The Battle From Hell

The Battle From Hell

The roars of the lesser demons filled the heavy air. More important, though, were the other things that filled the air—namely hundreds of Flare Arrows hailing down on us from all directions.

I grabbed hold of Gourry and dove into the lodge, already chanting a spell as I jumped.

“Wind!” I shouted.

A wind barrier extended from me, covering Gourry, Abel, and Radok.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

I could hear arrows slamming against the wooden cabin, but between the wind barrier and the cabin’s walls, we felt nothing more than a harmless rise in temperature. The cabin’s exterior burst into flames as the fire arrows hit dry wood.

“Aaah!” Abel cried out, cringing at the flames.

My wind barrier was decent protection, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough once the fire started spreading. We didn’t have time to waste.

“Gourry!” I yelled. “Let’s go!”

“Right!”

I released the wind barrier and began chanting my next spell. Gourry drew the Sword of Light and leapt out of the lodge.

We’d survived the first Mazoku onslaught, but I knew better than to count on our luck holding. We had to whittle the demons’ numbers down as much as possible before they fired their next shot. Their strength lay in their numbers—the more of them we left to hit us with Flare Arrows, the worse off we’d be.

“Dam Brass!” I shouted.

My spell blasted a hole in the rear wall of the lodge. “Abel!” I called, pointing to the hole. “I’m going after the Mazoku! Take your dad and hide in the forest!”

I didn’t stick around to find out if Abel took my advice. Chanting another spell, I burst out through the front door.

As expected, Zelgadiss and Amelia were both fine; they’d probably erected their own wind barriers. They ran up to Gourry and prepared to fight the Mazoku horde.

I tried to scan the landscape for any sign of Raltaak or Xelloss, but the sun had already set—I could barely tell my friends from my enemies from the trees surrounding them all. Lucky for me, darkness is one of the easiest problems for a sorceress to solve.

“Lighting!”

I shot my amplified lighting spell skyward. Added to the faint light of the burning cabin, it definitely helped visibility. And it gave me just what I wanted—shadows for everyone. I started to chant an amplification spell.

My plan seemed slightly less brilliant a few seconds later. A large group of the Mazoku, surprised, turned their collective attention to the defenseless enemy who’d just spurted a giant glowing light.

Fudge.

A barrage of Flare Arrows flew at me. Realizing I couldn’t finish my magic in time, I tried to outrun the arrows… but there were too many, coming at me from too many directions, and there was no way I could—

Hssss!

The Flare Arrows suddenly dissolved in the air. I blinked, wondering why I wasn’t dead.

“I won’t charge you for that,” Xelloss’ voice called out. “Consider it a one-time special.”

Xelloss?!

I still couldn’t see him, and at the moment I didn’t have the time to look. I made a mental note to thank him for saving my life and then got on with the spell chanting.

“Diskang!” I shouted.

My shadow suddenly transformed into a mass of dragon maws. The sharp-toothed shadowy mouths sprung at the shadows of the Mazoku around me.

Every time my ferocious shadow bit into the demon’s shadow, the corresponding part of the demon’s body spurted black blood. It was a nasty, disturbing sight—the demons were torn apart by invisible jaws while they writhed around in agony—but at least it did the trick.

“Ha!” Zelgadiss cried as he thrust his sword. He’d infused his broadsword with magic energy again, so his attack easily ran a lesser demon through. Another Mazoku roared in anger and launched a Flare Arrow.

A single Flare Arrow, fired by a weak demon with the intelligence of a yam, was nothing for a warrior like Zelgadiss to worry about. The demons timing was simplistic and his aim not particularly accurate, so Zelgadiss had little trouble avoiding the arrow and sending its caster a disapproving glare.

Zelgadiss sprinted for the Mazoku who’d attacked him, chanting a spell under his breath. He easily evaded an incoming arrow and raised his sword for the kill… before jerking backward as a pebble of darkness zinged past.

“You’re mine,” Dugld snarled, rushing in for Zelgadiss. But Zelgadiss already had an attack ready to go.

“Elmekia Flame!” he shouted.

Elmekia Flame is pretty much an Elmekia Lance with more punch. Since it inflicts damage from the astral side, nailing a human with it can easily destroy that human s mind—and hitting a Mazoku with it can potentially rip that Mazoku apart.

Of course, it can only do that kind of massive damage if it actually hits. When Dugld saw the spell heading toward him, he sidestepped and let it smash into a lesser demon standing behind him.

The lesser demon’s body shuddered violently before dropping to the ground with a thud. Dugld regained his footing and charged for Zelgadiss, who stood his ground and prepared to parry the attack.

Dugld suddenly leapt to the side. Behind him were several Flare Arrows—fired moments before by Mazoku hoping to catch Zelgadiss unawares. With Dugld out of the way, nothing stood between Zelgadiss and fiery doom.

Zelgadiss put his good reflexes to use. When he saw Dugld dive to the side, it only took him a moment to follow suit. Still, that moment cost him: a streak of fire grazed his left arm, turning his sleeve to ash.

Dugld shot another darkness pebble, but Zelgadiss deflected it with his broadsword. It was proving to be a pretty one-sided fight.

“It’s over!” Dugld growled, holding up his palms. The dark pebbles hovering around his body gathered in his hands, melding together into the shape of a sword.

CLANG!

The air itself shuddered as Dugld’s Sword of Darkness clashed against Zelgadiss’ magic-infused blade.

The swords bit into each other, depleting the other’s energy while they touched.

That was when one of the cheaper lesser demons prepared another Flare Arrow for Zelgadiss.

It was bad—if the Mazoku let loose with his arrow, there was no way Zelgadiss could both dodge it and keep Dugld at bay. Fortunately, just as the lesser demon smiled an evil smile, a blinding streak of white light blew his head to pieces.

Gourry panted nearby, his empty hilt in his hand. He’d fired the blade out of the Sword of Light.

Although Gourry managed to save Zelgadiss from a nasty situation, his action had created an even nastier one for himself. The blade of his Sword took several seconds to reform, leaving him temporarily defenseless against a slew of lesser demons.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

In a spectacular display of unoriginality, the Mazoku horde sent a volley of Flare Arrows at Gourry, who ducked, dodged, and otherwise kept his head down. The new light blade burst from his hilt just in time for him to slice a Flare Arrow out of the air.

