Rei finally begins to run back towards the main group, slowed by a number of chains and shackles with kanji engraved upon them. Run might not be accurate so much as speed walk would be: the objects must have substantial weight to them. After all, the same type of thing kept a monstrosity in check for who knows how long.

The youma meanwhile prepares to capitalize on the weakness shown by the Moon Senshi, it finds itself being clung onto by Valdis. Valdis' fangs would penetrate after several attempts, but the venom didn't have immediate and noticeable effects. It flails and smashes at where Valdis was, one rather nasty fist smashing into her back.

Sophia would see a brief vision. The vision was of a time after the Covenant appeared early in the invasion. A messy haired man sat in his room, drawing glyphs and symbols on a parchment. He had a few vials of substance and some of an odd, black plant nearby. Rei enters the room, looking substantially younger and less stressed than her current incarnation. She argues with the man about his choices, saying that she doesn't have time for him to make silly mistakes after her grandfather died and it was on the two of them to run the shrine.

The other man shakes his head and disagrees with Rei, believing that he can harness power for good. Rei eventually storms off, shouting he was a fool for thinking that and going against everything that her grandfather had ever taught him...the man looking down with a frown, mouthing some words that aren't audible to the vision.

The tree branch, thrown with lesser strength than normal due to the temporary 'de-onification' has no tangible impact, but the attack from Killian and Kaguya's earth spell manage to stagger it from a further attack. It's vicious movements seemed to be slowed due to the venom that Valdis had infected it with, but the creature begins to stand back up with a violent roar, as a red glow begins to surround it's body.

Kaguya grins slightly when her attack as well as Kail's hit the mark on the youma but it was still up and was roaring like a savage beast. This caused her to sweatdrop greatly as this thing was extreamly durable and it was not even weakening. She starts hopping back to get some distance away from the youma to avoid a counter attack from the massive thing. But out of the corner of her eye she sees Rei showing up with some shackles and wondering what was going on. So Kaguya ran over to the Miko "Rei-san,....what are those" she asked since she did not hear on some of the other plans that were going on. But she wanted this woman's safety her main priority. As she got closer the shackles and chains were very very heavy and made to be used on the youma that was going on a rampage.

Sophia world’s fades out of view, and she wonders briefly if this is what losing consciousness feels like. However, the story between the former priest and Rei plays out before her. She can understand his desire to do everything he can to change the world even if it might destroy him, and Rei’s worry that this wouldn’t end well. She knew how this played out though. She tries desperately to hear those words, but can’t catch them at all. Was this there last encounter with each other before he became a monster and the corruption took hold?

The sounds of heavy chains dragged along the ground takes her away from her vision, and the feeling of pain is soon to follow. Everyone else had gone to fight the creature, and it would take her some time to catch up to them. She gets up, leaning on something for support, and makes slow progress to the others, using the trees to help her stay upright.

The former priest broke the chains before, and with the threat of being bound again after being shackled in a basement for years, she doubts this will go too well. No, that would be certainly intensify his anger far more than any love powers could. At least, it would if she was in his shoes. Using those love powers had been a mistake after seeing his and Rei’s last meeting. It probably all seemed like a lie to him. Everything had gone south, and the person he loved most in life seemed right about him being a fool and then chained him up in a basement for years. Well, it was really no wonder why he would be this angry…

She shouldn’t have asked Rei to stay out of this. All words would be meaningless unless it came from her. He was her friend, and only she could talk him back down. Without her presence, he has no other attachment to this world, so what would purification bring him other just a peaceful end?

Once she catches up to Rei, which would take her some time, she says, breathing heavily, “Is your solution to put him underground and hide him away? Because that will not work. Have you really given up on him? He has no real reason to come back to himself if you have… there isn’t really anything left for him. If so, we can work to kill him now so he doesn’t suffer any longer. But if you want to save him, I recommend you say something to him. He is in there. He is listening.”

