Slayers - Volume 11 - Chapter 3

3: Showdown in the City of Crimson Water

“Graaaaaaaah!” Narov’s vertically split head cried out. The tentacles around his mouth squirmed and writhed.

Hang on... Did this guy absorb Narov’s dead body?!

I wasn’t sure how powerful Narov had been when he was alive, but at the very least, this development had given his creepiness a real shot in the arm. Nevertheless, I had no obligation to let him show off what he could do! I began a quiet chant, but before either Aileus or I could make a move...

“Elemekia Lance!” Dilarr let fly a spell from behind me—one capable of dealing damage directly to the spirit and taking out a lesser demon in one hit.

Aileus was basically a lump of flesh growing out of the ground, so he had no way to dodge it. Dilarr’s spear of light hit him dead-on... but the young man’s face didn’t bat an eye, and Narov’s face just kept howling and waving its tentacles.

Then—Fwsh—the section of flesh hit by the Elemekia Lance flaked off like a scab, and...

“Graaaaaaaah!” Narov’s head let out another cry. Countless points of light appeared around him, causing the air itself to creak!

Guh!

“Dodge!” I called to my crew, aborting my spell and quickly taking some distance myself.

As I ran, our opponent unleashed his light in all directions! I managed to dodge the first few points streaking toward me and—Vrm!—then came a sudden, powerful vibration hard enough to hurt my ears. It was followed by a wave of heat and steam.

“Everyone okay?!” I called out.

From beyond the haze, I could hear each of my allies reply...

“I’m fine!”

“Think so...”

“I’m alive, at least!”

It seemed everyone had managed to survive, but that was a hell of a spell Aileus had just fired off... That had to be a Blast Bomb. It was a real doozy, basically like firing off multiple powered-up Fireballs at once. The balls of light had burst against the water’s surface, creating the surge of steam.

Thanks to that, we now couldn’t see our enemy at all. Of course, he was in the same predicament... or so I hoped, but it wasn’t wise to make assumptions about a guy who’d already surrendered his humanity. Plus, that wasn’t the only thing working against us. Because I’d been using my shortsword like a torch with Lighting cast on it back in the tunnel, I’d lost it when we were swept away by the underground channel. It wasn’t a fatal blow to me or anything, but it was always nice to have a blade on hand to deflect attacks or distract opponents. But, welp, no use crying over spilled swords!

I began to chant a spell...

...!

And suddenly, inexplicably, I felt a chill run up my spine. I moved to the left on instinct. No sooner had I than—Skrch!—I felt something lash out of the mist, brushing by my pauldron.

“Guh!”

“Wuh?!”

I could hear Gourry and Dilarr yelp through the fog at almost that same moment. Was Aileus using it as a smoke screen after all?! I wasn’t about to let him have it that easy!

“Diem Wind!”

Fwoosh! My powerful blast of wind blew the misty haze away, and once I could see again, I beheld the bizarre form that Aileus had taken. The lump of flesh was still rooted to the ground, with the face of the young man and Narov bulging out of it as before... But now a few dozen arms had sprouted from it. Well, I call them arms, but of course, they weren’t human arms. They were more like the branches of a dead tree, unusually long and multi-jointed.

Of course... So that’s what came out of the mist.

Now, when the fog cleared completely...

“Fireball!”

Whoom! Dilarr’s spell scorched Aileus. Gourry charged him at the same time, and Aileus reached out as he approached.

“Hng!” Gourry sliced at him with his sword! I expected to see Aileus’s severed arm go spinning through the air, but instead...

Zing! There was a hard sound as it was merely deflected to the side. Apparently this guy was tougher than he looked.

Moreover, the part of Aileus’s body that was burned by Dilarr’s Fireball earlier just flaked off, allowing new flesh(?) to swell up in its place. It was exactly what had happened with the Elemekia Lance earlier. His entire body was probably similar to a lizard’s tail, capable of being shed and regrown at will. But if that was the case, there had to be a critical part of him that couldn’t regenerate... And that would be his weak point.

“Graaaaaaaah!” Narov’s head screamed once more.

It was like a mindless howl to human ears, but I figured it for a spell chant. The writhing of his mouth-tentacles was probably the formation of spell sigils. At any rate, now that I knew he had hella magic up his sleeve, I couldn’t let him finish that chant!

“Hell Blast!” Aria cried.

“Zellas Bullid!” I did the same.

We launched our spells simultaneously. Hers broke through Aileus’s arms to hit the young man’s face. Meanwhile, mine swerved around the arms to pulverize Narov’s head!

