Slayers – Order in Chaos

by Steven P. P

Lina Inverse and Xelloss struggle with their lives and each other, while the gods and demons threaten the existence of humanity. An attempt at believable L/X romance. Chapter 6: Lina and Xelloss travel to the Kataart Mountains in search of answers, but first they must face questions they need to ask themselves... if they can even remember who they are.

8. The Darkest Hour, part 1

A quick note before you begin: As many of you who post stories on the site are aware, recently the document editor is stripping all double punctuation marks from the text. My experience showed that I do need these as writing tools, so I am using the following replacements in the story: The interrobang ("‽") in place of the question mark and exclamation mark pair, and the double exclamation mark symbol ("‼") in place of the usual two exclamation marks. Hopefully, your browser will render them correctly, but if they are not visible or are very confusing, let me know.

UPDATE: There are reports that the interrobang is not displayed well on Chrome, which causes additional formatting glitches as well. Other browsers seem to work fine.

Also, this is probably the darkest chapter of the story. I would only ask that you hold out until the end; I've done my best to make it worthwhile. : )

-o-

Chapter 5. The Darkest Hour – Part 1.

It is a three day long journey to the south along the Sailinth River, on the road leading through the city of Wanadia, the abandoned village of Morfir and the merchant town of Adigol, to reach the foreboding Dark Mountain. When the great knight Arteus arrived there centuries ago, it took him a year of wandering among the mountain's tall cliffs and deadly chasms to finally find the place he was told to seek out: the Cliff of Remembrance. The beauty of the view he beheld was beyond imagination: the Sailinth River sparkled with the silver light of the full moon as it ran among the trees of the forest below in a majestic pace, and nowhere else did he find the light of the stars to be so pure, shining brightly as if diamond dust covered the sky.

In this place of tranquility and solace the brave knight silently prayed, asking the gods to give his tormented soul redemption at long last. And behold, the heavens opened, and the spirit of his lost and only love, Miriam, descended from the sky to bring him the news he craved: that his seemingly never-ending quest, which sent him to the end of the world and back, had finally come to an end. The morning sun found Arteus dead on the cliff, sleeping the peaceful, eternal sleep that evaded him for so long. To this day, people from all around the world come to face the steeps of the Dark Mountain, risking their lives for the hope that, on a similar moonlit night, they may take a glance at the face of their lost love one more time.

So went the legend of the Cliff of Remembrance. It was among the sappiest and most unfounded legends Lina had heard in the one hundred and four years of her life.

Considering this, she had no reasonable explanation about what she was doing on the Dark Mountain during the night of the full moon – unreasonable explanations on the other hand were plenty, and also true. Contrary to the legend, the cliff itself was actually very easy to find; there was only a single one which faced the valley through which the Sailinth River ran. She could have flown up there without effort, but, because of similarly unreasonable motives, she climbed the mountain through the day without using a single spell. And then, finally arriving to her destination, the midnight hour found Lina Inverse, one of the greatest mages that ever lived, kneeling in the dust of the Cliff of Remembrance, and quietly letting her tears stream down her face without end.

She could not tell how much time had passed. In general, her sense of time itself muddled during her aimless wanderings; days, weeks, months melting together, the only indicator that the world did in fact go forward being the passage of seasons. Thus, while she could not remember the point in time when it occurred, the knowledge slowly crept into her mind that she was no longer alone.

Lina only had to raise her head the smallest bit to notice the brown leather boots and the tip of a wooden staff in front of her, at the very edge of the cliff. That was all she needed to recognize the newcomer, even though she had not seen him for years, decades even. Despite this, however, she did not bother to greet him or otherwise acknowledge his presence.

An immeasurable amount of time passed once more, before her visitor opened his mouth to speak.

"It has been a truly long while, Lina-san." His voice was low and soft, as if he did not want to disturb the silence looming over them more than it was absolutely necessary.

There was no point to ignoring him any longer; this realization set Lina's mouth into a frown. "What do you want, Xelloss?" she rasped, not raising her head still. "If you just came to enjoy others' misery, then go find yourself another buffet table and leave me the hell alone."

Part of her knew of course that he could not be driven away by such common insults; this belief was vindicated by the decidedly cheerful tone he chose for his reply.

"Don't worry, I am merely here to investigate," he said. The sorceress saw his boots moving as he took a step towards her. "The craziest rumors began to surface recently, and I had to find out how much truth there actually was in them. I'm sure you've heard about them as well: They say that the legendary sorceress Lina Inverse died a tragic death, and now only her restless ghost roams the land, haunting towns and villages across the peninsula in the form of a faded, bitter replica of her former self." Lina could feel his gaze upon her; the feeling was far from pleasant. "People can come up with the most absurd of things, don't they?"

The sorceress said nothing; only the distant howl of a wolf echoed through the valley below them.

"Still, absurd or not, you do look to be severely under the weather, Lina-san. It's an unusual sight to see," Xelloss continued, recognizing her refusal to respond. "Is there some specific reason for your sullen mood perhaps, which I'm not aware of?"

The question sparked something in her: small flames of anger sprang to life upon the pool of displeasure and despair.

"Don't play dumb," she growled. "If you're horribly untalented at something, this is it."

"There is a difference between playing dumb and giving you a chance to explain," he spoke with unshakeable mirth. "I know that a few things have happened, but how long was that? Five years, maybe? That's quite a bit of time, especially on your scale; more than enough to move on, don't you think?"

"Go away, Xelloss," Lina muttered darkly.

"Or are you trying to tell me that you, the human who 'must live each moment to the fullest', is still chained to that single moment after so long?" He gave a soft chuckle. "It would seem that you have trouble living up to your own philosophy, Lina-san. Or at least, living that moment of loss out for such a long time has made you strangely unaware of all the other moments speeding by you."

Two gloved hands slammed against the rocky ground. "Get out of here, Xelloss," Lina seethed, staring down at her trembling arms. "Go or I swear you are going to regret it."

"My, you are so quick to issue threats," Xelloss' voice mocked her with unvarnished pleasure. "Your confidence was always enviable, but unfortunately I don't think you could hit me with absolutely anything in the sorry state you are in now—"

There was nothing sudden, loud or unusual to interrupt his speech; what made Xelloss silent was a tiny piece of rock which bounced off his left foot with a barely audible noise.

"I think I've just hit you." In a different time and place, Lina's voice might have been gleeful; now it was only bitter and angry. "I could've hit you with anything I damn pleased, but I didn't, and you know why? Because it doesn't matter." For the first time, she raised her head to look defiantly into his face. His eyes half-open, the priest gazed back at her looking slightly taken aback. "All your usual shenanigans, your little quips and wordplays – they're pointless now, Xelloss, because I'm done with both you and your games. I'm done with them so much you can't even imagine. So if you have a problem, then either attack me, or crawl back to your hidey-hole and rot."

The tension rose in the air as even the usual night noises grew dim around them. The corner of Xelloss' mouth twitched in anger; for a moment, Lina honestly thought that he would attack her then and there. But the moment went by, and the priest's expression gradually morphed back into his usual smile.

"Very well, Lina-san. I shall take my leave," he said, walking by her, away from the edge of the cliff; Lina's gaze did not follow. "I have the answer I came for, after all: apparently, the sorceress of legend truly is dead." His footsteps halted. "You know what? It wasn't ever that much of an issue, but this development might still warrant a little celebration! But what should I exactly do, hmm… oh, I got it!"

There was something in his joyful voice that made Lina shudder. She turned her head back to look at him again; the priest pointed his staff towards the Sailinth River, his gesture like that of a child who wants to explain his newest plan of mischief to his friend.

"See that village over there? It's hard to notice because of the forest, but you can still spot some of the roofs at least. I think…" He paused with a grin. "Yes, this will be fun. I think I'll go down there, and slaughter every single man, woman and child that I find - not too quickly, as that would be squandering of course. I already called some lesser demons to surround the village; it will be just like in the good old times during the war!" He turned around and began to casually stroll down the path. "Oh, by the way, Lina-san," he called, glancing back just enough to meet the sorceress' horrified gaze, "if you can fit it into your schedule, you could cry a few tears for the villagers as well. You are getting really good at that, from what I've seen."

With those words, he disappeared from the cliff.

Once again alone, Lina felt all muscles in her body tighten, her heartbeat drumming in her ears, while her fingers dug into the rocky soil with such intensity that her nails snapped and bled.

---

Under the lightning-laced black sky, in the midst of cutting wind carrying a mixture of dust and ash, two people stood face to face. They knew each other, but often failed to truly understand. They were close, but still far apart. They were allies, but only as much as they were enemies – especially now.

Lina felt a wave of calmness washing over her, the worries from mere minutes ago showed into the back of her head. The threat to the world, the fate of humanity, the unlikely alliance of the gods and the demons – each of these became irrelevant for the present moment, as though a giant 'if' had been put before them all.

She can think about those later, if she manages to live that long.

Life or death, here and now – the thought was almost comfortable with its familiarity. In fact, she felt that there was something familiar about the whole situation, familiar and somehow strangely fitting as well.

"So it has finally come to this, hasn't it?" She smiled wryly at the person in front of her.

"Realistically speaking, it was inevitable, don't you think?" Xelloss replied with a matching expression. "I must say that this is nonetheless quite far from how I imagined it to happen, but you have to take what you get I suppose."

"You sure aren't making it any better, you know." The sorceress shrugged, throwing her hands up into the air. "I mean, after all we've been through, you could've at least said something dramatic like 'with a heavy heart, I must inform you that one of us will die', or 'we regrettably have to fight each other to the end on the field of battle'. Not just pop in and go 'hey Lina, guess what, they told me to kill you'. That's just lame."

The priest's open eyes turned contemplative.

"Hmm, perhaps you're right. Things have been moving too fast, and I forgot to think of a proper entrance," he said thoughtfully, and lowered the staff he kept pointed at her. "Do you want me to try again?" He closed his left eye to give the impression of a wink. "If you pretend I haven't arrived yet, I can suddenly appear to deliver a speech with sufficient pathos."

Lina shook her head. "Won't work, sorry," she quipped. "The magic of the moment is gone."

"That's too bad, but at least we don't overcomplicate matters this way," the priest commented. "Besides, I can't very well say that I have anything close to a 'heavy heart'. If I would have to describe my emotions right now, I'd say they are something bordering on excitement."

