Anastyrna, emissary to the Water Dragon King, proved utterly useless. The sword had sapped her magical powers because even she could not wield it. She could neither stop the sword nor protect them from its eventual wrath.
Suddenly however, a familiar figure slipped into the room. Her turban was missing and she was wearing a cloak and bodysuit rather than the fair colored robes from before. Wild cornflower blue hair encircled her face and fell well past her shoulders. Oceania, the Lady of Faith.
Magic pulsed in the very air around her as she spat at the creature Valgaav had become. "Source of all souls which dwell in eternal and infinite. Everlasting flame of blue, let the power hidden in my soul be called forth from the Infinite...RA-TILT!" she cried and from her cupped hands a bright beam of pallid blue light flew and encircled Valgaav.
"Hey! That's my spell!" Zelgadis suddenly yelled. Valgaav howled in temporary pain and was driven back a few feet. However, he was soon recovered. "Fool!" he shouted, his voice deeper and more demonic fathomable. "You cannot defeat me!" He blasted the Lady of Faith with his own power, which issued forth in the form of a brilliant neon green light.
It crashed against Oceania and she shielded her eyes as she threw up a magical barrier that just barely absorbed his attack.
"Tabby, Lina!" Breathlessly the Lady cried to the two Inverses and reached for them. "You must help me! I know a way to defeat him, but I need your help!"
Tears fell freely from Tabby's eyes now. "But what if it kills him, what if it kills Valgaav!" She sobbed into her hands.
The Lady of Faith was by her side, resting her hands on the shoulders of the weeping sorceress. "It will not kill him, I assure you. But it is the only way to stop him. If this continues he will destroy us all, including you. The sword has him, dear, it has him completely."
"If she says it won't kill him, Tabby, we have to try. We have no other choice!" Lina urged her cousin. "Please, we must do something to stop him! Do you want to die?"
"No!" Tabby screamed, breaking away from them. "I don't want to die, but I don't want to kill him either!"
"It won't kill him!" Everyone shrieked in unison.
Upon all this Valgaav looked down and laughed. His face locked upon the fallen Mazoku, Xelloss, who was just picking himself up and dusting off his clothes. "Well, well, well. Looks like my work is going to get done for me!" He smiled merrily.
"That's what you think, puny monster. My work will be done." And a pure blast of the neon green magic flowed from his hands straight at Xelloss.
"Damn," the Mazoku muttered, but before he could be hit, he teleported safely away.
Chuckling, Valgaav turned his attention back to those who would be helpless before him. He narrowed his fiery red eyes at them and wondered why they were standing. The chimera, Zelgadis, and Anastyrna were casting barrier spells as the other three lady sorceresses joined hands in a circle that was more like a triangle. The swordsmen had drawn the Sword of Light now and struck a threatening pose. For just a few moments the Valgaav-creature was worried, but then the whole situation struck him as amusing. They thought they could defeat him, didn't they?
He cackled much like Xelloss had earlier.
Then Lina, Tabby and Oceania began to chant a spell that no one had ever heard before, save Oceania herself. It was a most powerful spell, though the creature that Valgaav had become did not recognize this. He listened to their chanting, a harried, breathless sort of speaking, and wondered what exactly they thought they were going to do. Then he listened to the words.
Radiance beyond Golden light that shine,
Lady of Terrible Dreams, beseeching thine own name
Existence in all things as the Sea of Chaos,
Grant your power to our unworthy hands...
Let that which stands before us be reborn...
By the Power Thee and We possess
Chaos Slave!"
And lo and behold from the circle of magic that the three sorceresses had created, a great golden glow pulsed upwards. It streamed towards him in a violently erratic path. His eyes grew wide and for the first time filled with fright. This power… it was something he'd never felt before. Lady of Terrible Dreams? Could it be? Not the Lord of Nightmares! He screamed as the power enveloped him and roiled around and soon within his body. It tore the sword from his tight grip and threw it to the marble floor where it clanged loudly before coming to a rest. The creature felt as if he were on fire, yet he burned from the inside out. "No! NO! Noooooooo!" His cries echoed loudly against the walls and stung the ears of everyone present.
"Now you die, fiend!" Oceania screamed at him.
"Die!?" Tabby cried out. She grappled the arm of the Lady of Faith. "What do you mean 'die'? You said it wouldn't kill him!"
Oceania sighed and looked back at Tabby. "I do not speak of your dear friend. I refer to the creature that has possessed him."
"Oh…" Tabby bit her lip and stepped back as she watched aforementioned creature writhe in its death throes upon the cold floor.
Soon all was still. In the place of the creature lay Valgaav's body. His only movement was that of the rise and fall of his chest. Tabby rushed to him, weeping again, and scooped his head up into her arms. "Valgaav," she whispered as the crystalline drops that were her tears fell and landed upon his face and chest. She wiped them away tenderly and leaned down to kiss his forehead, overjoyed that she could feel him breathing.
Gradually his eyes opened and they timidly fixed on her face. "Tabby," Valgaav whispered softly, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she told him gently. "I'm fine, as long as you are."
"I am. You… do you have the sword?"
Tabby's head snapped up and she looked around finding the sword where it had fallen earlier. "I don't know if I can touch it, Val," she admitted.
He smiled. "If anyone is pure of heart and soul, it's you, Tabby."
"Don't flatter me."
It was then that Anastyrna spoke up. "I should let you know, Tabby Inverse, that it is you who are pure of heart and soul. The Lord of Nightmares would only secede her precious sword to you." Streaks of tears had dried on her cheeks and her eyes were now free of the liquid also. "It was always you. I foresaw it, but had not the heart to let up my duty. Take the sword, it is yours."
Shock evident on her face, Tabby gently laid Valgaav's head back onto the floor and slid over until her hand closed around the sword. She felt a sudden rush of power sweep through her body and could almost swear she saw a vision of the Lord of Nightmares handing the sword to her amidst a swirling mist of gold light.
To the others they saw the image of a great female warrior superimpose itself over Tabby. It was a lady with violet hair and light pinkish skin. Six wings sprouted from her back, white and feathery. She was clothed in scant robes that seemed made of light itself. Power like no one had ever known radiated from her.
Oceania gasped. "It is she!" she cried and fell to her knees to worship that which she saw as her Lord of Nightmares. "She is granting her power to Miss Inverse!"
Eventually, everyone's mouths hung open as a golden light encircled Tabby for only a few seconds and then disappeared as swiftly as it had come. The image of the Lord of Nightmares disappeared, leaving only an exhausted yet smiling sorceress in its wake.
