In the Name of the Almighty (Razgriz x Karameida)

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The above names are links to their respective images.​

It was horrible, the pain that seared through her body and burned her insides, was this truly the pain that others felt with her blows? The energy ebbed from the attack before finally subsiding completely. In the initial attack she'd only managed one brief agonized scream before she felt her vocal cords burn, the attack had seemed to last so very long, wave after wave of burning hot pain drove through her body till she felt like she was to be burned from the inside out. Just like so many of the monsters that she'd killed, destroyed, the ones who lay before her. Had the goo not been surrounding her, pinning her to the stone slab she would have surely fallen to her knee's. Her limbs twitching, her nerves deadened. The Mighty Jupiter, felled by a force she controlled, a force that had been turned against her. How could she let something she'd trained with, controlled, killed with...destroy her now? Screams that had seemed so loud before were dulled to a mere whisper, her vision blurred by pain. Yes, somehow they knew very well what she was capable of....and he had brought that creature....just for her. Even with pain searing through every inch of her flesh, she felt unbridled rage course through her veins. It wasn't known, not even amongst the Senshi but, lightening and thunder were not the only forces she controlled. He would rue the day he ever even heard her name, she would make sure he'd pay for his arrogance.

It was all coming to ruin, everything was crumbling around her quickly and violently with not even time enough left to scream in frustration. "Such a dirty girl you are! Even with all these wonderful toys around to fill the void in your being all you can think about is stripping Jupiter Bare! Tsk Tsk!" the playful voice in her head said laughing gleefully. It wasn't liked that, she wasn't like that, no it couldn't be, she was a Sailor of Love and Justice....she fought for the weak and innocent. She did not wish for, desire such sinful things. Tears streamed in rivers down her face and her body shook uncontrollably from sobs that had lain silent in her body. It was starting she knew, by the way they smiled and moved, the leers and laughs that echoed in her ears, they were truly going to ruin and degrade her. The first one moved and hovered above her midriff, making sure she caught sight of it's size. A small whimper escaped her lips as she watched the clear liquid that dripped from it's tip fall on her flesh, on her breasts. She mentally wanted to crawl out of her skin and felt her stomach churn violently but the rest of her body reacted in excitement. The beast grabbed her breasts tightly shoving them together around his hard length. She could feel it throbbing as it moved in and out from between her cleavage. No..." she thought eyes wide staring at him pleasuring himself between her supple breasts. He was the one to initiate it, with him already enjoying himself the other began rubbing their hard members more vigorously against her soft and yielding body. One positioned himself above her mouth, she could feel the pre-cum dripping on her mouth and her lips trembled "No...." she thought shaking her head. She could feel it pressing it's head against her lips, demanding entrance, demanding pleasure and release. "No..." the plea silently screaming in her head. She felt her jaws forced apart as he buried his length to the hilt in her mouth. She wanted to gag, choke but no sounds came out, she could taste the liquid that dripped in great quantities from the demons cock. It coated her tongue and filled her throat, spilling into her stomach.

It seemed the torment was far from over, as the one withdrew from her mouth she felt one slam inside of her, robbing her of her virginity. She tried to scream but as soon as she opened her mouth, the demon plunged his cock back into her mouth, silencing any screams she might have had. It was humiliating, her body responded so sweetly to it all, she felt herself become wet with desire. "...No.." with each passing moment the denials became weaker and weaker. Her bloodied and cut up hands were not spared the defilement, they grabbed at them eagerly and forced her to grab their twitching and hard lengths. She felt her hands being moved up and down their rigid cocks, could feel them throbbing in appreciation of her touch and could feel her own enjoyment of feeling the pleasures of the flesh. Her mind felt weary from the screams and denials, from the shame and the sickening thoughts that had begun to creep into her mind but her body was so very alive, so sensitive to the touch, her body so eager for the feeling of release, it hurt but it only added to the sensation. "No..." she thought squeezing her eyes shut wanting to staunch the flood of tears but on they came falling down her face as quickly as ever.

Anger fed her body like fuel to the burning flames that eagerly licked her city. She would not allow herself to fall here, if her body demanded she would kneel after she'd destroyed him with her own hands but then and only then would she let her body give in. She heard him speak, at first it was fuzzy but gradually it became clearer and she clenched her jaw. She could hear the grin in his comment, his mocking tone only gave her more determination. He continued talking and she wrinkled her nose in disgust, her bangs shading the pure rage and disgust that filled her gaze. She watched him turn from her, that arrogant self satisfied smile still lingering in his voice; he thought, he truly thought the victory was his. Oh she knew how much satisfaction she would have wrapping her fingers around his scrawny throat and seeing shock and surprise flash through those annoying eyes of his. "Why don't you free me from this disgusting goo and see what gets stuffed where Famine, I promise...I'll enjoy it. Can't say the same for you." she said, none of the steel or determination gone from her voice. Blood spilled from the corners of her mouth and it was obvious to see that the electrical attack had damaged her severely. Though not as badly as it would seem, it was good to let the enemy think they'd won, to think their victims were helpless. She began to let her other "force" work at the goo while he was turned away watching Venus. "I will make them pay Venus." she silently swore.

Venus could feel them moving faster, all of them straining against her body, pushing, shoving; harder and harder, all vying for that sweet release that had been denied to them for so very long. Grunts and groans echoed around her, she felt like her jaw was going to be broken by the force behind each thrust, the same feeling was working it's way between her legs. She could feel the pulsing and throbbing become more incessant, heavier and more desperate; they were close, so close to emptying themselves in and on her. A new wave of fear washed over her; was she going to drown in their release? Her cum and sweat moistened body suddenly felt heavy, she began to feel the weight of all these creatures atop her, all of them driving her into the ground with each thrust they made. All at once it came, liquid filled her mouth, spilling out the sides and dripping down her throat. More of the hot liquid covered her breasts in large quantities and filled her insides, splattering the inside of her thighs and across her face. They all withdrew from her and she laid there covered in demons cum, sweat and tears. Her body ached and she felt her lungs gasp for the air it desperately wanted and needed. Sobs slipped in with the gasps for air and her chest rocked heavily with both. She felt the cum slide down her skin and more sobs racked her body she wanted to scream now but the liquid filling her mouth felt disgusting and filthy and she did not want others to see her in this shape, exposed and violated.

When her breathing had become somewhat normal she opened her eyes to look around her and felt panic wash over her anew, another set of demons were approaching her. Hunger in their gaze, grins on their lips and dripping hard cocks. They didn't, they wouldn't, not again, she couldn't deal with that. She tried to edge away but her body denied her, pain screaming through her limbs. She shook her head rapidly but it was all for naught, each one took the place that had been occupied by another demon before them they all sat poised ready to thrust and once more the tears fell. "No...." the thought rang out in her head as her body was once more used as a toy for these demons release. They filled her fully in so many ways and she felt darkness creep over her mind, was she really going to die like this? "Die, Die like the whore you know you always wished to be..." the voice rang out like a clear bell in her mind. Perhaps, it was right.
 

The demons continued to have their way with young Venus, her once-perfect body now the plaything of these demon hordes while Famine stood beside Jupiter's body in the slime ball. The Black Horseman's own arousal was starting to become quite apparent; his loose-fitting robes tented as his rather impressive member began to swell. "Ahhh....Seems like the first round has almost finished. I do wonder how long it will take for dear Venus to break under the strain" Famine commented in his mind; if the ever-increasing Lust Wave she was giving off was any indication, her body was already beginning to betray her. And when it came to the base desires, once the body went the mind would soon follow; it was an unfortunate flaw that worked in Famine's favor. Though Jupiter's little comment snapped him out of his train of thought, his head craning to the side to let his pupil-less eyes gaze upon her. "Oh, Jupiter, don't be such a prude; I swear, you sound just like that boring old brother of mine" He then thought about it for a moment and added, "Oh sorry, I should be more specific...War. I can't even tell you how many times he's threatened me when all I've tried to do is give him someone who will love him and take some of his edge off. I swear, even Death's found it depressing at times...Isn't that something?"

His attention would once again be diverted as grunts of pleasure and utter satisfaction filled the air once more; seemed the second group had already gotten started. "But based on your words, Jupiter....I take that you do not wish to partake in my little wager. Fair enough; it's likely you'd lose anyway. You have no practice, and never bothered to" He then shrugged his shoulders and continued, "But when you have such pathetic stock to choose from, I guess I can't blame you. If it were me, you'd be screaming so loud your throat wouldn't be any different from how it is now....Raw". He then added to Jupiter as a last snide comment, "But I suppose I'll have to settle with feeding off the hunger and pleasure my 'pet' has from feeding off your electrical energy". He then turned around to face Jupiter, his pitch black orbs alight with a maniacal delight, "I'll plow your friend so hard and fast she'll be begging me to keep pounding her, to take her far away and make her mine for eternity".

All the while, the demons kept using and abusing Venus, their cocks throbbing as they worked to get themselves off. One by one, their demon cum spurted from their massive engorged members, filling Venus' body in every hole they could shove their meatsticks into and the air with potent sexual energy. Time and time again, they unloaded into and onto her shapely form, likely breaking Venus more with each collective release. So much in fact that another portal appeared and a young-looking woman with large bat-like wings and dressed in a black one-piece and thighhighs appeared. Her wide violet eyes locked onto the scene before them; she was quite obviously one of superior Succubus descent, perhaps even juvenile Lilim-class. Before long, she lowered herself towards Venus and began cleaning her body of the massive release which coated the Senshi's fair skin; to make matters worse, she would then undress herself with a snap of her fingers and actually begin to pleasure her gorgeous body using Venus. As if Famine needed any MORE assistance from the overwhelming orgy before the two of them; the black tendrils being absorbed into Famine's body grew even larger, filling him with even more power. "Oh my, this is an unexpected but welcome development....I didn't expect any Succubi to show up here. Let's see how Venus responds to her....'expertise'"

The Succubus then slid up to place her glistening folds up to Venus' mouth, her juices coating the Senshi's lips before the pleasure demoness' hips began to rock back and forth. Her movements made the winged lady shiver with delight; whether or not Venus would respond didn't seem to matter. Like clockwork, the orgy resumed as if nothing happened; except now the Succubus seemed to take some of the load off Venus and service some of the demons herself. Famine was certainly getting excited now; his own body quivered with delight. That naughty demoness was teasing him...and holy hell was it working. "Oh my.....I don't know how much longer I can hold myself back...What say you, Jupiter? Care to wager? A minute? Two minutes? Thirty seconds?" he then asked, a hand pulling at the collar of his robes as he felt his body temperature rise. Over and over again, the sight and touch of two irresistible women made the demons release with even more force, coating them both in sexual fluids, the Succubus sucking the demon's cum from Venus' tight pussy from each injection of heated sperm.

Eventually Famine could hold back no more; he ditched Jupiter to stride over to where Venus stood, thinking the Amazon Senshi would be too weak to break free. The Succubus woman had just finished cleaning Venus from the latest set of releases when her violet hues gazed up to see the ultimate embodiment of desire standing completely naked before her; she couldn't believe the Black Horseman was actually here! She sensed his energy, but thought it an impostor. As if an obedient slave girl, she backed away from Famine, knowing almost instinctively what he was here for. Despite his earlier skeletal appearance, he seemed much more fleshed out, toned and overall healthier. His skin was a deep shade of grey, almost like concrete, and his cock stood at well over fourteen inches, erect and ready to penetrate his ultimate prize. As he gazed upon Venus, laying on the ground all clean for him despite having been used so much, he then looked at the Succubus, pointed a finger and said, "We'll have some fun, you and I. As a reward for your excellent work. But later"

Without giving her a chance to respond, Famine then ordered the demons to release Venus, figuring she was too exhausted or too mentally broken to fight back anymore. He then got to his knees and placed himself between Venus' legs, his fleshy tip waiting to penetrate her tight sex. "Well, Venus......Prepare to be shown REAL pleasure. I'll make you come so hard you won't be able to sit right" With that he slammed himself inside of her, pushing his prick all the way in and into her cervix, not yet penetrating it. "Oh Gods...This is the pussy of an angel!" Famine declared loudly, pulling his cock back out of her before slamming it back in roughly, the impact pushing that final barrier open a little more; again and again this was repeated, his thick head able to get into her womb more and more with each thrust before it would give completely and let him all the way inside. And thanks to the Succubus' juices, Venus would feel no pain whatsoever. Famine's thrusts became erratic quickly due to the intense teasing the Succubus performed, making Venus' jiggly tits bounce with increasing speed and and her nipples grind against his chest as he pushed himself further against her. His first load came relatively quick due to the excitement he gave himself; as his climax hit him, he pushed himself deep inside her and filled her pussy and womb with long ragged pulses of thick cum. The sheer amount, combined with the plug his cock formed, caused her womb to stretch to accommodate the massive release, making her belly bulge as a result. Famine then pulled out, his cock still hard and ready to go, letting his excess cum drain from Venus' body and pool under her hips. "Whoa.....Praise the Gods, Venus.....Your pussy is...guh...amazing. Hehe....Shall we go again?" he then asked cheekily; it wasn't like she had a choice in the matter. And depending on how much she was mentally broken, she might even start up again without HIS permission.
 
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The above names are links to their respective images.​

She felt her mind slipping, not into unconsciousness but into something much darker. She felt her mind slowly slip into the dark realms of her mind, her soul, her entire being. What was it that she had always wanted, always craved, always had to suppress because it was unbecoming of the Senshi's? The very thing this Horseman was now giving to her, offering her that which she truly desired. With each group that found it's release in and on her body, she felt her insatiable hunger for more inch it's way farther to the surface of her being. She'd known all along that from the very beginning there was a part of her that craved this, desired it more than anything else and the longer they defiled her the more the craving grew. Her true nature was coming out, clawing it's way from her locked subconscious and she found that she was wanting it to take over and slowly it did. It was small things at first, gripping her fingers around the cocks that throbbed in her hands and stroking them of her own volition. Why shouldn't she take enjoyment out of this? What was so wrong with enjoy something that felt so very good, there was no need to fight against it; just give in and let her body reap the rewards.

Jupiter scowled at famine, a prude? Did he just call her a prude of all things? She clenched her jaw and bit back the words that were on the tip of her tongue "don't let him goad you, just play the broken soldier....you'll have your pay back soon enough..." she thought to herself quelling the flames that burned inside of her. She kept silent while he talked all the remarks that sat unsaid in her mind were beginning to cause her some physical distress. It was very unlike Jupiter to hold her tongue under any circumstance, and all those years of never restraining herself were beginning to take a toll on her. Blinking she glanced back at Famine and narrowed her eyes, he'd gone oddly silent and she watched him staring intently over in Venus's direction. She turned her head in the direction of the mob and blinked in confusion, there was a woman joining in with the demons. She seemed to be doing quite a bit of work, she'd cleaned Venus of all of the cum that had coated her thickly and had begun to pleasure some of the other demons while using Venus's body to pleasure herself. Jupiter blinked several times and glanced over to Famine as he spoke once more "Succubi?....does he mean a Succubus?" she asked eyes widening slightly.

She didn't know when or how exactly but a woman with wings had come on to the scene and had used her tongue on every inch of her body, cleaning her, teasing her, pleasing her. It didn't make her feel odd, having a woman in the mix, how often had she fantasized about doing naughty things to Jupiter? Countless times. She could feel the woman rubbing against her heated body, the demons seemed more excited by the sight of two women, she guessed that two women pleasuring each other was something beings of every realm enjoyed. The woman had taken to taking some of the other demons who had sat back waiting and began to pleasure them. With each release she felt herself slip farther and farther, giving into the sweet feelings that were filling her body. Her mouth opened readily as did her legs, her fingers gripped at the cocks desperately and she enjoyed the feeling of the hard length pushing between her breasts, it was becoming more dream like. After one round, the woman had once more gone between her legs, sweetly cleaning her of all the excess cum the demons released. She waited but no other demons came forth, she opened her eyes and she knew why, the master had come to play.