Bullseye! That should interrupt his spellcasting!

But Aileus himself showed no sign of slowing down. He was using five or six of his arms to keep Gourry in check while the rest continued to sporadically attack me, Aria, and Dilarr. Fortunately, Aileus’s control of the arms seemed imprecise. Their aim was poor and their movements predictable such that even Aria the greenhorn could dodge them. Nevertheless, this wouldn’t actually end until we took the dude down.

Aileus’s face where Aria had hit him flaked off, but more flesh swelled into place immediately to reform his visage. “It’s pointless, you know...” it whispered.

“I don’t believe it!” Aria cried out hopelessly.

Hmm... She really isn’t used to fighting at all, is she?

I’ll concede that this guy’s face just felt like it was screaming, “Hey! Got your weak point right here!” But a regenerator type like him wouldn’t leave an obvious weak point so exposed. His face was probably a decoy meant to draw our fire.

Meanwhile, Narov’s head was still in the middle of regenerating from my hit... Maybe it was slower to recover since it wasn’t originally a part of Aileus’s body. Still, it was clearly going to come back and start chanting new spells. I was really hoping to finish this before then, but...

Aileus’s real weak point was likely somewhere deep inside his body. If we just kept hitting him with standard magical attacks, he was just gonna keep on sloughing off the damaged flesh.

Wait, in that case...

While dodging swipes from his arms, I quietly chanted an amplified spell. “Bram Blazer!”

Whom! A blast of pale light capable of killing even a lesser demon plowed through Aileus’s body!

“H... Hraaaagh!” A death rattle echoed through the dim underground cavern.

His branch-like arms let out a dry rustle and began to droop limply over the island. I’d figured a piercing spell might be able to hit his weak point, and it looked like I was on the money. Aileus’s body began to crumble like baked clay.

“I think we did it,” Gourry sighed in relief.

“Looks like.” I nodded in response. “So, anyway... the way forward is probably somewhere on this island.”

“Wait a minute,” Dilarr piped up, glaring at me. “When you said you had a plan to find the way... did you mean this?”

“Yep,” I admitted casually.

In short, there were bound to be enemies protecting the path to our destination. So if we made ourselves obvious enough, they were bound to come for us. Essentially, my plan had been to wander around, wait for enemies to attack, and figure wherever they were camped out for the way forward.

“Are you crazy?! You could have gotten us killed!” Dilarr shouted.

“But I didn’t, so really, what’s the harm?” I countered sweetly.

Fists shaking, Dilarr was about to argue more. “You... You little...”

But he was interrupted when Aria called from right behind the pillar in the center of the island, “Mistress Lina! Could this be it?”

I went to look and found her pointing to a hole at the base of the pillar. But...

“It’s pretty small,” Gourry whispered, frowning.

My guy had a point. The hole seemed to go pretty deep, but it was only barely wide enough for me to crawl through if I took my pauldrons off. Even if this led somewhere, Gourry and Dilarr wouldn’t be able to use it.

“I don’t... think this is it. That Narov guy said it was a path, so I’d expect it to be big enough for him to pass through it, at least,” Dilarr said perceptively. And he was right. There was no way Narov or those fish demons could shimmy through this narrow passage.

But... Wait a minute. Could it be...?

I quietly chanted a spell—“Lighting!”—and tossed the magical ball of light I produced into the water.

Pwsh! Visible below the island, in the now-illuminated depths, yawned a large underwater cave.

Plip... plip... I could hear the sound of water dripping around us. The air was damp.

We’d entered the waterlogged cave via a Lei Wing, traveling through it that way until we finally reached air. At that point, I’d dismissed the spell and we’d started walking.

If this really was the path to the sorcerers’ council, it was reasonable to expect an enemy ambush up ahead. The fish demon that had disappeared during our battle with Aileus had probably fled here... or more likely, returned to base to report our raid. If all we cared about was speed, flying would have been better than walking, but walking seemed the safer choice given the likelihood of enemy attack.

Incidentally, there was luminescent moss on the ceiling and walls down here too, so we didn’t need to prepare a light. That said...

“Boy... it sure is a long way,” Gourry sighed after we’d been walking for quite a while.

The path was slippery, making it hard to pick up the pace, and the monotony of the scenery added to the feeling that we’d been walking forever. But even then, this path was freaking long. I wondered if it had taken us even lower than the underground lake.

“But I sure hope that, after all this walking, we don’t find out we took the wrong cave,” Dilarr said, sounding exhausted.

