Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Reflections of Ruin ❯ A Destiny of Ruin ( Chapter 10 )

Reflections of Ruin

by P.H. Wise

A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

 

Chapter 10 - A Destiny of Ruin

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

 

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Selene stood calmly before the dressing mirror in her quarters. The image reflected was not her own: within the mirror, a very male Ranma Saotome fought desperately against the Phoenix King, Saffron. For all that he had done, he simply did not have enough power to defeat his immortal foe. Then, when all hoped seemed lost, and it was almost certain that the boy would be killed, he changed. The sigil of Saturn appeared on his brow, and he changed, his body rippling as he went from male to female one last time. Yet this final transformation was unlike the one that the boy had experienced on a regular basis for the last two years of his life: this, he was being transformed into something more than human: Sailor Saturn. As Saturn plunged the Silence Glaive into Saffron's chest, Selene let the spell dissipate. She had learned what she needed to learn. She saw the signs of Saturn's influence in every area of the boy's life.

 

She nodded to her maids, and they went smoothly into motion, clothing her in the traditional garb of the Moon Kingdom's ruler: what some have called the `Princess dress.' Even as they fastened the last clasp, Selene shook her head ruefully. She was not looking forward to what she had to do today. To put a Senshi to death was never a thing to be done lightly, but she could not see that there was any other choice. Though she felt compassion for the Senshi of Saturn, the Princess Serenity's safety was a greater concern. They fastened the last clasp, and she put Selene aside, once again assuming the familiar mantle of Serenity.

 

She considered her reflection for a moment.

 

Yes, knew what she had to do. She only prayed that her daughter would one day forgive her for it.

 

With a curt nod to the maids, Queen Serenity turned smoothly and departed from her chambers.

 

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“Make way!” Venus shouted as she, Mars, and Jupiter raced down the palace corridor. Servants and the occasional courtier scurried out of their path, and stared after them as they passed. Their mad rush would be the subject of many discussions in the near future, but for now, none of the three much cared. They had to get to Ranma before the Queen took action against her.

 

Onwards, faster and faster they raced, their fears growing ever greater as they ran. What if it had all been a lie? What if this wasn't Serenity at all, but some kind of imposter? Could this all be some sort of elaborate trick? They had no answers.

They came at last to a dull, steel door, seemingly out of place in the midst of the grand palace, and the three Senshi skidded to a halt. This, they knew, was the main entrance to the dungeon. This was where they would find Ranma.

 

“Ready?” Venus asked. The others nodded their affirmatives.

 

Venus stepped forward and pushed open the door, and the three Senshi entered the Dungeons.

 

They found themselves at the guard post: it was a large, open room. All the furniture, of fine make but clearly not of the same quality as the rest of the palace, was pushed against the walls, and there, waiting for them in the center of the room, stood Ersa, clad in silver armour, accompanied by six of her Royal Guard.

 

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Through back passages and hidden ways, Serenity walked, flanked on either side by a member of her royal guard. They weren't Senshi, but they were enough to give the appearance of security, even if she didn't need guarding. These passages were bare and unadorned, cut from living crystal that caught the light of the lamps that each guard bore and scattering it across every surface until the whole tunnel seemed filled with light. After a short walk, they came to a plain steel door, and Serenity nodded to her guards. They opened the door and stepped through. She followed.

 

-----------------------

 

“The Queen suspected you might try to intervene,” Ersa said, glaring coldly at the three Senshi. “I won't have it. I won't let you destroy the world out of naivety and foolishness. Although I doubt you will listen to me, your Queen commands that you each return to your quarters and await her summons.”

 

Venus felt her heart clench at that, but she would not be swayed. To disobey Queen Serenity was not nearly so terrible as the thought of explaining to Usagi why they had allowed Sailor Saturn to die. “We can't let her do this, Ersa-san. There's no need to sacrifice Saturn. We can find another way.”

 

“Then I have no choice but to fight you. I have no illusions. I know that these soldiers here and I are no match for three Senshi. But we may at least delay you long enough to see the Queen's will done.”

 

Venus stepped forward. “The ends don't justify the means, Ersa. Open your eyes! You can't murder an innocent girl and come away with clean hands! Soldier of Love and Justice, I am Sailor Venus!”

 

“Sailor Mars!”
“Sailor Jupiter!”

 

“In the name of the moon, we'll punish you!”

 

Ersa raised her shock lance, and the soldiers with her did likewise. “So be it.”

 

Battle was joined.

