The Dark Brilliance
Chapter 6: War With the Black Past, Birth of Finality
"The nightmare returned, stronger than ever before. Will strength be enough to win yet again?"
The sky was withered, defeated. And the darkness was too much for it to hold meaning for. So it began to rain, black rain.
Each drop that hit the ground was a wound to the earth, sizzling and causing impurities that would never be healed. The Slayers felt each drop clear as day, like a hailstorm of needles that wouldn't stop, like a constant pain that won't go away.
Fate looked down at Lina Inverse emotionlessly, and Lina shivered under the creature's cold gaze. She could almost feel the willpower draining from her. She held her head between her hands, trying to fight the horrible feeling, but it was useless. Still, she knew that she couldn't give up. Wouldn't.
"I sensed your fear. I knew your battles. It is my purpose to take advantage of that," Fate stated, his black wings flapping dangerously, sending a strong wind that whirled the dark raindrops around in a frenzy. "And that's the way I'll defeat you. The Last of the Three, the strongest under my master."
L-sama's eyes flared, and her golden aura rose in power. "Your battle will be with me!" she declared, firing a blast of chaotic energy at Fate.
"It's... bad... isn't it?" Gourry managed to groan, struggling to stay on his feet. Still, he brought out his Sword of Light dutifully. "But we've still gotta have hope. It's... no different from all our other battles..." The others didn't say anything, merely giving a nod of indication or getting ready for battle themselves. It looked like there was no way to win, but they were prepared to fight to the death.
Fate seperated from itself. As if intended to be one complex puzzle, bits of itself unwound from other bits in an advanced pattern, so that eventually there were two of it. The two Fates flew in opposite directions, spreading their power to cover more range, and then they both stated in unison: "Face your worst fears, fight the past that has returned from the grave. Let darkness engulf you, pain ignite you, and anxiety consume you. Let your negative energy feed Master. Let what has meant to be for countless millenia come into play on this dark day."
L-sama didn't blink. She fired more blasts of golden energy, but the two Fates came to be one once again, causing a pitch-black whirlwind that the golden light could only swirl around, and then become absorbed. She stood her ground, still remaining calm. "Then come at me with your best efforts. I will put a stop to this once and for all!"
Xellos gripped his staff more tightly. Inside the tornado, between the strikes of blood-red lightning, he could sense a familar presence. One that had defeated him more than once before, and of which he could still feel hatred from. Everything was happening too fast. This final servant of the Dark Brilliance felt so different from the past two. The other two has gloated, laughed, mocked them, and openly displayed their evil powers. Fate showed none of this, so Xellos had no idea exactly what opponent they were facing. And he knew from his own acting and experience that an enemy which you knew nothing about was the worst kind. But what was this presence...? Did this Fate truly have the power to attack with fear?
Zelgadis fired a Ra Tilt at the evil wind, but it merely dissipated away into nothing. Finding new strength, the chimera shouted, "Show yourself! Fight us; do not hide!"
A new, or perhaps old... enemy dropped down from the whirling tornado of death. His red hair blew dramatically in the black wind, his body was untouched by the black rain, and his power illuminated the black sky. Darkness was everywhere, and he was just one more portion of it, but it was a familiar darkness. A darkness that had been defeated before. It was the Demon Dragon King in person.
"Not him again..." Amelia whispered in horror, remembering the terrifying battle of before.
"So this is the Demon Dragon King..." Filia acknowledged, trembling.
Lina was still silent, as if continuing her determination to fight the battle to the end, and Zelgadis was concentrated as usual.
Suddenly, Lina spoke up. "Is it really Gaav again? It's impossible, isn't it? Maybe this is just a mind trick, or maybe that 'Demon Dragon King' is only a hologram, an illusion. I don't know what this opponent is trying to pull...."
The Lord of Nightmares cringed in anger. "That is not one of my creations! It is an imposter, a twisted version of your own disgusting design!" she shouted into the black tornado. "Is this your master's plan? To take the inhabitants of the worlds I have created and destroy them, only to make them all over again? I shall not accept it!" With a sudden burst of power, the Lord of Nightmares, raised her hand and flared her eyes, making Gaav crash to the ground.
"The Mother of All things is against me now?" Gaav asked, cringing. "But why? Phibrizzo hasn't sided with you. Why are you turning on your own creations?" he demanded of L-sama.
With another flare of anger, L-sama's power destroyed Gaav, and the former enemy reverted back to black energy, flowing back through the air seamlessly into the tornado that was Fate.
"So that's the power level of you all, is it?" Fate inquired. "Then I must twist the past a bit to win, shouldn't I?"
Suddenly it felt like a nuke had gone off. The darkness was so strong now it was all the Slayers could do to avoid being overcome by it and absorbed. Xellos, Zelgadis, Lina, and Gourry managed to stand their ground, squaring themselves against the wind, though barely. Amelia and Filia began to cast barriers and holy magic to try to fight the evil that was starting to consume their essences.
The tornado had turned into an inferno, but not only of fire. And now Fate could be seen at the center, the wings of chaos pumping to speed up the process and to make it stronger. The elements began to warp faster and faster around the whirlwind; Fate was using more strength to create something far more powerful.
Four figures spiralled out of the insane catastrophe of power, at long last.
One jingled his staff, his red robe billowing in the dark wind. Another, in a trenchcoat, came out again. A small boy with an innocent-looking expression was the third. The final one also had black wings that extended out from his shoulders, green hair that was spiked up, eyes that shone with the knowledge of a long, cursed fate. The four most horrible enemies from the past.
"Rezo..." Zelgadis cringed.
"Valgaav!" Filia cried, her eyes widening. "You're supposed to be Val... Val..."
