SailorStar9: Anyway, Chapter 16 goes up. This is Chapter 17. To all my non-reviewing readers, I love you all! Will love you more if you review! *hugs all round!*

Disclaimers: Nothing here is mine, well, except the plot and the pairing.

Chapter 17: X-DAY! The Demon Beast Is Reborn!

"What's going on?" Gourry was confused. "That's just a copy of Rezo, right?"

"Why?" Lina demanded. "Rezo, you had no reason to kill Eris."

"I did." Rezo corrected. "So that I might accomplish what the original Rezo couldn't. To, with my own hands, kill you all. So that, I, a copy, can surpass the original. Is it not wonderful? And so long as Eris lived, I could never achieve my true goal."

"And for that, you can kill your creator?" Sylphiel gaped.

"In the end, just a copy." Eris muttered. "No matter how hard I tried, it wasn't the real Rezo. Just a copy…"

"Don't speak." Aria cautioned. "You'll bleed out faster."

"Rezo-sama…" Eris muttered, Rezo forcing Aria to back off. "I… I…"

"Come now, time to die." Rezo smirked.

"Rezo-sama where have you gone?" Eris whispered, Rezo's blast vaporizing her.

"Wiped out without a trace." Rezo grinned.

"That was inhuman." Zelgadis growled.

"And not fair." Lina snapped.

"Here it comes." Zelgadis warned.

"Zanaffar's rebirth." Lina gasped.

"Lina, can't we do something?" Gourry asked, the group scrambling for cover as Rezo casually and apparently effortlessly took chunks out of the landscape.

"Yeah, hope for the best." Lina retorted.

"Are you joking?" Zelgadis snapped.

"If he keeps building up his power…" Sylphiel trailed.

"But he's already so powerful." Amelia gaped.

"Time for the star to appear on stage." Lina declared, Rezo having absorbed Zanaffar.

"Forgive the delay." Rezo commented.

"He still looks the same, but…" Gourry mused.

"The psychic pressure is incredible." Zelgadis admitted.

"You were expecting a more grandiose form, perhaps?" Rezo noted. "Zanaffar is a being of limitless demonic energy. One whose body is joined with Zanaffar is given control of his unlimited evil power."

"Limitless power?" Lina exclaimed. "It can't be. We're doomed. Sure, whatever." She retorted. "We've got an ace in the hole. Gourry, take him out."

"The words I've been waiting for." Gourry grinned. "According to the legend, the Sword of Light is able to slay the demon beast, Zanaffar." He drew his blade.

"Then try your hand." Rezo accepted the challenge. "We'll see if the legend is true or not."

"Laugh while you still can." Gourry attacked, only to be thrown back by Rezo's forcefield.

"Why didn't the Sword of Light work?" Lina was confused.

"So, is this all the legendary Sword of Light can do?" Rezo taunted. "Now is my turn."

"Look out!" Zelgadis warned, grabbing Aria as the pair dodged the energy blast Rezo fired at them.

"Nicely dodged." Rezo noted. "But how about this time?" and sent a rain of energy blasts at them.

"He's playing marbles with us." Lina cursed.

"Fireball!" Zelgadis fired his attack. "A shield." He growled, Rezo demolishing the laboratory with his energy blasts.

"Rezo?" Aria frowned, the Red Priest having stopped a slab of rock falling onto the group. "Why?"

"Because being crushed under rocks would be a boring death for you." Rezo replied. "And it would deprive me of what I seek. Now, fight me properly and die."

"Like we can." Zelgadis snapped.

"Zelgadis is right." Lina agreed. "First of all, we couldn't cut loose and fight in a narrow, little underground cavern like this."

"You have a point." Rezo mused. "Then I'll move our battle to someplace easier for you."

"Lina," Aria deathpanned, the group encased in a 'Water Lock' bubble aided by a 'Raywing' spell as the magic power grew steadily stronger. "Ever heard the phase, 'Be careful what you wish for'?"

"Now, for something truly spectacular." Rezo declared, the whirlwind sending the group upwards into the sky.

"The devil Rezo blew the laboratory apart in an instant." Zelgadis snorted.

"Levitation!" Lina cast her spell when Aria's water bubble popped and the 'Raywing' effect wore off.

"That… doesn't borne good for us." Aria muttered, Rezo was floating in the middle of the destroyed laboratory and most of Old Sairaag.

"He does all this and still laughs at us." Zelgadis hissed.

"Now that we can fight him, what are we supposed to do?" Gourry asked.

"What we have to do is pretty clear." Lina replied. "Ray Wing!" she re-cast the spell and had the group retreat to Flagoon.

"Why can't we fly away?" Amelia wailed, the group fleeing on foot.

"Because we have more cover on the ground." Zelgadis replied. "Damn it, is Rezo trying to torture us to death?"

