The Ways of the World! They're Not What You Think
Twitch twitch.
Sonjia couldn't take much more of this. Her face twitched in annoyance as she continued to experience what she assumed to be Lina's wrath. "Curse you, Lina Inverse…" she muttered. "And I was beginning to think that you were easing up on me. But now I see why you sent me with these two."
Amelia had gone into what was quite possibly the longest justice speech on record. And it was directed at Sonjia.
"Sonjia-san," Amelia continued, "now that you have revealed yourself as a goddess, we take a great honor in allowing you to help us fight this evil! For you are a being of the highest form of justice, and I know that it is your duty to aid us on this mission! And even though your own comrades betrayed you, you still refuse to turn against them! With our mighty powers combined, we shall smash the wicked with the swift sword of--"
"ALL RIGHT!! THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" Sonjia shouted, clutching her head. "Shut up…" she whispered. "Just shut up."
"Oops, I guess I did get a little carried away, didn't I?" Amelia said cheerily. "Anyway, now we know what we have to do."
"So, she's really gonna help us this time?" Gourry asked.
"Of course she is!" said Amelia proudly. "She's a goddess, the pinnacle of goodness, and it is her duty in the world to defeat those who are unjust."
"Do you really believe that?" said Sonjia, her voice shaking.
Amelia scratched her head, confused. "Sure I believe that. The Gods are the good guys, and the Mazoku are the bad guys. And in the end, the Gods must vanquish the forces of evil for everyone to go on living! That's how the world works, isn't it?"
Sonjia's shoulders shook with anger and frustration. "No…. that's not how the world works. Not at all…" She sighed. "But... you're humans. You're not directly involved in the war. And since defeating an enemy is not your one driving obsession, I thought maybe you people could see things more clearly."
All she got was a vacant blink from Gourry, and a confused look from Amelia.
"Right. I'm talking to the wrong people here," said Sonjia, sweatdropping. "But, from what I've pieced together in my time away from the war, I'd say there's something more important than eliminating evil."
"Is this one of those 'Secret of the Universe' sort of things?" Gourry asked.
"Actually, it's more of the correlation between positive and negative forces and the balance that needs to be maintained between them," Sonjia said, sitting down and leaning her head against a wall. She then realized that she had completely lost them on that one.
Amelia slowly sat down in front of her. "Um… since the Mazoku isn't chasing us right now, maybe you could explain that a little. And use smaller words."
Sonjia looked at Amelia, who was expectantly awaiting her lesson on the workings of the world. "You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you something, are you?" Amelia nodded happily.
"What do I look like, a walking textbook?" She crossed her legs and reclined against the wall with her arms behind her head. "You people wouldn't understand, anyway. It would be like talking to thin air. What good would telling you two do anyone, anyway?"
Gourry grinned. "My grandma always told me that if you've got something you need to say, you should say it! Even if it's to no one, at least you'll get it off your back."
Sonjia looked at the sky and sighed. "I really hope my sister isn't out there somewhere haunting me, because she'd probably be rather irate about my opinion, since it directly contradicts everything she's worked for." She snorted. "But you can see where that work led her. That's why I think she was wrong."
"So, who was your sister, anyway?" wondered Amelia. Sonjia had a habit of referring to this particular person, but never gave much detail as to who exactly she was or what she was like.
"Does it really matter?" Sonjia shot back. "She's dead now, and if it weren't for those stupid Dragons, that blasted spell would've died with her, just like all the wards on the lab I was sealed in did. And now that Mazoku somehow gained the ability to use it, and'll end up destroying the world with it!" She lowered her head. "At least my world will have company."
Amelia and Gourry both blinked in surprise. "Your world?" Amelia asked. "You mean you're not from this world?"
Sonjia raised an eyebrow. "Funny, I thought you considered that already. I thought for sure that one of Zelgadis's accusations would be that I can't be a goddess because the only Gods in this world are Ceipheed and his elemental dragon counterparts." Receiving blank looks from Amelia and Gourry, Sonjia concluded, "I guess that hadn't even crossed your minds."
