Dressed in their usual garments, the whole group stood in one of the lab rooms of the Sairaag Copy and Chimera Research University, though they'd had a bit of trouble at the door. The school officials hadn't wanted Lina Inverse anywhere in the city, let alone in their new building. After a threat of Dragon Slaving the building from afar if they wouldn't let her in, they acceded to her request and opened the door. The room was large enough to hold fifty people in the stadium seating arrangement. Down at the front, where the teacher usually lectured was a cleared area with a sealed square carved into the floor tiles, in the center of which was a table, and on that table, the strange statue.

The professor that they had been put in contact with- a pudgy little elderly man with thick glasses and a squint despite- was the head of the department of Artifact Studies. He was a knowledgeable old fart, apparently one of Rezo's old students. Tittering to himself, he bustled this way and that around the table, looking at the strange statue from all angles. "Hmmm, I see... I seee..." he murmured.

Lina and the others were arranged at the edge of the carving on the floor, the redhead leaning against the front row table with her arms crossed. Gourry was seated at a chair slightly to her right, so he could see, even if he wasn't all that interested and Sylphiel sat beside him. Zelgadis sat on the table further to Lina's left with Amelia standing behind the table to his left, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. "You see WHAT, old man?" Lina fumed.

Blinking, the old man, Professor Gasp, adjusted his glasses on his large round nose, "Ah? Oh, yes," he mumbled, as if he'd forgotten they were there, "Right. Well, this statue appears to be the style of a famous sculptor Gain Flardy- of about a thousand years ago, who wasn't really known for making anything exceptionally beautiful, but for creating statuary for the specific purpose of sealing things within them. He wasn't a mage himself, but he was friends with a lot of them."

Zelgadis shifted, "So, you're saying something is sealed in that thing?"

Professor Gasp nodded, his second chin flapping, "Yes, yes!" he agreed, "Exactly so!"

"So what's sealed in it?" Lina asked, scowling, her patience wearing incredibly thin.

Coughing behind his fist, Professor Gasp looked aside- towards the statue, "I really can't tell, but these," he pointed at the metal chimes, "are seal amplifiers, very powerful ones." He paused, "However, one of them is cracked."

Lina looked at her finger, "Is it the leftmost one on that arm?" she asked, pointing.

The pudgy man nodded, "Yes, actually. It seems, even though the item was sealed within that box, the destruction of Rezo's lab released a lot of magical energy and cracked the amplifier."

"What is this?" hissed a voice from the door, and the group looked up to find Dean Magus standing silhouetted in the light from the windows directly across the hall from the door.

Fluttering, Professor Gasp wrung his hands, "Oh- oh, Dean! Perhaps you could answer our questions?"

Striding into the room and down the steps that led all the way to the front of the room, the Dean took a breath, obviously fuming, "Absolutely not!" he hissed, coming to a stop in front of the table upon which the statue sat. "Who brought this here?" he demanded, turning to look at the group, "You? Where did you find it?"

Zelgadis seemed the only one not effected by the Dean's anger and stated, "It's my inheritance, along with everything else that was in Rezo's labs," the Chimera stated firmly, scowling right back at the Dean.

"I'm afraid not, young sir," Dean Magus snapped, "This item is far too dangerous to simply leave sitting around in the open- damaged as it is. I am confiscating it."

Lina leapt forward, fear of the strange man quickly overcome in her anger, "Hey! You can't do that! We're not under your command, and anything we bring here doesn't belong to you!"

Dean Magus whirled on her in a flurry of gray robes, a gnarled finger pointed at her nose, stopping her from going any further. "On the contrary. You brought something very dangerous into my school, threatening the lives of my students and teachers here, as well as everyone in the city! I think it only fair to take it and place it where it will be safe." Turning, he swept the statue up, cradling it in his long sleeve and carried it from the room before anyone could say another word.

"Hey!" Lina shouted, "Come back here before I Dragon Slave you!"

Jumping to their feet and over the table, Gourry and Amelia restrained Lina. That didn't stop Zelgadis, though, and he marched up the steps after the Dean. "Lemme GO!" Lina howled in fury, flailing and kicking. "NO one steals stuff from ME!"

Zelgadis had gotten to the hall, and their limited view of the doorway only allowed them to see him step out of the room, and get mobbed by several dark shapes. Another man entered- a very large man, "The Dean has requested that you leave the premises immediately," he told the group. He stalked in a few steps further and behind him came several other large men who firmly laid meaty hands upon Lina, Gourry, and Amelia. Sylphiel stood, only to have a hand placed on her shoulder as well.

