Disclaimer: Characters from "Slayers" are Copyright Hajime Kanzaka, Tommy Ohtsuka, and Rui Araizumi. This work is a parody and not to be used for any commercial purposes.

How Evil Came To Saillune. Ch. 2

"Nice costume, mister!" said a girl in a unicorn outfit as she ran by Zelgadis.

"It's not a-" Zelgadis began, and then stopped himself. The girl had meant it as a compliment, and somehow you couldn't be rude to a little girl in a unicorn outfit. Even if she had been the fifth person in scarcely half an hour to remind him that it was only on a weird day like today that his appearance fit in.

But tomorrow, everyone would have taken off their masks and costumes, while he would remain as monstrous-looking as always. And it was for always. Rezo's spirit in the Hellmaster's Jar had confirmed what he had, after so many years, already begun to suspect. There was no way to change him back from being a chimera. What was it that Rezo had said? "No one can deny the wish of his soul." What happened when his soul's wish was unattainable?

There was a shadow near him, one that looked annoyingly familiar. He looked up to see pretty much the last person he wanted to see. "You really ought to stop feeling sorry for yourself," Xellos remarked.

"It's none of your business what I feel-" Zelgadis began.

"Actually, today it is. You're attracting other Mazoku." Xellos interrupted. "As a matter of fact, here come two now."

The pair approaching looked like costumed revelers at first glance, and indeed the first one was dressed like a giant armadillo. But a discerning eye would have soon discovered that their fangs and claws were not props.

"Well if isn't Xellos," said the leader in a sarcastic tone. "We might have known you'd be first to the best negative emotions in this wretched city."

"Oh, I can't agree, Landro," Xellos' eyebrows raised a fraction. "For any Mazoku with decent taste, Lina Inverse's Irritation far surpasses this one's Self-Loathing."

"Excuse me?" said Zelgadis.

"Then you won't mind if we feed on him," said Landro. Zelgadis' mouth curved into a snarl.

"Mistaken again," Xellos replied. "It would be quite rude. Why don't you simply leave Saillune, and then you won't need the energy?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" The other Mazoku almost spat. "Then you'd be free to search for the you-know-what."

"What was it again?" Zelgadis inquired.

"Valwin's Vessel, of course," replied the second mazoku. A moment later, his eyes widened and he smacked himself in the forehead.

"Yagoda, you lamebrain!" yelled the first, and Xellos sweat-dropped.

"Well, he looks like one of ours. . ." Yagoda tried to excuse himself. "A lot more than Xellos does."

"Excuse me?" both Xellos and Zelgadis were incensed, although for different reasons.

Landro turned towards Yagoda. "For your mistake, you can keep Xellos busy while I harvest the chimera."

"But I-" began the slower-witted Mazoku, but Landro was already leaping to attack Zelgadis.

"This should be very amusing," Xellos remarked, and moved to engage Yagoda.

Zelgadis had less than a heartbeat to ready himself, but it was all he needed. His sword left its sheath in a silver blur, and mazoku claws clashed against the steel as he parried the strike. His riposte was blocked, but not as well as he'd expected. His opponent was clearly more interested in offense than defense. Zelgadis put that to his advantage by twisting to dodge the next blow, and without the need to recover from a parry, his counter-thrust landed on the Mazoku's flank.

But there was no effect beyond the sound of the contact. "Clever, isn't it?" Taunted Landro. "My outfit truly is armored. That fancy sword of yours is no use against me!"

Zelgadis gave a feral grin. "I have two words to say about that. Astral Vine!" His blade glowed red for a moment as it absorbed the power of his spell.

"But you're a swordsman!" Protested the mazoku.

"That too." Zelgadis feinted at his opponent's stomach, dodged the riposte and thrust home to the shoulder. There was a flare of energy, and the mazoku retreated a step, clutching its arm.

Meanwhile, Xellos was whirling his staff in a complicated pattern which drew Zelgadis' professional admiration in spite of his dislike. The bottom end of the staff past Yagoda's defense and struck just below the knee. The resulting stumble gave Xellos the opening to bring the jeweled end around to connect with the Mazoku's face. Dark energy hissed, and Dynast's servant was picked off his feet and thrown backwards several paces, to land in a heap.

Xellos turned to Zelgadis. "Care for some assistance?"

"No, thanks." Zelgadis found he was still smiling. "I can use the exercise."

"Insolent human!" Landro growled.

"Why, thank you." Zelgadis returned.

"Don't underestimate the power of a Mazoku!" Landro gestured, gathering energy, and then released it in streamers of angry red magic.

