Towards the Legendary Peak of the Dragons

Towards the Legendary Peak of the Dragons

Fire surged through Galia, bathing the night a terrifying orange. The roaring of flames and the screaming of fleeing citizens mingled in my ears.

But he still didn’t stop. As I stood there in shock, my eyes fixed on the engulfing flames, I heard the demon’s explosions continue from somewhere nearby. His form was concealed by the flames and smoke.

The demon had attacked the entire area with little distinction. I knew he was only after me, but he was taking down a city to do it. Was he destroying my surroundings so I didn’t have anywhere to run? Or was this the only way he could use his power?

Whatever his motivation, I couldn’t just stand there. I clenched my fist.

I had to lure him out of the city.

It wasn’t too keen on being bait, obviously, but I didn’t have a choice. I wouldn’t be able to sleep for who knew how long if I let all of Galia take a fall for me.

I quickly chanted a high-speed flight spell. I couldn’t fire off heavy offensive magic while using it, so against a demon, it was only good for running away. And even with a wind barrier deployed around me, my physical safety was in doubt if I took a direct hit from a major spell.

But disadvantage or no, I couldn’t use fancy offensive spells in the middle of a city. And trying to lure the demon away on foot would never work.

I can already tell this is gonna suck.

“Ray Wing!” I shouted.

A wind barrier enveloped my body, lifting me into the sky. I burst through the black smoke to find the demon… and, after a second, I did find a demon. There was just one problem.

It wasn’t the same demon.

My jaw dropped. The new demon hovering before me had skin the color of a drowned corpse, and there was a single giant eye in the center of his face.

Those sons of… I could barely think the swears I meant to throw at them. They were planning to get me with a pincer attack!

The moment the demon noticed me, he fired a black shockwave in my direction. I barely controlled my spell in time to avoid the attack and fly toward the edge of the city.

The first demon appeared in front of me again.

Dammit! The situation was getting worse by the second.

The demon formed a pale blue energy lance and fired it at me. I altered the course of my flight.

WHAM!

I let out a strangled cry as shockwaves and heat hit me. The demon behind me had launched another attack!

The hit didn’t do any damage since it was blocked by the wind barrier, but it definitely threw my concentration off. By the time I could focus again, the lance of light from the demon in front was zooming straight for me.

My heart practically stopped. It was too late to dodge!

The lance of light easily sliced through my wind barrier and vanished into thin air with a mild buzzing sound.

I stared dumbly at where the lance had vanished. What the hell? I wondered as the demon in front moved his gaze to something behind me.

Another silhouette appeared beside the demon who’d thrown the lance. At almost the same moment, the demon shattered into a million pieces.

The remaining silhouette slowly came into focus. A familiar smile was the first thing I saw through the smoke.

Priest Xelloss.

About damn time, I thought as the pounding in my ears began to subside. I swallowed hard and reminded myself to breathe.

I vaguely realized that the demon from behind wasn’t attacking anymore. Xelloss had probably destroyed that one, too. Annihilating two demons with a single blow each…

Xelloss could still surprise me with his power.

He mouthed something and pointed below us. I couldn’t hear what he was saying through the wind barrier, but I understood once I looked down.

I gave him a short nod and cut down through the smoke, setting down once again on a flame-enveloped city street. Xelloss landed beside me a moment later.

As I released my barrier, I noticed that I could no longer sense anyone in Galia. It felt like the populace had cleared out entirely.

“Hm,” Xelloss hummed, his smile as calm as ever. “It would seem my arrival was somewhat late.”

Considering the situation, his unchanging calm was simultaneously soothing and creepy. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “A little,” I mumbled.

“That means the attack on the village was a plot to draw me away from you. But I never suspected that Mister Raltaak would use himself as a decoy.” Xelloss chuckled, as amused as a kid at a petting zoo.

“I’m sure this is all hilarious to you,” I said thinly, “but we still need to get out of here. I’m already practically medium-rare.”

Xelloss nodded and kept in step as I quickly walked down the street.

I glanced at him through the smoke. “Did you take Raltaak down?” I asked.

Xelloss gave me a pained smile. “Er… no,” he admitted. “He beat me quite easily, I’m afraid. Isn’t that inconvenient? Ha ha!”

“How can you be laughing at a time like this?!”

Xelloss shrugged. “He’s also a Priest, you see. And the same level, if we’re comparing rank. But for them to have a base in this city…” He shook his head. “The size of this world never ceases to amaze me.”

I scowled. “You’re not making me feel any better, Xelloss! And can’t you use your power to put out this fire? Those guys hit everything to get at me!”

Xelloss flashed me another pained smile. “Water and ice spells are not exactly my…”

“Argh!” I slapped a hand to my forehead. “I can’t believe you’re useless when the entire city’s—”

I stopped my ranting short as I noticed a body at the edge of the street. It was small, vaguely male, and definitely not moving. Red stained the rubble beneath his body.

It was the little boy who’d grabbed my purse.

I ran up without thinking. “Hey!” I called as I dropped to my knees beside him. “Are you okay? Can you—?” I touched his bare skin, then yanked my hand back.

The boy’s body was already cold. A wave of shock ran through me.

I slowly stood up. Xelloss took his turn to kneel beside the boy.

“No heartbeat,” he said.

“I know that,” I snapped, my fingers trembling a little. I knew the kid was beyond my help. I did the only thing I could at that point—I said a brief, silent prayer and continued on my way.

I gritted my teeth. Dammit, I thought, my palms growing damper. If I didn’t put an end to the whole mess—and soon—who else was going to pay for it? I had to do something, but the demons were too powerful for me.

Xelloss’ voice cut into my thoughts. “Well?” he inquired. “What do you plan to do from here? I have to admit that I’d be against staying in the city.”

I knew I couldn’t stay; staying in Galia would make more casualties. I only had one choice.

“Let’s find the others,” I muttered quietly. “We’re getting the hell out of here. And if they’ve already bolted and I can’t find them…” I paused a second, then took a breath. “I’ll go after the Claire Bible by myself.”