"It looks like all of our old enemies have returned," Lina stated, her eyes looking far more tired than usual.
L-sama fired another blast at Gaav, almost as if she was annoyed that the destruction of the previous one hadn't proved sufficient. This blast, however, Gaav knocked aside with his huge sword. The Demon Dragon King smirked. "Well, it looks like this time I'll finally get to destroy Lina Inverse."
However, the Lord of Nightmares showed no sign of surprise. "So you've increased their powers have you, you disgusting creature?" she stated calmly towards Fate. "I don't think those false beings will be the root of my problem; you are. And when this battle is over, I suppose your 'Master' will have someone to answer to. Let the battle begin." Fate nodded, and his dark versions of Rezo, Gaav, Phibrizzo, and Valgaav charged forward, their red eyes blazing in the miserable dark.
"Valgaav, I may have been able to kill you once, but I was lucky that time. You came back. I can't... I can't do it again!" Filia dropped to her knees, sobbing.
The others helped her up quickly. "Miss Filia, we just have to do the best we can," Amelia tried to reassure her. "They aren't real. They aren't real."
"Ha!" shouted Rezo, firing a huge burst of energy while striking the earth with his staff. The Slayers scattered, with Zelgadis charging toward Rezo in a counterattack.
"You cursed me with this body long ago, and now you come back to haunt me?!" Zelgadis demanded, slashing across the Red Priest's unguarded face with his sword. He landed neatly on the opposite side of Rezo, and waited.
"Ah, Zelgadis. A betrayal as always," Rezo muttered in amusement, turning around. To Zelgadis's diebelief, there wasn't even a scratch where his sword had met Rezo. "But this time it won't be enough." He laughed.
"You weren't this powerful!" Zelgadis protested. "Don't you have any pride but to come back with the help of this disgusting being?" he pointed towards Fate, who was still hovering in the sky facing L-sama.
Rezo flared up his power, and the might of both Shabranigdo and Zanifar flared from him, though he still kept in total control. "I have been given the power to bend the truth, to meld what has happened in the past into the current present." His power rose even more, and Zanifar roared as the Dark Lord's red eyes gleamed in the mist that was surrounding the Red Priest. Suddenly, Rezo opened his eyes, and a remarkable clarity of truth was shown there that even Copy Rezo had failed to previously achieve. "And I love it." He swung his staff down with great force, and as it hit the ground, the familiar dark jingling sound echoed throughout the valley of death which the battlefield had become.
Zelgadis cast a Ray Wing, shielding himself from the huge explosion that followed. But, even before the smoke cleared, Rezo charged towards him, hitting him with full force in the stomach. Zelgadis gasped, but then managed to regain control of himself. He tried attacking back with a spell, but the Red Priest merely smirked, and striked Zelgadis with a blow that sent him flying backwards, skidding painfully along the ground.
"Still useless. Still helpless," Rezo chuckled, his eyes dancing dangerously.
"Sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heavens' bonds," Lina chanted from a distance. "Become one with my power, one with my body, and let us walk the path of destruction together. Power that can crush even the souls of the gods. Ragna Blade!" She sprinted towards Rezo from behind.
As she leapt into the air, the Red Priest turned around, and with an expression of actual surprise, was abruptly killed as the Sword of Chaos cut him to pieces. Lina panted on the ground, trying to regain her strength. "Well, at least one of them is out of the way," she gasped.
Zelgadis picked himself up again, but he was feeling sore and, yes, useless. He caught Lina's eye after he saw the defeated Rezo. "Lina, are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Lina replied weakly. "L-sama, I wish this nightmare would end."
"Your god is going to die, and the nightmare is eternal," Rezo replied, smirking.
Lina's eyes slowly widened in horror, as did Zelgadis's. The Red Priest was still in pieces on the ground, but no blood had been shed. Slowly, darkness began to concentrate near Rezo, and a bolt of red lightning flashed across the sky. It interlocked him, built him, made him again. And as the parts of Rezo reassemabled, he simply took on a look of utter confidence, his open eyes regarding them with malice. Almost as soon as it began, the process was over. There wasn't even the smallest injury on Rezo.
"That's... impossible!" Zelgadis protested, looking at Rezo with anger. "DAMN YOU! Why won't you DIE?!" He drew his sword again, and in a motion that seemed to be no motion at all, completely impaled Rezo with his weapon.
Lina stepped back a little, horrified at both the sight and Zelgadis's sudden burst of anger.
"You made me who I turned into, and now I finally get to undo you," Zelgadis stated, his voice dripping with hatred that had been held back for years. Rezo coughed up some dark blood, but still managed to maintain his evil expression.
"RA TILT!" Zelgadis yelled, channeling in the attack through the sword. The ensuing explosion threw both him and Lina backwards, and Rezo was completely incinerated.
Lina got to her feet quickly, feeling even more danger about. Even though she knew deep own that Rezo probably still wasn't dead, she still remembered the other enemies. She let out a cry of surprise when she saw Phibrizzo sitting on a nearby rock surface. He'd been watching the battle the whole time.
"Quite a good job," Hellmaster chuckled. "Since you see how hopeless the situation is, why don't you try one more time? Cast the Giga Slave again!"
Lina had to smile a tiny bit at this, despite the hellish situation. "I have news for you, Phibrizzo. I already have, and this ghost existence you live now is exactly the same as when you revived those souls in Sairaag. You mean nothing, and the Lord of Nightmares would surely destroy you a second time."
Hellmaster appeared to consider this for a bit, but then a familiar smirk came over his face. "You're right. Perhaps this time, I'll just entertain myself by killing you and your friends for no reason at all..." A famliiar set of soul orbs appeared in his hand.
"Stop it!" Amelia screamed, trying to catch Phibrizzo's attention.
