Titanite stared in horror at the nightmare surrounding her. Tokyo was dying! The air was filled with dense smoke from the fires and ravening energy beams that destroyed all in their path. Overhead small flying figures, humanoids in almost invisible bubbles and creatures more twisted than any youma, surged through the air to join the cloud of their fellows making a last ditch attack on the creature than towered over the burning city. Throwing themselves in desperate assaults against the vast bulk of the monster. Which stood in the razed wasteland that had been Shinjuku just a hour earlier. Tentacles the size of train carriages lifted to meet them. From the tips energy bolts spurted at the cloud of demons and manbeasts. The symbolism was probably lost on those who screamed and burned to cinders. Falling like shooting stars to the scorched ground. No one remained down there to wish on them.

The noise was unbelievable. There were screams, prayers, pleas for mercy, the cries of demons, the howls of manbeasts, the thunderous crash of toppling skyscrapers, the sizzle of energy burning through the atmosphere and the deafening explosions as they impacted. Rising above it all was the roar of the Overfiend. Beneath her feet the ground rolled and bucked under the onslaught of constant shockwaves.

She shook off the temporary paralysis of shock. Try to think girl! Two courses of action ... reopen the gate and duck back to the last world or stay here and play hero. Play was the right word. There was no way she could do anything to stop this! That thing looked like Godzilla's big brother! She didn't have a hope of scratching it. Her brother's decision to abandon inter- dimensional travel suddenly made a lot of sense. Yet she could hear cries for help! There had to something she could do. Gather as many people as possible and evacuate them? How long could she sustain a gate before the key was drained? What if I'm trapped here! I don't know what to do!

She was panicked. She had to calm herself and think ... The explosion slammed Titanite across the cratered ground. Everything became a jumbled blur of nightmare scenes. She came to rest and woozily noticed her shield fluxtuating. She must have triggered it instinctively when the blast hit her. She dazedly studied the debris covered ground she'd bounced over. Without the shield she'd have been smashed to a pulp. It disappeared, she couldn't maintain it long in her current state. Her head throbbed. She'd heal soon. If she had the time. Take stock ... she was sprawled against the remaining wall of a building. Impossible to identify. She was bruised and hurting but didn't seem to have anything broken. She ... WHERE WAS THE BAG?! She didn't have it! She must have dropped it in the tumble! The key! She'd lost the key. She was trapped here!

Don't panic! She triggered her bracelet. There was a pause and a crackling noise before it activated. Her Sailor Polaris costume replaced her clothing. She felt a little calmer. Stop panicking and think like a superheroine. She was stuck in another dimension under attack by a giant monster that was destroying everything. What would Sailor Moon do in her position?

Wail and scream for Tuxedo Mask to save her?

Possibly true but not really very helpful. She was on her own here. It would be hours before they found her note and came looking for her. Okay priorities, either find the key or stay alive long enough for a rescue. Best to find the key and get the hell out. If the others had to come looking for her they'd be endangered. She couldn't let her stupidity make them risk their lives.

Tactical assessment. Right now she seemed unnoticed in this rubblepile. The creature had already blasted this area and seemed to be spraying areas further away. So she might have a degree of security. There was no sign of the people and creatures who'd been attacking the monster. Had it shot them all down?! Think. If this world has any similarity to an anime maybe that would give a clue to help her survive.

We have mass destruction and a big monster (could be a hundred shows). A monster equipped with very phallic tentacles ... like one of those sick H-anime things where ... (she had a sudden sinking feeling) where the creatures always go after schoolgirls ... schoolgirls who wear uniforms similar to my Sailor Polaris costume. Titanite had the sudden terrible feeling that she'd made a very big mistake in transforming. Without thinking she tapped her bracelet. It sparked twice then showed no signs of life. Damaged by the blast. Great. She was stuck like this. There was a scraping noise behind her. She whirled to face it.

The creature seemed to be a combination of toad and octopus. A noise like giggling trickled from the razor filled mouth that crossed its' chest. A dozen tentacles took the place of its arms, five on one side, seven on the other. Each tentacle had an unblinking eye on the tip. All of them seemed to be looking at her. Titanite felt herself go cold. It reminded her of a youma that had attacked her back in the Dark Kingdom. She tried to create a forcesphere. The air glowed between her hands but nothing substantial formed. Her head still ached too much to focus her TK.

Mxzfohlk was a normal low rank demon. A creature of lust and hatred he enjoyed nothing more than rape, torture and killing. Which he hadn't had much chance to practice having been confined to the demon realm for almost his entire existence. By chance he'd been near one of the warpgates the Demon Elders had punched through to Earth when the Overfiend arrived to destroy their realm. Free on Earth he'd begun amusing himself with mortals, like all the other demons who'd escaped, until the Overfiend returned to spoil the party. The Demon Elders had lead the charge against it uniting with the surviving Manbeasts for the first time and last time. Not having flight abilities Mxzfohlk had had to follow on foot. Having watched most of his bretheren incinerated he'd decided to disobey the Elders. An unthinkable action a few minutes earlier but none remained to punish him for his disobediance. He'd decided all that remained was to indulge himself for however long remained. Unfortunately the pickings had been slim in this blasted area. Until now!