* * *

A single streak of light ripped toward me through the wind and flames.

I cursed and barely dodged. At the same moment the magic light shot past me, a figure burst out of the wall of flames.

It was another demon. I’d just turned to face him when Xelloss exploded the demon’s head to bits.

I panted and wiped my streaming forehead. How many of those guys were there?! My raw guess was ten, but I’d lost count after the first few. One thing was for sure—there were too damn many.

Xelloss and I were still searching the city for Gourry and the others. We couldn’t make much progress, considering the number of demon attacks, and the whole thing made me marvel at how many demons had been lurking around Galia.

The attacking demons were each about as powerful as Seigram or Vizeus; they were only dropping like flies because Xelloss was so badass. I was sure he could’ve dropped them even if they’d all come out at once. I was just along for the ride like a heroine from the old Heroic Sagas.

Xelloss suddenly stopped and wrapped his mantle around me. I raised my eyebrows at him. KA-BOOOOOOOOM!

A series of exploding lights burst around us, crumbling the walls of buildings and boiling the earth red. I didn’t know if it was the blast or the heat causing all the destruction, but I barely felt anything inside Xelloss’ cape.

When the lights finally faded, a humanoid shape approached through the rippling heat waves. Whoever it was halted a little ways in front of us.

“So you’ve recovered,” snapped a voice I most definitely recognized. The bastard even had the balls to wear the armor of Dilse.

General Rashatt glared at Xelloss, his eyes filled with quiet anger.

I knew you were evil! I thought at him, but I chose to keep my mouth shut. It looked like the guy didn’t appreciate Xelloss interfering with his plan to kill me.

“General Rashatt,” Xelloss said in an almost friendly tone. “This is the first time we’ve met in person, isn’t it?”

“The first,” Rashatt agreed thinly. “And the last.” He took a step toward us. “Sir Raltaak said I wasn’t to raise a hand against you, but considering the situation…”

“One has no choice but to fight, hm?” Xelloss smiled at Rashatt, egging the man on.

Rashatt gripped the sword tighter in his hand. “Of course,” he bellowed. “Now we’ll see who survives: Priest or General!”

Yikes. Rashatt’s radiating bloodlust made me quickly pull back. I was a goner if I got caught in even the backwash of those guys fighting. I have my pride and all, but it was a logical time to sit on the sidelines.

Rashatt went first. “Gah!” he cried as the blade in his hands radiated velvety light and transformed into a much stranger sword. It took me a second to realize that he’d probably turned a regular sword into a demon-cutting demonic blade.

He could do that?!

“Hah!” Firing a mass of black energy at Xelloss with his free hand, Rashatt charged after the blast with his new sword at the ready. Xelloss, almost surprisingly, didn’t dodge.

BWOOM!

Rashatt’s energy mass slammed squarely into Xelloss, making black flashes explode and miasma swirl around. I ducked my head under my arms.

I figured that Xelloss had taken the hit because he knew he could. But Rashatt would know that, wouldn’t he? That would mean the attack was just to blind Xelloss. I looked up just in time to see Rashatt leap in with his blade among the explosions.

“Perish, Priest!” he roared.

The clang of metal overlapped Rashatt’s cry as he disappeared into light and smoke. When the air finally cleared, it revealed Rashatt’s sword buried in Xelloss’ chest.

I gave a start. What?!

But I was wrong. The sword simply ended at Xelloss’ chest; with a small but heavy clunk, the broken tip of Rashatt’s sword buried itself in the ground by my feet. It dissolved in the wind, retaking the shape of the original sword for a moment, then dissolved again to leave a small mass of silvery metal on the ground.

Somehow, Xelloss had broken Rashatt’s blade before it could hit him. Rashatt looked both dazed and a little frightened as he stumbled backward.

Xelloss, injury-free, smiled his disturbing little smile at Rashatt. “Shall I teach you?” he asked lightly. “Would you like to know why Mister Raltaak told you not to raise your hand against me?”

Before he’d even finished talking, a corkscrew shape as black as night and as long as a man appeared out of thin air and impaled Rashatt through the stomach. The man gave a gurgled scream.

“GAAAAAAGH!”

Xelloss didn’t blink. “This is why you can do nothing against me by yourself,” he murmured as a second black corkscrew thrust through Rashatt’s chest. Rashatt screamed and screamed, but Xelloss went on.

“Chaos Dragon created his own Priest and General to act as his minions, but Lord Greater Beast created me alone. I can make the math simple for you—Chaos Dragon split his power in two vessels while Lord Greater Beast left it all in one. Me.”

“You and Priest Raltaak,” Xelloss said in an almost disinterested tone, “had best combine your power against me, or else request that Sir Chaos Dragon come greet me in person.” He ended his lecture by impaling another corkscrew through Rashatt’s body.

I stared at Xelloss, then at the corkscrews, then at Xelloss again. My mind started piecing together the evidence of the unbelievable power I was witnessing.

Those corkscrews he wielded and the power to destroy an opponent without physically touching him. Did making them appear beyond the confines of space mean he was releasing that power from a point inside his opponent’s body?

Unless… wait. Maybe the black corkscrews were Xelloss’ real body on the Astral Plane.

A chill ran down my spine. Even though it was my current enemy writhing on Xelloss’ corkscrews, it was only a matter of time before Xelloss turned on me. And when that time came…

I’d be screwed. Literally, if he used those awful things.

As the black corkscrews continued to impale Rashatt’s body, Xelloss finally resumed talking.

“Forgive me for being hasty,” he said, “but we can’t dwell here long. A pity that we’ve only just met and now must part… forever.” He chuckled, which proved to be deeply disturbing.

“What the hell is all this?!”

A familiar voice made me freeze. No way, I thought, my heart filling with dread. I turned slowly, my face preparing to wince.

Sure enough, Zelgadiss stood there with Gourry and Amelia by his side. The entire team’s jaws had practically hit the floor.

Xelloss looked startled as he turned to us. When I glanced back at Rashatt, the general had disappeared—all that remained were the corkscrews floating in mid-air.