She looks back towards the former priest, “We may be able to chain him up for a brief window of time so you can speak to him. It’s not likely you could talk to him any other way. He will probably break lose after a while though. However, without you, I would think it would be hard for Ama to save what is left of his soul. You were his friend, so only you can talk him down now.”

Amarissa grimaced but managed to hold very still as David applied the make-shift splint. It would have to do for now. She couldn't really shoot anymore, so she instead concentrated on simply staying out of the way and avoiding attracting attention.

She watched as the priestess came out, along with Sophia. Apparently they had a new plan. This time, the venus senshi wanted the priestess to talk to the youma while he was chained. "I'll just wait for you to say when you want me to purify him then," she yelled to the other girl, gasping a bit.

As the rage returns and the barriers effect discipates Lance's skin is dyed crimson again and he lets out an ear splitting roar. "GRAHHHHH!" The scarlet form dashes towards the monster with panther like speed ignoring it's surroundings and caring only about one thing, the kill.

When Oni gets within range of the youme he lets loose several powerful blows to try and kill the creature.

Kail takes a few steps back and he grasps his sword and took a few minutes to take everything in and plan the next move. He looks over at both Rei and Sophia and had to sigh and watches Oni go into full rage mode on the youma. This just frustraited him to no end as there had been them just charging in to try and deal with the youma and other things. Kail takes a few minutes to calm his mind and empty it to become like a void. It was hard due to the fighting as well as Oni roaring and screaming. If people did look at him, his stance and body was showing all over calm. He gets into a low stance with his blade and then starting running in very swiftly. Kail's speed was fast, not as the same as he was in the harbor battle but it was close. He moves in like a wildfire and then brings his sword above his head.

"Kai-Ryu HONOKIBA" he yelled out and struck down with a devasating amount of force. This was the only thing in his arsenal that would deal a massive blow to the enemy. Like the Zodiac Covenant Scaorpio that they faced a few days ago. Kail did not want to use the move as he did not want to heavily rely on this move. As it was something he did not want to spam and only save it for big threats. This thing had hurt them more then some of the previous enemies that they have faced.

Luckily they were all going for the creatures knees; leaving Val who was near its head relatively unscathed. That was until a large fist smashed into her back....what the hell was with everything hitting her in her back? She felt her bones crunch, almost making her loose her grip and fall into the barrage of attacks that were being directed at his knees. It was a second or two before she felt the bones slowly mending themselves back into place. Giving her just enough time to pull herself to stand on the beasts shoulders. Performing and awkward balance act she used its head as a spring board to jump into some nearby trees. She needed to distance herself to think; for things were getting a bit more complicated. Perhaps she should have just killed the thing out right herself without calling Sophia; her desire to save the man was doing more harm than good at the moment.

Things also grew in complication due to the fact they were in the woods...destruction here was something that was not as easily replaced like most man made objects. This was a forest that took hundreds of years to grow...and tree's weren't exactly in the largest supply in the past few years.

Right now her hands were tied, there was not much she could do but sit and wait to see what the Youma would do next. In the mean time her eyes gazed around, she knew Gemini was here watching. She had deliberately called him for this youma was a bit different then the rest. Perhaps he could do something with it.

Sticking by Amarissa, David stared at the creature, then back to the others. "And how exactly do you plan to purify him? You actually intend to get that close, just so he can wail on you some more? We need a better angle of attack than just stand out like cannon fodder." Resisting the urge to draw in the mud with a stick like so many war movie cliches, Yinko tried to work out a solution in his mind.

There was none, at least, none that didn't involve killing instead of purifying.

"Okay," Yinko breathed, turning to Priestess Hino. "Boss, how did you secure him in the past? Weaknesses? Blind spots?"

"Before you young people gained the power to fight these things, this man was once a friend who turned down a dark path...turning into that thing. It was my duty to keep it contained, because it would have destroyed anyone else that would have stopped it, as you have seen here." Rei says calmly when Kaguya inquired about the chains. "I had to do what was expected of me to keep evil contained. I am not strong enough to forcibly remove the taint, but I had enough in me to keep it from rampaging and killing many...until today when it suddenly grew far stronger than my abilities could handle."

