Mara was shivering like a leaf as she saw her boss nod to her question. All the demoness could do was drop to her knees, raise her clasped hands and beseech the more powerful demoness. "Please! Please! For the hate of Satan, don't send me and Ranma to our own personal circle of hell together for all eternity, PLEASE!!!"
Looking over her shoulder from the touching reunion going on, Urd couldn't help but shudder. If she didn't get out of view she'd be having her own 'reunion' soon...
Hild's smile vanished and she glared down at the kneeling demoness. "You deserve that and more, Mara. It was a simple thing to keep him out of trouble and even at that you failed."
Mara looked up at her boss with a look that asked, 'what are you smoking, and will you share?'
Unmindful of the look she was getting, Hild looked up and caught sight of the heart-warming reunion between mother and son, goddess and demon. She had to resist badly the urge to throw up. "And what, in the name of Lucifer, is that?!" she demanded.
"Uh... A scene that's making me want to toss my cookies?" she asked nervously. She caught Urd's eyes with her own and said, "Look! It's your daughter! Don't you want to go and say 'hi', boss?" she asked, trying to push Hild's focus from her over to Urd.
"Nice try, demoness seventh class, limited," Hild said with a smirk.
Mara's body stiffened, her body freezing up on her.
It took her millennia and a century to get to First Class, Unlimited...
"S-seventh class...?" The Demoness asked weakly.
"You're spending the rest of eternity as an inferior to the demon you couldn't control," Hild snorted. "Licking your boots my ass."
It was then that Mara couldn't handle it.
She fell face-first to the ground bawling her eyes out in defeat. IT WASN'T FAIR! She was supposed to be one the main demons of Nifelheim! Now she was lower than canon-fodder!
Hild looked away in distaste. How far the strong had fallen... She was about to leave the temple when suddenly...
"Halt, vile villains!" came a shout from the temple gate, an outline of five women.
Hild blinked her eyes at the interruption and turned to regard the newcomers.
"Evil monsters have no place on holy shrine grounds," the one in the middle said as the group got closer. "During this season of love and cherry-blossoms, the light of passion should cover the land, not the shadows of darkness!"
And then from some unknown source, light shown down upon the group, revealing...
Ranma blinked was brought back from his ‘manly’ reunion with his mother; his eyes clear of tears, as he heard the familiar, and unwanted, voice.
...Five girls in Sailor fuku and mini-skirts?
"I, Sailor Moon, champion of justice, shall right wrongs and triumph over evil!" she did a series of hand gestures and pointed towards Hild. "And that means you!"
"And the Sailor Senshi!" the other four spoke up as one...
Hild blinked at that. "... Do I know you?"
"We're the Sailor Senshi!" Sailor Moon said. "We bring love and justice! Things something as evil as you would try to destroy."
"Be careful, Sailor Moon," the one in blue said as she looked at Hild while holding up a computer and wearing some sort of visor, "her energy levels are astronomical!"
The major demoness stared some more at the ditzy blonde and smirked. "Give it your best shot, Barbie. You're messing with the wrong demon."
Just then Ranma stood up, having wiped his tears on his sleeve so they didn’t get to see his moment of weakness, and groaned. "Not you again. Don't tell me you want another beating."
Sailor Moon blinked her eyes and she pointed accusingly. "It's you again!"
"They must be a new evil threat," Sailor Jupiter surmised at seeing these villains again.
Ranma made shooing motions with his hand. "Just go away and don't bother us. I'm not in the mood to play around with weaklings again."
However, he was ignored. "It must be some sort of evil plan to take over Earth again," Sailor Mars said seriously, eyeing the new evil ones that would dare take over shrine grounds.
"And that big one with two-toned hair and the sagging boobs must be the leader," Minako said as she looked at Hild.
That earned a frosty glare from Hild. "Mara... Ranma..."
Mara stopped crying suddenly, looking up at her boss fearfully. "Y-yes, Hild-sama?"
Ranma turned to his boss. Even with all that happened he was still honor-bound to follow Hild’s orders… most of the time.
Hild stared dispassionately at the Senshi. "Kill them."
Mara nodded her head. "Yes, Hild-sama..." She got to her feet, ready to battle. She knew this probably wouldn't do any good, but MAAAAYBE if she did all Hild asked and did it well for a couple of centuries, she might get reinstated to Fifth Class.
Ranma didn't need further motivation and attacked. Maybe not to kill them but to give them a sound beating.
"Ranma!" Nodoka called, unbelieving that her son would attack a group of girls so callously.