"You don't get to fight Lina Inverse every day, huh?" The sorceress raised a taunting eyebrow.

His smile widened. "Even better. You don't get to destroy Lina Inverse every day."

Her bright façade fell, and Lina regarded the mazoku with a hard gaze.

"So you feel giddy that you can finally kill me and that's it?" She exhaled irritably. "Look Xelloss, I don't give a damn if you consider yourself to be the poster child for backstabbing demons everywhere; I know you're smarter than this! You must see that the plan your higher-ups agreed to puts your own race in just as much danger! If you want to say that you never cared whether I lived or died, fine; we had a few good years at least, and my saner side never had that many illusions about you anyway. But if you want to tell me that you don't care about even your own species, then you're not only an idiot, but a liar!"

"Lina-san, you know very well that I do not lie." The priest's voice was patient like that of a teacher, who gently corrects a beginner's glaring mistakes. "Naturally, I have voiced my reservations to my Mistress. She heard them and chose to ignore them – and yes, as far as I am concerned, that's it. I am but a humble middle manager; I can only do so much. So why should I worry about problems I cannot influence? It is better to view the positive aspects of such a situation, don't you agree?"

The sorceress closed her eyes with a look of disgust. "What do you expect me to say to that?"

Xelloss' smile actually became genuinely warm and friendly, but that felt more unsettling to her than anything that came before. "Nothing special, just do what you always do. Make another of your usual witty comebacks, ready yourself and fight with everything you have. You know the stakes involved; if anyone can possibly keep your race from extinction, it is you. So make this battle count, Lina-san - there would be little point to it if you didn't."

The sorceress stared at him for several moments, her eyes narrowing, and then curtly shook her head. "I'm no longer in the mood for witty comebacks," she murmured as she took a few steps back, and lowered her stance to prepare for an incoming attack. "I guess we no longer owe each other anything. If this is what you really want, Xelloss… then let's get on with it."

"With pleasure." The mazoku nodded cheerfully and raised his free hand up to his shoulder line, arm outstretched. Two cones of darkness appeared to his left and right, roughly the size of a human head, their ends pointed at the sorceress. "Let us begin with a little warm-up first."

He let his hand fall down – in the same moment, the two black cones sped towards Lina with lightning speed.

---

First, she found out that her teacher and idol hated her guts. Then she had to realize that her affinity to real mortal magic was very close to zero. After this, she was nearly crushed by a swarm of giant stones, and then nearly burned to crisp by attacking dragons and mazoku. And if all of this were not enough, the specter which haunted her for months and also got close to killing her chose this accursed moment to come back, looking for revenge.

Jane Smith was having a really bad day.

"W-What are you doing here?" she stuttered while she tried to back away from the Nameless One's nigh invisible ghostly figure. "I thought Miss Lina succeeded in killing you last time… or I hoped, at least." She looked towards the road behind her back and the trees of the Miasma Forest on the side, but neither seemed to be very promising escape routes – if trying to run away from a being that could teleport even made sense in the first place.

"I'm not dead yet…" The reply came as an angered whisper. "I plan to make you join me in oblivion first, Lina Inverse."

"Argh, but I'm not Lina Inverse!" Jane tore into her hair in frustration. "It was you who pushed me into pretending to be her to start with! So why can't you just leave me alone‽"

"You cannot… fool me…" The being sounded exhausted, but did not let the girl put more than a few feet of distance between them. "I'm fading… Ever since we met again, I can no longer absorb others… Their souls give me no respite. But it does not matter… as long as I can get you‼"

The spirit's wavering form lunged towards Jane. Without time or courage to jump out of the way, the girl threw up her hands defensively in front of her face and clenched her eyes shut.

Even though she was sure the being reached her, she did not feel any kind of impact, just a cold sensation spreading through her limbs. She hesitantly opened her eyes, and gazed into a swirling mass of bleached-out colors all around.

Jane was no stranger to this place; in the swamp at Man's End, she had visited this realm of memories before. The Nameless One tormented its victims here by facing them with their strongest fears and making them re-live the worst moments of their lives over and over, until their mind collapsed under the strain – in which moment it claimed their personality and experiences as its own.

To her dismay, it was also evident to Jane what she would be shown first.

"Not the Starlight Princess costume! Please, anything but the Starlight Princess!" she pleaded. "It was just an idea! I was only fifteen and I didn't know how stupid I'd look after pouring that bucket of silver paint on my head! It was a simple accident… I moved on since and everything! So please… don't show it to me again!"

She caught a glimpse of silver within the colorful maelstrom and instantly cried out in fear – but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. No memories came forth to haunt her.

"Where are you‽" She heard the Nameless One's confused voice from the distance. "You can't hide from me within your mind forever! Show yourself, Lina Inverse!"

"Phew, that was close. I thought it was all over for a second."

Jane nodded in agreement, letting out a relieved breath – before she realized that she was not the one who said that. Another woman stood next to her, gazing into the same swirling chaos. She was of medium height and looked to be a good ten years older than her. The bangs of her long, dark hair was cut into an even line in front in a style not unlike Xelloss'; lowering her head even a bit made it fall into her face and partially cover her eyes. She wore a white and purple waitress attire; Jane noticed that its coloring and design dated back to roughly a century ago.

"Oh, h-hi!… Who are you?" the fazed girl asked. "You're not something similar to that ghostly demon, right? I'm j-just asking because as long as you're not another ghost, you and I can be… er, best friends forever!… Uh, I mean I'm sure we can get along and cooperate to find a way out of this mess… right?"

The stranger faced her with a lopsided smile.

"Why? You got a problem with ghosts? Preconceptions like that aren't smart," she said, folding her arms in front of her chest – a common gesture, but for some reason the waitress made it look unusually imposing. "Anyway, you're out of luck, 'cause I guess I'm a ghost too." She took a step forward to stare into Jane's face. "Boo."

"Eeek‼" The girl let out a high-pitched scream.

Yes, it certainly was not her day.

---

Even without a path to follow, it was impossible to get lost in the forest. Almost from the very foot of the Dark Mountain, the intense, dancing blue light shone eerily through the mass of trees and led the way, growing ever brighter.

The village was already burning; azure-colored flames ate away the roofs and sprang forth from the doors and windows. There were no yells or screams to be heard or people on the streets to be seen, alive or dead; only two dozen deformed, repulsive creatures watched the destruction from the edge of the forest, encircling the small town as they were ordered to do.

One of the lesser demons noticed something. Its head turned towards the trees – a moment later, there was nothing but ash left in its place. One of its closest fellows saw what happened, and managed to cry out just before meeting the same fate; the others banded together, attacking in concert with a swarm of magical projectiles to take down the intruder.

Only a couple of seconds passed, and all of them were dead.

"Xelloss! Where are you?" Lina yelled, running into the burning village. "Come out and face me, you coward!" She tried casting a fire extinguishing spell at one of the buildings, but the blue flames, clearly fuelled by magic, raged on undeterred. "Where are all the people?" she whispered. "They should be trying to put out the fire… or at least run to safety, even if it meant fighting the demon guards…"

The flames from an open door swirled wildly, and Xelloss stepped forth from inside, the azure tongues obediently moving out of his way. He glanced at the sorceress, recognition showing on his face like the two of them had just met by complete accident.

"Ah, Lina-san. What a pleasant surprise," he said with a friendly smile. "Look what I have found." He grasped something in his free hand and now held it forward for her to see: it was a small, battered cotton bunny doll, likely a young peasant child's plaything. The two dark studs serving as its eyes regarded Lina with apparent sadness – or at least so they seemed to the sorceress, who gazed at the doll with the same horror as if she saw a dead body.

"The villagers, Xelloss," she drawled. "What have you done to them‽"

The doll in the priest's hand caught fire, the blue flames devouring it with ruthless speed. Xelloss brought his palm in front of his face, studying the smoking remains pensively.

"Such a shame," he muttered. "They all burn much too easily."

Something blew up inside the house behind the mazoku, the entrance door bursting wide open, its rusty hinges producing a sharp noise like a painful, elongated scream. Anguish flashed over Lina's face; memories flared up within her of a playful smile, of an annoying but still almost expected finger wag, of secrets which were sometimes even fun, of temporary moments of weakness when she considered the trickster behind these secrets a friend – all of these images were likewise burned away by the azure flames of reality which now surrounded her.

Then her anguish became anger.

"You… sick… monster…!" she seethed.

Xelloss gave a simple shrug as he brushed the ashes off his hand. "Why thank you. I'll take that as a compliment."

Anger grew into deadly, blazing fury.

"Take this as a compliment‼" she roared, sprinting towards the priest. "ASTRAL BREAK!"

After years of aimlessness and grim solitude, Lina finally had a goal. It filled all corners of her mind, shutting out everything else in order to give place to her new, overwhelming desire:

To see Beast Priest Xelloss die at her hands, even if that was to be the last thing she ever did.

---

He's insanely fast!

Not daring to even try to block his attack, Lina jumped to the side just in the nick of time. Two black cones zipped by, one making a sizable dent into her flowing cape before both projectiles impacted the ground a yard later, sending a shower of gravel her way. Even through her clothing, the sharp bits of stone hurt, but she did not have the luxury to pay attention to the pain; Xelloss already launched another attack at her from his extended staff, the grayish lightning forcing her to dodge backwards to gain some space. This second attack did not explode when it hit the ground, but disappeared into it instead.

That's odd, Lina thought, glancing towards the mazoku. Xelloss smirked at her, and pointed with his free hand towards the earth below her feet. The sorceress made another desperate lunge; knowing she was likely too late, she flicked her hand mid-jump to cast a smaller barrier of wind below her as a safety measure.

It was not nearly enough. A geyser of darkness erupted from the ground, shattering her spell effortlessly; the sorceress escaped oblivion only by already being at its edge when it appeared, the force of the attack flinging her twenty feet through the air. She grunted as she managed to land on all fours. Her whole body hurt like it was punctured by a thousand needles, while her head was spinning wildly; black magic energy fuelled the priest's attacks and made every hit an assault both on the flesh and the soul.

