A/N: aaaaaand we're back. Sorry for the delay, but I had stuff that needed doing. Anyway, hope you all enjoy it, the next installment of Slayers: A Heart of Darkness.
Last time saw our intrepid band of heroes stuck off the shore of Wolfpack Island, due to an errant Fireball cast by our ever destructive and ill tempered sorceress. With their boat destroyed and it's Captain fairly pissed off, Lina and the gang now have to seek out the only land in sight, which just happens to be their destination. Waiting for them are the Beastmaster herself, Xellos and Lord of Nightmares only knows how many demonic beasts and lesser Mazoku. A walk in the park for the infamous Slayers, right? Read and find out.
0o0o0o0o0
"Y-you can't seriously mean that I have to pay for all this," Lina protested under the harsh glares of Amelia and Valeria. "I mean, it's not even my fault!" Valeria growled like an animal at this.
"Not your fault?" She cried, shifting in Zelgadis's grasp as if trying to get at the sorceress across from her. "You sank my entire ship, you bitch!" Lina glanced away, looking bored.
"Well, if someone hadn't egged me on..."
"Don't you dare try to get out of this, you little-!"
"Both of you, be quiet!" Zelgadis snapped, giving the good captain a shake to remind her of their current position. "You're like a couple of spoiled, whiney little brats!" This got their attention. "Honestly, we're now stranded out in the middle of nowhere and have more important things to worry about."
"Zelgadis is right," Amelia added, scanning the horizen as she spoke. "Without the charts and survey equipment, we have no way of knowing just where we are."
"So what do we do now, then?" Gourry asked, feeling more than a little silly just hanging in Lina's grasp like he currently was. "I mean, there's that speck I saw out in the distance, but it could be anything."
"What speck?" Lina asked, looking down at him now. The swordsman would have shrugged had he been able.
"Well, when you and the Captain were yelling at each other I spotted a small dark shape out that way," he told her, pointing for emphasis. "I was going to tell you but then you blew up the ship." She actually had the grace to look embarrassed at the mention of it.
"Well, thanks to Red we're out one expensive ship," Valeria ground out, the vessel having been her life after all. "Not to mention that what's left of my crew is floundering in the sea below us, which leaves us with few options."
"Dark shape on the horizen it is, then," Zelgadis muttered, turning in the specified direction. "Come on, before they get eaten by sharks." Then he was flying towards the shape in question.
"Maybe we'll be able to build a raft for them once we reach land," Amelia mused, following after him, leaving Gourry and Lina to share a look.
"You know, Lina, you really ought to learn to control that temper of yours."
"Shut up, yogurt brain, before I decide to drop you."
0o0o0o0o0
Xellos tried not to look as bored as he felt as he watched his mistress use Claire as a living dress-up doll, the General-Priest currently holding several different dresses of varying shades and types. Why? Because Zelas had ordered him to, obviously.
Claire, meanwhile, was trying not to freak out as Zelas turned her in place, inspecting the dress she was currently wearing in the triple mirror across from them.
"Hmmm." The mazoku lord examined her carefully. "What do you think, Xellos?" The mazoku in question fought not to frown.
"She looks, um..." He couldn't find the words.
"Disgustingly cute," Claire groused, having had it with the white with pink bows ensemble. Zelas actually seemed to agree, if the look on her face was anything to go by.
"Yes, perhaps something a little less frilly," she murmured, pulling it off the poor, living dress rack and tossing it aside to land on a steadily growing pile of other garments.
"Um, may I ask a question, er, mistress?" Claire queried nervously as Zelas held up another dress for consideration before tossing it aside in disgust.
"You just did, but go ahead and ask another, pet," she murmured, inspecting yet another dress. "Honestly, what possessed me to acquire these hideous things, Xellos?" The General-Priest shrugged.
