Eezoon
Chapter 2- Welcome to Case de Slayers!
A red headed and formally flat-chest sorceress looked on at the scene before her. They were at a place she hoped to never see again. Most of the place was destroyed from summoning Darkstar to this world. It was ironic how they returned here now to summon a savior for their world. Recently the monsters decided to start reeking havoc around the Kataart mountain range. They began attacking the nearest empires: Dilis, Kalmaart, and Zefielia, her birthplace. Her sister Luna, Knight of Cephied, has been trying her best to defend her home from the monsters attacks. So far they used mostly undead and trolls to storm the cities. What was puzzling Lina as the kidnapping of people from the towns the Mazoku's minions attacked. Occasionally a monster would haul off someone in the throws of agony, knocking on death's door.
Lina tapped her foot as she watched Milgasia and Filia cast the summon. Filia had taken the time to find the world famous sorceress after barely escaping an attack of a High Mazoku. The Mazoku had once again began making attacks on the remaining Dragons at Dragons peak where Filia met Milgasia, the same dragon that led Lina to the original Claire Bible. On their entire trip to the sea they had been plague by attacks of Mazoku, thankfully only the underlings. If a Ra Tilt couldn't handle them, Filia's white magic could.
Lina initially refused to help. Lina had had enough of her little adventures and decided to lay it low for a while. After all, why did they need her help just to go somewhere? That was until she told her what one of the little overzealous underling Mazoku told her that they had finally defeated the Earth dragon who resided in the Desert of the Destruction. Everyone knew only the Water Dragon was in the killed in the War of the Resurrection of the Demon King 1000 years ago. However not a single sign of the Dragon Lords was there other than an occasional prophecy to a priestess like Filia. They never actively helped humans in anything other than prophetic words. That, as in only the Fire Dragon. It made sense that no one saw the Earth Dragon, he was probably sleeping in the Sands where no human went, awaiting for the next war between God and Mazoku. With the death of the Earth Dragon, the balance between the Gods and Demons was shattered. There were still 5 parts of Shabranigdo left out 7. Now there were only 2 Dragon Lords left, and the dragon race was becoming a endangered species. Thousands of them together could not even match Xellos' power.
Recently another minion croaked about the Fire Dragon being the only one left. She believed even more in Filia's mission from the Fire God to summon a god from beyond the Sea of Chaos, from the Great Tree. She didn't know there was more beyond the Sea of Chaos. She thought that was the source of everything.
Lina grasped Gourry's sword as she watched the summoning. He had left her with the promise of finding a power he could use to protect her. Without the Sword of Light, he could not hope to compete with the enemies she would face. He said he would only get in the way and be a liability. He would find a way of becoming a proper Protector for her. He had left one day, gently pressing his lips to hers before disappearing into the sunset. The sword on her back represented the promise of his return to her.
Lina quickly wiped a tear as she looked at the huge magic circle that covered the top of the same main platform that Darkstar was summoned on.
"Lina," Filia mumbled out, sweat on her brow from her concentration, "Now is the time."
Lina was supposed to summon the power of the Lord of Nightmares to fuel the summoning. Lina was fearful of doing this. After the Darkstar incident, she realized the need to come up with something, that was not a "3 hitter, quitter" like Raguna blade. A couple of uses to close together, and she started internally bleeding. She has been using the Ruby-Eye blade recently, it was the same as Raguna Blade but drew from the Shabranigdo.
Lina took a deep breath. It wasn't like she hadn't taken bigger risks before. As she spoke her voice resonated throughout the room as she slowly walked to one of the two undamaged terminals that the Darkstar weapons went in.
"Lord of the Darkness and Four Worlds, I beseech thy fragments; by all of the power thou possess, grant the heavens' wrath to my hand; unleash the sword of dark, freezing nothingness; by our power, our combined might, let us walk as one along the path of destruction: RAGUNA BLADE!"
Lina rammed the sword of oblivion into the terminal. Suddenly a wind began to blow and a beam of energy blew from the circle upward and into the sky.
The two dragons kept chanting after squeezing their eyes shut from the brightness. Suddenly Lina was blown away from the terminal, and to her sick fascination, the blade remained and grew in power. Suddenly the light abated and the sword faded away.
When the light cleared there were 7 girls who looked like they were in the process of running, but suddenly stopped in confusion. They wore odd outfits uncommon to anything she had ever seen before. Behind them stood a single man standing, cloak flowing in the wind.
Filia gasped and dropped onto her hands and knees, breathing deeply. The blonde, green eyed dragon in human form named Milgasia fell to one knee. He looked on while taking deep breaths of air.
Lina watched as the one in the cloak looked around curiously with a frown on his face.
"Where am I?" The mysterious one asked in rough masculine speech.
Milgasia spoke in a smooth calm voice. "Are you all gods from the Great Tree?"
Ranma looked at her confusedly. "Gods? Great Tree?"
Filia looked bewildered while Milgasia watched impassively. Lina sighed. It would be her luck that they summoned some ordinary people who were of no help. The Sailor Senshi muttered among themselves, wondering why they where now in their ordinary clothes, projecting what could be going on.
Filia eyes began to water when the male figure spoke. "Well I guess I am a god. But what do you mean by Tree?"
Filia's eyes shined with hope. She ran over to him and went onto one knee. She took hold of one of his hand lovingly and answered, staring hopefully into his eyes.
"You are the one prophesied from the Great Tree beside the Sea of Chaos. The god from another universe that will save us from the evil that wishes to destroy everything."
