youma, Raishiku," Metallia hissed. "And it'll be the last youma you'll ever fight, humans."
Raishiku took a step forwards, but before it could try and attack, a barrage of laser blasts hit it from the side. It growled and turned to its aggressor, the same fighter that'd attacked the Generals before.
"Who's in that ship? I thought they'd all been destroyed," Mars pondered.
Mercury scanned the ship as it flew by. "Thanatos is piloting the ship. And also..."
Before she could finish that sentence, a single figure fell from the ship towards Raishiku, slashing at it with a sword. The youma, however, knocked him far away and he crashed into a wall.
"Who was that?" Jupiter asked.
"Orion," Mercury said with a grimace. "This monster's simply too strong for any of them."
"But not for us," Mars said. "Mars Hell's Wrath!" Mars swung her fist forwards in the youma's direction, and a large beam of fire shot from her body, wrapping around the massive creature, and scorching the ground around it. The Senshi of Fire held the creature still for several seconds, but then she kneeled on the ground, panting. "Impossible..."
"Your weak attacks can't destroy him," Beryl said. "Give up now."
"Never," Mars said.
"All right. Raishiku, finish them!"
-----
As he opened his eyes and tried to stand up, Orion tried to remember what had happened before he blacked out. He remembered the massive youma backhanding him and frowned. Two things were clear to him right now. One, he had been tossed a good three hundred meters away. And two, he couldn't feel or move his legs.
He realized he'd fallen in such a way, he could see what was going on back where the Senshi were. "Far eye. Far ear." He muttered, casting a couple spells that would allow him to see and hear what happened clearly. If he couldn't stand up and fight, he could at least watch the Senshi kick Beryl's ugly rear out of the Moon.
Strangely, there were no youma near the area. Looking to a side, he could see why: The whole army had finally broken into Silver Millenium, leaving behind the Senshi and the Generals. Amongst the crowd of human soldiers fighting the relentless wave of demons, there were two he could recognize. One was King Eridon, wearing a silver, shinning battle armor and holding the Moon Dragon Sword in his hand, along with a shield he'd never seen before. The other was Prince Endymion, who was actually slashing his way through the army of youma to get out of the city.
Turning back to the group fighting Beryl, Orion grimaced. Jupiter and Venus were down, while Mercury and Mars were standing between the Shadow Youma and Sailor Moon. Mars had several wounds in her arms and legs, and Mercury's visor was gone. That monster was stronger than anything he'd seen before, and he didn't keep his hopes too high for the Senshi. It was doubtful a couple injured Senshi and a novice, even if that novice was Sailor Moon, would be able to defeat that Shadow Youma.
-----
"Now you see, Senshi, you have no way of winning," Beryl gloated.
"We won't give up. We'll take care of you then we'll destroy your mindless drones," Mars snapped.
"There's no way you can defeat our army of youma," Zoicite snapped back.
"When I said mindless drones, I meant you and your friends," Mars retorted with a half smile, causing Zoicite to growl at her.
"Enough!" Beryl said furiously. "Raishiku, destroy--"
Once again, Thanatos' fighter ship zoomed by, shooting at the Generals and Beryl. This time, however, Beryl shot a thin energy blast at it, and the ship exploded in mid-air.
"Damn it, Zane..." Orion muttered. There was simply no way his friend had made it out of that explosion alive.
Mercury glared at Beryl, then at the Shadow Youma. "Monsters, I won't let you win this! Mercury..."
"Wait..." Moon said.
"What?"
"We can defeat them... Together."
Mars nodded and concentrated. "Let's do it."
Moon closed her eyes and aimed her open palms at the monster. "Sailor... Starlight..."
Mars and Mercury also closed their eyes, and energy started flowing between them and Moon. "Stream..."
"Barrage!" the three shouted in unison. The visual effect of the attack was amazing, a steady stream of fire, ice and pure magic energy rushing at the Shadow Youma. Raishiku tried to slap the attack away, but it blasted through his arm and his chest, vaporizing him in seconds.
"We did it..." Mars said, exhausted.
Beryl frowned and shot two energy beams, and Moon gasped as they passed by her side, then her eyes widened as she realized what the targets were. Turning around, she could see both Mars and Mercury lying on the ground. "No..."
"Damn it, I wanted to have fun with them myself," Jadeite muttered.
"Quiet. Now, Princess, you may wonder why I haven't killed you along with them," Beryl said. "Truth is, I'm impressed. Unlike your cowardly mother, you've come out here to face us, even though you knew it was hopeless. I may not share your ideals, but I still respect that."
Moon frowned. Good, let her rant, the more the dark Queen spoke, the more time she'd have to recover and attack.
"It's sad, however, that I'll have to kill you as well. But I'm giving you one last chance to fight. You and me, with no interferences from either sides. What's your answer?"
"Here's your answer!"
Beryl turned to the side and gasped as something slashed at her. She made a show of screaming in pain as her left arm fell off, but then the arm rejoined her body and she laughed. "Well, well, the handsome prince comes to save the lady in distress."