Zelgadis was prepared. "Stone Spiker!" he shouted, and a group of stalagmites erupted from the pavement, blocking the spell. Landro cursed, and dashed towards the improvised barrier. With a swing of his good arm, he broke off two of the stalagmites and sent them towards Zelgadis. The chimera side-stepped one and deflected the other with his sword.

Meanwhile Yagoda rose from the pavement, not entirely steady, gathered himself, and charged at Xellos. The priest-general stepped aside, twirled his staff, and this time connected with the back of Yagoda's head. Again the luckless Mazoku went briefly airborne, planting his face on the pavement at the end of his trajectory.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't rumple my uniform," Xellos informed his foe, although it was doubtful how much attention Yagoda was paying.

Zelgadis and Landro engaged again, sword ringing against claws. Zelgadis had the better of it this time, for Landro's wounded arm was not as useful as before. Going for broke, Landro managed to catch the sword with his good arm, even though the be-spelled blade clearly did some damage in the process.

"Hah!" shouted the Mazoku in triumph. His expression changed dramatically when Zelgadis simply clenched his free hand into a fist and delivered a solid punch to his opponent's face. The Mazoku staggered back, releasing Zelgadis' sword. "Impossible! A human can't hurt my astral being!"

"Did I forget to mention I'm part Brau demon?" said Zelgadis in a mock apology.

"Yagoda!" yelled Landro, noticing his partner was on the ground again. "Can't you do any better than that?"

By this time Yagoda was coming out of his daze. "I'm fighting the Lesser Beast here! Do you want to trade?"

"Oh, I don't advise it," Xellos wagged his finger. "My Queen's orders are not to kill any of her brother's servants unless absolutely necessary. I expect Zelgadis has no such inhibition."

"No argument here." Zelgadis held up his glowing sword and stepped forward.

Both of Landro's arms were now in less than prime condition. The Mazoku glanced from the determined chimera to the smiling Xellos, and decided the situation called for a retreat. The white magic of Saillune made astral travel difficult for all but the highest-level Mazoku, but Landro's legs were still in working order, and he made excellent use of them.

"Hey, wait!" yelled Yagoda. He looked at Zelgadis and Xellos in turn, and then picked himself off the ground with surprising speed and followed his companion in a headlong flight.

Xellos turned to Zelgadis. "My compliments. You've gotten better at fighting Mazoku."

"Being in Saillune helps. I don't know about you, but this city's starting to grow on me." Zelgadis' mood was much better now.


Even Gourry could easily see that Lina Inverse was in an even worse mood than usual. There were risks in trying to cheer her up, especially given his less-than-impressive intelligence, but he felt he had to try. They were doing something rather important, after all, and Lina was plainly not at her best. (It was even worse than he knew, for neither he nor Lina noticed the two costumed individuals sidling closer to them.)

"You're pretty mad at Amelia, aren't you, Lina?" he began.

"Well, that confounded summons of hers did interrupt the best vacation I've ever had." Lina's tone was angry, but, Gourry noticed, not furious. "A vacation to celebrate our engagement, you remember."

"I feel bad about that too, but she couldn't help that." Gourry pointed out. "It's really the fault of the Mazoku that the timing stinks."

Lina almost stopped in her tracks as the blonde swordsman actually got something right. "Yeah. I guess."

"And it's kind of fun picking up candy as we go along. Best of all, I'm sure Amelia will throw us a huge feast when this is all done." Gourry went on. To his surprise, Lina's face actually registered even more displeasure. "Is something going on between you and Amelia? You've been kind of down ever since you saw her."

She reminds me now of someone I'd really rather forget, thought Lina. Aloud, she said, "It's just weird seeing her so different now."

"You mean the way she's grown?"

Especially in one – no, two – particular areas, thought Lina. She nodded.

"Actually, I'm kind of glad you've stayed the same," Gourry said. "I've always thought you were beautiful just the way you are." He reached out and held her hand.

"Really?" Lina's face lit up. "Gourry, that's so-"

"Revolting!" shouted one of the two figures who were now alongside them. "There was such delicious negative emotion, and you had to ruin it!"

"Hey, I think we found some Mazoku!" Gourry said.

"No kidding." Lina retorted.

"Well, tell you what," said the second Mazoku. "Just hand over the chocolate you're carrying, and we'll let you go."

"Ohboy." Gourry said.

"No one touches my chocolate." If Lina's voice had been any harder, it could have carved stone.

"You think a flat-chested kid like you can stop us?" asked the first Mazoku.

"Darkness beyond twilight, Crimson beyond blood that flows . . ."