"Amelia, no!" Lina yelled. "Don't repeat the past!"
Phibrizzo laughed, his laugh sounding altogether too much like Anguish's and Pain's to be his. "We'll start with you..." he continued in triumph, lifting up a single soul orb in between his thumb and forefinger.
Zelgadis looked around. There appeared to be no sign of Rezo. Perhaps his revenge had finally been exacted. His heart skipped a beat when he saw some ashes on the ground moving. No... No... he thought desperately.
The ashes formed a hand, and that hand went right for Zelgadis's throat. Zel had no time to react, and as he tried to resist the choking hand, the rest of Rezo built up around him from the ashes, and soon Rezo's face was seen again as he held Zelgadis in his clutches.
"Don't you know? I've been created by Master expecially for you," Rezo chuckled. "Surely you didn't expect me to go so soon, did you?"
Valgaav bowed to Gaav, his Ancient Dragon wings flapping slightly. "Gaav-sama... We are finally given the chance to fight together..."
Gaav laughed. "Yes, and this time Hellmaster won't stand in the way either. This time, the monster race shall be ours."
Xellos teleported to near them. "But I shan't be out of your way this time, Demon Dragon King," he stated, oddly bold. Even Xellos knew that if he gave up now, everyone would die.
"Oh, really? You interfere again, Xellos. But this time, not in the way of my plan, but simply in my WAY!" Gaav bellowed, firing an energy blast from his sword.
Xellos managed to teleport out of the way, but barely. He teleported high above, and Gourry got the signal they had planned. From a distance, the swordsman fired a huge blast of energy from the Sword of Light to where Gaav and Valgaav were standing. There was an excellent chance they would both be hit head-on.
Filia got the sign as well. She fired her Chaotic Disintegrate spell, hoping against hope that since these were darker versions of the original, holy spells would be enough to vanquish them.
Valgaav flared up his amazing power, but Gaav was not surprised. For since Fate had chosen this reality to be true, it had always been that Valgaav had possessed unrivaled might. He commanded the forces of both Volpheed and Darkstar.
Gaav, and least of all Valgaav, had to do anything to block against such weak attacks.
"There is no need for the purification of the world when fate does not require it to be done," Valgaav stated. "It is the wish of both Volpheed and Darkstar that you all be DESTROYED!" With a yell, he began powering up to his full strength, made even greater by his rebirth by the Dark Brilliance.
The black rain began swelling to monsoon proportions, the endless waves of water not just sheets, but seemingly a solid presence in the air. The red lightning now spanned from sky to earth, starting fires that just as quickly fed the darkness, fed Fate, fed the Dark Brilliance.
Phibrizzo stopped. Rezo stopped. Everyone simply stopped moving and just watched as they felt Valgaav's colossal power begin to pick up; power that could surpass the Lord of Nightmares'?
L-sama herself had been hovering in the sky facing Fate the entire time, neither of them moving, merely watching the battle below to see the situation. But the Mother of All Things had finally had enough. "That's right!" she stated in her perfect level voice, this Golden Kyra beginning to show her strength. "It IS time to end all of this, and as your 'Master' indicates, it is all just a pattern. So following that logic, YOU are Valgaav, the Ancient Dragon fusion from my creations. And so you shall be defeated by the very weapons of that which you have absorbed. There are no Darkstar weapons in this world, and you have not absorbed Darkstar. You have utilized the powers of chaos, which only I am allowed to manipulate directly. And so you shall be defeated by chaos. There is no need for Darkstar weapons, as I am the one who created Darkstar in the Beginning. And so I have the power to create new ones."
"As you say," Fate replied, in an equally level tone. "But the outcome will be the same in the end."
"Lina Inverse!" L-sama shouted, so that her voice was heard by all in the area.
Lina looked up, surprised to be called upon directly yet again.
"You must cast another Giga Slave!"
The Slayers all looked very surprised and bewildered at this, and as they were all soaked by the neverending rain, they felt another wave of despair.
"But why?" Lina called back over the sound of thunder. "I don't know if I have enough strength!"
Phibrizzo smiled, his face illuminated by the lightning. "If I have been killed once by this, perhaps it is fate that the same happen again." His eyes looked wild. Nothing made sense.
"Your Giga Slave is what keeps me channeled to this earth!" the Lord of Nightmares explained. "I am supposed to be the Overseer. I should never have had to make a direct entry unto my own creations. You must channel me fully with another spell!"
Lina sighed, the burden of responsibility falling on her again. Fate's full attention was on her, and so his false creations had no purpose any longer. Valgaav stopped powering up, Gaav put away his sword, Rezo released his grip, and Phibrizzo's soul orbs vanished. They turned into darkness in a meld once more, and in a tornado of power surged back into Fate's essence. The Slayers were free to move on their own again, but none of them did. They could all see.
They could all see across the horror which was the only thing any of them remembered now. Even across the monsoon of evil. Even across the pitch-black Outer World. Even across the red lightning and black thunder and death itself. They could witness the calamity. And so the process began.
"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, Deeper than the depest night," Lina chanted, her eyes glistening with determination. Even at these few words, the aura of the Lord of Nightmares began to shine. "King of Darkness, who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos." The evil of Fate deepened, and his emotionless glance never wavered. "I pledge myself to thee..." The rain swelled even more. It was so odd - the sheets and sheets of rain pouring down, but never accumulating upon the ground. "SWEAR myself to thee..." A titanic bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, the last one. This one, if anyone had looked at in detail, stayed in the sky for a full three seconds, and embedded in it was creation, was chaos to the finest level. "Let the fools who stand before me...." Suddenly, there was absolute silence. he rain made no sound, breathing was not heard, L-sama's growing aura not impacting at all. Only Lina's voice was heard. "Be destroyed by the power you and I possess... GIGA SLAVE!"
