Author's Note: I'm very sorry, but Thursday's chapter will definetly be a day or two late, unless by some miracle I wind up not having to go to school or work tommorow or Thursday. I hope that you enjoy this extra long chapter. Also, if anyone knows why it won't let me change Zelgadis' age from 30 to 20 on Chapter 2, I would really appreciate the help.
Disclaimer: Still *sniff* don't own *sob* Slayers. *runs off to cry again*
Slayers Reconcile
Chapter 10: Boss Fights
The opponents were lined up. Each one was ready to battle to the death for their own causes. The battle had now truly begun!
The dark knight Gaaldur and his ally Ignasius- an average sized man with large muscles, red armor, and a broadsword- charged at Goury. The blond swordsman jumped to the right to avoid Gaaldur's blade, then used his own weapon to parry Ignasius' sword.
As Goury and Ignasius pushed against one another in their blade lock, the dark knight came back with a blow from behind. Noticing the glint of steel in his peripheral vision, Goury broke the lock and jumped away once more, then came at Gaaldur with a retaliatory strike.
The dark knight managed to block his enemy's blow, leaving an opening for his comrade. Ignasius swept in for the kill.
Goury jumped back, dodging the red armored swordsman's slash. Immediately pushing off from the foot on which he had landed, the blond warrior launched himself forward once more and swung his hand-and-a-half sword.
Goury's strength and steel not only managed to cleave through the other man's armor and leave a horrendous slash wound up the warrior's chest, but Ignasius was also sent flying five feet into the air, and finally landing in an unconscious heap another twenty feet away.
"Impressive," Gaaldur complimented with genuine awe.
"Thank you," Goury answered with an exhilarated grin, "Ready for your turn?"
The dark armored warrior gave a low laugh, enamored by his opponent's skill and strength.
"Yes," Gaaldur answered, "I am ready! Show me your true power!"
The two swordsmen charged at one another once more.
Meanwhile, Lina dueled with the other two warriors: Vima and Volranus.
Vima was a female of slight build who wore orange and light blue armor, and held a nondescript longsword. Volranus, by contrast, was a big man with a suit of sand-colored armor that left his arms exposed to show off his bronzed skin and bulging biceps, and hefted a pair of oversized falchions. Both wore full-faced helmets that hid their faces, although Lina could see that Vima had sea green eyes, while Volranus' were like two lumps of coal. The girl also wore a long ponytail of golden hair which was pulled out through a slot in the back of her helm.
As the two mercenary's lunged at Lina, the red haired sorceress drew her shortsword. For once, she had absolutely no intention of using more power than was necessary. She was saving her full strength for Dameon.
Once her enemy was in range, Vima attempted an oddly unpracticed stab with her blade, which Lina was able to effortlessly parry. The much larger Volranus, however, proved to be no amateur, as he came down with his two blades with a veteran's skill.
The young sorceress jumped away without a second to spare. A small crater was formed by the big man's curved blades, right where Lina had been a moment before.
"Definitely can't play with this guy," Lina thought aloud, "Fireball!"
Just as the fiery projectile was about to hit, however, a fire-absorbing Balus Wall materialized in front of the huge bandit. The fireball struck the magical wall and detonated, but the flames and concussive force unleashed by the attack were instantly devoured and dispelled by the counter-spell. Volranus grinned behind his mask and gave a low chuckle at Lina's expression.
Risking a momentary glance behind her, Lina could see the two remaining Shabranigdo Priests, Johsal and Grimm, kneeled down next to the newly unconscious Ignasius. The two dark clerics had paused in their healing work, and now had their arms up raised- obviously the ones who had stopped the sorceress' attack.
"Ready to give up?" the large man laughed.
"You wish," Lina replied, "Mega Brand!"
The ground directly beneath Volranus exploded.
From out of the swirling dust and smoke, however, the girl Vima appeared and swung her blade with all of her might. Lina stopped the attack, and countered with a couple of cautionary blows of her own.
