Hell's Breaking Point

Chapter XV – Finding Courage

Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers.

Xellos was assigned a peculiar errand by the Lord Of Nightmare. At first, it was just a simple taunting game but as time goes by, the errand became more extreme until... (Mostly L/G and Z/A) - Takes place after Next and before Try.

Japanese Words:

Oka-sama : Mother aka L.O.N.

Oni-san : Big brother

Yare yare : Oh boy...(something like that)

Mazoku : Evil race/Monster

Juu Ou : Beastmaster

Minna : Everyone

'…….' Is for Phibby's thoughts

…… Is for Gourry's thoughts

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"Amelia-san? Amelia-san!"

The princess waited for the wound of one of the victims from last night to be fully healed before turning towards the source of the voice.

It was Sylphiel.

"Sylphiel-san? What are you doing in the palace?" Amelia asked in confusion.

Sylphiel looked at her surrounding, "I heard that the homeless victims were welcome to stay and to be taken care in the palace so I thought that I should lend a hand with my white magic," her eyes were still glued at the numbers of victims lying on spare beds and even on the floor of the palace who were being treated by the royal white magic users.

A smile crept up Amelia's face, "That's wonderful. We need all the help we can get. The palace staffs are too busy outside trying to dig out survivors under all those destroyed buildings. Even daddy and Uncle Christopher had to lend a hand," she replied, feeling very grateful to find a reliable help.

"Yes, I could see the commotion outside. It's terrible. I didn't expect to see this many victims. I'm afraid to find out the total lives that were lost last night. Thank goodness my uncle is in no harm," she breathed out a sigh of relief as she walked towards a wounded aged man just near Amelia. She then started to chant a Recovery spell.

"Your uncle's okay? That's good to hear," Amelia replied back as she began to put bandages on her patient's wound.

Sylphiel concentrated on her spell for a while before replying, "Yes, it is. By the way Amelia-san, where's Gourry-sama and the others? Are they busy helping the victims too," she asked, eyes still glued at the aged man in front of her.

Amelia perked up at her question, "Eh? Didn't you know? Lina-san and Zelgadis-san had left to find a way to save Gourry-san," she whirled her head and looked at the other shrine maiden in confusion.

"Eh? …save Gourry-sama…?"

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"One of her companion I presume?"

"Not her companion! Her rival, Naga the White Serpent!" Naga replied back, showing no fear to the menacing swordsman in front of her as she stood up, dusting herself in process. Hellmaster made a sound of amusement.

(…Lina's rival…? Wow, that's some big bre-)

The grip on his sword loosened, "Too bad. Never heard of you," he simply shrugged as he turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Hellmaster showed no sign of complying.

"Don't underestimate me just because I'm a human, Hellmaster," Phibrizzo abruptly stopped walking at her statement. Fortunately for him, no one (other than the two of them) was paying any attention to their conversation. Probably to stay away from any trouble, "Lina told me all about you. About how you had possessed her companion's body,"

Phibrizzo turned to face her, a wide grin appeared on his lips, "And yet now you're trying to provoke me. Are you trying to waste your life?" he taunted.

But, shockingly Naga's smug expression never faded, "Even though, you are one of Shabranigdo's subordinate, now, in that condition," Naga pointed one finger at him or more precisely at Gourry's body, "I bet you have lost some of your previous abilities as the Hellmaster. Plus, with you inhabiting a human body, you're now prone to both astral and physical attacks," Naga mentally thanked the times and memories she had spent when she was a shrine maiden in Seyruun, studying everything there is to know about the white and ancient magic, even the other types of spell and other races. Oh, and there's always the new discoveries and experiences she had gained from her travels.

(Wow! I never knew Lina had such a great rival!)

Phibrizzo narrowed his eyes at the smug sorceress for she knows too much about his current condition, It seems that she's confident with her words…, "What makes you think that?" he challenged her with a smirk.

"Since you keep having conversation with yourself, or perhaps, with Gourry like an idiot. That is a sign that you were not able to possess and control Gourry completely. A high-class Mazoku would have accomplished that task without any trouble but you, you're not so high-class anymore, are you?" Naga crossed her arms with a satisfying grin on her face.

Hellmaster's smirk never faded even after knowing that her theories were correct, "And what if you are correct? Do you think you're still capable of destroying me?"

"Heh, lets just see what the outcome of the battle will be," She said confidently, I can always run if I needed too… Naga made a mental note, just for safety.

Much to Naga's surprise, Hellmaster burst into laughter. His body was hunched forward as one hand grabbed his knee while the other was clutching his stomach. Naga's eyes twitched in irritation at the sight in front of her. Obviously he was mocking her. After his laughter had finally died down, Hellmaster let out a long sigh before starting to walk away.