Those final two words sent a silent command through the air, and the power of the Mother of All Things suddenly rose infinitely, her radiance to the fullest degree. Fate's power paled beneath Her.
Sound came back, everything came back at once, including L-sama's powerful voice. "With this revitalized power, I carry out the prophecy, the prophecy of your inevitable death. I create the Nightmare Weapons, not from the power of any of my creations, but from my essence directly."
As she spoke, four weapons that held the power of Chaos fell from the sky. The sword fell into Gourry's hands, the spear into Zelgadis's, the axe into Amelia's, and the bow into Lina's.
No one had any objections about having to use weapons this time, and Filia was the first to realize. "This is the second prophecy!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps once we finish this, this nightmare will be over."
"Does this mean I get to fuse my power with yours again?" asked Xellos, smiling faintly.
Filia allowed a small smile too. "I suppose. How unfortunate."
Zelgadis, Gourry, and Amelia put on what little confidence they had left. "This time will be a final victory," Gourry said in a matter-of-fact manner, even against the horrible atmosphere.
"I'll live with you in Seyruun if we get past this," Zelgadis whispered, gathering up unexpected courage. He bent down and kissed Amelia softly on the kiss, knowing that if he didn't do it now, he might never get to. Amelia blushed a deep red but didn't say anything, only looking back with a smile at Zelgadis while awkwardly holding the dark axe at the same time.
The three got in a triangle around Lina, who knew that history was about to be repeated. Filia and Xellos got behind the whole procession, and that began the ceremony.
The dragon and the mozaku once again channeled the power of the gods and monsters, powering up as much as they could.
It was at this point, when the energy from the Nightmare Weapons was starting to connect, and the forces of good and evil were converging, that Lina realized something vital. She had no idea what spell to chant. But then she realized - it didn't matter .This was no battle; this was the End.
L-sama looked down with approval, and then fired a blast of chaotic energy towards the Slayers. The chaos was absorbed by the Nightmare Weapons, and it gave the companions the instructions they needed.
In perfect precision, they fired their blasts and channeled their power. An arrow pierced through the air, glistening and perfect, towards Fate. And it was inevitable - the huge blast centered directly where the disgusting creature's heart should have been, and the explosion that ensued finally destroyed the nightmare once and for all.
Or did it?
For at the moment Fate was destroyed, a HUGE force was felt by everyone, and even L-sama had to retreat to the ground to prepare Herself for something horrible that was arriving. As the smoke cleared from the Nightmare Weapons' blast, the air suddenly turned completely and utterly BLACK, as if the lights over the whole world had been shut off. There was no moon, no stars, nothing. Only darkness.
And then a single light. Red light. Power that erupted from where Fate had been struck.
The power was suddenly felt in full force. Mountains erupted out of the ground, though no one could see them. Earthquakes began, and rocks flew through the air.
The Lord of Nightmares created a shield immediately, protecting Herself and the Slayers from harm.
"This is it," Gourry whispered, to no one in particular. But everyone knew what he meant.
Suddenly, they all SAW. They saw terrible things. A scene from another world of a thing called the Holocaust. Of disease annihalating a race. Of wars and guns and tanks.
They saw people getting hanged, their air slowly escaping their lungs, and people nearby crying, crying for the people and the injustice in the world.
They saw torture. Blood spraying everywhere. Grotesque, disgusting deaths. They saw nightmares, they saw every fear in color, they saw the impossible where it could happen. They saw people screaming, running, begging for mercy and being killed savagely. Laughing, dark figures holding daggers up to the sky and piercing it so that the stars fell and the sun and moon choked and died.
Pain. Fear. Anxiety. Depression. Helplessness. Anger. Spite. Jealousy. Emotions were painted in their minds, but only negative ones. They saw Death.
"Please, stop it! STOP IT!" Filia screamed, her body nearly giving out from the strain of witnessing. Witnessing "truth".
The others fell to the ground, and they were wracked by new pain, a horrible feeling that none of the previous Three they had faced could have caused.
"Can't... you... stop... this....?" Amelia asked in desperation at the Lord of Nightmares.
But L-sama was looking strangely disturbed as well. "I would never have thought..." she began. "That chaos could be formed in such... ways..."
They saw more. Heard more. The darkness they were in was nothing. The darkness that was creeping into their minds and soul... that was the true danger.
They saw people being whipped, beheaded, burned slowly. They saw the ultimate triumph of evil, but those figures were only betrayed and replaced by an even more horrible degree of evil.
They saw themselves. They saw themselves acting crazily, shouting at each other and fighting. They saw that they were killing themselves, trying to emerge the victor, trying to kill all the others so that-
"SHOW YOURSELF NOW!" Lina yelled, suddenly gaining strength.
The visions stopped. The darkness lifted enough so that the red light was seen more clearly. But there was nothing there.
"That's right. I am the Dark Brilliance," a voice stated. "Now why don't we proceed with what we all know will eventually happen?"
"Where are you? Why do you hide behind images and illusions if your servants always go about how powerful you are?" the Lord of Nightmares asked, regaining authority.
"Is it really so important to you all? I think what we really want is a fight... isn't it?"
"I don't think that's what any of us wants..." Gourry managed to say, drawing the Sword of Light as the Nightmare Weapons vanished.
"Then it will be only one. The very last fight of all."
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Well, it's been another really long wait. I'm sorry it took so long to write another chapter, but I have to put really careful thought into some of the description. Also, I lacked some inspiration because I didn't get as much reviews for chapter 5. The more people that R & R this time, the faster I'll have the next chapter up. ^_^
Chapter 6: War With the Black Past, Birth of Finality
"The nightmare returned, stronger than ever before. Will strength be enough to win yet again?"
