Hello! As always, I don't own anything, I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Please enjoy, and thank you for reading!

65- Play by the Ruse

"FILIA! LYOS!"

The group echoed Pestis' concern when Lyos was thrown off, but the sight of a flash of dark energy cut them off, and when they finally figured out what had happened, Xellos had already appeared in front of them. His legs were missing from about the knees down and dark mist emanated from the gap. However, in one arm he cradled Filia's human form, and in the other he held Lyos by one leg.

The knight flailed around in surprised. "H-hey! What's goin' on?! Let go of me!"

"My apologies." Xellos released his leg and Lyos fell to the ground with a thud. He sat up and brushed himself off, checking over his sword for any sign of damage.

"MISTER PESTIS!" Amelia, who had been watching the fight closely, saw the professor hit by Shabranigdo's strike and landing on a nearby cliff. "We've got to help him!"

Zelgadis followed Amelia as she ran in Pestis' direction, but Shizuri stood by Xellos' side, checking on the half-conscious dragon. "Filia...? Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Filia glanced up confusedly. "Shizuri? Xe-Xellos?!" She squirmed and Xellos gently let her down. When he did, she noticed the damage that had been done to his legs and gasped. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of time. Lord Beastmaster won't be too happy with me for getting involved, but what can I say? With you I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment."

"Xellos..." Filia murmured softly.

"Now's not the time for emotional displays, Filia dear. Not when we have a De-"

Filia cut him off with a grateful hug.

"-er, like this. This is exactly what I was talking about. No time for sappy-"

"You guys! We need to help Lina!" Gourry started tugging on Filia's arm, causing her to break away from Xellos and turn her attention to where the sorceress was busy still trying to distract the Demon Lord. "I need someone's help to get over there." Gourry continued. "You know I can't fly-"

"I'll take you there." Filia replied, beginning her transformation again. Xellos took a few steps back and then turned away.

"I guess that's my cue to leave-"

"Stay." Shizuri grabbed hold of his arm. "You might be useful later."

"Excuse me, but I'm already defying orders by being here. If I spend any more time here, I might-"

Lyos shoved his sword in the Mazoku's face. "Help us."

Xellos appeared genuinely threatened by the blade despite having little reason to be. "W-well, can't argue with that, now can I?"

Amelia got to Pestis first and leaned over him in concern. "Does the fact that he hasn't disappeared mean that he's still alive? If a Mazoku's physical form is a projection of their astral self, then..."

Zelgadis knelt down next to her, handing her the cracked pair of glasses that he'd picked up. "That makes sense. But I didn't like the looks of that strike. It had to have done some damage. I can't imagine how he would be still in one piece-"

He cut off his sentence abruptly as the professor began to stir. Zelgadis helped him sit up and Amelia held out the glasses for him to take.

"Mister Pestis, are you alright? Are you hurt? What just happened to you? Here are your glasses-"

"No time for that, princess."

The professor batted the glasses aside, and Amelia stiffened in surprise. "B-but you-"

By the time she managed to get out a sentence, the professor had already pulled himself to his feet and was running at full speed toward where the battle was happening.

Lina feared for her safety as she tried to keep Enrique-Shabranigdo's attention focused on her, but there was little else that she could do to help. She trusted that the others were figuring out a strategy, but would it kill them to come up with a strategy a little faster? She could barely keep up-

"Light come forth!"

Lina had been poised to block the attack, but Gourry's replica Sword of Light got to it before she did. "Gourry!" She smiled. I knew I could count on you!"

"Watch out, Miss Lina!" Filia called as she maneuvered around the growing cloud of miasma.

"I know, I know! He's throwing out attacks just as fast as we can block them! At this rate, if we don't come up with some other plan, we're just going to wear ourselves out. And then..."

"HEY! RUBY EYES!"

The whole glacier seemed to pause at the magnitude of the sound. It was Pestis' voice, Lina was sure of that, but she hadn't ever heard it that loud before. He had been standing on the edge of the cliff, but as soon as he'd yelled out, he had caught Enrique-Shabranigdo's attention, and that was the invitation he needed to jump off the side and approach the Demon Lord face-to-face.

"Impossible..." Lina heard Enrique-Shabranigdo murmur, and she wondered just what it was he considered as such. Was it simply that Pestis was still standing after the attack that he'd been hit with, or was there something more to this sudden change in his demeanor?

Enrique-Shabranigdo came to rest on the floor of the glacier for the first time since the beginning of his assault, and the miasma cloud dissipated just enough so that the professor could walk up to him and address him.