"I'm going to kill you and your underlings," Endymion said as he glared at her, sword ready to attack again. His suit was covered by cuts and blood, but most of said blood wasn't his.
Beryl laughed, a humorless, deep laugh. "You, a little human, defeating me? Funny, that's what your father said before I destroyed him." Endymion's glare deepened as he charged at the Queen once again. "Generals!" she shouted in a commanding tone.
The Generals all rushed forwards as one, each materializing an energy sword, and they all slashed at Endymion. The prince tried to fight back but the barrage of attacks was too much for him to take.
-----
"Serenity, are you sure? We could help out there," Luna said looking up at her Queen.
Serenity shook her head. "My daughter and the other Senshi will need someone to guide them."
"What do you mean?"
"Luna, you were there when Pluto came to talk to me. You know what she saw."
"I'll do as you wish, my Queen. But are you sure these containers are safe?" Luna looked at the small metal containers where two other Mooncats were already sleeping.
"They've been used a few times in the past," Serenity said.
"Only for a few centuries at most. We're talking about thousands of years."
"I know," Serenity said with a sigh. "There's a chance the tubes' energy won't last long enough for you to be there."
Luna sighed. "So it's either die here, or die there." She looked up at the Queen again. "I'll do it. I've always been a lucky Mooncat. "
Serenity chuckled at that. "Okay then, walk inside and I'll do the rest."
Luna walked into the tube, and a blue glass slid over its opening. "Goodbye, my Queen. It was an honor to serve you."
"Goodbye, Luna. Take care of my daughter."
"I will," Luna said. Serenity looked at the small keypad to the side of the tube and nodded, pressing a few buttons. When she was done, she backed away to look at the three Mooncats, now sleeping. "Luna, Artemis and Shade. It's a pity I couldn't bring any of the others here."
In that moment, a soldier walked into the room, kneeling before her. "Queen Serenity, I was sent here to give you this." He produced a silver-hilted sword and turned to leave. "There were too many of those creatures out there. There was nothing we could do to save him."
Serenity looked at the sword in her hands and her eyes watered. The Moon Dragon Sword was a gift from her to her husband after they married, and she knew she wouldn't be holding it unless he was... Wiping away the few tears that had rolled down her cheeks, she held the sword in one hand and walked out of the room.
It had gone too far. Now, it was time to show Beryl what she could do when angered.
-----
"This is definitely rotten," Orion muttered as he saw Endymion's body fall to the ground. Looking back to the city, he gasped as he saw Serenity walking out and straight into the horde of youma. The monsters charged at her, but her body lit up with energy, and a sphere-shaped wave shoot out from her, growing at an amazing rate, and destroying any youma it touched. It took only a few seconds. When the wave dimmed, there were no youma left in the northern side of the city.
"Moon Silver Crystal Wave!"
Orion turned to the Princess. He'd almost forgotten about her, but he could see she was faring way better than he'd expected. She'd shot a massive energy beam at the Generals, knocking them all to the ground. With a bit of luck, those bastards would be dead. However, the Princess kneeled on the ground, panting exhausted. Orion knew why, the Senshi could be powerful and resistant, but they were still humans, and after all the battling they'd gone through in the last hour, it was only natural the Princess was tired.
"So, is that all you've got?" Beryl teased her. Moon glared at her, then stood up, producing a sword identical to her mother's one. "Oh dear, the kid's got a sword. Be careful with that thing, you could poke someone's eyes off."
"That's the idea," Moon snapped and charged at Beryl.
Beryl didn't move. She didn't need to. The shadowy creature that followed her everywhere shot forwards, passing right through Moon's body. There was no visible damage, but the Princess' eyes... Orion shivered. Lifeless, glazed over. Whatever that shadow had done, the Princess was now gone. Sailor Moon kneeled, dropping her sword, then fell face-first to the ground.
"BERYL!"
Both the evil Queen and Orion turned to see Serenity walking towards her. She was giving Beryl a cold glare, and looked like she could level a city on a whim right now. "Oh look, the coward finally decided to come out and play. Generals, take care of her!"
Serenity laughed humorlessly as the Generals stood up and faced her. "My daughter was able to knock them out, and you expect them to defeat me? Not only are you evil, but also delusional."
"The only delusional one here is you, Senshi Queen," the shadow hissed.
"What are you anyways, monster?"
"My name is... Metallia."
Orion frowned. Metallia? He'd read about her, the legends forged around the First Senshi... But was that really Meth'Lya?
"You see, for eons I remained imprisoned in a strange world, thanks to the first Senshi Queen's meddling. I was still a Kh'Sun back then, but the world changed me. Gave me power. I was finally able to break out thanks to a power-thirsty human woman. As you see, our combined power is simply unstoppable."
"So you, one of the Kh'Sun, yet you're helping a human? What'd the rest of your race think?"
"The rest of my race is dead, and I don't even belong to it anymore. I don't want to kill all humans, just those that turned me into this. And you're the last one."
Serenity smirked. There was another one, but she was already in a place Metallia had no way to reach. After all, someone had to remain and watch over the planet while the rest of them waited for the right time to be reborn. "You've killed my people, my allies, my friends... My family. If you think I'll just stand here and let you take over my planet, you're dead wrong."