Suddenly it clicked about what 'Great Tree' meant. It was using the Metaphor for the World Computer to describe his universe. Ranma grimaced. He loved fighting, but he preferred he had some choice about when and who to fight. He sighed and shrugged. He never did before, why expect anything to change even if he did leave Nerima. He already went to saving girls from crazy princes and ghosts, then to saving girls from enraged Phoenix Gods. It's only natural he would be promoted to saving worlds from great evil. Maybe he'd even move up to Universes! Ranma chuckled derisively to himself.
He opened his eyes which had closed from his thoughts and looked her in the eyes and shrugged. "Why not? It's not like I haven't fought deities before. And that was before I became a god."
Lina was filled with sympathy at that statement when she thought-
"Before you became a god?" Filia repeated.
"Yeah. I was fighting some crazy robot when BOOM, I got all this power and someone who said they were a goddess came down and was like, 'you're a god now'," Ranma rambled. "Then this huge magic circle formed and the goddess took off in panic, and I tried to save those girls but it was too late. Next thing I know we're here."
Filia blinked she didn't quite process all that the god dribbled out.
Lina walked over to the girls eyeing them curiously, before turning towards Ranma. "What do we call you?"
"Um. As a god, I was named, Eezoon, Deus of Balance."
Lina smiled at him. "Well, I'm Lina Inverse, Sorcery Genius. Pleasure to meet you all."
"Same."
The girls were to lost as to say anything until Lina prompted the girls.
"So are you just normal girls?"
Usagi suddenly struck a pose. "We are the Defenders of Love and Justice, The Sailor Senshi. I am Sailor Moon."
Rei elbowed Usagi and she yelped in pain. "Did you forget that we aren't transformed meatball head!"
"Oopsie."
"What do you mean transformed?" Lina asked, having overheard them. She was standing practically amidst their group.
"Umm…errr," Rei began, looking to the other girls for support.
Ranma heard Lina's question and snorted as she walked over to their gathering. The two present Dragons did the same.
"These girls are 'Magical Girls'," Ranma said mockingly. "They run around blowing evil things up. They are nothing but Magical Cannons. They aren't really 'Senshi'. Only a two of them can even qualify as brawlers, let alone Senshi." Ranma snorted. "Warriors my ass."
"HEY!" Makoto shouted. "What do you mean!"
Ranma met her glare. "You are solely dependent on your Magical Blasts, which aren't even your own power. You lack any true hand to hand skills whatsoever."
"I'll show you hand to hand!" Haruka shouted before she moved into a position to lunge at the new Deus. A slender arm extended in front of her, stopping her cold. Haruka met Michiru's eyes questioningly.
Michiru broke her gaze with Haruka to level it at the pigtailed boy. "You are right. We never did really practice any hand to hand. But it has worked fine until now."
Ranma snorted again. Lina interrupted, "Um, but you girls don't seem to have a strong magical aura…."
"We have to be transformed to use our magic."
Lina looked at her blankly, but decided to drop the subject. She turned away. "Well we need to get to Dragon's Peak, and that's a few months travel from here. We need to get started now." The sorceress turned to the two dragons of their group. "Do you think you have enough power to transport us back across the Demon sea to the shore of Lyzeille near Krimzon?"
Filia sighed tiredly. Milgasia spoke up. "If it were just us who came, possibly. But with the additional people…" He trailed off.
Lina sighed. "We could rest up here, but I don't want to camp in this place. It gives me the creeps. I was hoping we could make it to a nice camping spot in a few hours."
Lina tapped her foot thoughtfully. She turned to Ranma. "Eezoon." Ranma stared blankly until he realized she was talking to him. He would have to get used to his new title.
"What?"
"Is is possible for you to teleport us all there?"
Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "Can you point out the direction the land is in."
The sorceress pointed. "That way."
Ranma nodded and her facial marks lit up before suddenly going dark again. "Damn…. I lost contact with the World Computer." Ranma's fist hit his palm when had an epiphany. "That's right. We are no longer in the same Universe as the system. Crap."
He began to pace.
"Anytime now…."
"I'm trying!" Ranma snapped. The girls watched the interaction intently. Ranma suddenly snapped his fingers.
"I need to find out how far it is. I think I can…" Ranma closed his eyes.
Suddenly an Angel of fiery red hair with pointed ears emerged from the martial artist in a flurry of black and red feathers. Wings of alternating black and white feather's spread wide. She was adorned in ribbons of purest white cloth and wore gold bracers. She was barefoot. As her body fully formed her eyes opened showing the purest blue of a dawn sky with slit pupils.
The dragons and sorceress gasped in shock, while the girls, having seen this before briefly, only watched in awe. The trio from this world felt an indescribable pressure they were sure was hidden power.
Ranma smirked at everyone's expressions. "I'll go see where land is."
The angel took off over the sea before streaking into a white speck.
"Wha….What was that!" Filia asked.
"A physical representation of my angel."
Filia looked confusedly at Ranma. "Angel?"
Ranma tapped his chin thoughtfully. In all honesty his angel was more like a familiar. "My angel is like an assistant to me, connected to my spirit." Ranma tapped his foot. "Well, it is and isn't. It is more like something that wasn't a part of me, that is now a part of me. Kind of like an extra arm sown on or something."
"How are you still here talking? You should be in some sort of meditative state or something."
Ranma shrugged, "I don't understand it. Besides, my angel has somewhat of its own mind or maybe it doesn't? I really don't understand it myself."
Lina whistled appreciatively. "Summoning astral beings, creating an physical manifestation of them and still being cognitive in your own body. Wow."
Ranma rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It is cool, isn't it?"
Lina raised her index finger. "But why is your angel female? Shouldn't a male element be more compatible?"
