Minako closed her eyes, trying to focus her thoughts despite the increasing pain her full powers were causing her. Three Youma, a former Dark Kingdom lieutenant and the “daughter of Queen Beryl”? She wasn’t inclined to believe Beryl had really birthed a child. It humanized their old nemesis somehow. Even so, Morgan did resemble her. It might also help explain Jadeite’s presence.

  Still, if this woman was connected to the Dark Kingdom, she should have perished along with it. Did that mean she got powers some other way after Beryl’s demise? But then how did Jadeite survive? It was worth finding out, if only to learn a little more about the Blood Moon Alliance. Besides, Minako wasn’t going anywhere right now. Her attempts to free herself from Jadeite’s mental hold had been unsuccessful so far.

  “I don’t think we ever met, Jadeite,” Sailor Venus started, “I heard you bit the big one years ago.”

  The edges of Jadeite’s lips curled upward. “I’m afraid rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

  “Went into hiding after the Sailor Soldiers kicked your butt, did you?” Venus taunted, careful to keep her voice even to disguise the fact she was suffering.

  “Hardly,” the man replied airily. “I was prepared to give my life in service of defeating your dead comrades once and for all. Sadly, Queen Beryl had grown tired of my failures. Rather than end my life, she sentenced me to Eternal Sleep, a torturous existence sealed inside a crystalline tomb.”

  Minako didn’t want to interrupt the man’s flow when he was so willing to share, but he had said something particularly puzzling. ‘Dead comrades?’ Plural? What had he meant by that?

  “So, that’s how you survived?” Venus asked.

  “That’s right,” Jadeite confirmed. “When Queen Beryl was murdered and denied her rightful throne, everyone and everything empowered by the Dark Kingdom also perished. Everyone that is, except me. My prison protected me from death. Ironic, isn’t it?”

  Venus didn’t answer. She was too focused on keeping her cool as her bones started to ache.

  “If it were not for my mistress, I would have remained that way forever,” Jadeite lamented.

  Minako wanted to test the theory she was developing. “I suppose you weren’t happy to find the other soldiers gone when you finally woke up, huh?” she said.

  “Indeed,” said Jadeite. “It would have been satisfying to enact my revenge. Perhaps I should be thanking you?”

  “Thanking me?” Venus followed up eagerly.

  The man chuckled to himself. “For using the Silver Crystal to wipe out your team mates along with an invading force… You could say we owe you a debt.”

  There it was. The Blood Moon Alliance didn’t just mistakenly believe Minako had inherited the Silver Crystal when Sailor Moon died. They also thought she had used it against those aliens and killed the other Sailor Soldiers in the process. Ignoring the pang of guilt this memory evoked, she realized it meant they didn’t know about Mercury.

  Morgan stepped forward. “Enough. It’s my vengeance you should be concerned with, Sailor Soldier!” she said, her red brows furrowing in anger. “You people took my mother from me… If you’re the last, then you will be the one to feel my wrath! That said, I’m not without a heart. If you hand over the Silver Crystal without resistance, I will make your death swift.”

  “No dice,” said Venus, fatigue beginning to settle in.

  “In that case, I learned some pretty nasty magic from my mother’s old spell books, including how to shrink a barrier around an enemy and crush them within. You no doubt encountered my barrier when entering this place. I presumed you would be able to penetrate it using the Silver Crystal’s power, but I can shrink it at any time.

  “The hundreds of humans inside, conscious, or not, will be crushed against anything they collide with between here and their present location. The few who are dragged this far alive will be smashed together and compressed into a grotesque mass of flesh.”

  An eerie silenced followed Morgan’s graphic description, and her gem flared as if in warning. Minako had no doubt that it had the power to pull off the woman’s murderous spell. Even so, a smug grin stretched across her face. “Do it, then!” she dared.

  “Don’t you have enough innocent blood on your hands?” she questioned as the group of enemies behind her exchanged looks of surprise and confusion.

  “It doesn’t matter what you say or do. You’ll never take the crystal from me,” Sailor Venus declared as sweat trickled down her forehead.

  “Fine,” said Morgan, with a deep frown. “Perhaps you need a demonstration. On your conscience be it!” After uttering some words under her breath, she struck the floor hard with the bottom of her staff, then held it aloft as it glowed more brightly than ever, bathing the area in crimson.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The Youma watched in wonder, enraptured by the red stone’s pulsing light. However, this continued for an uncomfortably long time.

  “Mistress?” said Jadeite.

  “It… It’s not working,” Morgan despaired.

  “Well, that was anticlimactic,” Venus commented dryly.

  “YOU!” screamed the woman. “What did you do?”

  “Who, little old me?” Venus teased.

  “Lord Jadeite!” cried the Play-Doh Youma.

  “What is it?” said Jadeite impatiently, not turning his attention away from his telekinetic focus on Sailor Venus. However, he learned all too soon what the creature had wanted to warn him about, as the scene was swamped with a cloud of white fog thick enough to smother the light of Morgan’s gem.

  All at once, chaos broke out.

  “Mist again?” Jadeite spat. “It can’t be! Quick, Airhead, blow it away!”

  With a war cry, Sailor Venus focused and generated a burst of power from within. It cost her a good portion of her energy reserves, but it was enough to break free.