It was impossible to mistake the creature's interest. Titanite was reliving one of her most hated memories. Nine years old, on her own in the Dark Kingdom. The youma that had seen her, a combination of insect and octopus. She hadn't known what its' look meant then. Suddenly it was on top of her, tearing at her clothes and she was screaming. Then it screamed and was gone and Calcite was there and she was clinging to him and crying and the monster was gone he'd killed it. But her brother was universes away now and there was no one to save her this time and her head was pounding like it was going to split open! Then it howled from lust and leaped at her.

Titanite screamed and closed her eyes thrusting her arms at the onrushing horror. There was a wet noise and something spattered against her cheek. The howl became a gurgling noise. She opened her eyes and stared in astonishment.

The creature had been cut in half and black blood had sprayed everywhere. There was quite a bit on her costume. The blood stained the ground and the sword she held. Sword? The creature's upper half glared at her in anger and its' tentacles writhed towards her. She slashed downwards without thinking. The sword cut through the head and chest lengthwise. The two halves flopped to the ground, twitched once then were still. Titanite looked at the blade in confusion.

Her right hand gripped a thin razor edged sword. She recognised it. When he'd begun training her to use her powers to their fullest extent Calcite had insisted she get some training with blades. Memory :

Calcite creating two blades, to a casual observer pulling them out of thin air.

"I don't like swords Cal!"

"I'm not asking you to like it, just to learn it. Now copy my stance."

So she'd been learning, though relucantly. The swords were as strong as their shaper forged them. So the thin blade had been a very durable weapon. But one she couldn't duplicate. She'd learned enough to feel the pattern of the sword but she'd been unable to replicate it. She still couldn't generate or shape psychoplasm.

So where had this come from?

No sign of Calcite.

But he had to be nearby!

Unless ...

Unless she'd created this somehow! But that wasn't possible. Was it? The sword looked different ... it was fading ... becoming translucent. She was about to loose her only weapon. The forging exercises! Calcite had been pounding them into her head lond enough. Why couldn't she remember them? Focus Ti, focus!

The blade resumed its' solidarity and Titanite breathed a sigh of relief. At least she'd stabilised it, even if she didn't know how she'd created it in the first place. So now what? Perhaps leaving this place would be a good idea. Her attacker might have friends who'd be a little upset at his demise. There was some good cover in the shadow off that big rubblepile. Maybe from there she could get her bearings, retrace her route and find where she'd dropped the key. It was a pretty good plan.

She made a dash for the dubious shelter of the rubblepile. She was actually feeling a little confident. She'd cracked whatever was blocking her from accessing her psychoplasm abilities. Whenever she needed she could create weapons at will. Oh really? You don't know how you made this one and you don't want to repeat the experience do you? It was that annoying voice of reason that kept whispering in the back of her mind again. She'd ignore it. She could handle this world. After all she'd survived the Dark Kingdom! Yeah right, you were the pampered princess of the others. They kept you shielded from the worst of the Kingdom because they didn't think you could handle it. They were right, weren't they! Titanite shut out the voice. This was no time for reason. Reason said she was doomed. She'd prefer to listen to her emotions. They said she was going to make everyone proud!

Zzxfruhw (demons dislike vowels) watched the girl approach. Anticipation was hardening his many and varied members. He'd seen what she'd done to Mxzfohlk but wasn't worried. His body was like a sack of jelly. If she slashed him he'd reseal the wound almost instantly. In fact he'd let the sword cut through to his center then solidify his body trapping it in place. The look on her face when she found her weapon stuck would be delicious. The change from confusion to terror ... he couldn't wait. He had no desire to avenge his fellow. All he wanted was to indulge himself.

Titanite was almost to the heap when the creature oozed itself out of hiding. It had a humanoid form made of green slime. The split tail behind it rose up to display their bulbous ends. It had four arms but instead of fingers the hands were equipped with ... oh great another hentai nightmare! When she got home she was going to identify the show this world was based on, find the authors and slap them really hard! The anger was keeping her fear at bay, but how long could it last?

"I don't know if you can understand me but back off! I don't want to hurt you."

The creature tittered. "I understand you. I want to hurt you. I have such plans ..." A prehensile tongue slithered out and began weaving through the air. "Here I come!" Zzxfruhw charged forward and saw the girl raise the sword overhead for a clumsy swing downwards. He was looking straight at her when he realized the shadow sweeping down on him was far too large. He looked up and caught a brief glimpse of a ridiculously large hammer descending. There was a very large squelch and Titanite was splattered with ichor.

"Gross!" Titanite stared at the hammer in confusion. How and why she'd morphed her sword into it she had no idea. It certainly seemed to have been effective. Maybe things were looking up.

Maybe not. Suddenly she had a very cold feeling on the back of her neck. She turned around and felt her heart drop into her knees. The giant was looking right at her. Staring down from its vantage point. Oh God, how had it noticed her?! A shadow of bemusement crossed its' face. Then its' snarl reappeared and a tentacle twitched towards her. At about fifty meters above her its' tip pointed to the ground and it glowed. Energy poured down and everything within half a kilometre was consumed.