Craptastic!

“Hmm,” Xelloss murmured, but he didn’t seem very concerned. “He got away during a momentary opening. Ah, well—that’s to be expected of the general, I suppose.” He gave a little shrug, and the floating corkscrews dissolved into the wind.

I was pretty sure I could’ve fit an entire turkey in Zel’s open mouth. “Wh-what the hell is all this?!” he stuttered at last. “What the hell is going on?! Xelloss!” He pointed at the priest. “Who the hell are you?!”

“He’s not… a demon?!” Amelia squeaked in a tiny, high-pitched voice.

I sighed. The cat was out of the bag, apparently. Even people with a casual knowledge of sorcery would recognize an inhuman display of power like that.

I glanced over at Xelloss. He just raised an eyebrow at me expectantly.

So this is my problem, huh? Thanks a lot, pal.

I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I said carefully, holding my hands out in peace. “I’ll tell you everything I know, but a little later, okay?” I gestured to the inferno around us. “We have to get out of here first.”

My team agreed to that plan, at least. Fire has a way of getting people to move.

* * *

The five of us—Xelloss included—left Galia as fast as we could. Since we wanted to get clear of the city without traveling too far, we settled in a hunting lodge at the foot of a nearby mountain.

That was when I told Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadiss everything. All of the secrets I’d kept so awesomely poured out my mouth in one very long rant. I admitted that Xelloss was a demon, that he was taking me to the Claire Bible, and that the demon Rashatt had stuffed me in a palace room with promises of not killing me… and then had promptly tried to kill me. I added that Xelloss had been kind enough to save me from the small army of demons that had burned down Galia.

“This isn’t funny,” Zelgadiss said darkly.

“Thanks for clearing that up,” I retorted dryly.

Amelia lowered her head. “So you knew about Mister Xelloss from the start?” she murmured.

“And you kept it from us.” Zelgadiss glared at me.

Duh, I wanted to say. Because I knew you’d all freak out if I told you. Way to prove that by freaking out!

But they definitely had a point—I had been lying to them. That could be hard to take, even if the reasoning was practical (in my opinion).

Zelgadiss shifted his gaze from me to Xelloss. “So,” Zel hissed. “What the hell are you planning?”

Xelloss had taken a chair in the corner of the lodge, by the way. He looked up from buffing his nails on his mantle and flashed Zel his usual smile.

“That’s a secret,” he hummed.

Zel jumped to his feet. “You dirty—”

“Stop it!” I snapped. Zelgadiss clenched his fists and aimed his blazing gaze back to me.

“Why should I?!” he shot back. “And why do you keep defending him?!”

Because he could pick his teeth with my vertebrae, genius!

I let out a long breath. “Zel,” I said slowly, “Xelloss is extremely powerful. Probably more powerful than anyone else here.”

I let that sink in for a minute. Zelgadiss, after glaring daggers at Xelloss, grumbled something and sat back down.

Amelia ventured a question. “What are you going to do now, Lina?”

That was what I liked to hear—planning for the future. Especially when my actions of the past were pissing off my teammates.

“Amelia’s right,” I declared. “Who cares who did what to whom? Onward to the future, I always say.”

I quickly went on before anyone could interject. “First of all,” I said, “I want to see this Claire Bible Xelloss keeps talking about. I know chasing after the carrot he’s been dangling in front me is pretty lame…” I raised an eyebrow at Xelloss for emphasis… but finding out why demons are trying to murder me is more important than my pride. For now. So that’s our next step.”

Everyone went quiet for a minute. “I don’t chase carrots,” Zel muttered, although the analogy sounded pretty dumb when he rephrased it like that. “But I’d prefer it to running off and hiding with my tail between my legs.”

Amelia nodded. “That goes for me, too. Now that we know Mister Xelloss is a demon, we can’t just dance on the palm of someone given to darkness… but if it means protecting Lina, we need to look at unusual methods.”

She folded her arms and nodded again, as if agreeing with herself. “Lina’s certainly at the center of some plot, but we don’t know if that plot is good or evil. We can’t help it or hinder it until we discover that, right? Although it’s a burden to play along with an evil scheme, it’s a burden I’m willing to shoulder considering the circumstances.”

Xelloss focused his attention over to Gourry. “And you, Mister Gourry?” he asked. “What do you intend to do?”

Gourry paused for a long moment, scratching his nose in thought. “Well,” he said at last, “it’s not like our situation’s any different from yesterday.”

Amelia practically popped. I wasn’t surprised; Gourry was an idiot, and Amelia was an alarmist. We usually ended up having one of them freak during our meetings.

“Mister Gourry!” she cried as she ran up to get in his face. “Xelloss is a demon! DEMON! A creature wrapped in darkness, governed by fear and destruction, enemy to all living things! He is one hundred percent bad and zero percent good! You’d be traveling with a beast lower than the filthiest scum!”

Xelloss, in an odd moment, almost looked hurt. Gourry wasn’t fazed. “Sure,” he said. “But I already figured he was a demon.”

Every mouth in the room—save Gourry’s—practically dropped to the floor. “WHAT?!” we screamed in perfect unison.

“You’re kidding me!” I snapped, resisting the urge to grab him by the neck and start shaking. “You figured it out?! When? And how?!”

He smiled happily. “It’s made more and more sense since we met him,” he said like a commended schoolboy. “I can’t really describe it, but it was like… his scent? Maybe? Anyway, I understood it somehow.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded. “Or did you just keep traveling with him because you didn’t mind?!”

Gourry shrugged. “Nah. I just figured that if you were keeping a stranger with you, you probably had a reason for it.”

I stopped mid-insult and felt my eyes widen. I, Lina Inverse, was suddenly at a loss for words.

That meant… Gourry trusted me. Really? I thought. A thin tendril of happiness suddenly curled around my heart.

“I guess this means Mister Gourry plans to travel with Lina no matter what, then,” Amelia commented from across the room.

Gourry smiled. “I’m her guardian, after all.” He patted me on the head.

Man, Gourry.

