Beryl vs Saphir

 

So Sailor Moon is a series with a pretty dramatic power creep, with almost anyone in one arc being massively stronger then characters in a prior arc. One of the few exceptions to this is the first and the second arc which has at least nebulousness with how exactly they scale powerwise. So to give my thoughts on how they should compare I wanted to make a blog on who'd win between a very definitive High Tier of the first with a very definitive Low Tier of the second.

For a quick background on the two, Beryl was an Earth witch back during the Silver Millennium. She fell in love with the Prince of the Earth only to discover he was in a forbidden romance with the Princess of the Moon

The Goddess of Darkness Metaria stirred this envy in her, offering her rulership of the Earth and the Prince if she would lead the Earth people against the Moon, bestowing dark power on her

The Black Moon Clan are the descendants of a people who left Neo-Queen's Serenity reign in the future, decrying the immortality granted by the Silver Crystal as heresy against God. Saphir is the belabored supergenius scientist younger brother of the crown prince of the Black Moon Clan, Demande who demands great things from his brother and threatens him when he questions his orders

Unable to hate his brother, Saphir transfered the blame in his mind to Serenity, the woman whose interference with the Earth in his mind threw human history off its proper course.

Scaling in power between arcs is always tricker in Sailor Moon due to the lack of neutral comparison points with the Senshi usually getting an unexpressed amount stronger between arcs. That said I think I can make a pretty convincing profile for how Beryl and Saphir would compare in terms of raw power.

First off I should address whether Saphir is in fact a low tier of the second arc. After all he seems to be depicted as high ranking in the Black Moon Clan. That said, assuming this is Saphir without Wiseman's power, that is quite honestly the only argument for him to be stronger, an argument that doesn't really hold up when there's several more direct points showing that he's actually relatively weak by the standards of the Second Arc as well as there being more reasons why he would be high ranking rather than raw power such as his raw intelligence, his importance as chief scientific engineer, or the fact that their leader is his older brother.

Saphir calls the energy droids use to time travel "tremendous"

He relied on two of his droids to restrain Usagi in her civilian form instead of being able to do it himself and was planning to kill her using a Black Crystal Shard suggesting he couldn't do it with his own raw strength

Compare for instance the fact that a single droid was threatening civilian form Makoto 

Now granted Makoto was sick during this act from Petz's disease, weak to the point of collapsing

However not only was Usagi weakened by being on Nemesis where her power was being drained

But you're also comparing Usagi, arguablly the physically weaker Senshi with Makoto the strongest. It seems like a fair comparison but there's more things to cement it. The Droids not only can threaten civilian form Senshi, they in groups can at least somewhat threaten transformed Second Arc Senshi.

In the second scan you can see that even though multiple droids are in the process of attacking Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus only one each are physically affecting them at that moment and it still seems like they are causing at least a mild threat. In general Droids, even though they are fodder are at least somewhat of a physical threat to people like the second arc Sailor Senshi while Saphir has no feats of that or any reason to think he would be as the Black Moon Clan's tech guy.

So establishing the relationship to the Senshi is important because they are for the most part the only shared fighters between the two arcs which brings up a statement that's very helpful for this particular scaling. Luna says at the beginning of the second arc that she can strengthen them because the moon castle was restored to how it was back in the Silver Millennium

This is often read as meaning that as of the second arc, the Guardian Senshi have the same power as they had back in the Silver Millennium. Combined with the fact that when Sailor Venus killed Queen Beryl via the Holy Sword, Metaria wonders if this means if the people of the Moon Kingdom have grown stronger

that this would mean Queen Beryl is stronger then the second arc Senshi. Now in fairness, the first statement doesn't neccesarily mean that the Guardian Senshi haven't grown stronger then they were in the Silver Millennium. It could just mean that the Silver Millennium Senshi were being strenghtened by the Moon Castle, the Guardian Senshi eclipsing that power-up but not eclipsing the power-up so dramatically that having that power added onto their own would not make them notably stronger.

However I think that interpretation is inconsistent with how its presented. It's not like it's a vague energy being added to their existing powers, it's a new henshin and described as a stronger power that they can utilize with Rei exclaiming her power "overflowing"

It's treated like that this power is replacing their old power that they sacrificed against Metaria and is definitely superior. As such I think the most reasonable interpretation is that with the rebuilt Moon Castle the Senshi can access their old Silver Millennium powers.