To Lina's continued puzzlement, the female mercenary seemed to have only a little more skill than an average swordsman, but with half the confidence. This certainly bothered her more than the fact that her opponent was several inches shorter than she was, though only because Lina herself was short for her age and so had figured that the other girl had wound up worse off than she had in that department.
"Kid! Out of the way!" a familiar, booming voice commanded from the cloud of dust left by Lina's last spell.
A completely unharmed Volranus now charged, his arms spread out to deliver a sweeping blow from each side.
Vima obediently pulled herself out of her superior's path, just as the large bandit came down with his attack.
Knowing that she had no chance of matching the rapidly approaching swordsman's strength (despite the incredible amount that she had for one of her size and build), Lina did about the only thing that she could do: She ducked.
As the two curved blades passed harmlessly over her head, the young sorcery genius came up with a plan. Her enemy was enough of a threat that she would have to take him out as swiftly and efficiently as possible. That, of course, meant the use of magic. However, all but her most powerful spells were useless, as Volranus had white magic users for back-up. But, said magic users could not, as had already been demonstrated, protect their charge from spells used at point blank.
Now in position, Lina pushed her body forward in a lunge that was half-leap, half sprint. Her shortsword was held at the ready.
The blade pierced the leather armor that protected Volranus' stomach, and the point even managed to enter a bit into the body itself. However, it was merely a flesh wound.
"Is that all you've got, Lina Inverse?" the big mercenary laughed.
Lina just laughed right back.
"Nope," she replied, "But its enough. DIG VOLT!"
Volranus gave a rare cry of pain as electricity began to flow through his body, channeled through Lina's steel blade and directly into his nervous system. After several moments of painful electrocution, the smoking (and amazingly still alive) mercenary dropped his swords, coughed out a mouthful of smoke, and fell to the ground.
"Well that was…" Lina began.
"…Easy? Don't count on it!" Vima yelled, coming at Lina from behind.
The sorceress/swordswoman was not so easily taken by surprise, however. With a near careless ease, Lina caught her opponent's hands, pushed back the blade, and delivered a sharp blow directly on the top of Vima's head.
As the dazed mercenary sank to her knees, Lina got to her feet and sheathed her sword. Muttering some words under her breath, the red head then gave her newest defeated foe's helmet a single sharp, two fingered rap, and the helm instantly split perfectly in half. Upon seeing Vima's face, however, Lina gasped.
The defeated girl who kneeled before Lina was just that: A girl. No more than thirteen or fourteen. The girl's face was a strange mixture of fear, innocence, and unyielding determination. However, the look in her eyes clearly showed that this was her first real battle, and the first time that she had been in situation in which her life was at stake. Lina briefly wondered if her own face had been like that during her first battle.
"Who are you? Lina demanded.
"I am Vima Sunlord," the girl replied in a strong, unquavering voice that would make any swordsman proud. "Apprentice, and youngest niece of my Lord Gaaldur, a former Imperial Knight of the Elmekian Empire before he was unjustly cast out for enjoying too much the way of the blade."
Lina was rather taken aback, both at the girl's absolute seriousness, her strict adherence to knightly formalities even in the face of what was clearly in the girl's mind certain death, and the fact that she was Gaaldur's niece. The fact that the dark knight had once been some sort of important, professional soldier for a powerful kingdom, however, was in no way surprising at all.
"Kill me if you must, Lina Inverse, Enemy of All Who Live," the girl continued, "But please, spare my master."
"Uh, I'm not going to hurt you, you know," Lina said in a somewhat exasperated tone.
"But isn't it true that you kill everyone that you defeat?" Vima asked, "And then devour their corpse and drink their blood?"
"WHO TOLD YOU THAT!?!?" screamed Lina, dismissing that notion that the girl followed knightly formalities strictly.
"You mean its not true?"