Ranma blushed. "Well…," the god began as he shifted to female, voice continuing in a higher octave, " I can be either male or female. I was born male though, so I prefer it. Plus, I like girls."
Ranma noticeably blinked. "Ah. Found that land you where talking about. I need you all to come close."
Everyone gathered closely. "Okay. Here goes nothing…"
Ranma waved her hand and there was a bright glow that formed into a magic circle composed of curvy patterns like nothing the people of this world never seen before. They all looked at it curiously. With a flash they found themselves on a beach when it faded.
"We're here." Everyone looked around. They saw Ranma's angel hovering with her eyes closed above them, her form lighting up the whole area with an ethereal glow. Suddenly her eyes opened and she smiled down at them before hovering down and disappearing back into Ranma.
Milgasia and Filia took in their surroundings. They were on a beach overlooking the ocean, a streak in the distance signifying the location of the portal still shone brightly. It was late at night and the stars sparkled in the night sky. The moons hung low in the sky, one reddish and one white. The sailors took in the vision, admiring it's beauty.
"We ain't in Kansas anymore…" Rei quoted. The other girls nodded sympathetically.
Suddenly the wind seemed to stop and the night went still. Crickets stopped chirping, leaves stopped rustling, and the night seem to dim although there was plenty of moonlight.
Lina shifted on her feet as she got into a crouch, eyeing the area around her. Milgasia's eyes became slits as they darted back and forth.
"Hey this is so pretty!" Usagi squealed, oblivious to the change in demeanor of the locals. "It brings back memories of the times I spent on Mars."
Usagi turned to Rei. "Do you remember?"
Rei was about to respond when Lina harshly whispered, "Quiet!"
Usagi turned towards the red-headed sorceress to retort about how much of a 'meanie' when Filia spoke up.
"I feel evil in the air."
"Huh?" Several of the girls muttered confusedly.
Ranma quirked his head. Looking around before looking towards the tree line. His eyebrows furrowed. Ranma shifted into a loose battle stance and closed his eyes, seeming to be patiently waiting. The others took time from their vigilance to cast an eye his way. Then suddenly there was a earth shattering boom and there was some sort of human shaped blur that flew into a tree at the tree line several hundred meters away. Every gapped in confusions. They had no clue what happened.
The figure stood shakily, illuminated by the moonlight. "How?" it gasped.
As they took a closer look it was a girl with white hair in a ponytail down to her knees with long bangs and a yellow headband. At the end of the ponytail there was a single perfect hoop of gold tied in. She wore brown shoulder guards that looked wooden and constructed of three separate pieces of wood. She wore a very tall and thick golden choker with a huge bell on front. Her arms sported a green sleeve from shoulder to wrist of golden bracelets. The young one had her healthy endowments covered by a flexible looking white chest guard. Under that was a simple look green shirt trimmed with white at the bottom and fell in a V shape across her front. Black leggings hugged her hips and legs. She appeared to have feline features, such as a brown tail that ended in a white splay of fur, and very long and pointy ears.
"Who are you?" Lina asked the newcomer.
"I am Aisha and I'm here to make sure you don't become a problem."
"How did you find us?"
"Anyone Mazoku could sense that amount of energy. Hell, even a human sorceress." The mazoku shrugged indifferently.
"And they send you to stop me?" Lina let out a sharp laugh. "HAH! I am the famous Lina Inverse, Defeater of Demon Lords," Lina said with more bravado that she actually had. She had help and a lot of other things those times. Hopefully this demon isn't one of those that can survive a Dragon Slave. Those are particularly annoying.
The Mazoku smiled a smile of teeth. "We'll see. Last I heard you were running tail from Zefelia on some prophecy from the Fire Dragon." She paused to enjoy the anger radiating from the sorceress. "But don't worry…. Hopefully there won't be anymore prophecies from that dragon soon enough."
God how Lina wished Zel or Amelia was here. They seemed to always be about to beat anything as a team. Or even…. Gourry. But they all were off fighting their own battles, defending their own homes.
Makoto whispered to the others, "Think we should transform?"
The others nodded. Usagi reached for her brooch, "Moon Crystal Power!"
Nothing happened. She tried again, "Moon Crystal Power!"
Lina, Filia, and the Mazoku looked the girl strangely. Usagi had a look of shock and surprise on her face before realization set in. "It… it doesn't work!"
"No way!" Makoto shouted. She tried her phrase and failed… Ranma rolled his eyes.
"That won't work on this world, girls. Your planets don't exist here for you to draw from."
Suddenly the all felt very vulnerable and it showed. Haruka huddled over Michiru and Saturn. The inners pulled closer together warily.
Lina suddenly screamed and charged the demon. Filia gasped and then narrowed her eyes in a fierce look. Filia's scream tore through the air as her tail popped out and she let loose a blue beam of destruction towards the Mazoku as cover. The demon merely faded out and reappeared in front of Lina.
The sorcery genius suppressed her shock and went straight for the big guns. The months of battles she's been in recently have taught her a simple lesson: hit hard, hit fast. In the past she wasted too much time gaging an enemy, leaving herself vulnerable.
Darkness from twilight, crimson from blood that flows; buried in the flow of time; in Thy great name, grant the hells' wrath to my hand, unleash the sword of unending night, let those before us fall before our combined might! RUBY-EYE BLADE!
A blade of red and black swirling energy flew and encompassed her right hand in the shape of a blade. She brought it down quickly and decisively. However this demon was smart and quick. Instead of fading into the astral plane where it would have cut through to anyway, she leaned back and stepped sideways, also taking the time to knock her arm even more off course. Lina tried a few more swings, but holding the spell was somewhat draining. It was easier to recast, than to hold it for extended periods. Lina jumped back and away, letting the spell dissipate. She landed staring the demon down, breathing deeply.