"Well, I think they were in fashion at the time," he replied tentatively, not wanting to upset her further as she had yet to decide on a punishment for him. Frankly he found helping to dress up Claire to be bad enough but it was best not to antagonize her at this point.
"What, a thousand years ago?" She scoffed, tossing several more away from her as if offended. "Go on, pet, this could take awhile."
"I was just wondering," Claire went on carefully, "why you want me dressed up in the first place?" Zelas frowned as she considered a tasteful black number with off the shoulder straps.
"I can't have my pet dressed like a ragamuffin when our guests arrive, now can I?" The question was obviously meant to be retorical.
"What guests?" Claire asked, obiously not having expected that answer. Zelas waggled a finger at her, the mazoku's expression becoming reminiscent of her servant's.
"Now that, dear pet, is a secret."
0o0o0o0o0
Lina set Gourry down on the shore with an exhausted huff, collapsing next to him afterwards as she gasped for breath. The flight had turned out to be longer than she'd initially thought, the island in question fairly large looking from the air before her touch down. Zelgadis and Amelia were nearby, also worn out from the drain on their stamina such a prolonged use of magic had caused. Still, they'd made it, and that was the most important thing. Even if it had taken what seemed like hours of air travel time. Of course Gourry and the ever so pleasant (not) captain were fresh as daisies, so to speak.
"Hey, Blondie," Valeria called, gaining the swordsman's attention. "Come help me gather some wood so we can start on that raft." Gourry looked to Lina and, once she nodded in confirmation, got up to do as the former ship captain requested. That left the three magic users to gather their strength back, which hopefully wouldn't take very long as they had no idea where they were.
"Man, that was tiring," Lina groaned between gasps, having never gone so long maintaining the Levitation spell on top of carrying someone else. Amelia nodded weakly while Zelgadis gave a sour sounding grunt.
"Well, if you hadn't destroyed the ship-"
"Stow it, Zel, it wasn't my fault!"
"That's what you always say, Miss Lina."
"Not you, too, Amelia!"
0o0o0o0o0
Gourry easily hacked down another tree, his enchanted sword more than up to the task. Valeria, meanwhile, was gobsmacked.
"Wow, you're strong," she commented, having never seen someone cleave through a tree with a single stroke. The swordsman shrugged, setting up for another.
"Ah, it's nothing, really," he told her truthfully, as the Blast Blade was the sharpes blade on the entire planet, even with the extra enchantment on it to dull the blade enough so it could be sheathed. To prove his point he did the next one with only one hand. Admittedly it was slightly harder but thething fell with a nice crash just the same. "How many of these we gonna need?"
"Uh, well," Valeria began, looking around at the half a dozen felled trees, "that do it really." Gourry sheathed his blade, grabbing one by the severed trunk.
"Down by the beach, right?" He inquired, not waiting for a response as he headed in that direction. Captain Morgan could only stare after him, still in a slight state of shock.
"What do they feed that guy?"
0o0o0o0o0
"You're not getting out of either this or the incident in the market before we left, Miss Lina!" Amelia declared hotly, still pissed about that it seemed.
"You accosted me with a horrid pink monster, how was I supposed to react?" Lina defended herself admirably, or so she thought as Zelgadis butted in.
"What pink monster?" The chimera asked his fiance, the princess still glaring at Lina.
"It was a dress-"
"An abomination!" Lina clarified forcefully, causing Amelia's glare to intensify.
"-a DRESS I was attempting to get Miss Lina to try on!" The defender of Justice ploughed on, causing Zelgadis to frown at the red haired sorceress in disapproval.
"Honestly, Lina, and you wonder why you have such a bad reputation," he muttered, shaking his head slightly at the unsurprising tale. "It's a wonder Phil hasn't banned you from the city."
"Oh, come of it, I didn't do anything that bad," Lina argued, earning a flat look from him in return for her trouble. "Well, okay, maybe it was a little over the top."