"Of course its not true! Why do so many people like to go around spreading rumors that make me sound like a demon!? Gaaah! Its as if some people have nothing better to do than to make my life miserable!!" And you: Haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't believe everything that you hear?"
"Isn't that a bit of a paradoxal statement?"
Lina groaned.
Meanwhile, Joshal and Grimm had just completed healing Ignasius. As the red armored warrior sat up with a groan, the dark clerics began to stand up to go and help Volranus.
"But sir, what should we do about Lina Inverse?" one of the two, Joshal, asked, "She's right next to him, and she'll no doubt take us out when we approach."
"Don't worry about it," replied Grimm, the head dark cleric, "We'll sneak up on Inverse, stab her in the back, kill the other brat if she takes offense, then take care of our large friend."
"But what about Gaaldur, and the boss? Won't they take offense if we start inflicting intentional friendly casualties?"
"Don't worry. They're not paying any attention to us."
This was true, as Dameon was at that moment observing the duel between Goury and Gaaldur, which had now become quite fierce.
"Kill Vima?" Ignasius objected, who was once again on his feet. "Murder a kid? You dirty scumbags!"
"Then make sure that she doesn't take offense when we kill Inverse," Grimm snapped, "Now come on."
"Oh, dear!" a pleasant-sounding voice suddenly said from behind the three, "This won't do at all!"
"What the-?" the three exclaimed as they began to turn back around.
Suddenly, all three were cracked over the head by what felt like a hardwood staff. The two clerics and the swordsman all crumpled to the ground and fell into unconsciousness.
"Now let's let the rest of this battle continue uninterrupted, shall we?" the voice mused to itself.
Naga and the tiny, hooded man called Sorcerer A continued to stand facing one another, posing dramatically and trying to look intimidating.
At last, Naga yawned and said, "This standing around is getting a little boring. Let's go ahead and start fighting."
"Hehe, as you wish!" the tiny sorcerer agreed.
"ZELAS GORT!" the two shouted simultaneously.
Five large, levitating jellyfish materialized upon each side of the field.
"Go!" the two combatants yelled.
The jellyfish flew at each other and began to grapple with one another, while their summoners cheered them on from the background. This continued for about five minutes until the two spellcasters finally realized that this wasn't going anywhere, as none of the jellyfish were inflicting any sort of damage.
"Oh, how embarrassing," Sorcerer A whined.
"Ha! You fell into my trap!" Naga lied as she wracked her brains on what to do next.
"Huh?"
"Dug Haut!" shouted the former princess, slamming her palm down onto the ground.
Sorcerer A barely managed to get up and into the air and avoid being impaled by the giant spike of stone that shot out from underneath him.
"Burst Rondo!" the small man yelled, sending out a spray of fire energy orbs.
"Freeze Arrow!" Naga countered, firing a volley of icy arrows.
The two spells collided with a loud bang, creating a small cloud of fog.
"Huh? Where did she go?" Sorcerer A wondered aloud as he attempted to see through the mist, "Where did she-?"
"Van Rail!"
Suddenly, the fog began to grow unbearably cold. A crystalline spiderweb began to form from the blanket of moisture, surrounding the small man and covering him in ice.
With a loud thud, a large frozen cube crashed into the ground, with the screaming body of Sorcerer A entombed within.
Naga laughed and then taunted, "You have to get up pretty early in the morning to out-think Naga the Serpent!"
Then she laughed some more.
Simultaneous with Naga's battle with Sorcerer A, Amelia was faced with the vampire Steindorf.
"How did this happen?" Amelia groaned.
"That is a good question, as I myself was after either the red head or the black haired bimbo."
"Don't call my sister a bimbo!" Amelia objected, "And you should consider yourself lucky to be battling me, as any of the others would crush you in an instant!"
"Oh, really?" the vampire chuckled, "So, does that make you weak, then?"
"Errr…,"
Steindorf chuckled once more, then said, "Prepare yourself mortal, for you have never tasted true fear until now! I shall drink your blood, and make you into one of my minions!"