When Sophia protested the use of the chains, Rei frowned deeply.

"If he listened, he would have listened eight years ago when I told him it was foolish to try to harness that dark power. Even if he is in there, he lacks the self control to stop that rampaging beast that has taken his flesh." she says, glaring at the hulking monster. "It has hurt several of you already and trying to burn down the temple..." she says, hanging her head low.

"Saving him would be the ideal solution, as it would prevent a death from occurring from this, but I don't have faith that it is possible."


Back in the battlefield, the youma found itself barraged with the Oni's punches. It moved it's clawed hands to grasp at Oni, but with the venom slowing it down, it would fail to grip him and end up taking some significant blows from the punches of the creature. Bone would be felt grinding and cracking beneath the skin of the monster. Each hit that connected from oni would set the Oni's own fists ablaze with heat energy. After a couple hits from the Oni, it hops back.

Killian's blade would find itself halted momentarily by a shield of red energy, the blade cutting through and piercing it, only to land squarely on the creature's chest. It thrashes him away with a wild arm battering that would potentially put him in the Oni's path.


When David asked Rei about weaknesses or other chances to exploit against it, Rei frowned.

"It has very dense and powerful energy, a strong form, and a resistance to Shinto practices of purification. The chains I brought out are inscribed and might be able to hold it down for a window of time, but they aren't as effective as the first ones that kept it sealed below. To stop it, somehow the creature's energy has to be weakened substantially, and then it's defenses might weaken.." she says.

"...I haven't entirely figured out how to dampen it's supernatural energy yet since my practices have been ineffective in the fight today thus far.." she says, wincing slightly from the wound she had gotten earlier but keeping a strong expression.


Amarissa would hear whispers and in the corner of her eyes she might notice various spirits in the area. Hikawa was a highly spiritual place, and to the senshi possessed of the soul element, with some concentration, she could perceive several 'kami' in the area, watching and staring as the warzone was unfolding. The spirits would look troubled obviously at the creature before them.

Fate,Kaguya Hoshigane,Killian Lancaster,Valdis,Yinko,Lance Evans,Amarissa Hiroshi ❀

The team was getting battered. Sophia watches the battle unfold while listening to Rei speak. This wasn’t going well at all, and at this point, they just needed to end this quickly for everyone’s benefit. His life was now secondary as a prolonged battle might be worse for him. She grits her teeth. What now though? They had the chains. Ama said she could still purify it somehow. She looks over the remainder of the group. Where the hell had Valdis gone? They needed her at a time like this. No choice. She would have to figure this out without her. “Change of plans everyone. David, Kail, Kaguya, take the chains or shackles and attempt to bind the creature. David and I will attempt to reinforce those and get them to hold as long as possible. Time to test what that affinity to metal can actually do. Ama, when the creature is bound, purify it with all you have. Kail, Kaguya, you’ll back her up with whatever energy you have left. It’ll be just like with Scorpio.” She looks back to Rei, “If he doesn’t change back after the purification, he will die. I don’t want to see that happen though. But I can’t allow this to continue to carry on a lot longer. I can see there’s still a lot that’s human there. I’m sure you can sense it too. Don’t lose faith in him and us.” She prepares a barrier for whomever of the three gets attacked first, attempting the first part of the plan. .

LAIKA OF GS!

Amarissa watched in silence as Oni battered and beat at the youma. She still wasn't quite sure who or what he was, but he seemed to be on their side and that was good enough for her. His attacks were effective, but only to an extent. Then the creature threw up a barrier of sorts, Kail's sword broke it but his attack didn't to much good. Rei was explaining everything, but even Amarissa could see this was getting dangerous, and no where, fast. Sophia's plan sounded like a good one and she nodded, tiredly. Then she thought she heard something.