 

---------------

 

At last, Serenity stepped through the door into Saturn's cell. There she stood, the Senshi of Ruin, Silence Glaive in hand, glaring furiously at the Queen as she entered the room. On the floor beneath her, a curious symbol was inscribed: not quite a pentagram, but rather a five pointed star in the center of which was a tongue of flame. The sigil glowed with a violent glow, and though the girl's muscles were tensed as if for battle, she did not move. It was an ancient symbol: older than the Moon Kingdom itself, from a time when the prehistoric incarnations of the Sailor Senshi had done battle with the star-spawn of the primordial Solar System. Properly empowered, as this one was, and reinforced with many, many shielding spells, it could bind even one so powerful as Sailor Saturn, drawing her energy away into nearby dimensions, inaccessible to her.

 

“You wanna tell me why you've locked me up in here?” Saturn asked insolently.

 

Serenity nodded. “That, at least, you deserve to know, Senshi Saturn,” she said.

 

-------------------

 

“Burning Mandala!” Mars shouted, tracing a line of fire in a circle around her body. The fire coalesced into a shining mandala of flame, and she pulled her hands back, and then flung the whole construct forward as a volley of fiery disks. The first guard took the hit solidly in the chest and went flying into the far wall, out for the count, though still alive, thanks to his armour.

 

“CRESCENT BEAM!”
”SUPREME THUNDER!”

Two more attacks, two more guards sent into Morpheus's blissful embrace.

 

Ersa charged, lunging forward with her shock lance, and the three guards at her side did the same. Venus leaped back to avoid Ersa's lance even as Mars and Jupiter similarly avoided the attacks directed against them.

 

“Listen to me, Ersa. We don't have any quarrel with you. Let us pass, please!”

 

“I have a quarrel with anyone who would disobey the word of Serenity,” Ersa said calmly, and twirled her shock lance around, caught Venus's foot with the blunt end, and swept the Senshi of Love off her feet. “I've heard much about you, Inanna. Your devotion to your Princess is admirable, but even the Princess must bow before the wishes of the Queen.” She brought the business end of the shock lance down, aiming directly for Venus's face.

 

Venus's eyes widened, and she reacted instinctively. She brought her hand up as if clasping a weapon, and in that moment, she was: a shining crystal sword emblazoned with the symbol of Venus flashed into being in her hand, and sheared clean through the shock lance, sending its blade clattering to the floor several feet away. That sword... Venus couldn't help but feel heartsick when she looked at it, though she couldn't say why.

 

Ersa stared, wide-eyed. “What?”

 

Venus rose to her feet, holding the sword between herself and Ersa. “It takes more than that to defeat a Senshi, Ersa-san,” she said, and struck the silver-haired woman once, twice upside the head with the flat of her blade. It was not graceful, nor was it pretty, but it did the job. Ersa fell to the ground, bleeding slightly from her scalp.

 

Venus looked to the others, and saw that they had similarly dispatched the remaining guards. “Come on, minna,” she said, brandishing her sword. “Let's hope we're not too late.”

 

Even as the three Senshi left the room through the far door, Ersa tried to rise to pursue them, but a wave of nausea forced her back to her knees. She coughed loudly, and put a hand to her bloodied scalp. She had failed.

 

“I'm sorry, mother,” Ersa whispered to the cold dungeon air.

 

-------------------

 

It was accomplished. The explanation given. All that was left now was to finish it. Serenity raised her ornate, glowing staff over Saturn, who still faced her defiantly within the barrier field. “Goodbye, Senshi Saturn,” she said calmly, and brought the staff down purposefully into a small, ornately decorated socket on the floor.

 

“VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!”

 

The chain lashed out and caught the staff in mid-motion, stopping it bare inches above the socket.

 

The Sailor Senshi had arrived.

 

Serenity turned towards the three just in time to see her two royal guardsmen slumping to the floor, thoroughly unconscious. She was not looking at the Senshi kindly this time. No, now, she glared angrily at them. “I see,” she said.

 

“We can't let you do it, Serenity-sama,” Mars said.

 

“Ranma is our friend, and Usagi's friend,” Jupiter said. “We can't let you kill her. She hasn't done anything wrong!”

 

Ranma allowed herself to breathe again. But even if they stopped this Serenity chick from killing her, it grated on her. Her pride rose up against the very idea of being held prisoner. That was Akane's job, wasn't it? Akane got kidnapped, Ranma did the rescuing. Ranma didn't get kidnapped. But here she was anyways. She swallowed her pride.

 

“Listen to me very carefully. If Saturn is allowed to live, she *will* destroy the world. That is her fate, and it cannot be changed.”

 

Ranma tried not to grind her teeth. What the hell was it with people taking one look at her and thinking she was out to destroy the world, anyways? “Look, Lady, I got no intention of destroying anything! I *like* the world!”

 

Serenity ignored her. “Whatever she may say, she has no choice in the matter. Her awakening as a Senshi is a portent of doom for your world. It is destiny. How can you not see this?”

