This is it, my wonderful readers. The culmination and end of the fight. It was really hard for me to write -if my memory serves me, because it was so long ago..eheh...-but I'm kind of proud of it. Be assured, however, that we are still far from the end. Hope you enjoy!
Klutz82 - laughs I love your eyes! I should have put a "To Be Continued..." or something, but I sort of thought it would ruin the moment. This should alleviate some of the tension...sort of...;)p
Gerao-A - Evil Amelia is kinda hot, isn't she? In an effort not to torture you too much, here is Zel's decision!
E-chan16 - throws you a rope Stop hanging from that cliff, missy, it's dangerous! Hope you like this!
Seygram 13 - Wow. You're really awesome. That's some fine research you did, and it's interesting to hear that about the Gorun Nova - I'd never heard that theory before. But of course Dynast has all the advantage, and he's counting on that. As for the reversal? Who said anything about Amelia ever getting put back to the way she was? ;) Xellos' agenda should start to become fairly clear, though. Thanks as always for your close reading and interest!
Hoshi-chan1 - Wah, you'll make me blush...Thank you! I hope this suits your fancy as well!
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Part XIV- Beloved Infidel
"Love alone,
is the true seed of every merit in you
and of all acts for which you must atone."
- "Purgatorio," Dante
-------
There shouldn't have been any reason to think about it.
There should have been one answer, and one answer alone.
Humanity or Amelia.
It should have been obvious.
And yet... yet it wasn't, and Zel's mind flew over every permutation, every subtlety of the decision he was asked to make. Idly, his mind flashed on the fact that this was one of those questions no man should have to answer. No one should have to decide between the two things he wanted most in the world.
To have skin instead of stone, hair instead of wire.
Or to have Amelia.
He was aware that Lina and Gourry were shouting at him, that the sorceress was berating him for even thinking about making this deal with the enemy. For even considering for one moment that he would leave Amelia here.
Didn't she understand?
He'd waited for this. Waited for this from the moment his grandfather had cursed him with this hideous body. It was always in the back of his mind, no matter where he was or what he was doing. The option of being human again was so great a thought... A normal man again, there were so many things he could do.
He could travel without the fearful looks he so often received.
He could look at his friends and not wonder if behind their eyes they harbored thoughts of disgust.
He could offer himself to another, unafraid of rejection because of his form.
He could finally look at Amelia and...
Wait a minute.
His train of thought came to a screeching halt.
Did he want to be human for Amelia?
Figure it out, Zelgadis Graywords.
Was that why he'd come?
Figure it out now.
No, he hadn't known there was that possibility. He'd come for Amelia herself, and if he left with his cure instead of her...then what was the point?
She's just a girl.
No. No, there wasn't any point. There wasn't any reason to think anymore. He'd come for Amelia, and having his cure when she wasn't there was not worth the entire world.
She was just a girl.
But he wanted her to be his just a girl.
Just a girl who belonged to him, because he loved her.
There it was.
He'd figured it out.
"I'm not leaving."
His statement hung in the air for a moment as Dynast's eyes flashed with surprise, then narrowed the slightest bit, and Gourry and Lina let out the breaths they'd been holding for what seemed like forever.
"Well then..." the Dark Lord said icily as he stepped aside, leaving Zel to look straight at Amedyn. "Kill her."
"No!" he cried as he parried a sudden thrust from the girl.
"You don't have any other option." Dynast stepped back further from the fight. "You made your choice. Enjoy the consequences."
And with the new revelation of his feelings ringing throughout his head, Zelgadis Graywords was forced to raise his sword and charge at the monster that was the woman he loved.
-------
As soon fight between Amedyn and Zel restarted, Gourry wasted to no time jumping to his feet and pulling Lina up with him. Back to back, they stood, each glaring at their Mazoku opponent as they glared back, waiting for someone to make the first move.
But none of them swayed an inch.
Until Gourry realized that the mumbling sound behind him wasn't from his imagination. No it was Lina, and Lina was mid-way through a long spell.
"...I pledge myself to darkness. Those who oppose us shall..."
Grau suddenly understood what she was doing and, well aware that Grou was still uninformed, made a lunge for her.
