Chapter Two Not again...

Trent paused, groaning in irritation. "Doesn't she ever take a hint?"

Jilis gave him a curious look. "Who?"

"Naga. She's somewhere within a few hundred yards."

Jilis blinked in confusion. "'Ow can you tell?"

Trent tapped his long, pointed ears tiredly. "These aren't just for show; elves hear quite a bit better than just about anyone else. And I've become a LOT more familiar with that laugh than I'd ever wanted to be."

Lina shrugged helplessly. They'd managed to reach Seyruun unmolested; not even bandits had attacked them in the forests. Still, she really wasn't looking forward to yet another meeting with the feces of goldfish. "Look, Naga doesn't take hints really well. Have you tried convincing her that you're not interested?"

Trent stared at her tiredly. "In the past six months, every time we met I ran away screaming in absolute horror at her. Does that strike you as being particularly subtle?"

Zel shook his head. "Something tells me that a normal definition of subtle doesn't really apply to her."

Trent paused, his depression lifting. "Hmmm...so something that more clearly conveys my dislike of the situation...I can do that." He steepled his hands in front of his heart as he began chanting under his breath.

"DARLING!"

"...power of thunder to my hand, DIGGER VOLT!"

KKKRRRZZZZZZAAAAAAPPP!!!

Trent looked at the now crisped and recently electrocuted White Serpent. "Think that was sufficient?"

"Probably not," Lina said. "She'll just assume that you're playing REALLY hard to get."

Trent slumped forward. "Figures." Ignoring the stares he'd gotten for turning lightning bolts on the may-as-well-have-been-naked figure. "So who are we supposed to be meeting here anyway? You said someone named Phil, I think."

"Philionel, crown prince of Seyruun."

Trent face-faulted. "What?! You guys know him?! You meant THAT Phil?!"

Lina blinked in confusion. "Sure. Who did you think it was?"

Trent groaned in exasperation. "Why precisely is the most notorious master of black magic on friendly speaking terms with the leader of a nation reknown for its studies and mastery of WHITE magic?"

Lina shrugged. "Got me. Apparently he and his lunatic daughter think that I'm some shining beacon of Hope and Justice and Righteousness."

Filia added, "we're also hoping that Philionel and Amelia might have heard something about Valgaav, or even any trouble spots worth investigating."

Zelgadis turned to regard the castle in the center of the huge white magic seal that made up Seyruun. "And hopefully we can refrain from blowing up large portions of the city this visit."

Lina winced at the reminder of her last time in Seyruun, when her amplified Dragon Slave had accidentally zapped about a tenth of the town while she was destroying a falling chunk of rock big enough to trash the rest. "Um, I'm sure they've forgiven me of that."

"...darling..."

Trent turned to the once-again conscious Naga. "Look, Zelgadis here brought up a rather salient point; maybe I'm not being completely clear on this. I am sincerely NOT interested."

Naga just smiled. "Oh my love, time is all I need. My obvious charms and wonders will turn you from this foolish loathing."

Trent was about to zap her again for good measure (he now saw why Lina fire- balled people all the time; it really was pretty therapeutic) when he felt a restraining hand on his shoulder from Filia. "I think that's a little...well, unnecessary."

Lina nodded. "Trust me, it's easier to just ignore her in close quarters. Besides, L-sama only knows what she might do if we don't keep an eye on her."

As noted in my earlier fanfiction, Trent has gone up against dragons the size of WWII aircraft carriers and goddesses of destruction without batting an eye. Confronted with the possibility of spending time with a disturbingly amorous sorceress, he was getting the willies. Does anyone know why heroes are always like that; bad guys are a cake walk but romantic subplots (particularly the unwanted ones) go beyond anything King or Lovecraft could imagine?

Still, he wasn't one to let his emotions actually show. Instead, he pulled a small pendant out of his coat. "See this Naga? This is just simple quartz crystal. It's also called a spell-trap; a device that holds a single low-power spell for long periods of time. I've enchanted this one with Mono Volt, specifically attuned to you. You try and glomp me again, you're going to get zapped. No touchie. No touchie, understand?"

Naga just smiled hungrily, causing a slight amount of fear to become visible on Trent's face. This new development just made things more challenging.