"CHAOS DISINETIGRATE!" A shrill voice broke through the tableau.
Explosions in the shapes of crosses pummeled the demon relentlessly, knocking it around. It flew back, landing with a thud, smoking. Then there was laughing. The Sailors moved closer together… unsure of what to do in a situation without their powers. It was the type of laugh that instilled fear in the now powerless warriors of justice.
The demon stood out of its crater like something out of a horror movie… somehow getting to its feet without using it's arms. "So this is the last of the Fire Dragon's disciples. Where is the little boy?"
The dragons eyes furrowed, and her tail twitched angrily. Her hand was held over her hidden mace strapped to her thigh. "What boy?"
The demon let out a bark of a laugh. "Don't try and play dumb. You have the reborn Ancient dragon child somewhere…. Just tell me… we'll put him to good use."
Filia lost it and swung her mace out of the confines of her robes. She was about to charge when an arm was held in front of her. She abruptly stopped and her gaze followed the arm to it's owner. She saw Ranma staring at the demon with a fierce look promising pain. Her anger was momentarily forgotten.
"Allow me."
Ranma walked with slow, confident and assured steps towards the demon. "I think you should leave." Ranma never liked to kill. Demon or not.
"Not without cleaning up some loose ends here," the demon said, still confident as ever. She waved her hands towards Lina and company.
Ranma frowned. "I'm sorry to say… that I can't let you do that."
The mazoku clucked her tongue. She raised a hand that appeared to do nothing, until it let loose a gout of dark flame. Everyone turned away, not wanting to watch the young goddess die in pain.
After a few seconds the demon let up, expecting to find a pile of ashes. There was none. It looked for the whereabouts of it's new victim only to find the area around her suddenly very bright as a ball of fire flew into her from above. The demon flew back and Ranma landed from his jump in the same spot the Aisha previously occupied. A scream of pain and frustration came from the demon. Somehow that magic had hurt her.
"How the hell did that hurt? That was just fire! I'm not a physical being!"
Ranma smirked. "That wasn't merely just any fireball. It was a fireball on the astral plane as well."
She scowled and stood, bruised, but not finished. She faded to black and into nothing. Suddenly Ranma's elbow snapped back and she flew into the shallow water of the ocean.
"You expect me not to see you, just because you are not physically visible?" Ranma shook his head ruefully. "No matter where I go, or who I face, I'm always underestimated."
Aisha stood, shakily. Realizing with horror that this person was powerful, and could see and sense the astral plane. No mere mortal was so adept as to knock a mazoku out of the astral plane. It must have been this person who hit her before… She had no idea who did it. She thought it was possibly dragon spooker before. The demon looked hesitant about re-engaging in battle. She could leave now to inform others of the unknown enemy, or risk the chance of never coming back to continue fighting. Aisha figured it'd be better to leave and come back with reinforcements. And with that she hauled ass across the astral plane.
It took a moment before everyone got over their shock.
Lina recovered first. "You let it get away! Now it will let every other demon know you are here!" Lina was angry enough to spit nails. "You have to get us out of here quick!"
Milgasia broke interrupted. "No. The mazoku said it could sense the use of the magic Eezoon uses. It would be useless to have him teleport us because it will just be like another beacon. We should run away on foot."
Lina growled. "Fine!" That meant to play it safe they had to travel on foot and gather help. It will take weeks on foot before they reach Saillune to gather up the cleric and any other help they could get from the white magic capital of the world.
They walked until only a few hours before dawn to set up camp.
*******
Ami awoke early, as she always did before school. She sat up and rubbed her eyes while stretching her back. It as then she realized what ever she was sleeping on wasn't very comfortable. That meant it must not have been her bed. The former sailor of ice and water fluttered her eyes open to find herself in a forest with the other senshi and a few people she didn't realize. That is when it all came rushing back to her.
"Oh my god… it wasn't a dream!"
That was when Ranma came through the underbrush carrying some sort of elk.
"Hey, someone's awake. Ya wanna gather up some wood or something to cook this with?"
Ami blinked at him and slowly nodded.
"Be careful, I'm gonna go train."
Ranma's shout woke up the other residents of the camping group and they all groggily roused from slumber. They all murmured in confusion until their memory came back.
Ami cleared her throat. "Ahem. Would any of you help me get some wood and make a fire. Eezoon brought us food." She pointed at a dead elk laying nearby.
"Where did he go?" Haruka asked.
Ami shrugged. "He said something about training."
Lina asked, "Which way did he go?"
Ami pointed a direction.
"You go ahead and fetch the wood… I wanna see what this God is up to…."
Lina took off before anyone could protest.
****
Usagi whined as she picked up sticks. "I just wanna go home. There are too many flies, and I'm all dirty and want a shower… And that poor elk. Did we really have to kill him?"
"We have to eat somehow." Haruka shrugged.
Rei frowned. "Hey, meatball head, pick up dry sticks."
"These are no good?"
Rei shook her head.
"What do you know!" Usagi stuck her tongue out only to receive a stick to the face.
Michiru frowned disdainfully at the grass in her hair. She must have been pretty tired last night to fall asleep in the dirt. She plucked the blade of green out of her hair and tossed it to the side.
The others trudged around picking up dry wood.
"How the hell are we going to get back? Do you have any clue Ami?" Minako looked towards Ami.
Ami slowly shook her head. "No. I don't even have my computer with me."
Hotaru spoke as she picked up some trigs at the base of a tree. "I guess we just have to hope we will find a way back. We have never failed before."
Makoto sighed wearily. "But we've never been completely without our powers and defenseless before, either."