Springing up, Lina broke into a run towards the trees of the Miasma Forest to gain some well needed cover – she knew it was impossible to keep up with the mazoku's attacks for long. Several explosions boomed close behind while she violently shook her head, trying to clear the mist plaguing her mind.

I can't let my concentration slip now! I just need a few more…

Her gaze jumped back to the forest – but it was no longer there. The trees, the bushes and everything else had ceased to exist for a good half mile in all directions, only blackened patches of scorched earth hinted at their former place. There was not even a sound accompanying the destruction; all was simply gone in little more than a blink.

"Are you missing something, Lina-san?" Xelloss voice sounded from behind. The sorceress looked back just in time to notice a wave of energy digging up the earth as it travelled through the ground towards exactly where she was headed. With a sneer, she skidded to a halt and dashed in the opposite direction – three more waves were quick to follow her move.

"It is kind of disappointing like this," the mazoku called, sending another ash-colored arc of electricity her way for good measure. Ever since the fight started, he had not moved an inch from where he was standing and was now impatiently tapping his foot. "You must be aware that I could shoot these beams twice as quickly if I wanted to. Shouldn't you be trying to launch some kind of an offensive before that happened? Simply dodging is useless by itself, after all."

Lina frowned as she jumped over the three incoming ground-level threats, twisting her body in the air to evade the burst of lightning.

"You're sure right about that one," she muttered, changing directions once more and running towards the priest. A foreboding wall of darkness rose from the ground behind her, expanding quickly; the gray electric arc caused a cloud three times the size of the previous one to erupt from below. The sorceress quickened her already frantic pace and extended a hand towards her opponent. "ELMEKIA FLAME!"

An aura of blue-white radiance appeared around Xelloss for a second, its astral energies sizzling threateningly in the air – then he made a small, almost bored flick with his staff and the aura burst apart into tiny splinters of light.

"Is there a punch line to this joke that I have missed?" the mazoku said with a chuckle of amusement.

Ignoring the cloud of nothingness which was now mere inches away from her, Lina flashed him a similarly amused smirk. "There is one all right," she declared, and smashed her palms together. "Watch!"

The shining field of light reappeared around the priest. Looking slightly surprised by the unexpected event, Xelloss' moved his staff to dispel the magic once more, but never got to it: the bluish radiance abruptly doubled in size, as if someone else had cast the same spell on him the second time. His face now ruled by shock and discomfort, the mazoku's form hunched as he fought against the sudden astral strain – before the size of the light aura increased yet again.

The wall of darkness dissipated behind her, and Lina saw the priest's knees bend further as the opposing force kept growing steadily; it looked like a giant invisible hammer was pounding the mazoku into the dirt. Still running at top speed towards him, only a couple of yards stood between her and Xelloss.

There's the opening—!

An overwhelming force threw her off her feet and sent her flying backwards. Lina winced as her back hit the ground and raised her hand to shield her face from the massive amount of dust the wind sent her way from the priest's direction.

"I see. So you were casting spells all this time," she heard Xelloss say. As the dust settled somewhat, she saw him standing with his arms outstretched, a scintillating red force-field surrounding his body in the form of a half-sphere. Aside of a crack running through the jewel on top of his staff, he appeared to be unharmed, pleased even. "You just managed to delay their activation until you amassed enough of them to cause me some trouble. Not bad at all, it actually did hurt a little." He shrugged jovially, letting his hands fall down as the barrier faded away. "I guess I deserve as much for simply standing here, don't I? Now, however, I think we can call an end to the warm-up exercises."

Lina just managed to scramble to her feet, when Xelloss appeared exactly in front of her. She instinctively jumped backwards.

"You truly think you can evade me on the ground, Lina-san?" The priest raised an eyebrow, and his staff lashed out with a lax, uncoordinated move of his hand. "Think again."

The wooden weapon merely grazed the sorceress' right ankle in mid-jump.

"Gyaaah‼" Lina cried out, hit by excruciating pain. She could not see what happened to her leg, but she was sure that she could no longer land on it safely. Managing to summon a wind barrier around her in a split second, she rose well into the air, away from the mazoku.

Xelloss looked after her with a smile of satisfaction. "Now that's better."

He then shot into the air as well in pursuit.

---

In the lands within the former mazoku barrier, psychology was still very far from being a developed science. A few old sages worked with its concepts of the mind, but there were still countless untouched areas to cover. Regardless, some of them could probably say a couple of things about people's reactions to different levels of shock and stress: the phase of nervousness and insecurity, the phase of attacking everything that moves nearby with a giant axe, and somewhere in between, a phase that involves doubting the very existence of the surrounding reality.

Within the Nameless One's colorful dreamscape, Jane was apparently going through this latter phase at that moment.

"All right, that's it!" she yelled into the sky – or so she would have done, if there was any sky above them instead of rainbow-colored chaos. "All of this can't be happening to me! I've never done anything to deserve this! It has to be a fluke!"

"Hey, Jane—" the dark-haired waitress spoke, but her words were flatly ignored.

"I know! I must be dreaming! Yes, everything starting from the Lina Inverse-act must be some horrible nightmare I'm experiencing because I ate too much for dinner at home! This must be it!"

"I'm talking to you, death-wish girl…" The other woman tried a more threatening approach, once again entirely in vain.

"Lalla-lalla-la, I can't hear you!" Jane exclaimed in a singsong voice and stopped her ears. "I'm not here and you're just a figment of my imagination! Go away!"

"Fine!" The waitress whirled around and began to walk away with resolute steps. "You can rot here for all eternity if you want, I don't care anymore!"

Something heavy attached itself to her right leg, forcing her to a halt. The waitress turned her head back and saw Jane lying on the ground, holding on to her shoe with both hands.

"Wait, please!" she begged. "You know of an exit from this place? I might be dreaming but I certainly don't know how to wake up… so can you disclose anything about that? Please?… Pretty please?"

The waitress regarded her with a stern look.

"You're pathetic."

"…I know," Jane muttered in a low voice.

"Good, then do something about it. You can't always expect someone to take pity on you and pull you out of trouble. I've done it too many times already." The woman grabbed her by the shoulder and violently pulled her to her feet; her movement betrayed immense strength within her slim figure.

"You talk a lot like Miss Lina," Jane commented, before she fully realized what she just heard. "You mean we've met before? Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am," the waitress declared. "The two of us never met, not in person anyway; I've been dead for well over forty years. We're both in the Nameless' One's realm, where having a body means nothing; the way you see me now is just the form I can identify with the most."

"Did… did the Nameless One catch you too?" Jane asked hesitantly.

"Yes," the woman admitted in a sour voice. "I was a fool, an old fool who got too accustomed to having few to none to equal her in power. This demon offered a challenge which had little to do with raw strength, and I failed to live up to it. Miserably." Bitter emotions ran through her face for an instant, before the waitress forced her expression back to its previous cold indifference. "But I won't waste my life story on you. All you need to know now is that I can help you find your way out of here if you do exactly what I tell you."

"A-And… if I don't?" The girl gabbled the words sheepishly.

"What kind of a question is that‽" the waitress snapped.

"Sorry, it's just that… my track record is not the greatest in doing exactly what people tell me." Jane shrugged with embarrassment. "How are we going to accomplish leaving this place, anyway?"

The cheerful and at the same time disturbing light appeared in the woman's eyes.

"We will give the Nameless One a taste of its own medicine," she said confidently. "We'll kill the demon by making it re-live the only piece of memory it has left: its demise at the hands of a human."

---

Lina tried to put as much space between the priest and herself as possible while also inspecting her right leg as she soared through the air. A heavy trickle of blood gushed from the small but deep wound an inch above her foot. She reached down and with a grumble of effort cast Recovery on it for exactly two seconds, just enough to stop the bleeding. She did not have time for anything more; Xelloss' newest attack was already closing in on her.

An enormous red-brown cloud of thick mist rose from the ground; it was too big and approached too fast for her to get out of its way. Still flying higher to gain some time, Lina retrieved a small piece of parchment from her cloak, tore it to shreds and flung it downwards; as the fragments touched the swirling cloud, they dissolved into sparks of green light before disappearing.

The sorceress noticed something, however: not all pieces were destroyed immediately, as some of them fell further into the mist before meeting their fate. As the cloud drew near, she also realized why; despite first impressions, it was not completely homogenous, but consisted of large strands of dense fog surrounding smaller, more tenuous bubbles which were apparently not as deadly. The strands constantly swirled around though, sealing off or destroying cavities in one place while creating new ones in another; it would have required incredible speed, maneuverability, not to mention blind luck to navigate through them.

In other words, it's nothing less impossible than usual… Not that I have much of a choice, anyway, Lina thought as she changed directions and launched herself directly into the cloud. The wind barrier around her proved to be very helpful; it cleared away the thinner mist ahead, assuring a safe journey, at least as long as she stood clear of the darker strands. The sorceress zigzagged through the hazy, constantly changing tunnels, making abrupt, sharp turns at breakneck speed – but her reflexes were of little use when the way suddenly closed in front of her, causing her to speed towards a dark dead end.

Damn, I was almost through! I guess I need to make my own way out then... Lina extended her hand towards the sealed exit. "BOMB DI WIND!"

A mass of elemental energy gathered in her palm, ready to be unleashed – right before her spell fizzled.

Double damn‼

Without time for another incantation, Lina made a three hundred and sixty degrees spin within the barrier. Her cloak flapped around her, creating an extra blow of wind which cleared the obstruction somewhat, and then she rammed her way through, out into the open air on the bottom side of the cloud.

The sorceress quickly checked herself over and was relieved to notice that she made it out in one piece. The same could not be said about her left shoulder guard, however: it looked like some giant monster took a bite out of it, leaving sparkling green saliva around the cavity.

"Well done," Xelloss' voice reached her ears along with the sound of clapping. The mazoku sat cross-legged in the air a few yards away, his staff balanced on his legs, and looked to be eagerly applauding her efforts. "You became a true master of Ray Wing over the years, Lina-san; sometimes it is hard to believe this isn't your natural element. Still, I can understand your previous hesitation to take the fight to the air; maintaining this spell requires too much concentration to use more complicated magic in parallel, as the previous example so aptly proved." He took hold of his staff. "Considering this, I do wonder what will happen—" Disappearing from view, his words now sounded alarmingly near behind her. "—if I come closer?"

