Disclaimer:Slayers belongs to Hajime Kanzaka/Rui Araizumi/Kadokawa Shoten/TV TOKYO/SOFTX/Marubeni. The title of Gundam SEED belongs to Sunrise/Bandai. This story and all the original characters are mine. This story is AU.
The group huddled at a fork in the road, pouring over a map trying to decide which way to go.
"I think we should go right." Filia said. "There is an ancient shrine in the forest. The Clair Bible might be there."
"I think left is the correct way to go." Zelgadiss said. "There is a maze containing very valuable items in the desert. The Clair Bible might be there."
"What do you think, Lina?" Gourry scratched his head.
"I don't know... Both places sound probable." Lina frowned, a hand rubbing her delicate chin.
"Since you seem unable to decide, let us do it for you!" A bellowing roar sounded from behind the group.
Lina and the others turned to see a werewolf in armour standing in the middle of the road, many more beast men surrounded them, bristling with armour and weapons.
"Ha! That's some nerve you have there, thinking of going against us!" Lina extended her hands in response, while her companions took the cue and readied their weapons. "We'll see if you have it in you!"
Lina's party fought at 4-30 odds, but it was rather obvious that victory would not fall on the beast men. When everyone had sheathed their swords and mace, Lina took out a coin and threw it high into the air.
"Heads is right and tails is left!" Lina called out before she caught the coin on the back of her hand. She removed the concealing hand to reveal the coin. "It's heads. We're going right."
Zelgadiss grumbled a little as the group took the right path. Gourry patted his back cheerfully. "If we don't find what we're looking for in the forest shrine, we'll go to the maze you talked about later!"
Being the last one in line, Filia casually followed the others. Before she walked a few steps, however, she froze. Quickly jerking her head to the side, she thought she caught sight of something, or someone, disappearing. Filia gazed intently at the spot where there was nothing but a tree, her mind screaming angrily. She only sensed it for a split second, but she was positive about its identity. Her background had honed her senses toward Mazoku. With Xelloss absent, she could easily pick up other Mazoku's aura.
"Huh? What's the matter, Filia?" Lina noticed the dragon maiden still hesitating and inquired.
"...Nothing." Filia managed a small smile and joined the group, her mind uneasy and restless.
Skymaster Caiza was admiring his demon blade when an aura materialized in front of him. He put down his blade and stood up to greet the visitor.
"Ah, if it isn't Zellas Metallium, the Beastmaster. To what do I owe the honour of your visit?" Caiza grinned wickedly.
The Beastmaster stared at him hard, her tone harsh. "What did you do, Caiza? Your aura is completely different from before."
"Oh, nothing much." Caiza smiled slyly. "While your underling was with that Lina Inverse's group, I had mine searching the other direction. Let's just say they found quite an item."
"A Clair Bible?" The Beastmaster guessed, her eyes narrowed as she spoke.
"Ah, nothing escapes you, Zellas. Yes, they found a Clair Bible, an especially valuable one."
"Hmph! So that's how you've increased your power to rival mine."
"That's right." Caiza looked at her. "We're both Lords under the One, yet you've always been the most powerful among us. But things are different now. I've become as powerful as you are, and you no longer have the power to restrict my actions."
"You're really going to push your ambition of destroying the world, aren't you?" The Beastmaster stared at him. "That's why you're looking for THIS one."
"Well, it's not mendatory that I obtain this particular manuscript, but it'll make everything much faster and easier. After all, we Lords are invincible. Those humans, not even the greatest sorceresses Luna and Lina Inverse, have the slightest hope in defeating me."
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. Don't forget that Hellmaster Fibrizo, a Lord of equal ranking to us, was destroyed by the hand of Lina Inverse." The Beastmaster warned. "She may be using the One's power to do it, but the One did lend her the power. Fibrizo was killed because he betrayed the One. You are doing the same thing, Caiza, by trying to destroy the world against the One's will."