I couldn’t blame him for feeling beat. We’d entered Crimson Town around sunset, and it was probably past midnight by now. In other words, apart from the time we’d spent unconscious after our impromptu little trip on the underground river, we’d been going pretty much nonstop. I’d question the humanity of anyone who wasn’t exhausted at this point.

Aria was seeming pretty spent herself. She hadn’t said a word since we entered the cave. Still, we had no time to rest at the moment. We needed to infiltrate the enemy base and clear things up as soon as possible. To be honest, I’d started to mull over the idea of just blowing up the sorcerers’ council building with a Dragon Slave the minute we got there... But then again, Aria’s sister could be inside. Well, I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.

“This looks like the right way to me,” I offered.

“What makes you say that?” Dilarr asked.

“Well, duh... They made a path.”

“A path? You mean this thing we’re walking right now?” Gourry asked in Dilarr’s stead.

“Exactly. See those stalactites on the ceiling? They should have corresponding stalagmites beneath them, but the ground here is flat. That means someone cleared them out for better passage. Speaking of, I think we’re close to our destination too...” With that, I turned my eyes up ahead. Both sides of the passageway were lined with jars of various sizes. “The place is obviously used for storage, meaning there’s gotta be someone nearby doing the storing. Say, Aria, you were part of the Crimson council, right? Did you ever hear anything about an underground pathway?”

“Well... I’d heard there was an underground storehouse... but there was a dedicated group to manage it... so I never went there personally...” she responded haltingly, sounding tired indeed.

Hmm... A place like this connected to the council basement surely would have generated at least a little talk, right? Or was there something about this underground passage that necessitated keeping it a secret? We’d just have to keep going and find out.

I pressed onward as I thought this all over, and the number of containers and other tools whose purpose I couldn’t identify gradually increased in number as we went. Finally...

“I’d say that’s a jackpot,” I remarked as I came to a stop.

I was standing in front of a metal door which looked completely out of place in the ongoing stone tunnel into which it was built. Had someone been expanding their basement, happened to hit this cave, and just slapped a door there? Yeah, right. Despite its slapdash placement, the door was reinforced with stone. I couldn’t sense any enemy presences behind it... but there could always be someone capable of cloaking themselves.

“All right... Moment of truth. We’re going in,” I said.

Someone gulped. Gourry silently drew his sword, preparing for a surprise attack. Dilarr whispered a spell under his breath. I put my hand on the door, pushed, and...

“Oh, go figure. It’s locked.”

“Hey!” Dilarr roared, interrupting his spell just to yell at me.

But c’mon. Of course a door in the middle of a cave system was gonna be locked.

“Hmm, hang on. I think it’s a simple latch. In which case...”

After a little inspection, I took a slim knife I’d stored in my pauldron and slid it between the door and the frame. I then dragged it upward and... I felt movement accompanied by a small clink. Seemed I’d undone the lock.

Okay!

“Now here we go,” I said as I gave it a push.

A heavy, metallic creaking resounded as the door slowly opened inward. It looked like there wasn’t an ambush waiting for us, at least. But...

“Seems pretty small for the council’s basement, huh?” Dilarr whispered as he looked around.

“There are definite signs of life here too...” Gourry added. When I looked to see, he was indicating various cooking and cleaning implements strewn about.

They were right... This place was only a little larger than a room in any standard home. There was a single unlit lamp hanging from the ceiling, and more than half of the things lying around were obviously for household use.

What in the world...?

I chanted a spell. “Lighting!”

I tossed my magical light up toward the ceiling, and when it was in place, I could see clearly... that this was the basement of a private dwelling. There was a stairway further inside.

“I can’t help feeling like we’re in the wrong place...” Gourry observed.

“W-Well... we should probably go upstairs and see what’s up, at any rate.” After laughing him off, I made a beeline for the staircase in the back. The other three quietly followed me.

The stairway was steep and narrow. There was a simple lock on the door at the top, but I pulled a pin out of my pocket, stuck it into the hole, and opened the thing with ease. After making sure there were no signs of life on the other side... Creak...

Beyond the door was a hallway. I walked out into it, followed by Gourry, Aria, and then Dilarr.

“This isn’t the council hall...” Aria whispered with a glassy-eyed expression.

Yeah... Knew it. It was a rather large mansion with excellent stonework, but it was still a private residence.

“Ugh... Hell, was I wrong, then?” I muttered.

“Should we try to go further down the tunnel instead?” Gourry asked.

“Yeah, guess we probably should,” I conceded.