Amelia glanced sharply at Xelloss. “I’m not sure what Mister Zelgadiss and I will do,” she muttered, “but we can’t make any hasty moves without knowing what you intend to do.” She pointed at him dramatically. “So! Confess! We need to know your plans, Xelloss!”

Needless to say, Amelia’s pressure didn’t send Xelloss falling to knees in tears. He brushed a strand of hair behind his ear and lightly shook his head.

“I can’t answer that,” he said simply.

“Then you have a reason to not answer us! Maybe you’re planning to use Lina to accomplish some evil deed!” I swear I saw Amelia’s nostrils spew steam. “You can’t play games with me, Xelloss! I have ways of making you talk!”

… This was sure to be good.

“Really,” Xelloss murmured in mild interest. “And what ways might those be?”

Amelia beamed with a triumphant smile. “If you don’t reveal all your plans this instant, I’ll whisper happy words into your ears all night long—’life is beautiful’ and ‘love is blossoming’ and ‘kindness is its own reward’!”

Xelloss actually turned pale. “You wouldn’t,” he said softly.

Amelia threw back her head and laughed. “Of course!” she boomed. “Since you demons feed off the negative emotions of living things, praise for life must be hard for you to listen to!”

It’s not only demons who find that annoying, I thought sourly.

Xelloss held up his hands palms-out, flustered. “B-but Hellmaster never told me the details!”

Amelia paused, a bit surprised, then squinted at Xelloss suspiciously. “He didn’t tell you?” she clarified.

Xelloss nodded quickly. “It’s the truth! Of the five retainers of Lord Ruby Eye Shabranigudu, four of them— Lord Hellmaster, Lord Deep Sea, Lord Dynast, and Chaos Dragon—all created Priests and Generals to serve them. But My Liege, Lord Greater Beast, created only me.

“By rights, Lord Hellmaster should be using his own priests to do the work he has assigned me lately. But, it’s just…” He trailed off, then rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously. “His minions were all destroyed back in the Demon War a millennium ago. Rather inconvenient, don’t you think?” He chuckled again.

It wasn’t funny. What did Xelloss always think was so damn funny?

“Because of that, the task falls to me, the servant of Lord Greater Beast.” Xelloss sighed. “But Lord Hellmaster has rather eccentric interests. He orders me to do this and that and go here and there, but he doesn’t generally discuss the final objective of the operation.”

Gourry slapped a fist into his palm. “Then you can’t say, because you don’t know!” he said triumphantly.

Clearly, Gourry hadn’t considered that Xelloss might be lying.

Amelia, however, had practically snapped herself up in a Distrust Barrier. “Well?” she asked, turning to Zel and me. “What do you two think?”

“I don’t buy it,” Zel said flatly, rounding up our character clichés for the evening. “But I doubt we can get anything else out of him.”

I shrugged. “And we’ve already learned a lot from what Xelloss has said so far,” I added. When Amelia looked confused, I went on.

“I may not know why, but Chaos Dragon Gaav is working separately from the other demons. And he’s the one after me.”

“Excuse me?!” Xelloss spluttered. “And how did you jump to that conclusion?!”

I leveled my gaze at him. “Chaos Dragon is the only one you didn’t call ‘lord.’”

Xelloss stared at me, his lips parted. I’d knocked the guy dumb. My intellect can do that to people.

“You mentioned Chaos Dragon when you were fighting Rashatt, too,” I added. “I still don’t know where I fit in all this, but whatever Chaos Dragon’s planning… I’m sure it’s gonna be big.”

Confusing little puzzle pieces had snapped together in my brain. Chaos Dragon, it looked like, considered humans a useful asset—maybe because he hated other demons, or maybe because he wanted to overthrow other demons.

But let me backtrack a little. Priest Raltaak, General Rashatt, and their boss, Chaos Dragon, may have been keeping their hands off innocent human bystanders for a while, but that didn’t mean they considered humans allies. Explosive encounters that resulted in piles of dead innocents would attract the attention of Hellmaster and Xelloss, right? And they considered Hellmaster and Xelloss enemies. So staying away from big fights and thus under the radar meant their plans stayed secret from the demons they hated.

Of course, they probably wanted to leave open the option of a later demon-human alliance. I doubted that the old incident back in Saillune City and the events in Galia were because the demons were targeting me—I ‘d just barged my way into two plots to infiltrate the highest ranks of both nations. A classic example of wrong place, wrong time. Chaos Dragon and his subordinates probably wanted to control as many humans as possible through manipulating royal families. That way, if they ever engaged in a full-scale war with other demons, the humans might join in and serve as meat shields for Chaos Dragon.

This was all speculation, of course, but it made a lot of sense. And based on the look on Xelloss’ face, I was at least on the right track.

Amelia gripped her chin. “Whatever the case,” she said at last, “we have to play along for now, right? And that’s how we’ll get the truth.” She threw a little glance at the quiet Xelloss, a tentative confidence twinkling in her eye. She’d probably liked watching me spook the guy.

“If I left now, it would nag at me later,” Zelgadiss added. “So I’ll stay to hear the whole story.”

I nodded at the two of them. “Thanks, guys.”

“Don’t misunderstand us, Lina,” Zelgadiss said evenly. “We’ll go along with you for now, but when we find out what Xelloss and Chaos Dragon are up to…” He looked away. “I can’t speak for Gourry, but Amelia and I may become your enemies.”

I paused. It wasn’t good news, but who was I to complain? My teammates were only with me because they chose to be.

“Fair enough,” I murmured. I figured I’d cross that little bridge if we were unlucky enough to come to it.

I was getting a little antsy at that point, so I cracked my knuckles and turned to Xelloss. It was time to get moving—all that talk of coming to blows was getting a little uncomfortable.

“You,” I said, pointing right between Xelloss’ eyes. “No more games, okay? Where’s the Claire Bible?”

Xelloss cleared his throat. “Nearby,” he said in a very unexciting tone.

“And where exactly is ‘nearby’?”

