Court Evil

Part Three: The Last Mission.

Chapter Two: Prism Power Fight!!

	Beryl personally led her contingent of two hundred veteran monsters down 
the long hallway leading to “Zodiac’s” offices. They came to the doors, and with a wave 
of her hand, the leading monsters opened fire on the door with their blaster rifles. The door 
came down a pile of melted slag. 
	Four men, a boy, and a woman looked up at the approaching monsters.
	“Surrender or die,” a pig-faced monster grunted to Gae-dhal. “We are here on 
the orders of our Queen!” The other monsters looked at Beryl with reverence benefiting a 
god.   
	Gae-dhal sneered. “Here’s what I think of the Queen!” The aging warrior
reached into his shirt and pulled out a circular disc the size of his palm. It was rusted, 
and only a few flecks of silver shone through the brown-red rust. The center of the 
disc was raised, forming a rusted crescent moon.
	“Sailor Soldiers!” Gae-dhal yelled, in a voice that made Mars, Venus, and 
Jupiter look up. “Power up! For the Good Queen Serenity!” He raised the disc above 
his head, and intoned the words that he had almost forgotten. “PRISM POWER FIGHT!!” 
	Neo-Sailor Mars laughed, reaching into his own shirt and pulling out his own 
rusted palm-sized disc, with the center of the disc raised in the symbol of Mars. “MARS 
POWER FIGHT!!”
	Neo-Sailor Venus also pulled his rust-worn disc, the center raised in the 
symbol of Venus. “VENUS POWER FIGHT!!”
	Neo-Sailor Jupiter grinned with excitement, his Jupiter-symbol raised on his 
own disc. “JUPITER POWER FIGHT!!” A voice in Jupiter’s head also screamed out, 
“And may God have mercy on us all.”
	The Male Soldiers’ clothes burned away as white fire flew from the ground 
to envelope them. The flames vanished instantly, semi-transparent black chains wrapping 
themselves around their bodies. The multiple-linked chains solidified around their torsos, 
forming silver-glittering body suits that covered them from their necks down to their ankles, 
leaving their arms bare. White flames flew around them again, and when the fires died 
down, black ankle-high boots on their feet, a black belt around their waists, a shining silver 
buckle adorning the belt in the shape of their planet’s symbol.
	The Sailor Soldiers were resplendent in their silver-and-black uniforms. The 
only way to distinguish one Soldier’s planet from another was the belt buckle.
	“We were angels, once,” Gae-dhal, the now-powered Neo-Sailor Moon,
intoned. “And we want our wings back.” His eyes blazed with rage. “We will fly again, 
on wings of gold.”
	Beryl laughed in his face. “A pretty speech, Sailor Moon!” Her fangs 
showed as she smiled. “Fortunately for my delicate ears, it will be your last!”
	The Male Soldiers stood there, calmly, not afraid, not apathetic anymore. 
They had only one mission left. They would all be damned and sent to Hell if they 
didn’t finish it.
	“I intend to speak more speeches before I die, Beryl!” Neo-Sailor Moon 
formed his hands as if he were holding a sword hilt. A blazing flame of white shot 
from his hands, and a fiery sword was in his hands, the white hilt seemingly made 
of fire, yet not burning his hands. The blade was a curved length of fire that danced 
around the edges. 
	The other Soldiers followed suit, creating fiery swords of white that danced 
in their hands, making shadows crawl along the walls from their light. 
	Pyrite and Iridium stood, practically gawking. They had not expected their 
father to have such abilities! 
	Jupiter spun his sword in slow, determined circles, the fiery blade trailing 
white flames with each circuit. Mars also spun his blade, but in faster, tighter circles, 
the blade seeming made of a large white shield. Venus’s sword blazed in its brilliant 
glory as he spun it above his head, some of the fire leaping from the sword and striking 
the ground, where they set the carpet aflame with small sparks. None of the flames got 
any larger than a thumbnail, but they were many and spread out along the carpet.
	“Tell me, Beryl,” Neo-Sailor Moon asked evenly, “Do you feel lucky?” His 
smile was like a knife. He swung his sword in an arc in front of him, the horizontal 
motion trailing white fire in the blade’s wake. 
	Beryl sneered. She pointed at the four men. The monsters attacked, guns 
blazing lasers. Neo-Sailor Moon stepped up, bringing his sword up above his head, then 
quickly to his left side, and then back down in front of his left leg. Each movement of 
his sword deflected a laser blast, and sent the beam into the carpet, where it burned a 
hole in the floor. Up went the sword, above the head and back down between the legs, 
and up again, then to the side, and then up in a diagonal cut, then finally a straight 
downward cut. Again, every move deflected a laser.
	Jupiter and Mars worked in unison, back-to-back, swords moving in 
harmony, but opposite of each other. Mars blocked a laser to the left, while Jupiter 
blocked a laser to the right. Mars’s blade blocked down, Jupiter’s blocked up. When 
one blocked to one side, the other defended the opposite direction. Laser burns dotted 
the carpet and walls. Venus charged into the monsters, dancing the Forbidden Dance, 
fiery sword flashing. Monsters went down, missing heads and limbs, as Venus continued 
his deadly dance. While the other Soldiers deflected lasers, Venus danced and rained 
death on his targets. By the time the battle was over, only Beryl stood, rage painted on 
her pale-skinned face, fangs bared. All around her were the mutilated corpses and 
appendages of her squadron. Venus had stepped back to join the others; his fiery sword 
was not even stained. The blood of his enemies was burned away as soon as it touched 
the fiery sword. 
	“They weren’t so tough; you’re slacking in your choice of soldiers, Beryl.”