Jupiter knew Famine was becoming restless and was about to go over and she was right, without a word or a glance he walked off in the direction of Venus his clothes disappearing somewhere en-route. She hated that she had to use this opportunity to free herself from this stuff and she wasn't sure how she would ever make it up to Venus. In her past life she only partially cultured this other force she had control over. In this life she had spent many hours perfecting her skills with it, a force that gave life as well as stole it. She whispered a few incoherent words and branches bloomed from within the stone wall, it twined through the goo, working it's way around her. It twined up her legs and around her waist covering her in vines and branches. The branches extended out along the wall and through the goo, looking like veins running through though slime all connecting to a giant tangle of vines and wood which encased Jupiter entirely. Small leaves began to form along the branches, covering them in a dense mass of green foliage until hardly any vine or branch could be seen. The branches and leaves slowly halted in their growth and began to pulsate like a weak heart beat. It thudded slowly and weakly at first but grew stronger with each beat. Without much warning, it exploded, the leaves flew threw the air cutting through demons, humans and beasts alike. No noise was made but the goo broke apart and a bunch of the leaves flew at the eel like creature, slicing it and cutting it apart. It fell to the ground with a sickening "plop". The mass of branches and vines that had cocooned Jupiter slowly withdrew from her, easing her onto the ground. She hit the cement her heels making only a small sound. She looked over to the now dead monster and wrinkled her nose in disgust. She looked around herself, it seemed her silent attack had gone unnoticed by the majority of the crowd, they all seemed to be frozen, fixated on the scene going on in front of them.

Venus saw him speak to the woman and then look at her, the pure desire and lust in his eyes made her breath stop for a moment. Her eyes traveled down his body stopping at his overly large and throbbing manhood, her eyes widened both alarmed and excited by the prospect of having him pushing inside of her. How could anything be so large? " Go on, spread your legs nice and wide for him." that voice in her head urged her on. He ordered the demons to back off and like well trained pets they did so, leaving an opening in an other wise large mass of creatures; with her as the center piece....it excited her. He got down and placed himself between her legs and she felt the anticipation inside of her grow. He said a few words before slamming into her, her mind went blank and her thighs trembled with the pure pleasure of it. She heard him say something but it was lost to her as she felt him withdraw and plunge back into her. She forgot how to speak, how to scream, how to do much of anything as he filled her time and time again. He pushed farther and farther inside of her and yet she could feel no pain, just the most amazing pleasure. Her body rocked hard against his body as he quickly and roughly slammed into her over and over again. Her nipples rubbed against his chest which only increased her pleasure that much more, she felt his body go rigged and felt hot cum fill her, so much cum, so hot, it filled her and she felt her own release, her mouth opened but no sound came out. The feeling slammed into her quickly like a tidal wave and she rode it until it subsided. He withdrew from her, his cum and her release spilled out of her and onto the ground. There really was so very much.

Jupiter was on the outskirts of the large crowd of varying types of monsters, demons and humans but they took no note of her. "What exactly is going on? Before they were cheering and pushing each other aside trying to get closer...now they arnt even moving..." she thought. She had a really bad feeling and it grew worse with every passing moment. She had a very bad feeling that, should she manage to subdue Famine....it would only be a bitter victory for her. A strange feeling settled in her, like she had just lost something important. What was happening and how could this possibly end in any good way? She bit her lower lip and furrowed her brows, she was still pretty wounded from the previous attack but the leaves and branches had done a fairly good job of repairing her damaged body. She got to her feet and summoned her weapons once more, it was time she made good on her promise to make him pay.

"Shall we go again"

The words echoed around in Venus's head; again? She blinked and opened her eyes, most of her senses had abandoned her while he'd fucked the ever living day lights out of her. She'd long stopped fighting and had given into her other side and she very much wanted to go again. She looked at him and smiled, reaching her hand up she gripped Famine's cock and stroked it softly "Yes, I would very much like to go again." she said her voice dripping with sexual lust. She reached up and nipped his neck her hand gripped his cock a little tighter and pulled him closer to her body. "Again....." she murmured her voice becoming husky. She reached her other hand up and wrapped it around his neck and pressed her bare chest closely against his. "Yes...." the word echoed in her head. She felt so right for the first time in a very long time she felt freed from the shackles she'd placed on herself. Her fingers moved along the length of his hard cock deftly, lightly stroking and touching him. "Please....." the word was spoken as more of a moaning plea. She let go of his cock and began to rub her wet pussy against his length, her body was tense with anticipation and wanting. Venus was lost to the desire that had always lingered inside of her, she would never be able to be a Senshi again.
 

Famine just grinned widely, though it couldn't be seen because of the mask he wore, as Venus confirmed her desire to continue with their romp. Anyone else would have been wise to heed Death's warnings about how tricky the Senshi, but whenever Famine got caught up in his desires he often tended to throw caution to the wind and let the hordes of demons under his own brand of control protect him. While it wasn't a direct form of obedience commanding like Conquest's influence had, it was more of a 'promise-type' swaying that allowed him to rein control of certain types of demons. This worked to his advantage more times than not, allowing him to indulge himself as much as he wished while at the same carrying out his duty as the one of the Four. "Hehe, there's a good girl.....And you'll see why it's so rewarding to be honest with yourself, to be unbound from your society's petty shackles of morality" Famine then added after the Senshi's plea to have him stuff her once more; he then laid back and pulled Venus into his lap so that she could ride him. A finger pointed to the Succubus, the Black Horseman saying "Come here, girl; it's you got your reward for helping me to break the Senshi" The Succubus then nodded gleefully and presented her flower to Famine's maw; the Black Horseman couldn't remove his mask, so he pulled her down right on top of it, the cold metal making her gasp with pleasure and chills.

As the Black Horseman and his 'partners' took each other time and time again in varying positions, the Succubus and Venus each getting an orifice - be it their mouth, pussy or cleavage - full of cum with each of the Horseman's climaxes, no one paid Jupiter the slightest heed as she worked herself free of the slime trap, nor when she slew the Leech with her lesser known power of agrokinesis. The demons simply watched their master at work, their hands running over their restiffening cocks as they pleasured themselves to the spectacle before them. It was only when one of the other demon types known for their superb sense of smell detected another scent that some amount of discontent had spread throughout the group. The demon in question raised his nose into the air; blood could be smelt floating through the air, its presence quickly replaced by one even more familiar: The unmistakable scent of a woman. The demon's beady little eyes searched around and pushed through the crowd, trying to find the source of the scent. When it saw that Jupiter was free, it pointed at her and shouted "WOMAN!" The other demons then broke their own gazes away from Famine's depravity, turning to let Jupiter gaze upon their hardened members in need of release. "WOMAN! WOMAN! WOMAN!" they all chanted; they knew Famine had those other two taken care of, so that meant this one was free for them to use. Immediately, they all rushed the toned, athletically-built Senshi, intent on satisfying their mounting sexual desires.

However, it would not come to be, at least for the demons intent on satisfying themselves with Jupiter; within moments, a great source of powerful energy could be felt disappearing from the mortal realm; Famine himself had even stopped when he felt the massive disturbance propagate throughout the city, having placed Venus with her pussy getting licked by the Succubus' skillful tongue and her soft pliable breasts being molded by Famine's hands. A small chuckle escaped Famine's lips, "Well, I'll be....He did it. War killed Endymion; Conquest isn't going to like that one little bit......". He knew Venus was too far gone to likely even care about Endymion anymore, but he still wasn't aware that Jupiter was free. He thought them chanting 'Woman' was the sight of a human female they wanted to fuck; well, they could lay the pipe to anything they wanted as far as he was concerned. However, the next was yet to come; Famine then felt Conquest's own energy surge, the screams of billions and billions of conquered souls ringing out. Famine couldn't believe his brother sometimes; Conquest was using that? This was going to get ugly, especially if he did what Famine thought what he was going to do: Attack War for killing the King before him. And as if to confirm his fears, the Succubus started to squirm before wrenching herself free and disappearing back to her home dimension.

Yep, it was time for ol' Famine to get going; he gave a whistle for Strife to come forth, roughly grabbing Venus and pushing her on top of the black-coated steed. It was here as he too mounted his horse that he finally saw that Jupiter was free and ready to kick some ass. "Oh well, isn't this just perfect....All the more reason for me to go!" he said in an arguably panicked tone as he worked to get himself dressed; for someone who had such a starved appearance for so long, he sure seemed to put himself in gear when things got too hot for him to handle. And right now he was in the middle of a hornet's nest.....Literally. Quickly climbing aboard Strife, sitting directly behind Venus lest she fall off, he gave his mount a quick and sharp nudge just as a black portal opened up. "So long, Jupiter! I'll be back to fuck you later when everything's calmed down! Nyahahaha!" he then shouted as his horse began to take off; as insurance, he took the leather reins and tied them tightly around Venus' wrists to help make sure she stayed on. With Jupiter now having to fight off a bunch of horny demons wanting to ravage her curvy figure, it seemed like Venus would spend eternity, or at least the rest of her life, as this depraved being's toy.

It was at this moment that a violent red aura followed, blasting him over and off his horse, causing the Black Horseman to land with a loud 'Oomph!' ; Strife rode forth without his master, carrying the Senshi prisoner back to the Great Void where the Horsemen and their steeds resided. "No! Strife, you get back here! Strife! STRIFE!" Famine shouted to no avail as he ran towards the gateway; just as he made a leap to get through, the black hole squeezed shut, making Famine land facedown hard in the dirt. "Curse that thrice-damned Conquest; never could learn to share, that arrogant bastard" he then grumbled, standing up and dusting the bloody dirt from his robes. Thankfully, there was one more way for him to get back; however, this was highly energy intensive and required some time to prepare. He trusted his demon hordes could hold off the weakened Jupiter, so he placed his hands together and began to chant in a dead language, his intention clearly that of trying to reopen the portal that been so inconveniently shut on him.
 

The above name is a link to her image.​

A wave of energy swept through the city, it had no force behind it but was heated and had an overwhelming sensation, a feeling of immense satisfaction. A feeling Jupiter knew to be what one felt after a victory. For the enemy the wave of energy signaled a victory but for the Senshi and all those fighting with them it signaled a tremendous loss. Everyone stilled as the sensation ebbed and flowed before dissipating, leaving behind a feeling of sadness behind within Jupiter. "The King is dead....." she said glancing up at the sky. She remembered that Sailor Moon and Sailor Mar's had gone with him "This has gotten pretty bad...." she said feeling worried. She knew the potential behind this new disaster and wished someone else had gone with them. Mar's a Senshi who'd never managed to reign in her emotions and, who'd always Loved Endymion. Who knew what Mar's or even Moon would do now that he'd been killed. It did not bode well with her, not in anyway, she highly doubted they would pair up and attack him together. No, she was pretty sure Mar's would fly off the handle and Moon would just sit and cry, she hoped Mar's would not openly attack moon.

Just as soon as that heated energy disappeared it was replaced with something else infinitely angrier, a low wind flowed through the area and on it screams could be heard. Jupiter shivered and narrowed her eyes, just what was that? Whatever it was, it seemed to have affected everyone near by and put them on edge. The horde of demon's shifted and looked around uneasily and the....succubus had disappeared. It seemed an already bad situation had just gotten worse and Jupiter had a feeling she needed to move before things completely fell into a spiral of complete and utter annihilation for them. It was then that she saw his horse appear and instead of the rider getting on him she saw Venus being shoved on top of the horse. She looked....strange, she didn't look like Venus. She was completely naked but instead of trying to cover herself up, she sat there exposing her body for all to see. Her eyes were glazed over and lusty and she even fondled and touched herself. What had that horsemen done to Venus? In a moment the horseman himself jumped up and positioned himself behind Venus and instead of trying to get away she sat there fawning over him as if he were the pinnacle of all her desires. She understood then, that feeling of loss, just what it was. She'd lost Venus to the enemy, Venus had completely given herself to them entirely. Jupiter clenched her jaw tightly and closed her eyes, fighting the tide of emotions that washed through her. She fought them back and sealed them up, she had a promise to keep and she'd be damned if she let emotions ruin that.

She heard him then, his voice rang out taunting her. Opening her eye's she glared, "FAMINE!" her voice bellowed out and echoed around the walls, anger and venom dripping in her tone. Jupiter was angry and someone was going to be an outlet for her and right now she was fixated on Famine. The demons began to regain themselves and began to converge on Jupiter, electricity cracked around her violently, the lightening struck out around her, it was faster and far more devastating than it had been before. Bolts of lightening speared ten, twenty demons at a time killing them instantaneously. She looked up and her eye's widened, he intended to run back home. "COWARD!" she yelled her anger growing evermore. It was then that a violent wave surged forward, demons were knocked to the ground a few were sent flying off. Jupiter braced herself against the wave and just saw the horse disappear through the portal, carrying only Venus. The energy subsided and Jupiter straightened up, she thought it was high time she got a hold of him. She saw him stand up and dust himself off before starting to chant, oh no, this was not going to work. Once more Jupiter called forth the lightening dragon, it fell from the skies and consumed all in it's path, normally Jupiter would never use this move twice as it drained her quite a bit but then again it wasn't exactly a normal situation.

The dragon cut a path through the demon's, well several path's through them before once more returning to the skies the lightening that had formed it's body once more falling to the ground for even more destruction to the enemy lines. Jupiter took her chance, she ran forward through the cleared lines, she approached Famine quickly and without even trying to slow down brought her fist back and punched him straight in the stomach, knocking him onto his back. Without missing a beat she walked over and grabbed him roughly by the collar of his robes and dragged him back to his feet "I believe I made you a promise and now I intend to make good on it famine." she said with a smile that showed she was going to enjoy herself. She pushed him back to the ground roughly and brought her foot back and kicked him in the ribs, clenching her jaw she straddled him and proceeded to let loose a series of punches aimed at the chest and a few at the head. She never let up on the barrage of punches, lightening whipped about her and the clouds above roared with thunder. Lightening jumped around violently, Jupiter was causing quite a stir in the weather. She brought her fist back and brought it down to the side of his head. "I told you, I'd be the last thing you ever saw....." she said getting up off of him.

Leaning down she grabbed him by his robes once more and hauled him to his feet once more. "You'll be back to fuck me later will you?" she said steel in her voice. Raising her leg up she brought it around catching him in the ribs once more. " Don't make me laugh, If I have any say in it, I'll make sure you never return here." she said. Summoning her blades she cut into his chest and arm, they weren't fatally deep but deep enough to draw forth blood. She punched him and kicked him and cut him over and over again. A warrior like her, even weakened did not have much trouble with this horseman, or his minions. She continued her onslaught of attacks, all the while her mind swirled with words, images and "What if's". She knew she'd have to end this battle soon or she'd collapse from exhaustion, she'd never before pushed her body so hard. It was frustrating, she hadn't cut him up nearly enough nor had she physically beaten him nearly enough for her to be satisfied. Grabbing him she brought him close " Before I finish you, I demand you bring Venus back here." she said gripping him even tighter. She knew that she could never outright kill him but she sure as hell intended to seal him away for all of eternity. She just wanted him to bring Venus back first.

"Bring her back." she said again, her voice was lower but her tone was just as venomous as it had been before.

If only she hadn't spent so much time messing around with all those small demons, if she hadn't been so stupid as to get caught in that goo and then try to use electricity to free herself, if only. Then she wouldn't be so worn and weakened, to the point of having to cut her attack on him a lot shorter than she'd have liked. Each blow had been violent and had all her strength put behind it but it was still not enough for her and she felt incredibly frustrated with the frailty of the human body. She gained a little satisfaction knowing she would seal him away but even that was dampened knowing the act of sealing him would drain her completely and she'd either die or go into a comma. Either way, there was no way she'd be able to continue fighting for Crystal Tokyo or the Senshi. She sent up a silent prayer, that somehow, someway they would manage to make it through.

She had one last task to do and she hoped her body would hold out long enough for her to finish at least that.
 
Episode 3: Alpha​


Death continued to sit on the flat stone he'd summoned, waiting for who he considered to be the most powerful Senshi to come for him. How ironic it was, the embodiment of death itself waiting for someone who wanted to kill him. A slight chuckle left his non-existent lips, his skull-like face hidden by the hood of the robe-esque garment he wore. One could only wonder why the Reaper would bestow upon himself such a strange appearance; in his mind, he was tired of being a living skeleton and decided to use his mastery of the universal arcana to give himself....oh, what did the humans call it...a 'make-over'. Yes, he gave himself a make-over; though he wasn't the greatest fashionista, preferring to instead combine different parts of various outfits. Of course, he was bound to leave the hood over his head; the reasons were unclear why he preferred this, and there was no real evidence for why the ultimate killer needed to hide a part of his body.

