Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Absence ❯ War ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Absence - By Kirika

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This is the sixth chapter in my Rei/Usagi fic, though the focus will be kind of off the relationship for a bit. Don't worry; you know what has to happen eventually... patience is a virtue. ^_^ More action should be expected.

**Revised.

**Edited.

- Kirika

******

Chapter 6 - War


Rei paced anxiously back and forth along the small length of her apartment, frowning hard down at the worn wooden floorboards. She had hardly slept at all last night after returning from her little 'encounter'. Once the magnitude of the situation she was faced with had set in, the Fire Senshi's mind had been in a near constant state of restlessness. Not to mention worry, which served to keep her tossing and turning until the early morning hours. There was a youma. Here, in Yokohama.

Rei supposed there had to be youma in other places of the world besides Tokyo, but still, for some reason it just didn't sit right with her. Though maybe that specific youma had merely been a rogue... some left over monster from a group that had come into this world via Tokyo for the usual diabolical purpose. Maybe it had, instead, wised up and fled to avoid getting destroyed by the Sailor Senshi like its fellows would have been. Yokohama was close to Tokyo and it was reasonable to imagine that any number of youma could have migrated to the harbour city instead of hanging around in the capitol; the Sailor Senshi were not active there after all. At least, they hadn't been until Rei arrived. Yes, there were plenty of valid reasons for such a creature to be in Yokohama. There was nothing to be concerned about...

There was a knock on Rei's apartment door, disturbing the raven-haired girl's train of thought. "Megumi! Are you decent...?" called Tsubasa from behind the door, opening it a crack. A single brown eye appeared in the narrow gap.

Rei pulled her door open sharply, causing her peeping neighbour to stumble forwards into her apartment and nearly fall flat on his face. "You hentai! You're not supposed to ask that, then open the door anyway!" the Fire Senshi scolded loudly.

Tsubasa regained his footing, and then grinned unrepentantly at the riled miko. "Yeah, yeah," he said, brushing off Rei's reprimand easily. He then nodded towards the open door. "Come on, let's get going."

Rei spared a last glance at the picture on the bedside table of Usagi and her and then left her apartment with Tsubasa leading the way. She and her annoying neighbour had breakfast together sometimes before they went to their respective jobs. Tsubasa worked as an assistant chef in a sushi bar close by the restaurant where Rei was a waitress, which meant it made sense for them to get a bite to eat together before heading off to their jobs. Or at least, that was the explanation Tsubasa had given the Fire Senshi. She did rather enjoy the company a little bit however, though she would never admit that fact to Tsubasa.

Rei had been all alone in a big city until she had met the brown-haired man, for which she had been glad; it made her feel better to at least know someone in Yokohama. Plus Tsubasa was quite friendly and easy to talk to even if he was sort of a loser. One of the main things Rei appreciated about him was that he didn't usually ask too many prying questions, even though she could tell he was curious about why she had left Tokyo and about her past. She had omitted just about all of the relevant details about her motivations for leaving and of her life when he had inquired.

Tsubasa looked at Rei as they walked side by side down the hallway together. "Hmm... you look like hell today," he remarked plainly.

"Gee, thanks for the compliment," Rei replied acidly.

"Late night?" Tsubasa asked, unconcerned by the girl's tone. He was used to the fiery miko's temperament and by now even expected some sort of caustic comment from her.

"Something like that..." Rei murmured thoughtfully, the fight with the youma returning to her mind.

Tsubasa was quiet for a while and the Fire Senshi believed that he had abandoned his questioning. However, he then inquired carefully; "With a... guy?"

Rei's head snapped to her neighbour sharply. "*No*. Not that it's any of your business," she denied tersely.

Tsubasa held up his hands in a pacifying gesture while he continued to walk with the miko. "Just curious," he explained ruefully. Searching for a change in topic that wouldn't provoke the hot headed girl, he said, "You should be careful walking home tonight. I read in the paper that some homeless lady was attacked by a rabid animal."

"Yeah?" Rei deadpanned, clearly uninterested.

"Yeah... but some masked guy saved her... brought her to the hospital and everything. I thought that kind of stuff only happened in Tokyo." Tsubasa smiled and looked at Rei... only to find that she wasn't there anymore.

Tsubasa turned around and saw that Rei had stopped walking, appearing a little shell-shocked. "Megumi? What's the matter?"