"Wait!" the shrine maiden gasped, "Wait! Does this mean... I'm... fired?" She looked up imploringly at the man who seemed to be in charge of the guards.

He nodded, "Afraid so, Miss Raada. Please go without a fight?"

Tears in her eyes, Sylphiel pulled away from the guard standing over her and dashed from the room. Lina continued to seethe, but settled down so as to walk out on her own, keeping what dignity she had left intact. The others followed behind and found that Sylphiel had disappeared down the street and the door boomed shut behind them.

"I'm NOT gonna take this," Lina fumed. "Zel, you with me?"

Zelgadis, though unharmed physically his ego had been bruised, looked at her. "If you mean what I think you are, then yes."

Amelia clenched a Fist, "I'm coming too," she stated, "Stealing is Wrong!"

"But... oh never mind," Lina flipped a hand. "Let's go find Sylphiel?" Gourry stared around in confusion, but followed behind as the other three took off down the street.

In the end, Sylphiel had eluded their capture, and so Lina sat at the shrine maiden's dining table with her other three companions, and spread across the table was a map of the building, as drawn by Zelgadis. Lina's artistic talent wasn't up to the task, and so she'd gladly given it to Zel. "So, we think the Dean's office is here," she stated, pointing at a corner room of the map, "And all the classrooms are on this side of the building," she added, going by what she remembered of their short tour through the halls. "And the labs are over here," she pointed at the opposite wing of the building.

Amelia leaned forward, "But what's in this section?" she asked, pointing at the third wing that went straight back from the front doors of the building.

"That's probably the dormitory," Zelgadis stated, "Students living there if they're not old enough to have places of their own in town." The princess nodded.

Gourry scratched the back of his head and frowned slightly, "But where would he put that statue?" he asked the obvious.

Lina didn't bother slapping him, since it was still a good question, "Well, I figure we'll start in the Dean's office."

"What about Sylphiel?" Gourry asked, "She won't know where we went."

Smiling, Lina held out a piece of paper, "Got that covered!"

Taking the paper, Amelia read it, "Well, I guess it works," she said.

Zelgadis snagged the paper and read aloud, "Dear Sylphiel, gone to get my statue back. Love Lina? Lina... do I need to point out that it's not yours?"

Flapping a hand dismissively, Lina smiled at him. "If you say so Zel," she said and turned her attention back to their map. "Alright. I don't see much of a way to get in without causing a fuss, so I say we go straight in through this window."

Amelia shook her head, "There's a kitchen, right? There should be a back door on that. I think it would cause less noise if we slipped in through there and snuck through the student's wing."

"I agree," Zelgadis stated.

"Ooorrr... I could just teleport you in."

Shrieking, Lina jumped and spun around to find Xelloss seated on the counter top behind her, sipping tea. "Hey! When did you get here?"

Smiling cheerfully, the Mazoku lifted a finger, "Just now," he answered. "But I heard enough to know what you're up to, Miss Lina."

Folding his arms, Zelgadis leaned against the table with one hip, "And why are you volunteering to help?"

Laughing, Xelloss waggled his finger, "That's a secret," he stated casually, as if they should have known.

"Well, I for one, don't trust him," Zelgadis stated firmly, "Amelia and I will find our own way in." Amelia nodded her agreement, then blinked, looking at him. However, she didn't object to being named as Zel's accomplice, she was going to volunteer to go with him anyway.

Lina eyed Zel for a second, then looked back at Xelloss. "Do you know where the Dean's keeping that thing?"

Opening his eyes slightly, Xelloss's expression became gravely serious. "No. The statue is no concern to me. My orders have nothing to do with it." Once more, he smiled, "You're just convenient."

Giving a nod, Lina replied, "Well, that's good enough for me. Zel, Amelia, you'll come with us, since Xelloss's teleporting us in won't cause any alarms to go off." This overruling made Zelgadis scowl, but Amelia didn't object to it either.

"She's probably right, Mr. Zelgadis," she said softly, "They might have guards on the kitchen door and in the dormitory hall, someone to keep the kids in bed at night and knocking them out might cause noise that would wake the children." Zelgadis looked away, but made no more protests.

Nodding once more, Lina looked back at Xelloss, "Alright. Can you teleport us into the Dean's lab?"

Smiling cheerfully, Xelloss stated, "No." But before Lina could throw anything at him, he raised a finger and added, "But I can teleport you in to his office. Wasn't that where you wanted to go in the first place?" He leaned forward slightly and smirked at her.