Still dodging through the air the manbeast siblings named Jyaku and Megumi Amano were still looking for an opening. Or rather Jyaku was, Megumi slumped in their bubble resigned to her fate. They could well be the last of their kind. A condition unlikely to last much longer. Something had momentarily distracted the Overfiend but now it was turning its attention back to them. Her brother snarled and focused all his attention on the Overfiend. Not particularly wanting to see the executioner's death bolt coming their way Megumi was staring at the ground and reliving everything she ever regretted. Which is why she saw the girl materialize out of nowhere.

"What the fuck! Amano ...!"

"I'm kinda busy now sis. I need to figure out how to rip this bastard's heart out and shove it down his throat!"

"Stop being so goddamn macho and listen! That girl down there just appeared outta nowhere!"

"A teleporter? That's nuts. Only the elders can do that and they're all toasted!"

"Exactly! Whoever she is she gotta have power. Head down and pick her up!"

"Forget it ... urk!" The way she'd grabbed him guaranteed his attention.

"Head down and pick her up right now or I crush 'em. I'm in a fucking rotten mood and I still think this whole mess is your fault!"

"You don't understand Megu ...AAAHHHH!" She stopped squeezing and her brother regained his ability to speak "... The Overfiend's seen her ... Look!" Megumi looked and swore. Five tentacles were weaving towards the girl. Whoever, whatever she was, she was dead meat! DAMNIT! Her fists clenched, Amano screamed and their bubble blinked out. She let go fast and recreated it before they fell too far. Now she was flying it and her brother was the one lying on the bottom doubled over.

Titanite fought off the dizzyness of warp sickness. She was learning to handle it but she still had a long way to go. The worst of her injuries had healed so teleportation and her shield were working again. Hopefully the creature thought it had got her. Only problem was she'd used line of sight to teleport so she'd jumped in the direction she was facing. She'd completely lost her bearings and had no idea where her impact point had been. Which meant she couldn't retrace her route and find the key. Overhead tentacles stopped their forward advance and began to snake backwards. It had seen her! She'd have to port again. But how long would that buy her? How many times could she jump before she'd exhausted her power?

Above the city the disembodied intelligence known as the Lord of Chaos had watched the avatar of its' ancient enemy destroy the human city. It raged helplessly. It cared nothing for the humans, demons or manbeasts who died. All it wanted was to begin the struggle anew. But that fool manbeast who now ran from the Overfiend's attack had disrupted the ritual to let it incarnate itself. Without a physical presence it could do nothing. Munhihausen had almost finished the summoning when Amano had attacked. Not out of anger at the women sacrificed in the ceremony, or even at the rape of his sister. No, he'd been driven purely by the desire to stop anyone interfering with the rebirth of the Overfiend. Well he'd got his desire, the Overfiend had manifested. The Lord of Chaos smiled mentally. You should have learned wisdom from the humans manbeast, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

The ceremony had enabled it to enter this world but not to gain the chosen host. It had tried but was unable to possess human, manbeast or demon. So all it could do was watch the Overfiend grow strong and break free. It was sure its' adversary was laughing at its' helplessness.

That was when it sensed the spacial warp and saw the girl materialize. Something about her felt different. It reached out its senses and recoiled in amazement. What was she? None of the three races it knew, something else, something different. Different ... was it possible. It reached out again. YES! It had the potential for great power and its nature would make it a suitable host. Almost as if it had been designed to serve as a host creature should the need arise. It shouldn't burn out too quickly and had only rudimentary psi defenses. It had to act fast before the Overfiend realized the true import of this creature. It gathered itself and surged downwards.

Titanite was watching the tentacles approach and picking a safe place to jump to when something dark ripped into her mind. Her senses began to fade, it felt as if she was being immersed in a heavy, freezing cold, black gel. She wanted to scream but she couldn't. It felt like she was drowning in darkness. She panicked and tried to strike out but it absorbed her blows. The Lord of Chaos felt her fading mental shrieks with pleasure. It had almost finished assuming control of this mind. Another few moments and it would own this body. It poured deeper into Titanite's mind past the conscious to the core. It felt something here. Then something exploded out at it.

In humans' it would be called the reptile brain. The home of all the ancient buried instincts. On the two occasions it had triggered in Calcite's brain he'd called the resulting state of mind the berserker. This wasn't strictly accurate, it didn't exist to destroy. It had one imperative, SURVIVE! It didn't think, just reacted. Fight or flight. Fight was the preference, run and it'll come after you. Destroy it and no more threat! Not that it thought anything that complex.

The starled Lord of Chaos felt like a supernova had gone off in its' metaphorical face. It was mentally seized and held firm. Its' power tapped and added to the body's whole. Titanite's conscious mind remained shunted aside. The survivor was in firm control.

Above Megumi saw the girl writhing in a seizure which stopped as suddenly as it had started. Her eyes snapped open and even at this distance Megumi could see they glowed a solid, brilliant blue. Then the tentacles poured energy down from the sky and the girl disappeared in the glare.

That was it then. Nothing was walking away from that. She dodged their bubble to starboard, barely dodging another burst. Amano had unrolled a little and had his face pressed to the bubble's bottom. He saw the tentacles weave away from the smoking crater. Then the smoke blew away and he gasped in amazement.