"So, how come your world will have company? Is it having a party?" Gourry asked.
Sonjia stood up. "It got destroyed, you moron!" she shouted. "The war ended, and thus the world ended!"
Amelia's eyes got all teary. "Awww, poor Sonjia-san! Your Gods got beaten by the Mazoku!"
"Nope!" said Sonjia, holding up a finger. "Our Mazoku got beaten by the Gods. Or so said my sister."
Amelia raised an eyebrow. "'So said my sister'? Weren't you there, too?"
Sonjia froze for a moment, seemingly unsure as to how to reply to that. It seemed like a simple enough question to answer. After a few seconds, Sonjia crossed her arms and looked away, saying, "Well, sure I was there! I mean, I must have been, right? I just don't remember any of it!"
"I didn't know a God forgot things," observed Gourry, confused.
Sonjia had always been a little distraught that her memory only extended as far back as her arrival in Ceipheed's world. Or, rather, her regaining consciousness in it. But she wouldn't allow these humans to know how much her apparent amnesia bothered her, so she continued, "My sister told us that the Gods won the war. But, it doesn't really matter, since the result is the same either way."
"Why is that?" wondered Amelia. "It seems like if the Gods won, everything would be happy, and there would be no more evil."
"Well, there's no more evil, I'll give you that," said Sonjia, sitting back down. "But there's no anything else, either. The reason is quite simple." She looked up, trying to find some sort of demonstration. Finding nothing interesting, she shrugged and whacked Gourry over the head.
"Owww! What was that for?" moaned Gourry, clutching the lump that had sprung up on his head. "You've been hanging around Lina too long."
"A simple point to be made," said Sonjia. "Everything in the world exists in pairs where one can not exist without the other. In this case, I hit you and you hurt. Action and reaction. Cause and effect. And so forth. And you can't have one without the other."
"So you're saying that you can't have Gods without Mazoku?" asked Amelia, wondering how that could be possible.
Sonjia blinked at the unexpected logical response from the little princess. "Yes, that's right. And, more importantly, nothing can exist at all without the war."
"Sonjia-san!" Amelia said, getting up and clenching her fists. "Wars are evil! They only destroy, not create!"
Sonjia shrugged. "Not at all. When two opposing forces meet, there is quite the release of energy. In this case, the constant clashing between good and evil, creation and destruction, sustains the energy that keeps reality in place. If it were to suddenly stop, then reality as we know it would fall apart."
"How do you know that for sure?" asked Amelia. "You said that you weren't there--"
"Don't remember being there," corrected Sonjia.
Amelia sighed at the goddess's incessant need for absolute correctness. Well, that WAS what the Gods were striving for, she supposed. But did she have to go about it so arrogantly? "Have no memory of the end of your world," amended Amelia, "How do you know that's what actually happened? You already said you don't agree with what your sister said. So maybe she was wrong about the Gods winning, too."
"Actually, this was something my brother and I devised," Sonjia said, proudly.
At this revelation, even Gourry figured that any explanation from here on out should be taken with a grain of salt. But, neither said anything to this extent.
"The energy released by this war sustains the Barrier," said Sonjia. "This Barrier is what you people often refer to as 'the fine line' between two opposing forces, such as good and evil. As long as this Barrier exists, naturally, the two sides of it exist as well."
For further demonstration, Sonjia picked up a stick and drew a circle in the dirt. "Now, see there? There is clearly a part inside the circle and outside the circle. And what makes the distinction? The line defining the circle. It separates inside from outside. And if you try to eliminate one, well," she swiped her hand across the dirt, wiping out the circle, "you have to eliminate the Barrier as well, which in turn eliminates the other. In the end you're left with something that can neither be called inside nor outside."
Amelia and Gourry nodded. "So?"
Sonjia fell over. "Sooo... This demonstrates that neither of you understand analogies! But... to humor you, I'll extend this definition to the war. See, if you eliminate the Mazoku, you also eliminate the Barrier differentiating the Gods from the Mazoku. So, either way, the world is returned to Chaos."
