Episode 25
"Death Fog?! Enter The Greatest Nightmare Of Them All!"
Fillia and Luna together had finally gotten the upper hand on the mischievous monster who had slain thousands of dragons in a single battle.
Both fighters and demons alike stopped and gazed in wonder at the sight as the once feared Xelloss was utterly destroyed at the hands of the one whose entire race had died because of him.
With Xelloss dead, the demons lost the will to fight and began to flee.
Before they could wipe their collective brows in relief however, a tremendous roar filled the air, echoing off the mountainside.
"Here we go again," Lina said to Naga, "Get ready for Xelloss' mother!"
Greater Beast Zelas-Metallium descended from the sky, raining down the Zelas Bird magic, causing the crew to dive under the massive cart in search of protection.
The energy of the attack deflected off of the talisman's of warding, but some of them exploded like firecrackers under the strain, leading Luna and Lina to rally atop the crypt, Lina casting a shield spell and Luna warding off the assault magic with her buckler Warlacher.
"Hey you moron!" Lina shouted out at Zelas as she hove near, "Are you trying to KILL your self here?!"
"There is nothing created which can kill me!" she defiantly screamed back, yet despite her words, she knew that SOMETHING had JUST killed Xelloss, and she had no idea what that something was. As her spell casting ceased, she hovered with a scowl on her wolven face.
"Oh I can think of a few right off the top of my head," Lina declared coolly, yet threateningly, "And as you see, ONE of those just killed Xelloss."
"And there's MORE where THAT came from!" Fillia shouted, tail raised like a scorpion.
"Right now," Luna pointed out, "Your number one concern is what is inside this crypt."
"Oh?" asked Zelas in a haughty tone, trying to remain aloof looking despite her emotions for her 'child' Xelloss now gone.
"What's inside this crypt was designed by Ruby Eyes to destroy magical beings." Lina began in a professorial manner, "And YOU would be just the type of target it would prefer!"
"Me?!" Zelas responded flabbergasted, "That's absurd!" she protested incredulous, "I'm a Mazoku!" she boasted, "-and a HIGH Mazoku at that!"
"What's in here doesn't care WHAT you are." Fillia shouted defiantly, "It kills ANYTHING!"
Lina glanced down at Fillia as if to say, "Why the hell did you just let her in on THAT part of the story?!" and she gave a neck slicing motion to tell Fillia to shut up before she ruined her bargaining chip completely.
"Oh?" Zelas began thinking it would be an easier way to kill off her enemies than fighting them, starting to charge up for another blast of magic against them.
"Only YOU would be the FIRST to die!" Fillia said with a little more wit about her, "WE might have a chance to ESCAPE, but you'd be a total goner in a blink of an eye!"
"Oh is that so?!" Zelas again relented of her attack but aimed an annoyed, suspicious, squinty eyed gaze at the dragoness, "And who are YOU little WHELP, trying to tell ME who will live and who will die?"
"Actually," Lina replied, "She's the one who burned Xelloss into absolute nothingness."
"Why you!?" Zelas began to raise her hands to strike.
Fillia made the golden rose glow brightly in response.
Seeing the rose break into a glow, Zelas once again relented, "Well," she sighed in uncertainty, "It seems we're at an impasse."
"You can make this easy on your self," Lina suggested.
"Or?" Zelas asked, suspiciously.
"Or we can just dump this off right here and be on our way!" she declared in sudden glee.
"You WOULDN'T!" she exclaimed, "I worked HARD for this island!"
"Well then a little more hard work shouldn't be any problem for you!" Luna challenged her.
"What do you want of me?!" Zelas almost wailed but made it more of a demanding tone to cover her emotional duress and seem only annoyed, "You already robbed me of my Black Lotus'." she declared.
"Oh garbage!" Lina shouted in annoyance, "We left you PLENTY of them!" Waving off Zelas' claim dismissively, "Besides, we ONLY picked the FLOWERS!"
"You probably destroyed half the plants in the process!" she suddenly sounded hurt, "They're DELICATE!"
"Oh geez!" Lina rolled her eyes, "Do you HEAR this, people? A MAZOKU is WHINING about a FLOWER!"
"Besides:" Luna rebuked Zelas, "Without those same Black Lotus flowers, eventually you would be dead anyhow, because they are here keeping what's inside this crypt ON the inside of it."