The sky was withered, defeated. And the darkness was too much for it to hold meaning for. So it began to rain, black rain.
Each drop that hit the ground was a wound to the earth, sizzling and causing impurities that would never be healed. The Slayers felt each drop clear as day, like a hailstorm of needles that wouldn't stop, like a constant pain that won't go away.
Fate looked down at Lina Inverse emotionlessly, and Lina shivered under the creature's cold gaze. She could almost feel the willpower draining from her. She held her head between her hands, trying to fight the horrible feeling, but it was useless. Still, she knew that she couldn't give up. Wouldn't.
"I sensed your fear. I knew your battles. It is my purpose to take advantage of that," Fate stated, his black wings flapping dangerously, sending a strong wind that whirled the dark raindrops around in a frenzy. "And that's the way I'll defeat you. The Last of the Three, the strongest under my master."
L-sama's eyes flared, and her golden aura rose in power. "Your battle will be with me!" she declared, firing a blast of chaotic energy at Fate.
"It's... bad... isn't it?" Gourry managed to groan, struggling to stay on his feet. Still, he brought out his Sword of Light dutifully. "But we've still gotta have hope. It's... no different from all our other battles..." The others didn't say anything, merely giving a nod of indication or getting ready for battle themselves. It looked like there was no way to win, but they were prepared to fight to the death.
Fate seperated from itself. As if intended to be one complex puzzle, bits of itself unwound from other bits in an advanced pattern, so that eventually there were two of it. The two Fates flew in opposite directions, spreading their power to cover more range, and then they both stated in unison: "Face your worst fears, fight the past that has returned from the grave. Let darkness engulf you, pain ignite you, and anxiety consume you. Let your negative energy feed Master. Let what has meant to be for countless millenia come into play on this dark day."
L-sama didn't blink. She fired more blasts of golden energy, but the two Fates came to be one once again, causing a pitch-black whirlwind that the golden light could only swirl around, and then become absorbed. She stood her ground, still remaining calm. "Then come at me with your best efforts. I will put a stop to this once and for all!"
Xellos gripped his staff more tightly. Inside the tornado, between the strikes of blood-red lightning, he could sense a familar presence. One that had defeated him more than once before, and of which he could still feel hatred from. Everything was happening too fast. This final servant of the Dark Brilliance felt so different from the past two. The other two has gloated, laughed, mocked them, and openly displayed their evil powers. Fate showed none of this, so Xellos had no idea exactly what opponent they were facing. And he knew from his own acting and experience that an enemy which you knew nothing about was the worst kind. But what was this presence...? Did this Fate truly have the power to attack with fear?
Zelgadis fired a Ra Tilt at the evil wind, but it merely dissipated away into nothing. Finding new strength, the chimera shouted, "Show yourself! Fight us; do not hide!"
A new, or perhaps old... enemy dropped down from the whirling tornado of death. His red hair blew dramatically in the black wind, his body was untouched by the black rain, and his power illuminated the black sky. Darkness was everywhere, and he was just one more portion of it, but it was a familiar darkness. A darkness that had been defeated before. It was the Demon Dragon King in person.
"Not him again..." Amelia whispered in horror, remembering the terrifying battle of before.
"So this is the Demon Dragon King..." Filia acknowledged, trembling.
Lina was still silent, as if continuing her determination to fight the battle to the end, and Zelgadis was concentrated as usual.
Suddenly, Lina spoke up. "Is it really Gaav again? It's impossible, isn't it? Maybe this is just a mind trick, or maybe that 'Demon Dragon King' is only a hologram, an illusion. I don't know what this opponent is trying to pull...."
The Lord of Nightmares cringed in anger. "That is not one of my creations! It is an imposter, a twisted version of your own disgusting design!" she shouted into the black tornado. "Is this your master's plan? To take the inhabitants of the worlds I have created and destroy them, only to make them all over again? I shall not accept it!" With a sudden burst of power, the Lord of Nightmares, raised her hand and flared her eyes, making Gaav crash to the ground.
"The Mother of All things is against me now?" Gaav asked, cringing. "But why? Phibrizzo hasn't sided with you. Why are you turning on your own creations?" he demanded of L-sama.
With another flare of anger, L-sama's power destroyed Gaav, and the former enemy reverted back to black energy, flowing back through the air seamlessly into the tornado that was Fate.
"So that's the power level of you all, is it?" Fate inquired. "Then I must twist the past a bit to win, shouldn't I?"
Suddenly it felt like a nuke had gone off. The darkness was so strong now it was all the Slayers could do to avoid being overcome by it and absorbed. Xellos, Zelgadis, Lina, and Gourry managed to stand their ground, squaring themselves against the wind, though barely. Amelia and Filia began to cast barriers and holy magic to try to fight the evil that was starting to consume their essences.
The tornado had turned into an inferno, but not only of fire. And now Fate could be seen at the center, the wings of chaos pumping to speed up the process and to make it stronger. The elements began to warp faster and faster around the whirlwind; Fate was using more strength to create something far more powerful.
Four figures spiralled out of the insane catastrophe of power, at long last.
One jingled his staff, his red robe billowing in the dark wind. Another, in a trenchcoat, came out again. A small boy with an innocent-looking expression was the third. The final one also had black wings that extended out from his shoulders, green hair that was spiked up, eyes that shone with the knowledge of a long, cursed fate. The four most horrible enemies from the past.
"Rezo..." Zelgadis cringed.
"Valgaav!" Filia cried, her eyes widening. "You're supposed to be Val... Val..."