All around him, thousands of robed figures flitted overhead, snatching souls left and right from the bodies of the dead and carrying them into the afterlife; aptly named Reapers themselves, they served more as carriers of the dearly departed to be judged by the manner in which they truly lived. Right now though, Death did not pay them much mind; unlike his brothers, he often loathed going into battle for any reason. It was in this respect he was most like Conquest, but that was as far as the similarity went. Whereas the White Horseman enjoyed what his influence caused, Death did not but nor did he shy away from it. It was his duty to maintain the balance of the living and the dead, lest either realm become overwhelmed with entities, just as War felt it was his duty to maintain the fabric of existence. Lastly, he also used the essence of the dead to feed himself, a trait he and his brother Famine shared, though this was done as minimally as possible.

He then looked up, a rock spinning in his left hand while his other supported the side of his head, as he heard footsteps approach him. It was here that he saw Pluto herself; her bow and apology surprised him, but her raising her weapon did not. Letting out a sigh, he simply replied in a rather haughty voice, the quality of his speech crystal-clear despite having no vocal cords, "Humans....Always thinking with their fists. Sometimes, I wonder just how much War has poisoned your race. So put down your weapon, Pluto, if you please. Just because I am one of the Four does not make me a bloodthirsty killer, no matter how much that accursed Bible of yours says otherwise. I can't even begin to tell you just how wrong that silly book is". If Pluto were to look, she would find him completely unguarded, his own scythe resting against an adjacent boulder.

He then casually tossed the small stone he was playing with aside before motioning with his hand; a small chair rose from the earth, its back high enough to let Pluto rest, even if she didn't need it. "Now, if you're quite done trying to mimic my brother, please...Sit and make yourself comfortable. Surely one such as yourself is curious as to the reason for our arrival, are you not? It was you that correctly guessed our identity after all; then again, Conquest never was one for subtlety. I doubt any of us are though". Unlike War, Death preferred to thoroughly explain the reason they'd been chosen for elimination. And if this wasn't enough to potentially flip her understanding of the Horsemen, he then asked "I apologize if you find the chair discomforting; there's only so much you can soften crystal before it falls apart. Now, would like anything to drink? Water? Tea?"
 

Pluto watched the one known as death, he sat there calmly. His face was concealed by a hood but she knew that he was watching her. She knew not what he was planning nor what he intended to do but, for the moment he did not seem to want to engage in battle. Outside of the unnaturally calm area that the two now inhabited, screams and destruction could be heard. It had seemed most of the others had already engaged their targets and were having a very heated battle. In one direction the storm clouds swirled oddly and were unnaturally dark, lightening and thunder cracked within the clouds and sometimes the bright light from the lightening bolts that crashed to the ground would illuminate far past where it had struck. The storm of battles raged on, violent and destructive but here all was calm, like the eye of a great storm.

He began to speak, his tone was distant but superior. Behind the words she could hear the age, she supposed that with such age and power one would gain a sort of "superior" attitude. His was different though, in respect towards his brother, he was far more reserved and did not act as if he were a god among men. Though, in a manner of speaking he might be considered as such. Pluto listened to him speak, listened to his words and regarded them carefully. " We humans are weak frail things, when someone challenges our ways I suppose we do tend to act irrationally." she stated simply when he had paused. She lowered her scythe and sat down on the offered chair. She rested her weapon against the chair and crossed one leg over the other. He began to speak again and once more Pluto listened quietly. Pluto did not like jumping into battle. If there was other ways of doing things, less violent ways, then that is what she preferred to do. However in times of war, times like these it was wise to expect to be attacked. When he finished speaking she remained silent for awhile longer as she considered his words. She watched him closely, observing his behavior as she thought of her own reply to him.

"I will give you my answer as soon as I have given you my views on what you have just said." she said closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. When she opened them, her gaze fixed back onto death before she began to speak " You stated we always think with our fists correct? While that statement does hold a lot of truth to it, I would also point out I did not come in here with raging insults and immediately attack. This is an attack on our world, it would be folly to approach an enemy with guards lowered." she said, her tone was even and smooth. Emotionally the words were flat, devoid of any passion, anger, smugness, haughtiness or conviction that her logic is completely right. She knew that Death could probably easily counter her logic but she did not leave things in the dark. If she felt something was off, she would fix it." I do not know a whole lot about you nor your brothers, just what I have read in that cursed bible you mentioned. I did not believe every word of it. I tend to hold a tiny bit of skepticism with everything I read, nonetheless, what I do know is, I quite think I lack the passion and the emotional aspects of your other brothers." she said showing a ghost of a smile. It did not linger long and her face once again became impassive. " Unlike our....leader...." she said trailing off, the word "leader" sounding a bit forced. " I am rather interested as to what prompted your attack, though I'm also wondering why you've decided to attack now?" she asked with a small tilt of her head. From her readings, Pluto had a very good idea as to why the Four were attacking them, it was merely a guess of her's but she had an inkling she was at least partially correct. "The chair is fine and I thank you for the consideration." she said nodding her head in thanks.

Pluto did not normally speak so much and it was fairly obvious. Her replies were short and concise, she answered what he said and did not bother with bringing in other useless topics. Her posture was rigid and her face blank, her eyes though, they spoke volumes, they were kind but harsh, knowledgeable but not all knowing and pompous. While all of the Senshi knew they were reincarnations and there were records of their past lives, Pluto was the only one to have memories from her past lives. She knew very well that what they were doing was not all good but, she was bound to obey the one that was "Leader" and unfortunately, the leader was questionable. Pluto had never fully accepted Usagi as the true leader but had held her tongue. She did not want to cause unnecessary trouble. With hands folded in her lap she regarded death silently while the storm raged on all around them.
 

"Well, you've certainly got a few things right.....Though I would be lying through my teeth if I said that nearly every mortal race isn't reactionary in that respect. So believe me when I tell you you are not alone" was Death's casual reply; he had a feeling this girl would be different from the others. He doubted any of them would have taken his suggestion; and it was because of this that he and Pluto were the same in that respect. Both possessed incredible power, and an obvious knowledge of how and when to use it. Sure, the others were capable, but Death had viewed Pluto with a tad more recognition. Her powers had grown but were still immature; then again, she WAS only human. And she hadn't lived even a billionth of his lifespan yet. Still, it was nice to be able to do this every once in a while; besides, he preferred to get to know his opponents before even considering combat. Of course, battle would be an inevitable result, but why rush into it?

And just as Pluto had given him the courtesy of her ears, now it was Death's turn; ignoring her words of thanks, he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at Pluto's subtle disdain for her leader. Yes, there was quite some resentment among the Senshi that Usagi Tsukino had become the leader of the Sailor Scouts. Of course, Death viewed them all with equal disdain, but if he had to pick a suitable candidate, it would definitely be Pluto. "And yet when you approached me, Setsuna, you had your weapon raised as if to engage in combat. I truthfully care little as to why you were on guard, but at the same time I understand it full well. And as for lacking the passion and the emotional aspects, you clearly care enough to confront me, or at the very least have a strong sense of duty".

But, right was here that the Horseman picked up on some strange sounds; it was....growling. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw several dog-like creatures approaching them, their teeth bared and stalking towards Pluto. "Mmmh......These beasts can be such a bother" the Green Horseman then commented before snapping his fingers; around the two of them with a respectable diameter, a large ring of green fire sprung up from nowhere. Most of the creatures backed off, but one charged the ring of fire with reckless abandon, its jaws snapping as barks of fury exited its throat; as soon as the flame hit its flesh, its entirety was consumed in a flash of ghastly light, the beast's physical form completely annihilated. Not even a speck of ash to speak of. "Forgive me Pluto, but I prefer a little privacy when speaking with someone. This will ensure that much" he then added nonchalantly. "And I gather you're intelligent enough not to touch it either; even someone like you wouldn't survive this flame".

Not giving it another thought, Death merely continued, "As to why we've "attacked", sure you can't be so blind, timekeeper? But in case there is any confusion, let me ask you this......". Giving his fingers another snap, a large set of bronze scales appeared between them; in one pan sat a large blue sphere, in the other a red one. As of right now, the pans were at precisely equal levels; Pluto might regard it as being dumbed down, but Death wanted to make his point absolutely clear regardless of her sentiment towards his example. Or she might not; she wasn't Sailor Moon after all, but either way how she reacted was meaningless. "Say the scales themselves are the Universe......The blue sphere represents everything that constitutes Order, the red one represents everything that constitutes Chaos. Now what would you say might happen if Chaos was gone?"
 

The name above is a link to the respective image. It has been changed. For those that don't know by now, remove the sword for she uses a Scythe.​

Pluto nodded her head in acknowledgement of Death's words, his tone remained much the same but she did not mind. Being's such as the great four were bound and allowed such things, they had lived to see all of creation and life grow. They had destroyed worlds and brought an end to many civilizations. As a keeper of time she'd known this day would come, she knew no amount of talking or persuading would ever change this day. She knew how time worked, had seen the destruction of the past, the promise for the future and it's inevitable demise. Pluto let out a long heavy breath, the year's and the knowledge had for a long time weighed heavily on her, on her heart, mind and soul. Her words echoed in her mind "We are such weak frail things." No matter how much they may try, train and succeed, the great and powerful Senshi, were still just weak frail humans. When the celestial kingdom had fallen and Neo Queen Serenity had sacrificed her own life to reincarnate them into the future world, Earth, they lost their rights to their own celestial forms and life. She herself had often wondered if it had been the right choice, the senshi now forever reincarnate into the world, never dying and always fighting.

It was the same each life time, they grow as normal humans until the day of their awakening, only Pluto herself ever seeing in her mind her own past lives, her past struggles and feelings. The others had begun to keep records so that they might know who they were in the past. She herself had grown more and more void as time passed, the passage of time had robbed her of the emotions that the other Senshi were so well known for. Passion, anger, sorrow....well maybe sometimes she felt a tinge of sorrow taint her heart. His voice broke Pluto from her thoughts and she tilted her head slightly.

A small smile touched her lips at the sound of her own name, through all the years and passage of time...she was the only one to use the name given to her in her very first life. Some might argue that Sailor Moon had kept her name from the start but, it was not true. Pluto had memories of Sailor Moon farther back than any records held and "Usagi" was a name given to her by her mortal parents which her birth mother had respected and called her. "I know a fight between us is inevitable in the end, you are one of the Four and are bound to destroy this world. I know not how the battle will end but as one of these weak mortals I can not let the world I reside and exist in, be destroyed. I knew if any of the four would be willing to talk it would be you; It would only be natural that I would seek you out" she said, her tone sounded resigned by the fate of having to battle. Her entire existence had been lived fighting, years, eons, millennium spent....fighting and while the world had accepted peace when "Chaos" had been destroyed she knew that the real battle was just ahead. She watched Death and knew that he too had spent his existence battling as well. It may not be in the same way that his brothers fought but he too spent his life fighting.

Pluto shifted slightly and glanced around herself, several beasts had began to approach her. They walked on all fours and growled, similarly to a dog but oh-so different. The "growl" itself was low and violent, hungry even. She did not recognize the beasts but knew they had to be a demon of sorts. She turned back to death with a slightly raised brow. She heard a small "snap" and dancing green flames encircled them. The eerie green light cast a play of light and shadows across the two beings. The beasts backed away cautiously moving away from the ethereal flames but one would not be denied it's meal and charged the flames it's eyes intent upon Pluto. She watched it run and leap at the flames she watched as it's being was destroyed entirely. The light flickered across her face and gleamed in her eyes, the destruction of the dog was quick and easy. Not even a howl of pain had managed to escape the beasts throat.

She turned back to Death as he began to speak once more. She once more nodded in acknowledgement of his words, she also preferred to have privacy when speaking to someone. Without much of a pause Death continued talking, going into an explanation and answering any "Why's". A thin smile appeared on her lips when she saw the scales and asked his own question. Pluto nodded slightly " I knew that destroying the balance like she had done would have repercussions. However trying to explain things to her...sometimes it's just easier to deal with the consequences..." she said sighing a little bit. "Destroying chaos and upsetting the balance of the worlds, our punishment for doing so is the annihilation of our world? I can understand that...but my other question still stand....Why did it take the great four so long to act? she asked. " I won't pretend to act or even begin to think that I will ever understand the lengths and preparations it might take to enter and destroy a world but I can't imagine it taking so long." she said. She had known that someone would come to punish them for defying the natural law's of the world. She had expected it but the waiting time had been much longer than she had initially thought. They had been defying death for eon's and Sailor Moon had destroyed chaos many reincarnations ago. "Though I suppose Time means nothing to beings such as you...." she said almost as an after thought. "Your brother's, war and conquest in particular seemed to have been wanting to destroy this world for a long time...." she said thinking back to the initial encounter. The actual fighting hadn't been going on very long but it had seemed like the war had been going on for years, the city itself mirrored the image of a long drawn out war. It was funny how Time could work like that, it's concept never changed but to the minds of others it always seemed to move differently.
 

If Death had been someone else, he would have likely felt sorry for this girl; her dedication to protecting this world was admirable. But being as old as he was, even older than Setsuna herself, he'd learned to steel his heart from such emotions. There was a time, when he was caring....when he wasn't a demonized destroyer; however, the Almighty was a being of both extreme love and extreme vengeance. And when He decided that one was to be punished, the limitless boundary of his conscience left no possibility unconsidered. And some of the most severe judgments that had been dealt were ironically to those that had been granted the most important task of all. However, the Green Rider let go of these thoughts for now as she replied to his statement; another small chuckle was had at her words, but it wasn't that they were ridiculous or anything. Quite the contrary, her sentiments were extremely reasonable, but it was just that they reminded him so much of his dear brother War; that bitter old fool was easily the most honor-bound of all the Horsemen. "Forgive me, Setsuna; I do not laugh to spite you. It's just that your words there were so very close to War's own. You two share a very strong sense of honor and commitment. Traits which should be commended, not ridiculed".

Her first words, however, he found to completely off-base; yes, he was Death, but it seemed she still clung to the notion that he was a merciless killer. He had let it slide to let himself express the humorous portion of her answer first, but now he wanted to clear the deck with her. He felt a need to rest his back though; despite his being an immortal and his outward appearance, his bones did get very tired without proper support. There were, after all, some things that even someone such as he could not reverse; the once-backless stool now had something for him to rest against. Leaning back, he felt the solid crystal of the seat to be quite comfortable. "There we are....But Pluto, if I may, I do find your perception of me to be rather...misguided. As I do the conception you have of my brothers. Well, Conquest not so much; he makes his motives clear as day. But I do take some offense to your trying to marginalize War's desires to simple destruction. And I find your lacking in comprehension of our duty to be rather unsettling; the truth is, if each of the Horsemen was truly set on destroying this world, it would be as simple as blowing out a candle or snapping a small twig. Even Famine, the weakest of the Four, is more than capable of annihilating entire populations hundreds of times that of the Earth faster than you can possibly blink".

Repositioning himself yet again, Death spoke once more, "I'm sorry, Setsuna, but these ancient bones of mine just never seem to agree with me sitting down for long. If I could just have one second.....There". With Death once more relatively comfortable, he then continued, "Now......You are correct in me being the most rational of my brothers, and it was indeed inevitable that we would meet. However, we are not simply destroyers of worlds.....We are keepers of the Balance, ensuring that Creation never exceeds Destruction, that Light is never extinguished by Shadow. You should be thankful War was not present to hear you say that; he takes extreme pride in his work and I'd rather not have him trying to come after you. Yet". That last word was added to help the good Chronomancer realize that a fight between her and any of the Horsemen was an inevitability. Giving his fingers another snap, he banished the scales and left the space between them empty once more.

He then lifted his head up a little; the ghastly glow of the flames which encircled them cast some illumination under the abyss that seemed to be Death's hood. Pluto would be able to see pure bone in the shape of a lower jaw, the chin fixed to a strip of metal that ran up into the darkness of the remaining headcover, its surface lined with spikes protruding outward. "You also mistake that Time is not important to us; you of all people should know that Time takes on many forms and even more perceptions. We may not place an emphasis on how long events have taken, but we do concern ourselves with the infinite parallel streams of Time that constitute the Universe, most importantly that they remained untainted".