The wind barrier around the sorceress popped, following her instant mental command. As she flew almost horizontally before, gravity promptly took hold of her and she began to fall – from the corner of her eye she saw the priest's staff whizzing past just over her head. With the Ray Wing's distraction out of the way, however, Lina was now in full control of her powers and ready for a counter-attack.

"DYNAST BRASS!"

"Ugh!" Xelloss staggered back, struck by black magic lightning – the gems on the clasp used to fasten his cloak broke into tiny scarlet pieces. The spell did not keep him at bay for long, but it was enough for the sorceress to re-cast Ray Wing and regain some distance. The whole exchange did not last more than a second and a half.

Lina's haste was not warranted this time; the priest did not continue his offensive, but chose to study his broken clasp instead with a silly grin.

"You look like you're awfully enjoying yourself," the sorceress commented in a dry tone.

"Why, are you not?" Xelloss responded merrily. "After all, isn't this what we've always been doing in the past years? Through the challenges, competitions and verbal battles – both of us constantly tried to gain the upper hand, Lina-san. The only difference is," with a swipe of his staff, the mazoku sent a cone of darkness in her direction, "unlike before, draw is not a possible outcome here." The sorceress made only the smallest possible change in course to evade, suspecting a feint; she was proven right when the priest's voice once again came from behind her back. "Let us try this one more time!"

Knowing that he would already anticipate her previous maneuver, Lina made an abrupt turn up and sideways instead, dispelling her flight spell only after she was well out of the range of Xelloss' downward thrust.

"DOLPH STRASH!" she exclaimed.

Now the priest was also prepared for her counterattack, however. The spear of black magic was swatted away by another swift strike of his weapon; the out-of-control spell spiraled down and left a cart-sized crater in the barren ground. Without delay, the mazoku moved to continue his assault.

Several similar exchanges followed with no change in the outcome. The sorceress began to realize that Xelloss was purposely keeping his speed at the very edge of her human reflexes; he neutralized all her attacks, but otherwise looked to be content with letting the fight drag on. It felt similar to what happened on the ground earlier: he waited for her to either come up with a new tactic, or make the smallest mistake – which would instantly prove to be fatal.

So he's playing around… and like before, there's no way I can keep up with him forever. Maybe if I…

As Xelloss' newest strike came directly in front, Lina dodged by flying backwards. She flew much further from him than usual, while extending both hands forward to caution the mazoku against charging right back at her and potentially slamming into a spell. The possibility that he would just teleport behind her still remained, but to her relief, Xelloss raised his staff into a defensive posture, looking determined to repel whatever attack she chose to launch his way.

Little did he know that the attack would not come from the direction of the sorceress, but from above. "ARC BRASS!"

Lina was not sure right away whether her spell succeeded or not; she needed to tweak the incantation and could not dispel Ray Wing beforehand. But as she saw the storm clouds above stir, she instantly knew it worked. Arc Brass was a spell that could create a large-scale lightning storm all by itself, but this time there was no need to summon one; like bickering predators that spot new prey, the humongous storm clouds grew silent momentarily, only to unleash all of their previously uncoordinated fury against a single target.

With an enormous thunderclap seven blinding arcs of electricity struck Xelloss at the same time, and dozens more followed in the next seconds, their onslaught showing no signs of fatigue. As far as Lina could make out amidst the vivid flashes of light, however, the priest floated motionlessly in the air, ignoring the countless surges of lightning burning through his body.

This came as no surprise to her; elemental magic could only damage one's physical form, which for mazoku was nothing but a lifelike illusion created by their power. Her reasons for launching this attack were different – and apparently, Xelloss also realized this quickly enough.

"My, do you wish to blind me?" The sorceress did not know how, but she heard his amused words clearly over the sound of thunder. "Not a bad idea, I'll give you that, but unfortunately…" He raised his staff; five lightning bolts struck the cracked jewel on top immediately, making it flare up with a cold blue light. Then he pointed it at her. "… I can still easily see where you are!"

Countless arcs lashed out from his weapon towards Lina. Only the speed of her flight magic was able to save her again from being caught in the middle of them, but she could not escape unscathed: a smaller 'twig' of lightning branched off from one of the arcs and struck her thigh. Hot white pain flashed through her mind; once it was gone, Lina could no longer feel anything in her lower body.

He went and used my own spell against me! the sorceress thought with a frustrated sneer. But I'm not done with you yet, Xelloss!

"ELMEKIA LANCE!"

The spear of energy she sent his way was the weakest of all astral attack spells. It had absolutely no chance to hit, and even if it did, it would have dealt next to no damage.

But Lina did not count on either possibility.

"Break!" she declared.

Just before it flew within the mazoku's reach, the lance of light burst apart, filling the air with countless blue astral energy fragments all around him. Even through the electric chaos, through the mist of spiritual power, the sorceress could still see the priest freeze in alarm.

That's right, pal. Now you're blind on both planes.

Ending her lightning magic with an angry wave of his arm, Xelloss charged out of the astral cloud – and stared right into the dark red haze within Lina's cupped hands.

"DRAGON SLAVE‼"

The ruby beam hit the priest squarely in the chest, its power dragging him to the dirt below before it went off with a gigantic explosion. The sorceress had no intention of stopping here: she moved her right hand back, summoning more vivid red energy into her open palm, and then thrust it forward. "DRAGON SLAVE!" While the second beam headed towards the ground, she moved her left hand back in a similar manner. "DRAGON SLAVE!" Right again. "DRAGON SLAVE!" Left again. "DRAGON SLAVE! …DRAGON SLAVE! …DRAGON SLAVE! …DRAGON SLAAAAAVE‼…"

She could not continue. Her energy reserves were holding up, but the sheer amount of black magic power she channeled through herself without an audible incantation started to make her feel nauseous, and threatened to break the Levitation spell she cast to hover in place. With a palm on her throbbing temple, Lina tried to gaze through the settling dust cloud below. The landscape bore much resemblance to the surface of the Moon; a medium-sized village could fit into the crater-complex her barrage of magic made, with a great sinkhole in its center which the sorceress could not even see the bottom of. After a couple of seconds she saw a figure emerging from its depths.

It took her a moment to recognize Xelloss. The priest's clothing was in shambles with rips and tears everywhere, his sack and cloak entirely gone, his staff burnt, his hair uneven and razed. One thing remained unchanged about him: the unnerving smile on his sooty face.

Despite appearances, I don't think I hurt him much beyond his ego… But in the end, that might just be enough.

"What's with the battle damage-act?" Despite not feeling well herself, the sorceress managed a provocative yell as she descended closer to the ground to get within earshot. "You could heal your projection with a thought if you wanted to."

Xelloss grinned. "I merely wish to give credit where credit is due," he said while he levitated to the edge of the deep pit and looked over the widespread destruction around them. "My goodness, this was quite a devious trick, Lina-san… And since you went out of your way to come up with such a commendable strategy, I believe it is only fair if I respond in kind." His feet touched the ground near the ledge. "Would you mind a change of scenery?"

The tip of his staff hit the dust, and the earth immediately began to shake violently. A low, ominous sound escaped the sinkhole, like the distant roar of a dragon awoken from its slumber.

Lina immediately cast Ray Wing and withdrew high into the air. What is he doing‽

"Do you remember when I said that the ground is a bit unstable here?" the mazoku asked, looking up at her. "I just gave it a little - or, more precisely, a giant - push."

The earthquake gathered ever more strength with numerous cracks appearing in the earth all around, and the craters began to sink into the crust with impossible speed. In seconds, a deep valley came into existence out of nowhere, and then, just as the earthquake began to subside, a huge stream of searing molten rock shot forth from the sinkhole's gaping mouth, spilling red hot death everywhere.

---

The human-sized green chicken looked around in the colorful maelstrom, its gaze resting upon the two women. It let out a disapproving cluck.

The waitress repressed her anger with an agonized sigh. "That's not what I told you to visualize."

It took Jane a few hard looks to dismiss the chicken from existence. "Sorry…" she mumbled.

"Keep your thoughts in check! Since the Nameless One is busy looking for someone who isn't really here, you can bend this realm to your liking, but only if you focus your will!" The older woman tugged at her apron irritably. "If you keep fooling around the demon will notice us, and then we'll be in serious trouble. Now concentrate!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Finding their surroundings much too distracting, the girl clenched her eyes shut. "Think-about-the-moment-of-death, think-about-the-moment-of-death, think-about-the-moment-of-death—"

"Jaaaaane!" A horrific yell tore her concentration to shreds. Her eyes sprang open to behold a giant version of Lina with glowing demonic eyes and flaming red hair. "What do you mean Nilian ran off‽" the terrifying vision demanded. "I said take her to Sairaag! Can't you even do such a simple thing right?"

"For Ceiphied's sake, I've told you to think about the Nameless One's death, not yours‼" the waitress joined the yelling chorus.

"But I don't know anything about the circumstances involved! And you're not helping!" With a frantic wave of her hand Jane made the raging sorceress disappear. "If you are aware of what to do, why don't you try it yourself?"

The ghost threw her head back with exasperation. "Do you think I wouldn't have done it already if I could?" She combed the hair away from her eyes with her hand. "I might be free now, but part of what I used to be is still in that thing. It would recognize me right away."

"You're free?" The girl echoed confusedly. "Then how can you still be trapped in here? I remember hearing that the souls of the absorbed people all escape the demon after a period of captivity…"

"Yes, well, most people had nothing to lose when they fled. I have." For the first time, the waitress voice betrayed her real age; it sounded old, bitter and tired. "Like I said, back in the day I used to be very powerful. For forty years I managed to disguise my power from the Nameless One, but if I leave it here now it all had been for naught – and taking it with me to the afterlife isn't an option either. I had no choice but to find someone I can pass it on to safely." Noticing Jane's widening eyes, her tone changed to one of distaste. "Yeah, that person was supposed to be you. I've already regretted that decision more times than I can remember."

The ghost's distaste became surprise, however, when Jane bellowed violently at her in reply. "So it was you‼ You're the one responsible for all the insanity that's been happening to me! The way the demon tricked me with those powers! My suffering in the swamp at Man's End! It was all your fault!"