"I'm sure we will find a way. This world may not be very technologically advanced, but it seems to be more magically inclined."
Lina stood at the edge of the clearing watching the most graceful movements she had ever seen. She realized he was attacking an imaginary enemy like a swordsman would… but without weapons. She had come across a few monks before that had trained unarmed, but never to this level. He was a blur of speed and power, yet efficient and without waste. That was when she heard something beside her and she glance to find the dragon priestess.
"Wow…" The dragon mouthed in awe. "You know that unarmed combat reminds me of the Monks of the Earth dragon."
Lina's ears twitched. "Monks of the Earth Dragon… how come I've never heard of such a thing."
"Well… the Earth dragon never had… priests or disciples so much as monks searching for enlightenment. They worshiped him… and his element. Hard and Strong were their motto. It is rumored the Earth Dragon foretold about the power of the spirit being used to strengthen the body. All it took was a honed mind, and you could eventually combine mind, spirit, and body into the ultimate warrior and sage."
"Where are these Monks now?"
"Well if the Mazoku are to be believed, they probably had a temple in Desert of Destruction."
"Do you truly believe they killed the Earth Dragon?"
"Maybe… it would explain the sudden surge of mazoku activity… having a taste of blood motivating them."
"Sounds like martial arts." Ranma said from his finishing position.
"Wah?" Lina eloquently responded.
Filia elaborated. "What do you mean?"
"Uniting body, mind and spirit is what martial arts is meant to do. What I was practicing right now was martial arts."
Lina mouthed an "Oh." She looked thoughtful for a second. "Too bad that isn't useful against demons and spirits."
Ranma shook his head. "Actually, when you get good enough you can access your ki."
Lina's interested piqued. "Ki?"
"It's the power of the spirit."
"You mean like.. Magic?"
Ranma shifted his head as if debating the answer. "Not quite. There is no patterns or symbols or chanting to it. It is spirit given will. It is your energy and yours alone. Magic summons energy from around the user."
Ranma held his hand up and a ball of blue formed. Lina could feel the pressure. She was somewhat sensitive to power from her magic training. She could feel the psychic pressure. It felt like pure unadulterated energy. Like the pure astral energy demons use… but not dark. More like warm and positive.
"This is ki," Ranma said as he continued his lesson. " Anyone could learn how to yield it with concentration and training. And since it is of the spirit… it can hurt ghosts, demons and the like." With a wave of his hand it disappeared.
"Filia… did you ever hear anything like that about the monks?"
Filia shifted uneasily. "I'm not sure… I heard they were powerful allies during the War of the Resurrection of the Demon King 1000 years ago. But as you know… whole groups and races were annihilated. It is possible, but their art, like holy magic to humans… was lost when they died in the war."
"Well hopefully someone survived," Ranma said, "I would love to learn from them."
****
Every one sat by the campfire eating roasted elk, where the locals described their world and it's current problems.
"So let me get this straight. Dragon Lords and Dragons are the good guys here… but most of them are gone… and there are plenty of Demon Lords out there…"
"More or less… except no one is quite sure what happened to the other 2 Dragon Lords. Well, if the Mazoku are to be believed… the last 2 parts."
Lina looked thoughtful. "Well if they haven't been declared dead… I'm sure it is safe to say they are alive. A battle of the magnitude it would require to take down the remaining Dragons would have been heard of by now."
Filia nodded.
"Well, we should probably look into finding them. The more allies, the better."
"There might be some record in the temple," Filia began, " I'm pretty young so I might not know something the elders did. If anything there will be lots of records of white and holy magic."
Lina's ears twitched. Maybe she could learn white magic… but then again she was rather destructive by nature.
Milgasia responded coolly, "But that is on an entirely different continent. We are trying to acquire allies and make a stand at the Kataart Mountains where the Demon King of the North lies. The mazoku have been using that as their head quarters if rumors are to be true. All cities in the vicinity have been utterly destroyed."
"Couldn't you teleport there, Filia? You did teleport pretty far during the whole Darkstar incident."
Filia nodded. "But I couldn't take you all with me."
Ranma looked at her. "Well, then just bring the books back. So we can all look through them."
"I guess that would work. But I would have to skim through them first. There would be no way for me to transport the whole library. You have no idea the size."
Milgasia frowned. "That sounds rather inefficient. There has to be some way…."
"We could sail there… but that would put us off for a while. How would we know what is there would be worth the lives lost until our return?"
Everyone became sober at that thought.
That was when Ranma's danger sense went off. He looked around, his higher senses stretching. "There are a lot of…. Things coming this way. They reek of," Ranma searched for a word to describe what he felt, "…death."
"Undead." Lina muttered. Where was Amelia when you needed her? White magic was her forte.
"Elmekia Lance!" A streak of white spiritual energy flew towards a undead skeleton that came out of the tries. She may not be that good at white magic, but her spiritual wasn't nothing to sneeze at.
There was a squeal of a young girl from their group. They turned to see Hotaru being held by the hair and about to have her head chopped off by the descending sword.
"Mouko Takabisha." New magic or not… Ranma like the tried and true method and techniques. A blue ball of confident death blazed towards it's target… taking off the undead's head. Too bad that only seemed to disorient him, and did not make him let the young girl go.
Usagi wailed at the skeleton and proceeded to have a hissy fit with it, kicking feebly at it's legs. "Let Hotaru go you big meanie!"
Makoto made a flying kick at it's torso, knocking the bag of bones away except for the hand grasping the young girls hair, but the at least the threat of the sword was gone. Rei broke it's fingers to get it out of her hair.