Taking in a slight sigh of a breath, Death added "But you are right; an event such as this does take considerable preparation. It also requires an absolutely objective analysis. Hence the delay in our arrival to this world; we needed to be one hundred percent certain that your transgressions warranted such action. So, know that I do not come to destroy your people out of spite, Setsuna. The only one who is truly morally involved in this is, ironically, War himself. I realize that might be a bit of a surprise to you, given his disposition. Or it might not; I never was a good judge of character. Believe it or not, your exploits of resurrecting the dead do not bother me all that much; War, however, finds it incredibly distasteful that you should cross what he considers my domain. Yes, I might be the Ferryman of Souls, but I also recognize the desire to bring back those which were perceived to be wrongfully taken. I suppose I should take some offense to you Senshi trying to do my job for me, but....I'm not". Pausing for a second, he then added, "However, the destruction of Chaos was in fact the clincher; we had thought our incarnations would be enough to prevent you from carrying it out. But, seeing as you were able to destroy Chaos again even after everything....We had no choice but to intervene". Leaning forward a bit, Death then asked, "But tell me, Setsuna........Have you ever been curious as to where Chaos actually came from? Just why it is we're labeled only as destroyers? I think it might help clear up a lot of questions you have".
 


Pluto watched as Death laughed, it was strange to see him laugh. It was nothing like what the bible of their world had mentioned. It just went to show how reliable the writings of man could be. Pluto shook her head at his "apology", she was fairly decent at judging the intent or reasons behind something and she did not feel that he was trying to ridicule her. Though of course, being human she was bound to make mistakes somewhere in her line of thinking. She watched him move around a bit here and there and before long was leaning against the back of a chair. She didn't question it, it wasn't her place but she found that as the talk went on she had more and more questions, not less. The conversation itself wasn't even how she imagined it might go and she was about to find out she was also wrong about a lot of other things as well. "It seems that I have been mistaken in some of what I have said and thought...." she thought staring at the being in front of her. She could tell he was going to be "teaching" and correcting her errors.

The light of the flames that encircled them cast shadows on the area around them, it looked more like shadow demons dancing around in an ungodly ceremony. It was dark and chilling but somehow it seemed to suit the overall atmosphere of the meeting between the two beings.

She listened to his words, respecting him enough not to intervene or cut into to object to anything. In fact she really did not feel a need to defend herself nor interject any opinions. She felt a bit of shame at having been so misguided and wrong but felt a tinge grateful at having her errors corrected and the truth brought to light. When he finished, she sat there in silence taking in and putting away all the information she'd just obtained. She considered him carefully and in a new light, he was still and always would be the enemy to her and this world because of what they had done but he was no longer viewed in the light of just a killer. She considered her words carefully and at the same time a soft smile lit upon her lips, she had never before spoken so much as she did now to her enemy. For so long she had always played the role of the "wisest" as well as the "Oldest" of all the Senshi. They had always looked to her for advice and wisdom and for once, that role was taken from her and she had a chance to learn. It was....an odd sensation.

"I would, once again like to apologize for my misguided views." she said bowing her head slightly. " I do not mean to insult any of your beings nor did I intend to make light of your duties but I do wonder....if you have indeed come to the conclusion that the punishment does fit our transgressions, then why do you take the time to come to the worlds themselves?" she asked, her eyebrows drawing together slightly. "I don't pretend to know about you or your brothers, my only source of information has been the Bible and different religious text's I've read over the years...as well as....other sources but it seems they were indeed...very incorrect in the telling of the Four. It seems you go to great lengths to punish our wrong's when as you said...destroying it would be as simple as blowing out a candle." she said stopping a moment to gather her thoughts so she could rightly word things the way she wanted.

"Time is important to every living thing, however to you it is important in a very different way. I did not mean that Time as a whole meant nothing to you, rather that the passage of time was of little concern to you. I've watched over the gates of time for many millennium and still she is a mistress I can never fully comprehend. Though I doubt any mortal, no matter how long they lived could ever truly understand it." she said with a wry smile. memories floated across her vision before being sent back into the depths of her mind, it was not the time for such things. "I can not tell you why we re-incarnate, for some of us it is certainly not by choice. Neither was us being brought back from the dead, it was something that had happened to us without our knowledge. I'd even killed myself in a past life...but I'm sure you know this already..." she said looking at him. "I have memories of when we all resided in the star's, each of us a ruler of our own respective planets. Sailor Moon was different back then, more reliable...." she said trailing off. "I remember we all died in a battle...and were brought back, reincarnated into a future world as mortal beings....and to this day...we continue to reincarnate..." she said looking at her own hands.

"Since the day she awoke as Sailor Moon here on earth, I have not truly accepted any of her decisions but I could not speak out against them. The destruction of Chaos was one of those decisions I did not agree with. I knew for Sailor Moon, it wasn't truly for world peace but also for vengeance. It was an unwise decision and I have been waiting for the repercussions of her actions since that day." she said still staring at her hands. She looked back up to Death and folded her hands in her lap. "I can't deny that after meeting you I do indeed wonder why you and your brothers are so vehemently labeled and called merciless destroyers of worlds. As for wondering where Chaos came from, I never looked into it too much...it seemed to just be a force that has existed alongside the worlds, that along with the "good" in the world. I never have thought of it's origins, all through the history of Time...it has always been there...until Sailor Moon managed to destroy it. The Destruction of Chaos never sat well with me...it was unsettling...." she said. She found herself rather intrigued by the conversation and did indeed truly wish to know more. "I have many questions and I would like to have them answered. I know you and your brothers have come to punish us for our crimes...but there is more to it...isn't there?" She asked raising her brow slightly.
 

Death merely listened as Pluto gave her response; as misguided as she was, she wasn't 'holier-than-thou' about it or trying to justify her misguided views based on their planet's religious texts. In fact, the Green Rider was a bit surprised that she would admit to her lack of knowledge about the Four. But it wasn't like he could truly blame her anyway; as long-lived as she was, he'd lived much longer than she could even imagine. Maybe his expectations were too high; no one had lived as long as the Horsemen. Had seen and done the things they'd seen; it wouldn't be inaccurate at all to say that expectations of knowing how to maintain Balance were common amongst the Four, and often superimposed onto the mortal races as if it should be second-nature. That was a shortcoming of being who he was, but he put those thoughts aside for now. It was time for him to give his replies; he too found it amusing that he was able to talk for this long. Never before had someone actually sat down and let him ramble; it was quite the refreshing change.

"Well, you certainly seem to understand things quite well, despite your limited comprehension of how the Universe truly works. There's no real need to apologize; even with how long I've lived, there are some thing I still don't understand". Pausing for a moment to let those words sink in, he then continued, "But I've already given you the answer to your question; all the enemies you had faced in the past were incarnations of ourselves, minus Queen Beryl as she was merely a puppet of one of the enemies themselves". He then held up his left hand and extended an armored thumb, adding "Think about it.....Queen Metalia, who had to be returned to physical form by the devouring of souls. Incarnation of my brother Famine". He then extended his pointer and middle finger as he continued with, "Pharaoh 90 and Queen Nehellenia, both seeking to conquer this world and its people. Incarnations of Conquest". He sounded like he was simplifying things, as the motives of each foe was obviously more than that, but Setsuna and the Senshi had already dealt with them so it was really a non-issue. Raising his ring finger, this one possessing a skull-ring on the first joint, he then said, "Wiseman, true name Death Phantom from Nemesis.....Hmhmhm, that was me". He then extended his pinky finger, finally adding, "And finally, the one your Leader destroyed.....Chaos. Incarnation of War and ever-present force of disorder. A force whose existence allows for all of the Universe to continue, for without Chaos then Order cannot exist". Setting his hand back down, he then added, "Truthfully, Earth should have been cleansed much longer before this; and like I had mentioned, we had underestimated your abilities and were forced to intervene as of now. Normally, we minimize our presence in the Mortal Plane to help ensure that no permanent damage to the Balance is incurred".

"And to answer your final question, chronomancer, there is much more to it; that's something I'll get to in a minute. I want to address something you just said to me that I find rather inexcusable". Death's tone then became rather grave, "By not speaking up, Setsuna, you allowed Neo-Queen Serenity to destroy Chaos. By saying that you could not speak up against her actions, you essentially facilitated the one event that the Horsemen were trying to avoid. And by Humanity continuing to support your group, despite the fact that the Senshi were responsible for nearly causing all of existence to collapse on itself, the humans too have been sentenced to Destruction. Hence the reason the Apocalypse has come to Earth.....It has given up its right to exist and must be purged to prevent similar events from occurring in the future". Taking a deep breath, Death's tone then reverted to its calmer state, "I think that little speech gives some insight as to why we are labeled as agents of destruction. What's that you humans say about reputation: Takes centuries to build but only seconds to destroy? Something along those lines, right?" Of course, what Death had told Setsuna was the truth, but he changed his tone to help emphasize the seriousness of it and show the unforgiving mentality that was characteristic of the Riders.

Giving a wave of the hand, Death then stated matter-of-factly, "But, as I informed you when you first came to me, I prefer to talk with my opponents. Give them some insight as to why things are the way they are; if you'll let me, Pluto, I'd like to tell you a story. One that concerns the actual beginning of the Universe itself and will probably reveal the reason myself, Famine, War and Conquest came to be known on this planet as 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'. But for the sake of being thorough, I'd like you to ask your questions first before I begin......That way, there's no misunderstanding. No misconceptions. No ambiguity of any kind". Of course, he would begin if she had no additional questions, but he would prefer to answer those first, and THEN give her the insight she so craved.
 


Pluto once again listened as Death began to talk. She thought back to all their previous battles, all their endless reincarnating, everything and wondered if he would still think the same way if he had ever tried talking sense into Usagi. A small rueful smile touched her lips, who knew? He might get the chance should she fail. At his mention of the name of their previous enemies, she raised a brow and considered him carefully. She wondered what they had expected them to do, sure she had never thought that destroying chaos was a good idea but surely the great four could not have possibly thought that they could stand by as those "incarnations" attempted and sometimes succeeded in killing innocent humans. Tried to take over their world and control it. What being would ever allow someone to take over their world? Those "incarnations" they had fought had sought to destroy the world as it had been, all this far before chaos was ever destroyed. She had to wonder at why the incarnations themselves had been created.

Pluto readjusted herself in the chair "I thank you for the consideration. As far as I have experienced, not a single enemy would ever try to talk. Most of them wouldn't even let us know why they had decided to attack, the great four's incarnations being among them." she said looking down at the ground. "I'm not sure...that anyone truly knows how the universe and time works. Some have greater knowledge and experience than others...but it might just be me and my lack of both experience and knowledge but it's hard to imagine anyone knowing how either truly works." she said raising her gaze to the turbulent skies above. "Ah, forgive me...." she said returning her gaze to Death. "I went a bit too far off topic, there is something that you said that is troubling me..." she said taking a deep breath.

"Your incarnations attacked Earth before chaos was ever destroyed. They also did not merely stand by and watch, they killed innocent people and tried to rule the earth. Surely you four did not think we could sit by and let them do as they pleased?" her voice was calm but the look in her eye's was one of troubled confusion. "Before chaos had been destroyed our only transgression had been defying Death and that, had been against our will. So why had your incarnations attacked earth? I'm not trying to justify the actions that Sailor Moon had taken in destroying chaos but I am confused as to why your incarnations had so mercilessly attacked our planet?" she said with a small shake of her head. She knew she probably sounded a bit naive but she really did need that cleared up. "As to me not speaking up to Sailor Moon, I did. However that is all I could do. Do you Four have anyone that you must answer to? I may protest against it until I'm blue in the face but if our "leader" chooses to do something, we Senshi must follow along. Besides, as I stated before; trying to talk any sense into Usagi is tantamount to screaming at a brick wall to move out of your way. Short of destroying it, it's not going to happen." she said with a bit of a sigh. If she had been able, she probably would have destroyed Sailor Moon a long time ago. She had been nothing but trouble since her "awakening" here on earth. For a long time Pluto did not believe that Usagi was truly the Moon Princess, eventually she had, had to accept it.

Pluto let the silence descend all around them with nothing but the faintest sound of flickering flames piercing it. "I think it would be amusing to see Death trying to explain the situation to Sailor Moon..." the thought popped into her head and it surprised her a bit and a ghost of a smile passed over her face. Yes, that would be quite amusing to see.

She let the thought slip away before returning her mind to the present conversation. "I do wonder what it might be that you do not understand, Death." she said with a curious raise of her brow. She was thankful for the chance to sit and talk, if even for a little while she was able to learn more and extend the catacombs of her knowledge, correct what was wrong and throw out the lies and find the buried truths. She wasn't sure that she would be alive long enough to do anything with it but still, it was nice. Pluto, in this one moment in time acted more like a student talking to a teacher. For now, she wanted to learn as much as she could before having to engage in battle. From what she could sense, everyone else was in full swing. The screaming had died down but the ferocity of the attacks had only increased. Occasionally the ground would shake, or a bolt of lightening would flash through the sky, lighting the city up and showing the destruction that the city had endured in such a short time. "I wonder how long this will last, will we all succumb in the end and be destroyed? Or will we come out victorious in the end?" she thought idly. She looked at Death, the probability of them succeeding was very low.

"I would like to hear this story of yours." she said clearing away all the idle thoughts that had been on her mind.
 

Death just sat quietly and listened as Pluto stated her own thoughts and inquiries into the matters at hand; he was honestly hoping Setsuna might be able to see the logic of using the incarnations to avoid the destruction of Chaos, but it seemed this was not the case. Though he had to admit her question about the Four having someone to answer to had caught him quite off-guard; no one had asked him that before. Still, he would address her concerns one at a time, if only for the sake of clarity. As she talked and pointed out what she had to do, the wind had died down considerably; Death himself could feel his brother's working on each of the Senshi subunits and even see snapshots of their activity: Conquest's hordes were overwhelming the four that had stayed to face him. Famine had successfully sealed Jupiter and was now taking care of Venus; though the manner in which he defiled was despicable, but that was neither here nor there. And War was quickly wearing Endymion down and from the looks of it, almost there to finishing him. It seemed like the Horsemen were holding their own so far; so long as they stuck to their roles, everything would work out fine.

When she finished, Death plainly stated, "It seems you still do not understand, Setsuna. The story will have to wait, apparently. To your first statement, that's besides the point; whether you choose to fight or not is your prerogative. No one but yourselves can make that decision; as for why they attacked, I had hoped you would see the obviousness of the answer. It's a tactic you humans call a 'pre-emptive strike'. Something more up War's alley, but a logical choice to make given the circumstances. We let them come to Earth, hoping they would be enough to prevent your Leader from carrying out that most horrendous deed. The only reason, as I had said earlier, that we did not intervene earlier is because of ancient laws that dictate when we may leave our sanctuary to stand before our foes. Often we do not ride together, we either send an incarnation of ourselves to deal with the situation, or at most two of us will ride".

Letting a small pause accentuate that thought, the Green Rider added "As for who we answer to, I'll admit I did not expect such an astute question, but I'll give the answer the best I can.Truthfully, we have no actual higher power to answer to; our organization is more...how do I put it...self-sufficient". He then raised a finger and interjected "There are restrictions in place that check our abilities even older than myself, however, so do not assume we can just do as we please. Regardless, if I had to give an answer, it would in fact be the Universe itself and the Balance. Wherever a shift occurs, the Riders answer its call and punish those who have upset it. Be they Lords of Light, Sons of Mortals, or the Dregs of Shadow; none are beyond the judgment of the Horsemen".

He didn't really know how to continue this other than beating his point to oblivion; all he could really do was try to educate her about how things worked. Ironic considering he would eventually have to destroy her, but for now he savored the chance to have someone who wasn't one of his brothers to talk with. Not that he hated them, but they had such one-track minds sometimes it was absolutely boring. The flames around them continued to burn despite the lack of traditional fuel, casting an eerie dance of shadows upon the two intellectuals. Death then continued with, "And I still think that you should have risen above your station, Setsuna, despite your so-named inability to do so. If it required Usagi's destruction, then it should have been carried out without hesitation. At the very least, you could have convinced one of the others to do it; I'm fairly certain Miss Hino had wanted a few times to strangle her". Letting out a slight cough to dispel that little tidbit, Death said calmly, "There are times we must forsake our duty in order to do what we know to be right; it's not always easy, but usually the right way never is".