Publicity. That was all Rei needed. Thank goodness she had had the foresight to change her senshi fuku's appearance, or Sailor Mars would have been magically resurrected in the newspapers this morning, ending the raven-haired girl's self-imposed exile indefinitely. Rei wouldn't have been surprised if her friends back in Tokyo had been the ones to bang on her apartment door instead of Tsubasa if things had turned out differently.

"Hey, you okay?" Tsubasa asked, who had walked back to her, clearly worried with Rei's silence and rather startled expression.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine," Rei said quickly, before nervously laughing off the man's concerns.

Tsubasa blinked at Rei for a second. "You want me to wait for you tonight after work? I can walk you home if you want... you know, with rabid animals and all running around; it's even more dangerous for a young girl to walk the streets alone at night," he offered in a timid voice, looking down at his feet.

"Oh, that's alright," declined Rei. "I'll be fine." She then smiled at him reassuringly, hoping to put his mind at ease... and to prevent any further propositions. It was best for Tsubasa to keep his distance from her for his own safety; there might be more youma out there in Yokohama that she would have to deal with.

"Well... if you're sure," Tsubasa said, sounding a little disappointed.

Rei nodded and the two resumed their walk out of the apartment building.

******

This was it. He had to make this shot. The fate of the world, no, the very *universe* depended on it. He could not afford to fail. He slowed his breathing and took careful aim... then fired. The rubber band bounced off the rim of his coffee cup and landed beside the other missed shots littered around the mug.

"Damn it!" Sanjuro Watanabe sighed and leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head, while putting his feet up on the desk. His job really sucked. He was a junior reporter for the Yokohama Daily, one of the more popular newspapers for the city. Sanjuro should have been glad that he had gotten a job at such an illustrious paper... except that he had been here a year and was still only a lowly junior reporter. He got stuck with all the lame stories nobody else wanted to write about. Usually boring human-interest stories like a grandmother finding a long lost cat or some rot like that. Sanjuro idly contemplated quitting for the tenth time that morning. He had thought that being a reporter would be full of excitement, not this lacklustre drudgery. The discontented man was brought out of his thoughts suddenly by a paper bag landing on his stomach, causing him to let out a grunt.

"Hard at work as usual I see," smirked his colleague, Ryoji, as he took a seat on his desktop. "You're a inspiration to us all, Sanjuro."

Sanjuro ignored the sarcastic man and opened the bag, taking a whiff of his breakfast. All he wanted was to report on the good stuff; the scandals, government cover-ups, corporate espionage... basically something, *anything*, exciting.

"I've got something that's going to interest you..." Ryoji said, a knowing smile coming to his face.

"A new job offer at a rival paper?" Sanjuro guessed in a monotone voice, paying more attention to what his friend had gotten him for breakfast.

Ryoji tossed a newspaper at the spiky-haired man's chest. "Better. Turn to page five," he said.

Sanjuro picked up the paper and followed his colleague's instructions. He scanned the page until his eyes caught a headline that interested him.

"'Mysterious Masked Hero Saves Woman'..." he read out loud, before proceeding to read the story. "Whoa... cool..." he breathed once he had finished.

"I knew you'd like that," Ryoji smirked.

"Damn, who got this great story?" Sanjuro asked, rereading the short article one more time.

"No one. It's from the Telegraph. The editor is pretty pissed none of us managed to pick it up," Ryoji explained.

Now *this* was the kind of story that piqued Sanjuro's interest. How he wished he could get an exclusive like this. But wait... maybe he could. He could do a follow-up story or something. The editor would love that for sure... maybe Sanjuro would even finally get promoted. But how would he know when and where the masked stranger would show up next?

"I know what you're thinking and you should forget it," Ryoji said.

"Huh?" Sanjuro said, his thoughts interrupted.

"You want to investigate this, don't you? I would advise against it. The incident with the animal took place in a bad neighbourhood in the Hikodo district. It's gangland. I don't think even you would be dumb enough to go there."

"Yeah, but come on man, this is great stuff! If I came through with the story first I would be promoted, get a pay raise and everything! Oh, I could get pictures as well! They'd sell for a packet! Don't tell me you don't want in on this?!" Sanjuro eagerly babbled.

"Go into the Hikodo gangland? You've got to be kidding. People disappear from that area and are never seen again, you know. Shigeru is doing an exposé on it for god's sake."

"Fine, be that way... I'll go myself. Just don't come bitching to me when I get the story of the year!" Sanjuro punched the air enthusiastically, his mood shooting up to an all time high, especially for this time of the morning.