Jupiter’s mocking voice had a tone of disappointment; he wanted a challenge, not 
cannon fodder.
	“Damn you, Soldiers!” Beryl roared, extending her hands and unleashing a 
fury of black lightning. Mars dodged to the side, Venus rolling right behind him to get 
away from the blast. Jupiter and Moon didn’t back down; they blocked each stroke of 
lightning with their swords, bouncing the lightning to the carpet, to the wall, to the ceiling, 
anywhere where no one would be hurt. After the fury ended, there were several new 
holes in the room. 
	Beryl grinned maliciously as black-purple lightning jumped between her 
fingers. She would defeat these men, these old, war-torn, battle-tired veterans. The
youngest of them, Venus, was about forty by now. Gae-dhal, the oldest, was close 
to sixty. She was stronger than they were. They just got lucky with those swords of 
theirs. That was it. Just luck. If that was so, then why did her thoughts seem so…
evasive? No! Beryl thought wildly. They CANNOT be stronger than she! SHE was 
the almighty QUEEN of the Negaverse!
	“Come on, you old geezers,” Beryl sneered. “I’ll take you ALL ON!" 	
	Sailor Moon returned the witch's sneer with one of his own. "You should 
show more respect for your elders, Beryl" The old man nodded to Jupiter, who 
stepped forward.
	"Sailor Soldiers!" Jupiter called loudly, thrusting his sword in the air. "Front 
line of battle!" Mars took his position, a step behind Jupiter on the right. Venus took 
his place, a step behind Jupiter to the left. Jupiter took his own station and stepped 
backwards so he was paralled by Mars and Venus. Gae-dhal positioned himself in 
front of all of them. They formed a wedge, Gae-dhal at the tip, facing Beryl.
	"Sailor Soldiers!" Jupiter roared again. "Kill!"
	A white flame surrounded all five men, crackling lightning and blazing 
thunder. "Jupiter...Electronic...Eruption!" A column of white-blue lightning flared 
and roared from Jupiter's hands and up into the air.
	"Venus...Purity...Purge!" Venus's attack sprayed a dazzling fan of gold 
slivers from his fingers. The golden slivers of light struck Jupiter's lightning column 
and was absorbed. The column turned golden in color and roared furiously with a 
screeching, high-pited wail. 
	"Mars...Volcanic...Rage!" A circle of bright red light appeared on the 
floor in front of Mars. He lifted on hand into the air, and an earth-shaking rumble 
was all the warning Beryl got before the red circle exploded and spewed forth a 
torrent of lava into the air. The lava mixed with the column of golden electricity
and flared red and gold as it mixed.
	Gae-dhal stepped forward. He reached behind his belt and drew forth 
his personal weapon: the Moon Scepter. A gift of Queen Serenity. He had permission 
to use it until Princess Serenity required it. Gae-dhal, Neo-Sailor Moon, Male Sailor 
Soldier, pointed the Scepter at Beryl.
	"Moon..." 
	The red-gold lightning column roared furiously.
	"Scepter..."
	The column streaked at Beryl, lightning fast, and lightning deadly.
	"Elimination!"
	A shower of stars and moon energy combined with the column and slammed 
into Beryl, and destroying the palace in the process. Columns of stone and pillars of onyx 
cracked and shattered, the roofs and ceilings they were supporting crumbling atop 
themselves. Monster troops scrambled to escape, the officers scrambling to regain order. 
All hell broke loose as the ceiling fell in. Death came and went, and the palace was no 
more. The Male Sailor Soldiers were crushed by a pillar of stone that fell by their own 
cruel power. Gae-dhal's children were torn apart by the aftershock generated by the 
combined powers of the Sailor Soldiers.	
	The Moon Scepter vanished from the chaos, from the hell, from the death. 
It would later be said that the Scepter knew its demise was forthcoming and had destroyed 
itself. Others say that Neo-Sailor Moon sent the Scepter away. And still others claim that
it is buried, to this day, beneath the ruins of the Dark Palace. None at that time and place, 
knew that by some sheer blind luck--or was it a miracle, and act of God?--the Moon 
Scepter was whisked away by the spirit of Queen Serenity, to hold in her eternal slumber 
of peaceful death, until Sailor Moon, young Serena, incarnated Princess Serenity, was 
reborn and would take the Scepter for her own. 
	And Beryl, wicked Queen of the Negaverse, Mistress of Evil, survived, the 
Oracle, her magic staff with the crystal ball in its top, protecting her from harm with a 
powerful shielding enchantment. And so evil won the day, and evil would continue to
thrive, though the forces of Good--the balancer and equalizer in the Chaos of Life and 
Death, Pain and Pleasure, Light and Dark--would continue to fight. By an act of God, 
or maybe just luck or irony, the one thing in the whole Palace that was not damaged or 
destroyed was the circular disk drawn on the floor of Zodiac's offices. 
	The circular white-and-black disk with the sinuous line splitting the halves.
	And so, as all tales do, the story of evil's blackened heart, with a touch of 
holiness in its core, the tale of love, justice, and balance of Good and Evil comes to its 
end. And as the demon Queen of Evil, Beryl, licked her wounds and rebuilt her power 
and control, as she reveled in her victory--or maybe survival would be the better term--
the Fallen Angels take flight on their wings of silver, their golden halos heralding their 
continued virtue into the Gates of Heaven and the Arms of God.
	And the circular white-and-black disc, divided by a sinuous line, remained 
intact, the symbol of everlasting war between Good and Evil. May another Zodiac, 
and another Fallen Angel, come to stand at its center, a new herald for a new age 
and a new era.