Metallia hissed as Serenity's body lit up with energy. She could now see the Queen was holding a crystal in her free hand... A crystal she knew too well. "We have to destroy her, before she uses that."
Beryl nodded and shot a wave of dark energy at the Senshi Queen. Metallia added her own energy to the attack, but Serenity opened her eyes before it reached her. "Too late," She said as a wave of blinding light shot out from her sword and crystal, clashing with the dark wave.
Orion frowned. As a Demon Hunter, he'd been trained to detect magic, and use some basic spells. He could see the two waves clashing from where he was, but he also could feel something else. The mana ripple generated by the power battle was just... Impossible.
The battle itself lasted several minutes. Both Queens poured as much energy as they could into their spell, but even with Metallia's help, Beryl's wave kept on being forced back towards her. Orion could see the ground cracking with energy, the grass burning, the water of the lake boiling. Their battle was wrecking the Moon, and Orion idly pondered what it could be causing the other planets.
He heard Serenity curse, and saw her sword had shattered. Beryl smiled for a second, thinking she'd overpowered her, but then Serenity focused on her crystal, and the energy around her grew stronger. Orion could hardly see Serenity with that much light, but he could see Beryl and Metallia clearly. Beryl's face was a mixture of fear and disbelief, and Metallia's shadowy form was shimmering, as if something was banishing her.
Seconds later, both Beryl and Metallia vanished, along with the remaining youma and Generals. Serenity smiled for a few seconds, as her crystal's light grew weaker and weaker, then sat down on the ground.
"My Queen, no..." Orion whispered. Serenity turned to look at him, as if she'd heard him. Maybe she knew he was there from the start. The Queen's smile returned as she lied on the ground, then closed her eyes.
The Ginzuishou, the Silver Crystal, was now a dull grey color. Orion sighed, then noticed something else... The air felt lighter, and also colder. "What is going on..." He cursed as he tried to stand up and found out he was still unable to.
"Calm down, Orion."
Orion gasped at the voice, and turned to the side to see Serenity... Then he raised an eyebrow as he saw he could see the palace burning down through her. "Serenity?"
"Yes, it's me. At least the soul. I don't have much time left."
"What's happening?"
"Something I foresaw. With that much mana being poured out thanks to our fight, the Moon's balance is broken. Soon this world will be devoid of an atmosphere. The mana storm caused by our battle also hit the rest of the planets."
"What about the other planets?"
"The mana storm destroyed most computers and technologic devices in the solar system, and without them, there's only one planet that can still sustain life."
"The Earth... But then, everyone in the other planets..."
"They'll die in a few hours, days at most."
"Was there really nothing we could do to stop this?"
"Mankind is strong. We'll rise again and reach for the stars, and my daughter and the other Senshi will be there to see it."
"They'll be reborn?"
Serenity nodded. "That date is eons away."
"Too bad I won't be there to see it."
"You will. You and others like you. There are several souls I'm sending down to the Earth along with the Senshi. You will all be there to help them as well."
"But we won't remember this, will we?"
"Only if you want to," Serenity said.
"That's good. I won't remember how I failed tonight."
"Nobody failed. Beryl didn't win, and she will fail again in the future, if things go as planned. Farewell, Orion."
Orion sighed. "Farewell, Queen Serenity." The spirit vanished, and the Hunter tried once again to stand up. This time, he was able to stand up and walk around. He walked to where the Senshi had fought Beryl, and gasped as he saw the corpses weren't there. Looking at the city in the distance, he frowned. He really didn't want to see what was left of the city.
Looking at what remained of the battle, he could see another Ginzuishou, still white unlike Serenity's one... It was the Princess' crystal! The seven cards that had been used to gather the Rainbow Youma were scattered around it. As he looked at them, he saw the Ginzuishou glow for a second, and the figures drawn on the cards vanished. Then, the crystal shattered in seven pieces, and flew up, towards the Earth.
"Guess that's Serenity's last magic trick," he said shaking his head. He couldn't think of why the Queen would have the seven youma trapped in the fragments of her daughter's crystal, but then again, there was nobody around he could ask for an answer.
He felt tired, but not because of the battle. So much for walking around, he thought as he sat down on a rock. By now, he was barely able to breathe as the air was thin and the temperature matched that of the cold Earth winter. He knew he didn't have more than a couple minutes left before the Moon's atmosphere vanished completely.
"At least I'll get a second chance, someday."
-----
Pluto turned away from the magic screens she had been using to see the events taking place on the Moon's surface. She regretted the fact she'd been ordered to stay out of the battle, but Serenity was right. Someone had to stay and make sure there was a planet the Senshi could revive on. All Pluto could do now was wait, and guard the Earth until the Senshi were reborn. "I just hope she was right, and Beryl's power is greatly weakened. Otherwise, the future is as doomed as the present was."
Waiting. That's something she could do, if the rewards were as good as she had seen.
Next up, Cyber Moon: Chronicles, the main part of the story.
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