"But truthfully, what happened in the past, happened and neither of us can change it, no matter how strong we are. Still, I hope I was able to enlighten you as to why in part we came to this world. If not, then hopefully what I'm about to tell you will make things clear as to why the Riders exist in the first place and how everything has come to be this way". Death then gave another snap of his fingers; all at once, the physical space around them disappeared, leaving the two of them still sitting in their chairs but now surrounded by a seemingly-infinite space of solid white. There was...nothing here. No terrain, no sound, no people, no war. Nothing. Sheer and utter nothing. "I welcome you, Setsuna, to the very start of the Universe. The blank slate upon which all sentient life was created, the nothingness from which the planets, stars, nebulae and galaxies were born. It is also from this point that the tale begins. I only hope you are ready, for what you are about to see has been witnessed by few others".
 

Pluto listened to Death re-explain himself but somehow it still did not sit well with her. They had executed a pre-emptive strike upon the senshi in hopes that their incarnations would be able to..."What....kill us? Destroy us entirely?" she thought casting her gaze to the broken rubble beneath her feet. "To destroy us for a crime we had not committed yet....they are the Four true; are they able to peer into the future? Does the universe, the balance tell them what is to happen? If not...then how could they have known of our future crime, a crime none of us had even foreseen until the moment the act itself had been about to be carried out." she thought with a small frown. Deaths explanation of why only seemed to further Pluto's questions and trouble her down to her core. Perhaps she'd understand it better had she lived as long as Death and carried out the deeds that he had, unfortunately she was not Death and had not seen and done the things he had so his reasoning did not make complete sense to her. Sure, she understood acting ahead of time to prevent something terrible from happening. They themselves had done such things various times over history but only if they had irrefutable proof that such an act was to take place. Had the Four had such proof when they sent those incarnations? Pluto furrowed her brows as the thoughts swam through her head.

She knew her inability to understand their reasoning for sending the incarnations was just a sign of her lack of knowledge but it really could not be helped. Pluto had never been one to think she knew it all, the rights, the wrongs and all the things in between. Sitting here, with him and talking made her realize just how limited her knowledge truly was and it saddened her. She probably would not have any chance to change it, she would die never knowing all she wanted to know. It was something that was worth lamenting over.

She knew further discussion and explanation over her inability to stop Usagi would be pointless. Her ties to Sailor Moon went a lot deeper than mere "comrades", there was a history long past between them that would ensure that Pluto could never act against Sailor Moon. Something she'd deeply regretted ever since Sailor Moon's reincarnation as Usagi. Even being a guardian over the gates of time, she'd never imagined that the once wise and calm Serenity would turn into a whining and selfish coward. Pluto looked up at Death and blinked several times.

"At the very least, you could have convinced one of the others to do it; I'm fairly certain Miss Hino had wanted a few times to strangle her"

Get someone else to act on her behalf? Pluto continued to stare at Death, could she have convinced one of the other Senshi to act against their leader? It was true, there was a history between Hino and Usagi. A jealousy that Mar's had held for many centuries over Endymion. Hino had fallen for Endymion when he was Mamoru in a past life and she had never gotten over him. However she'd held a deep friendship with Usagi, a friendship most could not understand. Mar's had held that friendship with her while Lusting after the love of Endymion. Mar's abused Sailor Moon but it was all in an attempt to get her to straighten up and act like the leader she was supposed to be. To get Mar's to betray Usagi, Pluto would have had to manipulate Mar's feeling of jealousy and that was something she could not do. Pluto refused to go to such depths as trickery and manipulation.

She supposed the different views between her and Death were linked to the lives they have lived and once more the things they had experienced. At this point all they would do is go back and forth re-hashing the same thing and never truly coming to an understanding of each other. With a small sigh she let it go and focused on moving forward with this topic. His mention of a "story" had piqued her interest and she was interested in learning what Death might have to tell her. Pluto slightly nodded to Death in agreement, it was in the past and no matter how either wished; it would never be changed.

Pluto watched him snap his fingers and before her eyes the terrain and scenery melted away until they were left sitting in a world of the purest white. Her eye's darted around looking for any speck of color and her ear's strained for any sounds of metal clashing against metal or the sounds of battle cries, yet nothing reached her ears. It was a deafening silence, one could go quite mad sitting in this world. Her eye's were once again drawn back to Death as he spoke. "The..beginning of everything?" she echoed. The implications sank in and her eyes widened a bit in surprise; this infinite nothingness was the beginning of their world? The beginning of everything they had ever known. It was a startling thought. "You have my undivided attention." she said nodding slightly. The statement might have been unnecessary but she had decided to reaffirm that her attention was wholly on him. She found herself a bit...eager to learn what he had to say.
 
Episode 4: Revelations​


Death could see the conflict in Setsuna's eyes; he had a feeling she wouldn't have ever resorted to measures such as those that he had proposed. She was always too pure for her own good; that wasn't to say Death never tried to find peaceable solutions to problems, but sometimes things had to be done that one might never imagine themselves doing. Death himself indeed had the ability to analyze the infinite parallel streams of time that flowed through the vast Void where the Horsemen called home; it was the singular point in the space-time continuum where the past, present and future collided. Each event, each decision made by even one person affected the flow of a particular stream. This power only held when he was in the Void itself; here in the Mortal Plane, his chronoscrying ability was completely compromised, only able to operate on the knowledge he'd gleaned in the Void itself. Truthfully, he'd wished to have intervened sooner; however, his own overcautious nature accelerated the inevitable, and now the Horsemen had to act quickly to halt any permanent damage to the Universe.

Though he was a bit taken aback by Pluto's apparent shock; surely she must have had some inkling of the beginning? Putting that aside, Death merely nodded and replied, "Yes, Setsuna...This is in fact how everything started. As nothing. In the beginning, this infinite void was but a blank slate. Do not mistake it for being empty, however; this seemingly-vacant space is in fact the Creator, the one your Bible calls 'God', your Qu'ran calls 'Allah', your Greek and Roman civilizations called 'Prometheus', and so on. He has many names, but is one single, illimitable entity. However, what you see is but one side". Death gave a wave of his hand; instead of near-blinding whiteness, they were now surrounded by a crushing darkness. Two almond-shaped yellow-red glows now hovered in front of Setsuna where Death had been seated, his voice carrying out in the same echoing fashion, "Just as there is His light, there is also His shadow. Even before the Universe truly began, hopefully you can see the magnitude of the Balance's importance, chronomancer. Where light prevails, shadow must also exist; the Light embodying all things pure, the Shadow embodying all things corrupt. At this moment, everything was but a singularity, both Light and Shadow existing in perfect synchrony". A small snap was heard, and now they were back in the infinite white, though now the blackness of the abyss lay just beneath their feet, their positions directly at the light-shadow boundary.

Here Death paused to let Setsuna overcome any overwhelming feelings she might have been experiencing; green arcane energy gathered at his fingertips, having the appearance of billowing flames much like what had surrounded them before this tale began. "You see, the Almighty had wished to create life and give contrast to the blankness of this slate. Just as an artist seeks to give life to an empty canvas, He began to shape a world for the new life to flourish; however, the moment he began breathing orderly life into the once-empty void, He created the embodiment of darkness and disorder: Chaos. It was an unfortunate, but inevitable effect of crafting that which did not exist in the first place. To help spare any potential headaches of conflict, the Almighty sent Chaos from the Light into the Shadow to do with as he saw fit. As part of their deal to maintain the integrity of this new Universe, Chaos had taken some of the Creator's essence and was given a form. Chaos would soon give rise to the one you humans might call the Devil, but that comes later".

Death then raised his hands up, the green fire arcing from his fingertips and swirling around them for a few moments, its heat washing over both them during this period before dissipating; the infinite void was now replaced by a titanic wide-trunked tree standing alone, its roots exposed to the nothingness of the Universe. Its tip reached what many would consider impossible, the branches innumerable and spread out in a perfect circle from the trunk itself, their own branching wonderfully complex. Before long, the roots became enshrouded by earth, forming a terraced structure, and the earth grew greener and greener with lush grass. And after that, plants in the form of flowers, bushes, and even more trees of various bloomed and grew from the ground. And even sooner after that, animals of all types could been prowling around; a creature resembling the modern day deer walked right in front of Setsuna, its antlers large and vibrant and the creature itself seeming oblivious to her presence. And even sooner after that, a tall well-formed, brown-haired man could be seen, naked as the day he was born, working busily to tend to this paradise and its many fruits. As the seconds ticked by, more and more people emerged, of both the male and female persuasion, before the growth stopped. And orbiting around this haven, seventeen other monoliths could be seen floating in the ether, some of them also possessing an otherworldly large tree.

As each step appeared before Setsuna and Death, the latter spoke with an apparent more upbeat undertone, but still lacking much of anything in the way of emotion as he lowered his arms once more to rest beside him, "As time went on, the Almighty realized his capacity for creation and began introducing new lifeforms to this world. The Ancient Tree was the start of it all, the culmination of the Creator's omnipotence and omnipresence. From there grew the Earth upon which life would walk, and from there grew the means of sustenance for them to consume, His own infused into each and every thing that formed. And when it was all said and done, he had created Paradise. Your race has had many names for it, but it is simply that...Paradise". The wind blew gently across the serene landscape, ruffling Death's hood; it was like they were really there. There in the beginning of the Universe itself. It seemed so surreal compared to the horror that was still happening outside this dream-like world; Death couldn't help but wonder if Setsuna truly realized just how different this world was compared to the one they lived in.

The human-like beings spoke to each other in friendly tones, each cloaked in simple garments, as they went about their duties. Some plowed the various fields, others cared for the animals that shared this land with them, and others still fetched water from the crystal-clear streams that ran from the terraces in small waterfalls. Children could be seen laughing and playing near the water's edge, a woman comforted an infant by giving her teat for it suckle. And in a field of a wheat, a strapping but clearly older man in a simple vest and loincloth could be seen wielding a large harvester's scythe, threshing the grain from its stalk. "That man tending to the wheat, Setsuna....Care to take a guess as to who that might be?" he then asked the wise Senshi, curious to see what her response might be.
 

Pluto closed her eyes a moment to collect her scattered thoughts. Her normally calm and perfectly organized mind had been thrown for a surprise and she needed a bit to restore her mind to it's normal functioning self. She hadn't really expected Death to say something like that, it had caught her off guard. To use someone else to do something she herself could not accomplish. To manipulate and use someone to her own advantage, no Pluto could do no such thing. Besides, even if she could have...several things would have made the attempt pointless. So once more to protect this world they must put their lives on the line because of a mistake Moon had made. Pluto alone held resentment for Usagi because of all the Senshi, she was the only one to know her before her reincarnation to earth as a spoiled and cowardly brat. None of the others held their memories from their previous lives among the star's. So they remained loyal to her, and on top of that Moon held the Silver Crystal. No matter how much strength they pooled together, it would not be enough to over come it's powers.

Pluto had to wonder, if Death and the other Horsemen truly knew the innermost workings of the Planetary Warriors. If they did...would they still punish the entire world? Or would the punishment fall with Sailor Moon alone? Was there any use in wondering about such things? They had made their decision already...Earth and all it's denizens had been found, guilty. Guilty of a crime Sailor Moon alone had carried out and so now the entire world must be punished for her crimes, because she'd acted out of anger the whole of the planet was to be torn asunder. She wondered if at this moment while they fought; did the other Senshi now curse Moon's name? Did they feel any anger or resentment towards her? Their leader? Did Moon herself curse her own actions? If I know Usagi...she's probably crying wondering why this is all happening to her...." Pluto thought as anger sliced through her being. Taking a deep breath she locked that ugly emotion away into the depths of her consciousness.

Her and the other Senshi lived a seemingly endless cycle of life, death and rebirth. The others, blissfully unaware of all their trials and hardships over the millennium continued to live their lives as if it was there first and only life. Pluto had no such luck, as a being who guarded the gates of time she had full access to all of her memories and past lives. No matter how long she'd lived she still did not understand why they were constantly reborn, she wondered if maybe Death knew why they reincarnated; what kept bringing them back from the world of the Dead. She tucked the question into the back of her mind, she would ask him later.

Pluto opened her eyes and refocused on Death; she glanced around her once more. The beginning, the creator....neither what she had ever imagined or would have expected, then again...what did she expect? "What had I envisioned for the start of the world? What did I see when people spoke of god?" she questioned herself. Her brows furrowed as she thought back to it...but nothing at all came to mind. No extravagant images of explosions in the wide expanse of space, no image of a "God" creating the world's, nothing at all came to her. She'd never thought much upon the beginnings of their world nor of the God that the religious text's referred to as the "creator". Thinking on it she had to wonder just how much did she really know about the world? About it's creation? In all the worlds, just what did she actually know? What did her knowledge amount too? She guessed, very little. A small sigh escaped her lips and a pang of regret shot through her. What had she been doing all these life times? Wasting her time it seemed. At least now in this moment in time before she was to die, she would learn more than she ever could have had she lived for the next million years.

What a fool you are, Setsuna...She thought with a resigned sigh.

Reverting her attention back to Death, she blinked as the blinding white was replaced with a suffocating black. She looked around herself and found her gaze drawn to a set of eye's resting where Death had been. She didn't like how those eye's peered at her...like they could see all of her innermost desires, wishes, dreams, thoughts and memories like they were laid out upon the pages of a book. She shifted slightly and the sound of a snap reached her ears and once more they were in the room of blinding white, the consuming darkness just beneath their feet, Death once more across from her. She wasn't exactly sure how she should process the feeling that had come over her as those eye's watched her. She tucked the feeling away and shook her head of any lingering thoughts. What was he to show her next?

He talked and Pluto listened, she found herself intrigued, questions already forming in her mind. She wondered how this story would play out, how would it end? She knew the importance of keeping balance to both the light and dark...was there another reason for him telling her this? She nodded her head slightly and waited for him to go on. However he did not, he remained silent as the Green Flames continued to gather at his fingertips before jumping from them into the air around them, circling them. She could feel the heat they were giving off and wondered what was happening, before long the flames disappeared and before her eye's a large tree appeared. She watched as it grew from a tree to an entire world. Plant life, animal life, people; it all happened so quickly like a movie playing out on the big screen, except she could feel the warm air on her skin, could feel the wind blow through her hair, smell the aroma's that drifted along on the current's of the wind.

Often times, Usagi would talk of creating the "perfect" world. One that would hold no troubles or heartache, a place where people would not struggle or fear....a "Paradise" but, sitting here in this place, in the beginning...she knew what paradise was. The world they lived in now was a hollow shell compared to this. Just sitting in this new world she felt an odd calmness settle over her, a peacefulness that should not have belonged to a being who was to be killed in battle and yet...there it was...warm in her chest. Pluto raised a hand and settled it over chest, a puzzled look in her eyes. Confusion claimed her mind once more and doubt entered her heart. Compared with this, what was there to save in her own time? What was she really fighting for? Hadn't she wished for an ever lasting rest? One where she would not be called back from the Dead.What was it that she was fighting for? What was it that she sought?

She heard Death's voice and she turned to look at him, she turned her gaze to the man tending to the wheat and she watched him awhile "Is that you?" she asked turning back to him. Her gaze returned back to the man in the fields before once more returning to Death. This place and time was simple but it eased the aches of the heart and soul. "Our world has fallen greatly from where it used to be..." she said as her eyes scanned the area. It was all familiar in some way to the things she knew but so vastly different.
 


"Indeed, Setsuna; that man is none than myself. Before I was Death, I was known as Dagon. I was a giver of Life before I became its taker, a giver of Death". "How cruel irony can be" Death added to himself as a mental afterthought; truthfully, he did share the Moon Princess' dream of creating a world where the Horsemen weren't needed, where he didn't have to destroy worlds and people. But it was at best a fantasy, and thus disregarded it and focused on helping this realm to stay alive for as long as it could. The eons it has survived where nothing short of a miracle; there was more that threatened the existence of the Universe than any mortal could ever hope to realize. One such threat came from within the Horsemen themselves; there was also the issue of keeping the peace between the Realms of Light and Shadow, or as the humans called them: Heaven and Hell. Those worlds were constantly chomping at the bit to annihilate each other, each seeming to have forgotten that both of their existences were imperative to Existence itself.