The girl stood untouched in the crater. The air around her glowed red. She looked very pissed. Her face twisted in rage and she raised both hands. Each seemed to hold a sphere of light. Both tore into the sky and each struck a tentacle. Which promptly exploded and ripped about halfway down their length. An expression of annoyance passed over the Overfiend's features. Which swiftly became a bellow of anger as the other three tentacles exploded. The girl gave neither battlecry nor cry of triumph. All her face showed was a burning rage. Titanite's undermind didn't question where all this power had come from. It was present, it would be used. Trapped within the Renegade's skull the Lord of Chaos screamed in frustration. Energies it had painstakingly accumulated over centuries were being squandered. It called for the mind binding it to listen to it. There was no response.

Megumi realized no blasts were being directed toward them. The Overfiend had turned all its attention to the greenhaired one. A welcome respite but she saw no way to profit from it. They still didn't have the power to injure the Overfiend and its' new foe didn't seem to need aid.

The Overfiend's upper body moved. An arm the size of the World Trade Centre swatted down on top of the girl. All Tokyo shook at the impact. The Overfiend held the hand in place for a minute then hauled it back and studied the impact crater. There should have been a thin sheen of widely spread organic matter but there was nothing but dust. It bellowed in anger breaking the few remaining windows in the city.

Titanite studied it from a kilometre away. The survivor considered running a last resort. This didn't mean it wouldn't retreat temporarily before renewing attack. With the initial rage passed the undermind began to calculate. It reviewed attack options. Translated into human terms these were : teleportation (limited because of time required to initialize jump), ground assault (bulk of creature unreachable), new option. Her gaze fixed on the pair of manbeasts. It didn't wonder about how it had either the power or the ability to do this. It simply acted.

Megumi spotted the girl before the Overfiend did. She'd created another of those force spheres. Instead of throwing it she held it. She was looking at them. The sphere expanded to engulf the girl. She continued studying Megumi with the same cold expression. Then she began floating within the sphere. There was no hint of success in her face as the sphere rose from the ground. Slowly at first, straight up. Then she began to weave through the air at high speed as the Overfiend saw her and tentacles began spraying energy her way. Deep inside Titanite thought, "I can't fly!" but the survivor mind ignored her.

"Stop this! You're wasting power and that's not the real enemy!" The Lord of Chaos was also ignored. It was beginning to panic. Whatever in this mind had grabbed it was showing no signs of slacking off. Which meant when the host got itself killed it wouldn't be able to flee before true death. It would be dragged into the darkness along with the mortal. It began to gibber in fear. It wasn't fair. What had it done to deserve this?

Amano straightened up. They weren't moving, Megumi was holding their bubble steady. Which was safe enough as right now the Overfiend's entire attention was on the girl. She wove around it avoiding energy bursts, tentacles which tried to slam her physically into the ground and the massive hands of the Overfiend. She dodged, throwing energy spheres at the torso and tentacles while looking for a weak point. She had one, the creature was male. A little pointless as it wasn't going to find any woman who could accomodate it (unless the Satue of Liberty was anatomically correct). The girl built another force sphere, this one forming between both hands. She didn't throw it. Instead she continued to build its power as she dodged the enraged creature. What was she waiting for? Then she was in front of it and had dropped to the level of its waist. She fired, aiming a little lower. External genetalia are an excellent attack point.

Amano winced a little in automatic empathy. He also held his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the emasculated monster's scream. The Overfiend's arms and tentacles waved wildly leaving itself wide open. The girl's bubble glowed brilliantly for a moment then plunged forward. Straight into the massive chest. Literally into. A few moments later it exploded from the back in a spray of organics. The creature began to topple. Titanite dodged to the side and hovered building a final energy sphere. The massive head impacted the ground and stared upwards, crippling agony written on its' face. Remorselessly the girl took aim. From deep inside came the impulse to whisper "Polaris Missile." It was ignored and the final attack thrown in silence. The massive skull detonated and spread blood, bone and brain over the wasteland.

"YES! She killed the bastard! I've gotta celebrate. Where's Mimi? Oh yeah she's dead. What the hell I'll have her! She's just my type!"

"Your type is simpering bimbos with three braincells maximum."

"Show me a woman who doesn't fit that description."

Megumi looked at her brother sourly. "You might want to rethink that. Assuming you don't want me to break your neck. She might not like your opinion either and offending her would be a very bad idea." Something she'd been too busy to think about struck her. "And whose idea was it to revive the Overfiend in the first place?"

"Hey I'll be nice. No woman can resist me when I turn on the charm." His fatuous grin vanished. "As for the other thing ... guess the legend was mistranslated ... should have read 'destroy' rather than 'unite in harmony'. Hey, I didn't make it up so don't blame me!" Megumi didn't laugh. Actually if she'd been listening she'd have been more likely to rip his throat out. "What? It's over. Let's land."

"Is it? She's just hovering. Like she's waiting for something."

Sure enough the girl's bubble hung in the air unmoving. She wasn't looking down at her handiwork. Instead her gaze was fixed to the east. With the power stolen from the Lord of Chaos Titanite could see energy fields. In her current state she simply accepted this. She could see what no one else could, ties between her late foe and something else. She had traced them back to the souce and studied it. The survivor mind's primal drive was self preservation not wanton destruction so it didn't attack. Simply waited to see if an attack would come. A moment of dizzyness. Titanite was waking up. Its' time was limited. There!