“At the Kataart Mountains that border this area. Dragon’s Peak, to be precise.” Xelloss looked out the window. “The Claire Bible lies within.”

* * *

Dragon s Peak. If the rumors were true, the place was teeming with Gold and Black Dragons.

The five of us headed straight for the peak, avoiding the major highways as we did so. There was a giant, nameless forest on our way to the base of the mountain, and the only path through was a glorified game trail. Tree branches and the like had obviously been cut by bladed objects, lending truth to the rumors I’d heard of a “path to Dragon s Peak.”

How legendary, I thought darkly as I tripped over another tree root. Considering the week I’d had, getting hit in the face with branches was the garnish on my crap steak.

Records in Galia’s Sorcerers’ Guild had said that, long ago, countless Gold and Black Dragons flooded the sky to converge at Dragon’s Peak. Not counting the Deimos Dragons that dwell in the Kataart Mountains, Gold and Black Dragons are the two strongest kinds of dragons. Why they stayed huddled together on Dragon’s Peak had never made sense to me.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t live anywhere else. I’d met Gold and Black Dragons in all kinds of weird places. Some sorcerers thought they stayed as a threat to the demons in Kataart… but considering the overwhelming power of demons—something the legends love to rub in—that didn’t make much sense.

Until now, anyway. I had to admit, it was nice to be in on the secret.

They’re there for the Claire Bible.

The dragons had probably assembled at Dragon’s Peak to protect the thing. Which also meant we had our work cut out for us—the dragons wouldn’t just hand the Bible over to a bunch of strangers and a powerful demon.

“Xelloss?” I asked as I squeezed through half-cut foliage. “If you know the dragons have the Claire Bible, why are you and the demons letting it sit there? Unless you have a reason to avoid Dragon’s Peak…” I trailed off, hoping it would goad him into talking.

Xelloss, walking in the lead, didn’t bother to turn around. “No,” he replied. “I can’t offer an exact reason for leaving the dragons be, but since the sorcery techniques in the Claire Bible are fundamentally similar to demonic powers, demons have little use for the thing. And we pick our battles, thank you.”

“But you got rid of that manuscript when we fought the Ruby Eye cult,” I reminded him. “And you said it’d be a threat to lower demons, if not you.”

“That’s if it fell into human hands.” Xelloss snapped a branch that blocked his path. “Dragons are far more powerful than humans on average, and if they chose to utilize the Bible, they could indeed be a threat to demons. But out of instinct or confidence in their own powers, they don t use tools, acquire techniques, or record legends. They share that trait with demons, in fact.

“That distaste for tools will keep them from using the Claire Bible. But they also know better than to give it to humans indiscriminately.” Xelloss waved a hand. “So their Bible is gathering dust.”

“But—”

“Hey,” Gourry suddenly said, cutting off my next question before I could ask it. He sniffed the air, then furrowed his eyebrows. “Does anyone else smell something burning?”

I was about to say, “Then you must be thinking too hard,” but suddenly realized the situation could be serious. I stopped to take a deep sniff of the air. It was faint, maybe, but behind the piney scents of the forest was a faint charcoal smell.

Amelia was sniffing, too. “I think you’re right!” she exclaimed.

That was when a huge chunk of the trees around us suddenly burst into flames.

FWOOM!

“Huh?!” I cried out in alarm as the others shouted around me. I instinctively jerked away from the branch I was pushing aside—it was burning now, as was its parent.

Xelloss seemed .unbothered, but that was nothing new. As the rest of us huddled together and stared at the flames in shock, he looked beyond where we stood and murmured something.

“So this is your strategy?” he asked.

I whipped around to follow Xelloss’ gaze. There, picking his way through the flame-engulfed trees, was my least favorite creepy old man.

“Raltaak?!” Amelia and I cried out at the same time.

What is it with these guys and setting me on fire?!

Raltaak had probably set the blaze from a distance to keep Xelloss from detecting him. With fire surrounding us, we were like penned pigs before the slaughter. Not a very creative technique, mind you, but definitely an effective one.

Raltaak shrugged. “Desperate times,” he admitted, sounding a little embarrassed. Once he reached our ring of calm inside the fire, he leveled his gaze at Xelloss.

“I find coming to blows dreadfully tedious, wouldn’t you say? I’d much rather attempt to first come to an arrangement.” Those calm eyes turned to me. “If, for example, you were to let me dispose of the young lady…”

“No deal!” I shouted before anyone in the group could say something stupid. Since Xelloss had claimed to be out of information, I also figured this was a chance to try and pick Raltaak’s brain. I had nothing to lose, anyway—I figured Xelloss would be pounding the guy within a minute.

“What exactly are you chasing me for?” I shouted over the roars of the fire. “I’m not about to roll over and die, but if we’re after the same thing, I may considering joining you.”

Xelloss looked at me in horror. “Miss Lina!” he reprimanded.

I ignored him. Was I the only one there with half a brain?

I’m bluffing, you idiot.

Raltaak paused a moment, his eyes falling on the hurt Xelloss. “One of my previous comrades was named Mazenda,” he said after a moment.

“I figured,” I said.

“I’m not certain where or how, but she one day came in possession of certain information: namely, that Hellmaster was moving forward on a rather large-scale project. Although she knew few details, one thing was clear.” He looked at me again with a mixture of curiosity and some other, hard-to-define emotion. “A human by the name of Lina Inverse is a crucial part of this project.” What?!

“Let me get this straight,” I said flatly. “You don’t know what Hellmaster’s up to, but to stop it you’re gonna kill me? No questions asked?” I clenched my fists. “That’s a cop-out, you cheap bastard!”

“It’s a precaution,” he tried to correct. “And your opinion on the matter doesn’t make much difference.”

I was ready to blast that cocky geezer through the fire and into orbit. I’m sure I don’t have to say this, but here’s a lesson for the day: NEVER MURDER SOMEBODY AS A PRECAUTION.

Those Mazoku assholes couldn’t care less about human lives. I was an insect crawling across their nose—an insect they wanted to squish to avoid the possibility of getting bitten. I was starting to think they didn’t even need that much justification.

