Hello all! As usual, I don't own anything; I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Do enjoy!
25- Through Thick and Thin…
"...insane...?" Amelia gasped, shooting a glance back up toward the top of the terraces. The light was too bright for anyone to see anything, but the sound of laughter clearly echoed downward.
"Insanity?! Professor, the only insanity you have to be worried about is your own!"
In a split second, the Mazoku jumped down from the top of the terraces, landing with such force that it was enough to knock even Amelia and Zelgadis off their feet. His blue hair seemed to be singed on the end, but he wasn't worried about that- in one hand he held control over a set of gem shards that floated amongst each other, close enough to stay within Brandr's grasp, but repelled away from each other like matching ends of a magnet. The glow that emanated from them was almost blinding, and held an aura of pure dark energy.
Zelgadis had to hand it to the Mazoku who'd engineered them, they did, in fact, resemble pieces of the ruby eyes of Shabranigdo.
"BRANDR!" Pestis shouted in a voice that seemed almost impossible given the fragile state that he was in. "BRANDR, PLEASE! DON'T LET THEM CONSUME YOUR SOUL! IF YOU DO, THE DEFENCE MECHANISM WILL KILL US ALL!"
"Hah, my soul? What do I care about my soul? What do I care about all of you?"
The malice in his voice was enough to drive everyone back a few feet, except for Lavi, who ran to Brandr's side, clasping his free hand.
"We did it! Lord Dynast will be so pleased to have this power!"
There was a long pause, during which Brandr didn't speak. Lavi drew a little closer, looking somewhat worried. "...Brandr...?"
"...we? Lord Dynast? You say those words as though I have connections to the two of you. Like I owe you something."
"B-Brandr, what are you talking about? You're Lord Dynast's general. You're-"
"Lord Dynast's general?! Hah! With this kind of power, I don't need to be Lord Dynast's anything! I make the rules now, Lavi- and I don't need incompetent lackeys getting in my way!"
Lavi was still for a few moments, shaking her head in protest.
"N-no... no... you don't mean that. Brandr, come on! You're joking, right? BRANDR-"
Pestis grabbed ahold of Lavi before she could get any closer to her companion. "Lavi, stop! He's lost his mind! The vessels have consumed his soul- it's the defence mechanism that I tried to warn you about!"
"But-"
"Pestis, what kind of defence mechanism is this, anyway?" Zelgadis demanded.
"Uh... the defence mechanism in the vessels consumes the soul of whoever absorbs their power and causes them to go insane with desire for destruction..."
"HOW IS THAT A DEFENCE MECHANISM?! IT MAKES THE SITUATION WORSE!"
Pestis scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I... uh... don't program defence mechanisms well under pressure...?"
"Hah! You're such a fool! Someone like you doesn't even deserve to be the caretaker of this place!" Brandr laughed loudly. "I have no use for this dimension anymore- I might as well kill you all!"
"Oh, come on! Don't you Mazoku ever get bored of killing people?!" Zelgadis groaned.
"No, not really." Lavi interrupted with a carefree smile.
"He's going to kill you too, idiot!"
Lavi looked like she was about to say something- likely something not-so-intelligent- but she wasn't able to complete a thought. The power of the vessels shone through the translucent edges of the crystals, and the volcano began to quake violently. Rock from the walls of the chamber began crashing down, making loud splashes as they impacted the magma and slowly melted into it.
"Oh, we've got to get out of here!" Amelia shrieked, trying to keep her emotions under control. She didn't want her fears to become amplified the way they had before, but being inside of a toppling volcano, that was easier said than done.
"I'm afraid that's all we can do..." Pestis murmured weakly, and reached over to grab Lavi by the arm. "Take Amelia and Zelgadis." he ordered.
"What?" Lavi gasped. "Since when do you have the authority to be bossing me around-"
"YOU WANT TO LIVE, DON'T YOU?!"
Well, Lavi certainly did.
"Take Amelia and Zelgadis and get out of here." Pestis instructed slowly. "I'll stay here. I can't beat him in the state that I'm in, but it'll likely take all of Brandr's power to destroy me, and that way he won't be able to harm anything outside of this room."
"W-wait, you mean-" Amelia began, but was interrupted by Pestis again before she could finish her train of thought.
"Once Brandr has expended all of the energy that he absorbed through the vessels, they will disintegrate and that should return the three of you back to Seyruun. The vessels are the connection to the outside world, so, once they are destroyed, all objects that belong in the outside world should return to their point of entry, yours being the ruins."
"But Mister Pestis, you-"
"GO ALREADY!"
Pestis pushed Zelgadis and Amelia toward Lavi, getting himself out of the way of a magical attack from Brandr in the process. The insane Mazoku was descending on his prey quickly, and they were running out of time.
"Alright, then. You two are coming with me." Lavi spoke, grabbing Zelgadis and Amelia's arms. We might as well let the professor deal with this mess."
"No! Mister Pestis! He can't-" Amelia called, trying to wrench herself from Lavi's grip as she watched Pestis and Brandr beginning to pit their magic against one another. From the way things looked, Pestis was so much weaker than his adversary, he couldn't have had any kind of advantage whatsoever. His diminutive size and his sickly appearance, coupled with the fact that his magic was far less flashy- though that didn't necessarily have to mean anything- made it look awfully hopeless for the professor. The thought of leaving seemed so absurd to Amelia, she didn't want to let it even cross her mind. Yet Lavi continued to pull on Amelia's wrist.
