CHAPTER ELEVEN

     Kei squirmed and cursed, trying to wriggle out of
Therian's grasp, to no avail.  The muscular man held firmly
onto Kei's uniform as he carried her down the corridor,
oblivious to her writhing and kicking.
     Kei cursed Tarc Meridian out loud.  If he hadn't crapped
out on their plan, this wouldn't be happening.  His crystal
sword would have been there to vaporize MacPherson's demonic
bodyguards, just as it had done to two of them earlier.
     Where Therian was carrying Kei, she had no idea.  Then
she saw the end of the corridor.  There was a window there,
blown out by the force of the _Lewis_and_Clark_'s explosion.
Apparently, he was planning to throw her out of it.
     Seeing how close she was to death cleared Kei's mind,
and suddenly she knew exactly what to do.  She blinked,
wondering how she could possibly have missed such an obvious
solution.  She undid the clasp at the front of her uniform
and dropped to the ground, leaving a startled Therian holding
an empty top.
     In less than a second Kei was running toward the
emergency stairs as fast as her legs would carry her.
Therian dropped Kei's top and strolled after her, catching
up with each stride.
     Kei reached the steps, only a couple of seconds ahead of
her pursuer, and ran into an ordinary security guard.
     "Hey!" he yelled.  "You aren't-- uhhhh..."  His eyes
dropped to her bare chest and stayed there.
     Not one to pass up a gift, Kei kneed him in the groin
and chopped him on the back of the neck.  She quickly grabbed
his gun and fired off a few shots.
     The narrow beams went right through Therian, but failed
even to slow him down.  Kei decided it was time for a
different tactic.  She ran down the steps, firing down as she
passed.
     Therian calmly entered the stairwell and continued
walking after her.  As Kei had hoped, as he put his weight on
one of the steps she'd shot, it gave way and he fell through
to the next level.
     Kei backtracked, nimbly jumping over the missing step
and back toward the door.  The security guard was regaining
consciousness, groaning, and had rolled over.  With his body
no longer blocking the door, it had swung shut.  Kei tried
the door.  It was locked.
     Kei aimed the gun and began to burn through the bolt.
She made progress, but slowly, too slowly.  She heard
thumping sounds and turned around to see Therian coming back
up the stairwell.  She cursed the wimpy rent-a-cop gun and
ran up the stairs.
     Therian narrowed the margin between them with each step
he took, taking the steps three or four at a time.  It was
obvious Kei couldn't outrace the man.  She reached the next
level and tried the door.  Locked.
     She turned around.  This time Kei aimed for his head.
Therian dodged the shot, and then he was there, right in
front of her.  Kei tried to fire again, but he snatched the
gun from her hand and crushed it.  He grabbed her by the
neck, held her in the air, and squeezed.
     Kei punched, slapped and kicked him.  He didn't even
take notice.  Kei stared helplessly as her field of vision
narrowed and went gray.
     And then he just dropped her.  Kei gasped and coughed,
sucking down as much air as she could.
     "I understand," said Therian to the empty air.  He
looked down at Kei.  "I'll be back."  Then he walked past her
up the stairwell.