"Yeah but-" Lina started.

Xelloss hopped off the counter, his teacup disappearing from his left hand. Reaching out, he laid a hand upon Lina's head. Predictably, Gourry reached out to grab the back of her cloak. His other hand grabbed Zelgadis's shoulder, Amelia latched onto his other arm, and in a flash of black and the sound of cloth tearing, they disappeared.

"Aah! Oomf! Ouch, Zel, get off me... can't breathe!"

"..."

"Mr. Gourry! Hands off!"

"Sorry Amelia."

Sorting themselves out at last, Zelgadis dusted his clothes off and scowled around the dark unfamiliar room. Xelloss was nowhere in sight. The light was lit by light streaming in through one window, casting strange shadows from the objects on the desk that sat beneath it. The floor was covered with a thick layer of carpet that had, thankfully, muffled the sound of their collapsing in a pile in the center of the empty office. "Least he got our destination right," the Chimera muttered.

Amelia pushed her hair back from her face and ran her hands through it to put it back in order as she looked around the room. "Yeah," she agreed, peeking out the window, "We're in the university anyway."

Lina placed her hands on her hips, "Which was our goal in the first place. So, let's get to searching!" Turning, she went to the desk and started pulling out drawers, dumping them on the floor where she could sort through their contents. "Someone pull the shades."

Reaching over, Gourry snagged the shade down, "Got it," he said, Amelia pulled down the shade on the other window. Crouching, Gourry peered down at the pile of papers and pencils as well as candy wrappers that littered the floor now. "Looks like the Dean's got a sweet tooth," he observed, picking up a wrapper and looking at it as Lina cast a lighting spell. "Hey... I don't recognize this brand... What's it say, Lina?"

Looking up, Lina squinted at the gold colored wrapper, then reached out to snatch it from his hand and turn it over. "Werthers Caramel Candy?" she read out loud, "I don't recognize that one either."

Zelgadis looked over as well, watching as the redhead pulled out another drawer and dumped it on the floor. "Ah, here's the rest of the bag," Lina said, "What kind of material is this?" she asked, crinkling the bag. This caught Zelgadis's attention, and he stepped over to crouch near Lina.

"Clear, but firm," he muttered, crinkling one of the wrappers. "It is strange, but not our main mission." He stood again, and turned, heading over to the bookshelf, pulling books off and tossing them aside when their titles were nothing more than texts concerning the school. He stopped, however, when he came across a thick book whose leather cover flaked off as he picked it out of the shelf. Opening it carefully, Zelgadis's eyes widened, "He's been in the ruins!"

Looking over, silence fell, Lina and Gourry with suspicious lumps in their cheeks. "What?" the sorceress asked, voice semi-muffled.

Turning, Zelgadis displayed the book, "One of Rezo's diaries," he stated, "He kept these in his lab. I remember seeing this one when Amelia and I ended up in the library."

Getting to her feet, Lina came over to the bookshelf to take the book from Zelgadis, looking at the cover, "Definitely been blasted by magic," Lina observed. The Chimera had turned away already, though, and gone back to pulling out books from the shelf.

"What could he want in the ruins?" Amelia asked from where she'd been inspecting the filing cabinets near the second window in the corner behind the desk. A thump and bang from the hall brought a moment of silence to the group, and Lina doused her light. Rattling at the doorknob, made them hold their breaths, and the lock clicked. "We're going to be found!" Amelia hissed.

Zelgadis knelt, reaching into the bookshelf once more, "I thought so!" He pulled something and there was a click and thump. The bookshelf swung out. "Get in!" he hissed and Amelia slipped through the opening without asking. Lina dragged Gourry afterwards and Zelgadis slid in, pulling the wall shut behind him just as the door opened.

"Is someone in here?" was the muffled voice from outside and the group stood uncertainly in the dark.

Amelia flailed a hand out, finally catching long hair and pulled lightly. "Ouch-" Lina's voice, Amelia put her hand over Lina's mouth and leaned close to whisper.

"There's stairs just behind us." Carefully, Amelia took her hand from Lina's mouth. "They lead down."

Nodding, Lina caught Gourry again and turned to whisper to Zelgadis what Amelia had told her. He didn't answer, but his turning around was answer enough. So they were agreed. Carefully, Lina slid her foot forward in the pitch darkness, one hand on the wall, the other on Gourry's arm and stepped down the first step. Amelia and Zelgadis followed silently behind. Gourry stumbled, but was caught by the Chimera, and they proceeded down.