Ranma frowned. Without their powers they were pretty much useless. He would start training them… so maybe they could take out mundane enemies… but there was no way he could teach them enough to use ki in even a year. Well… except maybe Rei. She had some training as a priestess… but she does not have the sheer amount a martial artist develops by subtly using it throughout his more advanced training. That was a problem. Maybe magic?
All this thought took place within a second. Ranma stepped through reality like it was a lot smaller than it looked, ending up on the other side of the huddled Senshi. He shouted, "Protect the girls! They can't fight!"
Ranma then proceeded to blur into the ranks of undead. Lina took that as her cue to cut loose. She whipped out her sword and began swinging. "Diem Wind!" A compact gust of wind knocked several skeletons into component parts.
Filia was letting loose beams of blue death, cutting through undead like butter. Milgasia was throwing blasts of magic left and right, avoiding engaging in hand to hand.
It took 15 minutes to clear out the 100 man party of undead.
Lina muttered, "Damn Necromancers….. Raising dead. Sounds like the work of one of Hellmaster Phibrizzo's former henchmen."
"What was up with that random attack anyway? We are in the middle of no where!"
Filia sniffed. "Well, pure chaos has been raining down since the mazoku came into the open. They've been raising the dead making armies of them to reek havoc. Not to mention the trolls and other easily influenced creatures. Anything that goes bump in the night is causing chaos… something that the mazoku feed off of."
That was when Rei walked up to Lina. "Can you teach us magic… I hate feeling so defenseless."
Lina looked at them appraisingly. "I can try… not sure if you can learn though. It would be better for you to go to a Magic guild or something to learn the basics though… I've never really taught anyone more than a spell before. They already knew the basics."
The girls looked disappointed.
"I'll teach you the art. You'll hopefully be able to handle your own against the mundane enemies." Ranma turned Lina and the dragons. "You too."
Lina scoffed. "I can take care of myself just fine."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "All I've seen you do is throw magic around. I haven't seen much hand to hand yet. What if you couldn't use your magic?"
Lina grimaced. "I've been there before… and every month I've lasted this long just fine."
Ranma frowned. "Well, we will spar tomorrow. We should get traveling now."
"Mou… Are we there yet?" Usagi complained. She wasn't used to this type of punishment. She was sure they walked a hundred miles already… and the sun indicated it was still mid-afternoon.
Lina shook her head. The girl had been complaining for the last hour. She was about to start screaming at the girl, or devise some sort of voice stealing spell.
"We have a month long trip… you need to get used to this type of travel… we'll be doing it almost everyday."
"But I'm sweaty and want to shower and my feet hurt!"
"We'll make it to a river to camp for tonight. We can bathe there. It'll still be a while before we reach a city."
Hotaru was breathing hard and tripped over a root. The girls gasped. "Hotaru!" They all rushed to her side.
"Are you okay."
The short girl sat up and held her bleeding knee. She wanted to cry, but she refused to give in. She could be strong too.
Lina clucked her tongue as she turned around at the commotion and noticed the injured senshi. She approached and squeezed her way through the mother hens.
"I've got it." Lina said before whispering, "Recovery." A white glow came out of the sorceress' hand and flowed over the cut knee to heal it as if it never been. Hotaru's eyes shimmered at the girl.
"You can heal too!" She thought she was so weird and that no one else could do what she did. That she was some sort of freak. She conveniently forgot that she was also a sailor scout.
"Of course. It's a simple enough spell. Although white magic is not my strong point."
Haruka looked at the sorceress thankfully. "Thank you so much."
Ranma bent down and picked up the sickly girl, placing her on his shoulders. "She doesn't look like she handles exercise that well. I'll carry her for now." The young girl quickly fell asleep from exhaustion.
Minako got bored and walked slower to fall back to Ranma's position. He was holding up the tail end to prevent a rear attack to the defenseless girls. "So could you explain to me again why we don't have our powers?"
Ranma regarded the girl before responding. "I was still trying to understand all the information crammed into me at the time.. But from what I can tell it looked like you siphoned energy off your respective planets. One could assume there was some sort of artifact located on your planet that had a direct connection to you..
Minako held up her henshin stick.
"What's this?"
"This is what we used to turn into Magical girls."
Ami noticed Minako talking to Ranma and fell back to listen in.
Ranma looked thoughtful. "I'll bet that is what is connected to the artifact on your planet. Probably a seal that seals your energy. Your connection is a soul connection, so this probably isn't what contains the power, but just releases it."
"Is it possible to reconnect or power to something else? Something on this world?"
Ranma tilted his head. "Maybe… but I'm not quite sure how and what would you use as a power source? If you wanted to use local planets… we'd have to out into space to do that.. And we don't have that ability here. Well maybe I could….. But that still brings up the fact I have no idea how to reconnect your power."
That quieted the former Senshi of love.
"Maybe we could be taught magic? I don't see why we can just learn it. We used it before, shouldn't be too hard to learn some attack spells or something."
Ranma narrowed his eyes in thought. "Maybe…. Lina can give you magic lessons. But I'm going to train you at least to fight. We might have to leave you somewhere were you can be safe. I'm supposed to be hear to help save this world… I'm going to be on the front lines. Somewhere you three cannot be like you are now."
They traveled until a few hours after down before catching up on some sleep.
"Okay girls it's time to try to teach you magic. Since you used to use it before, even if it wasn't your own, you should be sensitive to it. This shouldn't take you long. I'm going to teach you one of the simplest spells so you get a feel for casting your own spells."
Lina held her hand, palm up before the girls gathered. Ranma watched with a casual eye as he leaned against a tree. His turn to train them was next. She began to explain.