     Nora stared at Tarc as one would stare at a particularly
disgusting insect.  "Go away and leave me alone."
     Tarc merely repeated his request.  "Engage me."  His
sword glowed with a pale light.
     "Haven't you done enough already?!" Nora screamed at
him.  "You've ruined me!  All my plans have been flushed down
the proverbial toilet!  I've been reduced from the most
powerful woman in the galaxy to someone afraid of the goddamn
law!  What more do you want, my blood?!"
     Tarc didn't reply.
     "Of course you want my blood.  That's the sole purpose
of your existence, isn't it?  You could care less what I'm
doing.  You just want to kill me.  Well guess what, Tarc!
I'm not gonna play!"
     "You cannot deny what you are, Nag.  I offer combat.
You cannot refuse."
     "Watch me!"  Nora swung her arms for emphasis.  "I have
no intention of fighting you, Tarc.  Can't you get that
through your thick skull?!  Give it up!"
     "I cannot."
     "Why?!  I did, why can't you?"
     "You are Evil.  I must fight you."
     Nora rolled her eyes in exasperation.  "Oh, gawd.  Not
that tired old crap.  Tarc, do you know how many credits I've
given to charity?  Neither do I, but it's in the millions.
My MacPherson Medical is a non-profit corporation dedicated
to finding new medicines.  I founded MacPherson University,
and some the galaxy's greatest leaders have graduated from
it.  What makes me evil?"
     "You are Evil because you hurt people."
     "So do you!  Look at that!" she said, gesturing toward
the window.  "The city's been hit with a major shockwave and
an EMP blast, engineered by your friends, I'll wager.  You
think no one got hurt?  If so, you're a fool.
     "Hell, what about our past?" she continued.  "Our
battles have always been cataclysmic, with cities being
consumed by fire, wind, or water.  Whose fault was that,
Tarc?  I certainly had no intention of destroying those
cities.  I wanted to rule them."
     Tarc was silent for a moment, then he replied.  "I don't
wish to discuss this.  Engage me, or I will strike you down
where you stand."
     Nora laughed out loud.  "Oh, wouldst thou, most brave
and gallant Tarc Meridian?"  She slinked up to him, hands
clasped before her in mock supplication.  "Wouldst thou truly
strike me down in cold blood?  Wouldst thou murder me?"
     Tarc looked uncomfortable, but said nothing.
     "Ha!" Nora exclaimed as she turned and walked away.
"There you have it.  I think I'll just ignore you, Tarc
Meridian.  You're so powerless, it's pathetic."
     "Nag," Tarc said, suddenly.
     "Hmm?" Nora replied, turning casually.
     "I'll make you a deal."
     "Go on."
     "You say you wish me to go away and cease my persecution
of you.  Very well.  But first, you must do one thing."
     Nora raised her eyebrows, intrigued.  "What's that?"
     "Look me directly in the eye, and tell me, from the
bottom of your heart, that you have no desire to fight me,
ever again, for all of eternity."
     Nora stared at him in disbelief.  Was he serious?
Could it really be that simple?
     She laughed again, but this time it was a short nervous
laugh.  "That's all?  No problem."
     Nora walked up to Tarc, stared him down and cleared her
throat.  "I," she began, and stopped.  <C'mon,> she told
herself.  <Just say the damn words and he'll leave you alone
for ever.  How hard can it be?>  She opened her mouth to
start again, but nothing came out.
     A wall panel slid aside, revealing a secret entrance to
a stairwell.  Therian stepped out.
     "Ah," said Nora, stepping away from Tarc, and feeling
more relieved than she could remember feeling in recent days.
"Therian!  Just the person I wanted to see."
     "Therian?" said Tarc.  He immediately brought his sword
up again.  It began to glow brighter.
     Nora spoke to her musclebound aide.  "Our friend Tarc
here seems to have a childish need for combat.  Why don't you
humor him.  In fact, while you're at it, why don't you kill
him?"
     Therian nodded and walked toward Tarc.  Tarc took a step
back and swung his sword in a wide arc, slicing through
Therian's abdomen.
     What was supposed to happen at this point was that white
flames would burst from Therian's abdomen, rapidly consuming
him.  What actually did happen was that Therian grunted in
pain, thick red blood sprayed everywhere, his entrails
plopped onto the carpet, and he died.  Tarc eyes widened.  He
held up his sword, the blade coated with blood, and stared in
utter disbelief.
     Nora cracked up, laughing so hard she had to lean on the
desk to keep from collapsing.  Tears ran down her face.
"What's the matter, Tarc?  Got icky blood all over your
sword?"
     "B-but, `Therian'.  I thought..."
     "Oh, he carried the name of my right-hand demon, but
that was just for sentiment's sake.  He was a human as they
come.  I enhanced him a little, but that was all.  I used him
as a model for the others."
     "Then who..."
     "Oh, come on, Tarc, I'm a businesswoman now.  I need a
businessman for my right-hand aide.  Could you see me
introducing a warrior named Therian at a board meeting?  I--"
     Tarc paled and dropped to his knees.  Myriads of tiny
bubbles began to form inside his sword, turning it cloudy.
With an audible snapping sound, a crack formed down it's
length.
     "Oooh," said Nora, smiling and feigning excitement.
"Can I see?  This is something I haven't managed to do to you
since the first time we fought, though gods know I've tried
often enough."
     Tarc breath became shallow and rattling as his sword
continued to deteriorate.
     "Oh, well," Nora said.  "Goodbye, Tarc.  See you in
twenty years.  Or maybe not.  I never did kill you this way
before.  Maybe this time you'll be dead for good, hmm?  That
would be nice."  Nora threw back her head and laughed again.

     Yuri groaned and stood up.  Her nose was bleeding again,
or rather had been; the blood was already dry.  "How long
have I been out?" she wondered aloud.
     "Almost an hour," answered Close.
     Yuri whirled around, causing her head to throb.  Close
was standing behind her.  Yuri whipped her gun out of its
holster.  "You sit back down."
     "I don't think so.  Ms. MacPherson ordered me to come to
her aid, on that very terminal as a matter of fact.  I tried
to tell her I was with you, but she won't respond.
Something's occupying her.  I'd like to know what you did."
     "That's none of your business."
     "If it endangers Ms. MacPherson, it's my business.  I
should be there beside her, but something tells me I can help
her much more by taking you out."  Close raised his hands and
casually snapped the cuffs.
     Yuri gasped and fired.  The beam bounced off Close and
burned a hole in the wall.
     Close smiled.  "You don't know what a pain it's been,
playing the role of the businessman-wimp while my lord
recruits a human to play my role.  I understood, of course,
but I never claimed to like it."  He charged Yuri, who jumped
out of the way.  A single blow crushed the computer terminal.
     Close growled and charged her again.  Yuri readied
herself and executed a judo throw.  Close's flying body went
smashing through the concrete wall behind her.
     Yuri decided it was time to make tracks.  She grabbed
the satchel and headed out the door.  Something green and
serpentine wrapped itself around her legs and brought her
crashing to the floor.
     She looked back to see Close, or what she figured must
be Close.  It was eight feet tall, green and scaly, with
yellow eyes, bat-like wings, a wide mouth full of sharp
teeth, and an incredibly long tail that was still wrapped
around her legs and drawing her forward.
     "I will consume you," it said.  "I will consume you and
wrest the answers from your soul!"
     Yuri reached inside her top and pulled out the Bloody
Card.  She was about to throw it when she had a better idea.
She passed her left hand over the Card and whispered some
words, words she only barely remembered and half-understood.
The Card began to glow with a bright white light.  Then she
threw it.
     The Card struck the thing in the chest and stuck there.
The demon screamed as the light began to consume it.  It
struggled, screaming, and as Yuri watched, it started to
fight it off.  The light grew dimmer and shrank.
     Yuri considered running, but an idea struck her.  Maybe
now that it was weakened...  Yuri pulled her gun and fired.
This time the beam pierced the demon's body, causing plenty
of damage.  Yuri fired again and again, until the demon
stopped moving, then fired a few more times for good measure.
     When she stopped, the demon's head and chest had been
reduced to a pulpy mess.  Yuri plucked the still glowing Card
from the creature's chest, being careful not to touch any of
its blood.
     Suddenly something sent a chill down her spine.  She
knew exactly what it was.  It was Tarc and he was dying.
This time, it took Yuri almost no effort at all.  Without
completely understanding what she was doing, she made a swift
series of hand motions and teleported.

