Noh ran back in the direction of the lake with Sumire, Katherine and Kitty in tow.
“Will you give it a rest?!” Sumire panted, struggling to catch up. “It’s not like I wanted to abandon Jackie, or anything!”
“We’re just… not strong enough,” Katherine sighed, flying by Sumire and lifting the exhausted witch onto her broom.
“That’s no excuse!” Noh growled, “Jackie is risking her life fighting for you ungrateful girls, right?! Why don’t you repay the favor?! She put herself in danger to save me, and I’m sure she’d do the same for any of you three!”
Noh grinded to a halt as he reached the lake’s shoreline. The wolfman started to once again remove his clothes, as he put the biggest toe on his left foot into the water and shivered.
“You’re not going to make it on time, anyway!” Sumire said, hopping off Katherine’s broom and looking towards the castle which was overcast with rainclouds.
Noh sighed. “You’re right,” he admitted. “If only there was a full moon, I’d be able to clear this lake in no time in my wolf form…” Noh lamented.
Kitty looked up at the moon and smiled. Sumire and Katherine stared down at the tiny cat girl.
“Really, Kitty?” Sumire chuckled. “Don’t you think the Moon’s too big?”
“Nuh-uh,” Kitty smiled, holding out her left hand, “nothing’s too big for Kitty Genet!” Kitty’s entire body glowed a bright purple, lighting up the dark forest in a flash.
Noh looked to the small maid with his mouth agape. “W-What’s she doing?!” he stammered.
“Kitty’s the most powerful kinkind I know!” Sumire winked, reaching over and patting Kitty’s hair. “She’s using that power…” Sumire looked up at the sky as the Moon was enveloped in a coat of indigo energy, “to move the Moon!”
The Moon slowly moved above the four demons’ heads as it went from a waning gibbous Moon to a full Moon in an instant.
“Kitty’s power doesn’t work on living things though,” Sumire explained, “so please don’t think about asking her to come with you.”
Noh looked up at the Moon with a reignited determination, turning into a giant lupine beast and hopping into the lake water.
“Please…” Katherine muttered under her breath, “Please save Jackie…”
Excalibur stared with respect at the tengu who had just leaped over his head.
“Even with those new tricks,” he said, “I’m afraid you still cannot possibly hope to beat the esteemed Excalibur Aristophanes!”
Luna stared down at the large hole Excalibur had made in the bridge with his previous slash. She wondered how the damaged bridge could still hold both her and Excalibur’s weight after that blow. She looked back to Excalibur, who was now charging at her once more, sword still hung high as ever. “Can’t catch me!” Luna jeered shooting a burst of water into the knight’s face before dodging to a side.
“Why you-?!” Excalibur grunted, sticking his sword into the floor and wiping his face before picking the weapon back up. “Come back here and fight me like a true warrior!”
Luna shrugged, “Ok, pal,” she smiled, “whatever you want.” Luna walked up to her foe and stood right in front of him. The tengu held out her arms and called off the downpour.
“Ok,” she said, still holding out her arms, “we’ll do this your way.”
“Excellent…” Excalibur leered, lifting up his sword.
He looked at Luna, who was still standing still mere inches from his body.
“You’re not…” he sighed, “You’re not going to dodge?”
“Nope!” Luna shrugged her shoulders, arms still outstretched.
“Suit yourself!” Excalibur growled, bringing his sword down as Luna jumped backwards. Excalibur stared straight at Luna as he heard the sound of the bridge cracking underneath him. “Y-You dodged,” he bluntly stated.
“Not just that…” Luna smiled, “I lied,” she winked.
Excalibur was standing between the two impact sites of his failed attempts to strike Luna. The tengu raised one hand to her mouth in imitation of a yawn, blasting Excalibur into the center of the bridge with a blast of water from her other hand. The demonic knight pushed himself back up, as the middle portion of the bridge started to slide down from in between the towers, due to Excalibur’s accidental partial severing of the platform at both ends.
“Where is your sense of honor?!” the knight roared, beginning to run back towards the direction of Luna and the tower where Kuro was situated.
As Excalibur approached his foe, chains from various puddles on the collapsing stones shot out and wrapped themselves around his limbs.
“Have a nice fall!” Luna smiled, as Excalibur and the middle portion of the bridge dropped to the inner ward of the castle miles below.
In the Unconscious Zone, Jackie was listening to Arthur explaining what Kuro had told him about Miss Shakespeare. About how Sumire had led tens of humans to their deaths. About how Maryanne-Susan Webber had ruined her sister’s chances of getting into her dream school.
“But how does Kuro know all of this?” Jackie asked, once Arthur finally stopped talking to catch his breath.
“Well, Jacks, that’s simple!” the boy laughed, “Kuro is-”
As Arthur spoke, Jackie watched in horror as his neck appeared to snap like a twig! As the man’s body slumped over, still floating in the dark abyss, Jackie turned her head to the Unconscious Zone’s screen as she did when fighting Rusalka. There was no way Arthur could really be dead, was there? Surely, Luna would know better than to kill her summoner’s best- friend? …Luna did know that Excalibur was Arthur, right? Jackie took a deep breath and let out the loudest shriek of angst imaginable as she pressed her hands and face against the screen as she looked upon Luna.