We turned to head back down the stairs when...

“This is... Kailus’s mansion.”

Aria’s trance-like words stopped us in our tracks.

“Are... Are you sure?!” I asked.

“I’m certain. I only came here once—before the insurrection, when my sister called me here—but I’m sure of it. I recognize this place,” Aria responded with confidence, then swiftly set off.

“H-Hang on! Aria! Where are you going?!”

“My sister’s room,” she replied without turning back or slowing down. In fact, she picked up the pace. With no other choice, we followed after her.

All right... So we’d mistakenly assumed the “path” meant the “path to the sorcerers’ council,” but it actually turned out to be a path to Kailus’s mansion. Narov must have realized the misunderstanding... but he’d been under no obligation to correct it, of course.

Aria proceeded without fear despite the likelihood that enemies were near. She only stopped when she reached a door. She took in a deep breath, reached for the handle, and before we could even try to stop her, she yanked it open! And then...

“Sister...” There was a tremble in her faint voice.

It was a large room, furnished with a canopy bed and a nightstand, illuminated by nothing but the moonlight streaming in from the terrace windows. Beside the bed sat a rocking chair, and standing next to that was a girl who looked very much like Aria. Her long, silver hair glimmered in the moonbeams.

“A... Aria?” she asked.

“Bell!” Aria cried, running to throw herself into her sister’s arms.

“Aria... what are you doing here?”

“I came to save you! The imperial army is coming to stop Kailus’s rebellion. Just the thought of this city becoming a battlefield with you here, I... I came to save you!” she gushed, her voice choked with tears. Her reunion with her sister seemed to have released all her pent-up emotion.

Bell stroked Aria’s hair gently, then turned her gaze to us. “Who are these people?”

“Her bodyguards... more or less,” I replied. “But introductions later. For now, let’s clear out. There’s no telling when the goon squad might show.”

At my words, Aria suddenly looked up. “Th-That’s right... Sister, you must come with us.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening...” a new voice cut in, echoing through the room. A familiar one.

“Zonagein?!” I shouted, whipping around to see the familiar diminutive figure standing there in his hooded cloak.

Next to him was a man of about forty with raven hair. He wore a high-collared cape embroidered with silver thread along with various jeweled amulets dotting his outfit—which didn’t much suit his cheap villain mug.

Given the timing, I had a guess as to his identity. “You wouldn’t be Kailus, by chance, would you?”

“I would. I praise you for making it this far... but it’s the end of the line for you. Prepare to meet your doom.”

“Pfft!”

Kailus frowned in annoyance at my abrupt laughter. “What’s so funny?”

“I just knew you’d say something like that!” I took a wide stance and pointed boldly at Kailus. “You look like a third-rate villain, and you talk like one too! Even a kid would find you hilarious!”

Kailus’s brows arched even higher, but perhaps fearing another reprisal from me, he desperately held back his anger. “Fair... Fair enough, girl. But cliche or not, you will still die here.”

“Well, well! We’ll see about that!” I said as I drew up against the wall. Just then...

“Fireball!” Dilarr, who’d been chanting behind me, unleashed a blazing globe!

Fwoosh! The burst of flames to follow licked the corridor. We hid behind the open door to ride out the heat. This was the same distract-and-strike tactic we’d used against Narov underground. And there was nowhere to escape the attack in this narrow, straight corridor. But...

Zing! Crash!

An arrow of light streaked through the still-swirling smoke to pulverize the door we were using as a shield! I flew back from it and began chanting a spell. As the smoke dissipated, far down the hall, I could see Zonagein and Kailus.

They got that far that quickly?! Just as I was thinking that, I heard a strange rustling sound, and suddenly... Zonagein was right in front of me! With that same bizarre speed, he’d come all the way back down the hallway. I reached instinctively for my missing sword...

Wham! I heard a heavy impact from right above my head. Gourry had come running to block something black lashing down at me.

Is that...?

It looked like a spider’s leg. A giant one. And I could see a number more growing from the old sorcerer’s back.

“Impressive... But then, you did defeat Graymore,” Zonagein said, his spider legs skittering him backward.

Even though he’d sold out his humanity, he apparently still wanted to avoid a close-quarters fight with Gourry. In that case...

I released my incanted spell. “Bram Blazer!”

I turned and shot the blue light at a new hostile presence behind me! It hit a woman in green who’d appeared down the hall at some point, but just as it made contact—Vrm!—she unleashed a blue light of her own that filled the corridor!