"Bah! Who cares about her?" Caiza laughed. "Yes. The One did lend the sorceress her power to destroy Fibrizo, but the sorceress sealed the spell after that. The One cannot appear in the material plane without the proper instrument."
"You dare to openly betray the One?" The Beastmaster looked at him dangerously.
"Come on now, Zellas. She may be the Golden Demon Lord of All, but the One practically doesn't exist! Her mind is in the Sea of Chaos, but she has no real body. Without a body, even the One cannot do anything, however powerful she is." Caiza snorted. "THIS one will grant me direct access to the Sea of Chaos. It'll be too easy to erase the bodiless mind of the One!"
"You're beyond reason now, Caiza. Better watch it. You never know what'll happen." The Beastmaster glared at him one last time and disappeared.
"Oh, don't worry. I have everything planned out." Caiza laughed after his fellow Lord left.
"Xelloss!" The Beastmaster called out as soon as she teleported into her palace.
"Yes, Beastmaster-sama?" Xelloss appeared before her throne.
"Prevent Caiza from obtaining this Clair Bible by all means. Consider him a rebel, and show no mercy to his minions! I don't care what you do!" Zellas barked.
"Understood." Xelloss bowed in acknowledgement and remained there, for he knew there was more.
"There is only one Gold Dragon still alive, correct?" Zellas calmed down a little.
"That's correct."
"And the Ancient Dragons are all extinct?"
"Affirmative."
"How many high priestesses are there in Ryuuzoku now?"
"Three more beside the Gold Dragon. Two Silvers and one Red."
"I see. So that's why he's been checking you out." The Beastmaster narrowed her eyes.
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand, Beastmaster-sama." Xelloss said.
"Are you aware of the way to cancel unbalance, Xelloss?"
"By combining Light and Darkness to create balance..." Xelloss paused, slightly frowning. "Unless Caiza-sama has grown considerably more powerful, there are other ways to defeat him. Is he...?"
"Apparently, he managed to get his filthy hands on a Clair Bible. Now he is as powerful as I am."
"So he can only be defeated by cancelling his unbalance." Xelloss concluded.
"That's exactly it. Go back to the group. You must prevent the Light from being extinquished."
"Aye." With that, he disappeared.
"Flare Arrow!" A blast of energy shot out from Lina's hand, hitting the intended target dead-on.
It wasn't working, however, as the figure re-emerged after the cloud of smoke dissipated. As a matter of fact, not even a burn or scratch had been induced on him since the battle started. The group had entered the forest for some time when they were ambushed. There were only five attackers, but all five were Mazoku, which made the battle much more difficult than fighting against a troop of humans or beast men.
"Arrrrr! These guys are really getting on my bad side!" Lina growled as she dodged an attack.
"They are teleporting too fast! It's impossible for Lina-san to cast Dragu Slave at this rate!" Filia cried while blocking the swords of two Mazoku with a mace in one hand and a sword in another.
"Physical attacks won't do much damage. We can only rely on Gourry's Sword of Light." Zelgadiss said, parrying with one.
"They are quite good, though, I'm afraid!" Gourry said in the middle of a fierce duel.
"Hurry up and finish your opponent, Gourry!" Lina yelled, releasing another blast. "Filia won't be able to handle two at a time for long!"
Filia cried out as her sword was knocked from her hand, and blood seeped through her white robe from a long gash on her left arm.
"Filia!" The other three shouted at the same time, recognizing the immediate danger. Their opponents didn't ease; their attacks only intensified.
"This is the last blow!" One of the Mazoku laughed, bringing his blade down while his comrade held Filia's mace at bay.
Filia felt her heart sank as she saw the inevitable. She shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the end. But it never came. Instead, a scream shattered the air, uttered by the attacking Mazoku. Risking a look, Filia gasped when she saw the back of a familiar black robe. A grin shone on his face as he casually killed the two offending Mazoku.
"Xelloss!"
