Rie sighed as the paintings came to life. Bonus: her paintings weren't affected. "We do need to purify it, but I can't do it with her awake. She needs to be still which means she has to be knocked unconscious first,"she says to the other two. Shouting "Moonlight Silver Arrow," she begins firing arrows at the living art, cringing at each hit and hoping to take out most of the targets to kinda clear some space.

Making her way forward, she circled around behind the girl who wasn't paying her much attention anyway. Rie picks up a nearby statue, a replica of the Tokyo Tower done in a heavy-ish glass and she hefted it experimentally in her hand. It didn't feel heavy enough to do cause serious damage. She wasn't very good at sports or throwing things, but the youma wasn't that far away either. Aiming for the back of the girl's head and praying she didn't do brain damage, she chunks the statue through the air.

The youma glares as Kishin's defense caused the initial attack to mean nothing, but it shoots a colored ray at Kishin much like the one that was fired at Sophia at first. While Kishin may have been a nearly indestructible wall of defense, such heavy armor comes at a cost of speed even Kishin's powers can't overwhelm. The light beam hits the stone shield, causing it to animate and turn against him as numerous sharp mouths begin to bite at any part of Kouske that was close while the shield began to fuse to his armor with dark magic so that it couldn't easily be discarded.

The youma is hit by the statue, but it only staggeres forward slightly, turning to Amarissa with contempt in it's eyes. It throws more colored sphere bombs at Amarissa, which will explode in bursts of dark energy. While she will likely dodge the majority of the blast, she will definitely be struck by a part of the group of bombs, which will inflict a trace of dark energy on her that will cause a growing sense of dread and nausea.

Meanwhile, the animated minion that Venus struck is swiftly vanquished, the bolt of light from her bow extinguishing the dark presence, albeit leaving the art piece in question slightly damaged.

Meanwhile, the black suited man looks annoyed at the fact that the senshi and guardian knight were still standing against the creature. With a 'tch' sound coming from his hand...he holds his hand out at Sailor Venus, as a purple spike manifests in his hand...gathering energy and crackling with evil power.

"Venom Spike...devour her soul!" he says, as the bolt begins to fly at Sailor Venus...

...but a flash of light and the sound of a dull buzz is all that is heard....

Earlier, during the initial round of battle...

Luna looked up at the young man that Venus had pulled out of the line of sight. As she got close, she could feel it...a latent power within this one. To Luna's sight, she could see a faint crest on his forehead...corresponding to the same mark that Sophia bore. If what she has seen so far is correct, then this young man was the male equivalent of Sailor Venus...the Guardian Knight Venus.

"Hey, boy, listen up...your friend is in profound danger along with your friends..." she starts out, which causes Kenji to jump startled and then blankly look at Luna who was talking.

"...A cat...that talks...a monster...am I dreaming?" the boy says. "I knew that Sophia-san hugging me was too good to be true..." he states, starting to pinch himself, which causes an annoyed Luna to claw at his ankles, causing him to yelp and hop back.

"Quit messing around! The reason I'm talking to you is that you can do something a lot like she can...you can become a warrior using the magical power of Venus to defeat the evil powers that are present both here and in the world. It is your duty to help! Please!" the cat protests, while Kenji looks at the scene with trepidation.

"You've got to be kidding me, I have no magical powers...I'm just an ordinary kid in a liberal arts academy..." he protests. At this point, Luna's crescent glows, as an object begins to manifest in the air in betwen Kenji and the cat...a silver dagger with a yellow gem in it."Luna is visible surprised at what she saw...

"The Moon Sword..." she states for moment, then looking back at Kenji. "Hold that, and say Venus Knight Power...and you will understand when your latent potential awakens..."

Meanwhile, Kenji is momentarily mesmerized by the weapon, but then he snaps back to attention as a ring of explosions tries to destroy the masked boy while Sophia was being charged by an animated..art...monster...thing.

"...I dunno about saving the world, but if I can help Sophia..I don't want to leave her with that kind of responsibility...she is too kind for something like this..." he says, grasping the blade. "Then I'll...see where this goes. he says, anxiety and apprehension in his voice...a small flash of light later, Kenji was covered in white, loose fitting garb with white and yellow light armor covering his waist, torso, shoulders, and forearms. His hands were donned in a leather glove with light plating on it, while his feet had lightly plated boots in a similar fashion. A white cloak draped his form, meeting in a small yellow gem below the neck, while a white mask covered his eyes, nose, and part of his forehead. In his hand, a large, silver sword with a white gem in the hilt rested, a particularly potent power radiating from the blade.