I was so pissed I could barely keep it in. My fists trembled at my sides as I ground my teeth together.

You sick bastards.

“I doubted the story from the beginning,” Raltaak went on. “But then Kanzeil, who was working at the capitol of Saillune at the time, reported that a human of your description had arrived in his territory. We expected him to dispose of you just in case, so you can imagine our surprise when he was rather easily defeated.

“A mere human, defeating Kanzeil. And later, when Mazenda was destroyed along with the secret organization she had infiltrated, you held some connection to it.” He shook his head. “I desired to meet you face to face. I fused Seigram—who already hated you—to a human who burned with the same malice. You remember that, I’m sure. I was surprised to learn that Sir Xelloss was by your side… and however it was manifesting, it seemed that Mazenda’s information was correct.”

“Sir Raltaak,” Xelloss cut in quietly before Raltaak could say more. “This conversation has gotten long. Would you mind if we ended it here?”

Xelloss was right. The surrounding fire was fueled by the wind, so the flames pushed in at us. He may’ve been using a wind sink during his rant, considering he was a demon, and we weren’t about to fall for it.

Raltaak touched his chin. “Perhaps I have talked too long,” he admitted. “But the fact remains that I can’t let the young lady escape.”

The second he said the words, another figure emerged from the flames behind him. I knew it was General Rashatt before the guy was all the way through, but what I didn’t expect was what he looked like now.

Instead of the silvery armor of Dilse Kingdom, he was decked out in reddish-black armor with dragon features. The naked sword in his hand was a larger version of his demonic blade from earlier. I guessed that his get-up was his usual Mazoku wear.

“So we meet again, General.” Xelloss pursed his lips. “You don’t look well—has your health not recovered yet?”

Rashatt’s eyes lit up with anger, but he kept his mouth shut.

Needless to say, considering the increasing heat and the encroaching fire, I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there. Now I had to think my past two angry Mazoku.

Xelloss shrugged. “I think that with Mister Rashatt in such condition,” he told Raltaak, “you two can’t defeat me, even if you do join forces.”

“I’m aware,” Raltaak said in his usual simplicity. “But we can also keep you occupied while this blaze engulfs the girl.”

What?! Hey!

“We can’t have that,” Xelloss said without turning his eyes from his enemy. “Everyone, please—be sure to take care of Miss Lina.”

As the three Mazoku were locked in a death glare, miasma and bloodlust filled the already sweltering air. The instant I thought something was sure to snap, the three of them vanished.

The Astral Plane. Right. They probably wanted to fight with their real bodies.

I didn’t waste any time. “Okay!” I called, turning to the others and planting my fists on my hips. “We’re getting out of here while they’re in their own world.”

“But how?!” Amelia was starting to panic. “We can’t put out a fire this big. Using Levitation will just get us roasted on top of the flames, and you’re the only one who can use Ray Wing!”

“Easy,” I replied. “We’ll make a wind barrier everyone can get inside. We’ll cast a minor cold spell in it to keep us protected.”

Zelgadiss looked out at the flames. “Like in Sairaag,” he commented.

He was right. I’d done this before—we’d be fine if we concentrated our defensive powers to boost the barrier.

Gourry spread his feet. “Got it,” he declared. “So then I’ll just… um…”

“You’ll shut up and get in, Gourry.” I mimicked Zel and scanned the fire around us. “Somehow I doubt Raltaak counted on a fire to do us in, so there may be another enemy nearby. I’d like to be free to use my offensive magic.”

“Then we’ll leave that to you!” Amelia offered, a new, confident smile tugging at her lips. “You’re the one with the biggest repertoire of black magic here. I’ll do the barrier and cold spell… and could you reinforce the barrier and take care of our movement, Mister Zelgadiss?”

Zel nodded his affirmative as Amelia began chanting. After a decently big wind barrier enveloped the four of us, Zel proceeded to reinforce it; whether there was a threat outside the fire or not, it wouldn’t pay to be stupid. Zel eventually took control of the barrier sphere and lifted us into the air.

I let out a breath as soon as we were clear of the flames. That was getting too hot for my tastes, I thought as I watched the scene below us. We flew over the fire in the direction of Dragon s Peak, leaving a forest fire in our magical wake.

I’m sure we looked incredible. Well… we either looked incredible or incredibly irresponsible about proper forest safety.

The flames did reach up to touch our barrier from time to time, but the cold spell inside the barrier kept it comfortably cool. I daresay we were almost traveling in style.

“Incoming!” Gourry yelled.

My temporary relaxation went out the window as three shadows shot up from the burning forest. They halted in mid-air, roughly encircling our wind barrier.

They were Mazoku, obviously—one wore a black mask and a white robe, another had a blue face, and the third had a body like a wispy, blue cloud. Their bodies looked like water or ice molded into human form.

We outnumbered them, and they weren’t as powerful as Raltaak or Rashatt, but they were still pretty threatening when we were missing Xelloss. And I was the only one who could cast spells, since Amelia and Zel were in charge of the barrier. I wished we were on the ground—we would’ve had a good chance of winning.

Can I use Gourry? I wondered. Gourry had the Sword of Light, which formed a blade of light from the bearer’s will and was more than effective against demons. But legendary or not, it was still a sword; it would do zilch for attacks that came from outside the barrier.

I had to hand it to Raltaak. Between the fire, the reinforcements, and the fact that the reinforcements could break our barrier and send us plummeting back into the fire, we were pretty screwed.

I was left with one option: blasting through those demons as fast and as hard as possible. I chanted my spell, glaring at the white one.

“Ragna Blast!” I shouted… and blasted the one with the blue face in the back. It was a pretty awesome feint, if I do say so myself, and it worked perfectly.

Five black pillars enveloped the Mazoku in mid-air, extending tentacles of black plasma over his entire body. With a single, quick shudder, the demon melted into the darkness.

That’s one.

The white guy and the wispy guy attacked in unison after that. They spawned a number of lances of light and fired them straight at me; since the lances slid through the barrier, I jerked back to get out of the way.