* * *

Meanwhile, Amelia had her own crowd of lesser demons to contend with. With her abilities, she was more than a match for all of them, but they weren’t all she had to worry about.

“So we meet again,” Gduza called with dark humor. “Make no mistake—this time, you are mine!”

Amelia, obviously, was familiar with Gduza’s fighting style, and particularly knew how to exploit one weakness—Gduza’s love of lame villain speeches.

While Gduza cackled maniacally, Amelia was well into her chanting.

The lesser demons surrounding Amelia tried to throw her off with a volley of Flare Arrows, but Amelia dodged them easily. That was the moment I fired my amplified lighting spell into the sky.

The grotesque smile on Gduza’s face broadened. She plunged her hair into the shadow that appeared at her feet; like it had at the tavern, the hair emerged out of Amelia’s shadow and wrapped tightly around the girl’s ankles.

This time, though, Gduza had an army of Mazoku for back-up fire.

“Get her!” Gduza screeched.

The swarm of lesser demons roared and filled the air with dozens of flaming arrows. The arrows burst into fiery explosions and engulfed Amelia where she stood.

When the smoke cleared, Amelia remained decidedly unbarbequed. She was already chanting her next spell.

Gduza growled. “A defensive spell?” she snapped.

White Magic spells for healing and defense are a priestess’ stock in trade. Given the time to chant, a defensive spell strong enough to ward off a few Flare Arrows is a piece of cake for a priestess like Amelia.

Gduza ranted and raved about Amelia’s impending doom, her murderous tendrils of hair slithering up Amelia’s body. But before the Mazoku could get very far, Amelia completed her spell.

“Elmekia Lance!” she shouted, aiming directly at the hair holding her feet.

It was a point-blank shot. The Elmekia Lance blew the locks completely apart, freeing Amelia’s ankles. Gduza shrieked as she hastily pulled her hair out of the shadow.

For a Mazoku, every part of her physical appearance is a part of her “body”—this includes tails and other creative appendages, clothing, accessories, and hair. Some parts of a demon’s body can be detached and discarded by the demon herself, but while those parts are still linked, any damage to them acts as damage to the Mazoku. Destroying a section of Gduza’s hair was equivalent to ripping off one of her fingers in terms of pain and inconvenience.

“You little brat!” Gduza railed in frustration.

Ignoring Gduza’s ongoing commentary, Amelia dashed toward the Mazoku, chanting a spell as she ran.

“You incompetent fools!” Gduza screamed at the surrounding demons. “Why aren’t you attacking?! I want her taken care of, now!”

At Gduza’s order, the Mazoku let out another barrage of Flare Arrows. Amelia, though, had another surprise up her sleeve.

“Visfrank!” she shouted.

It was a spell I’d never heard of. She released the Power Word, she leapt out of the way of half the Flare Arrow volley, then landed and turned to face the second half head-on. She thrust out a palm.

WHAM!

The flaming arrows scattered in all directions. Gduza’s jaw—if it could be considered a jaw—dropped.

Not unlike Zelgadiss’ Astral Vine and broadsword, Amelia’s mystery spell had infused her bare hands with concentrated magical power. She rushed for Gduza without batting an eye.

Gduza shrieked in frustration. “A mere human will never destroy me!” she screamed as her hair billowed and surged. A strange sound filled the air—one that seemed, weirdly, to come from the hair itself. It was a low buzz, like the drone of a gigantic insect’s wings.

Suddenly—

VOOM!

A shockwave of magic energy pulsed from the hair, rushing straight for the charging Amelia.

* * *

Four now-dead lesser demons fell to the ground in a heap, their minds and bodies destroyed by my shadow dragons. My own shadow quickly returned to its normal, non- freaky shape.

Four down, more than I can count to go.

I’d managed to thin out the herd a little, but I still hadn’t done anything to decisively turn the battle around. Despite my having just horribly mangled their companions, several of the lesser demons decided to come at me all at once.

I knew that if I stuck around while the Mazoku attacked me, my only options would be wasting time and energy on another defensive spell or trusting the demons’ lack of strategy and my own dodging skills. I decided that a tactical retreat was a better idea.

I ran for the woods, hoping to hide out in the trees. If the Mazoku couldn’t see me, they couldn’t hit me with Flare Arrows. And then I remembered that trees are flammable. And that anybody who missed me would be hitting trees.

I decided to rethink my strategy so it wouldn’t involve dying in a massive forest fire.

Ironically, my next-best escape option was to run back into the burning cabin—not an ideal place for hiding, but I needed cover and I needed it fast. I changed directions, dodging a Flare Arrow before dashing into the inferno.

The first thing that hit me when I ran inside was a painful burst of hot air. Every surface of the wooden cabin danced with flames. Radok and Abel had fled at some point, probably through the complimentary hole I’d blasted for them in the back wall—proving, at least, that I didn’t have to hold their hands through everything.

Without me to shoot at anymore, the Mazoku outside sent their flaming arrows into the cabin’s side. The already- weakened walls shook with the force and started to crumble; holding my breath, I dove through the hole just as the burning cabin walls finally collapsed in a massive pillar of flame.

I spun around on my heels. Since looking for cover wasn’t really working, I decided to do what I do best; I charged the nearest group of enemies while chanting a spell.

“Blast Ash!” I shouted.

FOOM!

Two Mazoku immediately disintegrated into piles of black dust.

That’s six!

From the looks of things, my party and I had defeated somewhere around a dozen Mazoku… which might’ve been impressive if there hadn’t been a good twenty more demons to go. The most frustrating thing was that I knew I could end everything with one good Dragon Slave—the spell could destroy the rest of the lesser demons and leave an impressive crater in the side of the mountain. The downside was that casting a Dragon

Slave would probably kill all my friends, so I was snick picking Mazoku off a few at a time with my weaker, less cool spells.

I started chanting for my next attack. Before I could finish, a presence suddenly ran up from behind me.