Being in Saillune made phasing through walls considerably more difficult, but it was still well within Dynast Grausherra's power. He exited the fourth of the mansions he had searched without serious problems, but also with no satisfaction. It was taking too long to find Valwin's Vessel, and the Monster's Eve celebrations were flooding the area with positive emotions. His temper was only slightly improved by having helped himself to the expensive molded chocolates he had found in the pantry.

He stepped out into the street, attempting to blend into the crowd until he reached the next mansion. He had only gone a few steps, however, when a wave of fear that was almost palpable swept down the street, as of a giant organ had sounded an ominous note. The other costumed revelers scurried to get indoors into the shops and cafes. Dynast turned, already knowing who he would see in the middle of the now otherwise empty avenue.

"Greetings, brother," Zelas spoke. "It has been some time, has it not?"

"You can spare me the melodramatics, Lady Zelas." Dynast's voice showed his irritation.

"Now why would I want to do that?" Zelas inquired in mock innocence.

"Because this is not a game," Dynast returned.

"Perhaps not. And yet, there are moves to be played."


Xellos looked up. "So soon?" he said.

"I know I'm going to regret asking this," said Zelgadis, "but what are you talking about?"

"My Queen and Dynast Grausherra are confronting each other two blocks to the south of us." Xellos answered.

"Hmm. I didn't think I was going to regret it that much."

Xellos had taken considerable time and effort to lay an enchantment on his staff which would immediately return him to his creator's location. Gaav had sneeringly referred to this as "Xellos' run-home-to-mommy-spell". Gaav had been destroyed. No one had cared to adopt the phrase since. Now Xellos activated the spell, and was instantly transported to the Greater Beast's side.

"Oh, Mr. Dynast has come to Saillune! But aren't all these positive emotions quite unpleasant for you?" Xellos made a show of mock solicitude.

"Insolence!" Dynast growled. "And that's Lord Dynast to you, Xellos."

"Your pardon, Lord Dynast," Xellos gave his usual mocking smile. "Since certain people are where they are not wanted, I hadn't thought manners would be the order of the day."

"Can't you do something about your servant, Lady Zelas?" Dynast demanded.

"I suppose I could have him blast you from behind while I blast you from in front," said Zelas reasonably.

"Ha, ha." Dynast said. "This time, Lady Zelas, you placed too much confidence in your jack-of-all-trades. You'll find that you are the outnumbered side."

But at that point, a familiar voice roared "-Dragon Slave!" There was a thunderclap of an explosion three blocks away. An eye-blink later, two rather singed forms could be seen tumbling end over end as they soared over the city walls and headed for the horizon.

"I believe I recognized Vorkuta and Duadorr," Xellos said brightly. "At that velocity, they should overtake Landro and Yagoda on their retreat. How many others did you bring?"

The expression on Dynast's face made it clear that he was out of underlings. And a moment later, Zelgadis ran into the square.

"I believe you said something about the outnumbered side, Lord Dynast?" Xellos remarked.

"One miserable chimera makes little difference." Dynast replied.

As if in answer, Amelia came into the square, escorted by two wizards. One of them pointed his staff, and said, "The Snowman and the Wolf are the source of the black magic we sensed, your highness."

"The one in the uniform is also-" began the second.

"I recognize him," Amelia interrupted. "We will want to deal with the Snowman first."

"Very sound strategy," Zelas nodded.

"You would say that!" Dynast retorted. He turned to Amelia. "You do realize that Lady Zelas represents the greatest threat?"

"That's the reason why." Zelgadis spoke up. "We'll wait until Lina Inverse gets here to tackle the greater challenge." He noticed Amelia relax just a little in relief, and knew that the real reason was that she wanted to postpone fighting Xellos as long as possible. The princess had grown, but it was still hard for her to think of anyone she had known for that long as an enemy.

"Lina Inverse is here as well?" Dynast slowly smiled. "I told you, Lady Zelas, that we should have eliminated her after the affair with Lord Gaav and Lord Phibrizzo. I leave you to prove me correct." It took a fair amount of power, but he disappeared, transporting himself to the astral plane.

"I think it is time for you to leave as well, Lady Zelas." Princess Amelia said.

"But I just got here." Zelas showed no intention of moving. "And Xellos, you should introduce me to your handsome friend."

"Oh, where are my manners?" Xellos said. "Allow me to present Zelgadis Greywords, swordsman, shamanistic sorcerer, and great-grandson of Rezo the Red Priest."

"That must be from where you get your good looks," Zelas nodded to Zelgadis.

Zelgadis was about to reply angrily, when it occurred to him that the Greater Beast was not being sarcastic. Someone who had created armies of beastmen could be expected to have different tastes. He looked at Amelia, and saw that the princess had a vein throbbing in her forehead. She had evidently drawn the same conclusion. He had the bad feeling that anything he said would cause major problems. Which was no small thing, given that the city was likely to be destroyed in the next few minutes anyway.