"Sorry to whack your convenient theory, but no, you've brought it on yourself alone. I was just trying to take advantage of it, that's all." The older woman's voice was as cold as ice. "You're the first person the Nameless One did not follow around to devour, at least not immediately. It was possible that it might simply grow tired of you and leave, in which moment I planned to transfer myself to your mind before the mental link that connected the two of you was broken. And ultimately, the opportunity did arrive, although far from how I imagined."

"So y-you… you were in my mind for the p-past several weeks?" the girl stuttered. "I knew it! All those accidents after I lost my powers… those were your fault too!"

"I saved your butt countless times, you pathetic numskull!" the waitress snapped, losing her cool. "If it weren't for me, you would've fallen to your death, got killed by bandits, died of thirst in the desert, sold to slavery or got eaten by hungry trolls… and yeah, almost forgot, squished by an avalanche of giant boulders! Idiot!"

"Oh yeah‽ Well then you're a… a…"

"An insufferable jerk?"

"That's right, an insufferableje—" Jane froze. "Who was that…?"

"Someone who thinks likewise." The Nameless One's voice came out of nowhere. "I never thought we would meet again like this… Knight of Ceiphied."

---

It was madness.

The light of the stars faded before the bright flames, the moon fell behind the forest trees, leaving the sky just as black and empty above as the scorched earth below her feet – and during the frenzied chase between, upon and above the village buildings, she often could not tell which was which. Everything was burning, everything was dying, there was no longer left, right, up or down, just the dark figure of the priest which she kept pursuing – or he kept leading her on, who knew. Bursts of red fire from her off-target spells danced around his blue tongues, feeding upon each other, both growing stronger every time they touched, strengthening the inferno without explanation, against all reason.

The world around her had gone mad, and dragged Lina towards insanity along with it.

She was in no condition to make plans; her tactics were haphazard, her movements easy to guess, but she did not notice just pressed on, firing one spell after the other. None of them reached Xelloss. The priest virtually swam upon the sea of magical destruction, evading its more threatening waves and undercurrents with awe-inspiring grace and precision; and when he did not feel like doing so, a single swing of his staff wiped out the incoming attack without a trace. He did not strike back. The mocking smile she glimpsed on his face when she got closer from time to time was destructive enough already.

Each new spell sent another wave of exhaustion through her body, small ones at first, but they grew steadily bigger as her fruitless onslaught continued on and on. The thought of gradually reaching her limit infuriated her even more – which in turn made her attacks even less successful.

In her haste, her leg slipped as she landed on the ground, and Lina dropped unceremoniously to the muddy earth. She was so disoriented that she could not even stand up; her head reeled and throbbed, her vision was blurry and a sudden coughing fit left a stain of red on her gloves.

"L… LEVITATION." She clung to her magic to provide her with a sense of reality. Slowly, the wind currents raised the sorceress to her feet.

Only now did she notice how close Xelloss had been standing to her; his brash smile assaulted her from well inside the boundaries of personal space.

"My, if I didn't know better I might have thought that I'm seeing one of the dead trying to prove that she's in fact alive, Lina-san." The roar of the azure flames melded into his voice, strengthening instead of suppressing it. "That's quite pointless not to mention futile, don't you think?"

She wanted to fling a spell into his face in retort, but the incantation slipped from her weakening mental grasp. Furious, she grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on and struck with it at the priest.

She saw the blade of her short sword parried away effortlessly by his staff. He slowly shook his head, insincere pity and honest glee plastered over his face.

"So incredibly sad," he muttered. Lina struck again and again with mindless fury; the mazoku let her advance on him as he kept swatting the blade aside, apparently without even paying attention. "Look at you. Is this what you've been reduced to?" He caught the sword in his gloved hand, gazed deeply into her foggy scarlet eyes, and whispered, "I think Gourry-san would be hopelessly disappointed."

Lina's sword-wielding arm began to rattle. The last vestiges of her rational mind and self-control crumbled and disappeared into a raging hell.

"DON'T... YOU… DARE TO GET HIM INTO THIS‼" She felt that her blade inexplicably came free from his grasp, and put all of her anger behind her blow.

Xelloss let out an inhuman cry of pain. Lina's sword cut through his left arm, severing it; the limb disintegrated into a whiff of smoke before it hit the ground. The momentum still carried her diagonal strike forward to cut both of his legs in half.

The mazoku's dismembered torso hit the mud, the staff slipping from the cramped right hand; the cuts on his body looked indistinct and hazy, as if his insides were actually filled with dense fog. The sorceress half-fell, half-jumped on him, holding her short sword high with both hands to deliver the final blow.

Xelloss looked up, and saw the blade shining brilliant red, the crimson aura lengthening it to almost twice its size. With a rare look of wonder, awe and contentment, he closed his eyes and remained still.

---

The waitress looked around the ever-changing landscape, her eyes narrowing. "How did you find us so soon?" she asked curtly.

"I am still a mazoku," the Nameless One replied in a similarly succinct manner. "I can sense emotions, and those were flying really high a moment ago. I saw through your ruse immediately."

"So you now know I'm not Lina Inverse, right, Mr. Nameless…?" Jane called uncertainly. "It was all a big misunderstanding, so how about you allow the two of us to go free and—"

"Silence!" The demon's voice boomed. "You too will pay for misleading me! First, however, I will deal with this meddling agent of the gods."

"That won't be as easy as you think." The waitress pulled out a ridiculously large kitchen knife from under her apron. "I had plenty of time to learn about your methods, fiend. I won't make the same mistakes twice." She glanced at the girl. "Jane, the plan is still the same! Get to it, and I'll keep the Nameless One at bay in the meantime!"

"This is ridiculous!" Jane, regrettably, was not paying attention to her. "What do you mean by 'misleading'‽ I've been trying to tell you I'm not her all the time you—" The gigantic knife embedded itself into the invisible ground at her feet. "Y-Yes ma'am! R-Right away ma'am!"

"She rivals my sister in stupidity," the ghost muttered as her weapon flew back into her hand. "All right, demon. If you want me, then show yourself! Or are you that much of a coward?"

"Hahahahaha….!" The Nameless One let out a candid laugh. "Is this all you 'learned' in the past forty years? You're still missing the point entirely! Why would I fight you when you can just fight yourself and lose?"

"Oh, I get it." The waitress smirked. "So you are a coward."

"I am not!" The demon replied angrily. With a flash of light, another figure appeared in front of the woman – her exact copy in every way, from her clothes to the expression on her face. "Very well, I'll give you your little fun," the copy spoke in the Nameless One's featureless voice. "All the more fun it'll be for me to see you fail!"

The two identical women charged at each other and disappeared.

Jane looked down at her pale hands. "Ah, cease this already, girl! I can do it! I know I can!… Err… I think I can…" She extended her arms in front of her. "Memories, right? I just need to dig up memories… the bad ones..." The rainbow colored chaos began to stir. After a few seconds a familiar, distant voice reached her ears.

"Hey, look at Janey-girl's new costume!" Someone laughed. "Is that silver paint?"

She forced herself not to panic. "No, not the embarrassing memories!" she muttered to herself. "The painful… ones…"

Now an old man stepped forth from the chaotic backdrop. He wore a long dark blue robe and a monocle between his graying brows.

"You are a disgrace to this institution, Ms. Smith," he spoke in a rigid, unforgiving voice. "History is one of the most ancient sciences, and has long-established methods for separating the people who shape our future from the ones who play no part in it. The 'adventurers', as you call them, are without doubt of the latter kind; they are like parasites that plunder the land and its people, looking for nothing more than treasure and short-lived fame. If you wish to study their history, you might as well listen to the fairy tales the bards fool the common folk with while singing for their supper. There is absolutely no place for that here."

Jane started to back away from the man. She could never argue with her old professor; the mere sight of him froze her thoughts and wiped the arguments clean from her mind.

"I'm… just pathetic… am I…?" she whispered to herself.

"Then do something about it." She heard the waitress' voice from behind the aging historian.

"Jane-san, you are not nearly as dense as you seem at first glance." Xelloss' voice sounded from the same direction. "And that is not bad at all."

Right after, she heard Lina. "I'm trusting you with this, so don't mess up!"

The girl came to a halt and took a deep, shaky breath. "…I …I won't." She pointed a finger at the apparition. "You're… You're wrong! You know nothing about them! If you took one second to get off from… from your goddamn pedestal, you'd see that many of these people shape the world just as much as any king or general! You're just being… stupid and ignorant, and I won't stand for this!"

"I won't stand for this!" Lina's voice echoed her last words, and the scene before her changed abruptly.

In the same moment the waitress and her copy appeared out of nowhere, looking as if they fell at great speed from an unimaginable height. It was impossible to tell which was which, but one of them slammed into the ground on her back, while the other landed on her opponent's stomach and put the knife to her throat.

"Gotcha."

The waitress lying on the ground chuckled, her voice identifying her as the Nameless One. "You got me? Don't you understand that you're within me? You're only delaying the inevitable."

"That suits me just fine," the real waitress spoke with confidence. "Jane, have you found anything yet?"

"I-I think I have… found it…" the girl replied in very weak voice. In front of her, a marginally younger-looking version of Lina hovered in the air, seemingly frozen in mid-jump. She wore purple-yellow clothes, glowing amulets on her neck, belt and wrists, and different shoulder guards as well, but what really caught the eye was the pitch black sword of wild energy that she held in both of her hands, thrusting it forward. The blade of nothingness ended dangerously close to the terrified girl's stomach.

"Yes, that's it!" the ghost exclaimed triumphantly. "I suspected it was this; the Ragna Blade, Lina's trump card – or at least it was until she lost those talismans. Stand aside, Jane!" She grabbed her copy from the ground with one hand and effortlessly lifted it into the air. "I'm going to reintroduce the Nameless One to an old friend!"

Jane lunged to the side in fright, and the waitress hurled the demon's manifestation through the air – impaling it on the black blade. The sword went through the copy's body like it was a piece of cardboard.

Several long seconds passed without movement or sound. Then the Nameless One threw its head back and let loose its craziest laugh to date.

"So that was your plan to kill me?" it hollered. "If you wanted to see this fraction of memory I had left, you only should've asked!" The apparition of Lina faded away, leaving the demon standing in a stooped position on the ground; the wound in its chest was clean and empty, like a chipped porcelain doll's. "If you wish to know, there isn't a single moment that passes without me reliving this memory over and over. You could say that this was what essentially drove me insane! Hahahahaha!"