Crap! I turned around to face the wall of trees, my spell on the tip of my tongue.

But it was Abel. He panted and stared at me, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Hey!” I shouted. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

Abel didn’t respond; he just grabbed my hand and pulled me through the forest underbrush. Judging from his anxious behavior, something bad had happened.

“What’s going on?!” I demanded, tripping to keep up. “What happened to your dad?! And I can’t run when you drag me!”

Abel finally stopped his mad rush, doubling over as he tried to catch his breath. He rubbed a fist into his eye.

“After w-we left the burning house,” he panted, “Father told me to get away from the arrows. He pushed me into the forest and told me to run.” He looked up at me, panic in his expression. “I never saw him after that. I looked everywhere, but he… but…”

My client’s gone missing, now of all times? Somebody shoot me!

“Your father’s fine,” I told him with no idea whatsoever. “Once we finish this little skirmish, we can put all our energy into finding him. But for now, you have to get out of here.” I gave him a little push away from the fighting, hoping he’d get the idea.

Without looking back, I ran onto the battlefield. I was scanning for a target for my next spell when I spied a lesser demon crouched behind me.

“Dynast Breath!” I shouted.

The Mazoku struck by my spell froze, then shattered. I wiped my damp forehead on my sleeve before heading back into the fray.

* * *

Dugld and Zelgadiss each pushed into their locked blades. Zel ground his teeth and dug his heels into the dirt.

Dugld’s sword had gone from jet-black to gray over the course of the battle, since the blade lost power with each attack. Dugld’s Sword of Darkness didn’t have nearly the power of Gourry’s Sword of Light or my Ragna Blade— each time it clashed against Zelgadiss’ magic-infused broadsword, it lost more of its energy. Unfortunately, Zelgadiss’ Astral Vine sword weakened at almost the same rate; it was clear that the one who won the fight would be the one whose sword held out the longest.

Unless Dugld changed the rules.

“End of the line, rocky!” Dugld spat. Ten more pebbles of darkness materialized around him, hover­ing in the air and ready to attack. Zelgadiss had no chance of dodging; everything he had was focused on the sword-lock.

“Aaarrggh!”

A loud and startling cry split the air. Surprisingly, it didn’t come from Zelgadiss—it came from Dugld. Dugld’s sword scraped free of the lock as the Mazoku staggered back.

Zel’s magic-infused dagger—probably prepared before the sword fight—was buried hilt-deep in the demon’s torso. Dugld shrieked in pain as he frantically grabbed the dagger and yanked it out of his body.

Zelgadiss didn’t waste the opportunity. Slicing through a few lesser demons who ran into his path, he deliberately advanced on the retreating Dugld.

“Y-you can’t do this!” Dugld cried. “No weakling chimera can beat the likes of me!”

Zelgadiss laughed darkly. “That’s what you get for all the chimera cracks.”

“You disgusting little—!” Dugld took another step back. “This time I will kill you!”

“I’ve heard that one before. No one’s actually managed it yet.”

His quips finally over with, Zelgadiss began chanting a spell. Dugld jerked his head around before focusing on a nearby lesser demon.

“Ha!” Dugld ran toward it. “Close, but I’m not through yet!”

Dugld abruptly thrust his hand through the lesser demon’s chest. From the look of it, the lesser demon was as startled as Zelgadiss; the Mazoku shrieked as his body convulsed in its death throes.

Dugld laughed crazily as he clenched his fist in the lesser demon’s chest, causing black blood to spurt into the air. “Yes,” he drawled. “Yes, yes! Fear is so delicious!”

As for why Dugld felt the need to do something so disgusting: the negative emotions produced by living things are the source of demonic power. To recover from the damage inflicted by Zelgadiss, Dugld sacrificed a lesser demon and fed on its fear and despair. It was pretty much cannibalism without the use of a mouth.

Dugld pulled back his bloody hand and turned to Zelgadiss. “Now,” the Mazoku declared as a new set of dark pebbles formed around him. “I admit I was careless before, but this time 111—”

Dugld froze. Zelgadiss had been chanting his spell the entire time, but it was only just then that Dugld realized what it was.

“R-Ra Tilt?!” he exclaimed. He obviously knew what kinds of nasty things would happen to him if he got hit with that one.

Snarling, Dugld sank into the ground and left his pebbles behind. Like Gduza had done earlier, Dugld left an astral fragment as a decoy and moved his main body to safety.

Obviously pissed, Zelgadiss quickly scanned the area for a new target. Once a spell’s been chanted, a sorcerer can only hold it for a short period of time before it has to be cast—and Dugld wouldn’t be back until the coast was clear.

Grunting with frustration, Zelgadiss released the Ra Tilt on a lesser demon nearby. It was some pretty serious overkill, but it was better than wasting a perfectly good spell.

“Ha!” Displaying infuriatingly timing, Dugld leapt out of the woods and back into the fray. He clicked his tongue with mock disappointment.

“And what was the point of that?” Dugld asked as a full set of darkness pebbles orbited his body. “You’re not very efficient, monster boy.”

Zelgadiss gritted his teeth and took a few steps back. He wasn’t in great shape—he’d just cast a spell, and he’d already used up most of the power in his magic-infused broadsword. He quickly began chanting a new spell under his breath.

“Yeah, right!” Dugld laughed. He shot his pebbles straight at Zelgadiss.

* * *

The wave of magical energy surged for Amelia, knocking aside everything in its path. Amelia spread her feet and raised her magic-infused palm.

WHAM!

The two forces violently collided. The wind whirled and howled, whipping Amelia’s hair around her face.

When the wind finally died down, Amelia dropped her arm. “Ugh,” she groaned.

Deflecting the powerful wave had obviously taken its toll on Amelia: she panted a bit and she wobbled on her feet, staggering back a few paces in the hopes of regrouping.

“Stop her!” Gduza cried as she charged for Amelia.

In response to her command, a number of lesser demons fired a salvo of Flare Arrows. The arrows fell in a wide arc behind Amelia, blocking off any immediate escape route.

Amelia swallowed. Staving off Gduza’s shockwave had depleted almost all of the magic in her palm, so she didn’t stand much of a chance blocking anything. An instant before Gduza reached her, Amelia leapt out of the Mazoku’s charge.