"Okay most magic spells have something called Chaos Words. They help you focus on your objective and form the energy the way you wish. After using the words for a while, you will no longer have to concentrate and just saying the name will make you bend the power to your will subconsciously. Kind of like a subconscious trigger. Most spells use the 'spirits' of the element to do their will. So you have to not only feel the 'spirits', but visualize and project your expected outcome to them. The 'spirits' are merely wisps of consciousness that exist everywhere in everything. You can consider magic bending them to your will. You used your less, but more focused spiritual energy to guide the energies into shape."
Rei nodded. "Like Kami."
All the other Senshi except Usagi had realization dawn on them. Kami, to the Japanese, were spirits that lived in everything. Rei, because of her priestess training, thought she understood what Lina was talking about.
Ranma tilted his head in thought and weighed her explanation to his deity knowledge. Actually the types of magic humans tend to use. They bent 'spirits' from the astral side. Although something may be desolate in the physical realm… it may be thriving on the astral side. The human soul resides on the astral planes, giving it some influence on that side. The greater will of the soul, the more impelling it can be to astral entities. Not all astral entities are sentient. Most are actually more like thoughts and feelings… even concepts. Elements leaned towards feelings and concepts. Since the astral world is just a shadow world to the physical realm, or maybe the other way?
Ranma as a 'deity' was a being who existed on the astral planes and even higher. He was a 10 dimensional being. Even he couldn't explain it. It just was. But he was very powerful; not that he needed to be. But as such he could do everything that humans compelled astral spirits to do by himself. He could manipulate the laws of nature within the reach of his presence. So it takes much less even.
Lina interrupted Ranma's thoughts by continuing her explanation. "This spell is white magic. The lower level spells still work the same as elemental spells…. But for the high-end spells of Holy magic you have to be a priestess like Filia. For Black magic you have to have a high-magic handling capability. The simple spirits are not enough, and it takes a powerful being to give you the power.
"Now visualize a ball of light, glowing like a glow bug being held in your hand. Feel the spirits of the fire all around you, begging to be let shine. And repeat after me…
"Light which burns beyond crimson flame, let thy power gather in my hand! LIGHTING!"
A small globe of light formed in the sorceress' hand and shined bright even in the sunlight, casting away their shadows.
The girls lost their concentration as they watched her do it. She made it look easy.
The air was filled with chants as they all tried to cast the simple spell. Ami was the first one Lina felt actually reach for a little magic energy, it was like she slipped through her fingers. She was sure the girls didn't know that anything was wrong… or even see what was wrong.
Lina shuffled over to Ranma without taking her eyes off the group of senshi. "Do you see that?"
"What?"
"See how they touch the energy … but can't form it; grasp it. Strangest thing I've seen. At least it should form something and sputter out. Ami seems to have an understanding. She can at least feel the power."
"Hmmm….." Ranma cast his higher senses. He could see the spirits swirling around her. He moved closer to her and felt out the astral side… seeing her spirit stretch in its attempt to reach for power. That was when he realized she was sealed. Her spirit in the astral planes was completely shielded to ludicrous proportions. Her spirit would flex and reach for the spirits and they just got bounced off her shielding. She could not grasp it with her spirit. Spirits in the astral plane don't communicate using mediums like sound and sight. They touched, sharing information. To overcome someone else's will, you had to overcome their spirit with yours. Essentially surround and defeat. That is how magic is done. Your spirit absorbs the elemental and fills it with its will, changing it, before releasing. Ranma came out of his reflective daze to speak. "They are shielded from spirits. Maybe it is supposed to be some protective measure. Although, their aura's are concentrated. It seems like the shielding contains their aura and keeps it from emanating like a normal person. They have a huge magical capacity because their aura is so dense."
Lina blinked and looked closer. She couldn't see to Ranma's level… but she could feel the energies shielding around the girls.
Ami approached Lina. "Can you show it to me one more time… I feel so close to getting it…."
Lina shook her head. "Something is strange about you girls. You cannot cast a spell, but you have a huge magic capacity. Eezoon says that your aura's are shielded, you can't use yours to guide the energies into a form." Lina paused to gather the words, " The majority of energy magic users utilize is not their own, it is gathered from around them. However, they do use their own energy to shape and guide the energy. That is why we tire out. You seem to be unable to grasp the energy with your spirit. Quite frankly I've never heard of such a thing…"
Milgasia's rational voice permeated through the air. "On the contrary, you probably have. They are called channelers. They can only be used as a conduit of great magical energy. They have huge capacities… comparable to a dragon or even greater… but they cannot grasp magic on their own. They need power source that is connected to them. Someone like the former Swordsman of light had a insanely high capacity. That is why he was so good with the Sword of Light. He could easily use a large quantity of Darkstar's power. They need power that is directly attached to them; they can't gather energy themselves. "
Ranma looked thoughtful. "Hey, can I see one of your henshin sticks?"
Haruka shrugged and threw hers. Ranma deftly caught the object and inspected it some. He looked almost as if he was reading something that no one else could see. Everyone held their breaths as they watched. He looked toward Haruka. There was a link to inside her shielding. There was also another link that hung, torn.
"It seems you can only summon power through this. It is the only way to pull in power through. Untransformed, it is shut like a valve. You have no source right now, so it doesn't matter if you tried or not. There is no source."
"Is there a way to find us something? A new planet in this solar system?"
Ranma shook his head. "No… probably not. You'd have to go there to forge a bond powerful enough to hold that type of power. These things need a thick 'cord' . But maybe I could figure something else. In the mean time let me see all of your transformation thingies."
The girls all approached him and handed him their wands. He stuffed them somewhere the girls couldn't figure out. He dusted his hands and looked straight at them.
