I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. As per my usual disclaimer, I don't own anything. I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Please enjoy.

62- The Worst-Laid Plans of Mazoku and Men

"What the hell?! I go to sleep for one night, and when I wake up, there's a war?" Lyos was not the only one frustrated with the turn of events, but he was the most outspoken of the group, which counted for something, at least.

"It's not a war yet." Pestis corrected him. "We're going to try to settle this just between the three of us- Zelas, Azarel, and me. It's a final-battle sort of deal."

"Of course, that's what you said about your battle with Azarel three months ago." Lina pointed out.

"What are the terms of the battle?" Shizuri asked. "It's not another battle-to-the-death again, is it?"

"I don't… think so."

"You set a time and place, but not any ground rules?" Gourry asked. "That's pretty unprofessional if you ask me."

"There wasn't much time to set ground rules. Azarel wouldn't cooperate." Zelgadis brought a tray of coffee out to the group and set it on the table. Some took it eagerly while others stared at it as if they didn't know what to do with it.

"It's okay, though. I've thought of a plan." Pestis offered.

Gourry groaned and Lina kicked his leg to quiet him. She turned to Pestis with a strained smile. "Are you sure? I mean… thinking of a plan all by yourself… for a situation so serious…"

"It'll work! I know it will!" Pestis defended. "The way I see it, Azarel isn't even thinking about their own objectives anymore. Their pride is hurt, and they are doing everything they can to see their horrible goal through."

"That's right." Amelia nodded. "Releasing the Demon King would be no good, even for the Mazoku."

"Right, right." Professor Nisery nodded his head several times. "So, I say we teach Azarel a lesson by giving them exactly what they want."

There was a pause.

"…uh… does that mean what I think it means…?" Shizuri ventured.

"Pestis, are you joking with us?" Filia agreed. "Don't say such things."

Pestis grabbed her by the shoulders. "I'm sick of the Mazoku! Sick of all of them! And you know what I think would most hurt the race as a whole right now? Releasing the Demon King."

Lina narrowed her eyes. "Pestis… do you even hear what you're saying right now?"

"Loud and clear." He nodded his head vigorously, releasing Filia from his grip to focus his attention on Lina. "I've protected the Mazoku for too long. Things are getting out of hand now, and with a personal score to settle, this seems like the best option. I'll release the Demon King and stop the fighting between Zelas and Azarel."

"…so, what you're saying is that you plan to prevent fighting between two powerful Mazoku by releasing an even more powerful and dangerous Mazoku?" Lina asked.

"Yes."

"That is literally the dumbest idea I've ever heard in my-"

"Lina. Let me handle this." Zelgadis stepped in front of her, motioning for her to back away a bit. He turned to Pestis, meeting the professor's gaze. "Pestis, that idea is just…" He struggled for a moment to find a word that fully encompassed his feelings about the plan. "…the worst."

"Let's do it."

The affirmation came from the last person they would have ever expected to agree with Professor Nisery. Pestis' eyes sparkled with gratitude. "Gourry, you really agree with me?"

"Gourry, what are you doing?" Lina hissed through gritted teeth.

"Here's the way I see it." Gourry defended, placing his coffee mug down on the table. "Three Mazoku lords are gathering to fight. They might even start a civil war, and that would probably mean the end of the world as we know it. Releasing the Demon King would produce the same effect, but we'd be the ones doing it. So, if there's going to be an apocalypse anyway, why don't we schedule it on our own terms?"

"My point exactly!" Pestis clapped his hands and then gave Gourry a playful pat on the back- to which Gourry replied with a stern glare that clearly said don't touch me, and the professor retreated a short distance away.

"I have a few questions, though." Amelia spoke up. "Are you planning to destroy the Demon King once you release him?"

Pestis thought a moment. "…yeah, I guess so. That'd be the logical thing to do."

"That would involve fighting him. You do realize that, right?" Filia

"…yes."

Lina gave a dramatic sigh. "Well, if you are so gung-ho about destroying the Demon King, I might as well back you up. I do have some experience in that area."

"Lina, I can't ask you to put yourself in danger for my sake." Pestis protested. "I'll destroy the Demon King with my own power."

"But are you sure you can manage that on your own?" Shizuri asked. "He's not called the Demon King for nothing."

"She's right, Mister Pestis. As your friends, we can't let you go into battle against a piece of Shabranigdo without providing you with backup." Amelia tugged on his hand. "You have to trust us to help you."

"…but, you guys… I'm the one who got us into this mess." Pestis replied. "I was the one who sealed Azarel away before, and I was the one who spared Azarel's life earlier in hopes that they would change… I'm the one who's responsible for tearing an entire race apart."

"Pestis, you can't honestly believe-" Filia reached out toward him, but Shizuri stopped her.