Gourry poked his finger to his temple and thought. "Hmmmm, I think Lina said that the Mazoku were trying to make the world all Chaos, or something. But you said the Gods are trying to do that too... ummm..."
"Actually, the Gods are fighting to keep the Mazoku from winning, not to win themselves. At least... that's how it was originally supposed to work. But I think the Gods have lost sight of their objective, and only see the war," said Sonjia.
"So, if the Mazoku will win no matter who wins, why don't they just give up?" wondered Amelia.
Sonjia clapped her hands together. "Thank L-sama that she created the Mazoku with such tenacity that such a cowardly maneuver would be entirely unthinkable for them! It's the very fact that neither side gives up and continues fighting that keeps everything existing. As I said before."
"Okay!" said Gourry cheerily.
"You understand now, huh?" said Sonjia.
"Not one bit!" Sonjia fell over, as Gourry retained his clueless smile. "But I think you're saying that fighting makes people happy! That makes no sense, but okay!"
Amelia thought a little harder. "No, I guess she's saying that it would be bad to stop the war between the Gods and Mazoku. Except that Jadarin could end the war himself with Sonjia-san's spell by killing all the Gods. Right?"
"Almost. It's not my spell, little girl," corrected Sonjia. "Don't go blaming ME for this. I had nothing to do with it."
"But if you've got nothing to do with it, why's that Mazoku guy chasing you?" pointed out Gourry. He then looked around. "And for that matter, why is he not chasing us right now?"
Amelia looked back up the road, worriedly. "Lina-san... Zelgadis-san... They might be in trouble."
Sonjia shrugged. "Hey, as long as it leads the trouble away from me, I don't really care."
"Sonjia-san!" Amelia shouted, turning around. "Why don't you care at all? Most humans are good and just, and look up to the Gods!"
"And if you humans have to look up to us, we naturally have to look down on you," Sonjia reasoned. "Gods don't take nearly as much interest in human affairs as Mazoku do. Honestly, before you met me, how many Gods did you run into? Comparatively, how many Mazoku?"
Well, Amelia knew she'd certainly run into her share of Mazoku. She tried to list them all off from memory. "Well, there was Tiiba-san in Rezo's lab. And... Saygram. Oh, and those nasty Mazoku, Kanzel and Mazenda. They tried to overthrow my Daddy! They were so mean! Then there was that big mask Mazoku in the temple. And that puppet Mazoku, Joe. Umm... then that water Mazoku, Evia, tried to hurt Zelgadis-san, but he blew him up with a Ra Tilt of Justice!"
Sonjia hadn't expected the list to be quite THIS long. And Amelia was apparently still on a roll.
"Then, of course, there was Xellos-san. And then Maryuuou Gaav showed up. He was really scary. And when Lina-san got to look at the Claire Bible, those two little orb Mazoku tried to fight us, but we defeated them with the Hammer of Justice! And then Hellmaster Phibrizzo kidnapped Gourry-san, so we had to go to Sairaag to fight him. And then... is the Lord of Nightmares a Mazoku?" wondered Amelia, having finally gotten to the end of her list.
Sonjia's jaw dropped. Half in surprise that Amelia had met this many Mazoku and lived, and half in surprise that one of them was apparently the Lord of Nightmares herself. No, Amelia must've just been listing off Mazoku she'd heard of. Honestly, Maryuuou Gaav? Hellmaster Phibrizzo? No human would have a fighting chance against them. "Okay, so that's all the Mazoku you've 'met'. How about Gods? Excluding me, what Gods have you encountered?"
Sonjia was awaiting a null answer, when Amelia cheerily piped up, "Aqua-baachan! She was the spirit of the Water Dragon King! She showed Lina-san where the Claire Bible was!"
Okay, now Amelia had to be lying. Why would the Water Dragon King, a direct incarnation of Ceipheed himself, waste his time on some lowly human like Lina Inverse? Oh well, it still made a point. "Even so, your Mazoku-to-God encounter rate is apparently twelve to one, excluding the Lord of Nightmares," said Sonjia sarcastically, just to humor the princess.
"Although Lina-san has met more Mazoku than me," added Amelia.
