The newly-restored Joyrock fired a pulse of energy from his hand, forcing Lina to dodge. She afforded a quick glance to the side to see Gadget watching wide-eyed at Joyrock, while Gourry knelt with his wife's head in his lap, who had just opened her eyes.
Joyrock suddenly staggered from the impact of two Rah-Tilts fired simultaneously. "Fools!" he cried, whirling on Zelgadis and Amelia. Two more pulses fired in their direction, forcing them to now dodge.
Lina had enough time to recover and make her way over to Gourry and company when she heard a voice coming from the inspector.
"Civilians under threat…"
Lina did a double-take as she realized that not only was the voice not Gadget's, but also that his mouth had not moved.
"Threat-level assessment complete…"
"Gadget?"
The inspector looked at her, eyes focused as though he was looking through her.
"Use of lethal force authorized. All civilians must clear the area."
"I'm not a civilian! I'm fighting HIM!" exclaimed Lina, pointing at Joyrock. To emphasize her point, she quickly cast a spell at the monster. "Burst Rondo!"
Unfortunately, that also had the effect of redirecting Joyrock's attention back to her…as well as an unarmed Gourry and a prone Sylphiel. He cackled, turning his attention away from Zelgadis and Amelia, and fired another pulse in her direction.
Lina realized that even if the blast missed her, it could seriously hurt the vulnerable couple.
Before she could react, Inspector Gadget leaped to his feet, placing himself in the way of the pulse. In another split-second, his coat inflated to what would be a humorous proportion at any other time.
It wasn't enough to stop the blast, however. The pulse shredded the front of the coat, and knocked the inspector into the same wall, almost into the same exact place Sylphiel had impacted earlier. Fortunately, most of the pulse's concussive force had been dispersed.
Thinking he had taken out Lina and her friends along with the strange-looking man, Joyrock returned his attention to Zelgadis and Amelia.
Lina was surprised when Gadget not only was able to get to his feet, but was able to do so immediately upon landing. Her surprise turned to shock when she saw the front of the inspector.
He had a small hole in his torso. Not all the way through, she realized. Some of his skin had burned away, but underneath the skin was some kind of metal, as though he was wearing a suit of segmented armor under his skin. "Gadget? You okay?"
The inspector looked toward her briefly before returning his gaze to his attacker.
Zel and Amelia were finding it difficult to cast any spells due to having to dodge a barrage of pulses from the maniacally-laughing monster.
"If we don't do something, he's going to kill us all…" Lina grumbled.
Gadget knelt down and, without any voice commands whatsoever, deployed his necktie, ensnaring Joyrock with it.
"WHAT?!" the monster bellowed.
Suddenly, Joyrock slammed into the ceiling, courtesy of the Gadget necktie. Gadget quickly withdrew the necktie, allowing the mazoku to free-fall to the floor.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Joyrock bellowed as he made his way to his feet. "FOR THAT, I WILL-EH?" He suddenly found himself ensnared in several yards of metal tubing.
Lina, Zelgadis, Amelia, and even Gourry watched, stunned, as Joyrock stood in the center of the room, his arms and torso trapped in Inspector Gadget's hyperexteded arms, barely able to do anything except threaten and curse.
Lina looked over at the inspector to say something, before noticing his eyes starting to glow with a whitish color.
Joyrock continued threatening. "I WILL PULL YOUR PUNY HEAD FROM ITS NE-EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH- EH-"
At first, Lina thought that Joyrock had decided to start laughing again for one of his own strange reasons until she noticed lightning shooting down the inspector's arms and into the mazoku's now-convulsing body.
Joyrock was being executed via electrocution.
The scene was horrifying to watch, even if it was being done to a mazoku, and Lina actually found herself feeling somewhat sorry for Joyrock as he fell to his knees, helpless, as his body began to char, smoke streaming from his eyes, no longer bellowing threats but screaming in agony.
Gourry looked away and Zelgadis shielded the horrible scene from Amelia's eyes, though he himself kept an eye on his captive enemy, just to be sure.
Lina was transfixed. This was the beast that would have slaughtered an entire village of elves, took both her Dragon Slave and the Sword of Light to beat, and here he was, being fried in his own skin.
Within agonizing minutes, it was over. The terror named Joyrock collapsed to the floor.
Gadget withdrew his arms as the glow faded from his eyes.
The drama was not over yet, though. "Sylphiel!"Gourry cried.
Lina, Zel and Amelia whirled at Gourry's cry. They ran over to the couple in time to see Sylphiel's eyes closing.
Amelia plopped down next to Sylphiel's body and hurriedly placed her hands on the shrine mother's torso. White light emanated from her hands in an effort to restore her friend's health. Gourry watched, unconsciously licking his lips.
Sylphiel stopped breathing.
"NO!" cried Gourry.