 

“Serenity-sama,” Venus said, stepping forward, but not releasing the staff from her chain, “It doesn't have to be that way. She has a will of her own, and can choose whether or not to follow that destiny.”

 

Serenity shook her head. “You don't understand, Minako. It's not a matter of choice. Just as you are the Senshi of Love, Saturn is the Senshi of Ruin. This is more than a title; it is a metaphysical connection with the concept she represents.” She looked at Ranma, bound behind the Elder Sign. “Look at this girl, Senshi. It is her nature to bring ruin with her wherever she goes. It isn't her fault, but it is her nature. In a very real way, she *is* ruin.”

 

Ranma grew angry. Furious, even. “That's a lie! I ain't never brought ruin with me. I've always tried to do right by the people I met, even if that baka panda made it hard...”

 

Serenity spoke to Ranma, then, and there was compassion in her gaze. “Is that really true, Ranma?” she asked, using the red-head's name for the first time. “I have seen your life, from your birth until your awakening as a Senshi. You are an open book to me. Your influence destroyed the life of your childhood friend, Ukyou. Shampoo, your would-be Amazon wife, can never return to her village because of you. She might have become an Elder one day if not for you. Her life, too, has been brought to ruin. Your friend, Ryouga Hibiki, was cursed by your own hands to spend the rest of his days transforming into a piglet when splashed with cold water. Your constant fights have nearly bankrupted the Tendo family, and your carelessness in choice of battleground for these fights has destroyed the homes and businesses of many.”

 

Ranma clenched her fists, her anger rising to heights she had never felt before in all her life, and as every hurtful word rang out, she became just a little more sure that the Queen was speaking the very word of truth. “If you've seen my life, then you know that it ain't my fault! That baka Oyaji was to blame for almost all of that!”

 

“No, as I said, it isn't your fault: it is your nature. Your influence also ruined your father, accelerating his moral degeneration until he became almost irredeemably wretched.”

 

“I won't listen to this!” Ranma shouted, summoning forth her battle aura. “Mouko Takabisha!” Nothing. She began to glow with a sickly green aura, breathing heavily. “SHISHI HOKOUDAN!” she yelled, sending out a tremendous blast of green-tinged ki.

 

It dissipated harmlessly against the barrier.

 

“And because of your very existence, your fiancée, Akane Tendo, has been consigned to darkness. You are Ruin, Ranma Saotome.” Serenity shook her head sadly. “No, Saturn.” She looked directly into Ranma's eyes now. “You exist to bring about the ruin of all things, and I will not let you destroy my daughter.”

 

Ranma sank to her knees in despair, overcome by the Queen's words. It couldn't be true. It COULDN'T be true. It wasn't true... was it?

 

“You can't make that decision!” Mars argued. “No matter what she may or may not be, she's a human being, and you can't just kill her because of what she might or might not do!”

 

Serenity met Venus's gaze, and her eyes were fierce. “I *will* preserve my daughter's future kingdom. If I have to kill a single Senshi who will promptly be reborn to a new human life after her death in order to ensure the creation of Crystal Tokyo and prevent the extinction of the human race, so be it.”

 

Venus shook her head incredulously. “Where does it end? If you're willing to sacrifice one to save billions, what about hundreds to save thousands? Thousands to save tens of thousands? Can you reduce human lives to a numbers game without losing yourself in the process? It's wrong, Serenity-sama. It might be the easy thing to do, and it might work, but it's still wrong. Usagi would *never* approve of this.”

 

“You cannot sway me in this matter, Minako, Makoto, Rei. While I applaud my daughter's compassion, even compassion has its limits. If I must choose between Saturn's life and the life of every citizen of Earth, including my daughter, I choose to save the world, and my daughter with it.”

 

“Even if I agreed with you,” Jupiter said, “Usagi wouldn't.”

 

“And her opinion matters to you that much?”

 

“Yes,” all three of the Senshi said at once.

 

Serenity smiled faintly. “Good. Still, you say that I don't have the right to make this decision. That I can't take a human life. But Saturn is not human. None of you are human. You, like me, are goddesses, Senshi-dono. You may have been human, once, but even then, you were divinity only poorly concealed in mortal flesh. We have the right. The *divine* right.”

 

Venus sighed. “Even if we do have the right to make that sort of decision, we won't go against Usagi's judgment. She would never approve of this, and so neither do we.”

 

Serenity nodded. “I see. Very well then.” She raised her staff, and Venus's chain shattered instantly. “It seems your friends have bought you a few seconds longer to live, Ranma Saotome,” she said. “Prepare yourselves, Ladies Senshi.” She began to glow with a terrible light.

 

“FIRE SOUL!”

“SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!”

“CRESCENT BEAM!”

 

The three attacks flew towards the Queen, but she raised her staff, and they splashed harmlessly across an invisible barrier about a foot in front of her.

 

“Minako,” Serenity said, gathering energy around herself, “You and your friends are still very young and new to your power. But I... I have ruled in the Dreamlands for ten thousand years, and in the waking world for thousands of years before that. Do you really think you can hope to match my power?” She gestured with her staff, and a powerful force visible only as a faint rippling in the air, like the distortion of heat above a sun-baked desert, flung Sailor Mars into the far wall of the cell and held her there. The wall cracked around her, and though she struggled against it, she could not move.

 

“Mars!” Venus yelled.

 

The Queen pointed her staff at Jupiter, and she too was flung into the wall, which cratered heavily on impact. “Do you begin to understand? You cannot stand against me.” She gestured a third time.

 

Venus raised her sword and spoke the name of her celestial self: “VENUS!” She began to glow with a bright golden light, and the wave of heat-distortion parted around the blade of her sword. She needed more. More power. Though she knew she could never overcome Queen Serenity, she knew with equal certainty that she could not fail her Princess. Words came unbidden to her lips, and she shouted them as if they were her only lifeline in a vast and desolate ocean: “VENUS... CRYSTAL... POWER!” The force pressing against her ceased immediately, and the golden light swirled around her, changing her, changing her uniform, and when it faded, Sailor Venus stood before Serenity, this time in her Super form. “I... won't let you do this, Serenity!”

 

The Queen raised an eyebrow. “I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd be able to draw so deeply on your power.”

 

“VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!”

 

The attack blasted forth from Venus's outstretched hand, and... splashed impotently against Serenity's shield.

 

Venus fell to her knees, glaring at the Queen. Could nothing even slow the woman down?

 

“MARS CRYSTAL POWER!”

“JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!”

 

Even as her friends gained their own super forms, Venus staggered to her feet, her determination renewed by their own transformations. “Mars! The Sigil!” she called.

 

“VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!”

“JUPITER... OAK EVOLUTION!”

 

Both attacks struck Serenity's shield. This time, something was different. Where one alone had failed, two together very nearly overcame. There was a terrific crack, and Serenity slid backwards several feet, leaving deep furrows in the floor of the cell. Even so, defeating Serenity was not their aim in launching this two-pronged assault: this time, they only intended to distract Serenity long enough for Mars to get her shot off at the furthermost edge of the glyph surrounding Sailor Saturn - the edge not within the barrier shield.

 

“MARS FLAME SNIPER!” Mars had used the attack once before, when, in her desperation in the fight against Cyprine, she had called upon a power stronger than she had previously been able to wield, but now it came naturally, flowing through her as if she had been born to call upon it. The arrow of flame flew straight and true, striking the sigil's edge full force. The whole sigil flared violently, and then burned away to nothing.

 

Sailor Saturn was free. She rose to her feet and hefted the Silence Glaive. Raw, unbridled *hurt* roiled within her as she looked at Queen Serenity. “Death,” she intoned, determined to strike back at the woman who had hurt her so in the only way she knew how. Purple and black energy gathered around the Silence Glaive. “Reborn,” She raised the Glaive above her head, preparing to bring it down and end Serenity forever.

 

Serenity simply turned and looked at Saturn. Looked at her sadly, pityingly.

 

Serenity's words echoed in Ranma's mind. `You *are* Ruin, Ranma Saotome,' and her will faltered. She lowered the Glaive. “No. You'd like that wouldn't you? You want me to prove you right. I ain't gonna do it.”

 

The Senshi began to breathe again.

 

“VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!” Venus called, flinging her glowing chain at Serenity's arm and lashing it quickly to a nearby wall. “Quick, let's get out of here!”

 

Even as the four Senshi made their escape, Serenity simply stood there, chained to the wall by Venus's glowing chain, considering what had just happened. After about a minute, she glanced at the chain, and it shattered. She smiled hopefully.

 

“Good luck, my daughter,” Serenity whispered. “Your Senshi are a credit to your name.”

 

-------------------

 

Usagi breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to finally have reached the bottom of the stairs. She could see the basement door ahead of her. Ami still lead the way, the light of the mercury computer casting a strange glow upon her face as she scanned the area for dimensional weak spots. Mamoru yet brought up the rear, determinedly guarding his Princess against any attack that might come at her from behind.

 

“Oh, thank God!” Usagi exclaimed, putting her hand against the railing to rest for a moment. The tension and the fear of the five minutes since Saturn had disappeared into the other-dimensional space after Jupiter, Mars, and Venus had been mind-numbing, and she was happy just to have a chance to catch her breath.

