Chapter 5 - Second encounter: Seven vs. Rei
Being biologically bred to resist most common symptoms of fatigue always proved to be useful. Only requiring an hour or two’s worth of sleep per night to remain fully functional was even better. Her nights were twice as long. She was able to accomplish twice as much. And when the school was in danger of random zombie attacks from a still unknown source, Seven was the first one to remain ever vigilant against that which happened so late at night.
Her skills were genetically engineered to make her the perfect for special ops and covert reconnaissance. She was an assassin. She was a spy. She was invisible, unable to be seen, unable to be heard. Unable to be stopped.
She made a nightly sweep of the campus, looking for anything that may be suspicious. At worst she was merely going for a moonlit stroll, one of the few luxuries she could afford for herself. There was such a peace, a solace, as the entire campus stood perfectly still. The soft light of the moon shone down on the stilled landscape, giving the entire school grounds an almost ethereal glow.
But tonight that peace would soon be shattered. Even a single person moving through the darkness dispelled the ghostly illusion. The phantom that glided about the outskirts of campus turned her head as something was stirring in this late hour. Without physical form she floated more than she walked, but effortlessly glided her way through the obstacles that would stand in the way of any other as she approached a presence that she could feel more than she could see or hear. She herself could not be seen nor heard, but ever wary, Seven took nothing for granted as this intruder may well be a Seer able to detect her otherworldly form with otherworldly means.
Ever so slowly did she approach. Soon a shape could barely be made out in the darkness. Her eyes were not human - they had been recreated to allow her to see in darkness as easily as light, but the stealthy girl took great pains not to be seen in what she was doing. Even with this unnatural advantage it was difficult to make out her form, but once she did, she would have gasped if only her ghostly form had need of air.
Rei.
It was not entirely unexpected, but all the pieces began to fill into place. Katelyn’s concern for her friend who seemed especially distant for some reason. Jessie’s confrontation with her, a meeting that came to blows for seemingly no reason. Hino Rei was up to something. Something that could only be done in the blackness of midnight. Something she wanted no one to see.
But she was alone. A Seer had many gifts, but few were offensive in nature. Mages, on the other hand, were jokingly thought of as walking time bombs and not without good reason. So filled were they with all sorts of dangerous magical energies that they needed to first learn control before they destroyed themselves and all around them in a fiery blaze of glory. Once harnessed, little in this world harnessed more destructive energy than a Mage intent on unleashing her powers. Seven wore a grim expression as she contemplated just how much more such dangerous warnings would apply to one who’s only purpose in life was to kill.
Whatever Rei was up to, Seven was going to confront her. Seven was going to stop her. She would not harm her, as Rei was a fellow student, but who better prepared for such a confrontation than she? The ghostly Mage spirited her way towards the Seer in perfect silence, regaining her physical form as she drew near as not to alert the sensitive senses that these Seers possessed.
“I know what you have been doing each night,” the girl stated as she reformed in front of the raven-haired girl. It was not the complete truth as she did not know the extent of Rei’s plans, but she knew that she was the one causing so much distress. “The mere fact that you are again sneaking away is proof enough of your wrongdoing.”
“You can’t prove a thing,” Rei sneered back at the girl who quite literally had appeared out of thin air. “You’re up pretty late as well. Just being out late doesn’t mean anything at all.”
“Yes,” Seven conceded. “But, from the information I compiled, your presence was mysteriously unable to be explained during the undead invasion a few weeks ago. My roommate recently discovered you stealthing around as if wishing to remain unseen. And now I find you here, sneaking away at approximately the same time of night that a series of arsons had been reported previously.” Her voice was low and calm. Her eyes never left her target. But there was an unspoken seriousness about the girl as she spoke. “There is reason enough to apprehend you. And there are Seers such as yourself who could use any number of means of divination to confirm my suspicions.”
These words seemed to cause Rei to seethe with anger. “No matter what I’m doing it’s not like you can do anything to stop me,” she snarled back. “What, you think that you can come and just mug me here on school grounds and get away with it?”
“If it means preventing someone from summoning more undead,” she coolly stated, “then yes. I do.”