"Yeah, I think there were a couple of really powerful ones that she defeated before we met you," added Gourry. "What was that one really big, ugly one's name again?"
Ohhh, they were just trying to come up with stuff to brag to a God about. This was becoming less and less believable by the second. What was next, Lina defeating the Dark Lord Shabranigdo all by herself?
"That's right, Shaba-dingo! Or something! Yeah, Lina blew him up, and her hair turned all white," said Gourry.
Thud. This was just too ridiculous for Sonjia to remain standing. "Anyway," interrupted Sonjia, before they could make up some story about Lina time-travelling to defeat even more Mazoku, "my POINT being that the Gods don't give a troll's loincloth about you humans."
"I don't think you speak for all of them. Especially not all of them of THIS world," countered Amelia. "They're probably just really busy."
"Shouldn't we go see what happened to Lina and Zel?" asked Gourry. "I'm getting kinda worried."
"Right!" said Amelia, clenching her fist. "Sonjia-san, if they got hurt, you should come to, since you said you're a healer."
Sonjia threw her arms in the air. "Yippee, I'm a healer. And this suddenly makes me obligated to help you? If that Mazoku used the Magic Lock on them, there's nothing I could do, anyway! So you two can go running off to get your souls ripped out, for all I care. I'm staying right here!" she concluded, turning around and crossing her arms.
Amelia, burning with righteousness, wasn't going to take "no" for an answer this time. Besides, that Mazoku was still after Sonjia for some unknown reason, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. And since Sonjia had no way to defend herself, it would be better if they stuck together. Gourry seemed to be thinking the same thing, although probably not quite as coherently or thoroughly.
Amelia and Gourry nodded to each other, and took Sonjia by each of her arms, dragging her down the road.
"Hey, unhand me!" she demanded, digging her heels into the dirt. "This is no way to treat divinity!"
"Don't worry, Sonjia-san!" exclaimed Amelia. "We'll show you that helping people can be fun, too!"
"Not if it means risking my own neck to do so!" retorted Sonjia, snagging a pole with her foot as they walked by it. The sudden jerk backwards caused Amelia to lose her grip on her arm, and Sonjia immediately hugged that arm around the pole as well.
Amelia sweatdropped. "Sonjia-san, it doesn't have to be this difficult, does it?" Honestly, the goddess was acting more like a pouty kid.
"Not going!" retorted Sonjia again, holding the pole firmly, while Gourry tugged on her other arm. Since she was touching the pole, which conveniently had the spell on it, she had also lost any physical strength associated with being a God, but her will to make things difficult allowed her to hold fast.
Amelia sighed and looked back down the road while Gourry continued attempting to pry the stubborn goddess off the pole. "Well, I just hope Lina-san and Zelgadis-san are okay."
Jadarin looked curiously at Zelgadis, still holding his fireball. "Dead, you say?"
Zelgadis lowered his head. "Yes, I said she's dead. You won…. You killed her," he whispered.
Jadarin raised an eyebrow. "So, you can notice that much, huh? However, can you notice a couple other things?"
"Like?" wondered Zelgadis, hesitantly, with a nervous twinge to his voice.
"What am I?" asked Jadarin. "I'm a Mazoku, that's what. And do you know what I'm holding in my hand? That's right, a fireball. Meaning that I am currently capable of using magic. Meaning I am also currently capable of sensing and manipulating energy."
"Damn," whispered Zelgadis to himself. "He noticed."
"You bet I did," said Jadarin, picking up on Zelgadis's curse. "So, even though what you just said might have thrown a human adversary for a loop, I will not be so easily fooled." He pointed down at them. "Lina Inverse is alive, all right, although just barely. Come now," he said, holding the fireball over his head, "let me release the pain."
Zelgadis coughed. Well, Jadarin had said that the chase would end when Lina Inverse was dead, so it was worth a shot. He just hadn't expected his assailant to be that observant. Usually the arrogance of overwhelming power blinded people beyond noticing the obvious.
In fact, it always did. Meaning that this guy must still have some sort of exploitable weakness if he was still making himself that aware of his surroundings.