The newly awakened Venus Knight looks at himself in disbelief...but when he sees the man who started it all form some kind of dark...energy...thing, intent on attacking Sophia with it, he reacted before he could think..."[/b]


Back in the present...

The Venus Knight stood in front of Sailor Venus, using the weapon as a shield, while the weapon itself was coated in a yellow energy that would likely feel familiar to Sophia. There would be a potent connection beween Sophia and the Venus Knight due to their combined power presence and similar personalities.

"...I couldn't let you do this alone." he states sheepishly, feeling incredibly corny as literally a knight in shining armor right now...before glaring down the man who started this whole thing...his hands shifting to grip the blade with both hands and lowering the weapon with the blade behind him, in a position that said 'ready to charge'.

Needless to say, the man in black was NOT amused, his glare icy. A fourth one...and this one seemed dangerous...he could sense a strong, positive energy coming from that blade. How did he not notice his energy before?

One monster down… and however many more that thing made to go. Sophia turns back around to face the youma-changed girl. When she hears the words “Venom Spike”, she realizes that things were getting far more complicated than planned. She expects the impact, but there isn’t any. Her Knight counterpart stands before her. Kenji was Venus Knight? This was fairly surreal for her.

She smiles at him. “Thank you.” Evidently, her and Kenji did have a lot to talk about… And well, she couldn’t ask for a better knight. Perhaps it was the effect of the presence of the Knight, but she feels positive that they can pull through this battle. “Kishin, Rie and I can handle the girl.” She aims at the ceiling about the youma-changed girl to send it falling down on her. She could heal the girl’s injuries after she was purified.

As soon as the light his Kishin and he realizes what's going on he releases himself from his main armor leaving only his right arm to be mauled by the living stone. However, not waiting for them to eat away at him in truth he smashes the stone arm against a nearby stone pedestal breaking both the armor and the pedestal. "Take care of her and then start getting these people out of here. I'll deal with tall dark and evil." He says as he springs towards the man in a sudden burst of speed. As he does he shouts "Meteor Smash! and suddenly a dome of earth surrounds him and the man separating them from the group.

"The ace is the hope of the team, though not the one who leads he is a beacon for the others, and as such the ace cannot afford to lose. I cannot afford to lose I must be and am invincible." Kousuke's mantra comes forth quietly from Kishin's lips as he smiles and walks towards the dark man. "It's just the two of us now, let's get it on and have some fun~" He says with a cheshire grin that splits his face and makes him look slightly feral.

Kousuke raises the staff in front of himself and focuses on the mysterious man. "So who are you? One of the zodiac?"

Rie jumps and rolls to the side as the dark energy is fired at her. Most of it misses but she cries out in pain as she's hit by one of the bombs. Within a few minutes, she started feeling sick and an unreasonable fear begins to gnaw at her chest. "Oh this isn't good..." she mutters, still on the floor kneeling and holding her side where the energy hit. Hearing a new voice though, she looks up. Surprise crosses her face as she spots what can only be the Venus Knight. The air in the room seemed to shift as both knight and senshi came together. Then she hears Sophia yell about them taking down the youma girl. "That's easier said than done," she mutters again.

Forcing herself to stand, she winces as the room spins and the feeling in her chest grows. "I'm not feeling so good. We need to work quickly." she yells to the other girl. Noticing Kishin's problem with his armor, she gets an idea. Dark energy was causing all of this. Could she remove it with the purification magic? Rie made her way slowly over to the knight, who had taken off his main armor. "Be still," she tells him as she places her hands, "Pure Soul!" she intones hoping it will purge the dark energy.

Not waiting to find out she turns back to the youma and pulls her bow, wincing. It's a good thing it was close range, otherwise she wouldn't have the energy for it. Fighting against the worsening nausea and dread, she aims her bow at the thing's brush while it's not looking at her. "Moonlight Silver Arrow!" she whispers to the bow and fires, hoping to knock the brush out of its reach, or even destroy it with the pure, burning power of her arrow.