"Wait-" Zelas shook her head a moment incredulous, "You're saying that those flowers are somehow stopping a magic so powerful it can kill a Mazoku?"
"That's what the lady's saying sister," Lina replied coolly, "So in essence," she pressed the issue, "TECHNICALLY YOU already owe US your LIFE!"
"Well so YOU say..." Zelas got cocky and defiant, thinking to throw the argument aside.
"Want me to start peeling off these warding talismans and let you see first hand?" Luna growled.
"Uuuuuuummm" Zelas backpedaled, "Noooooo" waving her hands nervously, "That's QUITE alright..."
"Well then you better give us a helping hand here sister," Lina declared, "Or we'll let this stuff loose on you and then come back when you are dead to worry about the clean up!"
"Wh-wh-why would you do something like that?" she asked fearfully, "I-I-I-I never did anything to you!"
"Because you sent Xelloss for one thing!" Fillia shouted out.
"I-I-I-I-I never told him to harm ANY of you!" she protested, "C-come on guys!"
"You never told him NOT to either!" Luna growled.
"Well," she gasped pleadingly, "Ya...you gotta give your children LEEWAY some times..." she gasped again, "They have to have room to grow up...to make mistakes, learn on their own..."
"Lady," Lina now growled, showing her impatience, "Do you realize just how STUPID you sound right about now?"
"Yeah!" Gourry said, "Even I wouldn't have thought up THAT line!"
Rolling her eyes at Gourry, she turned back to Zelas, "Lets face it lady, if I can CALL you that," pointing a lecturing finger at the monster, "You caused a lot of people a lot of pain and grief, and they all want revenge on you."
"Bu-but Mazoku LIVE on negative energy!" she protested, "What ELSE are we supposed to do?"
"There are a LOT BETTER ways of getting THAT from humans WITHOUT doing them in!" Naga finally chimed in, "Like..." looking around, "Like prize fighting!"
"Prize fighting?" Zelas looked surprised, "You mean where humans get in the small pen and beat each other senseless while others bet money on it?"
"Exactly!" Naga praised the Mazoku. "You get to absorb the pain of the fighters AND all the people who LOSE because they bet on the wrong fighter!" feeling proud of herself for such an ingenious idea.
"But they all live so far away from me!" Zelas protested this idea, "Should I travel there amongst them and risk being exposed to all that OTHER energy they'll be experiencing?" shuddering at the idea of experiencing human happiness up close.
"You COULD host events HERE on Wolf Pack Island you know," Lina suggested, "THAT way its just you, the fighters and the gamblers.
"W-would you help me do this?" Zelas asked pleadingly.
"Only if you cooperate and help us ditch this box full of doom some place far away from our world..."
"AND if you SWEAR to NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN do ANYTHING evil on this planet as long as you live here!" Sylphiel's small voice piped up.
"Well..." Zelas looked down at the ground, looking like she was blushing, but in her monster form, she was covered in fur so you would never know, "I don't know if I -"
-Luna tore a single warding talisman off the crypt, eying Zelas with the steel eyed stare of a cold blooded killer.-
"- OKAY! OKAY! ISWEARISWEARISWEAR!"
Ep 25, Chapter 2
The crew cheered at the response of the Mazoku, which, unfortunately, caused her to fall from the sky the same way Xelloss had in the past.
"Ahhhhh!" she wailed, changing into her human avatar, clasping her ears, "Make it stop!"
"Oh..." Lina giggled, then turned to the men, "Ok men, no dinner until this crypt is up through that portal in the volcano!"
A chorus of "HUH?!" came from the men.
"And if Zelas can't do it," she pointed her finger at them, "YOU will have to!"
A collective groan issued from the men, which, as expected, caused Zelas to recover.
Both Lina and Luna covered their smiles to keep anybody from realizing what just happened, because this way the grumpy upset attitude of the men would help strengthen Zelas for the task ahead.
"Furthermore," Lina continued, "We don't rest for the night until the job is done!"
As the men began grumbling but they set about the task of driving the oxen around the mountainside and back so they could aim the long train of oxen into the cavern while pulling the crypt to its final destination in this world.
For several painful hours the men and oxen pulled the heavy cargo around the volcano until they could reach the entrance.
