A/N: Wow, thanks as always for the reviews, folks. I hope it is still living up to expectations. Well, you know what to do if it isn't! ^_^ I know this is the chapter everyone has been waiting for (*big drum roll*) so I am anxious to know what y'all think. Btw, shameless plug alert! I drew a cover picture for my little fanfic and in case anyone is interested in seeing it, it is at the following location: http://www-scf.usc.edu/~cotter/XELINK2.jpg. I colored it really hastily, and the line art scanned it pretty poorly, so I will probably go back one day and do a better job, but for now I am pretty happy with it! ^_^ (oh, btw, in the pic, Xelloss' clothes are largely based off of the outfit he wears in Slayers Premium. In the movie he is wearing boots and his staff does not have a crook in it. However, when I was inking it, I forgot the patches on his pants. Oh well...) End shameless plug.
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Far from the tropical Wolfpack Island, in the frozen regions of the North Pole, Dynast Grausherra stood in the highest tower of his majestic ice castle and surveyed the frozen wasteland he called home. He imagined that day when the world would be purged of the ridiculous lifeforms which currently crawled upon it and everything would resemble the dead silence of the arctic. It would be a beautiful day. And he, Dynast Grausherra, would be the only Dark Lord alive to enjoy it.
Oh, yes. Dynast felt certain that in a few millennia his siblings would have wiped each other off the face of the earth. One of these days he would simply stop intervening and watch their petty rivalries grow out of hand until one of them simply never moved again. He figured Zelas would be the first to go. She was by no means as weak as she thought, but her lack of confidence would be her undoing. He would help Dolphin finish the task if need be. Oh, Deep Sea Dolphin. She was his accomplice in all of his plans. It was she who would help Gaav and him erase the bratty Hellmaster from existence. Dynast was particularly looking forward to that one. And then they would turn on Gaav. And then...then he would turn on Dolphin himself. She would probably see it coming, probably knew it already, what with her damned powers of divination, but she still harbored hopes of becoming the strongest Lord, of beating him when the time came. And so they carried out their partnership while each stared daggers into the other's back.
But with time, he alone would be left. There would be no more putting up with Gaav and Phibrizzo's pointless blathering, not to mention Zelas' sly tricks. Her "sense of humor", as she called it, was a source of endless annoyance to him. He was plain sick of it. He was eager for the silence that would reign with them all gone. Eager, but patient.
"Master, master!" a voice broke Dynast out of his reverie. With irritation he shoved the offending servant down the long, twisting staircase that led to his lookout. Within moments, a new servant had come to replace the last. "Ha-ou-sama," he murmured, "Please forgive the interruption. Our spies report that one of our southern watch towers was attacked...and destroyed...by a gryphon."
"Destroyed," Dynast repeated coldly. "How is it that one gryphon defeated so many of my minions?"
"Well, it would seem the guards were distracted by a raging forest fire which consumed the nearby Gauko forest..."
Dynast frowned. "The Gauko forest is considered to be in my territory. Who would dare to light a fire in *my* territory?"
"I don't know, sir. Grau-sama has already taken the liberty of contacting Maryuu-ou-sama and asking him to follow up on the Gryphon's story."
"Gaav..." Dynast said softly. It was true that the Gryphon, as a member of the magical beings that made up the Supernatural world, realm of the Demon Dragon King, would be under his jurisdiction. "What did Gaav say?"
"He said that the Gryphon was spooked by a large wolf, my Lord."
"A wolf? Wolves don't attack Gryphons," Dynast impatiently shoved the servant down the stairs to join his peer, but the hapless man was caught by Grau as he phased in from the servants' quarter. Grau had no compassion for the human slave, but it was his unfortunate duty to find replacements for "missing" or "injured" servants, and he liked to keep his work load down to a minimum.
"They do if they're mazoku in disguise." he said, bowing deeply to his lord.
"Rise," Dynast waved his hand absently and Grau resumed a standing position. "You suspect Zelas Metallium?"
"Maryuu-ou says it was not Juu-ou."
"One of her servants, then?"
"It must be a foolish one indeed to have caused such havoc so far from home," Grau sniffed haughtily. Grau had been placed in charge of handling Dynast's public interactions, thus saving the Dark Lord from unnecessary contact with siblings and underlings. He had already become well acquainted with most of the Dark Lords, but Juu-ou had kept to herself this past century. Indeed, he had rarely met the woman. "Still bitter" was Sherra's assessment. So much the better. Juu-ou was always giving out false information at reconnaissance meetings. He had never met a mazoku who lied so often for no reason at all, except her own personal amusement.
Grau expected his lord Dynast would have brushed the attack off if it hadn't been the third in two weeks. Now he expectantly awaited his orders.
"Contact Zelas," Dynast sighed. "I am sick of this cat and mouse game. Let her look me in the eyes and deny her involvement." The ice king could not think of any reason for the life of him why Zelas would suddenly begin engaging in such pointless fights with him. But if it was a fight she wanted, it was a fight she was going to get.
***
The whole affair turned out to be more complicated than Dynast had bargained on. As it turned out, Zelas first accused Gaav of putting the Gryphon up to it, causing the Demon Dragon King to be dragged back into the argument. Then Zelas changed her story and claimed that Deep Sea Dolphin was sending out her servants in the form of wolves just to get her sister in trouble, causing the accused to have to defend herself. Zelas then admitted that she had made up the whole thing and that everything she had said in the last three hours had been a lie, but by that time the accusations flying on all sides had implied that Gaav was at least partially responsible for the disappearance of one of Dolphin's sea monsters as well as uncovered a plot by Dolphin to flood one of Gaav's fortresses. And after discovering that his siblings were fighting, Phibrizzo had dropped by and begun flinging accusations right and left at everybody about everything, even accusing himself of various acts. This caused much heated "discussion" to be held between the Dark Lords.