"Oh my god…" Lina couldn't believe this was happening.
Gourry set his jaw, carefully laid his wife on the ground, then quickly rose and grabbed a surprised Inspector Gadget by the coat. "You've got all those…things in you, don't you?! SAVE HER, PLEASE!" he begged, shoving the inspector toward the shrine mother.
Gadget fell to his knees at her side, looking around wildly. "I don't know what to do!" he panicked.
"Do something!" Lina yelled. "She isn't breathing! Don't you have anything to help her breathe?"
"Go-Go Gadget mask!" Gadget looked around, but nothing happened. "Go-Go Gadget breather!" Nothing.
"Please!" Gourry begged.
"Go-Go Gadget! Go-Go Gadget! I don't know what to Go-Go Gadget anymore!"
He felt his head carefully held and turned. Lina looked into his eyes. "Gadget, it's okay. Just do your best." Lina paused to let her next statement sink in. "I believe in you."
Gadget blinked once, twice, then seemed to relax. He gently but quickly removed her hands from his face and turned back to Sylphiel.
"Go-Go Gadget Life Support!" he tried. Immediately, part of his left arm opened and a cloth bracelet attached to the shrine mother's wrist, another somehow wrapped itself around her forehead and, much to everyone's relief, a small cup with a tube came from another panel in his chest and secured itself around her mouth and nose. The sound of moving air could be heard along with a rhythmic beeping sound.
Gadget looked concerned, however. "I'm beeping too slowly."
Lina didn't know what that meant, but the way the inspector said it didn't sound good. "What's wrong?"
"The beep is for when her heart beats, but it's too slow."
"G-Gourry-sama…" Sylphiel's muffled voice could be heard.
"Sylphiel!" Gourry dropped to the floor and cradled his wife, careful to not bump any of the gadgets strapped to her. Gadget removed the breather.
"Gourry-sama…is it gone?"
Gourry smiled, concern still marring his expression. "He's dead."
Sylphiel smiled weakly. "Then you're free, my love." Her face winced for a moment. "Gourry-sama…I-I will always be with you. I love you…"
The beep turned to a steady tone as her eyes fell closed again.
"No!" the inspector cried. "That's bad!"
Reflexively, everyone moved even closer, but Gadget pushed them away. "No! Get back! Go-Go Gadget Paddles!"
Gourry hesitated but finally lowered his wife to the floor again and moved away. The group watched as another panel opened on the inspector's chest and what Lina assumed were the 'paddles' somehow popped out. Gadget held them in his hands and waited for a gooey clear substance to excrete from them before quickly rubbing them together.
He moved to put them against her chest before catching himself. "Mr. Gabriev!"
Gourry moved to his side. "What?"
"I need you to open the front of your wife's shirt." He held up the paddles. "These have to touch her skin to work."
Gourry looked horrified. "Couldn't you put them somewhere else?"
"DAMMIT, GOURRY, JUST DO WHAT HE SAYS!" Lina yelled. "YOUR WIFE IS DYING!"
With a gasp tinged with fear, Gourry worked the buttons on Sylphiel's top, exposing the upper part of her chest.
"Good enough, I hope," the inspector muttered. "Now back away, please."
Gourry could only back away and watch helplessly as Inspector Gadget worked to save the life of his wife.
"Here goes…" said the inspector as he touched the pads to the shrine mother's chest. "CLEAR!"
Gourry jumped at the same time as Sylphiel's body. He tried to stay calm, but not being able to help his wife, along with not knowing what the inspector was doing was making him more upset and frustrated than ever.
Amelia's mouth had been covered by her hands as she leaned into Zelgadis ever since Gadget had shooed the group away. Now as she watched him try to save her friend's life, tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she released her mouth long enough to turn and grab her fiancé. "Zelgadis-san…"
"She's going to be all right," he replied, though he wondered how much of his statement was to reassure the princess and how much was to reassure himself. He looked over at Gourry and wondered if the swordsman would survive if Sylphiel didn't…no, he couldn't bear the thought.
They watched Gadget, heard him try to encourage Sylphiel to live, watched her body convulse as he tried to restart her heart.
Finally, the inspector's shoulders slumped. He slowly rose to his feet, retracting his gadgets, and walked just as slowly over to Gourry while rubbing his hands together. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Gabriev; I couldn't…" He couldn't talk anymore as sadness and a sense of failure overwhelmed him.
Gourry made his way over to his wife, in shock. "Couldn't…he couldn't…" He dropped to his knees next to her body. "Oh no, honey…"
Amelia began wailing, and Zelgadis held her tightly. Lina watched Gourry cradle his wife's body before making her way over to the inspector, who was leaning against the wall, looking very drained and very haunted.
He twitched when she put a hand on his shoulder, and when he turned, she wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you for trying."
She felt the shudders of his sorrow and knew that things would never be the same…for any of them.