"Ruby-eyes! It's wonderful to see you again after all this time. You look different. Have you done something with your... no, no, don't tell me... It's your hair! You grew it out- no, cut it! Grew it? Cut it? I'm sorry, you're gonna have to tell me after all. It just- it changes your whole look. Not a bad change, though, no, no. You're just... so cute..." He leaned down and grabbed hold of one of Enrique-Shabranigdo's cheeks. "Look at all these freckles! Aww, I could just pinch your widdle demon cheeks all day long~"

"Vireas." Enrique-Shabranigdo brushed his hand aside. "So it is you after all."

"Ah-ah-ah." Vireas wagged a finger. "This was originally Pestis' body, so you will still address it as Lord Pathosmaster, or not at all."

"Fine, then. Lord Pathosmaster. I don't cringe nearly as much to address you with that title as I did for your subordinate. His strength couldn't compare to yours-"

"Hey, hey! Let's not speak ill of the dead, here. The little guy tried his best." Vireas waved his hands.

"So my last attack did kill him?"

Vireas didn't answer the question directly. "But as per his dying request, I'm here to settle the matter." he responded. "So maybe we can cut the chit-chat and jump straight into the battle?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

Amelia and Zelgadis were just catching up to Lina and the others by the time that the fighting resumed. "What is Mister Pestis doing?" Amelia gasped. "Is he crazy?"

"That's not Pestis." Shizuri replied, sending a glance back toward the battlefield. There was a large explosion and she cringed, jumping away. "We need to move somewhere safer! This whole valley is going to be destroyed if those two unleash their full power."

"I don't get it." Lina spoke as they moved around to get a safer view of the action. "Where did Vireas come from? Is that really him?"

"It sounded to me like Vireas said he took over Pestis' former body." Filia commented. "But I didn't think that was possible. Is that a thing that can happen?"

"I've never heard of it." Xellos was the one to answer, appearing beside the group. "But he's certainly acting different."

"Wh-what if Vireas defeats Shabranigdo and then we have to defeat Vireas again?" Amelia gasped.

"This is absurd. Our final villain keeps changing." Zelgadis muttered. "Can't we pick one and stick with it?"

"There's no guarantee that Vireas will be able to defeat Shabranigdo, though." Lina answered.

"I say, they're both our enemy, so let's wait it out and see who wins. Then we can defeat them afterward." Xellos offered.

"That's what you were doing with Azarel and us, wasn't it?"

"So what if it was?"

"You-"

"Now's not the time for arguing." Lina stepped in between Xellos and Zelgadis. "I'm worried about Pestis. We have to help him, even if it's really Vireas occupying his body."

"Didn't Vireas say that Pestis was dead? What does it matter, then?" Lyos asked.

"Well... if his body still exists, isn't there a chance that maybe he isn't truly dead?" Gourry suggested. "Vireas could've been bluffing, or..."

"Everybody, we have to back up Vireas." Lina spoke up loudly. "Attack Shabranigdo, and don't get in Vireas' way... if that really is him, that is."

"And if it really isn't him?"

"Then it's Pestis and we have to support him one-hundred percent!"

Vireas and Enrique-Shabranigdo had been throwing large, long-range attacks at one another, but because neither was able to make it through, they had moved to closer-range attacks. Both pieces of weaponry were made from solidified miasma, and so they repelled each other like matching ends of a magnet. Vireas' movements with his blade were not nearly as sharp or refined as Enrique-Shabranigdo's, but he was much faster, and that at least gave him an edge to work with.

"For somebody who likes to rely on big explosions to fight, you're pretty good at this whole swordfighting thing." Vireas breathed heavily.

"For someone who likes to hide behind his diseases all the time, you're not half-bad yourself."

"OH! Is that a little jealously I smell? Coming from someone who has no diseases to hide behind, I mean?"

"I created you, don't forget."

"Yes, but I achieved perfection all on my own!"

"VIREAS, LOOK OUT!"

Lina's voice snapped him out of his boastful daze. Shabranigdo's miasma cloud had covered much of the area again, and the Demon Lord was preparing a strike from behind while his body feinted at Vireas from the front.

"Whoa! You dirty, rotten cheater!" Vireas slipped just past the attack and jumped back, retreating a short distance. He took a position beside Lina, watching as the Demon Lord began regrouping for another long-range attack. "Thanks, Lina. I owe you one."

She stared at him for a moment. "Lina?" she repeated. "You're-"

"Miss Lina, look out!"

Filia, in dragon form, jumped in to put up a barrier against an attack from within the miasma cloud. "Don't get distracted!" she scolded. "We can't afford to let our guard down."

"S-sorry." Lina nodded and began chanting a counter-spell. Once the miasma around them had dissipated, she grabbed hold of Vireas' arm and pulled him with her to the right of Filia. "You guys keep firing your attacks at this side. Vireas and I will go around to the other side to grab his attention and make it safer for you!"