"Why does he want to kill us so badly?" Sylphiel wondered.

"Because the moment he kills us, is the moment he surpasses the original." Aria explained.

"This is all just some big production to him." Lina agreed, everyone ducking behind a ruined wall.

"Quite right." Rezo concurred. "You understand completely. Typical Lina Inverse brilliance."

"Naturally." Lina grinned. "I'm the sorceress who beat Rezo, the Red Priest, right? Oh yeah, the original one. Not a copy."

"She just had to say it, didn't she?" Aria shook her head.

"Now you insult me." Rezo chided. "However, if you don't beat me, your victory will ring hollow."

"Now who's insulting who?" Lina glared.

"It will take more than common sorcery to defeat me." Rezo reminded. "For example… yes, the mightiest attack spell in the world, the 'Giga Slave'. You killed the original Rezo with the 'Giga Slave', didn't you? Then why don't you try your 'Giga Slave' on me?"

"How did you learn that?" Aria demanded.

"Easily." Rezo shrugged. "I was spying on you behind Eris' back. That's all."

"Now look." Lina protested. "You must know that. That spell involves calling a Dark Lord into my body. What happens if I lose control of it?"

"The reasons doesn't matter." Rezo replied. "All I care about is the question in my heart. Now, won't you perform your little spell? The 'Giga Slave'."

"No, you can't!" Sylphiel objected. "If she loses control of it, the entire world could be reduced to an empty void. It's a horrible spell."

"And what of it?" Rezo challenged. "What does the fate of the world matter to me?"

"Well, is there any other way to beat him?" Gourry asked, drawing his sword. "It looks like my Sword of Light and your magic won't work."

"You're right." Lina agreed. "It's a long shot, but let's try it."

"Don't." Sylphiel warned. "That spell is…"

"I know!" Lina replied and the group charged.

"Looks like fun." Rezo retorted, Zelgadis firing off a 'Fireball' and sending the attack back at the chimera. "You can't escape."

"Taste this." Amelia powered up. "The Blade of Justice. Stupid Blade of Justice." She whined, Rezo smacking her lance aside and her into a rock.

"Now then," Rezo turned. "My all-important Lina and Aria."

"Rezo…" Sylphiel stammered, her 'Flare Arrow' barely gracing him. "Prepare to die."

"Rezo!" Gourry came down with his blade before Sylphiel was attacked, only to be blasted back by a 'Fireball'.

"Still have some strength left to face me?" Rezo mused, Gourry getting back to his feet. "Then, I accept your challenge.

"There're two someones more worthy of your challenge than me." Gourry grinned. Grabbing Sylphiel, he leapt back.

"Very sloppy, Rezo." Lina chided, underground.

"Zanaffar's shield won't protect you, not at this close range." Aria snapped, readying her attack with Lina. "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, blue crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Water Roar Cannon!"

"Dragon Slave!" Lina released her attack as well.

"Did it work?" Zelgadis wondered, as the fire and water energy tower blasted sky-high.

"Rezo?" Lina growled, the clone was unfazed by the combination attack.

"Well done, the two of you." Rezo praised. "But it's no effort at all for me to absorb a 'Dragon Slave' or a 'Water Roar Cannon' like that. Now fire a 'Giga Slave' at me. Otherwise…" leaping over the two girls, he slammed Zelgadis into a wall, taking him out. "Shall I keep this up until I kill someone?" he threatened, moving onto Amelia and tossed the cleric into a nearby wall. "Prepare to die." He declared, knocking Gourry unconscious and was about to blast Sylphiel when Flagoon's presence stilled his hand.

"We can't forgive you now." Lina hissed, blasting Rezo off with a 'Fireball'.

"At last, you're ready." Rezo grinned. "At least I can have your companions stay out of this." to settle this, man to women. By ourselves."

"Have to borrow this, Gourry." Lina took the Sword of Light. "Sylphiel…"

"We're sorry." Aria, now in her Ragradia form, nodded and the two took off.

"We'll give you what you've asked for." Lina declared. "The 'Giga Slave'! Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night. King of Darkness, who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos. I call upon thee. Swear myself upon thee! Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess."

"That's the 'Giga Slave'." Zelgadis recognized the spell.

"Giga Sla…" Lina was about to unleash her attack when…

"Stop it!" Sylphiel threw herself at Lina. "Lina, stop it, please." She begged. "The world could be destroyed. There may be… they may another way to destroy Rezo. I think Zanaffar is… that Zanaffar and Flagoon are…"

"Little witch!" Rezo roared. "For interfering… die!" and blasted the attack he used to kill Eris at Sylphiel.

"Look out!" Lina pushed Sylphiel aside.

"Splitting Void!" Aria's vacuum wall was half-formed when Lina took the attack, falling to the ground in a bloody heap.

SailorStar9: Okay, this chapter is finally down. Read and review folks.