"Damn it! I was sure as hell that this would work…!" The waitress' grip tightened on her knife in frustration. "Jane, get out of here, quickly!"

"But… where?" the girl asked frantically. "There's nowhere to go!"

"It doesn't matter, just get away! Remember what the Nameless One said before it attacked you; the demon's on its last breath! If I can buy some more time maybe it'll die on its own, but for that I need you out of my way!" The kitchen knife cut the air, creating a crescent-shaped arc of light that headed towards the spirit – but went through its form like it was made of fog.

"I tried explaining it to you countless times, now and also forty years ago, but you refuse to listen: fighting will not get you anywhere." The Nameless One started walking towards her at a slow, relished pace. "But honestly, what could I expect from someone like you? Someone who flaunted her powers at every chance she got, but at the same time hated them and tried to escape the responsibility that came with them, because she wanted to live an ordinary life? The Knight of Ceiphied, also a part-time waitress. How wonderfully ironic."

"N-No, I won't fall for that again," the ghost seethed, although her face looked unusually pale. "Jane, why the hell are you still here‽"

"Please, just wait a second!" the girl replied awkwardly. "Before I unearthed that memory, I heard Miss Lina saying something which I don't think belonged there! There's a part we're still missing!"

"We don't have time for that! Go!"

Jane looked intimidated for a moment, but then shook her head resolutely. "No! I want to do this, period!" she yelled, furrowing her brows in concentration.

"Oh great," the waitress murmured as her gaze fell back on the approaching demon, "you chose the worst possible moment to grow a spine."

With a cry, the ghost ran at the Nameless One – but before she could reach her, the form of the younger Lina reappeared between the two of them.

"What‽"

"What the hell‽" The demon echoed the waitress' words. "I… I don't remember any such thing!"

"I won't stand for this." The vision told the Nameless One with indignation in her tone. The former mazoku could not say anything in reply; instead, a youthful, unknown female voice answered from the distance.

"Hmm…? For what? Are you angry because I deceived you? Or because I destroyed this small village? Or, come on, you surely won't make a righteous rant about how I changed that man into a demon, will you?"

The young Lina shook her head with a smirk. "No, not even close. What I can't stand is… how can you be called Sherra when you're the general of Dynast Grausherra‽ That's the lamest name choice ever!"

The waitress' mouth hung open in shock. "You are… you're General Sherra?"

"She is… who?" Jane mumbled.

The copy grabbed its head between its hands and opened its mouth to a silent scream. The swirl of the countless colors hastened, becoming erratic and disorienting, like a body of water which began to boil – and then the plane of memories collapsed into oblivion.

---

The western part of the Miasma Forest was demolished beyond recognition. In the middle of the two hundred feet deep, yawning valley brought to existence by Xelloss' might, the stream of lava surged from the sinkhole like a fountain. In minutes, the craters carved into the earth by the myriad of spells were all filled up by molten rock; the scorching heat could be felt from well above the lake's surface.

In the air above the pool of lava, the battle continued on. Like a couple locked in a deadly dance, the two opponents turned and whirled around each other, evading or negating the attacks directed at them, while at the same time seeking an advantageous position to launch their own counter. Dodge, lash back, get away, strike again – this endless rhythm repeated itself over and over.

While both parties looked worse for wear, Lina's magic depended mostly on her will and thus, if not without effort, let her keep her pace despite her injuries, and she saw no real change in the priest's attack patterns either. This latter observation bothered her greatly; Xelloss was admittedly trying to put some new tactic to use, but left the sorceress with hardly any clue concerning the details. So far, the mazoku's display of power looked largely pointless; with her protective clothing, the heat from the magma was of little concern to her unless she actually fell into it.

Xelloss knows that perfectly, too. He wouldn't go through with all this if he's just waiting for me to make a wrong move, so why is he—

She lost track of the priest. Lina could not tell if he teleported or sped beyond her sphere of vision; her concentration broke unexpectedly and she simply missed the moment when it happened. A chill ran down her spine; she knew that Xelloss was already on the attack and that she had no time to find out where it would come from.

"WINDY SHIELD!" Left with no other option, the sorceress dispelled Ray Wing and summoned a stronger spherical barrier of wind around her. Almost immediately, she felt an overwhelming pressure on it from below; her spell collapsed right after, but gave her the hint she needed to twist her body out of the way. The mazoku's soot-covered staff cleaved the air right before her nose.

Lina moved to retaliate, but the Power Words would not leave her mouth. She found herself out of breath.

What the—? I can't be this exhausted yet! It has to be something else… She tried taking deep breaths, but the suffocating feeling remained. Then she glanced back to the pool of molten rock below and realized the truth. Damn, of course! The lava fumes are toxic!

She immediately changed directions and flew upwards along the valley's steep slope. Xelloss did not chase her, which the sorceress knew was not a good sign, but had no time to worry about it; she wanted to leave the scorching lake behind as quickly as she could. She only needed a couple of seconds to reach the perimeter – but just before she got through, she found herself at the edge of the slope at the valley's opposing end.

Argh, I should've known! Subspace!

Using a technique well-known among more powerful mazoku, Xelloss created a closed loop of space known as subspace to cut off her escape. She had little doubt that the loop lasted several miles higher than she could fly.

Now Lina started to understand the priest's plan in full: the valley and the deformed space together formed a kind of a chute, wherein the toxic hot air rose ever higher. She had no choice but to ascend with it or risk suffocation, but that exactly was the trap; the higher she went, the more energy was spent by the Ray Wing spell just to keep her afloat, gradually reducing its speed and maneuverability.

"Hey, well done! An underhanded scheme like this fits you perfectly!" She shot a glare at Xelloss as he caught up to her.

"I'm glad you figured it out." The priest smiled at her in a challenging manner. "Your move, Lina-san."

Really? Thanks for reminding me, I thought it was coffee break for a second… The sorceress made a face. What am I supposed to do…? I don't want to waste my final weapon like this!

She launched a halfhearted offensive spell at the mazoku, which was torn apart by a dark flash before it even came close to him. Lina flew up to dodge the counterattack and muttered a curse; at such a height above the valley, a slight sluggishness in her flight magic was already noticeable.

The following minute only became worse. The sorceress did not want to gain more altitude if she could help it, which nearly proved fatal when a sudden coughing fit distracted her from an incoming black cone. No matter what she tried, the conditions began to put her entirely on the defensive; in the end she could not even tell whether the Ray Wing barely responded to her commands anymore or the poisonous air itself slowed her reflexes – the truth was likely somewhere between the two. She dodged another attack by a hair, literally, as the priest's staff cut into her grazed locks like the sharpest blade. Lina knew that she had reached her limit.

I have to use it…!

Putting her hand on the hilt of her short sword, she whispered an incantation under her breath. When Xelloss' next attack came, the sorceress dispelled Ray Wing and swung her blade at the same time – deflecting his strike with amazing ease.

Surprised, the priest's gaze fell on the weapon; it was bathed in a pulsating scarlet glow, extending well beyond the sword's original length. Sparse droplets of rain fell from the sky; one of them happened to fall on the tip of the red aura and evaporated instantly in a tiny puff of steam.

Lina, on the other hand, had no time to hesitate. Seeing the mazoku's indecision, she struck with her sword again – but without her wind magic she was already in the middle of a fall, while Xelloss instinctively moved away from her, and her blow went very much wide.

Eh, this is why I didn't want to use it yet! The glow around her sword faded away as she floated back to the priest's level. As long as he can evade me, this incantation is next to useless!

"Ah, I recognized it at last!" Xelloss snapped his fingers, his face lighting up. "I could not get a good look at your spell a decade ago, but now I'm quite certain… This is Luke-san's Ruby Eye Blade, isn't it, Lina-san?"

Ugh… So much for the element of surprise, too.

"No point in denying it, yeah." The sorceress shrugged with a frown. "With the talismans gone, I needed a new last-ditch technique; I couldn't find Luke's spell in any tome, but after years of research I managed to reconstruct the Ruby Eye Blade on my own. Not that I used it much – except against you." She pointed at Xelloss with her sword. "Care for another round?"

Something terrifying glinted in the mazoku's opening eyes. "Gladly."

Lina sprang higher into the air while she closed the distance between them; once she was almost entirely above the priest, she released her grasp over the wind currents. Xelloss chose this moment to shoot a sphere-like void at her – without Ray Wing, the sorceress had no way of evading it. Instead, she set her weapon against the incoming threat.

"RUBY EYE BLADE!"

With the crimson aura reappearing around her short sword, Lina cut the ominous globe in two with little effort. The attack dissipated, and she continued her descent towards her opponent, readying her sword for another blow; with perfect timing, however, Xelloss slid back in the air, making her miss the second time as well.

Only for the briefest moment did the sorceress swap her spells back; once the winds gave her enough upward momentum to reach the mazoku, she was on the attack again. As if he foresaw this, Xelloss sent another round of magic energy her way; the black beam collided with Lina's crimson blade with a loud hiss. Her spell resisted the attack, but this fact gave her no reprieve: unlike the priest's previous projectiles, the beam emanating from his staff did not have a set amount of strength, but was fueled directly and continuously by his power. Even if it did not hurt her, it pushed her back; the sorceress quickly lost speed and began to fall towards the increasingly polluted layers of air below.

Nngh, if I stay like this I'll suffocate… but if I cast a flight spell instead of Ruby Eye Blade, Xelloss' cheerful death ray will toast me in a heartbeat!…

With great effort, Lina slid her body along with her weapon to the side relative to the beam. The blade no longer touched with the mazoku's blast, only the much longer red aura kept the force at bay. With a grunt, she dismissed her magic in an instant; the beam passed by her, if only barely, and hit the pool of lava at the bottom of the valley. Not bothering to glance back at the upsurging wave of molten rock, the sorceress quickly regained momentum once more with Ray Wing and closed in on the priest.

Come on, get annoyed a little! A small bit of reckless overconfidence is all I want…!

To her disappointment, however, with the same impeccable timing and precision as before, Xelloss moved out of the way just before her weapon reached him.