Ryoji slid off of Sanjuro's desk and waved a hand in a dismissing gesture, and then began to walk over to his own desk. "I'm not looking for your body if you don't come into work tomorrow," he called back over his shoulder.

Sanjuro answered by flicking a rubber band at Ryoji's retreating back.

******

Rei was once again walking home late in the evening through the same decrepit, seedy, district of Yokohama she had traversed the previous night. It was not because she wanted to, but rather because she had to. The Senshi of Fire had to make sure that the youma she had fought against was a renegade and that there were no more in the area. Oddly, Rei was glad for this distraction. She felt that she had a purpose again. Besides, someone had to guard this neck of the woods while the other senshi watched over Tokyo.

Rei was taking an even longer route through the neighbourhood to increase her chances of spotting any youma activity. She was also well aware that she had to be careful of the more mundane dangers known for the area. The miko cursed the fact that Tsubasa had told her over their breakfast that people had disappeared in this district; the 'Hikodo gangland' it was apparently labelled. Now Rei found herself looking warily at every dark shadow she saw, half expecting some mugger or an even worse unsavoury type to jump out at her.

Rei's nervous thoughts ceased when her ears picked up the noise of what sounded like people talking softly, broken by the occasional bark of laughter. It came from inside a desolate warehouse across the street. Turning to the source of the sounds, she saw light shining through the smashed and partially boarded up windows. It was probably just some poor homeless people, but Rei decided that she had better investigate anyway.

Rei quietly crossed the run down, litter-strewn street and pressed herself against a wall beside one of the warehouse's broken windows. The Fire Senshi took a discreet peek inside and could make out about five, somewhat sleazy looking men dressed in rather thuggish attire, all sitting around a weather-beaten square table playing cards. Two more were strolling casually about the warehouse floor, occasionally pausing to spare a glance at the game their companions were currently involved with. Those two men carried makeshift weapons loosely in their hands; one had a length of chain, the other, a rusty metal pipe. Rei pursed her lips distastefully. It looked like it was just gang members on a break from doing whatever nefarious deeds gangs did. She had better get out of here before she was spotted.

Rei was about to leave when her astute senses suddenly gave her the urge to look up. A dark shape passed in a flash of motion overhead, blotting out the moon briefly, then disappeared onto the roof of the warehouse. It had been too big to be a bird. Rei felt a rush of dread come over her body, causing her to shiver. It couldn't be; there couldn't be any more youma here. Why here, of all places? Were they just attracted because of the derelict environment and seamy atmosphere? Or was there another, more heinous reason?

Rei quickly looked back into the warehouse window. The gang members were still playing their card game, with their two friends still wandering around them, but... the raven-haired girl let out a sigh. It had to be just her imagination. She had had youma on the brain for most of the day; it was not surprising her normally sharp instincts were a little off. There were no more youma here.

Suddenly there was a crash from the warehouse's ceiling above the card players and a winged beast fell down through a partially shattered skylight, its glass raining down with the creature. The monster landed right on the table where the now startled gang members played, buckling the legs and causing it to collapse. It was a youma. It appeared humanoid, but had large black-feathered wings sprouting from its back. The rest of its body was also covered in dark feathers, looking coarse and unkempt. The youma's beady eyes flicked to the stunned thugs and then let out a loud 'caw' from its beak-like mouth, angling its head skywards.

The winged youma's cry caused another youma to smash through some empty crates at the far end of the warehouse, sending splinters of broken wood flying in all directions. It was short for a youma, just below Rei's height and had pasty yellow skin. It's bulbous head seemed to share considerable resemblance to that of a shark, but it didn't possess any of the wicked teeth the sea creature had as far as Rei could tell.

Another youma appeared behind the second one. It was even shorter than its yellow companion, but that was probably due to the fact that it knuckle-walked like a gorilla. It had a pale blue skin tone and long, unruly dark blue dread-locks that almost hid its wild features. It growled and drooled, gnashing sharp needle-like teeth as it jumped up and down. The youma looked positively feral.

The gang members hastily stood up and backed away from the table, some pulling out knives, and others, guns. The winged youma reacted inhumanly fast however, slicing at the throat of one unfortunate man with a halberd it held in its taloned hands. The man staggered for a second, then toppled like a fallen tree, blood spurting obscenely from his severed artery.

The feral youma let out a shriek and charged across the warehouse floor at the gang. Meanwhile, the yellow one coughed and hacked, as if it was trying to regurgitate something, and then a light seemed to shine from its open mouth. It then spat the light out, which formed a ball of crackling white energy. The sphere flew in the direction of the men, who dove desperately out of its path. However, one was not so quick and his leg was hit as he tried to leap to safety. He cried out in agony and convulsed, seeming to be violently electrocuted.