"Good luck!" Filia called.

"Hey, uh, thanks back there." Vireas spoke as they flew. "At the beginning, I was afraid you might try to attack me too, y'know, after all that happened before."

"Don't think anything of it. Just focus on what's going on now." Lina's shot back. "Like Filia said, we can't afford to let our guard down now."

"Yeah, I hear you. I just- WOAH!"

"HEY, WATCH OUT!" Lina pushed him away, enough to prevent him from getting tangled in one of the Demon Lord's whips, but in doing so, she allowed it to wrap itself around her ankle. "Damn! Let go, would you? Hey!"

Vireas stayed by her side as she struggled, tugging on her arm to help her out as best he could. "Uh, Lina...? Isn't there anything else we can do? If we stay like this, we're sitting ducks-"

"I've got it! Just give me a second... Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood th-"

"NO, LINA!"

Lina's eyes widened as a bright flash of light suddenly engulfed her vision. Everything went blank and her mind raced with panic before she lost consciousness.

When Lina came to, her first thought was that she must be dead because nothing hurt. However, a quick glance around brought her back to reality. She wasn't hurt, but she wasn't dead either. The cliff that she was perched on was scuffed up badly from where Enrique-Shabranigdo's attack had hit it, but there wasn't much other damage save for...

"Oh man... oh man... I'm really dead this time... nice going, Professor Nisery..."

"Pestis!"

Lina scrambled over beside the professor, whose arm was missing from just past the elbow and was continuing to disappear. He looked up at her in surprise.

"You... knew it was me?"

"Vireas never respected me enough to call me by my name."

"Ah." He rested his head in his remaining hand and sighed. "I... I thought that maybe if I pretended to be Vireas, Shabranigdo would respect me more, and then I'd respect myself more. That didn't really work out as I'd hoped."

"Isn't there something you can do?" Lina asked, noting in concern that his arm had now disappeared up to his shoulder.

"Not anymore. But- you! You can do it!"

"Do what?"

Pestis took a deep breath and stared at Lina with a grave expression. "There's only one being in this universe that I know of who can make even the Demon King run in fear... and you're the only person in the universe I know of who can get her here."

Lina's breath caught in her throat. "Y-you mean... Pestis, I can't."

"You used her power to destroy Vireas."

"That was different. I was channeling the power in order to destroy my own being. There was almost no chance I'd lose control of that. But in this case it's something so much bigger. How do I know I'll be able to control it this time?"

Pestis was silent for a moment. Part of his torso and the side of his face were beginning to dissipate.

"Every time you've cast the Giga Slave before, you've acted a channel, right? You're channeling the Lord of Nightmares' power- her very being- into another object to destroy it. But what if, instead of acting as a channel, you acted as a reservoir?"

"You mean... just summon the Lord of Nightmares to inhabit my body? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Isn't it more dangerous to risk Shabranigdo destroying everything you love?" Pestis made a shrugging motion with his remaining shoulder.

"Pestis, I didn't want it to come to that." Lina sighed. "I can't."

"I know you can. Trust me on this, Lina." He took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. "I've learned so much from you. Not necessarily about Black Magic, but... you know, Maria and I never had children. It wasn't that we didn't want to, but we just couldn't- I couldn't. Before I met you, I never really thought about what it means to have a big family. But getting to watch your family grow and to see how much you love and protect your children, I feel like I've learned more about the strength and resiliency of the human race. The love and care you put into the next generation is what keeps your race both surviving and thriving."

Lina got an odd chill, listening to Pestis continue his speech. His voice kept talking, despite the fact that his head had almost entirely disappeared and his mouth could no longer be seen.

"That's why I know you won't lose. Your devotion to the future makes you strong, stronger than any god or Mazoku. I'm so grateful to you, Lina Inverse, for helping me understand the human race beyond what a Mazoku like me could've ever possibly dreamed."

"P-Pestis..." Lina stammered, watching the rest of his physical manifestation vanish. She clutched his hand as hard as she could until it too disappeared and she was left with a clenched fist. "No... please... Pestis... you can't be dead." She wiped her eyes quickly and turned back around to look at the Demon King. "...if I change the spell up just a little bit, then perhaps I can make it something different altogether."

Gourry was the first to hear Lina's voice over the roar of the miasma cloud.

"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night... Lord of Darkness, shining like gold upon the Sea of Chaos, I call upon thee, swear myself to thee…"

"What does she think she's doing?" he choked.

"Let the one who stands before you be consumed by thy power and compelled to thy service! GIGA SLAVE!"

The ensuing eruption of dark energy caused even Enrique-Shabranigdo to stop what he was doing and look up.