This sudden and unexpected event had caught the attacking Mazoku totally off guard. Gourry didn't hesitate to take advantage of this and quickly dispatched his opponent. The remaining two Mazoku were finished off by Gourry's Sword of Light as well.
Filia was so shocked by the turn of events that she didn't recover until Xelloss kneeled beside her and took her left arm to cast a healing spell. She pulled her arm back with a start and could only stammer, "Th... Thank you."
"Filia! Are you alright?" Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadiss ran up to her worriedly.
"That was pretty close, wasn't it?" Xelloss smiled, standing up.
"The closest for the past two days." Zelgadiss narrowed his eyes and glared at the Trickster Preist. "Surely you know something about the reason why?" The chimera was NEVER one to trust the Mazoku priest.
All eyes set on Xelloss as he grinned and held up a finger. "That..."
Lina rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. Is a secret?"
"...is not a secret!"
"Eh!" Everyone stared at him in surprise. "So you're actually going to tell us this time?" Lina managed from her shock.
"Hai." Xelloss smiled and nodded. "You already know that other than the Great Lord Ruby Eye Shabranigu-sama, there are five Lords under the Lord of Nightmares. One, Hellmaster Fibrizo-sama, was destroyed by Lina-san, one is sealed, one is in hiding, and one is my mistress."
"That's only four." Zelgadiss noted.
"The last one is the Skymaster Caiza-sama." Xelloss paused to look at the girl beside him, who stifled a surprised gasp. "Yes, the one who sent Meiron to check on us before, Filia-san."
"Check on you? When did that happen?" Lina frowned.
"Before I left two days ago."
"Why didn't you tell us about this, Filia?" Zelgadiss looked at the dragon girl.
"I didn't want to trouble you. Only the two of us seemed to be the targets so..." Filia looked down.
"Ah, you are the only target now, Filia-san." Xelloss said cheerfully.
"Why is that?" Filia shot him an angry glare.
"Because you are a threat to Caiza-sama. Naturally he would want to have you taken care of first."
"Filia is a threat?" Lina fumed. "How dare that Caiza guy ignore such a beautiful and genius sorceress as ME!"
"How was Hellmaster-sama defeated?" Xelloss calmly asked.
"By ME, of course! I cast Giga Slave on him-" Lina's eyes widened as she realized something. "...which I sealed after defeating the Hellmaster."
"This means that Lina has no means of defeating a Mazoku Lord now." Zelgadiss nodded. "What about Gourry's Sword of Light?"
"Yeah! It can be combined with a powerful spell to create very powerful results." Gourry said.
"No good, unless that powerful spell is Giga Slave." Xelloss shook his head.
"But I don't know anything even close to Giga Slave, how am I a threat to Caiza?" Filia asked.
"Ah. Glad you asked, Filia-san." Xelloss grinned. "While I count as part of the equation, I am a lot more difficult to kill. You, on the other hand, are an easier target. You are an important component in defeating Caiza-sama simply because you are on the very top of the Ryuuzoku hierarchy, making you the brightest Light."
"The brightest Light...?" Filia frowned. "I don't understand."
"While the Mazoku represent Darkness, the Ryuuzoku represent Light. It is not possible to cloak Light completely with Darkness, and Light drives out Darkness. Darkness loaths Light, yet Darkness can't exist without Light. Such is the law of balance." Xelloss explained. "The Ancient Dragons used to be the brightest Light, but they became extinct even before the Kouma War started. That made the Gold Dragons the bearers of the brightest Light..."
Xelloss paused on purpose as everyone turned their eyes to look at the dragon maiden. "Caiza-sama got a Clair Bible and grew very strong, creating an abnormal imbalance. A balance is needed to cancel that out, and a balance of such magnitude can only be achieved through the union of the brightest Light and a strong Darkness, which would be me, in this case."
"UNION of Light and Darkness!" Filia glared dangerously at the Mazoku priest and screamed at the top of her lungs. "But YOU are Darkness! I am NOT doing anything with YOU!"