Rei scowled, her expression turning grim as she took in all that was happening in the warehouse. Youma. And people were dying. The Senshi of Fire had to help those men. They may have been society's undesirables, but they were still human. Rei had to act.

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!"

As Rei transformed, she willed her fuku to change in its appearance. However, this time she wanted something that was flexible. The miko wanted good manoeuvrability for the upcoming fight. She would need it with that winged monstrosity waving around its long weapon.

Once the transformation was complete, Sailor Mars gave herself a quick look over. She was in something flexible all right; a black bodysuit that reached halfway up her neck. It didn't leave much to the imagination. Well, she *did* want something flexible... at least she was still wearing a coat and veil like the previous time. Mars definitely wanted anonymity now more than ever dressed like this. She doubted that no one bar a fellow Sailor Senshi would recognise her as Sailor Mars.

After taking a short moment to steel herself for the confrontation ahead, Sailor Mars leapt through the window and into the fray.

******

Sanjuro couldn't believe what he was witnessing. He had been wandering around the Hikodo gangland for a while, hoping to encounter the masked stranger... and avoid being murdered by some random thug. Instead, the reporter had found a bunch of gangers hanging out in a warehouse. Thinking that he could sell photos of them to Shigeru for his report, he had snuck inside and hid behind some crates. Thankfully he had been quiet enough that the men hadn't noticed... most of them had been too engrossed in playing cards. But then all hell had broken loose. Monsters were flying in from everywhere and people were being slaughtered right before his very eyes! Sanjuro didn't know whether to run, take photos, or pee his pants. Maybe he should just do all three.

At that moment another figure appeared from the right, dressed in black... and wearing a crimson veil. It was him! The masked stranger from the article in the Telegraph! He was dressed a little differently than how the report had described him, however. His fear forgotten, Sanjuro excitedly began to snap photos of the mysterious hero... then frowned as he noticed a few things. That man certainly had long, lustrous hair, and when his coat fluttered open... whoa, he had quite a body for a--wait a minute. That wasn't a guy; it was a girl! Sanjuro blinked for a second, lowering his camera. This was even better than he had imagined. The mysterious hero was a hot babe! He couldn't make out her face because of the veil she wore, but Sanjuro just knew she was!

Now more eager than ever to get his photos, Sanjuro decided to stick around and take the second option. Though as the horrible monsters started to scream in their otherworldly voices and more gangsters dropped, he thought that perhaps the third option wasn't out of the question either.

******

Sailor Mars burst into the warehouse just as the feral youma had made it to one of the men. It leapt on him, gripping his throat between its jaws and sinking its many teeth into the soft flesh. The gang member frantically used his metal pipe to try to beat the rabid creature off, but it just seemed to ignore the blows.

"FIRE SOUL!"

A fireball burst from Mars' fingertips and collided with the youma, the impact causing it to fly off the thug and slide along the floor, its back a scorched mess. Unfortunately it was too late for the man; he lay still on the floor, a pool of blood growing out from under him.

"Shit, another one!" cried one of the gang members, pointing anxiously at Mars. "Fire god damn it, FIRE!!"

One of the thugs still standing nodded fearfully and started spraying bullets all over the place from an Uzi he carried, only narrowly missing Sailor Mars as she madly scrambled for cover. Typical. She was trying to save them and they shot at her!

The winged youma took a couple of wayward bullets to its midsection, causing it to let out an indignant squawk. It bounded into the air, beating its black wings as it took flight, then soared directly for the shooting man. The gang member panicked, emptying the entire magazine of the weapon wildly at the charging creature. However, with his erratic aim, the majority of the bullets missed their target. The winged creature flew past the thug, but impaled him on the end of its halberd in a bloody display as it went by, taking the doomed man with it into the air.

In the meantime, the yellow youma had hacked up another light ball and had spat it at Sailor Mars. The Fire Senshi dove nimbly to the side, and then rolled back onto her feet, only to be set upon by the feral youma. The creature clamped its maw over the girl's right arm as she brought it up to defend her carotid. It growled like a wolf as it got a taste of her blood. Sailor Mars let out a shout of pain at the piercing contact, frantically shaking her arm to try and loosen the thing's hold.