Ranma looked at Lina. "Hey, could you cast that light spell again?"
Lina nodded and did as he said. As she did Ranma turned on his higher sight and put all of his attention on Lina. He saw her aura in minute detail, images swirling around her soul. Apparently she was in love with some blond swordsman, and she saved the world several times. Apparently her karma had a lot to make up this life. He watched her aura and the energies around her.
Ranma turned to Ami. "Hey, try again."
As he watched he figured out the problem.
"Yep, definitely too heavily shielded. Maybe it was done to prevent being attacked on the astral side. It also looks like your attacks are part of you…done 'em so much you will never forget them, no matter how many lives."
"Can you undo it?" Ami asked.
Ranma shook his head. "I wouldn't do that. You've had it for way too long. Probably several incarnations. It's pretty entrenched. Messing with a soul changes personalities and may even cause permanent damage. I have no intention of doing that. Not to mention, your souls are probably so used to having the shielding, that its probably as vulnerable as a slug out of its shell."
All the girls sighed, feeling hopeless.
"Guess it's time to show you my power and my art."
"Oh god the pain!" Usagi moaned as she soaked in the river.
"I've taken some Martial Arts before… but never was I pushed so hard before," Makoto remarked.
"I think I've got bruises on bruises," Makoto whined.
"Ranma was… quite the taskmaster," Ami remarked.
"He calls this learning how to fight? It feels more like stand there and get beat!" Rei commented.
Haruka looked thoughtful. "One of my sensei's once told me, 'The life of a martial artist is fraught with peril.'"
In a world far away, perhaps in another existence even, a balding martial artist sneezed.
"Thank god that wasn't me!" Lina said with a breath of relief. She turned to find Ranma appraising her.
Lina shook her head emphatically. "No… Uh-uh! No way, no how, not gonna happen!"
"Hey… do you hear something?" Minako asked. "Sounds like a whistle… or something falling?"
The once proud sorcery genius landed with a huge splash into the river, floating up face down.
"Um…. You think she is alright?" Hotaru asked.
"Ummm….," everyone began, unsure.
Rei was the first one to approach and flipped the sorceress face up before she drowned; if she was still alive. They don't think anyone unshielded could survive that. One could almost see swirls in the place of pupils in the redhead's eyes.
"Are you okay?" Rei asked only to be blown back as the water seemed to burst forth from underneath the sorceress.
"Levitation!"
Hotaru was the first to look up. "Look," She pointed upward where the previously unconscious girl now was floating in midair, muttering curses.
Suddenly Lina shot back the direction she came with a cry of, "Raywing!"
There were flashes in the distance before a familiar sound was heard once more.
"Do you he-," Minako was interrupted this time as the airborne magic user crash landed back in the River.
It was a glowing, battered sorcery genius that stomped out of the pool. The girls heard a low mumble being uttered from her mouth, gradually getting louder.
"…in Thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness! Those who oppose us shall be destroyed by the power you and I possess! DRAGU SLAVE!"
Ranma was chuckling to himself at the young sorceress. She was fiery. He like that. It kind of reminded him of Akane. Except she was rational and didn't poison people with attempts of making food.
Ranma was brought out of reflection to find a HUGE amount of energy flying at him. It felt like 100 of Ryouga's perfect shi-shi hodokans. But there was one important difference. THIS energy was of more than the physical plane. Meaning it could actually hurt him; not just his physical body. He didn't have enough time to brace, and he couldn't think of any shielding spells off of the top of his head. The new deity's knowledge was still fuzzy. He thought furiously as it approached. With a last second of thought he moved his arm on reflex, which seemed to distort through reality as he swung it up. Somehow even though it was faster than the eye could track it was visible.
The barreling fireball of distilled evil flew upwards into the sky exploding, temporarily making night into a day on a planet with a red sun.
"WuuuuhAAAAA?" Lina stated articulately. She had never seen someone outright deflect a Dragu-Slave before. That was insane. He was a lot more powerful than she even believed. He was their hope.
The senshi looked curiously at sorceress as she gaped in awe.
"Um… why is she gaping? He deflected a fireball. What's the big deal about that? He's a god right?" Rei remarked.
"Something tells me it was more than that…" Ami ventured.
Lina realized there were people talking around her as her shock started to abate. She turned towards them.
"He is our savior."
"Well you summoned him for that right?" Hotaru asked.
"And dragged us along, powerless," Minako muttered.
"That was power summoned from the most powerful demon lord in this world. That's the second most powerful spell in all of black magic. Even his five direct underlings couldn't have deflected it. Take it, yes. Move or deflect, no. I'm the only one who knows the most powerful spell in black magic. I created it. It summons power from the very source of chaos from which all came…. The Lord of Nightmares. It was what it took to defeat one piece of the Demon Lord before. The spell is so powerful, that if I lost control of it could turn the world into nothingness."
"Oh…" The girls responded with a little better understanding.
That was when Ranma landed behind Lina.
"What the hell was that?" Ranma shouted, scaring Lina out of her wits as she didn't hear his approach. She let it a shrill scream and slapped him.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" She held her chest as she tried to get her heart rate back to normal.
Ranma turned his nose up at her. "What was that?"
"The Dragu-Slave. The second most powerful spell in black magic. It summons power directly from the Demon Lord we are trying to defeat."
"Oh. That wasn't that much. But it would have hurt if it had hit, I think. I'm not sure. That was the first multi-dimensional attack I've ever had against me. It scared me shitless."
Lina shook her head. "I've seen people weaker than you take it straight. It would have been a scratch on you."
Ranma shrugged his shoulders indifferently.