Grrr! Nobody insults Naga the White Serpent and gets away with it! Naga yelled in her head as she gritted her teeth, "I told you not to underestimate me, the great Naga!" she yelled back furiously.

"Naga, eh?" Phibrizzo stooped walking, one hand rested on his side, "Or perhaps Gracia Ul Naga Seyruun?"

Naga's eyes widen, "H-how did-?"

Hearing her stuttered reply, Hellmaster turned back to face her, "So, I guess I was right," he smirked at her, "Oh, don't be so surprise. When Gaav was busily trying to regain control over Seyruun, I stumbled upon rumors about the lost princess of Seyruun, Gracia, who supposedly left the kingdom to travel the world," he coolly explained as he brushed his long bangs away.

(Hei, she's a princess from Seyruun just like Amelia…..! Wait a minute! You mean she's Amelia's-?)

Naga didn't respond.

"Heh, I can't believe an ex-shrine maiden of the renowned kingdom of Seyruun abandoned her rank as princess as well as her people just for the sake of traveling. Probably giving free 'service' to anyone you meet in your travels," Hellmaster continued, "And of all things dressed yourself as a bloody cheap whore. What? You don't have enough money to buy enough clothes to cover your body? Hei, tell you what? Instead of wearing that little piece of crap you called cloth, why don't you just be butt naked, ha? Hahaha," he laughed again, cynically this time.

(Hei! You've gone too far with those insults….although, I'm creep out by her sense of fashion too…)

Hellmaster was annoyed with Gourry butting in, so he decided to add a notch to his insults, "If I were a citizen of Seyruun, I would be appalled to have a princess who has no dignity what so ever,"

Naga's jaw clenched tightly at the sight of the man in front of her. Anger and rage started to build up within her. How dare he! Not only did he insulted her mother's memento but he also insulted the reason she started to travel in the first place; to be even stronger so that her past would never repeat itself again.

…mother…

Usually she wouldn't care less about the comments people gave her. Heck, Lina used to go about her clothing (plus her laugh) but Naga would just happily countered back with the breasts comment. But somehow, this time, it's different. The blonde man had gone way beyond insulting. Not only that, he's laughing at her in a creepy and evil way!

Unforgivable! She thought in anger as emotions took over her body. Her hands were brought to one side, ready to cast a spell.

Hellmaster, who saw her sudden action, raised an eyebrow, "Sorry, but I won't waste my time with a worthless, bimbo speck with absolutely no pride like you," he spoke as he walked away.

"Wait!" Naga snapped as she tried to run after him, but a sudden hard blow to her stomach made her dropped to her knees, halting her advance. Gasps could be heard from a crowd nearby. Shocked and in pain, she looked up to find her assailant, a teenage boy. Although his disheveled dark brown bangs covered his eyes, she knew that he was staring at her, emotionlessly.

When did he-?

"Life is a terrible thing to waste, no matter how pathetic yours are," the boy spoke with the same coldness as Phibrizzo before following Hellmaster obediently from behind. The two figures slowly disappeared from her eyes as her sight became fuzzy.

"…damn it..damn it…" Naga's grip on her aching stomachloosened as her head drooped even lower and she fell unconscious. The last thing she remembered was seeing people flocking around her worriedly.

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"Hei, Lina?"

"Huh? What is it Zel?"

"Why didn't we invite Sylphiel back at Seyruun? Her powerful white magic would be very helpful in our battle against Hellmaster," the chimera asked as he lifted his head, watching the twinkling stars in the dark sky above him, half of his thought wondered worriedly about a certain princess.

There was a long pause but Zelgadis kept staring at the dark sky, still waiting for Lina's answer. A small chuckle caught his attention and quickly he brought his gaze at the sorceress in front of him. There was a small smile on her face but the chimera noticed that it wasn't a cheerful smile.

"It's funny really. I knew that Sylphiel would find out about Gourry and the truth about last night but…" she stopped for a while as she hugged her knees and stared at the red flames of their campfire, "…I guess I was afraid to confront her. Afraid to tell her that I lost Gourry to Phibrizzo again…"

Zelgadis arched one eyebrow, "Afraid?"

Lina flashed him a strain smile, "I told you it was funny," But then she quickly went back to staring the red fire. The action brought confusion to the chimera.

Zelgadis watched the sorceress, analyzing her condition, Something's wrong with her. She must be bothered by something… He wanted to know why she was behaving so peculiarly so he pressed on, "Afraid of what?"

The sudden shock look on her face confirmed it. Another long silence ensued but the chimera patiently waited for her to reply. But, after a few quiet minutes had past by, he knew that she didn't want to answer his question.

"Forget about what I've just said. You don't have to answer it," Zelgadis spoke in a low tone, still wondering about her behavior.