"Don't try to argue with him." she whispered. "Sometimes it's healthier just to let a person vent for a little while than to try to change his ideas right away."

"If I may interject," Lina began knocking her spoon against a glass. "there's something that's been bugging me about this whole thing for a while now."

"What's that?" Zelgadis asked.

"I remember taking part in a seminar back at the Zephilia Sorcerers' Guild which discussed the possible outcomes should the Aqualord's Barrier ever fail… or, y'know, be destroyed. One researcher had come to the surprising conclusion that the Demon King might not even be brought back to life. Like it or not, we have to come to the conclusion that, after being trapped in ice for so long, Lei Magnus' body is dead. It's been preserved from decomposition by the ice, yes, but the fact remains that reanimating a corpse comes with many disadvantages. You all know how fragile zombies are. Why would the Demon King even want to occupy a corpse anyway?"

"You're saying that the piece of Shabranigdo's soul might immediately leave the body and be reincarnated into another human?" Filia asked. "Can it do that once it's already consumed its host?"

"We don't know. There's no precedent for this sort of thing." Lina shrugged her shoulders. "All I'm saying is, we should prepare for the worst, but in the meantime we can hope for the best. It's possible we won't even have to fight Shabranigdo."

"What about Azarel?" Lyos, who had been quietly sitting in the corner, finally spoke up again. "That guy is determined to be mad at us. Whatever we do, Azarel is gonna be pissed about it, and probably challenge us to a fight."

"Leave Azarel to me." Pestis stated.

Gourry frowned. "That's what you said last time, and now look where we are. I think we may need to delegate certain members of our group especially to Azarel and to the Demon King. If we have to split up, we'll have to do it quickly and that's not a decision we can afford to make last-minute."

"Another thing to think about is exactly how we're going to break the barrier." Zelgadis added. "Like Xellos said, this isn't something easy to do."

"But we have the Key of the Aqualord, so it's simple." Pestis argued. "All we have to do is destroy the Key."

"Whoa, whoa!" Lyos scrambled to his feet. "No one is destroying the Banisher!"

"But there's no other way to break the barrier." Pestis pouted. "At least, not that I know of-"

"The Banisher is Lyos' property." Shizuri interrupted. "It's up to him whether or not he feels comfortable sacrificing it for the good of the world."

"Aw, now you made me sound selfish." Lyos groaned. "The good of the world? What good is breaking this barrier gonna do?"

"More good than letting the Mazoku declare war on one another." Pestis defended.

"You know, Lyos," Filia began timidly. "there are many other divine weapons out there designed to channel the power of the gods. Most of them are heavily guarded or hidden away somewhere, but with the right guidance, I'm sure you could find one. Miss Lina's sister may even be able to help you."

"Lina's got a sister?"

"Y-yeah, and she'd be happy to help you… if you have a death wish." Lina replied.

"As the Knight of Cepheid, it's her responsibility to help the other knights of the gods." Filia offered.

"And we all know how great my sister has been in the past about responsibilities, right?"

"…well…"

The room fell quiet suddenly.

"So, Lyos…" Gourry spoke up gently. "…you don't have to make the decision now, but… we need to-"

"I'll do it."

"Huh?"

"I'll destroy the Banisher and break the barrier. I don't know how I'll fight after that, but I'll use all the power I can to help you destroy the Demon King too."

"Remember that just breaking the sword isn't enough." Shizuri added. "We've seen the Banisher's blade shattered before, and nothing bad happened. The whole thing has to be destroyed."

"Yeah, yeah, I know…"

Lina stood up and placed her empty coffee mug back onto the tray in the middle of the table. "Are we going to try to do this before Azarel and Zelas show up? We'd be pressed for time if that's the case. I think it would be difficult to even get there within a week."

"No. I want to do it when Azarel and Lord Beastmaster are there to see it." Pestis replied. "We'll play it off as a little pre-battle show. Make it fun. And then… then we'll release the Demon King and attack as a unified force."

Lyos rolled his eyes. "Yeah, totally sounds like my idea of fun."

"Mine too." Zelgadis agreed. "But what choice do we have? It sounds like we're already pretty committed to this idea."

A few people nodded, but most of the group was silent.

"I'm committed to the idea." Gourry was the first one to speak again.

"If Gourry thinks it's a good idea, I'm all for it." Lina nodded her head.

"Me too!" Amelia chimed.

"I may no longer be a servant of the gods," Filia offered. "but I think it would be nice to finish what they started a thousand years ago."

"The officials back at the Church would be pretty impressed if I came back claiming to have helped destroy the Demon King." Shizuri added. "Some of them are complete imbeciles. I'd love to scare them just a little."

"As a child, I got to watch the Demon King turn a man that I once revered and loved into a destructive monster. The fewer pieces of him are out there, the better." Zelgadis agreed.