"A LITTLE over the top?" Amelia still sounded severely displeased but decided to drop it for the time being. "Ugh, anyway, we should set up a sort of base-camp so we can have a place to return to after exploring this place a little."
"I'm not sure that's wise," Zelgadis countered, also putting the argument on the back burner for the moment. "Who knows what kind of dangers are waiting for us out there even as we speak." His gaze turned to the treeline, seeing Gourry and Valeria bringing another tree back for the raft. "If it was just the four of us that would be different, but we'll soon have roughly twenty non-combatants to look after."
"Then there's the fact we could be the very place we'd been looking for, however slim a chance that is," Lina murmured, also scanning their surroundings. "Though you'd think that by now we'd have seen some sort of guardian monster to ward off casual intruders."
"Please, Miss Lina, don't say things like that."
0o0o0o0o0
Back in Zelas's palace, we find the Beast Master sitting on her throne, the stem of her cigarette holder balanced between the fingers of one hand as she looked down at her kneeling General-Priest.
"So, they've arrived," she stated more than asked, glancing at Claire, who was standing nearby, dressed in a tastefully short black dress with just enough a dip in the neckline to show a hint of cleavage without being too over the top with matching black heels...which was why the declared "pet" was doing her absolute best to stand utterly still, having never worn such footwear in her short life.
"Yes, mistress," Xellos answered anyway, looking rather displeased by something. Zelas took a drag from her cancer stick.
"Oh, don't pout, Xellos," she scolded him without any real oomph behind it, as she sounded more than a little amused. "You need to be punished for your failure."
"Please, my lady, anything but this," he almost begged, almost but not quite. The master of Wolfpack Island chuckled without warmth or mirth, not a trace of mercy in her gaze.
"Sorry, my dear, but you must learn to deal with the consequences of your failures," she told him firmly, gesturing towards the doors with her free hand. "Now, go and do as I have commanded."
"Yes, mistress," Xellos said quietly, vanishing moments later. Claire, meanwhile, was confused, glancing at Zelas several times as she tried to muster up her courage.
"Just ask, my pet," the mazoku lord bid her, as if having read her mind. Well, the constant glances weren't exactly subtle but mind reading is cooler. Ahem.
"I don't quite understand Sir Xellos's punishment, my lady," she began politely, not wanting to overstep her bounds. "Why are you having him do...well, what he's about to do?"
"Because Xellos hates such things with a passion that rivals that of the ryuzoku's of our entire race."
0o0o0o0o0
Gourry and Valeria had just gone to work on the raft while the others had their pow-wow, or what have you. The swordsman had always enjoyed physical persuits above all things, whether it be swordsmanship or something more menial like he was doing now. Things seemed so much simpler when he was working with his hands. Still, it was nowhere near enough for him to forget how desperate their situation really was. Stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere with no supplies, no shelter, plus an additional twenty or so more mouths to feed once they were rescued from the water. He had no idea what they were going to do but had faith Lina would think of something. As he was trimming down the next tree for the raft, something caught his eye. There, floating not thirty feet off the ground was that guy. Staff, lavender hair, nice threads...oh, right, Xellos. The swordsman's eyes hardened. What did he want?
0o0o0o0o0
"So we meet again, Lina Inverse." The familiar voice had the trio of magic users looking up, unsurprised to see Xellos floating there, a rather bland expression on his usually smiling face. "I bid you greetings from Lord Beast Master." His tone sounded overly stuffy and forced, a rather strange thing from him.
"What's going on now, Xellos?" Lina asked, frowning up at him. "You look like world peace just became a reality." The mazoku didn't really seem to hear, going on as if she had never spoken.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you've found your way here," he said, still looking like he just wanted to drop dead on the spot. "Your luck, it seems, has yet again won out."
"What's with the cheesy lines?" Zelgadis quiried, looking to Lina to see if she had any answers. The sorceress could only shrug as the General-Priest continued his speach.