Gduza, not surprisingly, anticipated her move; the moment Amelia jumped, Gduza’s evil hair lashed out in the same direction and grabbed hold of the girl’s feet.

“You can’t cast spells without a windpipe!” the Mazoku cackled. With her hideous mouth twisting into a wicked smile, a lock of her hair wrapped around Amelia’s throat.

Just before Gduza could tighten her hair’s grip, Amelia darted a glance to the side. The startled look in her eyes prompted Gduza to look in the same direction.

That was when Zelgadiss finished chanting his targetless Ra Tilt.

Gduza gasped. Detecting the spell that Zelgadiss was on the brink of unleashing, she froze in hesitation.

It was all Amelia needed. While Gduza watched a lesser demon go up in blue flame, Amelia choked out the last bit of her spell.

“Visfrank!” she shouted.

Gduza’s head whipped back in alarm.

THUD!

Amelia slammed her magic-infused fist into the Mazoku’s abdomen.

“Hggck!” Gduza choked. Obviously hurting, she snarled at Amelia.

“You’ll pay for that, you little brat!” she snapped. She tightened the hair wound around Amelia’s neck.

Amelia gasped for air, flailing her Visfranked fist wildly at Gduza. She lashed out with her right leg; the kick didn’t bother the demon, but something crunched in Amelia’s knee.

Gduza tilted her head back and let out a loud, long, extremely evil laugh, relishing in the painful destruction of an enemy who couldn’t fight back. Amelia took the chance to slam her magical fist into Gduza’s grinn­ing face.

“Ack!” Gduza gasped, staggering back as she released her grip on Amelia. Amelia had obviously hit the sweet spot.

Amelia hit the ground hard, gasping as air finally rushed into her lungs. After a few deep breaths, she tried to stand, but her broken knee buckled under her. She winced and crumpled back onto the ground.

A lesser demon nearby saw her display of weakness and decided that a wounded, immobile opponent was something he could possibly handle.

SLICE!

The lesser demon’s body split in half, bisected at the waist by a white light. His top half fell forward to reveal Gourry standing behind him.

A few seconds later, I ran up to join him.

“Gaav Flare!” I yelled.

A bright red beam shot from my hands, slicing through a Mazoku and impaling the one behind him. Demons eight and nine on the “killed nastily by Lina” list fell to the ground.

We’d made a significant dent in the number of lesser demons still standing, which also decreased our chances of getting set on fire from behind. Gourry took advantage of the relative peace to really dig into the Mazoku who remained.

Gourry, as I’ve mentioned before, is an extremely talented swordsman, and he definitely won the kill prize that day. He’d even managed to help the rest of us, in- between mowing down the enemy ranks.

But I was still worried. Even with Gourry finishing off the lesser demons, Zelgadiss and Amelia hadn’t finished their respective fights. And that was all besides the fact that we hadn’t seen—

A sudden, sinking feeling in my stomach cut off my thoughts. I spun around to face the forest; I have a policy of investigating my hunches.

Something was there. I heard a faint rustling noise, then saw some bushes move… my heart nearly stopped as a familiar silhouette appeared.

“Zuuma?!” I gasped.

Of course he shows up when I don’t have any backup!

I was freaked—big-time. Why oh why couldn’t I just face another one thousand lesser demons?!

Zuuma wasted no time in charging straight for me. I stumbled back a step, frantically trying to finish a spell before he reached me.

“Fireball!” I shouted.

Zuuma easily dodged the spell as he ran. I was prepared for that, though—I pointed at the ball of fire the moment it soared past him.

“Break!” I cried.

BOOM!

The fireball exploded, sending flames in all directions. Zuuma disappeared in the expanding fire.

I knew Zuuma wasn’t about to get killed by a simple fireball. I’d tried hitting him with one back in our forest fight, and it had failed pretty miserably—Zuuma clearly had some high level defensive spells tucked away. I only hoped to slow him down a little.

I quickly started chanting my next spell. After a momentary pause, Zuuma burst out of the flames.

So much for buying time.

He was advancing too quickly—I couldn’t finish! I staggered back a little and hurled my knife at him, hoping the action would slow him down a little. Because chucking weapons at the guy had worked so well in the past.

Instead of ducking or dodging the knife, Zuuma actually caught it. In one smooth motion, he snatched the knife out of the air and launched it back at me—directly at my head!

I lurched backward in panic. The dagger tore through the air right over my head, literally missing me by a few hairs.

I tried to regain my footing, but my last-second dodge had left me way off balance. The next thing I knew, I was landing on my butt as Zuuma closed in.

Crap crap crap crap crap!

I was defenseless while I chanted my spell, and I still needed more time. The only thing I could think of doing was kicking him in the crotch or something. I knew he might break my leg, but it was better than getting killed.

I braced myself and slid back a leg.

Zuuma suddenly ground to a halt. He narrowed his eyes, his pupils reflecting a blazing white light that came from directly behind me.

The Sword of Light.

“It’s been awhile,” Gourry called, holding his sword low as he stepped around me.

Zuuma didn’t respond. I took the chance to scramble to my feet.

“Lina.” Gourry glanced at me. “Go take care of the other demons. I can hold this guy off for now.”

I hesitated for a second. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Zuuma with Gourry; it wasn’t that I couldn’t take Zuuma, it was just that I… couldn’t take Zuuma.

But I also knew that being stubborn would just make it harder for Gourry to kick Zuuma’s ass. “Got it,” I muttered as I headed off to explode some Mazoku.

At least it looked like Gourry was in pretty good shape. Zuuma’s blade-snapping trick was useless against a sword he couldn’t grab, and his high-powered spells were worthless if Gourry didn’t give him a chance to cast anything.

Gourry charged. The assassin jumped backward, giving himself some breathing room.

“Flare Arrow!” Zuuma shouted.

About twenty flaming arrows materialized before the assassin and launched themselves at Gourry.

“Doesn’t anybody know a different spell?” Gourry complained. He dodged and parried the arrows, mostly keeping on his beeline for Zuuma.

