Disclaimer: I do not own them in a house. I do not own them with a mouse. I do not own them here or there. I do not own them anywhere. I do not own them Sam I Am. I do not own the characters that don't belong to me.

"speech"

'thoughts'

Chapter 4: War of the Monsters' Fall

Xellosss sighed wearily as he flew away from the smoldering remains of his master's lab. It hadn't been easy to stand up against the master mage. Despite how much he had annoyed him Xellosss had come like and care for his teacher. It only made it that much harder for when he had to destroy him.

Xellosss sighed again as he reflected back on that moment. He would remember it perfectly for the rest of his life. 'That could be for a very long time given my current position,' Xelloss thought. He would forever remember that last conversation with Magus Proles…

Start Flashback:

A golden portal opened up in the study as Lord Giga slid through it. The really-old-but-still-looking-like-a-kid-mage waved his hand over his shoulder and said, "See ya later L-chan. Let me know if you need help with that "knight" thing of yours." The portal closed and Giga turned to face Xelloss.

"Hey man sorry for making you wait. How's hole-chan?" Giga asked.

Xelloss just sweat dropped and scratched the back of his head. "Hole-chan?" he asked.

"Yeah, our pet project, the hole."

"Oh it's gone. It closed up about 2 hours ago."

"Shimatta, L-chan wanted me to retrieve something from it. Oh well I guess I'll have to explain it to her later," Giga responded as he started walking out the door.

"Well I did manage to pull one thing out of the hole, but it was pretty dangerous so I've made arrangements to have it sealed away in a pocket dimension." Giga froze in mid-step. He slowly turned back towards Xelloss.

"That wouldn't happen to be a boy would it?" Giga inquired. His tone of voice clearly stating he wanted a no answer.

"Well what I pulled out of the hole is…" Xelloss hinted.

"Is what?" the pint-sized mage questioned.

"…is a secret!" Xelloss finished brightly with an innocent smile. Giga grabbed Xelloss by the collar and yanked his head down so it would be level with his.

"Damn it Xelloss I don't have time for your #&$#ing games! Tell me what $&#& you pulled out of the hole!" Giga shouted. Xelloss grabbed a hold of his master's hand.

'I'm sorry I have to do this master,' Xelloss thought has he tightened his grip on his master's wrist, crushing it. Giga yelled in pain and released his apprentice's collar. Xelloss still holding the mage's arm hoisted him up until they were staring into each other's eyes. Giga kicked Xelloss a couple of times but Xelloss didn't even flinch. Giga's glare told Xelloss all he needed to know.

"I'm sorry master. You didn't need to get involved. But I believe that this is the right thing to do."

End Flashback

A small tear came to Xelloss's eye as the memory ended. He was forced to kill Lord Giga after that. The battle had leveled most of the surrounding area. Magus Proles may have been one of the greatest magical engineers of all time, but he was in no way one of the better magical fighters. His problem was that because of his child body Giga was much weaker and more vulnerable than normal. In the end it came down to being a war of attrition, a battle to see who could last the longest. Xelloss wiped his tears away and continued on his way. He had a drop off to make.

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"I DON'T CARE!" Dregg yelled slamming her fist down on the table. "If the mazoku get a hold of the artifact they will bring back Shabranigdo. It will be war all over again!"

"And by attacking first we will instigate the war!" Navoc countered, "Don't you agree Saichoro?" he asked the elder dragon.

The elder dragon heaved a sigh. Reports about the death of Lord Giga and his missing apprentice had initially shocked the dragon race. He was one of the few humans who the Ryuuzoku sought alliances with. For as long as Saichoro had known of him he had never known of any human (other than Lord Giga's older brother) more powerful or cunning. His death must have been the result of someone or some thing of great power. To that end Saichoro and the other heads of the Golden dragon clans had launched an investigation. The initial findings of the singularity and Mazoku involvement resulted in the calling of a council of the Golden Dragon clan heads. The last time such a council had been called was shortly after the final battle between Shabranigdo and Ceiphied, when the world was engulfed in chaos.

Saichoro sat in deep thought for a few moments before speaking, "What must be understood here is that it is not a question of if a war with the Mazoku will happen, but when it will happen. On that thought I have no choice but to agree with Dregg. If we attack and retrieve the artifact we can start the war on our terms."