The Senshi did not take kindly to Ranma charging. "Shabon SPRAY!" Mercury said as Ranma got close. She intended to blind him off first.
Ranma jumped over the attack, a ball of hellfire in his hand at the ready.
Sailor Jupiter jumped in with "Sparkling Wide Pressure!" The ball of electrical might heading towards Ranma.
Ranma smirked and threw his attack at the Senshi. He blinked in shock, however, when Jupiter's attack obliterated his own and gave him quite the literal shock.
"Ranma-sama!" Kodachi cried from the sidelines at seeing her love fall to the ground.
It was certainly enough to surprise those who knew Ranma, especially Hild who looked at her poker-faced employer. "H-Hild! What's going on? Did you power him down too!?"
"Has the shock of the day affected your memory, Mara?" Hild asked and the younger demoness was quick to notice the lack of endearment when her name was said.
The Demoness Fir-SEVENTH class blinked her eyes a few times before they widened greatly. "SHRINE GROUNDS!"
Hild smirked maliciously. "Aren't you going to attack?"
"...Paint the bull's eye on my shirt, why don't you..." Mara groaned in utter depression. Bad enough she was now seriously weakened. But on Shrine grounds, it would be even more so! At best all she could be would be a decoy!
Ranma flipped to his feet, away from a fire blast, and growled. "I'm not going down that easily." He charged again, now intending to meet one of the girls in hand-to-hand.
Kodachi bit her lips, wanting to join her Ranma-sama in battle but holding back because she was holding their daughter in her arms. She would have to think a way around that after today.
Nodoka, on the other hand, was staring at the one-sided fight in no small amount of fear. Ranma's attacks had absolutely no effect... And she knew what the Sailor Senshi always did to demons.
Still, she could see he at least had his regular strength. Jupiter met Ranma head on, smashing her knee into his gut, wincing as he connected his elbow into her collarbone.
"Venus, Love-Me Chain, Encircle!" Sailor Venus shouted as a chain of ethereal heart-shaped links slashed at Ranma's exposed backside.
"Argh!" Ranma cried in pain as the attack drew blood. He quickly backpedaled from Jupiter before she could capitalize on his moment of weakness.
"Crud," Mara groaned as she started pulling a Tanuki statue free from its bolts. She may not have been super-strong, but it was still a trick of the Weaker Demons, which she now was. Use your power to augment your own natural strength!
"Hey, rainbow girls!" Mara shouted as she held the statue above her head. "Take this!" And with that she threw it at the five girls, making them scatter from their positions close to one another.
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
The arrow of fire covered ground incredibly fast towards the demoness.
Too fast...
Mara's eyes widened as she felt the strike. She looked behind her, where the bolt of fire was now setting the building ablaze, and then back own at her chest and paled.
The demoness fell to her knees. "...Oh shit on me..." Mara gurgled as a bit of dark blood started to leak from either corner of her mouth.
It was quite a surprising sight, especially to the Senshi. Didn't the monsters just explode to dust?
Hild smiled sinisterly at that. She would rescue Mara and Ranma after they got a sound beating. It was the least they deserved before being sent to hell together.
"TOMBOY!" Ranma shouted as he rushed to Mara's side. He stood defiantly in front of the Senshi, guarding Mara with his own body.
"R-relax..." Mara groaned as she fell to her hands and knees, coughing up blood. "I... I've taken worse..." She groaned as she tried to keep from falling to the ground completely.
"You were more powerful then..." Ranma mumbled and clenched his fists.
It was such an unusual sight; it was enough to make the Inners start to back down.
Youma being maimed...
Youma standing up for one another...
...And was that care in the male's voice? It was enough to make the Inners start to back down... to get a better hold of the situation…
...Still, there were others to pick up the slack.
"WORLD SHAKING!"
"DEEP SUBMERGE!"
Ranma grit his teeth and braced himself for impact upon seeing the energy blasts coming his way.
It was quite the impact. It felt like Saffron was trying to punch him head-on before he was being drowned while swimming from Japan to China...
Two experiences he wished not to repeat, thank you very much.
The explosion left Ranma weakly standing there before he fell to his knees and toppled over. The blast was strong enough it even hurt Mara, though not as much as Ranma.
"Now, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Uranus shouted.
"B-but..." Sailor Moon stuttered. This seemed highly wrong to her. She was pretty SURE that they were supposed to be evil... But they weren't acting like it.
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(Posted Sun, 29 May 2005 15:13)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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