As they neared the tunnel, Zelas in her human avatar flew in ahead of them and prepared to lift the massive object upward through the portal into the realm of the Mazoku.
The cattle had to be taken off as each pair reached the edge of the precipice inside the volcano and led past the cart, which made the pulling team smaller and smaller with each pair taken away.
The cart took the entirety of the night to reach the precipice, and some of the last few oxen died of exhaustion from the work.
Every man that could fit was pushing on the rear of the cart until it finally reached the edge.
From here, Greater Beast Zelas-Metallium transformed back into her true form and with great straining effort lifted four heavy iron chains on each corner of the cart, using all of her might to lift the massive load into the air and up into the cavernous expanse above.
Sylphiel's lighting spell, as well as Lina's lighting spell collectively lit the cavern much of the distance up, but it was too dark to see all the way.
Suddenly, a dull red glow began to appear overhead, as if a dull red sun had come into existence within the cavern.
"Somebody help me..." Zelas began, "Somebody...?!"
A brilliant flash of light blinded everyone's eyes who was within line of sight of the cavern and a thunderous concussion knocked everyone off their feet.
Zelas wailed as she began to plummet, partly on fire and being pulled by the massive weight of the crypt.
Lina was totally blinded and could not see anything, but she had a fairly good fix on the area where the glow had come from. Luna could both see and hear enough and was not knocked down because of her supernaturally fast reflexes.
"Heal my eyes Syl!" she shouted, not sure Sylphiel could hear over the certain ringing in her ears.
Amazingly, Sylphiel's intuition and instincts caused her to put up a shield spell at the last moment which saved her hearing, and she immediately went to work healing Lina's eyes.
An enormous swirling force began flowing out of the portal attempting to envelop the falling crypt.
Lina's eyes were just barely good enough to realize that some kind of very large monster had begun passing through the portal.
Fillia reflexively transformed and flew under the falling cart, in hopes to prevent it from crashing to the ground or falling into the dimensional gate of the Claire Bible.
As the cart fell however, it followed the laws of nature and the heavier side fell faster, turning the entire cart upside down, making it impossible for Zelas to control in her weakened injured condition, and it was threatening to smash her into the rocks where it would most certainly explode into millions of pieces from the immense height it had plummeted.
Out of her holy nature, Fillia cast aside her prejudices and grabbed Zelas to pull her out from beneath the descending crypt, which inadvertently changed its course enough that it instead fell through the dimensional gate into the limitless labyrinth of the Claire Bible, never to be seen again.
Pulling up the burned and wounded Mazoku, she swung upward to the platform where people were all still blinded except for Lina who was in the process of calling up a dragon slave.
"That-" Zelas said weakly, "That...will...not..." she was panting hard even in her monster form, "...not...stop...death...fog..." and she collapsed in Fillia's dragon sized arms.
"DEATH FOG!?" Lina cried out, "OH NO!"
Thunderous laughter cascaded down from the portal, "You know my name?" the Ma-ō asked in derision, "Who would know the name of Death Fog?"
"You-you're one of the Ma-ō!" Lina shouted, "I use your power for magic!"
"This is NOT good, Lina," Luna said, drawing Einlanzer and Warlacher, "They don't CARE for people..." she said trying to warn Lina from making any foolish declarations.
"Puny human," the voice in the swirling blackness mocked, "What good has it ever done you?"
"Until now," Lina declared, "It did a lot of good!"
"Oh it has, has it?" the words were followed by more derisive laughter, "Of COURSE!" the voice went into a patronizing and mocking tone, "Killing your own kind by the thousands is the BEST good!"
"Huh!?" Lina exclaimed in confusion, "What are you TALKING about?!"
"Each and every time you kill a human being," Death Fog informed her, "You give me power!" there was a brief period of silence from the Ma-ō to let it sink in, "And THIS is the ULTIMATE good!" to which more mad laughter followed.
"Perhaps then," Lina said, pondering just exactly what the Ma-ō was truly saying, about how many lives she had taken over her short few years as a sorceress, "Perhaps then I must do something truly evil for once in my life."
"Oh?" the thundering swirl of darkness asked bemused, "and what would THAT be?"
Luna shouted, "Lina! Don't!" but the younger Inverse sibling had recited the spell so many times she had it down to perfection.
"Thou who art darker than even darkness,
Thou who art deeper than even the night!