She cautiously walked forward, placing a hand on Rei’s shoulder. Whether she went peacefully or otherwise she would be leading her back to the campus. There were simply too many questions that needed to be answered. But as so many of those remained questions, it came as a surprise when the martial artist took that hand and threw the inquisitive girl over her shoulder.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she called out, her words a dangerous warning. “I’m free to do what I want, when I want, because I want.” A hand was placed on her hip. “I won’t allow you to try to make me follow whatever rules you come up with. You’re not the boss of me.”
As Seven rose from the ground, that warning was punctuated with a swift kick at the downed girl. She phased out as the foot passed through her, leaving Rei flat on her back as well. Both scrambled to their feet. Seven then blocked a punch from the Asian girl, countering with one of her own that was also blocked as well.
Rei was fairly good, Seven thought to herself, but she still was an amateur who trained in her spare time. Far different than herself, who had instruction on several different fighting styles forcibly shoved into her mind in a painful and mentally disturbing process. When next Rei tried to strike at her, Seven was able to counter with a military-style takedown. She hovered over Rei, who mockingly looked up at her even from her prone position. “So what are you going to try and do now,” she sneered. “Going to kick me while I’m down, when you can’t prove anything other that - like you - I had decided to go on a little moonlight stroll?”
“No,” came a quiet response. She pulled a small object from one of the pockets along her belt and pressed a button along it’s surface. “I’m simply going to call someone to help keep an eye on you.”
Rei hadn’t anticipated such a simple yet effective solution. If she ran into one single person, it would turn into a pointless argument between the two as to exactly what had happened. The more people who show up, the more witnesses would be aware that things were as Seven had said. She had to stop Seven, and slip away before anyone else could show.
Hino Rei quickly scrambled to her feet, knocking the cell out of the girl’s hands after just a few short words. “Fool,” she then said with an evil chuckle. “That was not a very smart thing for you to do. Now, I’m really going to have to get serious with you.”
A hand dove into her own pockets to retrieve an item of her own. “Ares Inferno Power….Make Up!”
Immediately she was enveloped in a massive fireball from which Seven could only recoil. Her outfit burned away, and the fire seemed to envelop her slender frame. A white bodysuit formed around her feminine curves. The darkness of night formed the collar around her neck, and a short pleated skirt of the same twilight shade around her waist. Blood red ribbons of the deepest crimson tied themselves into bows at her bust and the small of her back. A silver tiara, twisted in an almost tribal-looking pattern graced her forehead. The flames died down, but the power of that hellfire remained. The girl struck a sinister-looking pose, and glared at the quiet girl who now had to face her full fury.
Seven could only look on in astonishment. Never before had she ever seen anything such as this. “What…what manner of enchantment is this?”
The sailor-suited warrior continued her piercing glare. “The girl you knew as ‘Hino Rei’ was nothing more than a façade. I am Sailor Blackfire! Warrior of Aries, the god of war! Face the flames of your destruction!” She cackled as she screamed out her attack. “Ares Brimstone Blast!”
Fire screamed out from behind her gloved fingertips. Seven dove out of the way as the fiery blast exploded behind her. Another gout of flame was released in her direction, and without second thought she summoned the energy around her right fist to create her infamous energy blade. She phased out of sight, but she was not beyond Sight, and this warrior who had once been Hino Rei still looked in her general direction as if trying to sense her spirit.
Jessie hadn’t waited for much of an explanation. She had heard Seven tell her where to come, and then could hear screaming after the phone had been knocked away. With her powers she ran along the abandoned highways faster than even a car could travel. Upon seeing someone throwing fire at her roommate, she did not slow as she plowed into the girl from behind. Both tumbled along the grassy field until they came to a stop.
“It took you longer than I had expected,” Seven said with just a hint of humor.
Blackfire disappeared in a burst of hellfire and brimstone. Jessie rose to dust off her jeans. “What the fuck was that?!?”
“Our fears have been realized,” she said. “Our friend Rei has now become something else. She is…”
“Blackfire….” came the partial answer, followed by the rest of her attack name. “….Inferno…Burst!” once again fire came scorching its way toward the duo, but this time it streaked from the sky as a small comet that as it approached split into several explosive fragments. Seven and Jessie avoided the destruction raining down upon them, but a mocking laugh could be heard over the sounds of the explosions. “This changes nothing,” Blackfire called out as she again used her power to teleport away.