Hearing him said that, the sorceress went back to staring at their campfire but this time most of her face was covered by her arms while her bangs covered the rest of her face. The surrounding was now covered by awkward silence.

"I gotta go freshen up," Lina suddenly voiced out as she quickly stood up, surprising the chimera.

"A-ah, okay. The river is just a short walk south of here," he reminded her, "Umm, and if anything happens, just launch a fireball into the air as a signal," he continued, feeling a little worry about his troubled companion.

"Uhhhh," Lina scratched her head uncomfortably, "I couldn't even if I wanted to,"

"Huh?" Zelgadis was confused for a moment and then it hit him, "Oh…the time of th-,"

"Uh, yeah… So gotta go!" she quickly cut him off, feeling mostly embarrass at the moment as she ran towards her destination, leaving the chimera all alone.

Zelgadis watched her figure disappearing behind the lush, thick forest before letting out a sigh, "…I could never understand woman…"

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Why didn't we invite Sylphiel back at Seyruun?

Lina gently slipped her hands into the freezing river before splashing some of the water on to her face.

Afraid of what?

"What am I afraid of, huh?" she mimic Zelgadis' question as she plopped on to the soft riverbank next to her removed gloves, wiping her face with her bare hand. Letting out a long sigh, she let her body lay against the comfy grass so that she could see the vast, pitched black sky.

I know what I'm afraid of… I'm afraid that Sylphiel will accuse me of Gourry's predicament. I'm afraid that people will say that it's my fault all of this had happened…

I'm afraid that I would start blaming myself for this… And…

She could feel her eyes starting to get watery but still she forced herself not to spill any of it.

...I'm afraid that I would start thinking that Gourry would be better off…without me… That I wish he never had met me…

Her hands gripped the soft grass behind her.

But I don't want to think like that! I never regretted the time I spent with Gourry even if most of the time he could be such a jellyfish for brain…

The sorceress had to smile at the thought.

I…I don't want to experience losing Gourry again…

Her eyes drooped slightly.

…That painful feeling when I saw his crystal started to shatter…

Her surrounding started to get fuzzy. She didn't even notice that a small tear had spilled from her eye.

…Gourry…

Her eyes completely drifted shut and she fell into a deep slumber.

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"Actually, there's something I want to ask you, Lina," he spoke in a serious tone.

"O-okay," Lina stammered, wondering what kind of a serious question Gourry was going to ask her and then her mind processed something. Her face turned several shades of red while her heart started to thump loudly. 'Could he be asking about…..'

"If you have to choose between the world and….some…thing precious to you, which would you choose?"

Lina mentally fell backwards. When she finally regained back her composure, she let out a sigh, 'I should have known better…' she thought to herself as she push away her own disappointment but there was also a feeling of confusion. 'Why did he ask me this all of a sudden….? Oh well, better answer him,'

"..well, that's easy! I'll take that precious something-of-mine, thank you very much!" she answered in a proud tone, hoping to lighten the mood but looking at Gourry's unfazed expression, she knew that he wanted the correct answer from her.

"..but, that would be wrong. The correct and right choice would be choosing the world," she slowly answered. Her face softened and so does Gourry's.

One hand made its way on top of her head and Gourry affectionly ruffled her hair and because she was so use to it, it didn't bother her anymore.

"That's right but personally it doesn't matter to me which choice you take because if you ever gotten yourself in that situation, I know that you'll come through for yourself, for the rest of us and for the world. I believe in you Lina. Always have and always will," he spoke gently as a loving smile grazed his lips.

Lina's blush came back full force so she tried to hide it from him by bowing her head as she bashfully replied.

"…thanks, Gourry"

……..

"Gourry!" Lina yelled out his name as she jolted from her dream.

Placing one hand on her forehead, she saw the bright sunlight shining through the forest' leaves and it all came to her.

She sighed, "…a dream…" But instead of tears falling down her cheeks like last time, a small smile came instead, "You're right, Gourry…No matter what we encounter, we will make it through together in the end," her smile widen and for the first time after the incident that night, the sorceress felt like her old self again as new hope fills her heart.

"Because victory will always be mine!"

To Be Continue…

Ranting :

Some of you may be surprised that I had updated this chapter quite fast. That's because I'll be going to my university soon. So I have to try to try to try to try to finish this story as soon as possible!

Lina : Wow, another long break for us?

(ignoring Lina) Anyway, fans that are not familiar with Naga's history may got confused on some of the conversations above. Way back before Naga left Seyruun, her mother got killed by an assassin (who was supposed to kill Naga not her mother) but in the end Naga managed to kill him (correct me if I'm wrong here…) Probably feeling guilty about her mother's death, Naga decided to travel so that she would obtain more power. And that's that…

Gourry : R&R please!

Oh, and I know that you're probably thinking where the hell is Zelgadis? Well, wait for the next chapter!