Thou, the Sea of Chaos, who drifts upon it,
Golden Lord of Darkness!
Hereby I call to thee,
Hereby I swear before thee!
Those who would stand against us,
All those who are fools,
By the power you and I possess,
Grant destruction equally upon them all!
GIGA SLAVE!"
As the power of the magical energy came upon Lina this time, however, a soft voice called out, and it was not Lina's!
"Skies higher than the highest heavens,
Souls purer then the whitest light,
You who seek the realm beyond where existence becomes chaos true,
Hereby I accept your oath to me, now and forever more.
Let the two be one, and the one be all.
Let those who stand before us witness our timeless embrace.
Let that which is merged in the forges of the deepest depths of hell never be torn asunder,
Let not any source of resistance dissolve this union now called!
ASTRAL UNION!
As the voice declared these words, indeed a deep golden light washed upward enveloping the swirling darkness utterly destroying it, however, at the same time, it also caused the emergence of a glowing female form beside Lina, who took her two hands and while she looked helplessly at the glowing figure was powerless to resist.
"I've waited eternity for this, Lina Inverse," the feminine golden figure said quite softly, "And now, I have come to claim you, even as you have come to claim my powers."
"But..." Lina began, confused.
"With this magic, my love," the one and only Lord of Nightmares declared, "We are now eternally wed."
"W-w-wed...?" tears welled up in the young girl's eyes, "H-ho-how can this be?"
"I let you go before," the golden goddess of chaos continued, "Because I foolishly believed that other had rule over your heart."
"That other?" Lina asked, lost, "Naga?"
"I know who Naga is," The Lord of Nightmares answered, "I do not see her coming forth to rescue you from your vows."
"Vows?" Lina asked.
"Vows." came the answer.
"But-but..." Lina pried her eyes away looking for Naga only to find the other unconscious slumped against a wall bleeding, "But she's hurt!" Lina protested, not feeling anything except this terrible deep dread, "I must go to her!"
"No." came the answer, "Not this time."
"Not this time?" she parroted in fear.
"Never again."
"Never again?" she echoed in terror, a sense of total loss dread and remorse washed over her entire being down to her soul.
"You shall never again leave my side." and with that, the two of them vanished, leaving only Sylphiel, Luna, Fillia and Zelas as stunned witnesses to what had happened.
Ep 25, Chapter 3
The four of them stood staring at each other, mouths agape.
They were so totally dumbfounded that even as others began to awaken and ask them what happened, they did not seem to hear them for the longest time, not because of the concussion but because their shock was so utter and total.
The only person who was not in a state of fear or shock was Gourry, who came up to them and with the simplest question of all, "Hey!" looking around, scratching his head, "Ummm, where's Lina guys?"
As the three witnesses to the event blinked and turned to him, Fillia, still in her true form suddenly burst into tears and wailed, "She's GONE!"
"Gone?" Gourry asked, ducking away from the loud dragoness's giant sized tear drops, "To where?"
"She was taken." Sylphiel's soft voice was barely heard over Fillia's wailing.
"The... Lord... of ...Night...mares..." Greater Beast Zelas-Metallium breathed in agonizing gasps, supporting herself partly now with her arms around the dragoness' neck because Fillia was losing her grip both figuratively and literally.
Turning toward Naga, Sylphiel regained enough wit about her to stumble to the unconscious girl and begin healing her head where the blood was seeping out.
Summoning her strength, Sylphiel cast her healing spell upon Naga's wound, staunching the blood flow and little by little bringing her back from the edge.
Luna helped Zelas to rest on the ground and then took hold of Fillia's nearest paw-like hand and stroked it lovingly while the young dragoness sobbed and whimpered at the loss of a friend and the powerfully shocking experience of meeting and witnessing the Lord of Nightmares.
As Naga came to, she looked around blearily, completely unaware of what happened before. She sat up and looked around, still in some pain, and asked, "Why am I in pain?" looking at Sylphiel.
"You were thrown against the – NO DON'T LOOK!" Sylphiel's voice got loud for a moment while she took Naga's cheeks in her hands to keep her looking away from her own blood on the wall behind her, "Let me do something else before you move." and with that, she began a cleansing spell behind Naga taking away the blood so Naga would not see it.
"Wait," Naga began looking around the area, noticing Fillia in her true form crying hysterically, and Luna trying to comfort her, "Where's Lina?"