Be afraid, Trent. Be VERY afraid.

--------

This was apparently to be a day of revelations galore. Most of the soldiers who served as royal guards new Lina, Zelgadis, and Gourry by sight; some liked the trio, some feared them, but they all recognized them. As such, they'd been ushered in to wait for Phil and Amelia with almost zero hassle. They'd even allowed Filia and the others in without more than a cursory examination. Naga requiring a bit more examination.

Then Philionel and Amelia had arrived, and things turned a bit...well, strange if not ugly. It began, predictably enough with Philionel's genial 'pacifist' greeting.

"Well, if it isn't miss Lina and..." He froze at the sight of those assembled.

Amelia frowned as she walked in. "What's the matter faAAAAAUGH?!"

Trent blink-blinked in confusion at the two stunned monarchs. Leaning over towards the Chimera, he asked quietly, "is this normal er, typical for them?"

Zelgadis shook his head, a little stunned by the reception herself. "Actually, no. This is the first time I've ever seen them acting like this before. Creepily simultaneous hearty laughter would be normal, but this?"

Phil could feel cold chills running up and down his spine. He recognized the girl to a degree; she had a certain resemblence. Then of course he took in the all-too-familiar outfit. "Uh...affairsofstatehavetogoimmediately."

Amelia's eyes by this time had expanded to around six times their normal size. "S...si...SIS?!"

THWAM!

Ah yes, the simultaneous massed face-fault.

Lina gaped in absolute shock. "SIS?! What the hell are you talking about Amelia?!"

Naga flipped her hair back regally. "Oh, did I never mention it? I'm part of Seyruun's royal family, officially princess Gracia." (1)

"That...that's...that's insane!" Lina finally managed. "You can't possibly be royalty!"

"Why not?" Naga asked mildly.

"Because you're nothin..." Lina paused, thinking back to everything she knew about the Seyruun nobility, then comparing it to Naga. "...Actually, this makes a heck of a lot of sense."

Trent paused, putting together what he knew about Naga and considering what would make the royal family similar enough to her for that to be a good explanation for something.

Unconsciously, he shivered.

Oddly enough it was Filia who took it the most in stride. "Um, your highness? I was wondering if you could help me with a small problem?"

Damn near ecstatic to have something else to focus on other than Naga's outfit (it had belonged to Phil's wife; I'm sure you can innuendo your way to why he's so scared), Phil jumped on the request. "OfcoursemydearI'dbehonoredtohelpyouinanyway."

Filia stared at him for a moment, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Amelia finally returned her jaw to its position next to her upper teeth. "Um, we'd be happy to help if we can Ms Filia. What is it?"

"It's about Valgaav," she began.

She was interrupted by screams coming from the courtyard.

"What the heck's going on now?!"

'What' turned out to be a familiar if pretty badly mangled pink-skinned overworlder.

Filia stared at him, ignoring Jilis's and _ screams of fear. "Sirius? What happened to him?"

"We did."

Turning, Lina and co. found two of what they assumed were more overworlders. The first looked vaguely like Sirius himself; tall and slender, though obviously female and with violet skin rather than pink. Her hair looked far closer to normal for this world; it was a blond that clashed painfully with her violet skin, of similar length and texture as Gourry's.

The second one proved to be very much less humanoid. Taller than his companion, he stood easily eleven feet in height. His skin was an odd shade of pale, leaf green with large gray slabs of what looked like armor hanging from off his limbs and torso. Despite the metallic appearance of the slabs, they were actually chunks of material.

Trent took a look at them for a moment, then switched to regard the battle stances currently being taken by his allies. "Who are they?"

Sirius coughed painfully. "Mazoku from my world. They...they're after the weapons..."

Lina grimaced. "Now what? Spells don't seem to work all that well against you people..."

"No..." Sirius bit out. "They served Darkstar...they're more similar to the monsters of your world. Sufficiently powerful spells will be able to damage them."

Lina stared at him for a moment, then grinned. Check that, she GRINNED. "So I can torch these guys, huh? Alright buddies, it's time to play!"

The female glared at her coldly. "This is no concern of yours sorceress. Leave him be and you won't be harmed."