“Guh!” As it did, a shockwave racked my body. Its power was on the low side, but that was a Bram Blazer for sure! Had she reflected my spell back in a dispersed form?!

After the light receded, the woman in green— No. When I looked at her again, I realized my mistake. She wasn’t wearing green. Her face, her torso, her hair, her limbs... Her entire body was translucent like an emerald.

With this new addition to Kailus’s side, we were definitely in a fix. I’d been hoping to bump the guy off here and skip straight to the denouement... but things were shaping up to be a little trickier than that.

“Back into the room!” I said, retreating back to the sisters. “Aria! Bell! We’re getting out of here!” I shouted before starting a chant.

Once Bell was out of the mansion, I could bring out the big guns and level the whole thing!

“Don’t let them escape! Get them! Zonagein! Mycale!” Kailus’s voice, coming from the hallway, stopped Aria in her tracks.

“Did... he just say...” she muttered.

“What’re you doing, Aria? Get moving!” Dilarr shouted, kicking open the terrace window.

“I...” Aria swiftly began running again.

Gourry stood off against Zonagein when he appeared in the door and... “Wait! Don’t go!”

By the time he shouted that, Aria, Bell, and Dilarr were already on the terrace. Just as the three of them halted—Whunk!—a large scythe-like object speared through Dilarr’s chest from above. Slowly, he collapsed to the ground.

“Master Dilarr?!” Aria screamed, sounding pained.

Gourry and I dashed for the terrace ourselves. The minute we stepped out onto it—Whoosh!—something sliced through the night wind, but Gourry’s sword knocked it away. I supported the collapsed Dilarr with one arm while taking Aria’s hand with my other. I checked to make sure Gourry was holding on to my shoulder, and then unleashed the amplified spell I’d been chanting!

“Lei Wing!”

At the very least, I thought we’d be able to use it to get us out of there. But just as my spell activated...

“Eek!” Bell shrieked. I looked and saw something like a dead tree branch grabbing her leg.

Wait, isn’t that...

“Sister!” Aria cried. Bell’s hand had slipped from her grasp!

“Flee!” That was all Bell could say as she fell from my completed wind barrier.

The four of us took off into the air, leaving her behind.

“Please—!” Aria just managed to hold back a full-throated scream. She probably meant to ask me to go back and save her sister... but she probably also realized that Dilarr needed treatment.

Except... I could already feel the warmth leaving his body. I knew what it felt like when someone was dying.

In the abandoned building, there was only darkness, musty air, and silence. Nobody tried to speak. Not me. Not Gourry. Not Aria.

After taking flight, it had taken us a while to shake off the pursuing air force and find shelter in this vacant old house. Dilarr was already dead by then. I’d used magic to dig a hole in the basement, given him a simple funeral, and then...

The three of us just sat there in the darkness. I couldn’t say for how long.

Eventually, Aria whispered, “I... What should I do?” There was no emotion whatsoever in her voice. “I couldn’t save my sister. I let Master Dilarr die...”

“It’s not your fault—”

“It is my fault!” she insisted—or rather screamed—interrupting me. “I... If I’d held on more tightly, I could have saved her! If I hadn’t wanted to come to Crimson, Master Dilarr... Master Dilarr might not be...!”

“I think I’m more responsible for Dilarr. I didn’t realize he would be out there, so my plan was all wrong,” I whispered with a self-reproaching smile.

“‘He’? You mean you know who did this?” I heard Gourry ask in the darkness.

I nodded, even knowing he couldn’t see me. “I think... it was Aileus. The guy we fought on the island in the underground lake.”

“You mean... he survived?” Aria whispered.

“It’s less that he survived, and more... I think the version of him we defeated underground was just one part of him. When we Lei Winged it out of Kailus’s manor, I glanced back and the whole place was covered in vines with these round lumps stuck here and there...”

“You mean...?!” Gourry gasped.

I nodded again. “Yeah. I think Aileus is really flora rather than fauna. His above-ground and underground bodies are connected somewhere...”

The fact that he’d entwined the whole mansion meant that his presence was dispersed, which was why Gourry and I hadn’t sensed it right away. It was potentially possible that whatever was covering the house was just someone else with abilities like Aileus’s, but that scythe-like thing that hit Dilarr... It was the same shape as the fish demons’ fins. And given that we had one fish demon underground unaccounted for, it seemed more likely to me that Aileus had absorbed it rather than there being a discrete but similar entity hanging around.