Amano was the first to see the figure explode out of the rubble. "What the fuck is ... Akemi?" Megumi stared. It was Akemi Ito, girlfriend and (very recently) lover to Tatsuo Nagumo. Better known to them as the reborn Overfiend. She'd assumed Akemi dead in the slaughter but the human girl showed no sign of trauma. As she was nude it was easy to see there were no injuries. She flew through the air without concern, her skin glowing blue and her hair floating above her head. The other girl watched her approach without concern. Simply that same cold look.

Akemi drew level with the other and studied her for a moment. "Well met my ancient foe. I did not expect you this cycle." She waited for an answer. "Don't you wish to exchange our usual vows of mutual destruction? No matter. Let us begin the dance Lord of Chaos!"

"Hey Akemi!" The voice came from the side. The Lord of Chaos showed no signs of attacking. What was it waiting for? No matter. The battle would begin soon enough. It would initiate it if the adversary did not. For now it amused "her" to answer these pawns.

"You are mistaken Amano Jyaku! Akemi is not here. Except in body."

"Huh?"

Megumi sighed. Her brother had a lot of power but could be a bit deficient when it came to brains. "Akemi's not home. Something's controlling her."

"You are correct Megumi. I had been forced to operate through my chosen avatar which limited me greatly. But now conception has taken place I have assumed control of my mother."

"Mother? Avatar? Who ... what are you?"

"The one you have searched for these past two centuries. I am the Overfiend!"

"Bullshit!" Amano didn't look happy. "Nagumo was the Overfiend and he's dead. Good riddance I say."

Akemi's head shook. "Nagumo was not the Overfiend. Merely my avatar. I touched his ancestral line to create the individual I needed. One who could absorb some of my power and be changed by it. Changed sufficently to father my new incarnation. Akemi was suitable to serve as mother though many women would have served."

"Hold it! If you're the Overfiend and Nagumo was just your servant then why were you letting him run amuck? He's destroyed our realm and the demons and wiped most of us out. Before that goddess or whatever she is stopped him he was set on torching the human world as well."

"He was not running amuck. He served my will."

"WHAT!"

"I intend to build a new world. But if I built it on the existing ones all their problems would carry over to blight my paradise. So I shall raze them all and begin with a blank slate. You will have the paradise you sought. Or rather those who come after you will dwell in paradise. You are of the old world and have no place in the utopia I shall build."

Amano's face looked like all the blood had drained away. In a whisper he muttered. "No! That's ... that's not what I wanted?"

"Do you think I care what you or any mortal wants? I am a god and I act as one. What is the death of a single mortal, or a thousand or of billions to me? You are mayflies, you begin dying the moment you are born. It is the only certainty in your existence. You have served me well though you did not know it. You protected my avatar so he could survive long enough to father me. So I shall make your end painless once I have concluded matters." She looked down at the giant sprawled body and shook her head. "It is vexed that the avatar is no more. Now I shall have to purge the world myself. Perhaps I shall wait until my host form is incubated, operating through my mother limits me."

"So you're not invincible!" Amano's eyes glowed and Akemi chuckled.

"You cannot beat me. I merely meant it would take longer as I can focus only limited amounts of power through this form without burning it out."

Amano stopped building energy. She was right, he could feel her power from here. "Maybe I can't beat you but she's on our side!" Titanite gave no sign of acknowledgement. Undetered he continued, "She's already trashed your precious avatar."

"You are a fool Amano Jyaku. Still that is no surprise merely a statement of fact." Despite their desperate situation Megumi giggled and her brother glared. "She is possessed by the Lord of Chaos. Who cares no more for mortals that I. I intend to build a world of purity and order. The Lord of Chaos seeks to maintain the status quo. It prefers things to remain the same chaotic mess they always were. This is not about good and evil, this is order vs chaos." Yet something was very different this time. Through the expanded senses it had gifted its' host body with the Overfiend studied its' unmoving opponent. Then it began to laugh.

"I was wrong wasn't I Lord of Chaos? You don't possess this body! It possesses you!" The Overfiend broke into wild laughter for a moment. Still chuckling it continued. "A god bound by a mortal. I would not have believed even you could be so sloppy. This will be easier than I expected." The mortal showed no signs of attacking. Probably all her attention was on maintaining control of the raging Lord of Chaos. Without warning Akemi raised her hands and poured energy at Titanite. Or rather the place she had occupied. The Overfiend had a fraction of a second to realize it had missed before Akemi was struck from behind.

Titanite had not been idle during this time. Her senses were also expanded by the presence of the Lord of Chaos. In her current state of mind this was not questioned, simply accepted. She saw the being before was controlled by a second entity. Which resided within the body of the first. A plan of attack was conceived and stored should the need arise and preparations made. Within the mind Titanite's consciousness stirred but thought herself dreaming. The Lord of Chaos bellowed to attack immediately and was ignored.

The host body raised its hands with inhuman speed. Slow motion to the enhanced survivor mind. It triggered the prepared jump as the new enemy channelled energy and fired. Materializing directly behind the Overfiend she fired a point blank burst into the host. There hadn't been time to build power to inflict major damage but no matter. It would disorientate which was the point. Not that she considered this, she simply acted.