     Kei tried yet another door.  It was locked, just as the
other twelve had been.  It was no use.  The stairwell almost
certainly opened only on the ground floor, and Kei would have
trouble looking inconspicuous on such a busy floor,
especially if she was walking around topless.
     Kei sighed and started down to try the next door.  A
bright light flashed behind her, and there was Yuri.  Before
Kei could ask what was happening, Yuri had grabbed her hand
and teleported again.

    The Angels arrived in Nora's office.  Nora was
momentarily startled upon seeing the new arrivals, but only
momentarily.  "Well, well!  I wondered when you'd get here.
You're just in time to watch your friend die."
     Kei looked down and screamed Tarc's name.  The Crystal
Knight lay on the ground, his face the color of slate, his
mouth open, his eyes blank, breathing in short, choked gasps.
His sword was almost unrecognizable, a warped mass of blood,
cracks, and gray bubbles.  Kei knelt by him and shook him.
"Tarc!  Tarc!"
     "Oh, that won't do any good," said Nora.  "He's got
blood all over his sword, you see.  Blood does nasty things
to a Crystal Knight's sword, and as goes the sword, so goes
the Knight."
     "You filthy *bitch*!"  Kei screamed, and charged her.
Nora calmly raised a hand.  Light flashed from her palm, and
Kei was thrown back across the room, slamming against the far
wall.
     "Now, that was self-defense," Nora said to Kei.  "Self-
defense is okay.  Please don't think that my abandonment of
magic extends to allowing you to harm me in any way."
     Yuri stared at Tarc and his sword, hoping for some burst
of intuition that would tell her what to do.  When it came,
and when Yuri realized what it meant, a bead of sweat rolled
down her cheek.  She gathered her courage, knelt and grabbed
the sword.
     Yuri's entire body began to glow.  Then the glow left
her body and flowed into the sword.  Yuri collasped in a heap
as the blood vanished from the sword, which began to repair
itself.
     Tarc struggled to his feet.  Grunting with the effort,
he brought his sword back to the ready position.  "Nag..."
     "What the--" said Nora, blinking.  Then she noticed Yuri
crumpled on the floor.  "Ah.  Your sorceress friend must have
channeled her entire lifeforce into your sword.  How very
resourceful of her."
     "What?!" Kei yelled.  She ran to Yuri and rolled her
over.  The girl was very much unconscious.
     "By the way," Nora continued, "I'd recommend you not let
go of that sword, no matter what happens.  Both you and Efera
would die instantly."
     Except for the fact that he was standing, Tarc didn't
look much better than he had when he was lying on the floor.
"Engage me," he demanded, he voice barely louder than a
whisper.
     "Blow it out your ass," Nora responded with a smile.
She pressed a button on her desk terminal.  "Security?"
     "Security, Jenkins here," a voice responded.
     "Bring a shuttle to the top of the tower in ten
minutes."
     "Did you say the top of the tower?" the voice asked
incredulously.
     "You heard me.  MacPherson out."  Nora cut communication
and turned back to the others.  "I'm afraid the time has come
for me to go.  I'll be seeing you.  Count on it."
     Kei pulled Yuri's gun from its holster and leveled it at
Nora.  "Don't you take one step or I swear to god I'll blow
your head off."
     Looking disgusted, Nora raised a hand.
     "Oh, no you don't!" Kei yelled.  Reaching with her free
hand into a pouch on her belt, she whipped out the white
truce medallion she had retrieved from their hotel room.
     Nora stared at the medallion.  "You can't use that
against me.  If you attack me while holding it, that
nullifies the truce."
     Kei smiled wickedly.  "I haven't attacked you yet."
     "But if you do, I'll be dead before I can retaliate."
Nora stared at Kei and the medallion for a long time.  Then
she started to laugh.  "A loophole!  You found a loophole!
That's brilliant!  Honestly, I could have used you in some of
my business negotiations."
     "For someone who claims to have abandoned the Game,"
Tarc said, "you certainly seem willing to follow its rules."
     "I broke that rule once before, if you'll remember.  I
didn't like the results.  I wonder if Kei understands what
would happen to her if she attacked me while holding that
thing."
     "Perhaps nothing," Tarc said.
     "Perhaps," Nora agreed.  "She is using a gun, after all,
not a spell."
     Seeing Tarc and Nora discussing the battle so casually
unnerved Kei, but she refused to let it show.  "I mean it.
Move and I'll kill you."
     "Even a pulse beam only moves so fast," said Nora.  "I
might be able to kill you before it reaches me.  Or dodge
it."
     "Move and we'll find out."
     Nora and Kei stared at each other for a long time.  For
a moment it seemed that Kei might actually win her gamble.
Then the room started to shake.
     At first it was just a low vibration, accompanies by a
soft rumbling sound.  Then the sound grew louder, and the
room began to sway.
     Nora looked around her nervously.  "What is this?"
     Kei knew exactly what it was.  "It's your earthquake,
Tarc!"
     "Earthquake?!" Nora shouted over the rumbling, which was
still growing in volume.  "What is she talking about?"
     "An experiment.  I had believed it a failure.
Apparently the effect was simply delayed."
     The room began swaying violently, throwing everyone a
few centimeters off the floor.  Nora grabbed onto the
entrance to the stairwell.  Kei and Tarc had nothing as solid
to take ahold of, and to Kei's utter horror, Yuri's
unconscious body was being thrown closer and closer to the
open window with each jolt.  Terrified, she pointed this out
to Tarc.
     "I can't save her," Tarc said.  "I can't risk letting go
of my sword."
     Kei lay flat on the bucking, swaying floor and began
riding the waves, jumping forward each time the room jerked.
Her goal was the desk.
     They were now being thrown almost a third of a meter
into the air every second.  One of Yuri's feet was thrown
through the window.  Kei had only a few seconds, or the rest
of Yuri would follow it.
     Kei reached the desk, grabbed onto a leg and reached for
Yuri.  Stretching, she was barely able to touch Yuri's wrist
when the room bucked again.  Yuri was thrown away from Kei,
but her limp arms were flung away from her, and Kei was able
to grab on.
     Kei hung on for dear life.  The earthquake still wasn't
finished.  Behind her, she heard a loud snapping noise.  She
screamed as the desk broke free.  Kei and Yuri went flying
through the window, desk and all.  Kei let go and made a grab
for the window frame as the desk's greater inertia carried it
over their heads.  She held on to the frame, howling in pain
as a glass fragment cut into her hand.
     The tower continued to sway.  "Will you knock it off,
already?!" Kei screamed at the world.  Perhaps the world
heard her, because the swaying slowed and finally stopped.
     Kei strained to pull both herself and Yuri back through
the window.  Then, almost as an afterthought, the tower did
one more quick little jolt.  Kei was caught off-guard, and it
was just enough to knock her hand loose.
     Kei screamed, and then a hand was around her wrist.
Tarc's hand.  Kei breathed a sigh of relief.  When Tarc
failed to begin pulling them up, Kei decided maybe her sigh
was premature.
     Tarc strained to haul the two girls in with one hand
while keeping his other firmly around his sword.  He wasn't
making any progress.
     Nora strolled over to where Tarc knelt on the floor.
"Here we are again, eh, Tarc?"
     Tarc ignored her and continued pulling.
     "I'd forget it if I were you.  In your condition,
there's no way you're going to pull both women in with one
arm.  And of course, if you should let go of your sword..."
Nora shook her head slowly.  "I'm leaving, Tarc.  It's
decision making time for you again.  And we both know what
decision you're going to make."  She turned, walked swiftly
to the stairwell, and disappeared inside.
     Tarc tried one more time to pull the Angels inside.
Then he stopped, out of breath.  He glanced back toward where
Nora had exited, then stared into Kei's eyes.  His mouth
moved as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
     "Well, what are you waiting for?" Kei asked, bitterly.
"Let go."
     "Kei..."
     "We both know you can't both kill Nag'sharath and save
us," Kei said, scowling.  "And we both know which is more
important to you.  So do it already!  Let me drop!"  Tears
welled up in her eyes.  She blinked to clear them, but it did
no good.
     Tarc remained motionless.  He looked at Kei, painfully.
     Kei blew up.  "If you're waiting for me to forgive you,
I'm not going to, so just do it!  DO IT, DAMN YOU!!"
     Kei had no idea how Tarc took her outburst; she could no
longer see through her tears.
     "Perhaps..." started Tarc.  "Perhaps there is more than
one kind of purity."
      Kei felt a second hand grab her wrist.
     Tarc pulled, grunting with the effort, slowly pulling
Kei toward the window.  Kei pressed her boots against the
side of the tower and pushed as hard as she could.
     Finally, Kei was safely inside.  She held onto Yuri and
helped Tarc pull her in as well.  Kei and Tarc sat on the
floor, out of breath.
     Kei was helped to her feet by Tarc.  With effort, she
faced him.  "Tarc, I'm really sorry.  Please forgive me for
saying-"
     Tarc waved her off.  "You don't have to apologize for
being right."
     Suddenly, it hit Kei: shouldn't Tarc be dead?  Kei took
a look at Tarc's sword, lying on the carpet.  As Nora had
warned, it was beginning to deteriorate, but much more slowly
than Kei had expected.  "Tarc, don't you think you should
pick up--"
     Tarc pulled Kei close to him and kissed her.