Frowning, the moon senshi suddenly turned back to David. "Do you hear that?" she asked in a puzzled tone. She could hear something whispering to her and she turned as a flash caught her attention at the edge of her vision. She could see what looked to be spirit. The harder she concentrated, the more visible they appeared. They looked troubled to her and she wondered if they could talk. "This is bothering you, isn't it?" she asked, gesturing at the youma and destruction, wincing as she did so. "Can you help us? We're trying to stop it, but he's more powerful than we anticipated." she requested, hopeful. It occured to her that the others might think she'd lost it, but that didn't matter right now.

As the heat rises from the monster's body. Oni simply continues to beat away at it until it retreats, his red fists healing from any burns the creature might have inflicted upon him. Though as Killian's blade strikes true causing the monster to begin to falter Oni recognizes the weakening prey and jumps on the best straddling it. With a weight greater than Oni himself should possess. As he does this Oni pulls back his fist and begins to pummel the creature's face with each subsequent strike gaining strength as Oni's Eris powers begin to redirect the forces that would normally inhibit one's strikes and reverse them causing Oni's punches to come down several times faster and with several times more force.

"GRAHHHH!" Oni lets out a bloodlust filled roar as he attempts to kill the creature he was straddling.

Kail's armor broke off as the time limit expired and was now in his normal knightly appearance. He did get a better speed agility but that was not the case with this. As the youma caught him as he finished his attack on him and got sailing back. Since Oni had jumped on to the monster, Kail would not be in the way. So he got smacked into a tree causing him to gasp out loudly in pain. As he gets up he hears Sophia give out somekind of plan and had to facepalm slightly. "Ugh....lets just hope we can get these things on him. If not fall back to where Moon is and just pool all of our energy into one blast at that damn thing Ok" said Kail as he ran over to get one of the chains. He did not want to use a combined attacks every single time something big reared its ugly head. Since if that always happened the enemy would have to capitalize off of that. IF they were smart and from the growing Zodiacs, hierarchy then sooner or later they would find a way to counter them. He knew this kind of team work is needed with them but at the same time they did not want to seem that they were a one trick pony.

Valdis stood on the branch looking down at the scene; her maroon gaze sharpening. This thing needed to end soon; but frankly if she just went all out on the thing that would likely cause more problems then not. She noticed Rei had arrived back with the chains, good; that would at least slow it. Personally she had hopped there was a chance to save him...too return him back to his original state. But her motives were selfish for wanting to do so; she had wanted to see if there was a path for her to return down. To give up on such a hope would mean to accept her condemned fate. It would seem however Sophia had already made that step; she was glad to see Sophia had caught onto her plans with the chain and was already carrying it out in a fashion in which she had hoped she would. The little mouse slid into the role of command; it was about damn time too. She couldn't exactly bark out orders after she had called Gemini.

As the others scrambled Valdis continued to look down at the scene. A deep frown set on her face. There really would be no turning back; she would most likely have to die in a manner such as this. She studied the beast below her; a odd sense of acceptance washed over her, with an odd mix of relief. She ought to be afraid of death, but death had become such a large part of her life. It was apart of her; and like it she hoped to bring forth the utter destruction it left in its wake. A means to an end to all of this hatred, for in death there would be nothing left.

It would seem however so long as the beast weilded the power that he did; the purification process would most likely be blocked by that shield he was able to erect. His energy needed to be removed....or absorbed. She glanced over at Gemini; he had told her the Youma were sent to the youma world to learn how to absorb dark energy and harness it. The same process of absorbing energy was used for the masses. The key to breaking this Youma was to take absorb his power; use it as fuel...She had done something similar when fighting Scorpio, his energy spiked her own. It was unintentional at the time; but now it would have to be put into practice....This was going to suck for her and she knew it.

With a deep breath she plunged down from the tree line, landing next to Rei and taking the chains from her hands and slinging them over her shoulder. There was a sharp hiss as the purified chains touched her skin. It burned but she ignored it, being use to Grannys purification stings. Valdis darted over to a tree and wrapped and fastened one end of the chain to the tree, she then took the other and darted forward. Out of most here she was likely one of the fastest ones; as the others barraged him with attacks she ran around the beast wrapping it in the chain until it became taught. Using the chain as a conducting tool she began to pull his energy into herself. Hopefully the purified chains would cause him to drop his guard enough for her to siphon it off. However the effects that taking this energy would have she wouldn't know...but likely would find out soon. With luck the others would find a window of opportunity and take it.