The manbeasts saw Akemi's body spin through the air. The girl followed and grabbed her, wrapping her hands around Akemi's abdomen. The Overfiend raged. "Fool you cannot breach my skin and I can repair any internal damage you cause." There was no reply and nothing seemed to happen. Yet suddenly Akemi struggled wildly and her body began leaking.

Modulated shockwaves poured through the Overfiend's shield into Akemi's body. Not powerful enough to cause damage they caused her skeleton to vibrate in sympathy. What was it doing? Those waves couldn't hurt it and it could easily repair before the damaged cumulated sufficently. Akemi's bladder released under the shaking. Messy but irrelevant ... suddenly the Overfiend knew it wasn't irrelevant. It had to break free now. Akemi's bowels released and it struggled frantically. This couldn't happen! A god couldn't lose to a mortal! Then the menstral cycle triggered and the Overfiend howled as its foothold on the mortal plane was washed away in a flood of blood. The actual moment of conception had been less than an hour earlier, all that existed in Akemi's womb was a microscopic bundle of a few cells. It's questionable what followed could be called a miscarriage.

Blank eyed, Akemi remained hovering, supported by residual power. The blood never reached the ground. As it poured down Titanite built an energy sphere and fired. The blood vaporised and they all heard the psychic scream as the Overfiend lost the last vestige of a hold upon the mortal world.

Megumi pumped her fists in the air. "YES! She did it!"

"Did what exactly?" Amano looked happy but confused and his sister shook her head.

"You can be very dim sometimes. Oh shit!"

The glow around Akemi vanished and she began to fall. She made neither outcry nor protest, simply plummeted to certain death. An impulse from the higher mind touched the survivor. It plunged after Akemi and reached her. Matching her speed she cradled the catotonic girl in her arms and began to decelerate. She touched down and her bubble vanished. After a moment's thought Megumi followed.

"Hey, I've changed my mind. Let's give her as wide a berth as possible."

"You think we can escape her if she wants us dead? She hasn't killed us yet so that's a good sign. Besides Akemi needs help and we helped get her into this mess."

Amano snorted. "Since when have you given a damn about humans. I told you falling for Takeaki was gonna mess you up but you didn't listen ..." He trailed off at the look on his sister's face.

"Listen well brother as I will only say this once. Our world and people are gone! We may be all that remain of the manbeasts. If it hadn't been for your obsessive search for the Overfiend, which you dragged me into, the demons would have killed Nagumo before he changed and none of this would have happened. Nagumo would have lived and died the same lecherous little jerk , Akemi would be still be a happy innocent girl and Takeaki ... " Her voice wavered for a moment then resumed the same barely controlled rage. "... Takeaki would still be alive and normal. The only reason I don't kill you for this is the Overfiend implied it was manipulating you all along. So now I am going to do all I can to help put things back together. You are going to help me or you are going to die. Is that quite clear."

"Ye ... yes Ma'am." When had Megumi got so fucking scary? He definitely wasn't going to cross her anytime soon. Megumi touched down a few metres from the girl. She watched them but didn't react. She still held Akemi cradled in her arms. Ignoring the blood staining one formerly white glove. Megumi popped her forcebubble. Then slowly raised both hands, empty palms outward. She hadn't been vaporized yet. That had to be a good sign.

Another watched them from the shadows. Sarnithal (one of the few who prefered having a name humans could pronounce having realized it simplified being summoned) was the last surviving demon elder. A condition he owed to either prudence or cowardice. He hadn't joined in the assault on the supposed Overfiend. He'd prefered to lie low. Now both the monster and the Overfiend were dead and he was the most powerful demon in the world. He'd also learned the power of the Lord of Chaos could be possessed. He didn't know what it was but it was certainly effective. Once he possessed this girl it would be his. Neither the girl nor the manbeasts had noticed him. His camouflage was perfect. Excellent!

Megumi had taken a step forward when the demon surged from concealment. She froze in momentary surprise at the brief glimpse of onrushing demon. Very brief glimpse. Before it was halfway to Titanite she'd aimed a hand without looking. Sarnithal didn't have time to scream before he was incinerated. Akemi stayed fixed in the same place as though both arms were still cradling her. Megumi swallowed hard then stepped forward slowly. Trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible.

"Okay, I'm not your enemy ... You haven't zapped me yet which is a good sign ... that demon took me by surprise but not you ... so you already knew it was there ... but you didn't blast it until it attacked ... I'm hoping that means you only destroy threats ... I'm not a threat ... I just want to take care of Akemi ..." She'd reached the girl, younger than she'd expected. The glowing blue eyes met hers. "... Please?" A momentary pause then the girl passed her burden to Megumi's outstretched arms. Akemi gave no sign of awareness. Megumi backed away holding the human girl gently. That was when her brother strode forward.

"Nice move babe I am truly impressed! I've always loved strong women and I want to help you celebrate your victory traditionally ..." He trailed off. She was looking at him with no sexual interest. All her face held was that same merciless expression she'd been wearing when she destroyed Nagumo. He backed away as quickly as pride would allow. "Yeah you're right this isn't the right place. The ambiance is all wrong ..." She raised a hand and Amano began sweating.

