Author's Note: At last! Part one of the climactic final showdown!
Slayers Reconcile
Chapter 9: Showdown at High Noon
At noon of the second day, Lina and her group exited the village town hall-turned-slave quarters. Each one was rested, well-fed (they had reluctantly (even Lina) accepted food offered by the villagers from their rations), and ready to take down Dameon and his army of cutthroats.
Before the adventurers stood Dameon Black, his arm restored to perfect condition, and followed by the one hundred bandits, mercenaries, and other assorted criminals of his army.
"Lina!" Dameon declared as he posed dramatically, "Naga! The time has come for you and your friends to choose! Join me, or…"
At that moment, Black's attention was captured by the murmurings of some of his clerics amongst each other.
"Why did you wake him up, man?" one of the dark priests whispered rather loudly to one of his fellows, "I would have kept watching and seen where it went from there!"
"You're way too squeamish about these things man," another Shabranigdo cleric scolded, "And you call yourself a dark cleric to Lord Ruby Eyes?"
"HEY!" Dameon thundered at the clerics, "I'm trying to issue my last ultimatum here! And you! I warned you this morning not to yell anyone!!"
"I-uh-I, I didn't tell them about THAT, sir," the head cleric lied (poorly), "I was, uh, telling them about a spider that I squished… that was uh, eating a fly."
"I'll deal with you later," the sorcerer growled menacingly.
Turning back to Lina and her friends, Dameon cleared his throat and resumed his speech, "As I was saying, you have one final chance to join me! Refuse, and none of you will leave here alive! So then, my dear Lina, what is your answer?"
"Hmph. Are you kidding me?" stated Lina, "I annihilated you yesterday, and you're offering me to join YOU!? And on top of that, there's the fact that you burned me the way you did all those years ago. Putting all of that together, I'd say that the chances of me joining you are about as great as Prince Phil of Seyruun suddenly becoming a thirsty tyrant."
"And as for me," Naga laughed, "You'd have to be a fool to believe that the great Naga the Serpent would even consider working with someone like you!"
"And I'm afraid that playing henchman for a toad like you is rather way beneath me," Zelgadis put in.
"Those who desire world dominion are nothing but evil!" Amelia declared with another trademark justice pose, "And no true warrior of justice such as myself would ever consider thinking about, thinking about yes, that was intentional joining the likes of villains such as yourself! I, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, Princess of the Holy Kingdom of Seyruun, and Righteous Champion of Justice, shall smash you with the hammer of justice! Prepare to die, villain!"
"Oooookaaaay," Dameon sweated at the hyper-active princess' speech. The dark sorcerer glanced momentarily at Goury, but upon seeing the dark look that the swordsman was giving him, Black quickly moved on.
"I am so sorry, my dearest Lina. You too, Naga," Dameon said with a hint of genuine regret, "But I'm afraid that you leave me no choice. Goodbye, dear Lina Inverse. Go men! all!"
Just as the bandits began to draw their weapons and charge, however, Goury suddenly sprung forward at top speed.
"Just a minute!" the swordsman yelled with a determined look, "You haven't gotten my answer yet!"
Before anyone could react, Goury stopped right in front of Dameon, and slugged the dark sorcerer in the face as hard as he could.
A couple of y teeth could be seen flying from Black's mouth as the surprised sorcerer staggered backwards.
As the force of his strike brought his hand down near the hilt of his weapon, Goury grabbed a hold of his sword and drew it. The blade carved through flesh as it left its sheath, leaving a long and y- but purposely none too serious- slash wound across Dameon's abdomen.
Goury sprung back as his rival howled in pain.
"Sorry, Lina," the blond warrior apologized as he came to a stop by his dearest friend's side, "But I promised myself that I would get back at him for hurting you. But don't worry, that cut I gave him wasn't too serious. Now you can have him all to yourself!"
Lina smiled at this with true gratitude. The barest hint of a tear could be seen in her sparkling, ruby eyes.
"Thanks, Goury," she said, "You don't know how much what you did just now means to me. Thank you."
The swordsman merely smiled and nodded.
"Graaagh!" Dameon screamed, the combination of missing teeth, and mixed with saliva dripping from his mouth now making him look monstrous and deranged, rather than handsome and charming. "That's it! No more Mister Nice Guy! I've had it! I may have considered granting quarter before this, but no more! GO! KILL! Spare no one! ALL!"
The bandit army rushed the heroes with a thirsty roar.
Zelgadis smiled as he drew his sword.
"This should be fun," the chimera said.
"Yeah," Goury nodded.
"The fools!" Naga declared with one of her trademark laughs, "Thinking that mere overwhelming numbers can stand up to the great Naga the Serpent and her minions!"