Now in fairness, I can totally understand the argument that these gaps might not be as large as one might expect, particularly if you use Endymion scaling.

Back in the Silver Millennium, Prince Endymion was the strongest of anyone before Metaria granted Beryl dark powers.

yet upon considering the possibility that Endymion had turned evil, Sailor Venus suggest that he would be a difficult opponent to beat. 

Now while this does support Endymion being stronger then the Guardian Senshi, Minako doesn't seem to think it would be impossible for them to beat him. It's possibly she is considering outwitting him somehow, Minako is known for being a bit of a trickster who beats opponents by guile, that said it doesn't suggests the difference between them is astronomical. This is supported when they actually fight Dark Endymion, Endymion given dark power by Metaria like Beryl was, stated by Beryl to be the greatest warrior of the Dark Kingdom

While Dark Endymion is clearly stronger then the Senshi, they are able to somewhat block his attacks 

Suggesting the difference between them is more likely factors then it is orders of magnitude. 

After Metaria's influence is expunged from Mamoru, he would still have the power of Endymion yet he actually suggests he's dramatically weaker then the Senshi in the early second arc. However this seeming paradox can be resolved if one recognizes the point of the scene is to show Mamoru is underestimating the powers within him and is being overly humble as the Heavenly Kings point out

This would however also support that Endymion isn't massively stronger than the Silver Millennium/Second Arc Senshi, who in turn are not massively stronger than the First Arc Senshi. 

Beryl fits in her as stronger then the Second Arc Senshi and likely relative if not stronger then base Prince Endymion as she killed him in the Silver Millennium 

Although again the gap between her and the Senshi might not be THAT dramatic as she called Dark Endymion the greatest warrior of the Dark Kingdom, suggesting she thought he was stronger than herself, and the first arc Senshi were able to somewhat survive Dark Endymion's power. 

If you imagine all of those characters in a cluster, droids are mild threats to Second Arc Senshi, the semi-mid tiers of that cluster, and Saphir is weaker than then droids as he called the energy of time travel that they withstood to be tremendous. Queen Beryl in the second arc hierarchy is probably closer to one of the Ayakashi Sisters, an actual special agent of the Black Moon Clan, then their tech guy. 

In a bloodlusted enraged brute force battle Beryl shoots a magic blast which vaporizes Saphir, the same way a second arc guardian senshi, weaker then Beryl, can fire attacks that can destroy multiple droids, each stronger individually than Saphir by a good margin

Now in all fairness to Saphir, a bloodlusted brute force battle is the opposite of what he would do if forced to fight. Saphir is an intelligence based fighter and it shows so it's more interesting to consider an in-character confrontation between te two. I do this mostly as a showcase of what the scaling between the first and second arc looks like for Sailor Moon as well as to give the impression of the sheer gap in power between these two.

So with that I think it's important to go over what these two characters skills and abilities are. I'll start with Beryl as her abilities are generally easier to sum up. Beryl is a skilled witch who demonstrates several magical abilities some classic witch abilities such as using a crystal ball to see distant events

semi common witch abilities like being able to fly and then things that are more unique to the Sailor Moon universe like being able to survive in space

as can also be seen here she can also entangle weaker enemies in her hair as a form of binding, a witches hair typically being viewed as a locus of her power.

Queen Beryl can also teleport, and in Sailor Moon Crystal approved by Naoko Takeuchi she is also seen teleporting other people alongside her

However Beryl's most feared ability is her curse that allows her to control the bodies and minds of others across the cycle of reincarnation 

Given that Beryl essentially created the Heavenly Kings' new bodies, it is very likely she bestowed on them their powers and as such its very possible she could replicate those same abilities which would give her access to far more magical powers.

Saphir in contrast has actually no magical abilties whatsoever while not controlled by Wiseman. He relies entirely on his own technology, his superhuman intellect, and the natural physical capability his people possess from having lived generations on planet Nemesis. Unlike the other members of the Black Moon Clan he does not even adorn the Black Crystal Earrings given to them by the Wiseman, as Saphir was suspicious of Wiseman's motives the entire time, keeping him from using the flight, teleportation and mild spacetime warping and energy draining provided from them. 