The youma morphed girl staggers a little from the small amount of debris that comes down on her head from above, Venus' arrow having a limited effect on the solid stone. However, the point blank arrow lands on the creature, causing a small flash of moonlight and positive energy to seep into her being, causing her to howl and squirm in agony, before she falls to her knees, weakened leaving the perfect opportunity to cleanse her for Moon.

The man in the black suit looks at Kousuke, and tilts his glasses with a laugh of contempt. This was the one whom inflicted that annoying wound earlier....who somehow pierced his infused body and caused him to spill blood. The man turns to Kishin, emitting an overwhelming aura of malice. A spiral of wind infused with chaos energy making the wind 'visible' blows around him, drifting loose objects away and even pushing away unconscious bodies. His right hand tucked in his pocket, his left slowly raises in an open handed gesture with his index and middle finger pointed in Kishin's direction.

"I will admit, I was unprepared the last time. I had expended much of my energy feeding the storm that drew you and your friends out of hiding...and you had the element of surprise, since I didn't believe any power in this world could inflict tangible damage against the Covenant...but you will be crushed all the same. You say you are invincible do you? Let's see if that's true." he says, as a mist begins to spread from his body. While the dome was able to keep the other senshi out, it produced a problem for Kishin.

"Scorpio's Venom...drown in your arrogance mortal." he says coldly as the dome begins to rapidly fill with the incredibly lethal toxin. Fortunately for Kishin, there were no unconscious civilians in the dome, but if he blindly breaks it open the poison could seep out. Naturally, Kishin would have approximately fifteen seconds before the entire dome filled with the mist, and when inhaled Kishin would feel as though his insides were melting and in horrific agony.

The man, now obviously identifiable as Scorpio, calmly waits for Kishin's reaction.

Sophia looks at Amarissa. “You have this,” she concedes. The words Scorpio’s Venom cut her optimistic attitude. Nazo had mentioned something about the deadly poison. She looks back to the other battle. Evidently, Kishin had managed to get himself in a terrible snow globe of the stuff. And the blonde man had enough hatred that it made Sophia a little sick to be in the same room as him. How does someone even hide an aura like that?

She couldn’t think of way to stop it. Have venom seep everywhere or let Kishin die in the agony? She didn’t even know how to break the dome if she wanted to. She fires a light arrow through a nearby window before running up to the dome. "KISHIN! Punch a hole through the top of the dome and up through the ceiling! Make a route through the building for the gas if you can!" She aims to take out as many windows as she can.

"Oh, it's you..." Kousuke says in surprise as Scorpio reveals himself. "Well this is awkward..." Kishin admits as a bit of sweat rolls down his brown.

However then Scorpio starts filling the dome up Kousuke activates Meteor Smash and the domes bottom grows round until the dome becomes a sphere, as Kousuke begins holding his breath and then remembering where the people are he begins hampsterballing the sphere out of the exhibit.

Seeing the perfect opportunity, Rie rushes forward, growling in pain and eyes wide in fear. She places one hand on the girl's forehead and the other on her chest. "Pure Soul!" she intones as a silver light flashes from her hands, burning the dark energy of the youma out. After a minute or so, the light fades and Rie collapses to her knees, wrapping her arms around her middle as the nausea threatens. "Oh god..." she whispers, managing to crawl off a few feet before being violently ill all over the floor.

Looking up, she sees the dome of poison and then "Kishin!!". Her eyes widened as she realized who this was."Ohh this is not good....Where's Nazo when you need him?" she muttered. The dread finally tipped over in her chest and she could feel it spreading like syrup through her body. Think, think, think Rie. Gotta be a way to fix this. Then it occurred to her that maybe she could use her own power on herself. Placing her hands, she whispered her magic words and after a few seconds of silver light and looking awkward in this position on the floor, she felt the sickness fade as well as the dread.

Jumping to her feet, she pulls her bow her."Moonlight Silver Arrow!!" she whispers then used her arrows to take out the remaining living art, everything busting or catching fire. Quite obviously, she was pissed and she tried to put as much power and focus in her attacks as possible.

As the 'hamster ball' makes it's way out, Scorpio looks at Kishin with an annoyed expression. His feet remained planted to the ground he was on due to some trick, as he boredly observed the actions of the Earth Knight to evacuate the area.