Lina tsked, shaking a finger at the overworlder. "Now what kind of heroine would I be if I allowed that to happen? Besides, he's something of a friend."

"So be it." The bigger Mazoku raised a hand to unleash a blast of mage energy.

"HOLD IT!"

VERY large group wince.

Naga came striding out of the castle to regard them. "Now what do we have here? Are these fools actually challenging the great Naga the White Serpent? AAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAA!!!"

The green overworlder regarded her silently for a moment, then calmly torched her. Turning back to face off against the more competent and less vocal mages/warriors, he began laying down a huge spray of energy bolts.

Cue the screams and dodging.

Lina glared at the creature attacking. "Okay, hows about this? FIREBALL!"

The green one simply deflected the bowling-ball sized sphere of flames with a casual wave of his hand.

"ASTRAL BREAK!" Trent bellowed, unleashing one of the stronger spells of shamanism. It had a more apparent effect (it actually caused a little pain), but it still didn't make any real head-way against the thing.

Zelgadis fired off a series of Elmekia lances at the violet mazoku. "Didn't you hear what he said? 'Sufficiently powerful' spells, not those fireballs! Besides which, how much good is fire shamanism against monsters?!"

Lina glared at him, grumping at the remarks. "Fine, let's try something a little harder hitting. DYNAST BRASS!"

Amelia sweat-dropped at the sight of the black magic lightning storm. "Um...can't you cast something a little less harmful?"

Lina winced as the green-skinned one was apparently just mad now. "Nope. Not as tough as these guys are."

Filia composed herself, preparing to cast her own spells against the larger mazoku. "Ateku...razu omu...Ranaku Tsuraku...Izu Peku Naomu...FLAME BREATH!"

Still no real effect.

One thing that you have to concede about Naga is her recovery time; she can handle insane amounts of damage in less time than it takes to think about it. One of Lina's fireballs had taken only seconds to recover from. As such, she was far from out of this fight.

As it was, she'd chosen to join Zelgadis in duking it out with the violet, female overworlder. "You foolish monsters haven't even the faintest idea of what you've angered, do you? Now feel the wrath of the white..."

Zelgadis tackled her, rolling with the motion to knock her out of the way of an energy blast. "Don't talk, just shoot! GOZ VU ROU!"

His shadow abruptly took on a life of its own, lancing out to impale the over-worlder's shadow. And yet again, it proved insufficient.

Naga hmphed at the insufficient attack. "Perhaps THIS will be a bit more useful? LY BRIEM!"

Zelgadis stared at her in tired disgust as she sealed it within a block of ice. "Isn't anyone paying attention? Spirit shamanism and Black magic are about the only things that do any damage to these guys; Ice magic is useless."

"Oh? Then why is this opponent obviously defeated by my own great..."

FWOOM.

Zelgadis sighed a mushroom puff as Naga was once more engulfed in most- likely non-fatal flames. "Why me? Why don't they ever listen?"

Gourry grimaced as he stared down his opponent. "Damn it, if I still had the sword of light..."

Trent gave him a curious look. "Sword of light? You used to own it?"

Gourry nodded, dodging a series of blasts. "Yeah, but I gave it to that pink guy over there, and apparently it got stolen or something."

Trent whipped out his katana, deflecting and neutralizing another blast (and idly wondered why they only seemed interested in shooting them.) "ASTRAL VINE!" Regarding the now-enchanted sword, he tossed it to Gourry. "That spell will probably only last a few minutes, but it should do the trick for awhile."

Gourry accepted the blade, pleasantly surprised at the heft and balance of the weapon; it was superior to Gorunova when it had still used metallic blades. "Thanks. HYYAAAAAHHHH!"

The larger of the two mazoku finally took the hint as Gourry charged him. Rather than allow a temporary equal of the sword of light to touch him (he did have limits), he finally began dodging and teleporting as necessary.

Lina turned her attention away as she prepared the big guns. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows; buried in the flow of time, in they great name I..."

Amelia tackled her, mashing her head into the ground. "Miss Lina, don't you DARE cast a dragon slave in the middle of the city! Do you have any idea how much damage that will do?!"

