Author's note: It's the next chapter! Sound the alarm! I mean… have fun reading.

Where Obstruction Leads

Each time he lost a battle, something had been taken from him. He had lost the battle with his master, and that at first resulted in him losing his mind. Then he lost a second time and his title, his lord, and practically everything had been taken away from him. He had even lost the battle with himself, and that had nearly cost Filia's life. Instead she had lost her security, and Xellos knew that he could only be blamed for that.

Milgazia had done what Xellos planned he would do. The elder had always been very predictable, no, dependable. He was sure that Filia would be fine here, especially with Lina. The sorceress had killed Sherra, the other general of Dynast. If Norst did decide to attack Filia again, Xellos knew he could count on them being there to assist her. Now if only she would let go long enough for him to slip away… he never did like reunions. There was always too much joy involved.

She had gotten him to come down from the cliff to meet with the others. It wasn't right. He needed to go before he put everyone in jeopardy. Milgazia had followed them. He seemed unwilling to leave them unaccompanied in the valley.

There was a minor detail that Filia and Xellos had both forgotten about. They were both still covered in blood. When Amelia saw this, she was quick to get on their case.

"Mister Xellos! Miss Filia! Did you two kill something?" she demanded gawking at their clothes.

Filia hadn't noticed her blood stained clothing until just that moment, and she could scarcely remember bleeding. When she looked at her reddened glove however, she could recall the pain in her neck, and the blood. Wait… Did Amelia just accuse her of killing? She recoiled from the princess appalled by the implication.

"Of course not!" Filia exclaimed irritably.

"Yeah," Gourry said backing her up. "Lina's the one that kills things remember?"

"Care to explain then," Lina asked. The sorceress' eyes narrowed. She could tell something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what it was. She wanted answers, and no one could say no to Lina Inverse.

"Well…" Filia said casting an unsure glance at Xellos. His bangs were hiding his eyes. He was giving her no indication on what she should tell them. Lying wasn't an option and there was no way she could avoid it. The truth was the only answer, though she really wished Xellos would say it.

"I was attacked by monster."

"Really?" Amelia asked sounding very concerned. "So you mean all of that blood is yours?"

"How did that happen?" Lina questioned. More importantly, she wanted to add, was the monster still around?

"It was my fault…" Xellos rejoined. He sounded distant as he spoke, and he didn't raise his eyes from the ground. Lina thought this was unusual, though Xellos had always been kind of unusual.

"Oh Mister Xellos! What did you do?" Amelia asked.

"Everything wrong," he replied chuckling a bit. The pain had never left him. It had been stirring inside of him, and it was becoming difficult to control his response to the strain of constantly battling it.

"Yes, I've sure made a mess of things. It won't matter to me, but I let Filia get in the way. It's my fault, my fault again."

"It's not your fault Xellos," Filia was quick to argue. "I was the one that froze like an idiot…"

The monster cringed and clutched his aching torso. He didn't want to disagree because he knew he would lose, and when he lost something bad would happen. Instead he attempted to brace himself against the turmoil he felt clawing away at him from the astral plane.

"It sounds like you two have been pretty busy these last few years," Lina stated.

If she noticed Xellos' unusual hurt appearance, she didn't show it. "If there's a monster causing trouble, don't you think you should have gotten me involved a little sooner?"

Milgazia was growing more and more uncomfortable with each passing word. The elder dragon remained silent even though he was beginning to fear for the safety of the dragons in the valley. Something was tugging at him, and all of a sudden he knew what it was. It was the dread that dragons felt when they sensed the presence of a monster… and it wasn't Xellos that was causing this feeling.

Xellos saw the troubled expression on the elder's face, but he wasn't able to react. He could scarcely keep his physical form, and trying to do anything beyond existing at the moment would cause him excruciating pain.

"Norst…" he murmured sinking to his knees. It was the only warning he could muster. He couldn't stand anymore…

"Wait! You mean Dynast's priest Norst?" Lina exclaimed. She immediately waved away her little outburst. Of course a priest of a Dark Lord wasn't going to be a problem for the great Lina Inverse.