     Later, Kei would wonder how it could be possible to be
so unaware of how much she had wanted something until she had
it.  She had no idea why Tarc was kissing her.  All she knew
was that she didn't want him to stop.  Ever.
     Kei's universe shrank until there were only two people
in it: herself and Tarc.  Tears ran down her cheek and
mingled with his.
     When at last Tarc pulled away, it was as if Kei had just
been born.  She blinked at the world around her, bewildered.
It took her a moment to remember where she was.  When she
did, she realized for the first time in nearly an hour that
she was half-naked.  She covered her breasts, blushing like a
schoolgirl.
     "Kei," Tarc said, "I love you.  I've been fighting my
feelings for millenia, in the belief that they would corrupt
me.  I was wrong.  My love for you gave me the strength to
survive."
     Yuri stirred.  Tarc walked past her and picked up his
sword.  It was completely healed, and more beautiful than
ever.  With even the slightest movement, light sparkled and
prismed within it.  As Tarc grasped it, it glowed with a
bright, pure white light.
     "Tarc," said Yuri.  "You're okay."
     "Yes," Tarc confirmed.  "More `okay' than I have ever
been.  I can finish it now."
     "Finish it?" Kei asked, alarmed.
     "You've given me the strength to destroy Nag'sharath
once and for all.  That is precisely what I shall do."
     "Tarc, no!  The 3WA should be here anytime now.  We'll
explain it to them, let them handle it!"
     "They won't be able to stop her.  Only I can stop her."
Tarc walked toward the stairwell.  "I'm doing this for you,
Kei."  He walked in and started up.
     "Tarc, please don't!  I don't want to see you get
killed!"  Kei ran after him, but a high-pitched tone came
from the stairwell, and the metal stairs blew apart and
twisted.  The stairs were now a warped mass of metal blocking
any attempt to follow.
     "Dammit, Tarc," Kei screamed after him.  "It's all the
same!  Whether you're doing it out some sense of mystical
justice or for me, it doesn't matter!  It's all the same."
     Kei started to cry again, then stamped her foot and
decided she'd be damned if she'd cry.  She ran over to Yuri.
"Yuri, how are you feeling?"
     "Okay, I guess."
     "Great!  Teleport us to the top of the tower."
     Yuri nodded, concentrated, and waved her hands.  Nothing
happened.  "I can't.  Something's blocking me."
     "Damn it!" Kei yelled.  She put her hand on her chin and
thought for a few seconds.  "Can you take us down?"
     Yuri closed her eyes and considered it.  "Yes, I think
so.  But why?"
     "'Port us to the hangers.  We'll steal a shuttle and fly
to the top of the tower!"
     "Hey," said Yuri, brightening up, "that's a good idea!"
She waved her hands and the two of them vanished in a flash
of light.