"You little bitch, you're not going to finish that spell!"
But Gourry's sword appearing in her path right out of nowhere prevented her from getting past him.
"I thought you wanted to fight me."he smiled, and then drove her back and away from Lina with quick strikes.
"..The power that you and I POSSESS! DRAGON SLAVE!"
The explosion of power from her hands caught the priest entirely by surprise, and carried him back, back, back through at the least three of the hall's huge pillars and finally smashing him into the far wall.
"GROU!" his partner shrieked, her eyes huge and her sword faltering.
The blond swordsman stared at her, then made another strike which she blocked only a hair's width away from her head. She'd seemed to forget all about him, her eyes darting back and forth between their fight and the one behind him.
Lina took a few steps towards the first pillar as it came crashing down in front of her. Had that killed him? Well, it was a possibility, but thinking back to when they'd fought Saygram in the Temple of Sand, she wasn't too sure.
Her instincts proved her right as Grou, looking more than a little worse for wear, faded in before her. With the back of his hand, he wiped away a large trickle of black blood that was oozing from the corner of his mouth.
"Not good enough, short stuff." he sneered. "FREEZE ARROW!"
"BALUS WALL!" She easily deflected the blow. "ELEMEKIA LANCE!"
Due to his weaked state, that spell hit home as well, and Grau's sword slipped a little, earning her a wound in the side which she quickly healed. But she didn't take care of it before something occurred to Gourry. Without a word, he spun away from her and swung at Grou just as he readied another attack.
"You Jellyfish! What are you doing?!"
"They react to each other's getting hurt. Get that big spell sword thing ready, and I'll take care of her."
Trusting him completely on just those simple words, Lina began chanting the Ragna Blade as Gourry deflected another swing from Grau that could have easily severed his lover's neck.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" The priestesses eyes began to glow red, and long claws extended from her free hand. "I'll kill you before you get the chance to hurt him again!"
Her anger, however, proved to throw her off-balance in more ways than one, and a well placed kick to her mid-section sent her sprawling across the floor.
Grou, crouching on the floor, worked up his last reserves of strength as the short red-head in front of him neared the end of her spell. But just before he could speak, he saw his partner fall, and the sound died in his throat.
"RAGNA BLADE!"
He barely heard the nightmare blade cut the air apart before it entered his body and make a diagonal incision from his shoulder to his hip. His eyes went wide and he coughed, more blood running down his chin as his breath came in heaving gasps.
Lina backed away, waiting for the spell to take its full effect, and was nearly bowled over by something that moved past her at tremendous speed. When she next blinked, she found Grau holding her companion's head against her chest. Confused, she looked to Gourry who merely shrugged.
"Guess I was... a little bit... careless, huh?" Grou tried to laugh, but it was a hollow, vile sound.
"Shut up and let me heal you."Grau swallowed hard. "Move your hand."
"I can do it for myself...really..."
"I know..."she whispered, and linked her fingers through his. "I know." Squeezing her eyes shut, she made an almost imperceptible movement with her head, and began to say a spell.
"Wh-what the hell....do you think you're doing?"Grou's eyes were wide. "You can't possibly control that by...by..."
"I don't intend to do it myself. You're going to help me. Come on."
Grou gripped her hand tightly, and nodded. A black aura suddenly flared up around them, growing larger as every word they spoke together became louder. It danced around them like burning shadows, and their tendrils reached towards the sorceress and swordsman.
"Oh, shit, Gourry MOVE!"
"..and by your power, we take our enemies with us. SHADOW IMMOLATION!"
Lina dove at Gourry, taking out his legs and sending them skidding across the icy ground as a huge wall of black flame exploded in the place where they'd been standing. A roaring sound rose as Lina pressed tightly against her guardian for what seems like an eternity, but could only have been a few seconds.
When it ceased, she sat up slowly. There was no sign of either of the priests, save for Grau's abandoned sword laying on the floor. Gourry stirred next to her, and after a moment his hand closed around hers.
She opened her mouth to speak, and he shook his head.
"You don't need to say anything."
"What in gods name is this?"
They both jumped at the sharp voice behind them, finding Dynast standing above Grau's sword, seething with anger.