"C'mon you stupid humans! Let's get out of here before we end up-"
An attack fired directly at them caused Lavi to yelp and jump back, attempting to drag her two human captives with her. She began to phase away to the astral plane, but just before she could drag Amelia and Zelgadis along with her, the chimera wrenched his arm out of her grasp and fell onto the ground, just out of range of the dark magic.
"ZELGA-" Amelia choked, reaching in vain for him as she disappeared onto the astral plane with Lavi.
"ZELGADIS!" Pestis yelled, with a far more accusatory tone than had been displayed by the princess. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Brandr had the chimera in his sights, and approached him with a smirk on his face. "I don't blame you for not trusting that idiot- I wouldn't have either."
"Which idiot? Lavi or Pestis?" Zelgadis' sword was drawn in an instant, and even without being able to cast a spell to give it an extra boost of power, it was still quite an intimidating weapon.
"Both of them! They're both idiots!" All of Brandr's attack power was now directed at Zelgadis, and it was clear that the vessels held a considerable amount of black magic. The chimera cursed under his breath, wishing that he was somewhere that allowed him to cast spells. If he were Gourry, maybe he could stand up to powerful Mazoku with just a sword, but… No! He couldn't think like that! He was every bit as skilled as Gourry; for as far behind he was in swordsmanship, he made up for in cunning battle strategies. He wasn't just battling with pure strength and technique, he was adding an element of shrewd cunning to the battle as well.
"I don't disagree with you." Zelgadis was weaving in and out of the Mazoku's attacks as he tried his best to get close with his sword in hand. "But Pestis is only an idiot because he thinks that his friends will allow him to be abandoned in a situation like this. He should know me better than that by now."
"So, what you're saying is that you care enough about this scrawny little Mazoku to die with him? How utterly adorable."
"Pestis is not a Mazoku, and we will not die- those are two things you can count on!" Brandr's amusement had given Zelgadis just the split second he needed, and he knew exactly what he was aiming for. Using his sword, Zelgadis managed to knock one of the shards of magic from his opponent's hand. It skidded across the floor of the terrace and landed almost directly under Pestis' foot.
The professor stepped on it, crushing it underfoot as though it were made of glass. A spurt of dark energy emanated from it for a moment before the tiny shards dissipated into the rock underneath.
"That's one." Pestis murmured.
"WHAT?! How did you break it so easily?!" Brandr demanded, descending upon the professor with malice burning in his eyes. Pestis put up a barrier, blocking the dark magic before it could hit him, and though he didn't seem to be expending much energy, the barrier didn't seem like it would hold up for very long either.
"Run, Zelgadis." Pestis spoke softly.
"What?"
"I said run. Get out of here. Find Amelia and Lavi and wait for this battle to be over." At the last word, Pestis gritted his teeth, his barrier suddenly flickering as though it were going to disappear. Brandr was still direction an incredible stream of black magic at the professor, waiting for the barrier to finally be unable to hold up to the sheer amount of power anymore, but it didn't seem to be happening. For all that Pestis appeared to be struggling, he was keeping himself from getting hurt… for the moment, at least.
"Never! I won't leave you!"
"Zelgadis… I'm not… afraid to die."
"But I'm afraid for you to die, you idiot!" Zelgadis yelled. "I've lost far too many friends!"
"You don't… deserve… to die here as a martyr… Zelgadis."
"And neither do you!"
The chimera grabbed his professor friend and jumped across the terrace just as Pestis' barrier began to fall. They tumbled and hit the side of one of the terraces, and Zelgadis noticed that the wound on the left side of Pestis' face had opened even more, with more deep-red magic seeping out of it. He might not have been human, but he certainly wasn't as thick-skinned as his chimeric companion.
"If we both fight, neither of us has to die." Zelgadis murmured softly.
"…what… about Amelia…?"
"You sent her away to safety, didn't you?"
"I… wanted you to go with her… Lavi will surely… betray her… and she shouldn't be alone…"
Zelgadis drew a sharp breath. He hadn't imagined that, after all they had just seen, Lavi would turn against Amelia, but once he remembered Lavi's nature as a Mazoku, it made perfect sense.
"Amelia can hold her own." Zelgadis declared, standing up and helping Pestis up with him.
"But you think that I ca-" Pestis didn't get to finish his comeback before Zelgadis grabbed him and pulled them both out of harm's way. Brandr's attack smashed into the base of the upper terrace, causing rocks and debris to fly everywhere.
"No! Not the base!" Pestis gasped, scrambling to his feet.
"Wh-wha?"
"Zelgadis, it's collapsing! These terraces are the kind that take millions of years to form through mineral water deposits as it percolates through the underground channels and evaporates… they're very fragile!"
The chimera could feel the rock floor shifting beneath him and could hear the hissing noise of rocks falling into the molten minerals below and melting away to become part of the magma chamber.
For someone with skin made of rock, it wasn't exactly the most comforting thought.
"We've got to get out of here, now!" Pestis yelled, grabbing Zelgadis' hand and pulling him toward the corridor that had led to the room.
"And where do you two think you're going?"
Pestis and Zelgadis stopped short, seeing Brandr standing defiantly in their path, holding up the magical vessels.
The Mazoku gave an evil smirk. "This volcano is coming down, boys… and you're coming down with it."
(A/N: Well… this chapter was… a little too short. I'm sorry; battle scenes are an awful pain to write. It feels like it's long, but it's really not… agh. Oh well…)