"I think, we're far enough down now that we can risk a light," Lina whispered loudly enough for them to hear her and as one, her three companions shielded their eyes. The light spell was uncommonly bright after the pitch darkness, and they found themselves in a narrow hall that led down sharply in narrow stairs. Above, the stairs disappeared into the darkness; the same sight met them below.

Stepping forward, Lina started down the stairs again, letting go of Gourry, but keeping her hand on the wall. "Odd, we were on the second floor," she whispered, "This has to be going down between the classroom below his office and the next one."

Amelia shivered, "It's really steep," she observed, "It'd be safer if we just levitated down to the bottom."

Nodding, Lina agreed heartily, and Lina took Gourry onto her back. Blushing, the redhead removed his hand from her breast, and refrained from yelling at him by sheer willpower. The other two cast their own spells. Beneath them, the stairs flew past in a near blur, and there seemed to be no end to the dark stairs. "How far does this go down!" Lina growled, keeping her voice low for fear of echoes.

"We must be nearly a hundred feet underground by now," Zelgadis replied. Silence fell again, just in time for the end of the stairs to come into view. "Well, ask and ye shall receive?" he concluded as they landed, Lina dumping Gourry to the ground before setting down.

The bottom of the stairs led out into a short hallway that ended abruptly at a door. "Oh great, this looks rather familiar," Lina muttered, eyeing the door and the stairs.

Amelia shivered, "But we're not being chased by Eris and Kopii Rezo this time. So it's okay..."

"We hope," Zelgadis finished for her. She winced, and hadn't intended to cast such a depressive pall on the situation.

Shaking her head, Lina ignored them both and hopped off Gourry's stomach, allowing him to get to his feet while she strode over to the door, placed her hands upon it and slowly inspected. "I don't think there's any traps on it," she told them, quietly, "But keep your voices down. I don't know how thick it is either."

Nodding their agreement, they watched as Lina pushed on the door gently. A click... it swung open on silent hinges. Lina's lighting spell spilled through the crack, illuminating a widening stretch across a clean floor, a table with lab equipment sparkling on it, and a single chair. Pushing the door open further, Lina stepped in, Gourry drawing his sword beside her, Zelgadis doing the same. The room appeared to be a Chimera lab, well kept, and recently used. By silent agreement, they spread out, Lina heading right with Gourry and Zelgadis taking the left with Amelia casting a second lighting spell. The room was a wide rectangle, just large enough that one lighting spell in the center of the room would have left the corners in faint shadow. The left wall beside the door was dedicated to bookshelves, and Zelgadis looked them over, frowning, "Most of these came from Eris's lab," he observed, "A few are Rezo's though. All of them ones I've read." With that verified, he moved after Amelia as she continued towards the next wall. Oddly enough, heavy canvas blinds covered this wall, faint light glowing from beneath, and Zelgadis reached out, pulling the cord. The blinds swept aside.

"Cephied!" Amelia gasped, stepping back, staring in fascinated horror at the tanks of liquid that were lit from above. Within the four chambers floated bodies- nude, but far too deformed to be seen as anything other than abominations, but the violet hair that floated lightly in the liquid- not all of it on the creature's heads- made their origin unmistakable.

Scowling, and stepping closer to her, Zelgadis's hand touched her back lightly, "Copies of a copy," he told her, "they're dead. They don't look bad enough to have died on their own. They were killed."

Amelia's eyes watered and finally she turned away, "How could... someone make things like that, and then just kill them?"

Reaching over, Zelgadis pulled the curtain, "Neither Eris nor Rezo were sane," he pointed out. She wiped her eyes and managed a smile up at Zelgadis, but only briefly. Instead of answering she turned to inspect the contents of the table that stood nearby.

"It looks like he was either trying to bring them back, or copy them again," Amelia said softly.

Coming to stand beside her, Zelgadis nodded, fingering the page of an open book nearby, "Looks like it," he agreed.

"Hey," Lina called softly as she approached, "what'd you guys find over here?"

Looking up, Zelgadis nominated himself to answer, "Dean Magus has been trying to resurrect four of Kopii Rezo's copies. Probably for their knowledge on magic."

"Or their knowledge of where Rezo's lab was," Lina stated, "We found test equipment on the other side, as well as a few things I remember seeing in Rezo's lab. Magus probably picked them up and has been looking for where the majority of the stuff fell after Kopii blew the place up. He's probably been 'confiscating' stuff for years now."