"I'm the Knight of the Aqualord. Like it or not, it's my duty to serve the gods however I can." Lyos admitted gravely. "That's why I'm going to give this my all."

Pestis sniffled, his eyes welling with tears. "Y-you guys… I've never had this much support before. I can't thank you enough. I'll sacrifice everything that I am if it will destroy the Demon King and make the world a safer place for humans."

"Then it's settled." Lina stated firmly. "The Demon King of the North is slated for destruction."

Amelia yawned and rubbed her eyes, trying to get a better view of the library in the dim lighting. It was late night, and just a few candles were not enough to light up the cavernous room. However, the candles were just enough to illuminate the area around the table where Lina was sitting.

"Lina, Mister Gourry, what do you need? Where is everyone else?"

Gourry shrugged, looking at Amelia and Zelgadis across the table from him. "Lina didn't tell me anything. I'm just as confused as you two are."

"Sorry, sorry." Lina brought one last candle over to the table and sat down next to her husband. "I wanted to speak with just the three of you alone."

Amelia, Zelgadis, and Gourry exchanged a puzzled glance.

"Speak to us about what, exactly?" Zelgadis asked. "Does it have something to do with the Demon King? Is there a problem?"

Lina took a deep breath. "Amelia, Zelgadis, Gourry… you three… are the people that I trust the most in the entire world."

There was a pause. "L-Lina-" Amelia reached out a hand toward her friend.

"And that's why I want to ask you three about this plan of ours. I value your opinions more than anyone else's."

"Lina… that's…" Zelgadis stammered. "…I appreciate your frankness, but-"

"And don't act like this is some sort of unexpected honour." Lina crossed her arms with a huff. "You all know what we've been through together."

"Right, but still…"

"What about the plan are you going to ask?" Gourry questioned. "We've already been through all the details multiple times."

"Don't worry about the details. I want your completely honest, unbiased opinions." Lina replied. "Gourry, I know you hate Professor Nisery. Why were you the first to support his crazy plan?"

"I don't hate him." Gourry defended. "Hate is a strong word and I'm not going to honour him with such."

Lina punched him in the back of the head. "There you go again with your cheap one-liners. So what was the point of agreeing with him?"

"No matter how much I dislike him, I couldn't argue with what he was saying." Gourry grimaced and rubbed his head. "The Mazoku are fighting over the use of this barrier thing, right? Even if we dissolve the fighting now, they're probably just going to keep fighting later. So why don't we go to the root of the problem? Destroy what they're fighting over. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Besides that, your revelation of Xellos' objectives made it all the more urgent to destroy the Aqualord's Barrier." Zelgadis agreed. "Remember all the effort that went into releasing the Demon King in both Lei Magnus and Luke? If Beastmaster's servants manage to find more hosts of Shabranigdo and the information goes public, there could be major Mazoku scuffles like that, and even possibly another Kōma War."

Gourry nodded. "That's not the environment I want Zara and the twins growing up into. That's not the environment I want any child growing up into."

"I agree." Amelia nodded her head. "I've actually been thinking about the Demon King of the North for a long time. When we figured out that the strange weather was caused by the Demon King, I thought that perhaps we would have to defeat him to get summer back, and I set my mind on that goal. It feels good to pick it back up again- it would've just been unresolved determination otherwise."

"So you guys are okay with this? You think we have a good chance of succeeding?" Lina pressed.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Absolutely."

Lina smiled. "That's what I like to hear. I wanted to speak to you because I was afraid you might be having second thoughts, and I didn't want you three, of all people, to be doubting our abilities. We're in this to win and that's exactly what we're going to do."

Zelgadis chuckled. "While I appreciate your concern, Lina, I don't think you have anything to worry about. This group has been through so many things together. We'll be just fine."

"He's right! There's absolutely no way we'll lose! We've come too far to worry about that now!" Amelia jumped up and clapped her hands together.

"Hey, you're the one who told us to enter a battle ready to win." Gourry shrugged. "We're following your advice."

Lina closed her eyes and stood up, backing away from the table. "Thank you. That was all I really wanted. I'm sorry for bothering you."

"You're not a bother." Amelia exclaimed, and before Lina could turn around she found herself tackled in an enthusiastic hug. She embraced Amelia in return, and the two stood together for a moment before Gourry joined hem, throwing his arms around the two of them and lifting them off their feet. There was a yelp that turned into a fit of giggles, and he gently placed the two girls back onto the floor. All of them turned their attention to the fourth member of the group.

"…Zel~?" Lina cooed sweetly.

He gave a long sigh and shook his head before joining them. "Fine, fine."

The four of them stood together for what seemed like a very long time before separating and exchanging smiles as a farewell. Amelia blew out all the candles and left the library in darkness. They'd be back soon- there was no questioning that.