Dreggs sat back and smirked. Saichoro turned to Navoc.

"I am placing you in charge of finding where the artifact is," the elder dragon said. Dreggs smirk disappeared. "Remember," he continued, "despite what shape it takes it will hold great power."

Navoc nodded and walked out of the room. He had some information gathering to do.

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"Ahhhhhhhh," Xelloss moaned as he slid into a hot spring. He had been rather sore, mentally, after his ordeal. Beastmaster Zelas failed to mention that she had completely restructured his body. In order to give him his power Zelas Metallium had destroyed his body and rebuilt it using Mazoku energies. For all intents and purposes he was no longer human, physically. Spiritually and mentally however, Xelloss was. Thus while his body didn't feel the pain, his consciousness did after being ripped from one brain and stuffed into another.

His moment of peace was interrupted by the entrance of another presence.

"Hey Xel you adjusting well," the other presence snickered a pit at his little rhyme. Xelloss jumped in surprise and spun around sloshing water over the sides of the spring.

"Shimatta Aраkoh don't sneak up on me like that!" Xelloss yelled breathing hard.

"You are no fun you know that," Apakoh laughed. He eased down in the spring next to Xelloss. "Besides it's not my fault us ancient dragons are naturally sneaky.

Before Xelloss could reply a loud bell was heard.

"Shimatta," Xelloss cursed again getting out of the spring, "That's the alarm. They found us."

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Navoc and his squad had tracked the artifact to a hot springs resort on Mipross Island. It was certainly clever. Who would think to look for monsters in a place that brought so much joy to people? But it was all in vain. Behind Navoc waiting for his signal was an entire army of golden dragons led by Dreggs. Right now they were doing a flyby. At such high altitude it was doubtful that anybody could spot them, but flying so high was a double edged sword. They would have a hard time seeing their target. However with the right detection spells in place Navoc's scout group would soon know the entire layout of the Mazoku complex below and the location of everybody and everything in it. During the second fly by they noticed an increase in activity.

"Shimatta!" Navoc cursed, "They've spotted us." The Dragon lifted his head up and fired three blasts of laser breath into the air signaling Dreggs.

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Xelloss teleported away to Beastmaster Zelas's chambers. Above the sky morphed from blue to gold as Dreggs's unit moved in. Soon a small cloud of grey met the golden flood mixing with it. The sky was soon filled with hues of many different colors as the combined forces of the Ancient Dragons and Mazoku slammed into the onslaught of the Golden Dragons, magic attacks being tossed left and right.

Xelloss appeared in the Beastmaster's chambers completely dressed and ready to go. In the corner was, what looked like a crystal coffin, but in reality it was a stasis chamber. Inside was the boy. Xelloss chuckled.

'All this trouble over a kid,' He thought. The absence of his master was all the proof he needed to know that the contingency plan was under way. Originally the idea was to kidnap the boy, and hide them out here until they could find a way to send him back where he came from. Unfortunately their base had been compromised. Now Xelloss was charged with the task of getting as far away as possible while the others made a distraction for him; then making his way to the sealing point. They had struck a deal with several humans to watch over and guard the boy. While the boy was being sealed Beastmaster Zelas would be trying her hardest to draw the attention of the Dragons elsewhere. Make them forget about the kid.

'The only thing that would do that is if Hellmaster awakened the shard,' Xelloss shuddered at the thought. Bringing even a piece of Shabranigdo back to life could have dire consequences.

Xelloss cast a levitation spell on the stasis chamber and teleported out with it. The former student of Lord Giga teleported several more times before stopping to rest on a giant natural pillar of stone. Far off in the distance he could still see the battle going over the hot springs resort. The mixture of grey and gold mixed with the explosions of magic spells made it look like a violent thunder storm was taking place just a few miles away. The Beastmaster's priest turned away from the battle to face one of his own. Ahead of him flew the second wave of the attack.

"Hmmm," Xelloss smirked, "Let's just see how much power Lord Beastmaster gave me?" With that he raised two fingers and drew a line across the incoming Golden Dragon Army (1).

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Link had thrown himself over the man, shielding him.