Lina knocked the self-proclaimed avatar of justice on her backside as she got up. "Well what else am I supposed to do?! The only other spell I have that might do some good is the Ragna Blade, and these guys aren't going to hold still long enough for me to use it!"

Trent looked up, startled. "Ragna Blade? What's that?"

Lina sighed. "It's a spell that calls on the Lord of Nightmares. The problem is that I have to be within about five feet when I hit them or it doesn't do any good."

Trent grinned ferally. "So you need this thing kept still long enough to hit it? I think we can do that." He turned to the laser-breathing dragon vainly trying to hit the violet mazoku. "Hey Filia! I need your help with something. You too Amelia." Turning back to the outskirts, he added, "keep the big one busy, okay Jilis?"

Jilis gaped at the roughly four-times bigger mazoku. "HOW?"

"I don't care, just keep his attention on you!" Trent snapped as he continued his explanations.

Jilis winced, but followed orders. It was one of several things he was good at. Towards his desired end, he employed two others; sneaking around, and pyrotechnics.

Filia stared at Trent in shock. "Do you actually think that'll work?"

The dark elf assassin shrugged. "It's worth a shot. Besides, we don't know that it'll fail."

Filia sighed. "Alright, let's give it a try. Though I still think that I should just keep hitting those things with laser breath."

Trent shrugged again. "We'll make that plan B." Turning to a now-somewhat confused Lina, he added, "Get ready to cast that spell right as Jilis makes the distraction, okay?"

Jilis grinned evilly as he came within around twenty feet of the green mazoku. "'Oy, Ugly! 'Ere's a taste of this!" Snapping open his cloak, he sent a rain of around thirty fuse bombs towards his MUCH bigger opponent.

Said opponent gave him an inscrutable look. Not sensing any magic in this attack, he assumed that his opponent was insane or stupid enough to try and throw rocks at him to win. After the explosion, his opinion rose a few degrees, but it still didn't do much.

"NOW!"

Trent managed his wind-up first. "RAY FREEZE!"

Filia hit second. "FLOW BREAK!"

And we finish with Amelia. "RUNE BREAKER!"

The mazoku grunted in pain as the various ward spells snapped around him, weakening him severely while Trent's Ray Freeze kept him in place.

Lina grinned at the now-temporarily paralyzed Mazoku, finishing her spell out. "...by our power, our combined might, let us walk as one along the path of destruction...RAGNA BLADE!"

It ended spectacularly, the massive blade of black energy cutting the frozen monster cleanly in two.

The violet one stared in shock. These...these INSECTS had just managed to kill Vlardos, one of the strongest of her race. This was decidedly bad. "You...you killed him. That's impossible..."

Her pause gave Zelgadis enough time to properly aim his strongest spell. "Take this! RA TILT!"

She screamed in pain as the astral fire erupted around her, though insufficient to finish her off.

Trent charged up a second spell, hoping that a combined attack might be enough to finish the job. Of course, a combined attack only worked if the target didn't dodge. "RAY FREEZE!"

The violet mazoku had the presence of mind to dodge the attack, reappearing behind Amelia long enough to start spraying energy blasts.

For her part, Amelia had few options beyond running and screaming.

Gourry pressed his attack; the spell was still lasting long enough for him to go on the attack. "HYYAAAH!"

She batted the swordsman aside with an energy lash, then immediately began that irritating technique of constantly teleporting to new areas to attack just before disappearing.

Zelgadis turned to Amelia. "Do you guys think you can manage another one of those freeze combinations long enough for Lina to get another Ragna Blade going?"

It was Lina who ended up answering. "No good Zel. This one's not staying put long enough for them to freeze her, and besides which I'm not all that sure if I can even pull out another Ragna Blade; that last one took a lot out of me."

Trent dodged another series of blasts, wincing. "Does anyone have a spell that will work; preferably one that won't destroy this entire area?"

Chorus of head-shakes.

He sighed. "Great." He had one option left; one that he'd been trying REALLY hard to keep secret. For the past five years or so, he'd succeeded.

The problem was the very nature of magic spells. An attack could finish her off only if two criteria were met; if the spell was powerful enough, and if it actually hit her. The first part was possible; combined Ra Tilt from Amelia and Zelgadis could probably do the trick. An amplified Dragon Slave likewise, but that would have the unfortunate side-effect of vaporizing half of Seyruun.