"What did those two do?"
The fire behind his eyes told them he wasn't going to wait for an answer.
And he didn't.
-------
If there were worse things than having to fight and kill the person that you loved in order to save them, Zelgadis wanted to know what they were.
The wound in his arm hissed with deadly fury at him, and the air seemed to gasp as Amedyn's sword sliced through it, each stroke intended to take away his life.
For a moment, he almost wished he'd taken Dynast's deal. At least then he wouldn't have had to do this to her. But a voice within chided him. Could he really have left her here like this?
Left her alive in this form that was utter sacrilege to what his friend had been?
No, he couldn't. No. So he stayed, and blocked and parried, and wanted to die because he wanted her to die.
I wish there had been a better way to figure out I loved her.
It came and went so quickly, he barely knew it had been there, and yet the words left a fiery trail across his mind. It had taken this to make him see. He had been driven to the brink of insanity all to come to accept those three little words.
It had taken Amelia's life to make him see.
And now he had no choice but to take it back by taking it from her.
Using all his weight, he blocked her next strike and shoved her back, causing her to lose her footing and stumble away. Zel gasped from the effort and bowed his head.
"Are you finally going be serious about this?" she asked, voice full of spite. "It's been far too easy."
"Did this all really have to happen?"
The question caught her off guard and it took her an instant to realize that he wasn't so much asking her as he was asking himself.
"What are you doing?"she cocked her head to one side and watched him.
"I really have to kill you, don't I?" he raised his head to see her. Amelia's body with a black soul. His Amelia...
She was immediately defensive.
"I don't plan on letting you kill me!"
"I wish I could have told you sooner. I wish I could have known sooner."
"Why do you persist in talking during a fight?! You can't throw me off-guard with your pathetic self-pity!"
Except, Zel knew, he had. She had made the smallest shift in her stance; the blade had lower a mere fraction of a fraction of a millimeter. Talking like this would give him the opening he needed. It would give him his only chance.
"I wish it hadn't come to this. I wish I could have loved you before all this happened."
Amedyn sucked in a quick breath, everything her body was screaming at that one syllable of "love."
"I'm so sorry, Amelia." he whispered.
The Mazkou general heard rather than saw the chimera take three incredibly fast steps, and then something was thrust through her body, a hand came down over her heart, and two words made the world break apart.
"RAH-TILT!"
Zel concentrated the entire energy of the spell into the hand that rested over her breast. He felt her body give just the slightest bit, as it had when he'd stuck his sword through her.
Did it work? Did I win?
He had to know, and despite the extreme terror he felt in doing so, he gazed into her wrongfully silver eyes for a brief moment...
And then a black cone broke through her sternum. Zel drew in a horrified gasp, and raised his head to see the purple orbs of Xellos Metallium staring directly back at him.
"You."Zel snarled as the Beastmaster's priest stepped back, the cone disappearing, leaving a gaping hole behind.
"I can explain." Xellos said.
But before he made another sound, Amedyn... Amelia slid backwards off Zel's sword and slumped to the floor without a sound.
-------
You killed her.
You killed her again.
Amelia is dead, and you're the one who killed her.
Not once, but twice.
Not for now, but for all time.
His hands shook. His breathing was sharp and quick. His arm stung and the sword was heavy in his nerveless fingers. On the floor in front of him lay the dead body of his enemy and friend, blood pooling behind her. Blood that wasn't black like it should have been, but pure, horrible red.
"I can explain." Xellos repeated.
"I don't want to hear it."
"You wouldn't have been able to kill her by yourself. It wouldn't-"
"SHUT UP, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"
His shout echoed violently, and Zel realized the other action in the room had stopped. He turned slightly, finding Lina and Gourry staring straight at him. Their eyes moved from him to the corpse on the floor, and Lina went pale.
It was then that he also noticed that Dynast had Gourry by the throat, and that the Dark Lord was looking at him too. He let go off the swordsman, and Gourry sagged to the floor.
"Xellos Metallium." Dynast's very words seemed daggers. "To what do I owe this honor?"
"Consider me an ambassador from my mistress." Xellos bowed, giving the same mocking smile he'd shown Gaav so long ago. "Who is very upset that you decided not to tell her what you planned to do with the princess."