"It looks like all of our old enemies have returned," Lina stated, her eyes looking far more tired than usual.
L-sama fired another blast at Gaav, almost as if she was annoyed that the destruction of the previous one hadn't proved sufficient. This blast, however, Gaav knocked aside with his huge sword. The Demon Dragon King smirked. "Well, it looks like this time I'll finally get to destroy Lina Inverse."
However, the Lord of Nightmares showed no sign of surprise. "So you've increased their powers have you, you disgusting creature?" she stated calmly towards Fate. "I don't think those false beings will be the root of my problem; you are. And when this battle is over, I suppose your 'Master' will have someone to answer to. Let the battle begin." Fate nodded, and his dark versions of Rezo, Gaav, Phibrizzo, and Valgaav charged forward, their red eyes blazing in the miserable dark.
"Valgaav, I may have been able to kill you once, but I was lucky that time. You came back. I can't... I can't do it again!" Filia dropped to her knees, sobbing.
The others helped her up quickly. "Miss Filia, we just have to do the best we can," Amelia tried to reassure her. "They aren't real. They aren't real."
"Ha!" shouted Rezo, firing a huge burst of energy while striking the earth with his staff. The Slayers scattered, with Zelgadis charging toward Rezo in a counterattack.
"You cursed me with this body long ago, and now you come back to haunt me?!" Zelgadis demanded, slashing across the Red Priest's unguarded face with his sword. He landed neatly on the opposite side of Rezo, and waited.
"Ah, Zelgadis. A betrayal as always," Rezo muttered in amusement, turning around. To Zelgadis's diebelief, there wasn't even a scratch where his sword had met Rezo. "But this time it won't be enough." He laughed.
"You weren't this powerful!" Zelgadis protested. "Don't you have any pride but to come back with the help of this disgusting being?" he pointed towards Fate, who was still hovering in the sky facing L-sama.
Rezo flared up his power, and the might of both Shabranigdo and Zanifar flared from him, though he still kept in total control. "I have been given the power to bend the truth, to meld what has happened in the past into the current present." His power rose even more, and Zanifar roared as the Dark Lord's red eyes gleamed in the mist that was surrounding the Red Priest. Suddenly, Rezo opened his eyes, and a remarkable clarity of truth was shown there that even Copy Rezo had failed to previously achieve. "And I love it." He swung his staff down with great force, and as it hit the ground, the familiar dark jingling sound echoed throughout the valley of death which the battlefield had become.
Zelgadis cast a Ray Wing, shielding himself from the huge explosion that followed. But, even before the smoke cleared, Rezo charged towards him, hitting him with full force in the stomach. Zelgadis gasped, but then managed to regain control of himself. He tried attacking back with a spell, but the Red Priest merely smirked, and striked Zelgadis with a blow that sent him flying backwards, skidding painfully along the ground.
"Still useless. Still helpless," Rezo chuckled, his eyes dancing dangerously.
"Sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heavens' bonds," Lina chanted from a distance. "Become one with my power, one with my body, and let us walk the path of destruction together. Power that can crush even the souls of the gods. Ragna Blade!" She sprinted towards Rezo from behind.
As she leapt into the air, the Red Priest turned around, and with an expression of actual surprise, was abruptly killed as the Sword of Chaos cut him to pieces. Lina panted on the ground, trying to regain her strength. "Well, at least one of them is out of the way," she gasped.
Zelgadis picked himself up again, but he was feeling sore and, yes, useless. He caught Lina's eye after he saw the defeated Rezo. "Lina, are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Lina replied weakly. "L-sama, I wish this nightmare would end."
"Your god is going to die, and the nightmare is eternal," Rezo replied, smirking.
Lina's eyes slowly widened in horror, as did Zelgadis's. The Red Priest was still in pieces on the ground, but no blood had been shed. Slowly, darkness began to concentrate near Rezo, and a bolt of red lightning flashed across the sky. It interlocked him, built him, made him again. And as the parts of Rezo reassemabled, he simply took on a look of utter confidence, his open eyes regarding them with malice. Almost as soon as it began, the process was over. There wasn't even the smallest injury on Rezo.
"That's... impossible!" Zelgadis protested, looking at Rezo with anger. "DAMN YOU! Why won't you DIE?!" He drew his sword again, and in a motion that seemed to be no motion at all, completely impaled Rezo with his weapon.
Lina stepped back a little, horrified at both the sight and Zelgadis's sudden burst of anger.
"You made me who I turned into, and now I finally get to undo you," Zelgadis stated, his voice dripping with hatred that had been held back for years. Rezo coughed up some dark blood, but still managed to maintain his evil expression.
"RA TILT!" Zelgadis yelled, channeling in the attack through the sword. The ensuing explosion threw both him and Lina backwards, and Rezo was completely incinerated.
Lina got to her feet quickly, feeling even more danger about. Even though she knew deep own that Rezo probably still wasn't dead, she still remembered the other enemies. She let out a cry of surprise when she saw Phibrizzo sitting on a nearby rock surface. He'd been watching the battle the whole time.
"Quite a good job," Hellmaster chuckled. "Since you see how hopeless the situation is, why don't you try one more time? Cast the Giga Slave again!"
Lina had to smile a tiny bit at this, despite the hellish situation. "I have news for you, Phibrizzo. I already have, and this ghost existence you live now is exactly the same as when you revived those souls in Sairaag. You mean nothing, and the Lord of Nightmares would surely destroy you a second time."
Hellmaster appeared to consider this for a bit, but then a familiar smirk came over his face. "You're right. Perhaps this time, I'll just entertain myself by killing you and your friends for no reason at all..." A famliiar set of soul orbs appeared in his hand.
"Stop it!" Amelia screamed, trying to catch Phibrizzo's attention.