Even with the sufficient power though, hitting her was going to be impossible. She was moving around too much for even Filia's laser breath, and it had the shortest 'casting time' of any attack they could manage. As such, magic was going to be impossible here.

Reaching into the astral plane, he found the small pocket he'd made and spent so much time armoring against scrutiny. Reaching inside, he pulled out two swords.

The violet one appeared behind him, unleashing a full-power blast; for the most part it was his fault that the battle had gone this way. He didn't even bother trying to dodge or block the fool.

The flare of magic energies completely engulfed him, providing a perfect blind for his attack. Unsheathing Soul Crusher and Falis's Breath, he felt the odd surge and weave that only came if you could hold both at the same time.

The swords had been bathed in the blood and breath of demons and gods. Alone, each could slaughter entire armies. Combined, they had been enough to finish off a goddess. Against one relatively small fry monster? You do the math.

Lina stared at the dark elf. With less effor than it took to swat a fly, he'd completely eradicated a monster that she'd been helpless against. "How...how did you do that?"

Trent returned the opposing swords to astral space. "Those two swords are sources of unimaginable power. One was bathed in the heart's blood of a demon king, the other purified in the breath of a god. They enhance the other's power if held by one wielder; combined, they can kill even gods."

Lina's eyes went sparkly as the screen cut to soft lights and sakura petals. "Oh Trent..."

Said elf turned to the loving glances from Lina and proceeded to get very nervous. "Huh?"

"You GOTTA let me have those swords!"

Almost gratefully, Trent face-faulted. Picking himself up, he regarded her curiously. "What makes you think I would even consider giving those up? Like you need more powerful weaponry..."

"Oh you don't have to sweat the details. Just gimme the swords?"

"Lina, I'm not giving them to you. And before you ask, they're not for sale; I don't care if you offer me the entire kingdom of Seyruun for them."

"HEY! You can't just go bartering our kingdom!" Amelia squawked.

Zelgadis sighed yet another mushroom puff, incidentally wishing he could get a little bit more screen time. "Don't you think we should see what happened to Sirius?"

"I'll live," came the pained reply.

Filia and Amelia rushed to his side, both decidedly chagrined for waiting around to see how the attempt to finagle the weaponry would turn out. Both began recovery spells immediately to the pink one's relief.

Zelgadis once more chose to be the sane one (like he ever has a different role in these stories?) "What happened to you? You said something about the weapons; did something happen to the sword of light?"

Sirius reached into his tunic to withdraw the hilt of Gorunova. "Nothing happened to the sword specifically. However, there's a great deal of trouble in overworld; someone managed to steal most of the five weapons Darkstar created."

Lina gaped. "Wait a minute, you mean that someone other than me ended up getting all those weapons?!"

Sirius was too injured to face-fault, and so settled for a tired glare at the greedy red-head. Not everyone followed his example. "Yes, three of the five are in the hands of a human; one who is now seeking to replace Darkstar and Volfied as the supreme beings of our world. One who originally came from THIS world."

Filia paled. "When...when did this occur?"

Sirius winced. "The theft only occured a few days ago; the uprising of this human began several months ago."

"Several months ago..." Filia breathed in shock. "Valgaav..."

Sirius gazed at her curiously. "That dragon-boy who was reborn the last time I was here? Don't tell me you think HE has something to do with this; I can assure you that's not the case."

"Filia, I'm shocked. You actually thought I'd try something after that rather painful failure last time?"

Cue the gaping crowds.

Lina stared at the familiar green-haired individual standing on the battlements of Seyruun's castle. "Valgaav?! What the heck are you doing here?!"

Valgaav grinned evilly, a particularly effective expression what with his enlarged canines. "To answere your REAL question Miss Inverse, I haven't the slightest intention to harm you." His finger swept around to point to Trent. "I'm a great deal more interested in fighting him."

To be continued...

1. It's been widely surmised that Naga is actually Gracia, the long-lost crown princess of Seyruun. I haven't the faintest idea if this is true or not; I'll assume it is and was addressed in the Manga at some point. Having only watched the series, I can't truly say. Still, this DOES explain quite a bit, doesn't it?