The spell cleared a path for Zuuma; he sprinted right behind the Flare Arrows and met Gourry head-on. Gourry tried a vertical strike from above.

WHAM!

Zuuma blocked the attack with the palm of his left hand. Taking a page from Amelia’s book, Zuuma had collected magic energy in his hands.

It was… unexpected, I guess you could say. When had he learned that spell?

While Zuuma blocked the Sword of Light with his left hand, he thrust his right at Gourry’s stomach. Gourry jerked his body back, letting Zuuma’s palm hit air.

Both Gourry and Zuuma retreated a few steps. His eyes never leaving Zuuma’s, Gourry calmly regripped his sword.

* * *

The pebbles of darkness zoomed through the air with a high-pitched whine. Zelgadiss dove to the side, using a lesser demon’s corpse as cover.

Thwock, thwock, thwok!

The pebbles lodged themselves in the dead body.

“Trying to hide?” Dugld asked as he quickly advanced on his opponent. He leapt over Zelgadiss’ corpse shield, but never got a chance to attack.

Something silver sliced through the air.

“Gggh!” Dugld gurgled as he stumbled back. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, all while clutching at the new dagger in his chest. “N-not again!”

Zelgadiss stood, his broadsword glowing crimson in his hand. He’d managed to reinforce his blade with magic while evading Dugld’s pebbles.

Dugld shakily pulled out the dagger as he stumbled to his feet. With a clean sweep of his broadsword, Zelgadiss cut deep into Dugld’s torso.

The Mazoku’s scream filled the air. He staggered away a few steps, but Zelgadiss calmly followed.

“You’re an idiot,” Zelgadiss said darkly. “Did you really think I only enchanted one dagger? I’ve got tons of enchanted daggers. Do you think you want an­other one?”

Dugld choked something incoherent. The light of sweet payback flared up in Zelgadiss’ eyes.

“You’ve got a big mouth,” Zelgadiss murmured, “and I don’t appreciate your commentary. Your attacks were predictable and stupid. Oh, and that’s the worst hat I’ve ever seen.”

After being wounded so severely, Dugld could do little more than try to pull himself together. Almost all of the lesser demons had been killed, so he couldn’t pull his recovery trick again.

“I-I’ll kill you!” Dugld snarled lamely as he prepared for the next attack.

* * *

Amelia struggled to her feet as she chanted her next spell. Gduza groaned and used her evil hair to tenderly stroke her face.

Both opponents were in bad shape—they had to end things, and fast. Amelia took a breath and charged as best she could on her injured knee. Gduza stood her ground and prepared to defend with her hair.

“Visfrank!” Amelia shouted. Her hands flared up with magic.

Gduza whipped her hair out, and two long ropes wrapped around Amelia’s hands. The first locks to touch the magic-infused palms fizzled and died, but the Mazoku wrapped the hands over and over and quickly depleted the energy from Amelia’s spell.

Gduza screamed in agony as layers of her hair burned. She overpowered Amelia’s arms and sent more hair to wrap around the girl’s torso.

Amelia choked as the hair cocooned her. She struggled to gasp out her next spell.

Gduza laughed crazily. “There!” she cried. “Try and get your magic energy through that, you insolent human!”

Amelia struggled weakly. Gduza’s lips curled maniacally as her hair began to buzz. But then, suddenly, the power building in the hair stopped. Gduza’s mouth opened in a silent scream.

Dugld stood behind her, a hand shoved inside her body to the wrist.

“Du-Dugld!” she gasped. Her long coils of black hair fell from Amelia, dissolving into delicate particles as their power faded.

Amelia fell heavily to the ground. Fighting to stay conscious, she began chanting a new spell.

“I’ll kill that chimera bastard!” Dugld raged, his hand still stuck through his comrade’s torso. “I need whatever strength you have left, Gduza!”

From the crazed tone of Dugld’s voice, the fight with Zelgadiss had destroyed what little sanity the demon had ever had.

Gduza gurgled out some sort of incoherent curse. Her body crumbled to black ash and scattered in the wind.

Dugld snarled in frustration. “No!” he yelled. “I need more!” He desperately looked around for another lesser demon, but we’d already killed the ones nearby.

Amelia took her chance. “Elmekia Lance!” she cried.

Dugld, apparently, hadn’t noticed Amelia in his frenzy to eat his teammates. He shrieked in pain as the unexpected spell hit him dead on.

“N-no!” was all the Mazoku could sputter as he struggled to turn to her. Unfortunately for him, that left his back open to Zelgadiss.

SLICE!

Zel’s sword cut right down the middle of Dugld’s back, slicing the demon wide open. Dugld couldn’t even scream as his body crumbled into black powder.

The wind picked up whatever was left of Dugld, scattering the once-Mazoku through the air. Amelia let out a relieved sigh.

“Finally,” she breathed. “I can’t believe it’s over.” Zelgadiss shrugged. “Over for them, anyway.”

Amelia giggled weakly at his words.

* * *

Zuuma shifted his feet. Gourry clenched his jaw.

Zuuma broke the tension by jumping high into the air. Gourry countered by swinging the Sword of Light’s blade at him; Zuuma easily deflected the flying blade with the magic in his palm. The assassin then spawned a mass of magic in his hand and hurled it at Gourry.

The Sword of Light’s blade re-formed in the nick of time. Gourry swung at the magic mass and shattered it before it could hit.

“Dark Mist,” Zuuma intoned.

When had he gotten the chance to chant that?! Gourry vanished inside the stifling blackness, but he knew better than to stay put. He bolted out of the mist, his sword drawn and prepared for an attack.

But Zuuma had moved—he’d used Gourry’s brief loss of vision to shift to the swordsman’s side. Zuuma sent a shockwave of power hurtling toward the unsuspecting Gourry.

Maybe it was because he sensed a vibration in the air or maybe it was just instinct, but Gourry abruptly swung the Sword of Light in the shockwave’s direction. The blazing weapon bisected Zuuma’s magic, saving Gourry from serious injury.

Zuuma charged again. Gourry readied his sword in anticipation, but Zuuma changed tactics just before entering sword range; with a sweeping motion of one hand, he released another shockwave.