"Excuse me?" exclaimed Zelgadis with an indignant frown.
"All right, fellow heroes!" an oblivious Amelia declared with another heroic pose, "Let us go forth and further the cause of justice!"
"Oh, boy," Zelgadis sighed, putting his face into his hand.
"Let's just get 'em already!" Lina declared as she drew her short sword.
"Alright!" Goury agreed.
"CHAAAARGE!" the Slayers yelled as they plunged into battle.
Just as the two forces were about to meet, Naga grabbed a hold of her sword, gave a war yell that any Amazon queen who have been proud of, gave her weapon a mighty tug and… failed to pull it out.
Everyone on both sides fell over.
"On, come on!" Lina yelled.
"The stupid thing's stuck!" Naga complained as she began tugging at the broad sword at her hips with both hands.
Lina sighed and turned to Zelgadis.
"Promise me something Zel," she said, "We must never let her meet with Martina."
"I'd rather become immortal and spend the rest of eternity getting gnawed on by DarkStar," the chimera agreed.
"Miss Lina! Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia objected, "My sister's not that bad!"
"Debatable," Lina replied, causing the younger to cry a bit. "But anyway, let's get this show on the road! MEGA BRAND!"
A large circle of earth exploded out from underneath a section of the bandit army, sending many sailing up high into the air.
"Arc Brass!" Zelgadis commanded, calling down a barrage of lightning.
The bandits screamed as they were electrocuted.
"Vu Vraimer!" called out Naga, summoning a golem from the surrounding landscape (and taking out some houses in the process). The stone, humanoid giant then proceeded to attempt to squish the now panicking criminals. Naga laughed her obnoxious howler monkey laugh as she watched the fun.
"Visfarank!" yelled Amelia. Instantly, the young warrior of justice's fists were enveloped in blue and white astral energy. Then the Seyruun princess began a high-power, close quarters assault upon the bandits, utterly destroying them with her incredible, magic-enhanced boxing prowess.
"Hyaagh!" Goury shouted as he hacked through the bandit ranks like a steel-bladed whirlwind.
The still numerous bandits' morale dive ed. Nearly all of them were ready to turn tail and retreat. But then…
"Dam Brass!"
A ball of green energy struck Naga's golem, rupturing its structural integrity and causing the massive construct to collapse (squishing a few more bandits in the process).
"Such childish tricks!" Dameon bragged as he lowered his arm after down Naga's golem. "Now I'll show you some real power! Summoners, bring forth the Lessers Demons!"
"Yes, sir!" several voices called out from the back of the bandit line, "Gu Ru Diva!"
There was a flash of black and purple light, and four dozen lesser demons materialized from the astral plane. The gorilla/wolf-like mazoku charged at the heroes on all-fours, blasting Flare Arrows from their mouths like dragon fire.
"Rune Flare!" yelled Naga, unleashing a hail of flaming projectiles from her upraised hands.
"Astral Break!" Zel called out as he fired a powerful beam of blue astral energy.
"Elmekia Lance!" shouted Amelia, hurling a thin energy projectile. Once the spell was a few feet away the princess added to the spell by calling out, "Break!" Instantly, the single lance split apart into several dozen weaker versions of itself.
With forty-eight angry roars and a deafening explosion, the Rune Flare volley slammed into the hoard of lesser demons, wiping more than half of them out in an instant. Another series of explosions shook the ground as Amelia and Zelgadis' attacks wiped out the rest of them.
By the time this display of power had been concluded, much of the bandit army was either unconscious or . As for those who were left, it was painfully obvious that they wouldn't need much convincing to flee.
"Alright, let's get rid of the rest of these goons!" Lina declared with an exhilarated grin. "Burst Rondo!"
"Wind Brid!" yelled Amelia.
"Flare Arrow!"
"Freeze Arrow!"
The bandit ranks were torn into by Naga's freezing shots, Zelgadis and Lina's burning projectiles, and Amelia's arrows of air. Though none of these spells were used with enough force to be lethal, they inflicted plenty of minor injuries and plenty of panic. The robbers' remaining courage gave out completely, and so they ran for their lives- a good number squealing like scared little s. So terrified were they that they didn't even bother to stop to open the gates. They just broke it down without even skipping a beat, and disappeared into the forest.
"COWARDS!" Dameon yelled from his spot on top of a building, well out of the line of fire.
Of the hundred men that had been under Dameon's command, now only seven remained: Four swordsmen and three sorcerers.
"Well," said Naga, "This seems like a rather dramatic way to end things."