It was here Death gave another snap of his fingers, causing the scenery and sounds around to fade back to the glaring white of nothingness. A short silence persisted between them as Death recollected his thoughts, not hearing Setsuna's comment about how their world had fallen from where it used to be. The opening of his hood was tilted slightly upward, as if his eyes were peering to the serene skies above. Truthfully, what Death was about to show Setsuna would give her a reason to be both right and wrong; at its peak, Paradise was everything humanity sought in a utopia. However, as the old saying went: All good things must come to an end. And this end was in fact Death's greatest source of misery. Resolving to continue, he finally lowered his gaze to peer back at the Senshi, saying in a rather grim tone "Forgive me, Setsuna; I just had to collect myself. What you're about to see...might be somewhat unsettling. All I ask is that you brace yourself". And with that, Death yet again snapped his fingers to resume the playback; except now the scene before them would be very, VERY different.

Instead of the calming serenity that had been Paradise, it was a scene not unlike that which Crystal Tokyo was in: Fires raged, screams of agony and clashes of swords and shields rang throughout the air. The ground scorched and soaked in blood and bodies; armored warriors with wings flew with unbelievable speed to the sounds of chaos. "This is the start of it all, Setsuna: The beginning of the Endwar, the time where Paradise would fall and the Universe as we now know it truly began". Death raised his right hand, palm parallel to the floor with one finger extended, then slowly lowered it; the volume of the sounds of battle soon faded until they were background noise, though the sequence of events still played around them. "Perhaps some background will be helpful: Chaos, that part of the Almighty which was cast into the Shadow, grew weary over the years and schemed to take Paradise for himself. He first tried subversion through secrecy and deception, sending a female incarnation to try and steal the fruit of the Ancient Tree in hopes of gleaning knowledge; however, Chaos was never one for subtlety and the woman was eventually found out and cast back into the Shadow. Unfortunately, she did not go back empty-handed; Chaos had unknowingly imbued this woman with the power to steal souls, and so it was she took the soul of Paradise's most talented blacksmith back to the Realm of Shadow and Corrupted it to craft tools of war". Death let out a sigh of exasperation; it had been so long since he told this story, the emotions he felt during that turbulent time still raw as if it just happened. Such a magnificent place...destroyed by avarice and a hunger for power.

Regardless, Death continued "When The Wise Man was informed of this, he knew what would come: War. Paradise was at stake and so it was decreed that a new Order be formed: The Defenders of Paradise, and the warriors themselves Angels and Archangels". Here Death raised the volume of the noises again, the scene having shifted from the battle to one where denizens of Paradise gathered around a hooded figure, the only visible parts of the latter being a styled white beard and the strong hands of a world-shaper. One would notice that the place where they were located was still pristine; this was in fact the First Monolith of Paradise. "Oh, Wise Man, please beseech what we must do; if what you say is true, who will be selected?" "What I say is true, my child; I wish it were not, but the forces of darkness begin their approach. There has already been one selection so far, or rather a volunteer; Dagon has sworn to protect Paradise and has become the first Angel. As such, he will be my eyes and ears, as will the rest of the Defenders when they are chosen". From behind the crowd came a voice, calm yet determined "Indeed I will" it said; the others turned to see a man clad in simple white robes, wielding a large and very intimidating scythe. "Dagon...You became an Angel?" A brown-haired man asked incredulous; if a grain farmer was willing, so would he. Standing up, the strong-bodied male declared, "Wise Man, I too would like to become an Angel! I want to protect this place as much as anyone! I will not stand by and let the Shadow Legions simply do as they please! ” Wise Man smiled from beneath his robe, his reply simply, "Very well, Michael; I admire your spirit. You have shown leadership capability in the past and have a strong heart. Therefore, as of now, you are the first Archangel. One of the elite warriors. What say you, Dagon? Do you agree with this?". Dagon simply stated, ”Michael will make a great Archangel; however, you know as well as I do we'll need others. I have several candidates that have come forward with their own willingness to volunteer to become Defenders". From Dagon’s side he pulled a large book and after walking past the crowd, handed it to the Wise Man himself. A small ‘Hmmm’ was heard from the black-robed figure as he peered at the bound pages, not even bothering to open it; he then lifted his head up a little, saying "This many, Dagon? Must we potentially sacrifice so much?" ”If we have any hope of saving Paradise…We need all the help we can get. You saw how easily the Shadow Legion took the Eighteenth Monolith; we must keep them from taking anymore".

Death paused here again, the scene once more fading to white, "And so, with Michael started the Order of the Archangels and with Dagon the Order of the Angels. As the Endwar progressed, more and more of Paradise fell, despite our best efforts to contain them. Chaos and his minions took ten of Paradise's Monoliths into the Shadow Realm; eventually, they were stopped at the Eighth. They were held there for a while and eventually retreated into the darkness from whence they came. We thought the battle won…How wrong we were. The Wise Man, however, knew better and thus made the hard choice of taking those who could not fight off into a pocket of space where the Shadow Legion could not reach them. But we did not fully realize what would happen until it was too late". The scene resumed once more; they were back on the First Monolith, where the Ancient Tree that crafted this world still stood. Everything was quiet; Angels, Archangels and other armed Defenders were ready to fight. The plan was simple: Each of the Eight Archangels would guard a remaining Monolith, along with hundreds of thousands of Angelic Warriors under their command. The Archangel Uriel guarded the Eighth Monolith, Gabriel guarded the Seventh, Raphael the Sixth, Selaphiel the Fifth, Jegudiel the Fourth, Rague the Third, Michael the Second and Damien would guard the First: Monolith Prime. There was also a young boy in moderate armor wielding a large blade and shield; interestingly enough, he seemed...out of place, as if he should have been on another Monolith. He was well-armed and well-armored, but not as much as the other Angels were. In fact, he appeared to be the only non-Angel on Monolith Prime; however, that did not mean his skills in combat were any less potent than theirs. To counter for his relative lack of mobility, he rode atop a large horse, its skin red like blood and its mane of black hair tipped with fire; strange runes along Ruin's neck also glowed red, emitting heat as if lava seeped through them. Flames also roared around its cracked hooves and ankles, looking like magma veins were part of its body, and plumed from its flaring nostrils. Orange-yellow sigils seemed to be burned into its powerful neck, as if the previous master had branded the creature with his own signature or something.

In Damien's left hand was a massive blade; in fact, if Setsuna were to look closely, it was the exact same sword that War carried now. Like the blade War used, the eyes of the skull impressions along the inside of the sword glowing with a ghastly red energy. This was the Blade of Divine Destruction, a sword crafted from an unknown alloy scavenged from previous battles; however, Damien simply named it ‘Glory’. It had a unique property of being able to use the Shadow Legion’s Chaos Power against them. The Wise Man had said this metal could channel the rage of both enemy and wielder and amplify its user’s strength and power considerably; however, the few who wielded it before were driven insane and tried to go against their brethren, spouting that they would serve Chaos and bring ruin to Paradise. To counteract this effect, Damien was given over his left arm a massive gauntlet secured to his form by a large pauldron on the left shoulder. Damien couldn’t help but chuckle, "Well, Ares, it seems the day we hoped to never see has finally come". "Let them come; I will defend Paradise to my last breath"; this was interjected with a laugh from Damien as he replied, "That’s the spirit, Ares; let us show them that the Defenders do not back down when cornered". The young man simply nodded, turning his attention back to the field of green before him. The war horse he rode was a trophy against a Shadow Champion he’d managed to kill by himself; the beast’s name was Ruin and Ares chose not to change it. For some reason, it fit nicely; this horse, despite its size, worked well with the boy and was fairly agile. It was also incredibly strong, able to charge through an enemy platoon and scatter them like rats; Ruin could rear up and slam his front hooves forward, creating a massive blast of fire that incinerated any who got too close. Speaking of Ruin, the steed was growing impatient, pawing at the ground in anticipation; however, Ares stroked its powerful neck calmingly, settling the war horse a little. But this was indeed it, the calm before the storm; Dagon had become the Wise Man’s personal guardian and the Wise Man himself - having gone into a small subpocket of space - was serving as the coordinator of the defense of Paradise.

And then, Dagon’s voice played in their heads, "It seems The Wise Man was right; an unusually large detachment is headed right for you. Be ready!" Damien nodded and turned around, facing the large detachment of Angels under his command, stating in a fiery and empassioned tone, "To arms, Warriors! The Shadow Legion approaches! We draw the line here; they will not take one step past!" A collective cry for battle was heard from the hundreds-thousands strong army unit, weapons raised high as they fired themselves up for combat. Just then, another loud cry was heard; off in the distance, a black mass could be seen rushing towards them. It was them, their enemies that killed their kin and tried to take their home. "Here they come! Death to the Shadow Legion! Fight, my BROOOTHEEERS!" Damien now roared as he spread his massive wings and rushed forward alongside Ares, the rest of the massive army following behind. Within moments, it was utter pandemonium: Blades clashed, bodies fell, blood spilled and turned the pristine grass a horrible shining red. Several angels were torn to pieces by the otherworldly beasts, and at times, the beasts were turned into living pincushions by the Angelic Archers in the back. Damien himself used Glory and sent Chaos Blast waves, bisecting countless foes with single strokes of the sword; the massive gauntlet on his left arm, especially the strange elbow piece, glowed the same horrifying red as the blade itself. Each swing showed just how much power this archaic blade held and how devastating it could be. And Ares wasn’t slouching either; thought not armed with powerful weapons such as Damien’s ultimate blade, his own sword and shield were serving to cut into the enemies just as well.

The view of the overall battle scene then zoomed out to show all Eight Monoliths and their battles in progress; so far, it seemed the Defenders were holding the Shadow Legion at bay. The view then zoomed to each Monolith, detailing every creature of the Shadow that attacked so mercilessly and without regard for its own safety. Death’s voice then rang over the sounds of war as the battles played out around them, ”For years, this final assault continued; for every Angel lost, the Defenders took down one hundred Shadow Legionaries. The forces of darkness just kept coming though; they were innumerable, nearly infinite in size it seemed. However…Chaos was just biding his time, waiting for the opportunity to enter the battlefield himself. And when he did…” The view then snapped back to the first Monolith, where Ares and Damien, father and son and the various other Angelic Warriors fought with great valor, determination and strength, carving great numbers out of the enemy forces. But soon their fortune would come to an end; a great howl was heard, causing the Battle of Monolith Prime to come to a halt. The air itself seemed to rumble, threatening to split the world in two from its sheer ferocity; gradually a great shadow was cast over the land, its form taking more shape and height. And as a final note Death added, his voice playing over the scene of terror in an echoing, grim manner, ”The results were catastrophic“.
 
Saturn :: Uranus :: Neptune :: Mercury
​


The four Senshi that had been left behind to battle the Horsemen Conquest were not faring so well. At first the battle seemed to go rather well but as the battle progressed it began tipping in the enemies favor. Even Saturn, the strongest of the Senshi had taken quite a beating at the hands of the beast rider, Edrogen. Saturn expected to die in the battle against the Horsemen, she expected every one might die and that the Horsemen would live to destroy the world. Saturn had done what she could to keep Mercury near her, to protect her but as the battle heated up she and Mercury were eventually driven apart, the beast giving chase after Mercury while it's rider stayed behind to battle her. The battle between them went all out from the start, each trading blows and blocks but never landing a fatal strike. She didn't know what happened to Mercury or if she was even alive, at least not until she noticed a thick fog that started to permeate the air. It seemed to hover around the beast, which was now thrashing about in a rage. In an opportune moment Saturn reacted and managed to land a blow on both the beast and rider. However the surprise attack sent the beast rider into a Rage and he went berserk lashing out and finally managing to get the upper hand in the battle. He held her by her throat and as she felt her air supply slowly get cut off she heard a loud, deafening sound. A sickening combination of crunching bones, screams, a low pitiful and painful sound that could have only come from the beast itself. She'd felt his grip loosen and without a hesitation eliminated the beast rider.

Saturn heard incoming footsteps and registered them as Mercuries. Glancing over she saw that Mercury had come away relatively unscathed and to top it off told her that she'd found a way to stop Conquest, who know held Uranus by her throat up in the air while his foot slowly crushed Neptune. Mercury began to explain her finding as well as her plan.

Of the four, Neptune and Uranus probably had the worst time of it. The Twin brothers had given them a hard enough time, but to add to it, the rider himself came down to finish them off. Ignore the fact that they were both now being crushed by the Horseman, their injuries were rather severe. Bruises were forming all over their body, several bones were broken and numerous more fractured, god only knew what their internal injuries were like. Neptune lay beneath Conquests Foot, her body still numb with fear, fear that the giant silver brother was about to rape her. She'd never before felt such an icy coldness grip her body before, in that moment she was completely powerless. She much preferred to die under the foot of the horseman, slowly crushed to death. Uranus on the other hand was hot with rage and frustration, she was completely powerless and unable to stop the would be violation of her pure Neptune. Had the horseman not intervened she could only imagine what torture they had planned for her. It burned her deeply to feel so weak and now, after everything this wretched dog had the audacity to step on Neptune. Still, after everything she could do nothing to help her lover. Was this how they were to die? Without having done anything to stop this monster...the thought sickened her.

Saturn was silent for a long time while she considered Mercuries plan. " You do know the consequences of the path you have laid out before us?" she finally asked still gazing at the horseman. "Yes." Mercury replied without hesitation. "Then I'm sure you are at peace and have no regrets left behind. Very well then." Saturn said still coated in the blood of the beast rider. " We'll need to free Uranus and Neptune." she said glancing at the Horseman. "Leave it to me. When they are free, tell them your plan immediately..." she said walking off. Mercury had no idea what Saturn had planned, in her current state she would be no match against the Horseman. She also knew Saturn was smart enough to have realized this herself; she had to wonder what she intended to do then. Saturn was an enigma to Mercury and indeed a mystery to all the inner Senshi. There was a cold hollowness about her, something almost robotic. None of them had ever witnessed Saturn displaying anything even remotely close to "Emotion".

Saturn did indeed know she stood no chance against the Horsemen, so she intended to attack him by surprise. She didn't want to leave anything to chance so she intended to use that move. Through her eons of reincarnation she'd taught herself to hold back her own immense power. So while she intended to use that move, she'd hold back most of it. However in trying to do this in her own weakened state she would not be able to help them in the final act of the plan. "Release" she said and her weapon began to shift and change in her hands morphing into her Silence Glaive. The others had thought she'd abandoned this weapon but in truth had not, for only with her Glaive is she able to preform that move.

Mercury watched Saturn closely and her eyes widened in disbelief as Saturns weapon transformed, she recognized the weapon as Saturns old weapon, the Silence Glaive. Realization struck her, she knew what Saturn intended to do but trying such a move in her state could kill her outright but it would also hit the horseman hard enough and cause enough damage for them to be able to finish him off. Saturn had probably come to this conclusion shortly after hearing her plan. Why hadn't she seen it sooner? "Death Reborn..." she thought while silently praying for her and everyone else safety.

She'd used her "Death Reborn" attack against Pharaoh 90 and ultimately destroyed him. At that time a mass of ribbons materialized from nowhere, winding around her and tearing through Pharaoh 90. She remembered clearly the words he'd screamed out as the ribbons slashed at him. He'd been horrified that his own power was being drawn away from him by a dark and negative energy. The power unleashed by Death Reborn began tearing at the ground, destroying everything and as she'd raised her Glaive to destroy the planet, she was stopped. Since then she'd practice the attack, turning into something she could better control. Coming to a stop Saturn raised her Glaive up "Death Reborn" she said in a low and chilling voice. Instead of ribbons forming around her, the tip of her Glaive began to shine and pulsate with power. The light began to darken into a deep black with a purple gleam. She held it there for what seemed an eternity but was in actuality only as long as the exhaling of a breath. She slashed downward quickly and the light drew a line before it and surge of power vanished. Sweat beaded down Saturns temples as she held her Glaive steady, another breath went by and everything seemed to still. A sudden dark light exploded in Conquest face, the brunt of the power went right at the gems in his crown. The force sent him flying backwards past his ruined throne of bones. Uranus was wretched from his grasp and sent sprawling on the ground.