Nah, this isn't working at all, Lina thought as she widened the gap between the two of them. Egoist mazoku or not, Xelloss knows when he needs to be careful – not to mention he has time on his side. It might be no Ragna Blade, but I can't keep this spell active for all eternity. To have any chance at winning, I'm going to need some extra push to make him take a few risks.

The sorceress let out a long sigh. Similarly to the beginning of their confrontation, she experienced a feeling of calmness. This is it then. She smiled faintly. I've played out all my cards; let's see how badly I've managed to wound Xelloss' pride in the process.

"Hey, this is getting us nowhere, don'tcha think?" She addressed the priest. "I can't hit you, you can't hit me… That's no fun!"

His face twisted into a lopsided grin. "It is a rather bold claim to say that I can't hit you, Lina-san, but do carry on."

"Even if you could, you don't, and I think I know why," the sorceress continued in a confident voice. Xelloss' eyes widened slightly in reaction. "It'd be a shame to waste this occasion without something interesting happening, right? Here's an idea then: how about we finish this fight with the very next attack? One final clash that can go either way and decides everything."

"That would certainly be interesting." The priest nodded slowly; underneath his lighthearted demeanor, she felt him pay excruciating attention to her every word. "What is your proposal?"

"Pretty simple: don't get out of my way for a while. I can only use the Ruby Eye Blade in free fall, but I can still recover quickly enough with Ray Wing if you dodge at this height. Keep me occupied until I fall into the hot bath below, and you win. If I nail you with my sword before that happens, I win. Easy as pie."

The mazoku closed his eyes, looking thoughtful. "Correct me if I am wrong," he spoke with his eyebrows raised, "but aren't you basically asking me to be a sitting duck with next to no compensation on your part? Those are not very fair conditions."

"Why should they be? You were the one who compared this to a contest," Lina pressed on undeterred. "In contests, I shape the rules the way I want and you abide to them. Isn't that what you always said? That you can beat me no matter what?" She added a gleeful smirk as the final touch. "Or… do you feel differently now?"

Her words gave Xelloss pause. "No, Lina-san, not at all," he finally answered. There was no concern or irritation in his voice at seeing his own claims used against him, rather than something close to excitement, anticipation. "In fact, I would not have it any other way."

The sorceress saw him descend a hundred feet in less than a second; Xelloss' figure became nearly invisible through the rising volcanic dust, smoke and gas. "I am ready when you are," the priest called out in a businesslike manner.

Lina was not happy about the development; this way, almost third of the heightshe was currently at was going to be wasted. Figures. I never said anything about where he could go. I guess I'm lucky he's not standing on the surface of the lava right now. She took a deep breath. Doesn't matter. Let's do this.

For the final time, Lina let go of Ray Wing. The wind blew her hair back and tore at the remains of her cape as she began her plunge. She had to balance herself with her arms and legs to avoid spinning and to keep her roughly horizontal position instead of falling head- or feet-first, which became increasingly difficult as she picked up more speed. The landscape around her became a blur; the one thing she saw was the figure of the priest, approaching rapidly. He also turned around in the air to float horizontally; from a tilted point of view, it looked as if the two were running towards each other, with an imminent collision a heartbeat away.

The sorceress grasped her weapon with both hands, readying herself for a powerful sideways slash which she could throw all her momentum into. "RUBY… EYE… BLADE‼" she yelled out, and struck as Xelloss came within reach.

Her blow met a solid obstacle and was forced to the side – the mazoku deflected the attack with his staff, creating a shower of crimson sparks where the two weapons met accompanied by a high-pitched, tantalizing shriek. They did not collide; Xelloss had dispelled his own flight magic in time, making them fall jointly through the air, within arm's reach of each other.

Ignoring her ringing ears, Lina secured her grip on the sword which was nearly wrestled from her hands, whirled around in the air and struck once more. His staff in his left hand, the priest held it forward in a diagonal position; another agonizing shriek sounded as the blade grazed off it ineffectively, the force of the blow creating a shockwave which slowed the sorceress' fall and thus pushed her slightly away from him. The unexpected event caused Lina to wobble; she struggled to stabilize her posture when a sharp, overwhelming pain hit her right shoulder: Xelloss sent a fragment of void her way from his free hand, which crushed her remaining shoulder guard to pieces. She glimpsed the priest's face from under the veil of agony: with nothing but a hint of a smile visible, he appeared tightly focused, as serious as she hardly saw him before. All of his movements and decisions betrayed this; they were cold, precise and calculated to the last degree – and yet they still remained within the limits of her human comprehension.

Good!

Lina's aching right reached to her neck and loosened a clasp; her battered cloak tore itself free from the remains of her protective gear and took to the wind. Without it acting like a parachute, the sorceress fell faster and closed the gap between Xelloss and her. Below them, the approaching lava pool emerged dangerously from the mass of smoke.

You look confident that you can keep me at bay, Xelloss… Once again holding her blade with both hands, the sorceress raised it over her head. What you're not taking into account is that our weapons barely touched so far; they never met each other head on! Realizing her intention, the priest grasped both ends of his staff and held it up to block her incoming blow. Let's see if that'll be enough! I'm betting everything on this one strike‼

The crimson blade met the blackened wood like a bolt of lightning striking a tree. With a blinding flash, the backlash of the struggling magical forces nearly blasted Lina away from the mazoku – but the two weapons now stuck to each other like glue, and she held onto her sword handle desperately while the currents threw her body around like a rag doll. Distantly, she heard something akin to the breaking of a thousand glass windows; recognizing the sound, the sorceress realized that the subspace above them had collapsed.

Then Xelloss' staff snapped in two.

Suddenly, the clarity of sight attacked her from all sides. The winds blew their vicinity free of smoke, and Lina saw everything in minutiae detail, like her eyes prepared for this very moment all along to give her the finest view possible. She glimpsed the muddy earth of the valley-side, the glowing flow of magma at the bottom, and Xelloss flying through the air, his hands fallen unwittingly to the side, grasping the remains of his weapon.

Her plan worked: his defense was broken. The sorceress prepared to thrust her blade forward into his exposed chest – when her eyes became trapped by his gaze.

She knew the look on his face. She saw it only once, but it became engraved into her mind with such precision that she could always recall every single detail of it perfectly. It haunted her, like a cherished yet dreaded memory: surprise, awe and a sense of wonder mixed in a way that felt completely out of place on Xelloss' features.

Come on, Lina! Her voice screamed in her head. This… This isn't the time to philosophize‼

The moment had passed, and his expression distorted into a frown, but the sorceress did not notice; she only realized what was happening when she saw the priest bring the two halves of his staff together, the wood mending itself seamlessly. She tried to block his blow, but was caught completely defenseless.

The ruby aura around her sword dissolving, Lina's limp form plunged towards the lake of fire.

---

Even at the brink of death, the priest was still mocking her – the sorceress could think of no other reason as she regarded Xelloss' oddly content-looking face. What was he thinking? What was he so damn happy about?

She held the key to his destruction over his chest, poised to strike; the one thing that kept her from bringing the blade down was the thought that then it could be truly over for him. She did not want Xelloss to die yet. The priest became the focal point of all her bitterness and anger, and Lina's deranged psyche feared to lose such a convenient target. No, death would be too easy; first, she wanted him to feel the same pain she felt. She wanted him to suffer.

But his look told her differently. Xelloss was still in control. Everything probably went according to his convoluted, secret plan – there always was one. His insults, the deaths of the villagers, the settlement's destruction; they all happened for a calculated reason. Behind that look, he was laughing at her. Behind those closed eyelids, he was making fun of her; she could feel it in every single nerve of her body.

The sorceress threw her head back with a scream. She could not take it anymore. Even if she played into his hands, she wanted to eradicate that face, that expression from existence forever, without a trace. She snapped her hands up, glaring at them, the insane gleam in her eyes ordering them to stop shaking…

There was something written on her fists. No, it was not her fists, it was on the façade of the burning building in the background – her focus jumped around wildly, making the letters hard to discern.

"Morfir Inn," it read. Lina's hands finally ceased to tremble.

It is a three day long journey to the south along the Sailinth River, on the road leading through the city of Wanadia, the abandoned village of Morfir and the merchant town of Adigol, to reach the foreboding Dark Mountain.

So went the legend of the Cliff of Remembrance.

She heard a soft thud as her sword hit the mud, then promptly forgot the weapon ever existed. Slowly, she lowered her arms to rest them on Xelloss' chest. Anger, bitterness and hatred abandoned her painfully quickly, leaving a gaping hole behind in her heart, and her words sounded similarly empty when she spoke in a feeble whisper.

"Why?"

The priest carefully opened one eye. "Oh my, have you noticed already?" he asked in an impossibly casual manner. "A pity – things have only started to get the most interesting."

So it really was part of a plan. This thought echoed across Lina's mind, then left, provoking no reaction whatsoever. "Why did you do this?" she repeated the only question she wanted to hear an answer to.

The loss of most of his limbs did not the least hamper Xelloss' ability to flash a provocative smile anytime, anywhere. "Because it was fun to watch you get all worked up about it?"

"Answer my question, you moron!" There was no real emotion behind her yell, except for a faint trace of tears.

"It is the truth, Lina-san." The priest scratched the top of his head with his remaining hand. "That is who I am. That is who we mazoku are." Both of his eyes opened as he continued in a lower voice, "The real question is: what do you intend to do? Do you wish to become our plaything, or do you want to oppose us? This question remains open as long as you live, and no matter how you live, with every step you take you are giving an answer to it. Always." He smiled once more. "Are you sure you're giving the right answer at this moment?"

Lina stared at the mazoku for seemingly everlasting seconds while the meaning of his words sank in, and the previous emptiness in her was swept away by a tidal wave of emotions. She felt both ashamed and enlightened, terrible and consoled, exasperated and grateful – she had no way to contain it all. The next thing the sorceress knew, she threw her arms around Xelloss' neck, and buried her face into his torn cloak.

"You're a suicidal idiot, you know that‽" she rasped, her hands half-hugging, half-strangling him. "A complete nutcase!"

"Yes, I believe those are quite apt descriptions from your point of view," the priest responded cheerfully. "Why do you sound so surprised about them?"

"Oh, shut up already!"