The Black Moon Clan due to their natural physical development can withstand being on Planet Nemesis, a planet compared to a black hole with immense gravity that traps even light with intense radiation and negative energy coming from it, that absorbs all nearby matter-energy to make itself grow 

and the Black Moon Clan are tough enough to tank being on its surface and make their base there. Now any level of raw durability this would give Saphir, Beryl just scales above, but it does show his level of resistances.

Saphir was able to somehow invent technology that could siphon off the immense energy of Nemesis for Black Moon Clan technology, particularly the creation of the droids and time travel

These droids are beamed down from Black Moon Clan UFOs to anywhere in spacetime the Black Moon Clan can transmit too

These spaceships being faster than the senshi and able to beam people up like an episode of Star Trek

Saphir also creating a monitor to watch over any transmission of any energy through time

The Black Moon Clan have also developed numerous highly advanced weapons and technology capable of absorbing and emitting cosmic levels of energy like bombs capable of threatening the second arc Guardian Senshi

or reactors whose meltdown can threaten even Prince Demande and make all of Nemesis break out into massive fire

Saphir has created all of this technology along with his two personal droids, Aquatici and Veneti which resemble ghosts

showing the scale and breadth of Saphir's intelligence.

So going over a hypothetical battle, truth be told it's pretty hard to make a compelling argument for Saphir. You have to really lean in to his intelligence being able to defeat Beryl, which is already somewhat questionable while he's obviously vastly smarter scientifically and is far more rational and tactical not only is Beryl a skilled witch whose magic is somewhat that would defy scientific explanation, she's also a better manipulator, so it's not even like Saphir manipulating Beryl is a good strategy.

Saphir could try using bombs but it's unknown if they could kill Beryl and even if they can, Beryl can probably avoid them like second arc Moon and Venus did. The Reactor Meltdown would easily be able to kill her since it could kill Demande, but that only applies if they're fighting at the Reactor on Nemesis and even if they are Beryl can teleport away from the danger and Saphir has little means of escaping outside beaming away on a UFO.

Speaking off, if Beryl tried to bind Saphir with her hair, it's reasonable to think he could escape via a UFO beaming him up, so that's not a viable tactic for Beryl. That said Beryl could pretty easily kill Saphir at any time for superior speed, enough AP to one-shot, or via her curse. At most you could say Saphir might have some level of resistance to matter manipulation from being able to withstand Nemesis but he's never shown mental resistance. Saphir could maybe summon droids in to try and stop Beryl but things like teleportation or just vastly greater power and ability to control them means this isn't a tactic that's super helpful. And all this is assuming Beryl can't use the powers of the Heavenly Kings. If she can use Zoisite's technopathy, she can quite literally shut off all of Saphir's powers. 

Truthfully the most likely situation if the two were to get into a fight is that Beryl blitzes and vaporizes Saphir in one attack, boring as that is. The second most likely is Beryl, teleports behind him and binds him with her hair like she did to Sailor Moon. Saphir, realizing he's overpowered beams aboard a UFO and flees back to Nemesis, faster then Beryl can react and outside the range of her crystal ball. From there he can come up with a plan to defeat her, which would probably suceed giving his tactical acument. It's a clear example of losing the battle to win the war, although a neccesary part of that is to lose the battle, as this scenario involves Saphir fleeing from Beryl. So in both scenarios Beryl is far likely to win a battle with Saphir, it's just that in the latter Saphir survives the loss and uses prep time to win the war. 

You could also use the period Saphir was controlled by Wiseman if wanted. This version had powered up Black Crystal Earrings and the Death Hands technique. This version reliquinshes all of Saphir's intelligence since he's basically a mindless thrall of the Wiseman but given the fact that he overpowered late Second Arc Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars making them stronger then Early Second Arc Sailor Moon (as they were not damaged signifigantly from the Evil Eye that knocked out earlier Sailor Moon) which would be far above Queen Beryl. That said that doesn't really feel fair as this version of Saphir is basically a different character and it's moreso Wiseman acting through Saphir vs Beryl which is really not fair given that Wiseman is just a massively stronger character.

Overall I just wanted to make this blog to give an impression how the late first arc of Sailor Moon compared to the early second arc in terms of power and hax through two characters.