     Nora paced angrily atop the tower.  There wasn't that
much room to pace, the top being a platform with only about
seven square meters of room, part of which was taken up by a
small booth which was the entrance to the stairwell.  A large
flashing light on top of the booth warned planes to go
around.
     Nora leaned against a small railing and stared anxiously
out over the horizon.  Someone with good eyes could barely
detect the horizon curving, so tall was the tower.  Clouds
were visible below.  Nora was able to breathe easily only
because she willed it to be that way.
     She had a plan.  It was a desperate plan, but one which
she thought would work.  She would get the hell off the
planet and disappear.  After a suitable length of time, she
would return as her own daughter, just as she had done twice
before.  In her absence, her empire would no doubt crumble
under public scrutiny, but she doubted it would collapse
entirely, so she wouldn't have to start from square one.
Hell, she might even be able to turn it to an advantage in
the field of public-relations, as the crusading daughter who
desires to atone for her mother's sins.
     But the plan necessitated getting off the planet
immediately, before the 3WA arrived, and her shuttlecraft was
nowhere to be seen.  "Where the hell are they?" she said.
"They should be here by now!"
     Then she saw it.  The small shuttlecraft was headed
right for her.  And right behind it was the _Lovely_Angel_.
     "Oh, no," said Nora.
     "Your time is up, Nag," said Tarc.
     Nora spun around.  Tarc was behind her, holding his
crystal sword.  "You!  Don't you ever give up?!"
     "No."
     Nora felt the fury rise within her and struggled
desperately to contain it.  She couldn't lapse now, couldn't
afford to.  "I...," she started, taking deep breaths, "will
not... fight you.  Understand?  And you can't fight me unless
I use magic.  So go away and quit annoying me!!"
     Calmly, Tarc let go of his sword with his right hand,
and rotated the blade so it hung down, relaxed.  Then he made
a fist and nailed Nora right on the jaw, knocking her to her
knees.
     "You bastard," Nora mumbled, wiping blood off her chin.
     "We can fight this battle on whatever level you please,
Nag," Tarc said.  "But we *will* fight it."
     Again, Nora felt the black rage rise inside.  She shook
her head to focus her thoughts.  She snuck a look at the
shuttlecraft.  It would be there in less than a minute.  The
_Lovely_Angel_ continued to pursue, lazily.  Who was flying
it, she wondered?
     With a single swift movement, Nora shot out a leg and
brought Tarc tumbling to the floor.  She leapt to her feet
and ran to the other side of the platform, waving her arms.
She looked back to see Tarc get up and walk toward her.
"Don't think I can't knock you back like I did Kei.  Self-
defense, remember?"
     "And I can deflect your blast with my sword."
     Cursing, she realized he was right.  She stared
desperately at the shuttlecraft as it tried to lose its
pursuer.  "Dammit!" she screamed at it.  "Pick me up first,
then do that!"
     Then the shuttlecraft slowed and turned to face the
_Lovely_Angel_.  "What are they doing?" Nora wondered aloud.
A second later, she knew exactly what they were doing.  "NO!
You idiots!!"
     A burst of laser fire flew from twin emitters on each
side of the shuttlecraft, striking the _Lovely_Angel_,
staggering it, knocking it off course.  The larger ship
recovered and fired a single missile.  Nora watched in
despair as her shuttle was transformed into a cloud of
burning debris.
     Nora screamed at the top of the lungs, a deafening,
incoherent growl.  She beat at the railing with her fists,
denting it.  Once again, the fury came, hot, dark,
threatening to consume her.  She screamed again, her face
red, her veins bulging.
     "NAG!" shouted Tarc.
     Nora whirled to face him.
     She screamed.  "SHUT... UP!!!!"
     An intense blast of blue flame exploded from her hands,
catching Tarc and flipping him in the air.  The energy
wrapped around him like a huge fist and slammed against the
floor, once, twice, three times.  "I'LL KILL YOU!" Nora
bellowed.  "KILL YOU!!  KILL!!!" She let him go and watched
as he fell into a heap.
     Nora panted, wide-eyed.  She could not believe how good
that had felt.  She felt like an alcoholic taking her first
drink after seventy-eight years on the wagon.  Her entire
body tingled as if she had just had an intense orgasm.
     She had been wrong, all this time.  The immensity of the
lie she had been forcing herself to believe was revealed to
her in a flash of understanding that was like a blow to the
head.  Here was her destiny, right here, lying in a pile on
the floor right in front of her.  Why was she running from
it?
     Unbidden, her hands formed fists, left on top of right.
A blade began to extrude from within her hands, extending
until it was more than a meter long.  It was long, black, and
twisted, with no single flat surface, as if it had been
haphazardly chipped out of a solid block of obsidian.  Storm
clouds formed out of nothing and began to swirl about the
tower, rumbling and flashing from lightning hidden within.
The wind picked up.
      Holding her sword at the ready, Nora advanced on Tarc.
Seeing this, he smiled at her, a sad, relieved smile that
seemed to be one of gratitude.
     "Tarc," Nag'sharath said quietly, her voice barely
audible above the wind and thunder, "I love you."
     Then she attacked.