"Oh, yeah?" Amelia objected, "Well prepare YOURSELF, vile creature of the darkness! For I am Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, guardian of peace, and love, and justice! I shall call down the power of divine judgment against your wicked, evil, undead self, and scatter your ashes to the winds! Now prepare to be destroyed with the swift sword of justice!"
"Hmm, such a hot blooded mortal would make a tasty dish," the vampire mused as he hungrily licked his lips.
Amelia paled visibly at the pronouncement.
"Now, die!" Steindorf yelled, and lunged after the princess with inhuman speed.
"Gaaah! Go away! Lighting!"
Steindorf lifted his cloak to shield his eyes from the blinding light which radiated from Amelia's palm.
"Pacifist Crush!" Amelia yelled, flying in with one of her father's trademark, oxymoronic physical attacks.
With the lightning reflexes of the vampire, Steindorf grabbed Amelia's fist, and threw the girl high up into the air.
"Flare Arrow!" the vampire yelled, forming a flaming arrow in his hand, and hurling it at the princess.
"Balus Wall!" countered the now levitating Amelia, stopping the attack with an anti-fire barrier spell.
"Freeze Arrow!"
Amelia dive bombed down to the ground to dodge the airborne icesicle.
"Shadow Web!" she shouted as soon as she hit the ground. Over a dozen dark tendrils shot out from the princess' own shadow and sped towards Steindorf, attempting to freeze the vampire in place by ensnaring his shadow.
The spell failed completely, however. This was, of course, because vampires don't cast shadows.
"Bwhahahahahaha!" Steindorf laughed, "You idiot! Don't you know that we of the mighty vampire race posses no shadows? Only a foolish mortal like yourself could-"
"Megiddo Flare!"
The vampire was suddenly engulfed by a beam of pure, White Magic energy. With a final scream, Steindorf faded away and was turned to dust.
"I kinda did forget that," Amelia admitted sheepishly to herself. "Oh, well. It worked as a pretty good distraction."
Then with a justice pose, she raised up her hand in a V and shouted, "Hurray! Victory!"
Simultaneously with Naga and Amelia's battles…
Zelgadis and his opponent stood facing one another. The two continued to stand and stare, each one waiting for the other to make the first move.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" the sorcerer sneered, "Scared?"
"I was actually just about to ask you the same thing," replied Zelgadis.
"Fine, be that way!" the sorcerer retorted, to Zelgadis' confusion, "I shall make the first move!"
This last of Dameon's servants was a man of average height, and wore magenta robes with gold embroidery. A golden medallion with a large, gleaming black stone hung from around his neck, and in his hand was a staff of black ebony.
"Prepare yourself, chimera!" the man declared as he stabbed his staff into the ground, "For you have never before seen skill in the art of summoning like mine! My name is Gladus: The King of Summoning! Remember that name, for it shall be the last one that you shall hear!"
"Oh, really?" Zelgadis replied, "Well I am Zelgadis Graywords: The Heartless Mystical Swordsman! And I suggest that you remember that name, because it's the last one that you'll hear."
"Fine then," Gladus answered, "Let us begin!"
"Finally," Zelgadis said under his breath.
Gladus raised his free hand and chanted:
"Come forth from my home,
Terrible beast of my creation:
Vu Chi Tera!"
Lines of energy shot forth from the base of the summoner's staff, moving outwards and taking the shape of a summoning circle before him. Finally, there was a brilliant flash of light, and a squat, three headed reptilian with heads like that of a snake or a dragon appeared.
"Hmph, a spell to summon a chimera that you made," Zelgadis commented, "Am I supposed to be impressed by that? Blade Haut!"
With that, Zelgadis slashed his sword through the empty air from above his head down to the ground. A blade of energy immediately sprung up from where the tip of the chimera's weapon had touched the ground, and sped towards the hideous alchemical creation. The monstrous creature was instantly split in half.