Finally Zelas muttered very loudly to herself, "Well I suppose that wolf might have been Xelloss..."
"Who?" Gaav asked gruffly while he tried to fend off the enraged Dolphin who was pelting him with liquid projectiles.
"Xelloss," Zelas repeated nonchalantly. "...My general."
At this, the entire conversation came to an abrupt halt. After a moment of awkward silence Dynast calmly asked, "How exactly do you mean 'my general?'"
"Well, don't sound so surprised. I said I didn't want one before, but the lot of you made such a ridiculous fuss that I figured I'd better just go along with it after all." Zelas flicked the ashes off the tip of her cigarette directly into Gaav's face.
"Hah! Told ya so! I was right!" Phibrizzo cried triumphantly, sticking his tongue out at Deep Sea Dolphin.
"You were not!" Dolphin protested. "She's lying! Zelas, you expect us to just take your word for it? Well, it won't work. You're about as trustworthy as..."
"Of course I don't. That's why I brought him along." Zelas sat for as long as possible, cherishing her moment of victory. Then she called out to Xelloss, who was waiting on the Astral Plane for her.
"Xelloss!"
At least that's what she *thought* he was doing...
" Xelloss!". A few uncomfortable moments passed in silence. Phibrizzo snickered. "Xelloss!!" Zelas sent an angry tendril of inquiry across the Astral Plane with his signature attached. Suddenly the monster in question popped into the room looking more than a little sheepish. His eyes were in their closed position, one which he normally reserved for when he was pulling a stunt.
"Forgive me, Juu-ou-sama," he bowed hastily in apology. "I was taste-testing the cake batter in the kitchens and I forgot myself."
"You were doing what?" Dynast demanded, wide-eyed in indignation. He could just picture Zelas' dirty general sticking his finger into all of the food in the kitchens. Of course, he didn't eat, so it wasn't his problem, but he had his pride to look after.
"Oh," The general called Xelloss started as though seeing the other lords for the first time. "...Nothing."
"Nothing?" Dynast repeated in a calm, yet icy tone. "You expect me to believe that? You just confessed to the deed a moment ago."
"No, I didn't." The general wore a smile that extended from one ear to the other as he peered up at the Dark Lord from beneath his floppy violet bangs.
Dynast was astounded. "Yes, you did." he growled.
"No, I didn't."
"Fool. I was right here when you said it. I heard it myself."
"If you heard it, then why are you asking me about it?"
Zelas had to prevent Dynast from encasing Xelloss in a block of ice for the rest of eternity.
"If this is the general, I can't wait to see the priest," Gaav muttered, holding his head wearily in his hands.
"Oh, he *is* the priest." Zelas replied cheerfully. "I didn't think it was really necessary to make *two* servants."
Dolphin would have replied that Zelas only hadn't made two because she was too weak, but she refrained for fear Zelas would respond by making *another* Xelloss. She already didn't like him as it was.
"Well, you weren't called here to talk about cake batter," Phibrizzo spoke up from the corner. He was really not surprised. He had figured Zelas could do it all along. "What do you know about the incident at the Gauko watchtower?"
"Oh, *that*," Xelloss' grin turned sheepish again and he scratched the back of his head nervously. "Who would've guessed that Gryphons were so touchy about their mothers..." he muttered under his breath. "...or that dry leaves were so flammable..."
Four pairs of eyes turned dryly towards Beastmaster Zelas. "Perhaps you should give him a lesson in respecting his elders," Dynast suggested coldly.
"He's not always like this..." Zelas laughed timidly. Surprised was definitely a word that could be used to describe her fellow lords. Impressed, however, was another matter entirely.
A loud crash drew everyone's attention back to the general/priest. Xelloss was humming and twiddling his thumbs while next to him, on the floor, lay what was left of a crystal bauble which had once been used to create visions of faraway places so that the viewer might see what was going on in distant lands without leaving the comfort of his home. Now all that could be seen in the glass shards were a thousand tiny reflections of Xelloss. Dynast had never seen anyone who could look so guilty and suspicious while twiddling his thumbs.
"General Xelloss..." Dynast began slowly.
"Yes?" replied Xelloss who was looking everywhere but at the Dark Lord (and the floor).
"Do you..."
"I didn't do it." Xelloss said quickly.
"I never..."
"It wasn't me!"
Phibrizzo was giggling loudly and even Gaav had an amused look on his face. Dolphin, on the other hand, thought the whole stunt highly immature and likely all Zelas' fault. She was busy trying to scan Zelas' mind for anything that would indicate the Beastmaster's involvement, but all she found was surprise and mortification.
Dynast rested his forehead in his palm. "I think I'm done questioning you, Xelloss. You may retire to the servants' quarters to wait for your master. I still have some things to discuss with her."
"As you wish, my Lord." Xelloss bowed, waved cheerfully, and vanished.
"Now, Zelas, about that thing I wanted to discuss..." Dynast let a hint of menace creep into his otherwise monotonous voice. Zelas gulped.
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A/N: I know their reactions weren't exactly outrageous, but I thought this was a more realistic depiction. After all, Zelas is notorious for pulling dumb stunts like this, so I don't think her siblings would be that suprised. But don't give up on me yet. This incident is far from over and you'll get to see more reactions. Also, in later chapters, I'll go more deeply into most of the Dark Lords' personal thoughts on Xelloss.