 

“Usagi, don't move!” Mercury said warningly.

 

“What?” Usagi asked. Then she looked at her left hand, which she had rested against the railing: it was gone. Her brain went into panic mode. Her hand simply... ceased, right at the wrist. She brought her hand towards her face to look at it and then stopped after moving it barely more than a centimeter as she felt something hard and sharp cutting into the flesh of her... invisible hand? “OW!” she yelped.

 

“I told you, don't move,” Ami scolded. “Your hand is inside the other-dimensional space, Usagi-chan. Now do exactly what I tell you, and you can get it out without severing it, ok?”

 

Usagi whimpered.

 

“All right. Right now, push your hand forward - towards me.”

 

“But...!”

 

“NOW, Usagi!”

 

She pushed her hand forward.

 

“Now stop.”

 

Usagi's whole left arm was missing now. Her lip quivered as fear threatened to overtake her and reduce her into a bawling mess. “Mamo-chan! Help me!”

 

Mamoru placed his hand on her right shoulder. “We're with you, Usako,” he reminded her.

 

It worked. She took a deep breath, and some of the panic faded from her mind. “Now what?” she asked.

 

“Now, twist your arm so the palm of your hand is facing the wall, and then pull straight back.”

 

Usagi breathed an audible sigh of relief as her arm - and her hand - reappeared. Her hand was bleeding slightly at the wrist. “Why did that happen?” she asked, clasping her injured wrist.

 

“I told you, the space is very unstable. We're lucky nobody lost any limbs, Usagi-chan. Walking through a malformed portal could have cut off our arms, legs, and head if we were really unlucky.” Ami walked three steps forward, and the others followed. Then she took a deep breath. “We're clear.”

 

“Thank goodness!” Usagi breathed. And then, as if from across a great distance, she heard a familiar voice whispering: “Good luck, my daughter. Your Senshi are a credit to your name.” Immediately, she looked up. “Mom?” she asked.

 

Ami and Mamoru both looked at her strangely, and after a moment, she became aware of their looks, and she blushed. “Ano, I thought I heard...” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

 

It was time. She was ready. She looked to Mamoru and Ami. “Don't worry,” she said. “I'll protect everyone. Even Uranus and Neptune. So... don't worry.”

 

Usagi pushed the basement door open and descended the stairs, haltingly at first, but more and more confidently as she continued, and Ami and Mamoru followed in her wake. Down they went, down the long, damp stairwell. It was cold and dark, but in the distance, a grotesquely Malfean glow illuminated the very last few stairs. Undaunted, the Moon Princess descended into the very heart of the Death Busters: Professor Tomoe's laboratory.

 

Dark, cold, and damp. Condensation beaded along the wooden ceiling, and a horrible cold mist filled the whole room. Vast vats full of a putrescent green, glowing liquid in which floated living shards of Pharaoh 90's power filled the room, intermixed with strange devices, work benches, bookshelves, and scientific instruments of every size and shape. And there, on a small, makeshift altar around which were inscribed fel runes in the blasphemous tongues of those things that had learned to walk which ought to crawl, the two talismans rested: the space sword and the aqua mirror.

 

“This place is creepy!” Sailor Moon said, totally spoiling her dignified entrance.

 

“Shhh!” Mercury whispered. “Let's just get the talismans and get out of here before they come back!”

 

A pale, haggard man with white hair and a youthful face stepped out of the shadows, though they still clung to his face, making it difficult to see but not hiding it completely. He wore a white lab coat over a rumpled shirt with a tie and a pair of black pants. He was grinning. “Oh, it's too late for that, Sailor Mercury,” he said, and his grin widened to downright inhuman proportions. “Eudial-kun. Viluy-kun. Tellu-kun. Come out.”

 

A familiar looking woman with long red hair, clad in a red bodysuit stepped out of the darkness, followed by a pale woman all in pale blue, and a green-haired woman all in green. Each was lovely, but it was a cold, harsh kind of beauty. “Cyprine and Ptilol should be taking care of the Senshi who slipped through the cracks as we speak, Professor,” Eudial said confidently.

 

“Excellent news.” The Professor's grin widened even further, until it was clear that nothing human could grin like that. “It's so nice to be able to tie up loose ends, don't you think, Sailor Senshi?”

 

“What have you done to my friends!” Usagi yelled.

 

“Oh, nothing. Well, arranged for them to be killed. They'll probably be easier to destroy than those other two Senshi were. But now, I think it's time we got down to business.” He gestured to the three members of the Witches 5 who were present. “Witches 5, kill them all. We can analyze whatever remains for incorporation into future Daimon models.”

 

The three woman stepped forward. “Hai, Professor!” they announced simultaneously.