Complying, Xelloss remained silent, hesitantly putting his hand on her shoulder; the sorceress had no way to see the pleased, malevolent-looking smile which spread over his face. The azure flames quietly died down around them, like the curtain descending on the stage at an act's end.

---

Lina always wondered what it would feel like to lose – not just a battle, but the entire war.

She was not the person to actively contemplate such things; it was more of a morbid fascination hidden in the back of her mind. What would have happened if those daring, final chances that saved her and her loved ones on so many occasions would have proved ineffective once? If Shabranigdu withstood the Giga Slave? If Dark Star repelled the combined power of light and darkness? Or if Luke's wish to die would not have been enough to let him be consumed by his own power? She came close to it a few times, such as when Fibrizo forced the perfected Giga Slave out of her control – but that moment went by so quickly she barely felt it, thus leaving the question unanswered. Until now.

The sorceress would have never imagined it to be so peaceful. She saw Xelloss' figure diminish in the distance, a scorching sensation crept up her back as she neared the lava pool, the air itself was so hot that every ragged breath hurt – it all felt wonderfully irrelevant. There was nothing, absolutely nothing she could do, and for the first time she accepted it. She had done her best, used everything at her disposal, all her talents, all her spells and wits, and still failed; so if failure indeed was her only option, then she could face death with her head held high, without regrets.

Face death… without regrets?

Her thoughts lingered on those words. She could not put her mind around it, but there was something in them which she found familiar and also noticeably disturbing.

"There is truly no reason to fear death if you live your life without regrets…" she remembered an old, gentle voice say. "I only wish more people would think the same way."

Lina gasped for breath. Officius…

The sorceress' hand clenched around her sword as her peace shattered like a thinly veiled illusion.

No! Damn it all to Hell, NO‼ I don't know about you, but for me there can be no such thing as dying without regrets‼ You can accept fate all you want – I haven't come all this way to give up now!

A single utterance escaped her mouth as her back touched liquid agony – and the cold sensation of water washed away the heat. Lina slowly opened her eyes and found herself floating in the air above the miraculously preserved ruins of the Black Dragon Inn, rain pouring into her face and soaking her clothes. She could not remember when she cast Levitation; she watched numbly as the stream of icy water reached everywhere, into her wounds and sore joints, soothing the pain – the sorceress felt like she was reborn.

"Oh dear. My memory might be getting hazy over the years, but I clearly recall a person saying something along the lines of 'one final clash which decides everything'." She saw Xelloss emerge from under the blanket of rain. The priest regarded her with an amused look. "And, would you believe it, that same person also likes to suspect me of being a cheater. A rather odd claim given the circumstances, I must say."

Lina gave a playful shrug. "Hey, I'm surprised myself. It's not like the holy teleport spell ever worked before." She took a moment to glance at the staff in his hand: it looked burned but whole, with no sign of damage from the Ruby Eye Blade.

But if Xelloss hit me with that before he sent me falling, I should be in pieces right now! The sorceress hastily checked her injuries once more; there was no sign of any further harm she could have suffered from the mazoku's last attack. "Are you disappointed?" she asked tentatively.

The priest smiled. "I guess not. I would have been more disappointed if you truly met your end in such a silly, anticlimactic way."

"Really? Be careful what you wish for," the sorceress quipped, pushing her doubts aside. She did not know how she could win, she no longer had any plans or strategies left, only her will to live – but that was enough for her for the time being. "You better be ready, Xelloss, because as long as I draw breath, I'll hang on to life with everything I have!"

Lina waited for the priest to make his move. Whatever came, she felt she was prepared for it.

She was wrong. Instead of continuing their battle, the mazoku's smile withered away, his expression morphing into one of shockingly vivid anger.

"You lie."

Her resolve was replaced by confusion. "What‽"

Xelloss sighed, visibly struggling to keep his uncharacteristic emotion in check. "Lina-san, I would kindly ask you not to take me for a fool." He gestured towards the valley behind him, where a steady column of smoke rose towards the clouds. "I saw perfectly well what happened there: you had me in a notably uncomfortable position, yet you wasted your only opportunity to cause me any real harm. How am I supposed to take you seriously after this‽"

The sorceress reflected the question indignantly. "What do you care about how serious I am?"

"You say it's not obvious?" The priest let out a dry, empty chuckle. "I've already told you at the very beginning: unless you fight in earnest, this whole circus has no point!" He swept his free hand towards her in an almost exasperated manner, as if prompting her to realize something readily apparent. "Can you honestly believe that I only let this fight drag out in order to have fun…? You couldn't be more mistaken. Obliterating your body would not be especially hard or even boring, Lina-san – but if I do nothing else but that, if I do not force you to your utmost limits, then here," Xelloss touched his brow with a hasty, frustrated movement, "here you will not ever die! I would kill you, but I would never be able to destroy you – that is something I will not suffer to happen under any circumstances." He pointed his staff at her forcefully. "Enlighten me; what is making you hesitate? You must realize that without you, your race will perish! Do I have to demolish a couple of cities first to give you the proper incentive…? I can assure you that they will not be empty this time…"

The rain poured even heavier than before. Lina felt water stream down her cheeks, and she was not sure all of it came from the sky.

Then, finally, her expression turned as dark as the clouds above.

"You… You bastard," she seethed, punching the air in frustration. "Who do you think I am‽ I'm not a mazoku, damn it! Unlike you, I can't just happily cut in half one the few remaining people I grew old with‼"

She cast her eyes down at the inn's ruins. "It's true that when we met over a decade ago, you almost proved me wrong; I was so hell-bent on erasing you from the face of the Earth, I didn't care about anything… But I'm no longer the same person, and the funny thing is, I have you to thank for that." She looked at Xelloss again, a bitter smile hiding in the corner of her lips. "That was also a ruse, wasn't it? A sixteen-year-long plan to make me drop my guard around you. Well, congratulations, it worked! You should be celebrating, I really fell for it! Despite my better judgment, I started to believe that some small, odd part of you actually gave a damn about what happened to me, and now I can't bring myself to kill you, hurray! Isn't this what you were going for? Isn't this what you wanted?"

The priest's mouth opened, but Lina gave him no time to reply.

"Because regardless of what you wanted, the situation is this: I won't give my head to you on a silver platter, and I won't let you, the mazoku or the gods do as they please, but… but I withhold the right to feel bad about having to hurt you. Yeah, maybe I'll even hesitate. You have a problem with that? Too bad, because there's nothing you can do to change it! I never was and never will be your plaything, Xelloss; I have my own will and I have my own feelings to consider – that is my final answer to the question you've asked me sixteen years ago."

Lightning struck nearby; the roar of thunder muted all other noise or sound for several seconds. The priest's face looked unusually pale through the column of rain, as his expression advanced from frustration through anger towards plain despair. From a hazy memory which felt more like a half-remembered dream, Lina recalled seeing a similar look on the face of Hellmaster Fibrizo, when the mazoku lord was confronted with a being infinitely more powerful than himself: it was the maddening realization of treasured goals proving unreachable, of carefully laid plans crumbling into nothing. Xelloss visibly struggled against it; his staff still pointed at her threateningly, the stiffness of his extended arm like a warning that should he truly fall victim to these feelings, he would make sure that the sorceress suffered likewise.

A black piece of cloth got caught on his limb, flailing about it in the wind like a battered flag. It was Lina's abandoned cloak – and it seemed to be forcing his aim to the side. His face contorting into a sneer, the priest tossed his arm upwards to shake it off, but he miscalculated his move: the cloak would not leave him, his gem-adorned staff, however, twisted out of his hands. Carried by the winds and his forceful thrust, the wooden weapon spiraled through the air, into the deep valley, tumbling down the slope and ultimately plunging into the scorching pool of lava. It sank half-way before disintegrating entirely into black fog, which was dispersed immediately by the air currents.

After long moments of silence, Xelloss slowly lowered his outstretched arm, and regarded the sorceress' torn piece of clothing in his hands with a barely noticeable, newfound smile.

"If that is true, then I have lost," he said simply. "And as tempting as it may be to challenge your resolve, I know you all too well: it would be an exercise in futility now. Apparently, it no longer matters if I defeat you or not; my own personal defeat is assured either way."

Their eyes met. The mazoku's gaze felt dim, almost lifeless, while Lina on the other hand pierced him with a wide-eyed stare of confusion and disbelief. "Xelloss, what… what on earth are you saying?"

"My plan was considerably more complicated than simply gaining your trust, Lina-san." The priest's voice rang hollow as he stroked the cloak's trimming absent-mindedly. "After all, to you I became considerably more than a simple 'friend', didn't I?… Most amusingly, perhaps with that plan I managed to dig my own grave," he added with a shrug. "Back then it seemed like a wonderful idea of course, I even remember exchanging some boastful words with the Nameless One about it: a tactic of wits rather than direct confrontation, a strategy hanging on human emotions instead of brute force… But then this pointless conflict came, and completely ruined it all."

He let his hand slip off the cloak's silky black fabric. "Still, no matter how I blame the unforeseen circumstances, it does not change the outcome." He bowed deeply; the sorceress was shocked to realize that the bow was not a form of greeting, but of respect and subordination. "I accept defeat, Lina-san – I cannot find the will or the reason in me to continue. Regardless of its unfortunate ending, however, I must tell you that this had been one of the most enjoyable battles I had the pleasure to take part in." He straightened, and smiled his usual, cheerful smile one final time. "Best of luck to you… and farewell."

"Hey… Hey, wait! Xelloss!" Lina called out, but the priest was nowhere to be seen. All that remained was her pierced, torn cloak, which the wind yielded gracefully into the sorceress' hands.

End of Part One.

-o-

Author's notes: I truly apologize for the late update. This chapter is finished since two months now (both parts of it), but because of issues in "post-production", its publication was delayed. The second part is still in beta, and will be posted as soon as my poor beta reader gets through my word-avalanche of a text.

My most heartfelt thanks go to all the people who helped me with this chapter, especially Kiadi, who came to my rescue and did the bulk of the beta reading for this part. I am unspeakably grateful to her. I also thank all readers and reviewers, whose support continues to push me and my story towards completion.

Hopefully we will meet again really soon – and this time, I do mean really soon. ; ) In the meantime, check out Apple-Cake's illustrations for the fic, along with her other works, on DeviantArt! They are really awesome!