Meanwhile the winged youma had landed. It lowered its halberd, letting the skewered corpse slide sickeningly off of the blade. Another gang member confronted it, levelling a pistol at the monster. The youma, moving like lightening, grabbed the barrel and thrust the butt of the weapon against the man's face, ramming his nose bone up into his brain and killing him instantly.

"RUN! Let's get the hell outta here!" The remaining gang members' morale broke and they began to scatter in all directions, leaving their fallen comrades behind to fend for themselves... the ones that weren't already dead.

The yellow youma hacked up yet another ball of energy and fired again at Sailor Mars. It looked like the creature really had it in for the raven-haired girl.

Meanwhile, Mars had desperately resorted to physically prying open the feral youma's jaws from her arm with her free hand, or at least attempting to. However, as she saw the energy ball come sailing towards her, she smirked. Mars had a plan. At the exact moment when the ball was just a few feet in front of her, she swung her bitten arm out with all her might, breaking the wild youma's grip at the cost of several layers of flesh. It was hurled into the path of the globe of light, the sphere smashing into its already charred back. The youma instantly screamed as it jerked and shook, its internal organs cooking.

"FIRE SOUL BIRD!"

A phoenix crashed into the shuddering youma, frying its outsides to match its insides. It collapsed in a smoking heap on the floor, completely roasted. Shortly after, its body began to decay at a rapid rate.

Sailor Mars ducked as a sharp blade chopped at her neck. She dove forward, curling into a roll and ending up on her feet. Mars whirled around quickly... just in time to see the winged youma stab at her with its blood stained halberd. The Fire Senshi angled her body so that the sharp point would miss her, and then jumped backwards, trying to give herself more room to manoeuvre. The creature's weapon had some reach on it.

"FIRE S--" Sailor Mars' attack was interrupted by the smell of ozone reaching her nose.

She moved on instinct, rolling hastily to her left as a white energy ball crackled past her. Just as Mars was about to send the yellow youma a ball of her own, the winged youma swiped downwards at her. Sailor Mars rolled again to dodge the slash and the youma's halberd took a chunk of cement out of the floor instead. Great, they were tag teaming the miko.

Sailor Mars looked anxiously around the warehouse, trying to think of a plan. The winged youma glared malignantly at her and took flight, its wings stirring up waves of dust from the floor as they flapped. It lowered its halberd and flew at Mars, letting out an ear-piercing shriek as a war cry. The Fire Senshi retreated until she felt her back touch a stack of solid crates behind her, inspiration at last striking her when she needed it the most. She only had one shot, and if her timing was off... she was a kebab.

The youma pulled its halberd back and lunged at Sailor Mars, trying to disembowel her. But Mars was quick. She darted aside, the halberd's point piercing through the crates behind her. The Fire Senshi immediately countered by raising her right leg and with a defiant shout, brought it down hard on the weapon's wooden shaft, splintering it in half.

The winged youma dropped to the floor and looked at the end of its broken weapon in disbelief. But before the youma could hardly even register this new information, Sailor Mars fluidly spun on her heel, following up her first move by delivering a crushing kick to the creature's bird face. It stumbled backwards, holding its broken beak as all sorts of fluids gushed out of it, staining its black feathers odd colours.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

The youma shrieked in pain as it was horribly burned by a myriad of fire rings, but once again took flight, despite its grievous wounds. Sailor Mars prepared to continue her offensive, but the monster quickly flew upwards and out of the warehouse through the skylight it had first arrived from.

"Yeah, just fly away, you coward," sneered Mars, looking after her fleeing enemy.

Sailor Mars then turned her dreaded gaze to the yellow youma. The creature looked nervously left and then right, seeking a way to escape. Mars walked purposefully towards it, the malevolent glint in her eyes directed straight at the creature.

Seeing the Fire Senshi approach, the youma hacked up a light globe and spewed it out at the girl.

However, Sailor Mars easily evaded it, the attack's flight path simple to predict now with no other distractions in the area to divert the miko's attention.

"FIRE SOUL!"

The short yellow youma took the flames full in the chest and fell backwards, writhing as its flesh blistered under the scorching heat. Sailor Mars walked up to the prone creature and stomped one booted foot on its chest and ground her heel into the burns, snuffing out some of the small fires that were still alight on the thing's torso.

"Talk. Why are you here? Who sent you?" Sailor Mars demanded sharply.

The youma shook its big head forcefully, to which Mars responded by mercilessly grinding her heel in its wounds a little more.

"Wargh! I talk... I talk..." choked out the grimacing youma through its excruciating anguish. "I collect... humans... for my lord and master...."