Amelia clenched a fist, fire burning in her eyes, "Well, he picked the wrong person this time!" she stated firmly.

"Hey Lina," Gourry called from across the room. "I found a door!"

The other three winced as his voice echoed, however, they left the desk and headed to join Gourry where he stood at the center of the back wall of the room. The door was quite obvious, and likely one of the others would have found it eventually, but Gourry grinned cheerfully at his being helpful. Lina let him keep his illusions. Amelia doused her light as Lina pushed the door open, Gourry and Zelgadis ready with sword and spell right behind her. The room beyond was brightly lit, and as they opened the door further, the group found that it was empty, except for Magus and the statue, standing in the center of a large amplification circle.

Running in, Lina dropped her lighting spell and began collecting energy for a fireball, "Magus! You dirty rat, give it back!"

Turning in a swirl of gray robes, Magus faced them, a look of shock on his face. "You! How did you get in here?"

"We had a little help," Lina admitted, "Now, give us the statue!"

Laughing, the Dean threw his head back, cackling, "I think not!" he said, abruptly recovering from his maniacal mirth. "you see, I've already broken most of the seals on it, there's only one left, and then, I will control the Demonbeast Garadaar and NONE shall stop me!"

Stomping a foot forward, Amelia shook a fist, "Ohhhh! I knew you were evil, the first time I saw you!" Levering a finger at him, she continued, "And since you're evil, I'll have no choice but to destroy you!"

Lina growled, unable to get a shot off while he was standing beside the statue. She couldn't just destroy it now. "How did you break the seals, Magus?" she asked, snidely, "You're hardly more than third rate."

Magus looked vaguely amused, "How do you plan to do that?" he challenged Amelia. Reaching into his sleeve, he brought out a shimmering gem. "I used this!" he held it aloft triumphantly, "I thought it was a scrying gem, but all my attempts to use it as such simply disturbed the fabric of reality, opening the door into another world. A world I will cross into and conquer after I've taken this one. However, it was your inquiries into the Mirror Breaker, Mr. Graywords, that gave me the clue I needed to find this item's TRUE power."

"That's the Mirror Breaker?" Zelgadis asked, shifting his stance, "Hand it over!"

Once more, Magus cackled and turned towards the statue and held the crystal clear glob of angles above his head. The gem flashed white, then black and an arc of lightning shot up from the statue, the chimes rang, out of key, and shattered completely. Wind rose in the chamber as the statue began disintegrating, the pieces swirling up to be absorbed by the Mirror Breaker. "FIREBALL!" Lina cast her spell and watched in horror as it never made it to its destination. The fireball's path twisted, and darted towards the Mirror Breaker, where it was absorbed. "Damn! Magic's not going to work. Gourry, get him!" Drawing her own sword, Lina followed after her bodyguard, Amelia and Zelgadis pelting close behind.

The last piece of the statue shattered and the force of it knocked them all back into the walls, including Magus. He impacted the wall hard, the Mirror Breaker striking the stone hard, and shattering in another blast of magic that briefly squashed the other four occupants of the room to the floor. The old man slid down the wall to fall limp and unmoving, blood seeping out of his nose.

"Look!" Gourry shouted, pointing as the light abruptly flickered and died. A new source of light appeared, located over the spot where the statue had stood. Slowly, something vaguely spider shaped began to form, small as a rock, but quickly growing larger as the wind changed in the room, sucking towards it. "Lina! We should get out of here!" Gourry shouted over the wind and reached out, catching his sorceress as she began sliding across the floor. Zelgadis grabbed Amelia around the waist and headed for the door, since he was nearest, hauling the princess with him. It wasn't until he was halfway across the room that he realized that his current hold on her had placed his hand firmly on her breast. She hadn't complained, though, even after he gave a light squeeze just to make sure that her breast was indeed what he had hold of. Blushing, he didn't even pause, but ran for the stairs and cast a levitation spell.

Behind him, Gourry came pelting out with Lina in his arms holding a lighting spell. Though he couldn't cast Levitation, he took the stairs four at a time and easily caught up with Zelgadis. "On no," Amelia gasped, "That thing's going to destroy the school! All those children!" her eyes watered.

Lina closed her eyes, "It wasn't our fault," she stated firmly, as if trying to convince herself, "He broke the seal on his own." No one chose to argue with her on that score, and Zelgadis turned in his levitation spell, tucked his head down and rammed the door at the top of the stairs with his back, Amelia protected beneath his cloak.