If I was right about all that... then Aileus was a truly dangerous foe. I had no idea where his weak point could be either. We could probably eliminate the problem by blowing the whole mansion away—operative word being probably. You could kill an animal by crushing its head, but some plants could regenerate from their roots or even a single leftover branch. If Aileus had plant-like properties, he might be able to regenerate completely from any scrap we left behind.

“They’re sure a tough bunch to deal with,” I muttered. “I don’t know how formidable Kailus himself is, but there’s Aileus, plus that flying puppet with its winged demons, and then Zonagein and that Mycale person...”

“Actually, about that...” Aria interjected as I was listing off our enemies. “When I joined the council... there was another girl who joined at the same time. We were assigned many of the same projects and we became friends. Her name was... Elydia Mycale.”

“Huh?” I breathed.

“And... I just remembered... that one of the people who ran the underground storehouse... was named Aileus.”

“Wait, you don’t mean...!”

Aria’s only response was silence.

“Can I ask... if Mycale and Aileus were supporters of Kailus?” I ventured.

“Well... I only knew Aileus by name, so I’m not terribly familiar with him... But Elydia openly hated Kailus.”

“Hey, where exactly is this going?” Gourry asked.

I let out a small sigh. “It’s shaping up... like Kailus turned the members of the council into chimeras under his control.”

“But... is he even capable of such a thing?” Aria questioned. “Kailus was a jack-of-all-trades. He was familiar with attack and healing spells as well as curses, magic item artificing, and chimera creation... but at the same time, he wasn’t especially knowledgeable about any of them. I wouldn’t think him capable of making chimeras that advanced.”

“So there’s someone else running things, you think?”

“It’s... possible. But I don’t know Kailus particularly well myself... It’s also possible he knows a lot about chimeras and I simply wasn’t aware of it.”

“I see,” I responded vaguely.

Still, I wouldn’t have pegged Kailus for a serious chimera researcher based on what I’d seen of his mansion. They tended to be the kind of folk who kept big laboratories in their basements—and I’m not just saying that. Creating chimeras required a lot of space, and your average sorcerers’ council wouldn’t let anybody take up that large a share of their communal facilities. Besides, sharing space with others in the same field usually resulted in stolen theories and techniques. That’s why chimera researchers with the funds to make it happen preferred to build their own dedicated facilities somewhere in their own houses, typically a sequestered basement.

Of course, it’s not like I’d seen every corner of Kailus’s mansion for myself. It was possible there was a secret basement apart from the one we’d come through, or maybe a lab on the second floor, as unusual as that would be. But even if that were the case, I felt like there should’ve been signs... And there was certainly no way he’d been using council facilities to turn everyone there into chimeras.

“Mistress Lina, about Elydia... I mean, Mycale... Is there no way... to return her to normal?” Aria asked.

I didn’t have an answer. I knew another guy who’d been turned into a chimera and was searching for a way to restore his humanity. I didn’t know how he was doing now, but he’d had one hell of a struggle with it in the time I’d known him. In the words of another acquaintance, just because you knew how to make a juice cocktail didn’t mean you could extract the orange juice from it once it was mixed.

In Mycale’s case, it also seemed pretty clear that she was being mind controlled. If it was just the work of a Marionette spell, defeating Kailus should solve that problem. But if her mind had been overwritten using brainwashing or a similar technique, then...

“Ah... I suppose not.” Aria’s sad voice resonated in the darkness.

“I personally don’t know much about chimeras, so I can’t give you a definitive answer... but if it is possible, it won’t be easy.”

“I... I see.” There, she fell silent.

“Say, we should probably get some rest,” Gourry offered, as if waiting for his chance. “We can’t do anything until we recharge our stamina. We’re gonna finish this tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah... right.” I nodded in response. “Let’s get some sleep for now, Aria. Tomorrow, we’ll... We’ll get Bell back and make Kailus pay.”

Evening arrived the next day. The light streaming in through the abandoned building’s windows had just turned red with the setting sun when we decided to make our move. Our destination? Kailus’s mansion.

“How do we get there?” Gourry asked.

“We’ll take the waterway,” I answered. “If we go on land, we risk the air force spotting us, and underground, we risk getting lost and running into the same issues as last night. But that Narov guy is gone and there should be fewer fish demons in the canals now. Granted, our enemy might be expecting that much from us, but it still seems safer than going by land. We’ll dig a tunnel from here, link up to a canal, then use a Lei Wing to head for Kailus’s mansion underwater. Aria, please show us the way.”

“I will,” she said firmly with a nod.

I nodded back and began to chant my spell.