What he had said about Lina being alive was also true. She was still lying on him, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps. If a miracle didn't happen soon, his lie could turn into the truth.
"You know," said Jadarin. "These fireballs have failed to kill you numerous times already. Instead of saving the ultimate weapon as a last resort, might as well use the sure thing right now to get it over with."
Oh, good gods, anything but that.
Jadarin snapped his fingers, preparing a Magic Lock spell. Except… nothing happened. Jadarin blinked and checked for his chopsticks making sure they weren't touching his skin. No, they were safe in his pocket. He snapped again, and still nothing happened. "Why that little..." he muttered.
He'd made a mistake. In his rage after what Lina Inverse had done to him, he'd gone after her first. In all reality, it was Sonjia whom he most needed to subdue. She was the final piece he needed, and once he had her, those pesky humans were his for the killing.
Grumbling, and now completely ignoring Lina and Zelgadis, Jadarin spread his wings and flew back into town.
Zelgadis breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't know the reason, apparently the miracle came after all. He thanked whoever the God was who had smiled upon them.
And then immediately revoked his thanks when he realized that, judging by Jadarin's reaction, said God was most likely Sonjia.
Even so, they'd only escaped one danger. They were both wounded, Lina much more seriously so than Zelgadis. Zelgadis didn't know any very potent healing spells himself, as he never expected himself to get terribly injured because of his condition. He would probably pull through, but Lina was another matter. If only Amelia were here.
If Amelia were here, she probably would have been killed. She wasn't nearly as physically strong as the others, and wouldn't have survived the kind of abuse Jadarin dished out. Zelgadis's stone body had saved him from much more serious injury. Lina had no such protection.
Zelgadis stood up, careful not to move Lina any more than necessary. He clutched his left leg as he put weight on it. Standing was a lot more painful than he was expecting. He tried Levitation to lessen the pressure on his legs, but realized that the battle had exhausted a good amount of his energy. It looked like he was in no position to go anywhere.
Which was just as well, because Lina was in no position to be moved, and needed tending to. He may have been cold but he wasn't downright heartless. Especially to someone he'd spent two years travelling with. Whether or not those years were good experiences for him was another matter, but at least they were... interesting. Plus, Lina had an exceptional habit of pulling through, even when the situation was as grim as this. And if she found out he'd ditched her in this condition... Zelgadis would almost prefer having his life forced sucked into a void than face Lina's wrath.
Lina groaned although still unconscious. Well at least that was a somewhat positive sign. "You…. can't…. heal it…" she muttered.
'Gee, thanks,' thought Zelgadis. Her opinion of his healing abilities was... about the same as his opinion of them.
"You… can't…. heal it…" Lina repeated. "Hurt… without magic…. Can't…. heal it…"
Okay, now she was making no sense. He hoped it wasn't the delirium of a dying person, since that just made him feel... not good. But it didn't matter how he and Lina had gotten hurt, he still couldn't heal it.
Wait a minute. "Can't heal it"? Lina had said that shortly before they were attacked, concerning how to fight this Mazoku. Then what did "Hurt without magic" mean? You can't hurt a Mazoku without magic! Their astral bodies just allow them to heal themse......
Zelgadis's eyes widened in realization. "Is that what you meant, Lina?" he said half to her, half to himself. "If the shield disables all magic, does that mean he can't heal or defend himself if he gets attacked physically?"
Zelgadis looked at his sword. When he had used his sword against Jadarin earlier, it appeared to have hurt him. But Gourry had attacked Jadarin by sword as well, and it didn't do anything. Wait, but Jadarin had thrown his chopstick, so he no longer had his magical shield.
It apparently looked like a weakness to the shield. But from his earlier demonstration, Jadarin was well aware of this weakness. But, it was a new method to try, nonetheless. He just hoped that Amelia found them soon, or else there would be no chance to test Lina's theories.
Wait, Amelia? She was with Sonjia. Who was probably who Jadarin was going after right now. And if Jadarin behaved the same way to Amelia's group as he did to Zelgadis's...
Zelgadis wondered how many miracles he was allowed in the span of five minutes.