“I don’t want to be Luna, anymore!” Jackie cried. “Turn back! …Turn back! …TURN BACK!”
Luna stared down at Arthur’s body lying miles beneath her, broken and lifeless. The tengu narrowed her eyes and smiled. “See that, Kuro?!” she beamed, “You’re next!” Luna boasted.
“If you want to face Lady Kuro,” a voice from within the doorway beside Luna sounded, “you’ll have to go through me first.”
Kabuki Mishima. The one-eyed demon stepped out of the doorway and stared Luna down. She was clearly out of breath and soaking wet.
“Look at yourself, Jackie,” Kabuki spat, “you’re pathetic.” He paused. “How did Noh fall for a no-good, murderous piece of crap like you?!”
“Yes, I agree,” Luna smiled, “Jackie is a total joke.” Luna stepped forward and placed a hand on Kabuki’s shoulder, summoning her crimson energy blade in the other hand. “So, you’re one of Kuro’s familiars, now?” she asked, staring Kabuki directly in his single eye.
“What of it?” Kabuki snarled, “You’re all bark and no bite, Jackie!” he declared. “What are you gonna do, kill me?!” the Cyclops laughed. “A scrawny loser like you wouldn’t even try!”
“Kabuki!” a voice called out from the other side of the bridge, “That’s not Jackie anymore!”
Luna and Kabuki turned their gaze to the man standing across the ledge on the other side of the fortress. Noh Hiraoka. The loup-garou had resumed his human form, still wearing nothing but his dark brown fur thong and white and red kitsune mask, his wolf ears and tail fully exposed.
“Luna,” he shouted over the gap, “go take care of Kuro, I’ve got my sights set on Kabuki!”
Luna gave a nod, pushing Kabuki aside and entering Kuro’s tower. The room she had stepped into was pitch-black.
“So, thou has’t finally arriv’d?” Kuro’s voice called out as stage lights dimly lit the room, “And not a moment too soon!”
Luna squinted as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. The room was empty aside from stage lights around the circumference of the tower’s walls, a spotlight in the middle of the ceiling and a theater stage at the center. As the spotlight shined down on the villain, Luna reached into her red skirt and pink pantyhose and pulled out M.S. Webber’s book, flipping through it at her own pace.
“You'll has't time to readeth that curs’d book in the afterlife at which hour I killeth thee!” Kuro declared, “But now is the time to square!”
As Luna flipped the book to its final page she lifted her eyes from the book and leered at Kuro, remembering the many things Kuro and her followers had done over the last two days…
Noh observed Excalibur’s movements. “Oh, I get it,” he exclaimed, “You’re putting on a play, right?” Noh folded his arms proudly. “I can tell from that guy’s movements,” he gestured towards Excalibur, “he’s clearly been rehearsing!”
Rusalka folded her arms and nodded. “Go get ‘er, Romeo,” she teased.
“Hah,” Rusalka scoffed, “You think you’ve won? I was merely playing the part of a distraction, as Lady Kuro asked.”
“Alas, poor Marissa,” Kuro winked, holding out the severed head of the cop’s best-friend before his very own eyes, “I knew her, Vladimir… She was a witch of infinite jest…”
Kuro put her hand on Kabuki’s shoulder and smiled menacingly. “Thee hath play’d the part of mine hostage perfectly.”
…
……
………
The cogs in Luna’s mind began to turn.
…
……
………
“And it’s not about protecting the masses…” Katherine said, “it’s about protecting Chloe.”
“Chloe was Maryanne-Susan Webber’s sister,” the maid explained, reaching into Jackie’s shorts.
Jackie stared at the still-damp page and read aloud its contents. “Chloe always was a theater kid of the highest degree; plays, musicals, operas – even stand-up comedy – she loved every form of theater performance.”
Katherine sighed. “Miss Sumire suspects that Chloe accidentally wandered into Phantasia and never returned,” she explained, before letting go of Jackie. “That’s why she’s so concerned with keeping Phantasia safe. Miss Sumire thinks that Chloe may still be out there somewhere…”
In the Unconscious Zone, Jackie was listening to Arthur explaining what Kuro had told him about Miss Shakespeare. About how Maryanne-Susan Webber had ruined her sister’s chances of getting into her dream school.
…
……
………
The cogs in Luna’s mind grinded to a halt.
“Y’know,” Luna said, smiling and lifting her head to face Kuro, “you’re such a drama queen, Lady Kuro!” she taunted, “I mean, talk about ‘overacting’!”
Kuro folded her arms in disgust. “And what doth thee knoweth about acting, cur?”
“Look,” Luna shrugged, tossing Jackie’s book to a side, “all I’m saying is that maybe Miss Shakespeare isn’t the only one to blame for your rejection from theater school…
…
Chloe Webber.”