Neptune didn't quite know what happened, nor did Uranus. Neptune felt all the pressure suddenly disappear and her chest was once again able to expand and take in air. She laid there coughing from the sudden intake of air. Uranus on the other hand had it a little rougher, she felt the hand that had been squeezing her being forced and pried from her neck and then she was spinning through the air before coming to a stop on the ground. The wind was knocked out of her and she too found herself gasping for air. Mercury ran over to them both, she knew they had extensive damage just by looking at them. She looked over at Saturn, the blade was dug deep into the ground and she was leaning heavily on it. She could see the sweat running down her temples to drip off her chin, could see the heavy heaving of her chest. "I don't remember Death Reborn being used that way..." she thought surprised. Shaking her head she looked back at Neptune and Uranus who were now in a sitting position looking around them. "What exactly happened?" she finally asked as she found her voice. Mercury shook her head "No time. We don't have much of a window left. She said glancing up in the direction Conquest was sent flying in. At their puzzled looks she took a deep breath "I know how we can stop him. Saturns already done half of the work. On his crown is a Gem, it seems to be where he stores his power. Saturns damaged it heavily...we just need to do the rest to seal him away." she said looking down.

Uranus and Neptune looked at each other and knew without speaking or asking that the chances of them surviving were slim to none. "What do we need to do?" she asked as they both looked at Mercury.
 

Conquest was furious that even with the strength of his Eternal Conqueror powers, the two Senshi lovers were still not dying. Even as his foot slowly started to cave in Neptune's chest and crush Uranus' windpipe, . His own subjects had failed him miserably, and now he had to do things his own way, lest he lose the chance to take the Queen's head as his own. Even if she was an utterly incompetent fool who had yet to reach the pinnacle of her true power, she was still the ruler of this world and in the White Horseman's eyes her head was a very worthy prize to have. "Curse you, War; when I finish the last of these heathens, I will join my Devastator Beasts against you. You will regret taking what was mine!!" he thought to himself angrily; how could he have taken so long? Even worse, how dare Endymion not last longer! He was the damned ruler of this world, the King that was supposed to outlive his henchmen! "Feh....Endymion is weak, just as the rest of you are! You will die knowing that I will claim this world as my own! Your Crystal Tower and all those who inhabit it will be mine!" Conquest then snarled, his eyes glowing reddish-white as the energy from the newly-forming Planet Jewel in his crown continued to conduct the domination of all his past victims into him.

However, even this would prove to be extremely short-lived; he was so focused on crushing these two as an example to why he should be feared that he'd forgotten about Saturn's ability to summon her Silence Glaive, and worse yet the power that she could wield with it. All he saw was a brief flash of light, as if someone had cut a swath of thin illumination just in front of his face. His grip on Sailor Uranus loosened a little, apparently caught off-guard by the sudden phenomenon before a violent but concentrated explosion erupted in front of him. A pained howl left his throat as he was thrown backwards, the sheer force of the blast cracking the Jewel in the process. His body skipped across the hard ground, colliding with shards that had emerged from his own summoning of the various demons of Hell to do his bidding. Eventually, he skid to a halt and laid motionless for a few moments, allowing the Senshi to recollect themselves and plan on how to finish him. Though he did not know or care about this, for now his rage - spurned on by his brother War's own growing influence over the rest of the city - made him try to now brutally eradicate his opponents instead of perhaps claiming them as concubines to add to his own personal 'collection'.

The Rider of the White Horse, after laying still for a few minutes, shakily began to rose; his elegant robes were torn and bloodied, gashes covered his toned form and oozed the red sanguine fluid that the Four had sought to spill here. His long black hair was mussed and dirtied, no longer flowing down to his shoulder blades in obsidian tides. The large collar which hid most of his face had been burned, exposing charred flesh that cracked and fell off as his own body slowly healed. And somehow, despite the force with which he was blasted backwards, the crown atop his head had not been ejected. The only difference was the Planet Jewel, the growth of which symbolized how much of the Earth had fallen under Conquest's control, now sparked and crackled like a short circuit, clearly having sustained heavy damage from Saturn's devastating blow.

A muted groan left Conquest's lips as he struggled to stand on his feet, his energy slowly returning to him but unknowingly not enough to let him finish off his adversaries. "D...Damn you, harlots....You....You'll pay for this..." he stuttered after he finally stood on his own two feet, letting the tired and beaten Senshi gaze upon his battered form. Shaky steps were taken towards them, slow and certainly unsteady he advanced towards his now destroyed throne. "You dare...break that which is mine....No one....touches my possessions...." he continued on as he neared the ruined pile, reaching down to let his slender fingers wrap around the grip of his axe, trails of red running down the digits and soaking into his torn clothing. "Try as you might, Senshi...Your world will fall, and I will be its new King..." he then added, his voice gaining volume and strength, "Your people are mine! This city is mine! The Earth, and everything on it, belongs to me! Do you understand! I am the Eternal Conqueror, and I will have what is rightfully mine!" As if to add a rebuff to Conquest's claims, a violent surge of red energy blasted across from where the Senshi and himself stood, knocking the Horseman back down again; what was War doing now? No way it was the Devastators that got to him; they wouldn't have even reached him yet. Those lumbering brutes, even at full speed they were still so slow. Standing once more, Conquest growled as his glowing white hues looked to the heavens, "No...I will not allow War to take Serenity's head! It is mine! Mine, War! Do you hear me!?"
 
Saturn :: Uranus :: Neptune :: Mercury
​


Mercury nodded "You've all seen the Gem in his crown, correct?" she asked looking at both of them. They looked at each other before looking back at her and nodding. "Yes...the blast from Saturn should have been enough to destroy it though....right?" Neptune asked with a raise of her brow. Mercury only shook her head "No, those gems are the source of his power so Saturns attack alone would not have been enough to shatter them. She's done the hardest part though and damaged them. Our job is to finish what she started and destroy them." she said looking in the direction of the settling debris and dust. "What will happen once we've done this?" Uranus asked following Mercuries gaze. Uranus could still feel the crushing grip on her throat and absentmindedly raised her hand to feel her own throat where large bruises were forming. He'd damaged her windpipe, had she been a normal human being she'd be lying on the ground suffocating. The only reason she was standing here now was because she was a Senshi. She looked at Neptune and she could see that her dearest Neptune was also suffering major internal damage. Mercury was silent for awhile watching the two "I'm not exactly sure...I know it will be enough to seal him away...however the power we'll need will drain us entirely. Whatever may happen we won't survive it." she said with a glance in Saturns direction. Neptune and Uranus followed her gaze and they all stared at Saturn. She was damaged in several area's of her body and her breathing was ragged. Most of the damage she sustained was probably linked to withholding the power from her "Death Reborn". Of all of them though, Saturn was in the best condition and would probably survive the encounter. Which if any of them had to survive, it was good that it was Saturn since she was the most powerful of them all.

Both Uranus and Neptune recalled a memory far into their past where with Pluto they had tried to prevent Saturn's awakening as a Senshi. They had so feared her power in the past and now, her power was essential in winning the war. When one thinks of a War they recall battles that last through the millenniums and yet this one was only a few hours old. Yet the damage sustained in those few hours was immense. "Alright, Mercury...we should finish this now." she said looking at Mercury. Neptune nodded in agreement and a solemness settled over the small group. Mercury stared at Saturn a split second longer before turning to wait for their adversary. Before long their enemy rose to his feet, as the debris cleared they could see just how much damage she'd truly done to the horseman. It was...impressive, of them all Mercury could see where the true damage had been done. The Gem that adorned his forehead was heavily damaged, it crackled and sparked and the Horseman himself seemed dazed and disoriented. They watched him closely and as he raised his voice to scream to the heavens they all assailed him with their combined powers.

Saturn watched from the sidelines as the other three sent wave after wave of power crashing into his head. There was no bright Kaleidoscope of colors, no one screaming out powers and none of the Senshi's winced or struggled. Saturn dug the blade of her Glaive deep into the earth and watched as a pure opalescent light bore down heavily on the Rider Conquest. She couldn't see his Gem but could feel the power cracking and ebbing. Could feel his own powers go out of control, they all held their breaths as the power of the Senshi and the Riders escalated to a point bordering the insane and in one breathe it reached it's breaking point and shattered.

A blast emitted outwards from Conquest, like water rushing over land but a moment later the tide of power could be felt rushing back like water returning to it's source. It all rushed towards Conquest and in a single moment of stillness all chaos broke out. Within his shattered gem a void opened up and began sucking in everything around it. The force of the winds steadily increased pulling the three spent Senshi towards him. Saturn gripped her Glaive tightly and fought the winds while watching the other three struggle against the tornado force winds. She locked gazes with Mercury and knew that Mercury could fight no more. Before letting the void take her she yelled something to her and stopped fighting. Moments later Neptune and Uranus were sent spinning into the void, Saturn saw Conquest struggle and fight bit with grim satisfaction watched as the void finally overcame him and he was swallowed whole into the void.

The wind died down and a sudden and intense silence descended upon the area. Saturn leaned heavily against her weapon, she felt herself start to lose consciousness and tried to fight it. She could hear Mercuries final words ring out in her head. Saturns Glaive dispersed and Saturn collapsed to the ground unconscious.
 
War​

The King of the Earth was now dead; this much War was certain would bring some disorder to the Senshi and allow the Horsemen to bring their judgment to them more easily. The edge of his massive sword a shining red, Endymion's blood dripping slowly but steadily from it's point, the Rider of the Red Horse was ready for his next challenger. But for now he seemed to stare at the King's unmoving form; despite the very clear fact that without the Gold Crystal Endymion was doomed, he fought bravely and valiantly in the name of defending Crystal Tokyo and the planet from the Riders' wrath. Unlike his pathetic excuse for a Queen; despite the power she held, she exhibited such sickening cowardice. And on top of that, she was STILL unable to control the Silver Crystal and use it to her advantage. "Feh, pathetic filth" War thought to himself, feeling his blood boil that Serenity dared not even lift a finger to try and help her husband; even if Mars was ordered to protect her, the Queen SHOULD have tried to assist the King. Still, Endymion had done much to damage him, more than any other opponent he faced: The left shoulder guard was completely obliterated, his armor had been broken in several places revealing the skin beneath, and a good chunk of his helmet was missing to reveal one of his two red-irised eyes, short gray hair and a strong-jawed face.

As he turned to face Serenity and Mars once more, he found that Mars was busy doing the Horseman's job for him...In part. It wasn't likely she'd kill the Moon Queen, but War could feel and even see the pent-up rage, hatred and agony of loss flowing from the Senshi of War and Justice. It rolled off her athletic form in waves, flowing into the Horseman and fueling him, in turn increasing his own aggression and unwillingness to idly stand by. A grimace crossed his features and his hand tightened on the grip of his sword; as he raised the weapon to enter combat once more, he was suddenly caught off-guard as Mars now turned her burning hatred towards him. His right leg bracing against what would have been a brutal strike, her armor crumpling as the force made it crumple like paper. Her first kick shattered the remainder of his helmet, exposing his face in full and wrenching his head to the side; most of her subsequent blows landed on sturdier portions of his armor, causing the bones in her hands and legs to fracture, but that occurred even when she struck exposed flesh. But some of the ones that did land on him broke even more pieces off his body, exposing more of his flesh to her violent barrage. And despite his best efforts to kill her back, she was moving far too quickly in his encumbered state. His sword's violently sharp edge missing her by fractions of an inch, or barely nicking her skin, even as her rage only fed his own and made their already searing flames all the hotter and wilder. Her attacks didn't hurt all that much, per se, but he could feel the impacts most certainly; any lesser creature would have broken under such an assault long before now. still, her own rage was working against her and yet she didn't seem to care in the slightest. War's eyes widened as she leaped backwards, only to see her form a massive beast of fire that would threaten to consume him.

"You utter fool...." War mumbled silently, his gaze refocused on her as Mars charged the attack to its absolute maximum before unleashing it on him; the force of the crash echoing as he would swing down his sword to intercept it. Cleaving the initial portion of the fiery monster in two, the rest would come up to completely envelop him, his form disappearing from view. Little did realize that he too was a master of Fire, the substance that fueled the engines of war and destruction and that smoldered in the hearts of mortals across the Universe, waiting for something to stoke it and bring it roaring to life in a blaze of glory. And unknown to Mars was the fact that she'd allowed her flame to burn too brightly; shadow upon shadow would cross her mind, likely dissuading her to believe it was reality when it was in fact illusion. The first illusion came quickly; as she struggled to her feet, a demon burst from her chest, howling to the heavens before turning to face her. It then lunged at her, its strong hands gripping her shoulders and forcing her onto her back.

Its lower body still somewhat in her own body, it hunched over and let out a demented cackle, the deep voice rumbling from its throat, "Ah, Sailor Mars, Soldier of War and Fire...How typical you would give into your hate so easily. But I don't see what you're upset about; you were a good little pawn, obeying the orders of your superior. You should be happy, happy that he died while you performed your duty: Protecting the King's one true love and desire, Neo-Queen Serenity. There's no shame or dishonor in that, you know". Chuckling a little, the demon then added, "Tell me, Mars, how does it feel? To come face to face with the ugliness in your soul? That which you could never master, never get a handle on? How does it feel to be a slave to your emotions?"

As this discourse went underway, War gave a single swipe of his sword again and cleared the wall of flames from in front of him, revealing that he was in fact unharmed save for the missing portions of his cumbersome armor. In addition to Mars' own fury and aggression, the fire refreshed him and from the infernal but ultimately ineffective makeshift prison he walked, bringing his massive weapon to rest on his shoulder; each step seemed to ignite the ground around him, like Mars' fire was being channeled through him and spreading to the earth surrounding him. It also rolled off his body in waves, truly giving him the appearance of the Devil spawned from Hell itself. Each step brought him closer and closer to Mars, his gleaming red hues focused with a bone-chilling intent to kill on the Senshi. Only Serenity would be able to see that this was but in fact a facade, her pure heart seeming incapable of utter corruption from the vices of wrath and pride.
 
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Mar's had sat there watching the Horseman closely; her arms lay limply by her side, her breathing ragged and pain flowing through her entire body. She knew she'd over-reacted, she'd lost her barely contained control the minute that the weapon had pierced Endymion's body. She'd acted purely on the emotions that flowed forth and attacked her friend and blindly attacked the Horseman. Even knowing that, she could still feel the fiery rage burn her very soul. Her eyes flitted to Endymion's body and a new kind of pain shafted it's way through her heart. Agony, pure agony; hatred and anger flared up within her anew. It was all her fault, she had the silver crystal, why had she cowered so? She'd had the power to assist him, prevent his death and yet she'd done absolutely nothing again. She wanted to scream to the heaven's in rage but no words left her mouth. Tears blurred her vision and parts of her rage turned to sorrow and yet more pain. She felt as if she might be torn asunder by all the emotions and all the pain that were shooting about inside of her. "WHY..." she thought feeling an unusual helplessness build within.

Mar's emotions were changing back and forth between complete rage and a shattering sadness. His last smile and words, even his last thoughts had been for Moon. What was so special about her? Sailor Mar's knew after this, should she live that she could never again work under Sailor Moon. Never follow her into battle, never look at her as a friend again. She'd died in a permanent way inside of Sailor Mar's, she was done with it.

She tried to struggle to her feet to attack again; horror and fear filled her gaze as she watched something rip out of her chest and turn to look at her. It was horrible and terribly demonic looking in nature, she felt it's hands grip her shoulders and force her onto her back. The way it watched her, stared at her; she felt the fire in her slowly die out as fear and confusion took it's place. It began to speak to her, it's voice was harsh and cracked like coal in a fire that's burned too hotly. The words it spoke stung deeply, the words sinking into her heart and mind. "One true love...." her thoughts echoed the demons words. She'd also stood by as he was slaughtered, she knew he couldn't do it alone and yet she'd....she'd stood by protecting Moon while he was cut down. She felt something slash through her being, not anger, nor rage or hatred it was something far more painful; a deep and abiding anguish ripped through her being. She heard the demon chuckle; it was an ugly sound; she eyed the demon warily not sure what to make of it. The next words it spoke smacked hard against her, stunning her. "You can not be..." she tried to say but stumbled over the words she was about to say. It couldn't be possible, it was some horrible little trick. "It echoes the very thoughts that had lain within the back of your mind...even as you struck down Sailor Moon." a little voice chimed in. "It's not true...it can't be true..." she thought in protest. "What else could it be? It knows what even you do not wish to admit dear Mar's." the voice spoke slyly. Mar's squeezed her eye's shut in protest, shut them against the Horseman, against Sailor Moon and against the ugly demon coming from her chest.

