Sailor Venus's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

The next round came fast. Venus stepped onto the mirrored stage with no pendant, no glitter, only her own breath. She sang clean and bright. The crowd stood. The judges raised their cards. She won. They handed her the prize — a small black statue carved like a girl with arms crossed in a pose she knew too well. Tiger's eye stripes glowed across its surface. Venus held it close and felt something steady inside her chest. She had done it as a girl. Just a girl. Then the sky split. A cracked stone spire punched up through the plaza floor, leaking yellow fire from broken pipes. A daemon poured out of it, all teeth and smoke. It smashed through a glass display stand near the front row. People screamed and ran. Venus stood frozen at the edge of the stage. The crowd needed a Scout. But every camera was still on. If she transformed here, the girl who had just won would vanish forever. She looked down at the statue in her hands. Then at a child crouched behind a fallen seat. She set the statue down. She raised her hand. "Venus Power, Make Up!" Light wrapped her body. Her tiara caught the sun. The crowd gasped as the winner became the hero in front of them. She did not look back. She launched her chain at the daemon and tore it apart in three strikes. When the smoke cleared, the plaza was quiet. People stared at her, phones raised. They knew her face now. The little black statue sat on the cracked stage, still hers, still won. But the secret she had guarded all her life was gone.