Act 8 Minako - Sailor V -

This installment is the eighth chapter of the Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon manga and the eighth of its Dark Kingdom storyline, written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. The newest recruit, Sailor Venus, presents herself to the four guardians who came before her, Usagi and Mamoru grow ever closer, and the final member of the Shitennou, Kunzite, plunges the whole of Tokyo into a blackout.

Naming herself Princess Serenity, Sailor Venus greets the team just as Sailor Moon's tiara shifts and a buried memory starts to stir. Venus whips her chain at a hidden observer, then recognizes the retreating Tuxedo Mask before dropping her guardian form to reveal her everyday identity, Minako Aino. She recounts her days as Sailor V, describing how she and Artemis had long studied the foe while waiting for the rest of the team to fully awaken, and cautions that a mighty dark being steering the Dark Kingdom destroyed the Moon Kingdom a thousand years earlier. That night, Usagi dreams of a man who rushes toward her calling her Serenity, whom she answers as Endymion, and a chance encounter with Mamoru at the park deepens her attachment when he insists she hold onto his watch.

Informed by Beryl that the Moon Princess has surfaced, Metalia doubts the guardians hold the Silver Crystal and dispatches Kunzite, who siphons both electrical and living energy across the city toward the tip of Tokyo Tower. The guardians float up to the summit, yet Kunzite strikes Sailor Moon as she tries to heal the city below, and Tuxedo Mask catches her fall, earning a grateful kiss. When Jupiter's lightning is swallowed and magnified by his shield, Sailor Moon shoves her friends clear of the counterblow, and Tuxedo Mask hurls himself into its path, taking a fatal wound that leaves her weeping in anguish. One printing detail: the Shinsouban edition of this chapter misspells the word 'origin' as 'orgin' on page 63.