"And so you took it upon yourself to come and interrupt my plans." his smile was sour. "I'll bet you even told them how to get here, didn't you? Well, well. I have to admit, this was the one thing I hadn't counted on. I should have known better. I should have known your FUCKING WHORE OF A MISTRESS WOULD SEND YOU HERE!"
A huge burst of power crashed into the wall behind Xellos, and then it was Dynast himself behind him, blurry with shadow, digging newly grown claws into the other Mazoku's neck.
"Give her this to show her I send my regards." With a back-handed slap, he sent Xellos smashing into yet another pillar.
Breathing hard, Dynast let his form condense again, trying to maintain the illusion of dignity. He looked down at the body at his feet.
"This was something else I didn't expect. I didn't expect my two priests would be stupid enough to do that spell and die together. I didn't expect Amedyn.."he punctuated the word with a sharp kick to the girl's head. "To die so easily! I should have known she would fail me like the rest. I should have known I would have to kill you all myself."
Grabbing her by the collar, Dynast picked up his general and threw her aside, eliciting enraged sounds from the chimera and the two people who had come to stand behind him.
"How dare you..."Zel ran forward, sword high and glowing red with the enchantment Astral Vine. "HOW DARE YOU, YOU GODDAMN-"
"TRY IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, MORTAL!"
The chimera was struck in the chest by a powerful blast, and crashed backwards into his friends.
"Dammit, Zel!"Lina snapped. "You can't do that! We have to think this through!"
"I don't care about thinking!"he bit back at her. "I want him to die!"
Space shifted, and Xellos faded in beside their heap, kneeling down.
"Lina-san, I think that if you're planning on killing him, it's going to take a lot of powerful spells from the Astral plane and the Ragna Blade."
"Are you listening to that, Zel?!" Lina beat at his back as he struggled to get up.
"Yes, and I don't care! LET ME KILL HIM!"
"NO!" Gourry grabbed his friend's ankle and bodily dragged him back. "Zel, if you want to avenge Amelia, then stop being stupid and listen to Lina!"
"Let go of me before I hurt you, Gourry!"
"Listen to Lina before we all die."his voice was grave, and Zel lay still.
"What?"
"How many Rah-Tilts do you think you can pull off in a row?"she asked.
"I don't know,"he spat bitterly. " I've never bothered to find out."
"Well you damn well better cast as many as you can or-"
She was cut off as Gourry threw himself on top of her to protect her from chunks of falling pillar that were dislodged by another spell from Dynast.
"You stupid meddling humans. This was perfect. From the day Lina Inverse killed Sherra, I planned this out. And you had to come and go completely against what I had prepared for you.
"As a reward for that, I'm going to change my plans to better suit you. I'm going to do what Gaav and Hellmaster were never able to do, and eliminate all of you with a single blow." Dynast began to blur again, shifting partly into shadow as he started a new spell. "Swirling darkness at the ends of the universe, unending mass of impossible light..."
"L-sama..."Xellos said quietly. "Lina-san, Zelgadis-san, get ready with your most powerful shields. He's using one of Her spells."
"WHAT?!"the two chorused.
"Huh?" Gourry asked.
"Never mind, just do it!" Xellos stepped in front of them, holding his staff parallel to the floor with both hands as Lina and Zel joined him. Gourry moved securely behind them.
"In thy great name, I pledge myself to your eternal power. Let the fools that stand in front of me be annihilated by the power that you and I possess." A dark sphere, crackling with midnight-colored lightning grew larger and larger as he spoke. And then, with eyes glowing brilliant crimson, he unleashed it at them. "FINAL STAR!"
Had they been one second later in throwing up their shields, they would have certainly been killed. The impact alone pushed them back and sent bolts of pain through their protective walls and up their arms. Xellos braced himself on the ground, Lina bit her lip to keep from crying out, Gourry knelt behind them, and Zel stared straight forward into the Nightmare magic. And miraculously, against all odds... the shield held.
A thousand years passed in those few moments as the world should have collapsed around them.
But there was silence.
"HOW YOU POSSIBLY DEFLECT THAT?!"