“What?” Gourry blurted. The magic was too close for a dodge, so Gourry was forced to parry. He swung his Sword of Light and deflected the wave just in time.

Seizing the moment, Zuuma pounced.

It seemed like Zuuma wanted to get in close—he could grasp Gourry’s sword with one hand and blast magic at Gourry with the other. Not wanting to give him the opportunity, Gourry fired his blade point-blank since there was no way he could miss.

He missed.

Possibly because he’d anticipated the maneuver, Zuuma twisted his body and avoided the flying blade by a hair. Gourry dropped back on his hands and kicked out hard.

Gourry’s foot rammed into Zuuma’s abdomen. The assassin went hurtling backward and barely managed to land on his feet.

“Flare Arrow!” Zelgadiss shouted.

The surprise magic attack sent a shower of arrows screaming through the air. But right before they could hit, Zuuma waved a hand and sent the arrows scattering.

Zelgadiss’ eyes widened. “No way that just happened,” he breathed.

“Do not interfere.” Zuuma sent a shockwave at Zelgadiss, just in case Zel hadn’t gotten the point.

BOOM!

The wave hit Zelgadiss full force.

I’d just killed the last of the lesser demons when I saw Zelgadiss go flying. Cursing our luck, I turned to Amelia.

“Amelia!” I shouted across the battlefield. “Go heal Zel!”

I saw Amelia limp toward our fallen friend. With the two of them out of the line of fire for the moment, I switched my attention over to Gourry and his predicament.

Something was… weird about Zuuma’s attack pattern. It struck me as familiar in some way, but at the same time it didn’t match with how he’d fought in earlier battles.

Whatever Zuuma’s strategy, he’d be toast if I could just catch him by surprise. The moment he and Gourry broke apart, I fired off a spell.

“Zelas Brid!” I shouted.

It was another one of my recently developed spells—one of the ones that needed an amplification. Zelas Brid is as powerful as a Dynast Brass or Ragna Blast and works against demons, but it can only affect a single opponent at a time. Still, its best feature is that the caster can control it remotely, theoretically making it impossible to dodge.

Impossible for humans, anyway.

As soon as I shouted the Power Words, a ribbon of light emerged from my index finger and shot toward Zuuma. Zuuma shifted himself away with ridiculous speed; the light responded to my commands and instantly changed course to follow him.

Zuuma chanted a spell under his breath. Now that I had the chance to study him more closely, I noticed something—the voice he used to utter the spell had a familiar cadence that definitely wasn’t his.

If that meant what I thought it meant, we were all screwed.

Zuuma stopped moving to complete his own spell. I took advantage of his pause and swung the Zelas Brid at him.

SKKSSH!

Zuuma blocked the spell. He blocked it. And instead of dying a horrible death like a normal human assassin, he made my ribbon of light shatter into a million harmless shards.

My blood ran cold.

“Zuuma,” I called. I swallowed hard, trying not to panic. “You… you merged with Seigram, didn’t you?”

Zuuma’s evil eyes locked on me. “You noticed,” he replied in a voice that wasn’t his.

That was Seigram, all right. The faceless Mazoku himself spoke from behind the assassin’s mask and shroud.

“Our battle in Atlas City left me grievously wounded,” Seigram’s voice told us darkly. “I lost a great deal of my power. The man whose body I now share lost both his arms in a similar fight.

“Such indignation,” Seigram snarled. “Such indig­nation to suffer at the hands of two ridiculous fools!”

I finally understood why Seigram the Formless had worn that mask during our fight at the tavern, and why breaking that mask and the dark warding field had been the only things to make him retreat.

Zuuma had been hiding behind that mask in the darkness.

It also explained a lot of the things that had confused me up until then—why Zuuma’s abilities had seemed so impossible, and why Seigram’s fighting technique had changed. Both of our enemies had been wrapped up in one ugly, evil package.

“I told you I would repay you,” Seigram’s voice growled. “After our fateful encounter, I swore that one day I would return to repay you. But since the wounds from the Sword of Light aren’t so easily healed, I sacrificed my original demonic form and merged with this assassin instead.”

He actually gave up his demonic form just to get revenge on Gourry and me?

I didn’t know whether or not to be flattered or horrified.

“So,” I offered, “you cooked up a deal with Raltaak, got a couple of your old demon buddies together, then challenged us to a fight.”

Zuuma-Seigram nodded calmly.

“But what was in it for Raltaak?”

“There’s no need to go into detail with one who’s doomed to die,” the human-Mazoku hybrid replied, assuming Zuuma’s voice this time.

I scowled. “We’ll see about that, jackass. Neither of you has a great track record with making us die.” Zuuma-Seigram abruptly sprinted for Gourry, who rushed forward to meet him.

It didn’t surprise me that our enemy decided to attack Gourry right off. No matter how powerful an evil entity, Zuuma—or Seigram or whatever—couldn’t afford to ignore anyone armed with the Sword of Light. The evil bastard could take care of me once Gourry was eliminated.

But Zuuma-Seigram didn’t need time to cast normal spells, a skill that made him especially deadly at close range. I knew that if Gourry was reckless, the whole thing could end in disaster.

I quickly began chanting my own spell.

The demon assassin fired a magical shock­wave at Gourry, but Gourry easily deflected it with his sword. Zuuma-Seigram leapt high into the air directly over Gourry and tried launching another wave from there.

“Yikes,” Gourry muttered. He angled the Sword of Light upward; as one might expect, the angle of deflection was incredibly hard to determine, so it took all of Gourry’s attention for a moment. His opponent plummeted toward him with a magic-infused palm.

“Elmekia Lance!” I shouted.

I released the spell, watching with satisfaction as it hit Zuuma-Seigram squarely in the chest. But it didn’t even knock him off his dive—he still slammed his magic hand right into the Sword of Light!

Using the point of collision as a fulcrum, Zuuma- Seigram swung his body down with both of his feet extended. Gourry barely managed to lurch backward and avoid the brunt of a severe two-footed kick.

With a sharp metallic snap, Gourry’s breastplate broke in half. It seemed like Zuuma-Seigram had used claws of some sort.

