Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers.
Author's Note: I actually have a second half to this, but am not sure whether or not I want to post it. I winged this entire one-shot and am quite positive that it is mediocre at best.
I was a skilled swordsman, but by no means one to ever make it big and famous. I later found out that Gourry Gabriev, a man whom I had deluded myself of being my rival, was the talk among rings of swordmen; as for me, I was somewhat known for my abilities, but my fame came from my new status in life as king, even if it was of a kingdom that was naught but a crater and fake church. In fact, I have become the butt of many jokes, but how many men can say they have a wife they love and are returned?
Back onto topic; they would comment on how he, Gourry, was the epitome of a swordmaster, or joke about his position as lackey to Lina Inverse. Really, everybody seemed to forget the blonde warrior in favor of the explosive sorceress but the ones who could emphasize with him. It seemed, with magic and now the advent of guns, that the masters of melee were always forgotten. I did not doubt that honorable, man-to-man combat would one day die out, and perhaps sooner than most suspected. Already it is becoming obsolete as guns are made available to those who cannot use magic.
However, now that I look back on it, perhaps not even swordplay was all that honorable. Perhaps it is cause more than anything else that is important. When I think of this, it is with both shame and pride as I reflect on my past.
I had worked for him, the one called Rezo. No, not the actual Red Priest, but actually a nameless copy of him; a marionette of Eris, a woman twisted by her desires. I now know she was not the only one to have their values warped. Whereas she strove to fulfill whatever she believed the wishes of Rezo were, even when he was gone from the world, I lived for nothing but to be the best – to defeat and kill the one named Gourry Gabriev, a master swordsman without equal from what I'd heard.
Remembering the disdain with which Eris and Copy Rezo treated me, I grimace. You could practically hear the amusement they took from my single-minded goal of defeating Gourry and acting rashly without their orders in any comment they made about me. It makes my skin crawl and fingers twitch, as if I may reach for my sword and attack their memories. I have always been a proud man, and had never questioned whether or not a man should be spared when he lost a fight. To me, the victor's prize was satisfaction and his life, and to the loser – death. What else could await one who had devoted their whole life to overcoming all foes that stood in their way?
But it was not all bad. I experienced good fights and grew as a person. I think I realized that life was more precious than I had taken it to be.
My life before I met the man who reformed it – Gourry – is one I prefer to forget. It is why after breaking off from my service to Eris I abandoned all former associates of mine, vowing to restart my life with a newfound outlook.
I have found happiness since, where I could not find it in my struggle to never fail, to always emerge victorious.