That scream was more than enough for the Slayers to know that Dynast was beyond anger.
"GO ZEL! DO IT!"
"RAH -TILT!"
The enraged Dark Lord batted the spell away and whirled to slash at Xellos who was descending, staff raised, behind him. The priest faded away, and Gourry jumped at Dynast with a yell, swinging his sword down. Dynast grabbed it by the blade and flung him aside.
"Do it again, Zel!"
Already breathing hard from the first attack, Zel drew himself up and fired off the most powerful Astral Plane attack once more.
"This is for AMELIA! RAH-TILT!"
Dynast held up his hand and the spell harmlessly passed around it. When it had dissipated, he took a step back and started the large spell again.
"Stupid, interfering humans...Let's see if your shield holds together this time..."
Swallowing back the blood he could taste rising in his throat, Zel looked at Lina, who nodded and began the Ragna Blade chant once more. Feeling unsteady on his feet, he threw out the spell again.
"This is for what you did to her! RA-TILT!"
"What I did to her?"the voice was much deeper, and the shadows that surrounded and were his body grew darker as the spell collided with them. "You did it to her yourself." His eyes were trained on Zelgadis, boring into him. "Don't you see that? Everything that's happened here...it's all because of you. Your friends will die because of you. You'll die because of your own pathetic mistakes. Don't you see? In the end, this is all you are."
Zel wanted to listen to Gourry screaming at him to ignore the Mazoku, but just couldn't. Those were his own words, spoken to Lina such a long time ago, now thrown back in his face.
Gods, it was so true...He dropped to his knees.
And was forcefully yanked back up by the back of his cape by Gourry.
"Godsdammit Zel, STOP LISTENING TO HIM!" his friend shook him. "Stop it and do this for Amelia. Figure it out and do it for her before her death becomes a complete waste!" Gourry shoved him forward. "DO THE SPELL AGAIN!"
Nodding dumbly, Zel raised his hands once more, well aware that within the next few seconds either Lina would finish the Ragna Blade or Dynast would kill them here and now.
"And this...THIS IS FOR ME! RAH-TILT!"
He'd barely let the spell go before he collapsed, and a red object streaked forward, sword held high.
"RAGNA BLADE!"
As it had on Gaav, and as it had on Grou not too long before, the sword of that could shatter the souls of the gods slashed across Dynast's body. His spelled winked out instantly, and he let out an ear-piercing sound that turned into hysterical, desperate laughter.
"Don't think that that's enough, Lina Inverse! Don't think I don't know you can't pull that off again! Your lives are mine!" His human-like body abandoned, the Supreme King became nothing but a huge shadowy mass, surrounding them in a dark mist.
"Not yet..."Lina gasped. "I have one more chance..."
"Wait, Lina!" Gourry grabbed one of her shoulder guards. "You can't!"
"What do you mean I can't?!"
"What do you mean she can't?!" Xellos said simultaneously. "Gourry-san, she has to do this now!"
"No, the last hit should be-"
But Lina didn't hear him, racing through the Dragon Slave as if her life depended on it -which it did. Behind her, Gourry was dragging Zel to his feet, telling him he had to do it one last time, please, to hurry, if he wanted to avenge Amelia, he needed to-
"DRAGON SLAVE!"
Black magic's best weapon, emitted from Lina's hands in a perfect beam of light, disappeared into the shadows that encircled them, and for a moment no one dared to breathe or think.
A sound started up slowly, gaining momentum until it became a crescendo of ear-splitting screams. The shadow wall wound around them tightly, smothering them, choking them...
And then it was gone.
Lina Inverse shakily stepped forward and took a look around.
"He's...gone..."
"Banished to the astral plane, at the very least." Xellos said quietly. "And it will be a very long time before he builds up enough power to move at all."
Slowly, she broke into a grin, and spun around to stumble into Gourry's arms.
"We did it, Gourry."
He crushed her to him, but didn't say a word. When she pulled back she asked softly "Why did you try to stop me?"
Gourry took a deep breath.
"The last hit should have been Zel's."he said quietly, and pointed behind himself to the place where the chimera knelt by a small, crumpled form.