Her skills were genetically engineered to make her the perfect for special ops and covert reconnaissance. She was an assassin. She was a spy. She was invisible, unable to be seen, unable to be heard. Unable to be stopped.
She made a nightly sweep of the campus, looking for anything that may be suspicious. At worst she was merely going for a moonlit stroll, one of the few luxuries she could afford for herself. There was such a peace, a solace, as the entire campus stood perfectly still. The soft light of the moon shone down on the stilled landscape, giving the entire school grounds an almost ethereal glow.
But tonight that peace would soon be shattered. Even a single person moving through the darkness dispelled the ghostly illusion. The phantom that glided about the outskirts of campus turned her head as something was stirring in this late hour. Without physical form she floated more than she walked, but effortlessly glided her way through the obstacles that would stand in the way of any other as she approached a presence that she could feel more than she could see or hear. She herself could not be seen nor heard, but ever wary, Seven took nothing for granted as this intruder may well be a Seer able to detect her otherworldly form with otherworldly means.
Ever so slowly did she approach. Soon a shape could barely be made out in the darkness. Her eyes were not human - they had been recreated to allow her to see in darkness as easily as light, but the stealthy girl took great pains not to be seen in what she was doing. Even with this unnatural advantage it was difficult to make out her form, but once she did, she would have gasped if only her ghostly form had need of air.
Rei.
It was not entirely unexpected, but all the pieces began to fill into place. Katelyn’s concern for her friend who seemed especially distant for some reason. Jessie’s confrontation with her, a meeting that came to blows for seemingly no reason. Hino Rei was up to something. Something that could only be done in the blackness of midnight. Something she wanted no one to see.
But she was alone. A Seer had many gifts, but few were offensive in nature. Mages, on the other hand, were jokingly thought of as walking time bombs and not without good reason. So filled were they with all sorts of dangerous magical energies that they needed to first learn control before they destroyed themselves and all around them in a fiery blaze of glory. Once harnessed, little in this world harnessed more destructive energy than a Mage intent on unleashing her powers. Seven wore a grim expression as she contemplated just how much more such dangerous warnings would apply to one who’s only purpose in life was to kill.
Whatever Rei was up to, Seven was going to confront her. Seven was going to stop her. She would not harm her, as Rei was a fellow student, but who better prepared for such a confrontation than she? The ghostly Mage spirited her way towards the Seer in perfect silence, regaining her physical form as she drew near as not to alert the sensitive senses that these Seers possessed.
“I know what you have been doing each night,” the girl stated as she reformed in front of the raven-haired girl. It was not the complete truth as she did not know the extent of Rei’s plans, but she knew that she was the one causing so much distress. “The mere fact that you are again sneaking away is proof enough of your wrongdoing.”
“You can’t prove a thing,” Rei sneered back at the girl who quite literally had appeared out of thin air. “You’re up pretty late as well. Just being out late doesn’t mean anything at all.”
“Yes,” Seven conceded. “But, from the information I compiled, your presence was mysteriously unable to be explained during the undead invasion a few weeks ago. My roommate recently discovered you stealthing around as if wishing to remain unseen. And now I find you here, sneaking away at approximately the same time of night that a series of arsons had been reported previously.” Her voice was low and calm. Her eyes never left her target. But there was an unspoken seriousness about the girl as she spoke. “There is reason enough to apprehend you. And there are Seers such as yourself who could use any number of means of divination to confirm my suspicions.”
These words seemed to cause Rei to seethe with anger. “No matter what I’m doing it’s not like you can do anything to stop me,” she snarled back. “What, you think that you can come and just mug me here on school grounds and get away with it?”
“If it means preventing someone from summoning more undead,” she coolly stated, “then yes. I do.”