"I always knew it would eventually come down to this," he droned, starting to float down to the ground as he did so. "A confrontation between us was destined to occur, to decide who is the stronger."
"Xellos, really, what's wrong with you?" Lina couldn't figure it out. "You sound like some third rate villain from a poorly written play."
"And so we come down to it," he pushed on, apparently set on getting it all out. "Time to finally crush you like the insignificant worm you are." He raised his staff, black energy flickering around him. "Prepare yourself, Lina Inverse, for the end." Lina stared at him in disbelief.
"Okay...if that's how it's gonna be." She shifted into a loose stance, focusing her mental faculties on the task ahead. "Then let's do this."
"For kidnapping and likely hurting an innocent maiden, I shall punish you with the Hammer of Justice!" Amelia declared, adding to the already cheesy atmosphere.
"Please do hurry up and attack me already," Xellos pleaded, his expression quite sour. "I'd like to put this whole mess behind me as quickly as possible."
"That works just fine for me," Zelgadis stated, a fierce edge to his voice. "Elmekia Flame!" The burst of energy leaped across the distance between them, only to be casually batted aside by the powerful mazoku that was now their adversary.
"Zelgadis, please, you simply must try harder than that," Xellos taunted him, his usual smile finally making an appearance. "I really need to work out a bit of agression after spouting all that nonsense." With that he phased in and out of sight, zipping across the sand to appear before the chimera, staff slamming into his stomach. Zelgadis could only gasp and clutch at the impact point, Xellos following up with a blow to the back of the head.
"Ra Tilt!" Amelia's spell came awfully close to connecting. A second earlier and Xellos would have taken the blast head on, but as it was he phased out again, appearing to the princess's left.
"Simply pitiful," he muttered, sending a shockwave of near invisible force from his staff to catch her full in the chest, the defender of Justice sent sprawling across the beach by the attack.
"Let all the fools who stand before me be destroyed, by the power you and I possess!" Lina finished up the incantation, the red orb of energy blazing furiously between her hands. "Dragon Slave!" The crimson energy lashed out at Xellos, the trickster having to form a quick defense, the attack crashing against his hastily raised barrier with astonishing force.
"Tsk, I really shouldn't have let you buy those talismen from me," he groused as the energy finally dissapated. "Were I any other mazoku I would have been destroyed utterly by that blast." His smile turned to a slight frown as Lina started to chuckle.
"Who said it was meant for you?" She asked, looking rather smug. The mazoku's frown deepened, and then it finally hit him. He spun around just in time to see Gourry close the remaining distance between them, sword pulsing with absorbed ambient magical energy. As it was he wasn't able to avoid the attack entirely, the enchanted sword leaving a gash in his side that leaked a faint mist of dark energy. With a pained hiss Xellos phased out, appearing at least fifty feet away from them.
"How careless of me," he murmured, feeling rather foolish. "I let it affect me more than I truly should have." He sighed, shaking his head slightly. "I suppose she knew this would happen."
"What are you going on about now?" Lina inquired, glancing to either side to see Zelgadis and Amelia getting to their feet.
"Oh, nothing you need concern yourself with, Miss Lina," he assured her, his smile back in full force as his wound slowly closed. "I'd forgotten how much fun a battle can be when fighting opponents that are actually worth the effort."
"He certainly sounds confident," Zelgadis muttered, coming to stand by Lina's side as he did so.
"As well he should," the sorceress told him quietly. "He's the most powerful monster around right now that isn't a lord, or at least that's my best guess."
"Your best guess?" Amelia frowned slightly. "Miss Lina, now really isn't the time for guessing." Gourry actually nodded in agreement.
"We need some kind of plan," he added, tone deadly serious. "Lina, you amplified that spell just now, right?" At her nod he frowned deeply. "If he can take that head on without flinching we won't get out of this through half measures."
"Wow, Gourry, that actually sounded intelligent," Zelgadis sort of praised him, earning a flat look from the blond in return.