"We don't really know." Sylphiel's answer being technically true, seeing as nobody knew the exact location of the Lord of Nightmares.
"Did she fall into the Claire Bible labyrinth?" Naga asked in panic.
"No," Sylphiel's soft voice was not any additional comfort but at least it was not an agitation.
"Well WHERE DID SHE GO!?" Naga began to go into full on panic, leaping to her feet racing to where she last saw her dearest beloved Lina, "LINA! LINAAAAAAAAAAA!" she shrilled in her peculiarly nerve wracking pitch.
"Naga," Luna turned toward the now hysterical girl, still holding Fillia's hand, "Naga wait-!" but Naga was about to leap or fall off the edge of the precipice toward the dimensional labyrinth without the benefit of a guide back, so she had to act quickly.
Grabbing the girl's hand she spun her back toward the exit, only for her to spin herself back around with a wide eyed yet almost hypnotized look as she was determined to dive off of the edge in search of Lina.
Still shouting for Lina hysterically, she was turned back five times before Gourry got the clue and caught her from behind restraining her.
She was like one possessed, however, and the only solution Luna could think of was to draw Einlanzer and cut her finger until blood squirted forth.
Sylphiel's eyes widened in disbelief at Luna's seemingly cruel move, yet in an instant she realized it almost didn't work!
Luna came up to Naga who was looking past her struggling against Gourry's strength with a strength driven by desperation, until Luna almost poked Naga in the eye, making the girl reflexively look at the item in front of her, focusing on the blood.
The screaming ended with a freakishly long loud and shuddering gasp, her eyes rolling up into her head and her collapsing, going into spasms.
"This is SO not good," Luna muttered as she put away Einlanzer and scooped up the still spasming unconscious girl, then, in a loud, calm, commanding voice, "Everybody who can move on their own, Luna ordered, help those who need help and lets all get out of this place right now!"
Ep 25 Chapter 4
Fillia had recovered enough of her wit and composure to carry Zelas out of the cavern, after seeing Luna carrying Naga that direction.
As they all exited the cavern, the wounded were lain on bedrolls while Sylphiel and Fillia tended to them according to the severity of their injuries.
As the sun rose, the conscious members of the party huddled together to regroup and determine what was to happen next. Zelas, who had recovered sufficiently to stand and walk about on her own, sat in on the discussion, mostly because Fillia happened to set her down at the very same location it was held. She had enough strength to transform into her human avatar, a tall, buxom blond woman with a deep tan and sapphire blue eyes.
"I don't know what to do about Naga," Luna said, "But she is in shock like nobody else here, and for good reason."
"We can't just leave her here," Sylphiel said, "She can't fend for her self and she can't be trusted to not go after Lina in some manner that will get her killed."
"I could watch over her," Zelas offered, but everybody looked at her askance.
"Why would we trust you to- ?" Luna began.
"Why would you trust Fillia here to save my life?" Zelas countered, "We do irrational things some times."
"I still don't trust you." Luna said, shaking her head in doubt.
"Well look at it as a mutually beneficial arrangement:" Zelas openly offered the truthful reason behind her offer, "I feed off of this negative energy you humans generate, which, by the way, you offered me -"
"Lina – offered you..." Luna corrected her sternly.
"Okay – Lina offered me," she continued, "so its to my benefit for her to be here, since her negative energy will sustain me. And SINCE its to my benefit," she continued, "Its in MY benefit to keep her safe while she recovers."
"What is to keep you from making her go completely mad?" Sylphiel's question was pointed at the fact that Xelloss and many other monsters had used madness and confusion to produce negative energy that they were all aware of.
"I gain more power from pure directed emotions than I do madness," the Mazoku replied, "I believe you are referring to how my late son and other lesser Mazoku and their subs used inferior methods over large populaces to feed from, where the quantity was high, the quality was low."
"I see...!" Fillia declared as if a revelation of great significance had come to her, "So for you to have somebody with a targeted, focused, obsession of this form, is of far greater value than the madness of many thousands!"
"I couldn't have said it more perfectly," Zelas replied, actually blushing, "Nothing is more powerful than obsession."
"Hey!" Gourry suddenly spoke up, "Isn't there a PERFUME named something like that?"
Everybody else just rolled their eyes in disbelief.