"Cute...do you really think that this trick will make a difference?" he says with contempt, as he watches Kishin's efforts. He holds his hand out, his fingers loosely in a cone in the direction of Kishin, as six purple lances manifest. Without a verbal command, they launch at Kishin, the center lance aimed right at his chest, while the other five land around him. On contact, the lances burst in a violent burst of energy, and regardless of how many end up hitting Kishin, the violent power shatters the 'hamster ball' into rubble...leaving Scorpio hovering in the air.

The remaining living art are effortlessly put down by Sailor Moon, her rage induced attacks having a slightly more potent effect than normal. From the perspective of the others, the hamster ball would break and begin to release the poison mist in the air. The closest unconscious humans however begin to disappear as small black blurs could be perceptible if they looked closely enough.

Venus Knight was about to attack Scorpio when the other male charged and blocked off easy access to the man in the black suit. Annoyed, he turns to face the other youma and began to head in her direction to subdue her, but then the ranged attacks of Moon and Venus quickly resolved that issue, leaving a disgruntled Venus Knight awkwardly standing with his sword in the middle the room.

"Oh come on..." he grumbles, audible enough to the other two senshi, foiled yet again from making his contribution, but when the hamsterball antics began and just as quickly subsided, Venus Knight takes his chance to act, holding his weapon below him, the blade facing behind him as he braced himself. The sword began to glow a luminescent yellow as the howl of wind began to radiate from it, gathering energy. He was preparing something.

Sophia stares at the newly formed hamster ball. “Uhhhhhh…” is about all she can really say as she watched Kishin roll away. She guesses that is a solution, but isn’t sure whether it is the best solution. It sort of breaks her chain of thought, and she hesitates to do much of anything as she watches him, hoping he can get out of maze-like exhibit in time.

Lances burst through the hamster ball and launch at Kishin. Around him, human lives burst into black vapor as the mist touches them. All she wanted to do was to protect them all, but now they were gone. There wasn’t even a body left… Kishin would probably die if she didn't act though, seeing some of Scorpio's powers. She wanted so badly for no one to get hurt. Perhaps, death only ends with more death. It’s a depressing thought, but she is out of ideas other than violence. And she promised to fight when it was necessary.

Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Kenji charging up an attack. She then intends to provide him with an opening and take some of the attention away from Kishin. Scorpio’s attention seemed to be Kishin, so she hopes that he doesn’t notice her aiming an arrow of light and sending it towards him.

As the Lances manifest Kishin suddenly vanishes from the ball having ejected himself from through a newly added small opening. Kousuke careens past everyone else in the exhibit and hits a nearby wall. "Well that could have gone better." he grunts as he gets out of the wall. However, Kishin's eyes still held conviction. The conviction wavers for a moment as he glances as the people who vaporize at the touch of the mist.

It is not your responsibility to deal with the people, focus on protecting the senshi and let them deal with the people. he reminds himself as convictions seeps back into his eyes. In fact as his determination rises Kousuke's emotional control also begins kicking in. There is a way! I am invincible and as long as I stand THERE IS A WAY!. The "hope" emotional control will hit everyone like a hammer, as it continues to ramp up alongside Kishin's conviction.

And since the people around Scorpio are not there anymore there is no longer a need to worry about collateral damage. "METEOR SMASH!" He screams at the top of his lungs as six large pillars rise around Scopio and then collapse onto him.

A slow, satisfied smile rises on Rie's face as the art falls. Turning her attention to the rest of the room, she takes a minute to observe everything. She missed the hamsterball antics and only sees the dome explode, people turn into mist, and the lances. She also notices that Scorpio is now vulnerable. Convinced that Kishin can take care of himself and seeing the Venus couple preparing to attack. Rie makes her way around what was left of the unconscious people to stand with the other two.

Seeing Kishin's attack, Rie decides against asking what the plan is and just dives in, so to speak. Pulling her bow, she says calmly "Moonlight Silver Arrow," and fires two arrows: one aimed at his chest and one aimed his feet. Still fairly pissed, Rie was starting to look kind of sultry with all the anger and confidence. She didn't even seem to care about the people being turned into vapor, but now just wasn't the time so she didn't say anything about them.