"Gee, thanks for the support, Zelgadis," the swordsman groused, clearly put out by the comment.
"Alright, we don't have time for any of that right now," Lina pointed out, stopping the nonsense before it picked up steam. "I'll need you guys to give me an opening to use the Ragna Blade. It's the only spell I can use against him that'll work, but he's too fast to hit with it head on."
"We'll do our best, Miss Lina," Amelia assured her confidently, Zelgadis and Gourry nodding in agreement. Lina's grin was practically feral.
"Then let's show him just what we feeble humans can do." She readied herself for what she had to do next. "Go get him, guys!"
0o0o0o0o0
Valeria watched the fight as it progressed, simply astounded by the amount of power that was being thrown around so casually. She wanted to help, as her survival likely depended on Lina and her friends winning, but she had no idea what she could possibly do against a mazoku. So she watched, next to helpless and hating herself for it.
0o0o0o0o0
Claire and Zelas were also watching the fight through some kind of magical projection device, the former extremely worried. Why were Lina and her friends here, of all places? Had they possibly been looking for her? And now they were fighting Xellos, the chief servant of the mazoku lord seated to her right. She just couldn't stand it!
"You have to stop them!" She begged, turning to her current "owner" with a desperate look in her eyes. "Please, mistress, I'll do anything!" Zelas waved a hand at her dismissively.
"Calm yourself, pet, I'm merely having him entertain our guests," she explained, eyes still glued to the projected image before her. "Besides, Xellos hasn't been punished nearly enough yet, corniness or no corniness."
"This is no time for jokes," Claire almost admonished her, but held back for fear of angering her. "He could kill them!"
"It's possible," Zelas admitted, sounding rather nonchalant about the idea. "Xellos isn't the gentlest of sorts, after all."
"But you just said they were your guests," Claire reminded her, grasping at straws. "You can't just kill them!" Zelas actually looked at her then.
"Why not? They're my guests, I should be able to do with them as I like."
"Mistress, please!"
0o0o0o0o0
Gourry gasped in pain as the bolt of energy took him right in the breastplate, knocking him ass over tea-kettle to sprawl face down in the sand. Zelgadis and Amelia weren't fairing much better, what with Xellos either deflecting or outright avoiding all their attacks.
"Astral Vine!" The familiar glow of red energy surrounding his sword, Zelgadis charged Xellos in a bid to give Amelia time to heal Gourry. The mazoku calmly parried his strike with his staff, his smile widening a touch.
"Come now, Zelgadis, I know you can do better than this," the trickster taunted playfully. Of course, his version of playful was scathing to say the least. The chimera growled angrily, shoving him away and attacking repeatedly, each strike expertly parried despite his efforts. The General-Priest was really grating on his last nerve. Lina, meanwhile, had begun preparing the Ragna Blade for use.
"Lord of the dreams that terrify..."
Gourry was now back in the fight, a well timed Ra-Tilt from Zelgadis giving his blade some extra oomph as he aimed to cleave Xellos's head from his shoulders.
"Sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heavens' bonds..."
Xellos, however, was always one step ahead. That was the problem with your opponant having over a thousand years more experience.
"Become one with my power, one with my body and let us walk the path of destruction together. Power that can smash even the souls of the gods!" The blade of chaotic energy formed in Lina's hands. "Ragna Blade!" Xellos half turned at the call of the spell's name, frowning slightly. Even he wouldn't fare well against a full power Ragna Blade and he knew it. Then his attention was forced away from the red haired devil's oncoming attack, Gourry proving to be annoyingly persistant. Now it was time for the gloves to come off. He phased out of sight, appearing behind Lina with staff raised, the sorceress spinning in place, attack bearing down on him...only to shatter against the deceptively delicate hand of a tall, leggy blonde woman in a cocktail dress.
"That will be quite enough, thank you," she murmured softly, Lina staring up at her with wide, shocked eyes. Her most powerful attack spell deflected with the mere flick of a wrist. There was only one being this could be.