     "Oh, no," Kei said the minute she saw her surroundings.
The tremor apparently had been no less severe on the surface
than it had been high up in the tower.  The roof of the
hangar had collasped in sections, crushing many of the ships
and planes and blocking any passage to the outside.  "It's
probably like this throughout the hangars."
     "Maybe," said Yuri.  "Maybe not."  Suddenly she snapped
her fingers.  "Hey!  When I 'ported us off the island, we
ended up in the hangars, didn't we?  Our bags didn't come
with us because of the time slip, but they should've gone to
the same place!"
     Kei brightened as she understood.  "Where was the
_Lovely_Angel_ parked?"
     "Follow me!" said Yuri, and started running.  Kei took
off after her.
     "Say," Yuri said after they had run for awhile, "I've
been meaning to ask you about your outfit."
     "Oh, that.  I had to ditch the top to get away from one
of MacPherson's goons."
     "Well, shouldn't you put something on?"
     "Like what?"
     "Good point," said Yuri.  "We're in hangar 7-A, now.
Our hangar should be just around the corner."
     The Angels turned a corner.  There they were, just as
Yuri had predicted, two large travel bags lying in the center
of the space that been occupied by the _Lovely_Angel_ just a
few days earlier.  However, the Angels' attention was drawn
to what was happening beyond the bags.
     About a dozen of MacPherson's bodybuilders were locked
in pitched battle with Francis Goulet, who seemed to be
holding his own.  Kei reminded herself that it wasn't really
Goulet, but the sorcerer Guruk.  Nevertheless, it still
looked weird to see him fight.
     As Kei and Yuri watched, he dispatched two of them with
blasts of energy from his hands.  The others began to
surround him.
     Kei opened her mouth to warn him, but Yuri clapped a
hand over it.  She closed her eyes, whispered a phrase, made
a quick gesture, and Guruk was surrounded by a wall of flame.
     The guards flinched back from the fire, and Guruk
quickly sent five more of them back where they came from.
The others noticed the reinforcements and quickly left.
     "Efera!" said Guruk, walking through the flames
unharmed.  "What wonderful timing!  I see illusion spells are
still your forte."
     "I guess so," Yuri replied.  "I still don't really
understand how I'm doing it.  I try not to think about it."
     "What the hell are you doing down here?" Kei asked.
     "Well, I--" Guruk started, then got a good look at Kei.
He cleared his throat and averted his eyes.
     "Oh, fer crying out loud," Kei grumbled.  She went to
one of the bags and went rummaging through it.
     Guruk continued. "I was, how do people of your time put
it, `running interference' for Tarc.  We felt that if I
caused trouble here at the base of the tower, it would
distract forces from Tarc's efforts at the top."
     Kei found a sweater and put it on, then opened up the
other bag.  "Good news, Yuri!  They look undamaged!"  Kei
pulled out two jet-packs.
     "Great!" said Yuri.  "Now all we have to do is get
outside."
     "No problem," said Guruk.  He stretched out an arm
toward the debris-blocked hangar gate and let loose a titanic
blast that punched a huge hole through it.
     "Wow," said Yuri.
     "You idiot!" Kei shouted.  "You wanna draw attention to
yourself?"
     "Yes," agreed Guruk.  "As I said, I'm--"
     Yuri interrupted.  "Uh, I think we have a problem,
guys."  She held up a hand, indicating the small pieces of
plaster and concrete that were beginning to fall from the
ceiling, pieces that grew larger with each second.
     Kei screamed an obscenity and ran for the hole, Yuri and
Guruk following after.  They made it outside just as the
hangar's ceiling collapsed entirely.
     "Oh, shit," Kei whined.  "There was really useful stuff
in those bags, too."
     "That felt good!" exclaimed Guruk.  "Haven't stretched
my mystical muscles like that in eons!  There's advantages to
being reborn in a younger body, let me tell you."
     Yuri stared skyward at the storm clouds obscuring the
top of the tower from view.  "Something's happening up
there."  She looked back at Kei, and began to put on her jet
pack.  "We'd better hurry.  Kei, can we really fly these
things all the way up there?"
     "I don't see why not.  Actually I'm more worried about
breathing.  The air's gotta be incredibly thin up there."
     "Take me with you," said Guruk.  "I can assure you
breathing will be the least of your problems."
     "That's nice to hear," Kei said sarcastically as she
snapped the last belt into place.  "Ready to go, Yuri?"
     Yuri nodded.  She and Kei each took one of Guruk's arms.
A moment later, the three of them headed up.

     The battle continued in earnest.  Multi-colored sparks
flew from the swords as they struck together, again and
again.  Behind them hovered the _Lovely_Angel_.  At the
controls, Mughi was unsure of what action to take, if any.
     Nag'sharath drove Tarc back three steps with a furious
series of thrusts.  "Ha!  You're losing your skill, Crystal
Knight!  You never would have fallen for that move when first
we met!"
     "On the contrary, demon!  I merely underestimated the
ability of your current form to perform it!  I shall not do
so again!"  Tarc yelled and began driving Nag back toward the
other end.  He pressed her against the railing, sword crossed
against sword, and stared her down.  "This time it ends, Nag.
This time I am powerful enough to finish it for good."
     "Truly?" the demon asked, smiling wickedly.  "When I
attempted to swear off the battle, I found I could not.  Can
you?"
     Tarc stared at her, quizzically.
     "Oh, please," Nag continued.  "Don't tell me you aren't
enjoying this as much as I am.  Can you really live in a
future where all such battles are denied?"
     Tarc released her and backed off.  "You talk nonsense."
     "Do I?"  Nag advanced on him, smiling.  "Now myself, I
am the great Controller Demon, Nag'sharath, Evil in the
highest degree.  I can count on someone arising to confront
me.  Great Evil begets great Good, after all.  But you?"  The
demon laughed disdainfully.  "Your sole purpose is to rid the
world of my presence.  Are you willing to lose your purpose
by succeeding?"
     "Stop talking and defend yourself!" screamed Tarc, and
attacked.
     Laughing, the demon parried.