'Something here isn't right,' Link thought to himself. 'I should either be crushed to death right now, or at least shaken up from the impact of the building collapsing.'

Link couldn't tell how long it was before he worked up enough courage to look up. It was if time had no meaning any more. When Link did lift his head he immediately wished he hadn't.

"Iiteee!" Link hissed as he rubbed the back of his head. Well tried to hiss anyways. When he opened his mouth no sound came out.

'It is really quite around here for some reason,' Link noticed. There was no noise what so ever. 'Okay this is really weird. It's like the world went dead. I can't even hear myself breath,' the blonde swordsman's eyes widened at that realization. 'Oh my god I've stopped breathing!' He immediately opened his mouth and tried to take a deep breath. Again inhaling nothing the Hero of Time fell to the floor in a panic clawing at his throat assuming he was choking. After a few minutes of rolling on the floor Link finally calmed down.

'I really should be dead,' Link thought to himself. 'I've been going about 5 minutes without air, so I really should be dead.' It was at that time Link noticed the frozen ceiling in mid-collapse around him.

'So that is what I bumped my head on,' the sword-wielding Hylian thought looking up at a burning beam floating in mid-air a few inches from where his head had been.

'Maybe I am dead,' Link pondered. But that didn't make any sense. If he was dead why did the world seem to stop? Why was he able to interact with solid objects? He had bumped his head on a beam. And being dead didn't explain why the world seemed to be frozen. It was if it couldn't move beyond this one moment in time.

'Wait a minute that's it! Time!' Link mentally exclaimed, snapping his fingers. All these sensations he was feeling were similar to when he was moving through time. He had just never experienced the feelings for so long before. Link figured the goddess of time was looking out for him, so he decided to capitalize on this opportunity. The Hero of Time got up and grabbed the man under the arms and dragged him free of the house.

Link took a moment, after the man was safely out of harms way, to look around at the village. It was a strange sight, putting it mildly. The villagers were all stuck in mid panic. Water being tossed in a futile effort to control and put out the fire was frozen in mid air. Flames were steady, they didn't flicker or change shape as they licked the air. The real view however, was not the burning building, but the figure standing behind our green clad hero.

The goddess Tempus smirked as she watched Link from across the street thinking, 'So it has begun, I hope L-chan holds up her part.' In a brief flash the goddess disappeared.

It was some time late in the day. That was all Link could tell when he woke up. Beside him stood Epona, who was lazily grazing on some nearby grass. The Hero of Time rolled over and groaned, his head spinning a little bit. He sat up and took a look around.

'I'm back in the woods,' he thought. He flopped back down onto his back looking up at the sun through the leaves of the trees. 'Was it all a dream?'

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Excerpt from the Apprentice's Diary.

How long has the war raged on? It seems like forever at this point. To think that it all started over a single boy. After the initial attack on Mipross Island Lord Beastmaster and her priest were able to convince Phibrizzo and the other generals the Dragons had declared an all out war on the Mazoku. A piece of Shabranigdo was revived for the first counter attack. Heh, it seems as if Beastmaster Zelas has outsmarted them all. She truly is the most dangerous of all the Mazoku. While the dragons worry about the resurrection of the dark lord the prize that started this war is being moved to a new location, quite the feint. The Ancient Dragons are even playing their part, keeping Galveira away from the Golden Dragons so they lack the fire power to win this war with any swiftness. Indeed this war is a war of irony. It has become the bloodiest war since the world was first formed out of the Sea of Chaos, and yet in the end the millions of lives lost may save the world. As a passive observer this war shall be one of my more interesting observations. I look forward to its conclusion with great eagerness.

Authors notes:

It's been a long time since my last addition to this story. I haven't really forgotten about it. But as they say life takes its toll, please have exact change. With high school ending and college beginning my life has been filled with other distractions. Luckily I am the type who is stubborn enough to plug away at this no matter how long it takes. My friend and room mate is working on a comic book, so my goal is for every page he draws another chapter I publish. Hopefully this will get both of us motivated enough to finish both our projects. By the way Kudos to anybody who can correctly guess who the "Apprentice" in the diary I excerpted from is.

(1) In case you guys didn't catch it, this scene is right before the scene in Slayers Next that shows Xelloss destroying all the golden dragons in one shot.