That’s when I remembered there’s not much footing in a bubble. I hate to admit it, but I squawked in surprised and bowled over spectacularly.

Dammit! At least the lances passed over my head, since I’d essentially ducked. I began casting the next spell as I struggled to my feet.

A blue form suddenly appeared in front of me in the barrier. I gave a start when I realized it was the demon I’d already killed, a ball of magic light burning in his right palm.

“H-hey!” I shouted in a panic. Not only was he not dead, he was in my personal space!

SLICE!

Light bisected the demon from head to toe. The guy roared as his two halves split and then vanished into thin air. I whipped around to face Gourry in surprise. I hadn’t seen him draw his sword, but there it was, blazing in his hands. He gestured to the demons outside with his head.

“Now he’s dead for good,” he said. “Two more, Lina!”

I nodded and continued my chanting. This time I turned to the white Mazoku in front.

“Dragon Slave!” I shouted.

A blazing red ray roared toward the demon, making our wind barrier shudder. The demon vanished just before the red light could converge on a point.

Not again! I thought angrily. Those infuriating Mazoku were probably slipping in and out of the Astral Plane.

The wispy Mazoku had taken that time to drop below the wind barrier. Before he could shoot lances up at us from under our feet, Gourry pointed his Sword of Light to the base of the barrier.

“Beat it!” he shouted as he fired the light blade straight through the barrier and at the demon. I wish I’d known he could do that earlier.

The Mazoku evaded the light, but the movement forced him out of his position below us. It was good enough for the moment. I used the time to chant my next spell—that slippery white bastard was sure to come back. He had perfect timing, since I completed my spell just as he popped back into the Material Plane.

Unfortunately, it was inside the barrier and right behind Amelia.

Gourry must’ve sensed his presence, because he jerked around with his sword raised. But neither Gourry nor I could use the power we’d built up because anything we shot would hit the demon and Amelia.

My palms began to sweat. Amelia turned to the demon just as he formed a lance of light.

“Amelia!” Gourry shouted.

CRRCKSH.

With a really odd sound, the white demon’s head crumbled into little pieces. The lances he’d been forming vanished as he died.

Huh?

I was dumbstruck. Gourry hadn’t killed that guy, and I definitely hadn’t killed that guy. With Amelia and Zel doing the barrier spells, who had killed the demon? I glanced over at the wispy Mazoku hovering outside, but he looked just as shocked as the rest of us.

Oh, well—back to work.

“DRAGON SLAVE!” I cried.

The last demon was vaporized in a vast, scarlet explosion that left deafening sound to reverberate through our barrier. Say what you will about violence, but there’s nothing quite as beautiful as a Dragon Slave blasting someone who’s trying to kill you.

I let out a breath in relief. “Okay,” I said as I turned to my party. “Disaster avoided for the moment. Everyone in one piece?”

Gourry frowned. “What happened to the white one, Lina?”

I paused. “Xelloss, if I had to guess,” I admitted. “He probably used an opening in the Astral Plane battle with Raltaak and Rashatt to intervene here.”

Xelloss was good in a pinch, but he’d been an absolute lifesaver as of late. I was really, really thankful he was on our side and on overtime.

With Raltaak’s demon thugs properly blown into oblivion, the four of us continued our flight over the flames to Dragon’s Peak.

* * *

“He’s not here yet,” Amelia mumbled, clearly bored out of her mind.

I grumbled an affirmative and looked up at the clear blue sky.

It was a warm, sunny morning, behind us stood a charcoal-burner’s cabin and the looming Dragon’s Peak.

It had been three days since the fight. Heavy rain while we were traveling had forced us to make camp in the forest that first night, but the rain had put out the fires enough that we could find non-burning tree cover. We’d arrived at the base of Dragon’s Peak the next morning and had since sat there on our butts.

“He’s not here yet,” Amelia intoned again in her apathetic gurgle.

We hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Xelloss. Since he was the reason we had to stay put, a popular pastime was complaining about him.

It’s true that there are things to do at the base of a mountain peak—fish, walk, hunt, whatever—but since we knew a demonic army sent by Raltaak could pop up anywhere, we had to stay together and in one place.

Unfortunately, we had no idea when Xelloss would appear, and gazing into the forest in the hopes of seeing him was a waste. Popping in and out of the Astral Plane implied that he wouldn’t be walking over to where we were.

But we stared into the forest anyway. What else were we gonna do?

“Still not here, huh?” I heard Gourry walk over from the cabin behind us. He stopped at my back. “Lina?”

“No,” I murmured distractedly.

Gourry stood there a second, then sat down beside me and looked out at the fire. He was zoning out in a fraction of the time it had taken me to go brain dead.

Well… that made sense. Next to swordplay, zoning out was Gourry’s specialty

After a few minutes, he asked, “Do you think those guys got him?”

I licked my teeth. “It’s possible. But whatever happened, we’re getting nowhere fast without him.”

“How about we go to Dragon’s Peak on our own?”

I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “And do what once we get there?”

Gourry scratched his head. “Weren’t you looking for something there?” he asked. “I thought that was why we’re going.”

I sighed and turned back to the forest fire. “Not gonna happen, Gourry. The Claire Bible’s protected by dragons, and I doubt they’re willing to share.”

“What if you explained the circumstances?”

Oh, that was a good idea.

“Sure,” I said sarcastically. “I’ll waltz in there, introduce myself, and tell them Xelloss the demon sent me. Oh, and I’ll add that he’s planning something with me and the Bible—I’m sure they’ll hand the thing right over.”

Gourry dropped his head. “Honesty’s the best policy,” he said in a dejected tone.

“You should know that saying’s a lie by now, Gourry.”

To be honest, I was ready to throw in the towel at Dragon’s Peak. If Xelloss didn’t show, I planned to up and walk away from the whole dragon-and-Bible mess… but I doubted I could use the same tactic with Chaos Dragon and his henchmen. Leaving the mountain wouldn’t help me get rid of them.

I needed Xelloss back. Or a good plan. Or a clue, even.