“Dammit!” Gourry yelled.

The broken breastplate hindered Gourry’s mobility for a second. Unfortunately, a second was all the demonic hybrid needed.

Zuuma-Seigram fired off another magic shockwave at point-blank range. Gourry had no chance to stop it; it knocked him off his feet and threw him toward the forest. He landed heavily in a bush full of thorns.

“Gourry!” I cried.

I was relieved to hear movement from the bush, followed by a groan. But from where I stood I couldn’t tell how badly he’d been hurt.

Meanwhile, “Zuugram” looked awfully unsteady on his feet. Apparently my Elmekia Lance had done a number on him. I was glad to see we’d finally done some decent damage to the guy.

“Let’s… settle this,” he growled as he moved his hard eyes to me. I couldn’t tell if the voice I heard was Zuuma’s or Seigram’s.

“Stop it!”

I blinked. The voice came from the woods, and it was painfully familiar.

Good God, I thought. Tell me that’s not…

Abel—yes, Abel “No Survival Instincts” Ranzaad— ran out of the woods, breathless and flustered. “Stop it!” he cried. “Please, that’s enough!”

The demon assassin’s gaze shifted to him.

We really don’t need untrained wimps on the battlefield right now, moron!

“Hasn’t this gone far enough?!” Abel yelled desperately. “Why do you have to kill?!”

Zuuma-Seigram didn’t reply.

“Answer me, Father!”

Wait a second—”father”?!

Was everyone we knew secretly Zuuma?!

The hybrid of pretty much every enemy we’d had for the past week glared at Abel.

“How… did you know?” he rasped. Now the voice belonged to neither Zuuma nor Seigram, but to our supposedly weak employer.

Yeah, I’ve just about had it.

Abel stepped toward his evil father. “I’m… I’m your son,” he murmured, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “Isn’t that so, Father?”

So Radok had been Zuuma all along, and had been Seigram since after Saillune, and had been a jerk his whole life. No wonder we’d been confused.

I’d thought taking a hostage had seemed like an un- Zuuma-like thing to do. He hadn’t actually done it—he’d kidnapped himself in order to lure us out into the middle of nowhere. That was definitely more in character.

So all the grief Radok had given us since day one had actually been because he hated us? Unless it had been his way of hiding his more murderous feelings. Zuuma had to use his Radok persona to get us to Vezendi, which meant he’d written that fake note and everything, too. So both Radok and Zuuma were guilty of the crack about my chest!

It also meant that every comment, complaint, and whine from Abel had been an attempt to help us. He’d tried to save us by driving us away.

Talk about a mind trip!

“Abel,” Radok’s voice threatened quietly, “say your prayers.”

Abel stared at his father in shock.

“Pray that Lina Inverse is victorious today,” Radok- Zuuma-Seigram continued. “Because if I win this battle, I cannot let you live.”

“Wait,” I called. “Radok, what’s wrong with you? You have a cushy job as a merchant, not to mention a boatload of cash. Why do you need to go around assassinating people on the side?”

Radok shook his head. “I do not know why,” he replied lowly. “I only know that I am a man born to kill, and I could live no other way.”

So, he kills people because he’s crazy. I guess that makes some kind of sense.

A violent shudder shook Radok’s body, and when it ended, his stance and bearing seemed different. Sure enough, the next time he spoke it was with Zuuma’s voice.

“This ends here,” he snarled.

I had no time for witty retorts, since I was already chanting a spell.

I knew by then that normal spells wouldn’t work on the guy. Even when I hit him with spells that could inflict damage on Mazoku, his human sorcery skills combined with his demonic capacity enabled him to block. I couldn’t even assume that hitting him with Dragon Slave would do the trick; I’d fought a human-demon hybrid before, and Dragon Slave had been a waste of time.

That left me with only one option: taking him down in close combat, and before he recovered from the Elmekia Lance.

That’s way, way easier said than done, Lina.

But whether or not my plan was going to get me killed or not, I was more than a little sick of sitting out of the big fights. My friends had all had dramatic battles that day—where was mine? And since when does Lina Inverse say no to a giant, climatic, explosion-filled final fight?

It was time to kick some ass. Taking a breath, I sprinted toward Gourry.

Combo-Villain cut me off before I could get there. “You want the Sword of Light?” he called, moving way faster than an injured enemy should be able to. “I’ll never allow it!”

I do love it when they fall for my bluff.

Once he was in sword range, I completed my spell. “Ragna Blade!” I yelled.

A blazing blade of darkness formed in my open hand. From what I knew of demons, half demons, and Zuuma, the Ragna Blade was exactly what I needed to take the bastard down. I was also pretty sure that neither Zuuma nor Seigram had ever seen it before, so they wouldn’t know what to expect.

“What?!” Zuuma-Seigram roared at the sight of my blade of darkness. It only took him a moment to form masses of magic energy in each of his hands. It looked like he wanted to engage my blade of darkness with his left hand and attack me with his right—the exact same attack pattern he’d used on Gourry.

I knew that if Zuuma managed to occupy my blade and blast me with a free hand, my chances of dodging were slim to none. I struck fast and hard before he had the chance.

“Noooooooo!”

The cry ripped through the air as my enemy staggered backward into the brush, leaving behind one very important thing: his left hand.

I blinked. Oh, I thought. Uh, that’ll do.

To be perfectly honest, I hadn’t quite realized how powerful the Ragna Blade could be. It had sliced easily through Zuuma-Seigram’s wrist—was my blade actually stronger than the Sword of Light?

But it wasn’t the time for introspection. As I stood there being impressed with myself, my enemy launched himself toward Gourry.

Dammit! I couldn’t let him get anywhere near Gourry or the sword! I bolted after Zuuma et al, but it didn’t matter how fast I ran—I was already too far behind.

There was no way that Gourry—newly on his feet and just barely keeping steady—could’ve avoided Zuuma- Seigram’s kick. Gourry crashed back into the thorn bush, groaning in pain. The demon assassin reached for the Sword of Light.

He gets that, and I’m really screwed.

He had his back to me for the moment. I sprinted up behind him and slashed with all my might!