"Fireball," Zelgadis commanded, incinerating the monster's remains with a wave of his hand.
Gladus' eyes opened wide with terror at the sight of his opponent's great power.
C-come forth, my imprisoned spirit!" the sorcerer commanded as he took hold of his medallion and raised it high into the air. "Slay my foe, and earn your freedom!"
A flash of black light shined forth from Gladus' amulet, and suddenly a gray-armored creature covered in sharp spikes, and a hand with four sword-like fingers appeared.
"Sealing a low-level mazoku into a medallion," Zelgadis commented without sarcasm, "Now I am impressed."
"You better be telling the truth this time," the demon growled at his summoner with a gravely voice, "About me earning my freedom. Because if not, then things are going to get very… unpleasant."
"Yes, yes! Just kill that guy!" Gladus shouted.
"My pleasure."
"Blam Blazer!" Zelgadis yelled, launching a shining blue orb of astral energy at the demon.
The mazoku laughed as he slashed through the orb with ease. Then the creature charged and locked blades with Zelgadis.
The chimera grunted with effort, surprised by the amazing physical prowess of the low-level demon.
However, Zelgadis' strength of mind was no less than that of his physical, sword, and magical strength. Quickly coming up with a plan, the chimera swiftly to put his strategy into action.
The chimera suddenly leapt back, causing the surprised mazoku's bladed hand to plow into the ground. Then Zelgadis spun about and slashed diagonally through his monstrous foe.
However, the ordinary steel blade passed harmlessly through the creature's body.
"Idiot," the demon chuckled, "I am a mazoku! I cannot be harmed by any ordinary weapon! What a joke you turned out to be!"
The chimera's only response was a confident grin and the words, "Astral Vine."
Instantly, Zelgadis' blade turned crimson as it was enveloped in concentrated energy from the astral plane. Swiftly rotating his weapon in a half-circle until it was back in its original position, he repeated his attack from before, slicing his foe from hip to shoulder. This time, however, the attack worked.
The armored mazoku gave a dying groan as his body on both the astral and the physical side disintegrated into nothingness.
The summoner Gladus, however, had not been unprepared for this eventuality. During the course of this short battle, he had begun to sketch a high-powered summoning circle into the ground with his staff. As Zelgadis began to approach, the magician swiftly chanted his spell. With another flash of dark light, a creature was pulled from the depths of the astral plane. This time, however, it was a mid-level mazoku shaped like a monstrous, humanoid crocodile.
"What mortal dares to call me forth from the astral side!?" the enraged mazoku demanded as he turned towards his summoner with a dangerous glare.
"I- LOOK OUT!" the summoner shouted suddenly, pointing at something behind the monster.
The demon turned, but only had time to widen his eyes in surprise before an airborne Zelgadis came down with a hail of powerful slashes from his still-enchanted sword. As the mazoku screamed in pain and struggled to hold his heavily-damaged astral body together, the chimera sheathed his blade and thrust his hands forward.
"Raa Tilt!" Zelgadis shouted.
The mazoku gave one last scream as he was engulfed by the mighty pillar of flaming, blue astral power.
Realizing that he was far outclassed, Gladus dropped his staff and fled. However, Zelgadis was at the man's side in an instant, and knocked the summoner into unconsciousness with a single punch.
"That was entertaining," Zelgadis mused.
The clash of swords quickly caught the chimera's attention, however, and Zelgadis turned just as Goury struck a final blow against his opponent, Gaaldur. With a loud snap, the dark knight's scimitar broke in half, and the mercenary warrior was thrown several feet backwards.
"What incredible skill in one so young!" Gaaldur cried in awe, "Such awesome power!"
"Pitiful," Dameon spat. "I guess that I'll have to finish this myself."
The duels with Black's greatest minions were over. Victory was in sight. But first, it was time for the last showdown of the Battle of Calthor.
To Be Continued...