"Who? Who is your master?!" spat Sailor Mars.

"A being... of power... great... power. Lord Khairephon..." the yellow being gasped out.

"And where can I find this, 'Lord Khairephon'?" Mars persisted.

The youma opened its mouth a little to reply, but suddenly convulsed spasmodically before falling limp. Its skin began to flake away, followed by its muscles and finally its bones. It was dead.

"They always die before they tell you everything," muttered Sailor Mars to herself, removing her foot from the rotting carcass, absent-mindedly kicking off some of the disgusting matter clinging to her black boot.

The Senshi of Fire looked over to where the cooling bodies of those gang members who were struck down lay. Mars sighed. She hadn't managed to save the ones injured, but at least some had escaped. It was better than nothing, she supposed. The miko looked down at her bitten arm, checking to see the extent of the injury. It stung quite painfully. She should get back to her apartment and treat it before it became infected. Who knew what diseases that wild youma was carrying.

Sailor Mars let out another sigh. All this battle had done was give her more unanswered questions. At least she knew now that something really was going on in Yokohama and that there was an organization to the youma. But Mars was all alone... there were no other Sailor Senshi to back her up... it was just her, all by herself. What could she do alone? It was different when there was a threat back in Tokyo, there was always at least one other senshi to help out... but now... the Fire Senshi would be taking on all of them unaided... including this 'Khairephon', whoever that was.

Glancing once again at the corpses of the gang members, Sailor Mars knew she had no choice. She had to for the people of this city. If Usagi were here in her place, she would fight on alone. And Mars would do the same. She would make her princess proud of her. Sailor Mars gazed out of broken skylight windows of the warehouse, looking at the moon. She would make Usagi, her love, proud.

Sailor Mars then left the warehouse, heading for the apartment building... unaware of the shadow that followed her.

******

Khairephon tapped his fingers with impatience on the armrest of his steel chair. Where were they? The latest raiders were due back hours ago. He idly kicked the human he was currently abusing before his feet. It whimpered and curled into a ball, clutching its stomach protectively.

There was a scraping sound as Isrufael pushed off the metal covering on the floor, not bothering with the password. He staggered towards his master, one hand holding his broken and badly bleeding beak. The youma dropped to his knees in front of Khairephon, almost crushing the human laying nearby, the pathetic being unnoticed by the injured creature.

Khairephon took in Isrufael's appearance and lack of allies. He raised a single red eyebrow. "Report...?"

"A human female..." gasped Isrufael, his voice strange coming through his destroyed beak, "...ambushed us... killed Giberl... I barely escaped...."

"A human female?" questioned Khairephon in a disbelieving tone. "You mean one of these?" He reached down and grabbed the hair of the wretched human at his feet, hoisting the battered creature to its knees as it babbled for mercy.

"No... she possessed powers... fire... fire came from her hands..." Isrufael gestured to his burnt body, the patches of feathers missing from it now replaced by scorched flesh.

Khairephon let the human drop to the floor and settled back into his chair, frowning in thought. Thrinakie must have been wrong when he had said that the Sailor Senshi were the only defenders of this world. He knew his brother was getting too old for this sort of thing.

"You have done well coming here to tell me this," said Khairephon, gesturing for Isrufael to rise.

"Th-Thank you, my lord..." the youma stuttered.

"However, you fled from a battle and abandoned your allies," Khairephon went on, looking at his youma in contempt, his eyes becoming pools of liquid fire.

"N-No master! Yeslick was already d-dead! I swear!" Isrufael begged, falling to his knees once again.

"You lie," Khairephon stated coldly.

He lashed out with his fist, pulverising the youma's skull in a single blow, grey matter splattering over the cowering human near his chair. Isrufael's body collapsed to the floor and began to melt away. No loss there.

"Rodoth!" Khairephon called, shaking the gore off of his hand.

"Yes?" one of Makareus' youma replied, stepping out from the shadows of the room. Khairephon smirked disdainfully. Lousy sneaks.

"There is a threat here in this human city... a human female with the powers of fire... you will find her for me," Khairephon commanded.

"Yes, Lord Khairephon..." the youma acquiesced.

Khairephon smiled with glee, but in truth the expression held a lot more wickedness than joy. Things had just gotten a lot more interesting....

******

To be continued....


Author's ramblings:

There's the sixth chapter. I hope it's still good. I want the other senshi to stew for a while thinking Rei is dead.

hentai = pervert.
halberd = A pole weapon. It usually has an axe blade and also a spear-like tip at one end.