 

Eudial raised a tremendous, wicked-looking rifle. “Allow me to introduce you,” she said. “This is the Fire Buster MK II, for which I am applying for a patent. Let me show you how it works!”

 

But neither Moon, Mercury, nor Tuxedo Kamen had been idle. The moment Eudial began speaking, Mercury raised her arms, called forth a veil of fog, and flooded the laboratory with it, accompanying the summoning with a cry of, “SHABON SPRAY!”

 

Viluy and Tellu scanned the fog for any sign of the three warriors, but they were gone. Meanwhile, Eudial glared at the empty space where the three had last been, leveled her Fire Buster, and depressed the trigger. Liquid napalm churned within the weapon for a moment, and then it sent forth a tremendous spray of volatile, fiery energy that hit the floor of the laboratory and splattered over everything nearby, instantly igniting it. “You can't hide forever!” she yelled. “Viluy. This is your department.”

 

Viluy nodded, and raised her hand, releasing a cloud of nanites into the fog. The nano-machines went to work instantly, separating the fog into its two component parts: hydrogen and oxygen. The fog began to clear.

 

THWACK! A rose embedded itself in the Fire Buster's napalm storage tank. Eudial's eyes widened, and she flung the rifle away from herself just in time: it detonated violently, and several tanks full of Daimon eggs were obliterated in the explosion. An awful slosh of liquid napalm went spraying over everything in the vicinity, stopping just shy of Eudial herself. She took several steps backwards to avoid the heat of it.

 

“Damn it!” Eudial shouted. “Enough of this! “Tellu! Get them!”

 

No answer.

 

She turned to face Tellu and nearly gagged: Tellu had been caught in the spray of magically enhanced napalm. Half of her had been... melted, and the other half was even now sliding into the liquid that yet burned on the lab floor. She hadn't even had time to scream: a superior smirk still graced the side of her face that remained. Her body fell into the superheated liquid, and was gone.

 

Oblivious to explosions and the death of his underling, the Professor strode calmly across the room to the main circuit breakers and flipped the switch, filling the whole lab with bright, sterile, florescent light, leaving nowhere left for Usagi, Ami, and Mamoru to hide: but hiding was no longer their plan.

 

There they stood, Usagi in the center, with Mamoru on her right and Ami on the left, each ready for battle. “Laboratories are a for research for the benefit of all mankind! Those who corrupt the pursuit of knowledge for their own evil ends will not be forgiven!” Sailor Moon stepped forward. “A soldier of love and justice, I am Sailor Moon!”

 

“Sailor Mercury!” Mercury added, stepping forward.

 

Tuxedo Kamen said nothing, but also stepped forward.

 

Then, simultaneously, and seemingly unaware of how ridiculous it was, the two Sailor Senshi said simultaneously, “In the name of the moon, we'll punish you!”

 

“You think you can treat the Witches 5 so casually?” Viluy asked. She sounded downright offended. “DIE!” She gestured, and an intense blast of nanites flowed out from the glove on her right hand, visible as a thick, noxious cloud that moved with unnatural speed. Meanwhile, Eudial opened up a nearby locker and rummaged through it, searching for a usable weapon.

 

Tuxedo Kamen leaped clear, but the two Senshi were not fast enough. Wracked with pain, they fell to the ground as the nanites began to break them apart on the cellular level.

 

“Sailor Moon!” Tuxedo Kamen called, his eyes going wide as he saw the laboratory materials around the two senshi in the cloud begin to melt. “You have to stand and fight them! Get to your feet, Sailor Moon!”

 

At the sound of his voice, Moon staggered to her feet just in time to avoid a blast from Eudial's crystal-heart removing cannon.

 

Thinking quickly, Tuxedo Kamen flung another rose into the nanite cloud; it flew straight and true, and hit the floor with a crack, embedding itself into the concrete. It shouldn't have had any effect on nanites, but it was more than a rose: it was a manifestation of his power as the Senshi of Earth. The techno-magical field supporting the nanites simply ceased as the rose flew through it, and the smoke immediately sloughed to the ground in a thick gray sludge.

 

“Tuxedo Kamen-sama!” Moon and Mercury said simultaneously.

 

“Now, Sailor Moon!”

 

Sailor Moon raised her spiral heart moon rod, and power began to gather around her. “Moon spiral...!” She leveled the rod at Viluy. “Heart... attack!”

 

A heart-shaped blast of holy power flowed across the laboratory, smashing tables and blasting through Daimon tanks as it went. Unfortunately, it missed its mark: Viluy dove clear even as Sailor Moon was incanting her spell.

 

“Come out, Daimons!” Eudial called.

 

Nothing.

 

Sailor Moon stepped forward confidently, raising the spiral moon rod once again.

