Eryx didn't respond. She'd been spending the whole time powering up for what she had hoped was a final attack. Thank goodness her last attack had ultimately allowed her to do three times the damage as "Celestial Force." But she couldn't expect Amethyst to fall for it again. She knew she was low on energy, but that wasn't going to prevent her from stopping Amethyst. She hoped that one or two more attacks could stop her, but if she had to, she'd attack her physically. Eryx wasn't about to let her hurt anyone ever again.
"Sailor Eryx, why don't you just give up now? I'll make it painless, I promise."
Eryx ignored Amethyst's cajoling voice and continued readying herself for another attack.
Amethyst hated being ignored. "You're dead anyway. Even if you beat me, you're dead. You and everyone you love! I will not lose!"
Eryx would not be persuaded. Concentrating all her energy on this attack she shouted, "CELESTIAL FORCE!" and hit Amethyst. The blast threw Amethyst into her own energy draining vine. The thorns in the vine slashed into Amethyst's already battered body. Although the recent attacks had done significant damage to Amethyst, she was still alive afterwards. The vine, however, continued the damage, until finally her life was drained away.
Eryx's face grew pale as she watched Amethyst die. As her life-force was drained off, she seemed so weak, so vulnerable, so� human. Neko was a little in shock from watching her die in such a way, yet she knew she couldn't have done anything about Amethyst. And she still had to save Mi-chan and Tenshi.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jasper appeared by Amethyst's side just in time to see Eryx run off. He freed her from vines that ensnared her and caught her body before it fell to the ground.
"Ame?" he whispered. He felt for her pulse, but it wasn't there. She wasn't breathing either. "No!" he cried. If she was already gone, he couldn't do anything for her. He held her and tried to heal her, but he couldn't feel anything happening. Her body was cold, and he felt his heart freeze over with it.
He looked up at the Sailor Senshi and vowed that they would pay for his Ame.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Eryx ran toward Mi-chan and Tenshi, but when she was about 20 feet from them, she hit an invisible barrier. "Mi-chan! Tenshi-kun!" she screamed as she beat at the barrier, but neither one responded.
"It's no use. They can't hear or see us," said a male voice behind her.
She turned to him. "Jian-kun, I need to get in there," she cried.
He shook his head. "I already tried the whole perimeter. I don't think we can stop them."
Eryx refused to accept that she couldn't get through. She was not just going to stand there and watch as Mi-chan and Tenshi killed each other. She backed up, took a deep breath and powered up. She knew she didn't have much energy left, and she was going to use it well.
"Celestial Force!" She hit the barrier with everything she had left, trying not to notice the close call Tenshi just had from Mi-chan's sword. Her heart skipped a beat as the forcefield glowed blue and a quick opening appeared in it, but it closed up too quickly for her to make use of it.
Unfortunately, she had used up the last of her power. Without any energy to sustain her, Eryx transformed back into Neko. "IYA!" she screamed as she ran up and pounded on the barrier, beginning to feel powerless to stop Mi-chan and Tenshi.
"Neko-chan!" Jian-wa grabbed her and tried to keep her from hurting herself. "Stop! We'll find another way in," he promised, anxious to get her to calm down, even if he didn't believe his own guarantee.
But his words gave her hope. "Jian-wa," her eyes shone gratefully. She closed her eyes and pictured the barrier as it had appeared when she had hit it. It hadn't been too high, not much higher than fifteen feet. She opened them. "Jian-kun, I can get over it!"
"Huh?" It seemed pretty high to him.
All she had to do was pole vault over it. Unfortunately, she had never successfully made it over the bar when it was above fifteen feet. And while it wouldn't matter if she just barely touched the top of the barrier because she didn't have to worry about knocking off a bar, if she really failed, it was going to do a lot more damage to her than going under or hitting the bar would.
She backed away from the barrier, took out her anti-gravity pole , and set it for vaulting that high. Then she ran towards the barrier. When she reached the point where she normally would've set the pole in the crossbar she leapt up, setting a new height for the pole as she positioned herself to (with any luck) go over the barrier. She swung her body up and hoped that it was enough. Jian-wa stood next to the invisible barrier, so she would know where it was, and once she passed him, she knew she was home free. She deactivated her pole and pulled it over quickly before she began to fall. Then she prepared herself, knowing that when she hit the ground it was going to hurt a lot.
The earth rushed towards her with great speed. Then when she was about halfway down, she remembered she had another trick up her sleeve. She reactivated her pole and held on with all her might. Miraculously, the tactic seemed to work and she managed to hang from it about a foot above the ground. She let go of the pole and fell the remaining distance, landing on her feet, and catching the pole as it followed her down.
After taking a second to catch her breath, Neko looked up to see Mi-chan and Tenshi still fighting. Instinctively, she was certain that Mi-chan wouldn't kill Tenshi, at least not on purpose, but they were fighting with swords, and if Mi-chan had to take desperate measures to save herself�. Tenshi, in her current state, Neko knew, probably would kill Mi-chan if given a chance.
Neko had no clue what she could do to stop the scene before her. She helplessly watched Mi-chan defend herself from Tenshi's aggressive attacks. Suddenly, she was hit by a sense of d�j� vu as Tenshi used an attack identical to one in the nightmare Neko had had last Thursday night. "Mi-chan!" she screamed at her twin, just as she had in the dream. Tenshi apparently had not noticed Neko's entrance and, even in her condition, was thrown off by her scream, allowing Mi-chan, who naturally was already aware of her twin's presence, to use the distraction to parry the attack and knock Tenshi's sword away to the side.