They burst in on a group of guards who turned to face them. "Run!" Lina shouted at them, "Magus just summoned a Demonbeast!" That was all the time she had to warn them as Zelgadis crashed through the opposite window, followed by Gourry, who simply leapt to the ground, and tucked Lina close as he rolled to take the impact, then got to his feet to start running once more.

Alarms went off throughout the building and Lina looked up at the window they'd escaped through to find people leaning out of it and shouting at them. Then a light burst upwards, glowing past the people, and abruptly, that corner of the building burst outwards as the Demonbeast made an exit for itself. It wasn't much larger than a small shack as of yet, but it was growing larger by the second, a terrible wind whipping across the city, picking up anything that was loose enough to fly. Pets and stray animals as well as carts and pieces of houses took flight and Zelgadis, pulled Amelia up from where he'd had her tucked against his hip. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, face tucked against his neck, "Oh Zelgadis- I'm scared," she whispered, clinging to him.

Taking a breath, Zel made sure his hold on her was secure even as he answered, "It's alright. If Shabranigdu and Darkstar can't kill us, then nothing can."

Softly, she laughed, lifting her face somewhat, "Yeah, you're right," she agreed, managing to smile and moved to pick something out of his hair as he dodged flying debris.

Glancing at her face, Zelgadis eyed that mischievous spark in her eyes, but... didn't feel it was worth commenting on, knowing that if he asked her straight out whether she was just giving him an ego boost she'd deny it. He sighed, finding that he really didn't mind anyway, he'd gotten to feel her up for free.

With a flash and blast of air that knocked Zelgadis off-course and spiraling towards the ground, the Demonbeast fully appeared. It hung in the sky high above the height of Flagoon, a strange creature with a two-segmented body, six legs, a pair of pincers, and a finned scorpion tail. Amelia managed to cast a Levitation spell to augment his own, and they stabilized, and landed beside where Gourry and Lina had collapsed. They were still in town, but the Demonbeast hadn't begun destroying anything, yet.

"What were you two doing up there!" Lina demanded, "Making out? Come on!" she was on her feet once more, running through the streets, "We've got to find a way to get it out from over the city!"

Amelia and Zelgadis blushed and refrained from looking at each other... directly. Zel looked away as his eyes met Amelia's when she peeked up at him. Lina had already gotten some distance away, Gourry pelting after her. "Hurry up you guys!" Lina howled, voice echoing in the empty street.

Windows had begun opening, people looking out in wonder at the strange creature hanging in the sky. Panic began setting in, and people started to stream from their houses into the streets, running in a terrified rush. To where, they didn't know, but Lina had to grab Gourry once more, and they took to the sky to avoid the madness below. "Look! It's moving!" Gourry pointed from where he hung by his armpits in Lina's grip.

Indeed, the Demonbeast was moving- somewhat sideways, as if it were sliding down a steep slope, moving faster as it went, gaining momentum. It flailed, scrabbling at the air, apparently in panic, and let out a loud howl, a line of white light blasting from its mandible mouth in a diagonal across the city. Explosions followed and the screams of panic rose up into the air deafeningly. Lina bit her lower lip.

Abruptly, Xelloss appeared beside them, Sylphiel in his arms, kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs. "Put me down!"

Grinning, the Mazoku loosened his grip, "Alright, if you say so!"

The shrine maiden looked down and shrieked even louder, latching her arms around Xelloss's neck, tight enough to choke him. "Xelloss!" Lina shouted, "What're you doing?"

Freeing a hand, the Mysterious Priest pulled Sylphiel's arms loose enough to gasp a lung full of air and replied, "The world is unbalanced," he shouted at her, over the din of panic below, and Sylphiel's continued wailings. "Garadaar is drifting into the Other Side."

"Other Side?" Amelia asked as she glided slightly below Lina and Gourry, with Zelgadis to her right above her, "What do you mean?"

Ahead, another shot of light, this time from the direction of the area where Kopii Rezo had cast his overpowered Mega Brunt on the city. A pillar of light, flashed towards the sky, widening as the demonbeast began sliding into it. Garadaar fired another shot, slicing across the ruins of Sairaag this time, and whatever damage it caused didn't include human life, or so Lina hoped.

"It's getting away," Lina fumed.

Xelloss smiled and appeared between the three of them, grabbed Lina's cloak with one hand, Zel's in the other, and planted a foot on Amelia's head while Sylphiel shrieked and clung to his neck. "Oh no it's not!"

Darkness and Light flashed past.