About two kilometres away the bag Titanite had dropped twitched. A small sphere appeared around it then rose into the air carrying its contents along. The sphere arrived in Titanite's outstretched hand and promptly vanished. Her conscious mind was reasserting itself and more impulses were leaking through. The urge to find the bag was felt and acted upon. Amano noticed the blue glow in her eyes flicker momentarily. The survivor mind was being pushed back by the reawakening consciousness. Which meant it would be unable to protect itself or contain the invader. Thoughts swirled and a course of action was chosen. Megumi saw the glow flickering faster then the girl vanished.

Titanite reappeared at her original arrival point. The gatepoint of this world. Mechanically she took out the key, punched in a new code and threw the probe through. One task remained. She looked inward. The Lord of Chaos, weakened by the expenditure of most of its' available power felt itself moving. The mental chains binding it seemed to be weakening. Suddenly they tightened and it was being crushed. Psychic pressure forced it to the surface of the mind. There! A way out. The Lord of Chaos exploded through the opening tearing away from Titanite. It had escaped! Free! It sped away from her as swiftly as possible before she attempted to recapture it.

Mission accomplished ... this is a weird dream ... wasn't I doing something? I don't ... " The probe returned and she automatically snapped it into reader. Survivable conditions. The glow in her eyes was flickering faster now as she woke up. As its last action the undermind widened the gate and stepped forward. It collapsed almost immediately behind her.

It was some hours later when a new gate opened on the site. Immediately on taking on the surroundings Calcite and Margrave fell into defensive stances. This place looked like a warzone. Smoldering wrecked buildings, the scents of blood and death everywhere, carnage as far as the eye could see and the corpse of a giant ... something sprawled a few kilometers away.

After a moment Margrave said, "I hate to say this but Titanite's scent goes straight toward that thing."

"Somehow I'm not surprised." The two advanced cautiously. Halfway there the scent stopped dead. Margrave looked upward in confusion.

"Crazy as it sounds it seems to up. Looks like there was an explosion of some sort here. Must have disrupted the scent trail." She sniffed the air and frowned. "The odor off that thing is masking all the scents further on. Speaking of which I see two people camping by the thigh ..." A third dropped out of the air to join the other two. "... make that three."

"I see them ... I'm reading their auras and only one of them is human."

"What are the other two?"

"I have no idea."

"I see. Well they aren't concealing themselves so ..." Margrave's human glamour melted away, "..might as well use my own face."

"Margrave!"

"This isn't our continuum so there's no risk of exposure. Besides if they aren't pretending to be human why should we?" There was a certain logic to that. Besides if this world had been a disaster area when Ti arrived she probably shifted to Sailor Polaris. So he might as well make the resemblance obvious. His hair shifted from blonde to its' natural green. Margrave nodded. "A definite improvement. By the way how long until your tracker can say if she opened another gate?"

"About fifteen minutes."

"Then why don't we have a cautious word with the threesome. I'm curious just what that thing is and I'd like some answers. Besides maybe they saw Ti." She didn't wait for a reply before loping off. Calcite followed cautiously.

A little earlier Megumi had been sitting before the fire she'd built studying Akemi. She'd draped her jacket around the human girl and leaned her against a fragment of freestanding wall. Akemi didn't return her gaze, she had the same vacant look she'd worn since the Overfiend was purged. There was no sign of awareness. Perhaps her personality had been erased by the Overfiend and all that remained was a vegetable. Ugly thought but a definite possibility. She sensed a flightbubble approaching. Amano was back.

"Good news!"

"You found a hospital or somewhere we can take Akemi?"

"Huh ... uh no I found an intact conveniance store so I was able to snag some beer." He held up a sixpack." Megumi forced herself not to go for his throat and tried again.

"You do remember why we sent you out in the first place?"

"Yeah, yeah. There's field hospitals set up on the perimiter. About ten kilos thataway. Looks like there's a mix of local emergency services, SDF and US service personnel. I overheard them saying they're diverting planeloads of UN peacekeepers here to lend a hand. And that's still not going to be enough. Bottom line is they're swamped as it is so there's not a helluva lot of point in dropping Akemi off. She's not critical and that's all they're treating right now. Even so they're losing people left and right cause they don't have enough supplies or manpower. They're talking 50,000- 100,000 seriously injured alone. Fatalities are something ridiculous. Face facts, if you want Akemi taken care off you're stuck with the job for the time being. What?

"We have company!" The two who were approaching weren't humans and didn't seem to be demons. So what were they?

"She a manbeast? Sorta looks like one of us ..."

"I don't know but that guy looks like ..."

"Yeah, he does. Better not upset him right?"

"Right!"

Amano nodded at the man. "You don't have a younger sister by any chance?"

"Matter of fact I'm looking for her."

"You're a little late. She vanished some time back. I mean that literally."

Sounded like Ti had moved on to another world. As soon as they had a lock they'd follow. "Was she all right?"

"All right. She was incredible! I mean the way she took down the Overfiend when nothing else could even scratch it. Fantastic!"

"Overfiend?"

Amano waved a hand behind him. "Yeah and the big guy here."