She shut them against everything, she could hear the demon speaking. It's words were as harsh as it's voice and as cruel as it's form. "No..." she whispered. Tears fell from her shuttered eyes. "No...." she whispered again shaking her head violently back and forth in protest. "No..." her denial was a bit louder this time but still hardly louder than a normal speaking voice. The voices in her head and the ones the demon spoke would not be silenced by her meager protests, they would not stop for her tiny and pathetic denials of their self proclaimed truths.

Off on the far side Sailor Moon lay motionless on the ground where Mar's had discarded her to attack the Horseman. She lay there and watched, watched everything. To the start of her attack on the horseman to now where Mar's lay on the ground talking to something. Her pure and uncorrupted eye's could not see that which Mar's saw. Her purity was her only remarkable trait, she was not vulnerable to the darkness that all those around her where vulnerable too. Her heart could not be swayed in any of those horrid and ugly emotions. The only things she answered to were fear and cowardice, and she'd paid deeply for it too. She'd lost everything that had meant anything to her. Her kingdom and her dear, dear Endymion. She only hoped that Chibi-Usa was safe inside the castle and did not have to witness the battles. Before her eye's she watched as the Horseman swiped away the flames that had consumed him as easily as if he were merely breathing. He look refreshed instead of damaged and fear once more took hold of Sailor Moon's heart "How can we beat such a being?" she thought. Flames shimmered in her eye's, the heat the flames were giving off distorted her vision. Even at this distance she could feel their intensity "There's no way....it can't be done...it's impossible..." her thoughts were once more consumed with the same thoughts that had always compromised her in the past. Except this time...who was left to save her?

Sailor Mar's couldn't seem to drown out the horrible words the wretched little demon kept whispering to her nor the voices that taunted her inside of her own mind. They kept poking at her, their words consuming her, spinning round and round inside of her head. She raised her fractured hands and arms and placed her hands over her ears trying to hush at least the demon's voice. "Stop it..." she said her voice breaking as tears fell from her eye's. The emotions inside of her kept swelling, shifting from rage and hatred to sorrow and anguish. "Stop it..." she said louder pressing her hands harder against her own ears. It was all becoming too much, far too much. Her chest rose and fell with each of her labored breaths, it was heavy...the demon was so heavy. It was becoming hard to breath "Stop, just STOP IT." she screamed out arching her back. However instead of falling silent like before she continued to scream. Her voice rose higher and higher echoing the shifting emotions inside of her damaged body. Her scream intensified, desperation and rage consuming her. Flames whipped up around her dispelling the illusion of the demon, the flames normally a vibrant red burned an intense white. The heat and flames scorched everything around her, Mar's fell silent as the flames lashed out rising higher into the sky.

Mar's slowly rose to her feet and faced the oncoming Horseman. The flames that engulfed her did not die out, they continued to burn hotly. The tears that fell from her eye's sizzled on her skin before drying up. Her gaze was fixed intently on the Horseman, the flames cracked and surged about her, trying hungrily to consume everything and anything they could touch. Mar's was eerily silent as she watched the Horseman approach her. With a shrill war like scream Mar's charged at the Horsemen, the fire that wrapped around her was reflected in her eye's. Mar's it seemed, was far from done. The flames that licked her skin rose higher and higher, reaching to set the heavens above ablaze. Mar's picked up speed as she ran at War, she ducked low and rammed her shoulder into War's chest. The force behind the attack dislocated and likely fractured her shoulder but also sent the Horseman stumbling back. Mar's grabbed her arm and yanked her shoulder back into place without taking her eye's off of the Horseman. Unlike before, there was no hatred or rage or even anger that seethed from her. In fact there was nothing but the flames that surrounded her. She let out another war cry and charged at him to attack him once more.

Sailor Moon watched from the sidelines as Mar's rose from the ground. It didn't look quite like she rose though, more like someone had pulled her up. She could see clear as day that the figure inside of the flames was indeed Mar's but...it wasn't Mar's. When she tried to reach out and feel Mar's life force...she didn't actually feel anything. None of the emotions that they had all come to know her for; it was all void. The war cry that she'd let out had, had an odd effect on her and sent a chill of fear down her spine. If she'd thought that the flames before had been intense then this was insane. The heat that rolled from the flames was suffocating. It felt like all the oxygen in the area was being consumed by those flames. Sailor Moon panicked she really didn't want to die, she couldn't die. She watched the fiery figure let out another scream and charge at the Horseman. "What are you doing Mar's? Where are you..." she asked as she lay there as useless as ever.
 
War​

The Horseman was surprised as Mars suddenly fell onto her back; though it took only a moment for him to realize what had happened: She'd given in, let that which caused her rage come to the surface. No doubt she was hallucinating because of it; with how she thrashed on the ground, struggling against some invisible bind, and whispering pleas of cessation. War just grimaced; how he hated this power sometimes. There was no honor in killing a mentally compromised opponent, and he knew there was nothing he could do to free her thoughts from his influence. It was this that he stopped in tracks, only a few feet from Mars' form; if one were to truly observe the situation, they would see that War was not even giving Queen Serenity a second glance. One would think that he would take the opportunity to cut down the Moon Queen while Mars was incapacitated, but that's not how War operated. It never was; every time he entered a battle, he would always finish it with the opponent at hand, not run off and attack someone else. That was a coward’s strategy, and if anyone knew of War’s record, they would find he was certainly no coward. That wasn’t to say that his enemies extended him the same courtesy; more often than not, they gladly took any opportunity they had to be sneaky and stab him in the back.

”Unbelievable. How the Senshi have fallen…Nothing compared to what you used to be” War growled as he stood still and watched Mars struggle more and more fervently against the illusions that he knew plagued her psyche. Truthfully, it wasn’t her fault and he knew it; even still, he had hoped the Soldier of War and Justice would be able to put her duties first and leave her emotions behind. The Red Rider couldn’t fathom that he’d have to put someone down, like a rabid animal. It was so…unjust. So gutwrenchingly dishonorable that if it weren’t for the fact that she had to die in the name of the Balance, he’d let her go. With this, he started walking towards her again, the flames still pluming out from his body and spreading out to scorch the destroyed earth. Even as she rose to her feet, War’s eyes matched with hers and as he raised his blade to strike her down, he found himself forced back from her charge. A pittance of a move, but it showed she still had fight left in her; War brushed off the spot on his remaining armor where her shoulder connected before rushing to meet her in combat as well.

Little did Mars realize that the Horseman did not just feed off of things like rage, prejudice, and hatred; events in the past of his immortal life ensured that he would be able to channel the essence of fire and wield it to accomplish his goals. As Mars’ flames grew, so did War’s; soon the combination of their respective fires burned with an unthinkable intensity. Flares shot out of the blazing inferno in scorching fingers, carving great lines of black into whatever was near them. A few struck in the vicinity of Queen Serenity, charring the ground around her and creating a semi-broken ring of fire around her body. Blow after blow was traded, the swings of War’s massive weapon barely missing Rei’s fiery form; as the fight continued, War’s own immense immolation slowly began to absorb Mars’. With each blow she landed on him, another bit of her fire was subsumed into the Horseman’s own.

Over and over this occurred, the intensity of the fire beginning to subside as the fight progressed; after another missed swing from War, the Red Horseman cocked his left hand back and with his armored fist ignited, struck Mars hard in the jaw and sent her flying from the plume, leaving War to sit inside the blazing firestorm their fight had created. The Horseman was nowhere to be seen for the moment, the massive wall of fire serving to obscure his form from view, but his presence was still very much noticeable; if anything, the strength of his presence seemed to grow, stoking the flames above and beyond what even Mars was putting out. The fire seemed to grow high enough to swallow the entire planet; the border of the flame even came within a few feet of Serenity, obscuring her vision even more with a blazing wall of white heat. Fingerlings of fire licked the air, the cracking reaching near-defeanening levels as the Horseman’s rage created a massive blast wave that rocked the nearby area.

When the flames died down to a reasonable level, Serenity would finally see what happened: War’s body was now fully encased in fire, white flames roaring out from the cracks in his armor. The blinding fire also covered his enormous blade thickly, bits of the unknown alloy visible through the roiling cover. But perhaps the most terrifying aspect was that the skin on the Horseman’s head seemed to have disappeared; in its place was a charred skull, the bone charred an obsidian black and standing out quite clearly in contrast to the flame which encased it. Every detail was visible, from the thickness of the bone itself to the teeth in the jaw; the skull then turned its gaze toward Serenity, peering daggers into her from those black empty sockets. War pointed a finger at her, saying to the Queen in a gravely voice ”See the true extent of what your filthy cowardice has done, Queen Serenity” before turning his attention back to Mars.

Meanwhile, Mars would experience yet a second illusion, one which would not be so easily dispelled by fire; in fact, if she were to use her flames against it, the illusion would only grow stronger. From the inferno wall walked none other than Sailor Mars herself, dressed in her Sailor Senshi outfit. "Feh, look at you; where was this courage when Endymion was risking his life for you? And even still, fighting with all that can be mustered to destroy the one that took your beloved away, the Horseman still lives? Is your mind so far gone that you've forgotten what you're fighting for? Have you really allowed your jealousy to so pitifully consume you?" This Mars would then assume a familiar stance; it was the stance to utilize Flame Sniper. In an instant the bow formed and a fiery arrow materialized as the 'string' was drawn back. "Well, I haven't....And if you won't have the strength to finish this fight, I will".
 
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The comment made by War about the Senshi's descent completely passed by Sailor Moon, though it wasn't that surprising. Sailor Moon wasn't known for her brave heart nor her intelligence or ability to think calmly and logically in a crisis. You could always count on her to panic, run or completely miss out on clues and comments made by the enemy. A true idiot to the end. She couldn't even bring herself to move for fear it would draw the enemies gaze to herself, making her a the target instead of Mar's. She'd lain there watching the whole thing completely confused and immensely terrified for her own well being. It was a fool's errand to attack him and one that would lead to one's own demise. Though both Mar's and Moon had felt a crushing sadness and a soul wrenching anguish when Endymion had died they both had dealt with it differently. Moon as was her habit had fallen into an abyssal well where she had decided to hide. To flee from everything and wallow in her own despair's and regrets, she could not and never would understand why Mar's had snapped. Sure, she knew Mar's had always had trouble controlling her fiery emotions, had always been a slave to them. However, she'd never lost so much control over herself, never like this. Unlike Moon, Mar's sought vengeance upon the person or persons who would rob her of the things she held so dearly. She could never cower away or sink into oblivion and hide. She would bring retribution down upon those who dared to harm her dear ones. Even if the odds of her own survival were limited or even impossible. That was their biggest difference, Moon cared deeply but also cared for her own survival. Mar's held no such concerns for her own safety so long as her vengeance was handed down to the guilty party.

Mar's attacked War with a wanton abandon that bordered the reckless, even for the Senshi whose element was the raging all consuming flames of destruction and passion; this was going much to far. No grunts, or gasps escaped her lips as more bones broke and fractured, the only sounds that she emitted were the high and hollow screeches of her war cry. Her gaze was blank and unfocused, her breathing was steady and calm. She was nothing more than an empty shell, housing neither pain or rage nor determination, just a void, a shadow of her former proud self. A simple marionette, pulled along strings controlled by her reflexes and instincts alone. Her mind no longer functioning as it should, shuttered to the world around her. When confronted by her own inaction to save Endymion she'd broken and had shut out her own mind so as not to hear the accusations and doubts she knew lingered there. It was all that was keeping her standing in such poor physical condition; the innate will to survive.

Her flames battled against War's own flames, they flared up and fanned out as the two fought. The building would not last very long against such terrifying and voracious flames. The blaze reaching so high that all of crystal Tokyo would see the spectacle.

War was overwhelming her, her and her flames. It was obvious and yet Mar's refused to back down or step back. Even though it was her will to survive that was keeping her standing her desire for vengeance was also driving her to attack with such recklessness. She could only attack with such abandon for so long before she faltered or slipped up. It seemed that, that time had come. War's flamed fist connected with her jaw and sent her flying backwards with tremendous force. It was enough to bring Mar's from her state of unconsciousness. When her body had stopped bouncing along the ground and had come to a stop, she'd lain there completely still. After awhile she opened her eye's and tried to focus them but squeezed them tightly shut as pain seared her senses. Her arms felt like bricks of lead, her legs felt like they'd been encased in cement and her jaw, her jaw she was sure was fractured from the punch. Warily she opened her eye's again and tried to focus her fuzzy vision. Her arms were an unsightly mix of purple, black and red, blood coating her knuckles. She highly doubted the blood belonged to the Horseman. Blood slid from the brow down into her eye and the side of her face. She experimentally tried to move her jaw and winced as pain shot through her entire head. She managed to spit out a few teeth that had been knocked out as well as the blood that had filled her mouth.

"Idiot...." she mentally reprimanded herself. She might have verbally tried but she didn't want to attempt talking at this point. "No better than Sailor Moon at this point..." she thought lowering her gaze in shame. Debris and smoke filled the air around them hiding the Horseman from her vision. The sound of someone approaching made her lift her gaze and her eye's widened as she herself came through the haze of smoke. The disdain in the other Mar's gaze was there for all to see, she didn't even try to hide it and when she spoke it dripped from her words like venom. Mar's stared at herself in shock her words causing her chest to rise and fall rapidly. "No, I haven't forgotten I'll never forget." she mentally denied the accusations but could not form the words. Panic settled in, she couldn't die, not now, not by her own hand. She watched as the other Mar's took her stance and another wave of denial swept through her "No! A mere illusion can't...." the thought died as soon as the flame bow formed. It seemed a mere illusion could.

In an odd instant the panic died within Mar's and was replaced by a strength she never knew she had. A calmness settled over her, an odd calmness that was never attributed to the fiery warrior. Resolve. It carried through her allowing her to lift her battered body from the ground to face herself. "You are not any part of me if you expect me to sit here and die like her." she managed to say though it pained her. She was going to die, that was a certainty that could not be avoided. However she intended to die like a warrior, one who was in control of her own mind. She'd gone through several stages of emotion and several stages of mental denials and acceptances in a relatively short time.

Sailor Moon could no longer see Mar's, she'd seen War punch her and seen her fly through the air but she could see her no longer. What on the nine planets made her think she could actually take on this warrior and survive? If Endymion couldn't do it, there was no way any of them could do it. She winced startled as War turned to her, she wanted to slink backwards away from him. He then pointed at her and laid the blame at her feet. She didn't understand what he was talking about and did not intend to ask him. She thanked the gods when he turned from her and faced the direction of where Mar's was. Sailor Moon knew she had to move, she couldn't lie here forever. Pushing herself up into a sitting position, she looked around herself. The city was destroyed, the skies were blackened and the streets were filled with the corpses of the citizens as well as the corpses of the demons they'd been fighting. Blood would forever stain the once pristine grounds of Crystal Tokyo. Tears filled her eye's and fell down her cheek only to be evaporated in the heat. Standing up she edged herself back farther away from the fight to an area where the heat was not so intense.

Normally, this was where the hero would make his grand entrance, right as everything seemed lost. He would appear and save the day, but her dearest was dead. She raised her hand to her chest and watched as a wind began to sweep away some of the smoke. Both of the warriors were now an enemy to Sailor Moon. She had a feeling deep within her bones that no matter who came out the victor it was her blood they sought and they would slaughter her. She should run, flee while they were fighting each other. "Where would I go?" she thought. Suddenly the full weight and implications of the entire situation came crashing down on her. She was alone, hopelessly, terribly alone. The thought sank deep inside of her and then she fell to her knees and began to sob.

No one would ever call Sailor Moon smart. Only she would cry instead of fleeing or fighting when her life was in peril.
 
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