"Amelia, no!" Lina yelled. "Don't repeat the past!"
Phibrizzo laughed, his laugh sounding altogether too much like Anguish's and Pain's to be his. "We'll start with you..." he continued in triumph, lifting up a single soul orb in between his thumb and forefinger.
Zelgadis looked around. There appeared to be no sign of Rezo. Perhaps his revenge had finally been exacted. His heart skipped a beat when he saw some ashes on the ground moving. No... No... he thought desperately.
The ashes formed a hand, and that hand went right for Zelgadis's throat. Zel had no time to react, and as he tried to resist the choking hand, the rest of Rezo built up around him from the ashes, and soon Rezo's face was seen again as he held Zelgadis in his clutches.
"Don't you know? I've been created by Master expecially for you," Rezo chuckled. "Surely you didn't expect me to go so soon, did you?"
Valgaav bowed to Gaav, his Ancient Dragon wings flapping slightly. "Gaav-sama... We are finally given the chance to fight together..."
Gaav laughed. "Yes, and this time Hellmaster won't stand in the way either. This time, the monster race shall be ours."
Xellos teleported to near them. "But I shan't be out of your way this time, Demon Dragon King," he stated, oddly bold. Even Xellos knew that if he gave up now, everyone would die.
"Oh, really? You interfere again, Xellos. But this time, not in the way of my plan, but simply in my WAY!" Gaav bellowed, firing an energy blast from his sword.
Xellos managed to teleport out of the way, but barely. He teleported high above, and Gourry got the signal they had planned. From a distance, the swordsman fired a huge blast of energy from the Sword of Light to where Gaav and Valgaav were standing. There was an excellent chance they would both be hit head-on.
Filia got the sign as well. She fired her Chaotic Disintegrate spell, hoping against hope that since these were darker versions of the original, holy spells would be enough to vanquish them.
Valgaav flared up his amazing power, but Gaav was not surprised. For since Fate had chosen this reality to be true, it had always been that Valgaav had possessed unrivaled might. He commanded the forces of both Volpheed and Darkstar.
Gaav, and least of all Valgaav, had to do anything to block against such weak attacks.
"There is no need for the purification of the world when fate does not require it to be done," Valgaav stated. "It is the wish of both Volpheed and Darkstar that you all be DESTROYED!" With a yell, he began powering up to his full strength, made even greater by his rebirth by the Dark Brilliance.
The black rain began swelling to monsoon proportions, the endless waves of water not just sheets, but seemingly a solid presence in the air. The red lightning now spanned from sky to earth, starting fires that just as quickly fed the darkness, fed Fate, fed the Dark Brilliance.
Phibrizzo stopped. Rezo stopped. Everyone simply stopped moving and just watched as they felt Valgaav's colossal power begin to pick up; power that could surpass the Lord of Nightmares'?
L-sama herself had been hovering in the sky facing Fate the entire time, neither of them moving, merely watching the battle below to see the situation. But the Mother of All Things had finally had enough. "That's right!" she stated in her perfect level voice, this Golden Kyra beginning to show her strength. "It IS time to end all of this, and as your 'Master' indicates, it is all just a pattern. So following that logic, YOU are Valgaav, the Ancient Dragon fusion from my creations. And so you shall be defeated by the very weapons of that which you have absorbed. There are no Darkstar weapons in this world, and you have not absorbed Darkstar. You have utilized the powers of chaos, which only I am allowed to manipulate directly. And so you shall be defeated by chaos. There is no need for Darkstar weapons, as I am the one who created Darkstar in the Beginning. And so I have the power to create new ones."
"As you say," Fate replied, in an equally level tone. "But the outcome will be the same in the end."
"Lina Inverse!" L-sama shouted, so that her voice was heard by all in the area.
Lina looked up, surprised to be called upon directly yet again.
"You must cast another Giga Slave!"
The Slayers all looked very surprised and bewildered at this, and as they were all soaked by the neverending rain, they felt another wave of despair.
"But why?" Lina called back over the sound of thunder. "I don't know if I have enough strength!"
Phibrizzo smiled, his face illuminated by the lightning. "If I have been killed once by this, perhaps it is fate that the same happen again." His eyes looked wild. Nothing made sense.
"Your Giga Slave is what keeps me channeled to this earth!" the Lord of Nightmares explained. "I am supposed to be the Overseer. I should never have had to make a direct entry unto my own creations. You must channel me fully with another spell!"
Lina sighed, the burden of responsibility falling on her again. Fate's full attention was on her, and so his false creations had no purpose any longer. Valgaav stopped powering up, Gaav put away his sword, Rezo released his grip, and Phibrizzo's soul orbs vanished. They turned into darkness in a meld once more, and in a tornado of power surged back into Fate's essence. The Slayers were free to move on their own again, but none of them did. They could all see.
They could all see across the horror which was the only thing any of them remembered now. Even across the monsoon of evil. Even across the pitch-black Outer World. Even across the red lightning and black thunder and death itself. They could witness the calamity. And so the process began.
"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, Deeper than the depest night," Lina chanted, her eyes glistening with determination. Even at these few words, the aura of the Lord of Nightmares began to shine. "King of Darkness, who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos." The evil of Fate deepened, and his emotionless glance never wavered. "I pledge myself to thee..." The rain swelled even more. It was so odd - the sheets and sheets of rain pouring down, but never accumulating upon the ground. "SWEAR myself to thee..." A titanic bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, the last one. This one, if anyone had looked at in detail, stayed in the sky for a full three seconds, and embedded in it was creation, was chaos to the finest level. "Let the fools who stand before me...." Suddenly, there was absolute silence. he rain made no sound, breathing was not heard, L-sama's growing aura not impacting at all. Only Lina's voice was heard. "Be destroyed by the power you and I possess... GIGA SLAVE!"