 

The Daimon tanks began to rumble, and every single Daimon egg within them began to hatch all at once. The unformed Daimons, vaguely female shapes made of black ichor, rose up from their tanks and surrounded the Senshi.

 

Sailor Moon went pale.

 

In that moment, two things happened simultaneously. First, a portal was ripped open in the fabric of space/time, spilling Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn ungracefully out into the laboratory beside Usagi. The Senshi quickly gained their bearings, clambered to their feet and took up defensive positions around their Princess.

 

“Minna!” Sailor Moon cried happily.

 

They had no time to celebrate their reunion, however. No time for anything at all, in fact. For in that moment, the eye of the storm settled directly above the Tomoe house, and with it, dread Ithaqua had arrived.

 

It came first upon the barrier that surrounded the Tomoe home. Even as the whole world seemed to freeze around it, the barrier resisted Ithaqua's power... for a moment. The whole house shook once, twice as Ithaqua drew back his massive fist and beat it against the barrier.

 

Eudial, Viluy, and Professor Tomoe drew back from the Senshi.

 

“Out of time,” the Professor hissed, grinning like a maniac.

 

The shield collapsed.

 

---------------------

 

At the Hikawa shrine, Sailor Pluto opened her eyes and stood up as she felt the shield collapse. “It's time,” she said.

 

Chibi-Usa nodded. “Good luck!”

 

Pluto smiled warmly, and then vanished.

 

---------------------

 

The Tomoe house rumbled horribly, and the condensation on the lab's ceiling froze solid. A horrible, deathly chill seeped into the lab. Distantly, Ranma felt the power of the beast that dwelled outside, but she was barely aware of it. Serenity's words kept running through her mind, over and over. `You are ruin.' Ruin. Ukyou's life, ruined. Shampoo's life, ruined. Ryouga's life, ruined. The Tendos' lives, ruined. Akane's life, ruined. By her. She gazed about the room with empty eyes and waited.

 

“Damn,” Eudial whispered. “Professor, we're leaving! Viluy, get the talismans!” She seized the Professor by the hand and dragged him off towards the far wall, where she pushed a button. The whole wall slid open, revealing a white hatch-back automobile in a small vehicle dock behind it.

 

Viluy dashed for the Talismans on top of the altar to Pharaoh 90.

 

“Don't let her get the talismans!” Sailor Moon yelled, and the Inner Senshi sprang into action, each of them racing for the altar. Jupiter and Venus proved fasted of all, crossing nearly half of the distance to the altar before it became obvious that they wouldn't make it in time.

 

They were all too slow, and there were too many of the unformed Daimons in the way.

 

Pluto, on the other hand, was not. In a flash, she appeared directly in front of the Talismans, leveled her Garnet Rod at Viluy and whispered, “Dead Scream.” The ensuing blast of magical energy killed Viluy instantly, her spirit snuffed out and sent wailing to whatever judgment awaited her as her life's justice: such was the power of the Senshi of the Underworld.

 

“Damnit!” Eudial shouted once more, shoving the Professor into the passenger side before hopping into the driver's seat, buckling her seatbelt, and throwing the car into gear. The earth itself parted as the car drove forward into solid rock, clearing just enough space for the vehicle to pass before closing in behind it.

 

“Sailor Pluto!”

 

There was another great rumble, and huge, terrible white hands pierced the walls of the basement, grasping at the underside of the house.

 

Pluto raised her staff once more, and the garnet orb floated into the air, glowing brightly. A moment later, Uranus and Neptune appeared in the air beside her. The Space Sword and the Aqua mirror each vanished and reappeared in front of their respective owners, and a heart crystal slid out of each Talisman and sank slowly back into their bodies.

 

Uranus and Neptune opened their eyes just as, with a terrible heave, Ithaqua flung the whole Tomoe home off of its foundation, leaving the basement, and with it, the Sailor Senshi, exposed to his wrath. The unformed Daimons quailed, and fled before him, seeping into the floor to escape his gaze, but the Senshi had nowhere to go.

 

Ithaqua was upon them. The god of the Cold White Silence looked down upon the Sailor Senshi, and it was greatly angered by what it saw. A voice as deep and timeless as the mountains rumbled forth from its mighty chest. *THIS WORLD WAS MINE BEFORE THE TIME OF GALAXIA, SAILOR SENSHI. IT WILL BE MINE AGAIN.* The sheer weight of that voice was like a pressure on their minds, and within the sound of it crawled other sounds; crackling, freezing sounds, like the whole Earth being turned to ice.

 

The god's might bore down upon them even as the three talismans merged into a shining, holy chalice.

 

“Sailor Moon! Now!” Tuxedo Kamen shouted desperately.