Amelia leaned back on her arms. “Let’s wait one more day,” she suggested. “If he doesn’t come tomorrow, we’ll reevaluate.”

The second she finished talking, a shadow passed over us in time with a gust of wind. A loud beating sound filled the air.

FLAP, FLAP.

I looked up in surprise. There, landing just steps away, was a shining Gold Dragon.

Although the smallest of all dragons, Gold Dragons’ abilities were still the most impressive, giving them the title of “Dragon Lords.” Their hides were impervious to dull swords, and their minds could comprehend multiple languages while still commanding the strongest of spells.

A single Laser Breath from their maws could split a Red Dragon’s body in two.

Zelgadiss probably heard the disturbance, because he left the cabin and ran over. The dragon, meanwhile, slowly bent his neck to look down at the four of us.

After everything I’d been through, it took more than a Gold Dragon to impress me. “What do you want?” I asked him bluntly.

The dragon shifted his gaze to focus on me alone. “I mean to ask you the same question,” he replied in human language. Some of his words were hard to pick up, probably because of his different body size and vocal chords.

“No way!” Gourry jumped to his feet, his eyes wide in shock. He turned to me like an excited toddler and pointed repeatedly at our new guest.

“Did you hear that?!” he cried. “The dragon can talk, Lina!”

Way to be uncultured, Gourry.

“Of course he can,” I said dryly. “What did you expect him to do? Make smoke signals?”

Okay, that was a little funny.

“Ah,” the dragon said, turning his attention to Gourry. “Is it rare for dragons to speak?” The dragon almost seemed amused by Gourry’s fascination.

Gourry rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “Um… well, it’s the first time I’ve see a dragon talk. Mister Gold Dragon, sir.” He gripped his chin. “How’d you learn to talk like humans, anyway?”

The dragon gave a long, low hum. “We dragons live longs lives. Toying with the words of other organisms is a way to pass the time.”

“Then you learned ‘cause you were bored?”

“I suppose you could say that.” The dragon redirected his attention to the entire group again. “As I was saying, humans. What are you doing in a place like this, especially when you’re sedentary for days at a time?”

Not by choice, I retorted internally. Like we wanted to sit on our asses all day!

“Although some humans come at times to make your ‘charcoal’ material, you don’t appear to be doing that. This is a peak where dragons reside; if you have no business, you must leave.”

I exchanged glances with Amelia and Zel. Gourry was too busy geeking out over the dragon, so I left him to his own devices.

“We’re… waiting for someone,” I told the dragon at last. And before anyone in the group—particularly Gourry— could throw the no-no word demon in there, I quickly added, “We were split up from someone we were traveling with and figured we’d wait here until he showed up.”

“In this place?” the dragon asked.

I wasn’t covering very well. Why couldn’t dragons be really dumb creatures of myth?

“It’s not that we promised to meet up here,” I offered. “But we were in the area, you know? So we just picked a place to wait.”

“Really?” the dragon asked again, clearly not taking my word for it.

“Really,” Xelloss answered.

Huh?! I jumped to my feet. A familiar black-robed figure stepped out from behind the dragon.

“Xelloss!” I called.

Xelloss tipped his head politely. “Sorry to keep you waiting so long.”

I was glad he was alive—and possibly even happier he was back in our party. “What happened to you-know-who and his other half?” I asked.

Xelloss shrugged. “We couldn’t settle things this time, either, so we just battled until they managed to escape. I considered pursuing, but, well…” He chuckled. “It seemed like too much trouble.”

Wait. Then that meant he’d been fighting until right then?!

“Anyway,” Xelloss said before I had time to comment. He turned to the Gold Dragon. “I have a favor I’d like to ask of you. Do you mind if we enter your den?”

The dragon didn’t give Xelloss any slack, either. “Our den?” he repeated. “For what purpose?”

“It’s related to—oh, and while I’m thinking of it, may I speak to your elder directly? How is Mister Milgazia these days?”

It was the dragon’s turn to feel a little of the Xelloss Freak-Out Factor. “The elder?” he asked unbelievably. “How do you know the elder?”

Xelloss smiled. “He’s… an old acquaintance, we’ll say. Tell him Xelloss has a request; I’m sure he’ll understand.”

The dragon looked at Xelloss suspiciously. “Who are you?” he asked slowly, his tone implying that Xelloss wasn’t human.

Xelloss raised his right index finger. “That’s a secret,” he chimed.

Wow, I thought. Xelloss just used his Secret Attack!

The dragon paused. “Very well,” he said at last. “I’ll speak to the elder, so wait until I return.” With a swooping of his neck and a flapping of his massive wings, the dragon took off into the sky and eventually vanished over the high peak.

Gourry turned to Xelloss once the dragon was gone. “Do you really know the dragon boss?” he asked.

Xelloss smiled at the question. “In a way, yes. I met him briefly quite some time ago.”

“Whoa.” Gourry whistled. “You’re pretty famous, Xelloss.”

“I’m older than I look, you know.”

“How old are you?”

Xelloss laughed at that. “Now, now, Mister Gourry,” he said with a click of his tongue. “It’s rude to ask a lady her age.”

Um… YIKES.

I tuned the two of them out as their conversation grew more ridiculous. Xelloss was just batting off another question when the air suddenly quivered.

The sky darkened over us, but in a far wider area than before. I looked up, blinked, then rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing right.

The sky was filled with dragons. Hundreds or even thousands of Gold and Black Dragons blanketed the sky in some sort of twisting, dizzying dance. A single beast among them slowly descended to where we stood.

He was another Gold Dragon, but he was substantially bigger than the one from earlier. He was probably a lot older and more powerful, too—the guy could’ve been several millennia old, even. He made sure to touch ground directly in front of Xelloss.

The dragon gazed at Xelloss with obvious suspicion and distaste. That meant they really had met.

“It’s been a while, Mister Milgazia,” Xelloss said cheerfully.

“Yes,” the dragon replied in disgust. “Although I was hoping we’d never meet again after the Demon War, Priest Xelloss.”