"Now, now, don't get so worked up, Filia-san." Xelloss kept his grin. "Though I wouldn't mind if you continued this. You are the most delicious girl I've ever tasted, I must say."
Everyone blushed at his choice of words, and Filia was absolutely enraged. "Will you stop using such words! You made it sound like we're-"
"We're what?" Xelloss licked his lips suggestively and smiled innocently at the same time.
Filia refused to say anything more and chose to look anywhere else but his grinning face.
"Ah, you look so cute when you're angry, Filia-san. I can't say I'm unwilling to do that with you, but I regret to say that you got it all wrong, my dear Filia-san." Xelloss smirked at the furious blush on the dragon girl's face.
"What do you mean?" Gourry asked. Being the densest one of the lot, he didn't really understand the word play, but he was the quickest to respond.
"We only need to combine our power to achieve balance, that's all." Xelloss smiled mischievously. "Or were you thinking of something else, Filia-san?"
Filia shot him a death glare. "Of course not! Who would think of doing something like that with you!"
"So that's why Caiza's been sending people to attack us." Zelgadiss said, intentionally breaking up the argument. "He wants Filia dead, so there won't be a bright enough Light to interfere with him."
"That's correct." Xelloss nodded. "If the Gold Dragons are gone, the Silver Dragons are the next in line, but they are not powerful enough. My aura will easily overtake theirs and a balance cannot be achieved."
"Since Xelloss is probably the only Mazoku who would actually be willing to help in bringing down the Skymaster, we need a Light that matches his power." Zelgadiss mused with one hand under his stony chin and cast a sidelong glance at Filia. "So it has to be a Gold Dragon, huh?"
"I am NOT combining my power with that filthy Mazoku!" Filia insisted.
"Well, shall we proceed now? The Clair Bible is still waiting for us." Xelloss promptly ignored her protest and turned to venture deeper into the forest.
"Hey! Did you hear me, Xelloss! I am not combining my power with yours!" Filia stomped her feet angrily.
"The shrine isn't too far from here. We should get there soon." Xelloss walked at the front of the group, leading the other three away. He glanced back and winked. "My, my, I can never get enough of you, Filia-chan."
"ARRRRRR!" Filia yelled in frustration.
The group arrived at the shrine, or rather, what was left of it. Remnants of what used to be a grand shrine lay scattered all over the clearing, obviously the result of a violent assult. A small stone monument stood amidst the rubble.
"This is...?" Lina was the first to inspect the stone monument.
"The seal of the Clair Bible." Xelloss walked up to her. "Apparently, magic doesn't work here."
"Then how are we going to break the seal?" Lina asked.
"Not to worry. We have the Sword of Light." Xelloss pointed his staff at the blond swordsman.
"My Sword of Light?" Gourry nodded in understanding. "It's the same as the laboratory of Rezo, isn't it?"
"That's right."
"But whoever did this..." Zelgadiss glanced around the wasted clearing. "Is probably still around."
"That's also correct. They are waiting for us to open the seal for them." Xelloss turned around. "Why don't you just come out from your hiding places?"
Sneers were heard as several figures materialized out of nowhere, surrounding the group in the process.
"Huh, I see you are still the Xelloss your mistress created." A woman standing beside Meiron snorted.
"Milaya." Xelloss recognized the Skymaster General. "Going all out, are we? I guess Caiza-sama is pretty impatient, sending out both his general and priest, ne?"
"You may be the single most powerful Mazoku, Beast Priest, but we two can combine our power to match yours." Meiron said.
Xelloss opened his eyes. What Meiron said was true. That meant he wouldn't be able to help the others, and Gourry would have to fight five Mazoku.
"Break the seal and take the Clair Bible." Xelloss ordered as he made his moves against Meiron and Milaya.
"Right!" Gourry inserted the Sword of Light into the opening on the stone monument, while the other three covered for him.
A bright light emitted from the stone monument, illuminating the entire clearing. A sphere remained in the place where the monument was after the light faded away. Inside the transparent sphere was the manuscript of the Clair Bible.