Those final two words sent a silent command through the air, and the power of the Mother of All Things suddenly rose infinitely, her radiance to the fullest degree. Fate's power paled beneath Her.
Sound came back, everything came back at once, including L-sama's powerful voice. "With this revitalized power, I carry out the prophecy, the prophecy of your inevitable death. I create the Nightmare Weapons, not from the power of any of my creations, but from my essence directly."
As she spoke, four weapons that held the power of Chaos fell from the sky. The sword fell into Gourry's hands, the spear into Zelgadis's, the axe into Amelia's, and the bow into Lina's.
No one had any objections about having to use weapons this time, and Filia was the first to realize. "This is the second prophecy!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps once we finish this, this nightmare will be over."
"Does this mean I get to fuse my power with yours again?" asked Xellos, smiling faintly.
Filia allowed a small smile too. "I suppose. How unfortunate."
Zelgadis, Gourry, and Amelia put on what little confidence they had left. "This time will be a final victory," Gourry said in a matter-of-fact manner, even against the horrible atmosphere.
"I'll live with you in Seyruun if we get past this," Zelgadis whispered, gathering up unexpected courage. He bent down and kissed Amelia softly on the kiss, knowing that if he didn't do it now, he might never get to. Amelia blushed a deep red but didn't say anything, only looking back with a smile at Zelgadis while awkwardly holding the dark axe at the same time.
The three got in a triangle around Lina, who knew that history was about to be repeated. Filia and Xellos got behind the whole procession, and that began the ceremony.
The dragon and the mozaku once again channeled the power of the gods and monsters, powering up as much as they could.
It was at this point, when the energy from the Nightmare Weapons was starting to connect, and the forces of good and evil were converging, that Lina realized something vital. She had no idea what spell to chant. But then she realized - it didn't matter .This was no battle; this was the End.
L-sama looked down with approval, and then fired a blast of chaotic energy towards the Slayers. The chaos was absorbed by the Nightmare Weapons, and it gave the companions the instructions they needed.
In perfect precision, they fired their blasts and channeled their power. An arrow pierced through the air, glistening and perfect, towards Fate. And it was inevitable - the huge blast centered directly where the disgusting creature's heart should have been, and the explosion that ensued finally destroyed the nightmare once and for all.
Or did it?
For at the moment Fate was destroyed, a HUGE force was felt by everyone, and even L-sama had to retreat to the ground to prepare Herself for something horrible that was arriving. As the smoke cleared from the Nightmare Weapons' blast, the air suddenly turned completely and utterly BLACK, as if the lights over the whole world had been shut off. There was no moon, no stars, nothing. Only darkness.
And then a single light. Red light. Power that erupted from where Fate had been struck.
The power was suddenly felt in full force. Mountains erupted out of the ground, though no one could see them. Earthquakes began, and rocks flew through the air.
The Lord of Nightmares created a shield immediately, protecting Herself and the Slayers from harm.
"This is it," Gourry whispered, to no one in particular. But everyone knew what he meant.
Suddenly, they all SAW. They saw terrible things. A scene from another world of a thing called the Holocaust. Of disease annihalating a race. Of wars and guns and tanks.
They saw people getting hanged, their air slowly escaping their lungs, and people nearby crying, crying for the people and the injustice in the world.
They saw torture. Blood spraying everywhere. Grotesque, disgusting deaths. They saw nightmares, they saw every fear in color, they saw the impossible where it could happen. They saw people screaming, running, begging for mercy and being killed savagely. Laughing, dark figures holding daggers up to the sky and piercing it so that the stars fell and the sun and moon choked and died.
Pain. Fear. Anxiety. Depression. Helplessness. Anger. Spite. Jealousy. Emotions were painted in their minds, but only negative ones. They saw Death.
"Please, stop it! STOP IT!" Filia screamed, her body nearly giving out from the strain of witnessing. Witnessing "truth".
The others fell to the ground, and they were wracked by new pain, a horrible feeling that none of the previous Three they had faced could have caused.
"Can't... you... stop... this....?" Amelia asked in desperation at the Lord of Nightmares.
But L-sama was looking strangely disturbed as well. "I would never have thought..." she began. "That chaos could be formed in such... ways..."
They saw more. Heard more. The darkness they were in was nothing. The darkness that was creeping into their minds and soul... that was the true danger.
They saw people being whipped, beheaded, burned slowly. They saw the ultimate triumph of evil, but those figures were only betrayed and replaced by an even more horrible degree of evil.
They saw themselves. They saw themselves acting crazily, shouting at each other and fighting. They saw that they were killing themselves, trying to emerge the victor, trying to kill all the others so that-
"SHOW YOURSELF NOW!" Lina yelled, suddenly gaining strength.
The visions stopped. The darkness lifted enough so that the red light was seen more clearly. But there was nothing there.
"That's right. I am the Dark Brilliance," a voice stated. "Now why don't we proceed with what we all know will eventually happen?"
"Where are you? Why do you hide behind images and illusions if your servants always go about how powerful you are?" the Lord of Nightmares asked, regaining authority.
"Is it really so important to you all? I think what we really want is a fight... isn't it?"
"I don't think that's what any of us wants..." Gourry managed to say, drawing the Sword of Light as the Nightmare Weapons vanished.
"Then it will be only one. The very last fight of all."
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Well, it's been another really long wait. I'm sorry it took so long to write another chapter, but I have to put really careful thought into some of the description. Also, I lacked some inspiration because I didn't get as much reviews for chapter 5. The more people that R & R this time, the faster I'll have the next chapter up. ^_^