Fortunately, he didn't have to say anything. Lina and Gourry came running into the square, Lina looking even more annoyed than usual both at the exercise and at arriving last.

"All right, what's going on here?" Lina demanded.

"Princess Amelia is being quite inhospitable," Xellos answered, "and demanding that Lady Zelas and I be excluded from this enjoyable festival."

"Now, Mr. Xellos, that's not fair!" Amelia protested. "You're not here for the festival! You're just using the costumes as disguises!"

"Now, now, I must disagree." Xellos went into one of his favorite poses, eyes closed while waving a correcting finger. "This is no costume or disguise - I really am a general. And my Queen's outfit actually makes her look closer to her original form."

"Nice dodge, Xellos," Lina gave a cold smile. "But you're still not here for the festival."

"Really? Then what are we here for, Miss Lina?" Xellos parried.

"We know what you're here for," said Zelgadis. "You're looking for Valwin's Vessel."

Zelas gave a displeased look at Xellos, and he sweat-dropped.

"Valwin's Vessel?" Exclaimed Lina, her treasure-hunting instincts engaged again.

"I've run across descriptions of it during my researches." Zelgadis went on. "Its primary function is to channel Holy magic. With the magic available in this city, Lady Zelas could combine it with her Black magic and create enough fusion magic to do - well, almost anything."

Lina snapped her fingers. "Like blasting the planet open and breaking the seals of all of the remaining Shabranigdo fragments."

"Your reports were accurate," Zelas remarked to Xellos. "They are surprisingly clever."

"One exception." Xellos glanced at Gourry.

"And of course," Lina continued, "The Mazoku who revived Shabranigdo would become favored over all the other Mazoku lords."

"A very good guess," Zelas nodded. "I take it you weren't the favorite child in your family?"

"You have no idea." Lina suddenly looked depressed.

"I might at that. It's always bothered me that Lord Shabranigdo bestowed more power on brother Phibrizo than on any of the rest of us." Zelas' eyebrows rose. "Do you know, maybe I can ask him why when he is resurrected."

"Shabranigdo will not be resurrected if I can help it," declared Amelia.

"Interesting choice of words. I don't believe you can." Zelas replied.

"In the name of Justice, we have to try." Amelia stepped forward into a stalwart-looking pose.

"She's rather determined, isn't she?" Zelas said to Xellos.

"I believe I've mentioned as much," Xellos replied.

Zelgadis moved over to Amelia's side. Magical energies began to build as both sides prepared their spells. And then -

"Grandma!" Everyone looked up to see Val dashing into the square. Filia was a few lengths behind him, shouting for him to slow down and desperately trying not to shake Alcia as she ran. (She needn't have worried, for Alcia looked like she was having the ride of her life.)

"Grandma, I found you!" Val stopped next to Zelas and held up a bulging bag of goodies. "Look what I've got so far! Isn't Saillune a great place?"

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it, little Val," Zelas began, "but I've been trying to find something and-" Her eyes widened. "Are those Criollo chocolates?"

"I think that's what the man at the store said," answered Val. "They've got all kinds of good stuff all over the city."

"And you've been stealing it?" Zelas ruffled the dragon-boy's hair affectionately. "What a wonderful child you are."

"No, Grandma," Val shook his head. "It's not like that."

"It's rather more like a protection racket," Xellos interjected. "The children knock on the doors of houses and shops, and demand chocolates or other goodies under threat."

"Now, wait-" Amelia tried to interrupt.

"What's the phrase, little Val?" Xellos ignored her.

"Munch or Mischief!" Val recited happily. "And if they refuse and are mean, you get to play neat tricks on them!"

"That sounds like lots of fun!" Zelas smiled. "Can I come along with you?"

"What?" yelled Filia, but she was also ignored.

"Sure, but the candy is only supposed to be for the children," said Val.

"I can fix that." Zelas gestured, there was a cloud of smoke, and in a moment a wolf-costumed girl, appearing to be about five or six, stood next to Val.

"Grandma, you're the greatest!" Val exclaimed.

"No! Wait! Xellos, you can't let-!" Fila wailed.

The child-Zelas turned to Amelia. "See, I am here for the festival!" And before the princess could put together a reply, she and Val were off at a speed which would have made racehorses jealous.

"But—but-!" Filia spluttered. "She's the Greater Beast! The most powerful of the demonic race! And Val is going to show her how to behave badly?"

"Ahh." Xellos' voice carried immense satisfaction. "That's my boy."

(To Be Continued . . .)