"Wait a minute!" Calcite felt his sense of reality slipping. "She beat that thing?"

"Yep!"

"Alone?"

"Yeah. First she blows his balls off ..." Titanite? "... punches through his heart and then blasts his head to pulp!" What the hell?

"This girl you saw ... green hair?"

"Yep!"

"White and yellow costume looking a little like a schoolgirl uniform?"

"Yep!"

"Called herself Sailor Polaris?"

"Uhh ... actually I never heard her say anything."

That didn't sound like Ti but the rest of the description fit. So how the hell could she have beat that? Margrave snuggled up close and whispered, "Maybe your powers are more effective here. Feel particularly godlike?"

Quietly, "No."

"Better not let them know!" Margrave stayed draped around him. In case things went bad she hoped to be close enough to be behind Calcite's shield. To Amano she asked, "So what is an Overfiend anyway."

Several minutes of explanations later Calcite was asking, "So you thought it was a good idea to wake up something called the Overfiend?"

"Looking back the name should have tipped me off but hindsight's always 20/20. It made sense at the time." Calcite decided to drop the subject, he wasn't looking to start a fight. Something caught his attention.

"Has it been blistering like that all along?"

"Huh? Oh fuck!" A discoloured oval about two meters long had formed on the giant thigh about five metres up. Something inside it moved. Megumi snarled and built power. So did her brother. A hand tore through the skin followed by a human arm. In quick succession a torso and head followed. Amano's power field blinked off. "No way ... it can't be." The nude figure ripped free and fell. Amano surged upwards and caught it. Megumi's jaw dropped. It couldn't be!

"NAGUMO?!"

Amano touched down. "In the flesh. How about that? Hey Nagumo, how you doing?" No reply. "Yeah, well ... look I'm sorry about getting you turned into a monster so you knocked up Akemi then killed half the folks in Tokyo but the Overfiend was messing with both of us so it's not really my fault. So let's just drop it okay? 'Less said, soonest mended', right? Hey, you want a beer?" His mind and soul destroyed by the atrocities he'd both witnessed and committed Nagumo didn't reply.

Megumi slapped her brother with paranormal strength. "What the fuck you do that for?"

"You swaggering asshole! You never take responsibility for anything!"

"Hey I was manipulated!"

"Oh really? If you'd never decided to chase that lousy legend none of this would have happened! Thanks to you our race is probably extinct, most of Tokyo is rubble, I've wasted years helping you search, lost the man I loved, been raped by demons ..."

"You like that!"

"Only occasionally! And only if I get to vaporize the SOB afterwards."

Margrave stared at the girl in amazement. People thought her behaviour was extreme? She was beginning to feel very conservative.

"So it's my fault you're a slut?"

"What?"

"You heard me!"

"Take it back!"

"Bite me!"

Megumi's face shifted, becoming more animalike. She flashed her fangs. "Don't tempt me!"

"All talk, no action!" His sister snarled. Calcite and Margrave looked at one another. Then by unspoken agreement Calcite teleported them back to the gatepoint. No one noticed them leave.

The tracker had logged the new gate. Calcite opened it and tossed the probe through. Margrave shook her head. "I think it would be a good idea to skip this world on the way back."

"I agree with you. But it'll be safer to run the circuit." He glanced over to the campsite. Two powersources were building. Looked like the verbal battle was about to escalate.

"Dangerous kids."

"That's what I don't get. They're manifesting power at about Kunzite's level ... but Ti's nowhere near that strong and she took out a creature they couldn't even scratch."

"A definite mystery. We'll have to ask her."

"Let's hope she's still on the next world. Speaking of which the probe says we'll be fine."

"Namely we can exist there without trouble. But there might be giant monsters or who knows what else on the other side."

"Would you rather stay here?" Two large translucent spheres had risen from the campsite. The figures inside began their battle.

"No, let's go!" As they stepped forward she added, "Wonder where we'll end up this time?"

Elsewhere, a few hours earlier:

For a change Ranma and Akane were walking together quietly. They were neither squabbling nor ignoring each other. There was no sign of Ranma's other fiancees, Akane's wouldbe suitors, martial artists bent on challenging Ranma due to something his father did/didn't do. No one was trying to abduct Akane or kill Ranma. In short everything was peaceful and both were enjoying the peace. It wouldn't last but they intended to savour every moment of it. Ranma was wondering about the fact that he was enjoying Akane's company and not saying anything to set her off. He was considering if he should take her hand. Akane was realizing she appreciated Ranma's company when he didn't act like a jerk (a very rare occurance indeed). She was wondering how to respond if he tried to take her hand. Ranma's hand twitched towards hers then stopped dead. Both Akane and Ranma screeched to a halt

A girl had just appeared in front of them. A girl wearing a somewhat stained costume that Akane recognised as looking from something out of the Sailor Moon TV Show. Ranma also recognised the source, it was impossible to avoid the merchandising. Behind the mask her eyes seemed to glow blue but this flickered out and was replaced by perfectly normal blue eyes. She seemed to become aware of her surroundings then stared at them as if thunderstruck. She started towards them.

Akane sighed inwardly but with resignation rather than any really surprise. She should have known they'd never get through the day without anything weird happening.