     After what seemed like an eternity, Kei, Yuri, and Guruk
finally reached the summit.  As he had promised, Guruk had
whispered a subtle spell that kept a pocket of surface-
pressure air around them, allowing them to breathe normally.
     As they hovered, approaching the platform, Kei looked
down.  She whistled at how far they had climbed.  As it had
turned out, her belief that they could fly the packs all the
way up was very nearly over-optimistic.  They were here, they
had made it, but the fuel cells were almost exhausted.  They
wouldn't be able to take them back down, which was one reason
Kei was overjoyed to see the _Lovely_Angel_ hovering nearby.
     "God, will you look at that," said Yuri.  Tarc and
Nag'sharath continued their struggle, apparently oblivious to
their presence.
     "Glorious, isn't it?" commented Guruk, appreciatively.
"The eternal conflict between Good and Evil has a purity to
it that's so spiritually uplifting."
     Kei twisted her head to look down at Guruk, who was
still hanging from the two girls' arms.  "You're crazy!"
     "I don't expect you to understand."
     Yuri checked a readout on one of the harness belts.  "We
have to set down.  We don't have enough fuel to reach the
_Lovely_Angel_."
     "No," said Guruk.  "We must not interfere."
     "It's either that or fall," said Kei.
     After taking a glance down, Guruk agreed.

     As the three of them set foot on the platform,
Nag'sharath immediately became aware of them.  "Look, Tarc!
Your friends have caught up with you!"
     "Do not attempt to distract me," Tarc said, parrying the
attacks the demon continued to throw at him.
     "Oh, I'll admit it was such an attempt," the demon said,
smiling.  "Nevertheless, it is true."
     "Perhaps so.  But if I look, you will seize the
opportunity to strike me down, will you not?"
     Nag laughed.  "You know me so well!  Not unlike a
lover."
     "You are obscene!"  Angered, Tarc struck violently,
driving his foe backward.

     "Well, what are you waiting for?" Kei angrily asked
Guruk.  "Blow her away!"
     "I will not interfere," Guruk replied, shaking his head.
     "What?!" Kei said, stunned.  "Tarc is fighting for his
life!  Are you just gonna let him be killed?"
     "Nag'sharath is more than a match for my power.  Tarc
has much more experience fighting it than I do.  It is his
battle.  Let him fight it."
     "Like hell," growled Kei.  "C'mon, Yuri, let's end this
thing."
     Yuri swallowed nervously.  "O-okay."
     "You're making a grave error," Guruk intoned as the
Angels walked away.

     The battle went on without pause, thrust and parry,
strike and dodge.  Neither Tarc nor Nag'sharath were able to
inflict any damage on the other, and neither seemed to be
tiring.
     "Powerful enough to destroy me, eh?" the demon asked.
"You'll have to get that sword through me first."
     "It is just a matter of time," Tarc replied.
     "Bullshit," said Nag.  "You're holding back.  You don't
really want to destroy me, and you know it."
     "If you truly believe that, lower your sword."
     "Ha!  And miss all this fun?  I think not."  Nag cut
loose with another vicious swing that knocked Tarc back a
step.
     Suddenly, a wall of fire sprung from the floor,
surrounding the startled demon.  "What is this, Tarc?"
     "I don't know," Tarc replied honestly.
     Kei jumped out from behind the stairwell booth and fired
Yuri's gun as fast as she could pull the trigger.  The blasts
dissipated as they reached the demon.  Kei kept firing in the
faint hope she could wear Nag down.
     Nag slowly turned her head toward Kei, sneering.  "I
smell two women warriors."  She raised her hands.  "First
things first."  The flame was sucked into her hands forming
two glowing balls.  She put her hands together, and the balls
formed into one, which shot forward and sought out Yuri, who
was still concealed behind the booth.
     Yuri yelled as she was knocked backward off the
platform.  She shot out a hand and caught the railing.
     "Yuri!" Kei screamed, then screamed in pain as a huge,
invisible fist began to crush her.
     "And now, your interference comes to an end," said
Nag'sharath.  "You have annoyed me for the last time."
     "LEAVE HER ALONE!" screamed Tarc, enraged.
     "Make me."
     With a warrior's yell, Tarc charged, unleashing a
titanic swing meant to cut the demon in half.
     Nag calmly dodged.  Tarc's swing missed, throwing him
off-balance for just a split-second.  But that was all Nag
needed.  She counterattacked, cutting a deep gash in Tarc's
right side.  Tarc groaned and collasped.
     "You should have listened to your mentors, Knight.
Perhaps love doesn't corrupt one's purity, but it certainly
makes one foolish in battle."

     Guruk helped Yuri back onto the platform.  "You should
have listened to me.  I fear it is all over.  And I fear we
have lost."
     "No," said Yuri.  "I can't accept that.  Not yet."  She
touched her earring to call the _Lovely_Angel_ and was
rewarded with a loud blast of static.  She looked over to
where Kei was struggling painfully to get to her feet.  Kei
looked at her and made a gesture with her hands.  It was
sign-language for the letter "D".  "D" as in "distraction".
Yuri nodded.

