Aftermath
Xalan shook his head a clear and glanced to where Val was holding a weeping Xina, neither Zangulus nor Martina were anywere to be seen. For once his gaze passed right by them to find Amethyst again. He moved to the chimera's side and was relieved to hear her heart beating, he hadn't relished trying to find a pulse through stone skin, however flexible it seemed.
"Amethyst," he asked desperately. Xalan took a sniff of her scent. He mostly smelled sweat, a rather muddy smell when it came from Amethyst. There was a little blood, but not much. That wasn't really telling, most of Amethyst's injuries would be internal, if they came at all. There was a lingering scent of rage and grief about her, faded probably since she faded. Overall it mostly smelled like she was exhausted and had fainted from over-exertion.
Amethyst blinked her eyes open and squinted up at Xalan.
"Xalan-san?" she asked wearily.
"It's me," Xalan said.
"Am I dead?" Amethyst asked, then she winced and felt at her side where Martina had punched her. "Oww, never mind." Xalan smirked. "I guess we won?" Xalan glanced at his sister, working to ignore Val's unclothed state at the moment, and considered the father he had met for a brief period of time, had a sense of loss. Xina had actually been talking to him over the last year or so and she obviously felt much worse.
"Mostly we won," he told her.
"We had Justice on our side," Amethyst said wryly. "How could we lose?"
"How badly are you hurt?" he asked, ever practical. He did reach to brush at her bangs, and was surprised when she stopped him.
"Don't do that," she said, smiling. "You have no idea how hard it is to brush hair made out of steel. I'm just tired...a sleep will do...wonders..." She drifted off back into unconsciousness, a legitimate sleep rather than a faint this time. Xalan smiled and glanced back to where Xina's crying had subsided.
"Xina, are you okay?" his sister took a deep breath and nodded quietly, it was odd to see her responded without talking. "Good, then maybe you can let Val get dressed." Xina scowled at her red-haired brother.
"Xalan," she growled, ignoring Val's amused chuckle.
********
An ocean and two continents away an army of mazoku were learning that the chief difference between dealing with Luna and Lina Inverse was not that Luna was much more powerful than her sister. The main problem was that Lina Inverse when she had her magic, was so much more willing to use the power she did have. Granted she had calmed down over the last twenty years, so given a normal circumstance it probably wouldn't be much more different than dealing with Luna. However, she had just suddenly regaining magic after twenty years and was worried that her children were in trouble (not to mention her sister, though it would be doubtful that she'd admit that). Considering that situation Lina was...well...Lina.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Lina laughing in second aspect is a truly terrifying sight.
A trio of mazoku dissipated into nothing as the Laguna Blade passed through them.
"You think you can come to my home and get away with it?" Lina demanded, letting her blade of darkness dissipate as she readied another barrage of fire spells. She was wearing out, it was obvious as she paused to catch her breath. This was the third Laguna Blade she had cast in the hour, and she just didn't heal that fast. Fortunately she was running out of targets as well.
An explosion from the side attracted Lina's attention as some of the targets were taken.
"DIE!DIE!DIE!" A blue and silver furred werefox ran by slashing at whatever mazoku she could reach, smiling viciously. "FIRE BALL!!!" The mazoku Sherra was chasing exploded in a shower of black energy. She paused, and glanced around, fur matted close to her face by sweat. Lina watched an ice demon materialize behind Sherra.
"Hey!" Lina shouted to warn the girl and then shrugged as Duofolger calmly appeared behind Sherra, shifting out of the astral plane, to rip the mazoku apart. Lina shrugged and wiped her forehead dry. "Nevermind. Does she even know that someone is watching her back, hmm blue-boy?"
"Aren't you pushing yourself a little hard?" Zelgadis asked standing behind Lina, he had been watching Lina's back in a manner similar to Duofolger watching Sherra. Lina leaned over and coughed enter her hand, the blood faded into the red of her fur, but she could smell it. Granted it wasn't as noticeable a drain as when she'd still been human, but it was immense none the less.
"I may have over done it," Lina admitted, reluctantly. "I think that's the last of them anyway, but I have someting else to do." She glanced over at Sherra and noticed the other werefox seemed a little wobbily, almost falling before Duofolger caught her. "Or maybe a couple of things."
"I'm fine," Sherra insisted, wearily.
"You're almost fainting," Lina noted idly as she looked over the other werefox. "If I'm getting tired, then I suppose you're almost completely exhausted."
"Don't be stupid," Sherra snapped regaining her balance but leaning against Duofolger anyway. Lina blinked, not much concern for personal space between those two. Then again, for six hundred years they were inseperable. "I'm over six hundred years..."
"And yet you are currently physically about sixteen," Duofolger put in. Sherra growled up at him and then snapped at his arm. "Ouch." Duofolger deadpanned, ignoring at the small swirling black energy of his "blood." The wound quickly healed right back up, however.
"There isn't anything else to fight," Zelgadis pointed out dryly. Sherra turned toward him a moment and blinked.
"Oh," she said sheepishly. "In that case." Sherra's eyes closed as she leaned back against Duofolger, and started snoring.
"Is there a chance she'll grow out of this personality now that she's human?" Lina asked.
"I hope not," Duofolger said smirking as he lifted the smaller fox-girl up.
"You wouldn't know where my sister is, would you?" Lina asked.
"I wasn't paying much attention when my mind felt like it was being ripped to pieces," the cold demon answered. "But she's not dead."
"It shouldn't take long to find her," Zelgadis said. "Assuming we can get back to the regular ranks and organize a search. Order pretty much disintegrated when Luna and the mazoku dropped on us. Perhaps the soldier coming up behind us has some information."
"You just noticed him?" Lina asked seriously, Zelgadis leveled a glance at her, clearly stating "of course not." As Lina returned the glare with one of her own, the soldier in question appeared pushing his way past the quickly melting snow.
"Milord!!" The soldier shouted desperately. He stopped and starred at the werefoxes and mazoku for a moment. Zelgadis he was used to, but these other creatures and their allies were a whole other deal.
"Spit it out," Zelgadis said irritably.
"That dragon that crashed when all the magic left," he said breathlessly. "It's waking up! They sent me to inform you at once. What should we do?" Zelgadis rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Get a mage to her and see if she needs healing," Zelgadis said shortly. "What else?"
"Milord, it's a dra..."
"She's a friend of mine," Zelgadis informed the soldier. "She used to travel with the Slayers, understand?"
"Yes, milord," the soldier snapped obeidantly.
"Do any of you pay attention to who's your ally?" Lina asked. She had known Filia had lived, the dragon wasn't as hard to find as her sister.
"Is there anything else?" Zelgadis asked. ~Why are people so stupid?~
"Some elves are holding out from surrendering," the soldier said, as if it wasn't important. "They have a hostage of some kind, saying something about a knight, but the only human we saw was a purple-haired woman. They expect us to trade their Lord for her." He said that as if it was funny.
"What?" Lina narrowed her eyes and growled at the soldier. The man swallowed nervously and tried to look past the robe Lina was still in to see what was talking to him. "She's letting them hold her?"
"Well, from what we could tell she was unconscious," the man said nervously. Suddenly Lina seemed to vanish from the robe she had been wearing, and a small red fox with a streak of silver was speeding across the ground, almost too fast to see.
"Cut them off!" Zelgadis commanded. "Don't let them leave the battle field."
"Milord?"
"That's Luna Inverse, the Knight of Ceiphed!"
Back to Slayers Bred