Amelia was very concerned now. There was definitely something wrong with Xellos, and even though it wasn't common practice for her to worry about monsters, Xellos was different. He had been their travelling companion after all. She went to stand by him while Filia, Lina, and Gourry prepared for an assault.

When Norst appeared from the astral plain, the only thing anyone saw was flash of movement. Amelia noticed the blur coming towards her a second too late, but Xellos reacted before his body had time to protest. He pushed her out of the way and took the hit himself, screaming as the demonic sword struck into him. Stunned, Amelia sat where she fell unable to move. The offending monster had been unbelievably fast.

"You are a fool," Norst hissed as he stared down his chosen opponent. He had been hoping to kill the girl before attacking Xellos to make the other humans hurt a bit. Instead he stood towering over the wounded form of his foe that had surprisingly saved the human girl's pitiful life. This attack had been for a human, not a monster.

Xellos was holding the sword tightly with one hand and cut his fingers as he did. It had pierced straight through his shoulder blade. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he returned Norst's stare.

"Get away from there Amelia!" Lina shouted, snapping the stunned princess back into reality. Amelia leapt to her feet, but Norst wasn't finished with her. His hand shot out and grabbed the girl around the throat.

"Hang on guys!" Gourry called as he charged at the monster with his sword ready in his hands. He was stopped by an invisible wall of power and flung backwards. The swordsman hit the ground and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop.

"Gourry you idiot!" Lina shouted as she readied a fireball to cast at the priest. It had been the only spell she could come up with on such a short amount of time, and she only meant to use it as a kind of distraction. The spell left her hands and hit the invisible wall, vanishing before it even got close to its mark.

Lina cursed under her breath, but Xellos wasn't finished yet thanks to Norst's little slip up. He disappeared from the end of the sword and reappeared much closer to his enemy. There was already a hole in his being, so it didn't matter that the sword was now almost completely through him. With one eye closed, he summoned a dark spell that shot from his hand into Norst's face. Dynast's general dropped Amelia and took a few steps back. He quickly recovered however, and readied his sword again.

Without the sword holding Xellos up, he slid back to the ground. He watched Amelia clamber back to her feet. She seemed afraid, but unharmed.

"Nice one Xellos!" Lina called. She wasn't used to seeing the monster actually doing something. The sorceress smiled in her determination. She had to get closer for her spells to hit their mark. She turned to Gourry who had wandered back over to her after picking himself up off the ground.

"Filia, you get Valgarv out of here!" Lina commanded as she gestured towards the mountains.

"But…" Filia tried to protest. She knew the sorceress was right, but she didn't want to leave. She couldn't take off knowing that her friends were in danger! "I can't leave you to.."

"We'll be fine!" Lina cut her off. "Gourry, give me your sword; I'll amplify it with an Astral Vine!" She cast a glance at the elder dragon as she caught Gourry's sword. "You should get out of here too. This could get a little messy."

Milgazia shook his head. "This valley is my home. I will do everything in my power to protect it."

The sorceress gave him an understanding look as the sword in her hands was enveloped in the spell. "Yeah, I thought so. In that case, I'll need you to retrieve Amelia when I break through that barrier."

"Very well."

Lina looked at Filia who still hadn't moved. The golden dragon was watching the battle between the two monsters. So far it seemed to be going about as good as it did before, meaning Xellos was losing horribly.

"Filia!" Lina snapped causing the golden dragon to refocus on the present. "Get a move on!"

Before Filia could give herself time to protest, she turned and fled towards the mountains. She hadn't felt this useless since the battle with Dark Star, and it was a feeling she didn't care to relive. There was no other choice. Valgarv came first no matter what.

With Filia safely out of harms way, Lina was able to focus at the task at hand. There was a powerful barrier that she needed to bust down, and a Rangna Blade was the logical solution. Then Gourry could rush in and by Milgazia some time to get Amelia away. Now if only her brilliant plan would work…

Author notes: I had to cut this one off so I could start planning the next one. I'm sorry, but this chapter gave me one heck of a headache, and I had writer's block like you wouldn't believe!