“Incoming!” Gourry cried out as we neared Kailus’s mansion.

I could see something approaching through the crimson-tinted water. It was Aileus’s tentacles!

Vroosh! Several scythe-like objects pierced my wind barrier to get to us. Zing! While grabbing me with his left hand, Gourry swung the sword in his right to deflect the attack. And then...

“Freeze Bullid!” Aria conjured her spell outside the barrier! It froze the surrounding water solid, trapping the tentacles in place. It was the same spell Dilarr had used on the fish demons the day before, and it was impressive how quickly she’d learned to use it! “We’re almost there, Mistress Lina!”

“Okay! Going up!” I directed my barrier to ascend out of the water and into the air.

Indeed, we were right next to Kailus’s estate. As before, the whole building was tangled in Aileus’s vines, and we could see the air force scattered in the skies above it. I ignored them and made a beeline for the mansion! The air force pursued us, and Aileus’s scythe-tentacles darted out to block our way. I’d been hoping we could just bust in through the terrace, but oh well!

“Fireball!” Aria incanted. Her spell appeared behind us, rushing our way, and...

Bwoom! It burst when it made contact with the wind barrier!

“Whaaaaa?!”

The explosive force accelerated us forward—right through the tentacles and the terrace window, throttling us into the mansion!

Whew, I know I used the same tactic yesterday, but... Aria really must be pissed!

At any rate, I dismissed my spell and landed us on the floor inside.

“Hey, Aria...” Gourry said with a troubled expression, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Just so you know, learning from bad role models can really set you down the wrong path in life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Gourry?” I asked sharply.

“Oh, nothing... Anyway, let’s get going.”

Don’t ignore meee! I wanted to object, but Gourry was right; we didn’t have time for petty squabbling right now.

We’d intentionally come in through Bell’s room, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. They’d probably moved her elsewhere.

“Here we go!” I proclaimed, kicking open the door and moving into the hallway. We needed to find out where they’d taken Bell. “Aria! Do you know where they might have put your sister?”

“I don’t!”

“Okay, then we’ll just have to search everywhere!”

Purely on instinct, I picked a hall and ran down it. Aria and Gourry followed. We kicked in every door we came across until the three of us reached the entrance hall. And there...

“My, my... A bit reckless, aren’t you?” asked Zonagein, who’d arrived silently on the legs growing from his back.

I then heard the creak of floorboards. When I turned to look, I spotted Kailus slowly descending the stairway that encircled the great hall, accompanied by the silent Mycale.

“Aha... so you’ve returned,” he said. “And you’re down one member.”

“Where is my sister?!” Aria shouted angrily, apparently aggravated by his words.

“Bell, you mean? She’s in the mansion. That’s all I’ll say, but I must ask... Do you think you can do something with that knowledge?”

“Oh, I’m gonna do something all right,” I informed him, striding forward a step. “Aria, stay calm. Don’t let this hack get your goat.”

“You...!” Kailus began to shriek in rage.

“If he’s such a hack,” Zonagein interrupted quietly, “how did he kill one of your allies?”

Aria was about to protest, but I raised a hand to stop her. “A war of provocation is a waste of time for all of us.”

“You’re right. In that case... Let’s get to it!” Zonagein began to scuttle across the floor.

Gourry moved to meet him, sword at the ready. Just as Gourry was about to strike, Zonagein leaped upward! He spun once midair, and...

“Bram Blazer!” He released the spell he’d chanted! His target was... Mycale?!

Shah! Mycale’s entire body shone with light. Its power was low, but a shockwave erupted in time with the light, hitting me, Gourry, and Aria!

Hey! That kinda hurt!

Zonagein landed behind the temporarily stunned Gourry, and without turning back, swung two of his legs down at him! But Gourry sensed the attack coming. He reflexively leaped straight forward to dodge, then dashed ahead toward Kailus! Mycale interposed herself. And then...

“Icicle Lance!” Kailus released a spell at Mycale’s back.

Bwoosh!

“Guh!” The spell, scattered by Mycale’s body, turned into a blizzard that caused Gourry to back off fast.

She can even disperse that kind of spell?!

Kailus using the spell-scattering Mycale as a shield while he sat back and watched... That was a tricky strategy to counter. If I hit him with an attack spell, Mycale would block it and reflect it back at us. But if we moved into melee range, Kailus would cast a spell for her to spray us with.