  “Shining Aqua Illusion!”

  “Where are you, Jadeite? What’s going on?”

  “Mistress, she’s escaped!”

  Suddenly, the mist cleared, blown away by the fan Youma’s powerful gust. Jadeite moved in front of Morgan protectively while surveying the scene.

  “What gives?” uttered the Play-Doh Youma. “I can’t move.”

  “Gah!” the tire Youma expelled.

  Both of them were frozen to the spot, both figuratively and literally, ice covering their legs and the floor beneath them.

  “Ice? But how? Where is she?” said Morgan with panic in her voice.

  “Over here!” Sailor Venus announced with a wave and a coy wink from her new position, directly behind Airhead. “Crescent Beam!” she roared.

  Before the Youma had time to turn around, its top half was engulfed in the deadly light blast, which proceeded on a direct course with Jadeite and Morgan.

  At the last second, Morgan erected a smaller version of her red barrier in front of the two of them. The resulting impact was deafening and caused Venus’ attack to splinter in all directions like a wave crashing on rock.

  Seeing that her technique was having no effect except to drain her energy, Venus desisted. The exertion caused her to drop to one knee, even as she registered a shadow looming over her. It was okay, though. She wasn’t alone anymore.

  The tire Youma had broken free of its icy shackles using its brute strength and launched itself at Sailor Venus. Unlike its opponent and its master, the hot-headed monster hadn’t understood the meaning behind the appearance of mist or ice on the battlefield.

  “You idiot, Tirefire!” Jadeite barked.

  “Bubble Spray!”

  Before the rubber colossus could deliver its deadly blow, it was deluged with bubbles and suspended in motion a mere meter from Venus. Though it struggled within, it could not free itself of the impeding cluster.

  From her kneeling position, Sailor Venus rolled to the side to correct her angle and took her chance. “Crescent Beam!”

  The dangerous combatant inside the bubbles received the blast point blank, but once again, Venus had a second target in mind. The beam continued on its trajectory and swallowed the rooted Play-Doh Youma beyond. She continued firing until certain the regenerating opponent had been completely vaporized, leaving a deep fissure in the mall’s floor, then slumped over onto her belly.

  “My warriors!” cried Morgan.

  Jadeite instinctively stepped forward, hoping to capitalize on the soldier’s moment of weakness, but he stopped himself, knowing that, as he had begun to suspect of late, there was another Sailor Soldier. He smiled with smug self-satisfaction as his suspicions were confirmed, and Sailor Mercury dropped from the floor above.

  “Can you go on?” she said quietly to her comrade as she stared down her enemies.

  “I’m not done yet,” Venus said, her breathing ragged as she clumsily returned to her feet. “I almost didn’t notice your signal, you know—the automated evacuation message cutting off. I take it you dealt with her barrier. That’s why her spell didn’t work, huh?”

  “Yes. After opening the last exit, I had readings from multiple angles and was able to do a full analysis. The whole thing’s gone now, and first responders are taking action.”

  “I knew it!” said Jadeite.

  “My barrier? Another soldier? What is this, Jadeite?” said Morgan in disbelief. “Tanzan said they were dead! That she killed them all!”

  The man’s memories had been damaged somewhat—a side effect of the Endless Sleep—but he recalled the blue clad soldier. This was of the three that had thwarted his plans back in the day, one of the three that had caused Beryl to punish him. This was the one that created mist, Sailor Mercury! “The Youma spoke of strange weather affecting their energy harvesting. It was you interfering the whole time, wasn’t it?”

  “That’s right!” Mercury responded. “We’ll never surrender the crystal to you, so you might as well leave!”

  “Leave?” Jadeite guffawed. “Why would we do that? Your powers were always the weakest, and as for your friend there…”

  “That’s right,” Morgan agreed, her eyes wide with comprehension. “She looks like she’s on her last legs! Is it possible that after all this time, she still can’t control the crystal’s power?”

  “It appears so, Mistress. This may be our only chance.”

  Ami realized their enemies were getting close to the truth and weren’t likely to leave of their own accord now. Despite this, she puffed out her chest with confidence and threatened, “You’re sorely mistaken if you believe my powers haven’t developed since we last met, Jadeite. Besides, I can also invoke the power of the Silver Crystal!”

  Jadeite looked alarmed by Ami’s pronouncement. “Mistress?”

  “She’s bluffing!” Morgan spat. “Even if she isn’t, we’ve banked everything on this. Our allies won’t forgive us, and my new weapon will run out of juice eventually. It’s all or nothing, and I want it all!”

  Suddenly, Morgan thrust out her staff, and a red ball of energy burst from its gem. Mercury and Venus jumped to avoid it, and a good thing, too, as the ball rapidly expanded into a huge sphere. Once it dissipated, the floor and wall within its circumference had a perfectly curved chunk missing from them.

  “We can’t afford to get caught in that,” Mercury warned, activating her computer visor.

  “No kidding,” said Venus sarcastically as a second red bolt was fired up at them. They Skywalked to avoid it, and the mall got a new skylight.

  “Seriously, can you keep this up?”

  “I think I’ve got one more shot in me.”

  “We better make it count, then!” said Mercury with resolve. “Here’s the plan…”

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