The creature knew it had the advantage now. It took a few hits from the new monster, the Oni attacking it, but it would endure. Abruptly however, the creature found the Oni lunging, straddling it, and thrashing at it wildly, the intense blows causing the ice and dirt near the targets to erupt into small craters from the sheer amount of impact. The creature's face would bloody and crack slowly, the thick armor and scale giving way to fractures orange luminescence would radiate from...

...Until the breaking point. The creature's eyes dull from red, turning to raw fire, as the mouth turns from feral to more controlled, a smile on it's face. The next punch the Oni made was caught, the force halted. Claws turn to magma and burn, melting flesh and bone with ease. A violent arm movement would fling the Oni away leaving his hand nearly incinerated with third degree burns. A coat of flame begins to manifest around the Oni as it stands fully upright, sneering.

It is at this point the chains are wrapped around it. It's limbs contort and snap in, the searing purity of the metal burning the corrupt shell of meat that was in contact. Valdis would indeed draw energy in, but her soul would feel set ablaze as heat energy the likes of which she had never tasted before poured into her body, potentially endangering her. For her efforts though, the creature's spike would subside and the glow would dim noticably. Sophia's influence manages to strengthen the chain to a small extent, but due to lack of practice and application the effect is less potent than it might otherwise have been. The creature bulges and begins to try to use it's strength to break the grip.

"Ha...ha...hahaha..finally...my host stopped resisting...the games will now begin..." the entity growls, cracks in the skin giving way to heat and fury within.

For too long..the warlord of flame has slept within the abysmal souls of humanity...banished by that damnable queen..." the creature sneers, the voice loud, resonating. A primal fear would be released through the air as all of the fire within a ten mile radius would turn gray suddenly and cease to emit heat. From the creature itself, it would feel as though an inferno was emitted, heat rapidly melting ice and snow around.

"I will take great pleasure of devouring your souls, then turning the crystal of that queen against this world and burn it to smoldering cinders!" the creature boasts, the glow gradually intensifying. Red energy begins to emit like an aura from the creature, a growing and dangerous threat rising. The supernaturally oriented would sense energy rapidly approaching that of Scorpio's dark energy level on a pace to surpass it in short order. The chains begin to buckle, the longer Valdis hangs on the greater the heat energy she will expose herself to.

"I will consume your souls and then take that body as my own...create a new army of converted fodder and sit atop an ashen throne..." the creature taunts beginning to dig into the ground, walking toward where the Priestess and the others were.

Meanwhile the spirits look horrified at the scene unfolding...they turn to Amarissa, blinking out of vision before appearing around her in a loose circle. They speak in echos, often one after the other in a manner that may be hard to keep up for the Moon Senshi.

"He failed the burden that his predecessor could."
"But the world is different, even the predecessor couldn't have done anything in the long term.."
"Lady Hino has lost her faith in everything the last few weeks...that is why the beast was able to escape, and now the beast took control completely...this will be bad..."
"A radiant light shines from this one though..."
"Not enough as is to fight back the darkness"
"But if we aid her..."
"She is too weak, she will suffer for the effort."
"You cannot possibly tell that"
"But I can...however...we cannot allow this sacred land to be defiled..."

At this the numerous spirits and kami of the area seem to agree. They disappear from view, but Amarissa would feel a surge of power enter her body. Her eyes glow radiant white obscuring the color that was there, and her skin glew with luminescence. She would feel every single aspect of the shrine now, seeing as the spirits see things. The frozen earth, the traditional buildings, to the individual wishes hung by patrons in the offering.

Her body would grow numb, and Amarissa would likely realize that she was going to lose grip on this energy in short order due to the incompatibility of the soul energy of the kami and her own.

[Note: Kaguya and Yinko can take multiple actions in their post, but the thread needed to advance.]