Granted, that didn’t mean we were helpless. I was confident Mycale couldn’t disperse every single spell. If we hit her with something big enough, it would destroy her for sure. The real question was, exactly how big was “big enough”? If I slapped her with a Dragon Slave, there was no way she’d be able to withstand it, but I couldn’t drop a bomb like that indoors. And if I used a slightly weaker Dynast Blas or a Zellas Bullid, and she happened to refract it back on us...

I mean, those were spells that could wipe out a pure demon in one hit, so even a dispersed version would probably do us in. And after hearing that Mycale was a former friend of Aria’s, I wasn’t eager to just kill her. That meant our smartest move now was to attack Kailus from several angles at once.

Okay! In that case...

“Gourry! Keep Zonagein occupied!”

“Got it!” he responded, then spun around to face the old man.

My eyes remained locked on Kailus and Mycale as I began chanting my next spell.

“Got time for me after all, eh?” Zonagein said as he moved several legs to block Gourry’s sword strike. Appendage and blade clashed, and both parties held for a split second before...

Fwee! There came a sound like a whistle, and a thread shot from Zonagein’s mouth wrapped around Gourry’s sword hand!

“Ngh!” Gourry groaned, and just then...

“Icicle Lance!” Aria fired a spell at Zonagein’s flank!

He quickly leaped up off the floor with his spider legs, sending him over Gourry’s head with the string still wrapped around his hilt. Gourry, his movements restrained, was at the disadvantage, but...

Now! I dashed straight for the place I predicted Zonagein would land. Zonagein realized what I was doing and hesitated for a brief instant. He was trying to decide if he should attack Gourry or deal with me first! And in that time...

“Flare Lance!” I launched the spell I’d been chanting as I ran, then took a deep breath and held it.

Mycale quickly moved to intercept the spell and disperse it back at me. I closed my eyes and—Fwoom! —powerful heat surrounded me. Me and Zonagein both!

“Gah!” he cried.

Indeed, that spell wasn’t meant to be a surprise attack on Kailus, but rather an attempt to hit Zonagein. Flare Lance typically had the power to roast an opponent in one hit, but I’d purposefully dialed it back some. Combined with the effect of Mycale’s dispersal, it was just hot enough to toast your skin a bit.

But what happened when you inhaled heat like that? Unlike me, who’d closed my eyes and held my breath, Zonagein had seared his own lungs. His expression was one of agony.

Whunk! Behind him, having escaped the blast of heat, Gourry ran the old sorcerer through.

“Ghhk!” He let out a near silent scream as the spider legs on his back clawed at the air. And then...

“Dam Blas!” Aria, who’d also been outside the dispersal zone, unleashed a spell of her own.

There was no surviving all that. Zonagein’s back legs spasmed repeatedly, then fell still.

“One down, two to go,” I said, shooting a bold smile at Kailus.

“Hng!” he grunted. His face twisted with hatred, but it was also marred by panic.

I glanced around, maintaining a grin. “You’re in a pretty sticky sitch, yet I don’t see the flying guys or Aileus rushing to your aid... I’m guessing they’re stuck outside, huh? That means all you’ve got here to protect you is Mycale, the one-trick dispersal pony... I hope you’re ready for pain, Master Kailus,” I said with absolute confidence.

I was sure a threat like that would drive Kailus outside to seek the aid of Aileus and his winged minions. I was counting on it, in fact. Once Kailus was outside, I could use a big area-of-effect spell to finish him off for good! And once I’d beaten Kailus, there’d be no need for us to fight Mycale or Aileus. But...

“Ha... haha...” Kailus let out a pregnant laugh and slowly walked up to Mycale’s side. “I see... But this... This is my dream, and the likes of you will never ruin it!”

With that, he grabbed Mycale by the back of the head.

What’s he—

A hard cracking sound rang out. Green fragments shot through the air.

“Elydia!” Aria screamed.

Kailus had shattered Mycale’s head with his hand.

What the?!

“Haha... ha...” Kailus embraced Mycale’s body from behind as it slumped over, headless.

“What are you doing?!”

“Isn’t it obvious? Haha... I won’t know what to do if I don’t...” Kailus replied, his very answer mad. The glint in his eyes told me his sanity was gone. I didn’t know what he was planning, but...

The first one to notice was Gourry, who cried out, “Their bodies!”

I turned his way for a moment, not understanding. He was looking straight at Kailus. I turned back again... and saw it for myself. Slowly, Mycale’s body was sinking into Kailus’s.

Is he... absorbing her?!

It seemed Kailus was no longer human himself. Soon, he’d completely swallowed Mycale.

“Bwahahahahaha!” Kailus’s crazed laughter echoed through the room.