     "I'm going to miss you, Tarc," said Nag'sharath as she
stood over him.  "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't.  But as
much as I love you, I love power more.  And the best plan for
getting power involves dispatching you now.  I'm afraid," she
said as she touched her black sword to his chest, "you won't
be coming back this time."  With both hands, Nag raised her
sword, point downward.
     There was loud cracking noise, followed by a blinding
burst of light.  Nag glanced toward the source.  Someone
threw her violently to the floor.  When Nag looked back, Kei
was standing before her, holding Tarc's crystal sword at the
ready.
     "You wanna fight, bitch?!" Kei asked, grinning.  "I'll
give you a fight!"
     "Don't make me laugh," Nag'sharath sneered back.
     Kei yelled and struck at her.  As she blocked, Nag's
eyes widened in astonishment at the force of the blow.  The
demon rolled to safety and jumped to her feet.
     Kei unleashed a savage series of thrusts, forcing
Nag'sharath to parry as fast as she could.  To Nag's utter
disbelief, she found herself being driven back.

    "Yeah!" cheered Yuri.  "Go Kei!  I didn't even know she
knew how to use a sword."
     "Jiliora's swordplay was always a joy to watch," said
Guruk.  "She could defeat men twice her size."

     Kei kept up the assault, driving the demon back farther
and farther, until at last she had her back against the
railing.  "Not so smug, now, huh?  Now you're gonna pay!  Pay
for everything you put us through!  Pay for--oof!"
     Using the railing for leverage, Nora drove her feet into
Kei's midsection and pushed her back.
     "That won't work again," said Kei.  She lifted her sword
and prepared to attack once more.
     "Forget it," said Nag.  She threw down her sword in
disgust.
     "What...?"
     "I don't want to fight *you*!  This is pointless!"  The
demon looked at Tarc.  Though lying on the floor, he stared
defiantly back at her.
     "It looks like our battle has been postponed," said Nag.
"I'm leaving now."
     "You're not going anywhere!" said Kei.
     "Yes, I am," said the demon.  She turned her attention
back to Tarc.  "We will meet again.  Count on it.  And when
we do, our struggle will be the stuff of legends.  Until
then..."
     Nag stared at the sky.  Her eyes began to glow a sickly
electric blue.  Her mouth dropped, revealing the same color
within.  Nag's body quivered and shook.  The glowing blue
burst forth from her eyes and mouth.
     With a thundrous roar, the demon Nag'sharath tore free
of the body of Nora MacPherson, which collasped.
     For a moment, Kei could see it as it once had been, a
monstrous creature, half human, half lizard.  Then it was
merely a glowing ball of blue light which shot skyward.
     Kei stared after it.  "We... we beat her."  Kei laughed
out loud.  "WE BEAT HER!  Tarc, we did it!  We won!"
     When Tarc didn't reply, she looked down at him.  He was
staring after the demon with an odd expression on his face.
     "Tarc?"  Kei became aware of something cold and wet
running down her arm.  It was the sword.  It had turned to
ice in her hands and was melting.
     "Oh, no," said Kei.  "Oh, no, no, no..."  She gripped
the sword tighter, trying to stop whatever was happening, but
it squirted out of her hands and broke into a dozen pieces,
which rapidly melted until they didn't even resemble a sword
anymore.
     Suddenly, Kei knew exactly what was happening, and the
tears began to well up in her eyes.  She knelt by Tarc.
"Tarc, don't!  Please don't!  You beat her!  *We* beat her!
You don't have do this!"
     Guruk and Yuri walked up from behind.  Kei took no
notice.
     Tarc's eyes began to glow, a bright, golden color.
     "Tarc, NO!" Kei sobbed.  "Please don't leave me!"  She
held onto him as hard as she could, as if that could stop
him.
     Tarc Meridian tore loose from the body of Scott Johnson.
As with the demon, Kei could see him as he used to be, a
tall, handsome knight, with his red hair tied back in a tail.
Then he was a ball of golden light, which shot after the
demon.

     Tarc sped after Nag'sharath, gaining on it.  "NAG!!"
     Nag's awareness focused behind it.  "Tarc?  What are you
doing?"
     "It ends, Nag!  It ends now!"
     Nag'sharath knew then what Tarc intended, and for the
first time in its memory, it knew terror.  "NO!  DON'T!"
     The demon tried to outrun the Knight, but it couldn't.
It screamed in agony and despair as the two collided.
     There was a blinding light, and a deafening explosion.
Then all was silent.

     Kei and Yuri stared at the spectacle.  "Flip sides of
the same coin," said Yuri.  "They annihilated each other.
Like matter and antimatter."
     Kei said nothing.  The man she still held onto stirred.
"Tarc?"
     But as he opened his eyes, she knew it wasn't him.
     "Nora?" he said.  He tried to get up and go to her, but
the wound in his side forced him back down.
     "You better stay there," said Yuri.  "You're hurt pretty
bad."
     Slowly, Kei let go, stood up, and walked away.
     "What the hell am I doing here?" asked Goulet.
     "It's an incredibly long story, sir," Yuri answered.
She faced the _Lovely_Angel_, still hovering a hundred meters
off the platform, and waved her hands.  "Mughi!  Bring it
down!"
     Nora came around.  "Red?  Red is that you?"  She went to
him.  "It wasn't a dream, was it?"
     Red shook his head.
     "Oh, Red," Nora said sadly, "I'm so sorry."
     "It wasn't you."
     "I know, but I still hate to think that..." Nora's voice
trailed off.  Not knowing what else to say, she held him.
Despite the pain, Red held her back.
     "Mughi!"  Yuri continued to shout and wave her arms.
The _Lovely_Angel_ began to move toward them.  Yuri cheered,
then stopped as she suddenly felt weak.  She groaned as her
eyes filled with spots.
     Yuri sat down and tried to stop her head from spinning.
"Guys," she said, "I think whatever was keeping the air thick
up here is gone."

END CHAPTER 11