She cautiously walked forward, placing a hand on Rei’s shoulder. Whether she went peacefully or otherwise she would be leading her back to the campus. There were simply too many questions that needed to be answered. But as so many of those remained questions, it came as a surprise when the martial artist took that hand and threw the inquisitive girl over her shoulder.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she called out, her words a dangerous warning. “I’m free to do what I want, when I want, because I want.” A hand was placed on her hip. “I won’t allow you to try to make me follow whatever rules you come up with. You’re not the boss of me.”
As Seven rose from the ground, that warning was punctuated with a swift kick at the downed girl. She phased out as the foot passed through her, leaving Rei flat on her back as well. Both scrambled to their feet. Seven then blocked a punch from the Asian girl, countering with one of her own that was also blocked as well.
Rei was fairly good, Seven thought to herself, but she still was an amateur who trained in her spare time. Far different than herself, who had instruction on several different fighting styles forcibly shoved into her mind in a painful and mentally disturbing process. When next Rei tried to strike at her, Seven was able to counter with a military-style takedown. She hovered over Rei, who mockingly looked up at her even from her prone position. “So what are you going to try and do now,” she sneered. “Going to kick me while I’m down, when you can’t prove anything other that - like you - I had decided to go on a little moonlight stroll?”
“No,” came a quiet response. She pulled a small object from one of the pockets along her belt and pressed a button along it’s surface. “I’m simply going to call someone to help keep an eye on you.”
Rei hadn’t anticipated such a simple yet effective solution. If she ran into one single person, it would turn into a pointless argument between the two as to exactly what had happened. The more people who show up, the more witnesses would be aware that things were as Seven had said. She had to stop Seven, and slip away before anyone else could show.
Hino Rei quickly scrambled to her feet, knocking the cell out of the girl’s hands after just a few short words. “Fool,” she then said with an evil chuckle. “That was not a very smart thing for you to do. Now, I’m really going to have to get serious with you.”
A hand dove into her own pockets to retrieve an item of her own. “Ares Inferno Power….Make Up!”
Immediately she was enveloped in a massive fireball from which Seven could only recoil. Her outfit burned away, and the fire seemed to envelop her slender frame. A white bodysuit formed around her feminine curves. The darkness of night formed the collar around her neck, and a short pleated skirt of the same twilight shade around her waist. Blood red ribbons of the deepest crimson tied themselves into bows at her bust and the small of her back. A silver tiara, twisted in an almost tribal-looking pattern graced her forehead. The flames died down, but the power of that hellfire remained. The girl struck a sinister-looking pose, and glared at the quiet girl who now had to face her full fury.
Seven could only look on in astonishment. Never before had she ever seen anything such as this. “What…what manner of enchantment is this?”
The sailor-suited warrior continued her piercing glare. “The girl you knew as ‘Hino Rei’ was nothing more than a façade. I am Sailor Blackfire! Warrior of Aries, the god of war! Face the flames of your destruction!” She cackled as she screamed out her attack. “Ares Brimstone Blast!”
Fire screamed out from behind her gloved fingertips. Seven dove out of the way as the fiery blast exploded behind her. Another gout of flame was released in her direction, and without second thought she summoned the energy around her right fist to create her infamous energy blade. She phased out of sight, but she was not beyond Sight, and this warrior who had once been Hino Rei still looked in her general direction as if trying to sense her spirit.
Jessie hadn’t waited for much of an explanation. She had heard Seven tell her where to come, and then could hear screaming after the phone had been knocked away. With her powers she ran along the abandoned highways faster than even a car could travel. Upon seeing someone throwing fire at her roommate, she did not slow as she plowed into the girl from behind. Both tumbled along the grassy field until they came to a stop.
“It took you longer than I had expected,” Seven said with just a hint of humor.
Blackfire disappeared in a burst of hellfire and brimstone. Jessie rose to dust off her jeans. “What the fuck was that?!?”
“Our fears have been realized,” she said. “Our friend Rei has now become something else. She is…”
“Blackfire….” came the partial answer, followed by the rest of her attack name. “….Inferno…Burst!” once again fire came scorching its way toward the duo, but this time it streaked from the sky as a small comet that as it approached split into several explosive fragments. Seven and Jessie avoided the destruction raining down upon them, but a mocking laugh could be heard over the sounds of the explosions. “This changes nothing,” Blackfire called out as she again used her power to teleport away.