Zuuma-Seigram’s shriek echoed through the trees.

Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t a shriek of someone dying horribly—it was a shriek of surprise, made by someone who had managed to block my attack at the last possible second. Clutched in my opponent’s remaining hand, locked with my own Ragna Blade, was the Sword of Light.

Panting, I pushed off Zuuma and Friends and staggered back a step. Ragna Blade is a powerful spell, but it also depletes the caster’s energy at an extremely fast rate. I couldn’t let things drag on much longer.

“This is it, guys,” I called. “Ready to end this? One blow, winner doesn’t die?”

“Come,” Zuuma’s voice hissed.

I charged at him, the blade of darkness held high in my hands.

The demon-assassin-merchant held out the Sword of Light, bracing for my attack.

SLICE!

My blade of darkness tore through Zuuma-Seigram’s torso in one clean swipe. He stood stock-still for a mo­ment, his eyes wide and blank, before crumpling to the ground.

“FATHER!” Abel ran over, dropping to his knees where Zuuma—no, Radok Ranzaad—had fallen. “Father!” Abel sobbed. “Father!”

Radok’s body twitched. His breath was labored and shallow, and his eyes had closed at some point. Abel curled up beside his father and cried openly

The blade of darkness dissipated in my hands. I stood there, panting, and watched Abel sob.

Radok’s eyes fluttered open.

“Father!” Abel cried.

Faintly, Seigram’s voice croaked from Radok’s mouth. “You would do well to mock me… Lina Inverse,” he rasped. “I merged with a human… to defeat you, but it was because of that human’s soul that I was defeated.”

Seigram’s voice was growing dim. I leaned in closer to hear his words.

“I hesitated at the last moment,” he gasped. “Or, should I say, Radok Ranzaad hesitated.”

A strange moment from our final blow suddenly came back to me. As I’d sliced down with the Ragna Blade, my opponent had glanced away… he hadn’t been looking at me at all.

He’d been looking at his son.

But what did that mean? Had Radok had a last- minute change of heart, or had he lost his nerve when it had mattered most? Unfortunately, I knew we’d never find out.

“Mock… me,” Seigram wheezed, and then his body went limp. He didn’t move again.

Abel stared at the corpse of his father for a long moment. When he finally rose to his feet, he looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words; he just stood there for a while, his lips slightly apart.

He eventually turned to Gourry and me and gave a long, low bow. Maybe it was his way of thanking us for putting his father out of his misery.

* * *

“It started happening a while ago, you know.”

I looked up from the cityscape of Vezendi sprawled out below us. Abel, by my side, looked hesitant for the first time since we’d left his father’s body. He’d been too busy commenting passionately on our route and the surrounding mountains and the best way to camp during our return trip.

He’d inherited his father’s lust for travel, apparently. “What started happening?” I asked.

He paused, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. “My growing apart from my father,” he murmured. “I suspected something was wrong, and our weakening relationship reflected that.” He sighed. “That must have been when he started his… well, side profession.”

“As Zuuma?” Gourry offered.

Abel gave Gourry a skeptical stare.

What? I wanted to say. You’re not used to Gourry yet? “Anyway,” Abel continued after a moment. “Not long ago, Father returned from a trip with Mister Raltaak, claiming the man was his traveling companion. I suspected something was wrong right away. But then the letter asking for you appeared, and this whole mess began…” He shook his head. “I just never had the time to confront Father about it.”

Zelgadiss crossed his arms, looking silently down at the city below us. “Do you know why your father did what he did?”

Abel sighed. “No,” he admitted. “And now I never will, I’m afraid.”

We all went quiet for a minute. After taking a deep breath, Abel adjusted the pack on his back and glanced back at me.

“Thank you for escorting me back to Vezendi. I’ll be fine from here.”

I nodded. Abel began making his way down the hill, his outline quickly shrinking as he left us behind. I watched him until I couldn’t distinguish him in the small crowds of people near the city’s entrance.

“Lina?” Gourry asked at last. “Why’d you turn down the money? He said he’d pay us for all this, and, well…” He frowned. “It’s not like this was an easy gig.”

That’s right—I turned down the money. For whatever reason, I hadn’t felt right accepting Radok’s promised pay when Abel had offered it.

“Gourry, Gourry,” I admonished, patting him on the back. “If you can’t figure that out, I’ll tell you when you’re older.” Although honestly, I had no idea why I’d done it. I don’t understand myself sometimes.

“Will he be all right?” Amelia muttered distantly.

I slid my thumbs into my belt. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Enough about him,” Zelgadiss said flatly, his hard gaze moving to the traveler in the back “What the hell are we gonna do with you?”

Xelloss gave Zel one of his serene smiles. “Ah,” he hummed, then chuckled and scratched at his cheek.

Xelloss had made up his mind to come travel with us. Again. Zelgadiss still wanted to roast him over the coals a bit.

“Ditching us during our final battle,” Zel sneered, “then reappearing after everything’s said and done. With friends like you, who needs traitors?”

Xelloss waved the comment off with his hand. “Believe it or not,” he said, “I was attacked by the tail end of the Mazoku. Afterward, well…” He laughed. “I lost my way in the forest.”

Zelgadiss scowled. “Figures.”

I looked away. Even though Xelloss had saved me early in the battle, nobody had seen or heard him come to my rescue with his “one-time special” quip. That was just between Xelloss and me.

“Lina?” Gourry asked. “Do you know what happened to that Raltaak guy?”

I shrugged. “No clue,” I replied. “He vanished into the woods early in the fight, and nobody saw him again.”

“Really?” Gourry made a face. “Uh, you think we should hunt him down, maybe?”

Like we haven’t already had enough crap to deal with! “Let it go, Gourry. If he wants us, he’ll find us, whether we like it or not.” I stretched out my arms. “I just want to get back on the road. We’ve got places to go, people to beat up.”

Zelgadiss nodded, Amelia smiled brightly, and Gourry, well, Gourry’s eyes starting clouding over. If we didn’t get a move on, I was afraid he’d fall asleep standing up.

“Let’s go,” I declared, pointing to what (I hoped) was the west. “Next stop, Dilse!