"Beast Master Zelas Metallium," Lina said her name aloud, backing up several steps. Like a little distance would save her should the mazoku lord decide to end her life. Her friends rushed to her side, Gourry interposing himself between her and Zelas, sowrd held in a guard position.
"So this is Xellos's boss?" He asked, Lina giving a jerky nod. "This is bad, huh?" She didn't really need to answer that but she nodded again anyway.
"One of the five mazoku lords created by Shabranigdo millenia ago," Zelgadis intoned softly, sounding a little in awe of her. "This goes a bit beyond bad, Gourry."
"It's always flattering to know that people hold me in such high regard," Zelas said to them, sounding oddly pleased. Likely she was sensing their sudden fear, as the last time they'd faced someone of her power they'd nearly all died. "Still, it's rather rude of you, showing up on my island without so much as an invitation."
"Well, we'll be sure to send an envoy ahead of us next time," Lina told her, the sarcasm of her tone less than subtle. "Sadly this trip was short notice, so there wasn't any time to do so before hand."
"Besides, you have no right to speak of rudeness when you've taken an innocent maiden against her will," Amelia cut in sharply, hands clenched into tight fists. "Such behavior goes beyond the pale and is simply unforgivable!"
"Xellos, do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Zelas asked of her servant, not taking her eyes off their little band as she spoke. The General-Priest shrugged.
"Likely they mean Miss Claire, my lord," he replied, shrugging slightly. "I do find it rather odd they'd go out of the way for such a thing myself, but that's Miss Lina for you."
"Where is she?" Lina asked, getting straight to it as per usual. "Is she even still alive?"
"Oh, she's alive," Zelas told her casually, gesturing to her left. "And she's relatively unharmed." The young woman suddenly phased in nearby, looking rightfully startled. "See?" Lina moved over to the confused young woman, Gourry moving with her so he remained between Zelas and her.
"Miss Lina, what are you doing here?" Cliare asked, not understanding why they'd risk their lives for a total stranger. "Please, you need to leave before...before mistress decides you're no longer of any interest to her!"
"Mistress?" Zelgadis questioned, frowning slightly. Then he spotted the collar. "What's going on here, Claire? Why are you dressed like that and why are you calling that creature your mistress?"
"Creature?" Zelas frowned slightly, eyes narrowing at the chimera in distaste. "I've never had such rude guests."
"Sorry, but we're not known for our social graces," Lina shot over one shoulder, sounding anything but sincere. "Besides that, what have you done to Claire that she's calling you her mistress?"
"Oh, nothing much," Zelas answered, smiling rather pleasantly. "She's simply my new pet, that's all."
"Your pet?" Gourry tightened his grip on his sword. "What kind of sick joke is that?"
"Such villainy is absolutely dispicable!" Amelia declared, striking a pose that was supposed to look heroic but ended up looking rather sad instead. "Treating human life as if it were a toy you can play with! Such a thing has my righteous blood boiling!"
"Is she serious?" Zelas looked at her servant, who shrugged, appearing rather bored by it all. "Oh, now it makes sense." The Beast Master smiled wickedly. "You don't know just what she is, do you?"
"Mistress, please," Claire begged her softly, edging away from Lina and Gourry slightly. "Don't tell them about me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lina asked, glancing between them curiously. "Claire, what's she talking about?" Zelas's smile widened a touch.
"Just that this girl you've come all this way to save isn't even human." She looked right into Claire's sorrowful eyes. "She's a humonculous."
0o0o0o0o0
A/N: And Zelas drops the bombshell! Anyway, for those of you confused by Xellos's "punishment", I figure he, more than anyone, would despise cliches. So, Zelas ordering him to act like some two bit villain when confronting Lina and the gang would be like ordering you or me to walk down the street naked save for being tarred and feathered. At least that's what I believe, at any rate.