"Take it!" Meiron barked as he and his counterpart kept Xelloss occupied.
The other five Mazoku quickly closed in, preparing to snatch the Clair Bible. One of them shot a blast and sent the sphere up into the air, so that the flightless humans wouldn't be able to reach it before the airborne Mazoku.
"Darn it!" Lina growled. "Raywing!"
It would seem that she was still too late, however, as one of the Mazoku was already within reach of the sphere.
"Don't even think about it!" Filia shouted and transformed into her dragon form in an instant, towering over the clearing in great height. She knocked the Mazoku closest to the sphere away and got closer to the sphere than the other Mazoku.
"Take this!" Two Mazoku quickly threw a number of high energy blasts at the Gold Dragon, hitting right on her flank.
"Filia!" Lina exclaimed, throwing a couple fireballs of her own at the offending Mazoku.
The Gold Dragon took the blasts head-on, intent on reaching her goal regardless of the price. She buried the sphere within her mouth and soared into the sky to dodge further attacks.
"Take it in!" Xelloss suddenly called out in the middle of his battle, his voice reaching the ears of the Gold Dragon even at such height.
Everyone ceased what they were doing for a moment as a blinding light suddenly surrounded them from above. The light lasted for a few seconds and died down, allowing everyone to see again.
"Arrr! That stupid dragon actually ate it!" Meiron was furious. "Get her!"
"Lina-san, protect Filia-san!" Xelloss yelled.
"You don't need to tell me that!" Lina flew toward the Gold Dragon, but she was blocked by two Mazoku. Zelgadiss had also come up to join her at this point, while Gourry remained on the ground fighting a Mazoku.
A scream suddenly pierced through the tense air, having emitted from Milaya, who stood engulfed in an eerie green flame. It was obvious that Xelloss was responsible for that, but Meiron was nowhere in sight.
Another cry of pain, this one like the roar of a wounded beast, sounded from high in the air. When they jerked their heads up, they saw the Gold Dragon being stabbed on both her wings. Meiron was smiling darkly beside her, holding a bloody sword.
"Looks like I am the victor here, Xelloss. I'll take the Gold Dragon." Meiron laughed madly and disappeared while taking a tight hold of the dragon's neck. The other five Mazoku also vanished with their leader, leaving Lina, Gourry, Zelgadiss, and Xelloss behind.
"Meiron sacrificed Milaya just so he could take Filia-san." Xelloss allowed some degree of anger to show in his tone. "How dare he take her away from me!"
"Where are they taking Filia?" Lina asked, worry deep in her voice.
"Probably Caiza's palace in the astral plane." Zelgadiss guessed and not liking it one bit.
"We gotta get Filia back fast! Judging from the wounds, she wouldn't last too long without being treated." Gourry urged.
"Gourry's right!" Lina was alarmed by these words. "Not to mention that only Mazoku can perform any spells in the astral plane. Filia won't even be able to heal herself!"
"I'll get her back." Xelloss said with a dark expression and disappeared before anyone could say anything more.
to be continued...
Author's Note:
First of all, I'm so sooooooory for having gone dormant and not posting (nor writing) anything for two years! I haven't left the Slayers fandom, though I admit I've been majorly distracted by other activities as well as other anime/manga series. I did try to post a while back, but the editor window thing refused (and refuses) to do as told! Frankly, I like the old style editor a lot better... Anyhow, now that I'm back, I am hoping to post all the chapters and stories that have been buried in my hard drive for two years before the summer is over. No promises, though.
Did you get all the hierarchy setting and the Light and Darkness thing? I should have them explained in later chapters, but if you don't want to wait, drop me a line and I'll try my best to explain it to you :) I know Mazoku don't cast healing spells, and I did say that I am going to finish this story with my initial settings. Please remember that this story is AU and bear with me here.
What do you think of the story so far? Be sure to let me know! Special thanks to Miss Fi for beta reading the chapter for me:)