"Indeed," replied Dameon as he hovered back down to the ground, "These are the remainder of the powerful warriors that I have collected for myself, and they are by far the best. Now go! Get them! And don't even worry about fair one-on-one battles! Just get rid of them!"
"As you command, my lord," answered one of the swordsmen, a slightly taller than average man in black and green armor. His face was hidden by a masked helm which covered everything but his eyes. Strapped to the deep-voiced man's back was a long scimitar of the thin-bladed style.
"Gaaldur!?" exclaimed Lina, suddenly recognizing the knight.
Naga's eyes lit up in recognition as well.
"Ah, Ms. Lina," the knight said as he turned to face the sorceress, "I was wondering if you and Ms. Naga would recognize me. How unfortunate that we must meet once more under such circumstances."
"Do you know that person?" asked Amelia.
"I met him once…," Lina confessed reluctantly, "Although the situation that we met under was a little…"
"…Embarrassing," Naga finished.
"Yes, if you have not already told your compatriots the story," the dark knight called Gaaldur said, "Then it would probably be best if it remained that way."
"Agreed," Lina and Naga nodded in unison, shuddering as memories of the pathetic noble Jeffrey and his terrifying mother Lady Josephine flashed inside the two sorceress' minds.
"Sooo then," one of the sorcerers, a short man with fang-like teeth and a much-too long hooded cloak, said with an annoying, raspy voice, "You know the faaamous Lina Inverse, Gaaldur?"
"Hey, I know you!" exclaimed Naga, "You're that jellyfish sorcerer guy from Mipross!"
"Ah! So my reputation proceeds me!"
"Not really, Lina and I just ran into you once and beat you up because you were bothering us."
"D'oh!" the tiny man exclaimed, then demanded, "What are you talking about!? I've never run into any of you before!"
"Uh, Naga," Lina reminded, "Don't you remember? This guy had been working for Joyrock, and when we went and changed the past and killed Joyrock, that made it so that all of that never happened. In short: We never did fight him because Joyrock didn't survive his attack on the elves."
"Oh, uh, right," Naga said, slightly puzzled, "I don't entirely get it, but I think I understand enough that I know what you mean."
Everyone else on both sides looked on in complete confusion.
"All right then, so it will be a pleasure to defeat you again for the first time!" Naga declared, pointing at the short man.
"Oh, really?" he sneered.
Everyone else continued to look on in puzzlement. Lina joined them this time, but more out of annoyance than not knowing what was going on.
Finally, one of the other sorcerers broke the silence by clearing his throat and stepping forward.
"Well then, if we are going to go about being reintroduced to old acquaintances, then I might as well make myself known," the man said, drawing back his hood to reveal a handsome, yet bestial face. A dark aura surrounded the man's exposed skin, seeming to push back the majority of the sunlight.
"Oh, you're that one guy!" Lina declared, snapping her fingers as she tried to remember the man's name, "That vampire guy…"
"V-vampire?" Amelia stammered.
"Uh, Stan? Steve? Frankenstein? No… Stern?"
"Steindorf, you impudent mortal! My name is STEINDORF!"
"Oh, right. How's it going?"
"What do you mean how's it going!?!?" the vampire yelled angrily, "You beat me up, slapped me with a slipper, stole my treasure, tied me up, then dropped the roof of my labyrinth on me while trying to get away! How do you think I'm doing!?!?"
"So, not bad then, all things considered?"
The vampire fell over in annoyance.
"Excuse me! Can we socialize later!?" Dameon yelled.
"Yes, I suppose that we should continue on with this battle," Gaaldur sighed. "You are, after all, the master- for now."
Turning to the rest of Dameon's elite, Gaaldur said, "I'm on the blond one. Ignasius, cover me. Vima, back up Volranus.. Joshal and Grimm, help out anyone who needs it with your defensive powers, except for me. The rest of you, choose whoever you want as well."
"I don't remember anyone putting you in charge, mortal!" Steindorf hissed.
"I did," Dameon replied, summoning a ball of white energy and waving it about threateningly. "Now straighten up, vampire, or I'll dust you."
"Yes, sir," Steindorf replied, with eyes full of .
"Attack!" the dark knight Gaaldur called out as he drew his sword.
"Look's like we've got ourselves a battle!" Lina cheered. "Who's read to kick butt?"
"I'd say that we all are," Zelgadis replied as he drew his sword.
"I'm ready," said Goury as he unsheathed his blade and struck his battle pose.
"Let's go, Allies of Justice!" called Amelia.
"Watch out you bandits!" Naga laughed, "Or you might get a snake bite! Get it? Because I'm Naga the Serpent?"
Naga laughed her horrendous laugh once more, amused to no end by her own joke.
Everyone else fell over.
To Be Continued...