 

Ithaqua reached for the chalice, and in that moment, the world around Sailor Saturn seemed to slow.

 

She could stop all of this. All she needed to do was bring down the Silence Glaive, and all of this struggle, all of this horror, everything could be brought to Ruin. She looked upon the Silence Glaive. It would be easy. Just one motion, and it would all be over. Just one... what the hell was she thinking? Ranma snorted contemptuously. What the *hell* kind of thoughts were those? She wasn't some wimpy little girl who gave up just because things looked bad. She was Ranma Saotome, and Ranma Saotome never loses! The faint, sickly green aura that had suffused her since she'd heard Serenity's words winked out, the much more familiar aura of confidence sprang into being in its place, and for the first time since Phoenix Mountain, Ranma felt like herself again. She looked up in that split second; she beheld dread Ithaqua, great and terrible... and she smirked confidently. “I got this,” she said.

 

Her mind raced through the available tactical options: Ithaqua's freezing aura functioned as basically a magical heat-exchange system in a gigantic form, but while there was a whole lot of hot ki far above the god, being actively pushed away from him by his aura of cold ki, the ruined basement was too enclosed to make use of a Hiryu Shouten Ha or any of its variants here. The only other thing that might work was the Yama Sen Ken. Or maybe... yes, that would do.

 

Ranma Saotome exploded into action. “KIJIN RAISHU DAN REVISED!” she yelled, leaping into the air as she channeled her ki into the Silence Glaive itself. “SILENCE GLAIVE RAISHU DAN!!” She brought the Silence Glaive in a great sweeping arc towards the terrible face of the god, and it roared its fury as a great, oozing gash tore open across its cheek in the wake of the attack. It's great right arm lunged after Ranma, determined to swat the sailor suited red-head out of the sky.

 

It only distracted the creature for a second, but that was all the time that Sailor Moon needed: she dashed forward, seized the Holy Grail, and shouted out the words that burned within her heart: “CRISIS MAKE UP!”

 

Sheer holy might rolled through the ruins of the Tomoe house, and in a burst of rainbow coloured light, a Messiah was revealed.

 

Then Ithaqua's other fist came down on top of the newly created Super Sailor Moon, smashing her into the ground, hard. The floor buckled and then cratered around the fist.

 

Mars screamed out a desperate denial of what she had just witnessed with her own two eyes. “NO! Usagi-chan!”

 

“Usagi!” the others shouted a moment behind.

 

“Usagi?” Uranus and Neptune asked confusedly, and exchanged glances.

 

“Usako!” Mamoru called, fear for her safety nearly overwhelming his sense.

 

Ranma landed gracefully on the far side of the ruin, narrowly evading Ithaqua's countering swat. As she readied herself for her next move, she glanced down at where Usagi had stood, and her eyes widened...

 

Ithaqua's fist cracked visibly, and a terrible, unspeakably beautiful holy light shone forth through the cracks.

 

Ranma blinked, and the others all held their breaths, waiting to see what would happen.

 

The fist shattered, revealing Super Sailor Moon, unharmed, standing in the impact crater. She raised her scepter, and a terrific wave of holy power surged upwards, leaving each of the Senshi untouched, but Ithaqua... Ithaqua simply ceased. Everywhere the magic touched, the god died.

 

In desperation, it dispersed itself into the upper atmosphere, discorporating willingly but the magic followed it, purifying its corruption, transforming it, remaking it.

 

And then, high above Tokyo, a shining being of light was born: wheels within wheels, ice turned to flame. The storm itself was cloven asunder with a terrible rumble, and clouds spiraled off in all directions away from the city even as great wings unfurled, dazzling in the sunlight. The being on high gave an exultant shout as it ascended, flying upwards, passing through the aether, and was gone.

 

Ranma stared.

 

The light faded, and Usagi fell to her knees, utterly spent. The Inner Senshi rushed to their Princess's side, and Tokyo lay in ruins all around them.

 

------------------

 

Far away now, Eudial drove on, plowing through earth and stone in her frantic haste to reach Mugen Gakuen and the safety that the building afforded them.

 

“Eudial-kun,” the Professor said. “This is quite a setback.”

 

Eudial tried not to grind her teeth. “YA THINK?” she snapped at the man.

 

He grinned widely. “But it's not as bad as it could have been.” He snapped his fingers, and a Daimon appeared in the back seat of the vehicle, carrying with it a young woman bound in the same straight-jacket it had captured her with not long before.

 

“What's this?” Eudial asked, glancing at the young woman through her rear-view mirror.

 

Akane Tendo glared back at her, the black star of the Deathbusters clearly visible upon her brow.

 

“The start of something beautiful,” the Professor said, and began to laugh madly.

 

END CHAPTER 10