Slayers - Volume 5 - Chapter 1

1: Okay, So This Is All Pretty Sudden...

It all started with a cliche...

“Your money or your life! Heh heh heh.”

And as if that bit of cringe from the masked bandits wasn’t enough, one of them flashed a glimpse of his longsword.

Hahh... The sound came from all three of us in unison.

“Wh-What? Why are you sighing?!”

“We’re just sick of this,” I said with a groan. “I mean, damn... I thought taking a deserted back road might earn us a break—but even here, it’s bandits, bandits, bandits! If you don’t have the guts to do your highwayman act on the freakin’ highway, what’s the point? You’re the... I don’t even know how many of you we’ve run into since we hit this area, but you’re at least the second group today!”

“You... Hey, you’re not gonna try to say, ‘We’re already cleaned out, so don’t bother,’ are ya?”

“Actually, I’m trying to say, ‘I’m sick of having to beat up every single one of you.’”

“What the—” My words stunned the bandit to silence.

“You don’t look sick of this, Lina. You look like you’re totally raring to take them on,” came a quiet rebuke from one of my two traveling companions, Gourry. He was tall, blond, handsome, and an incredible swordsman... Too bad about his jellyfish brains.

“Shut up already! This is the best part!” I hissed back at him.

Bandit bullying... Ah, those words were like music to my ears! See, letting bandits swagger about before pounding them into the dirt was something of a pastime for me. If I could track down their home base and nab their treasure afterward, all the better. Taking out the trash while padding my own stores? Good for the world, good for me. Talk about a win-win hobby!

Moreover, who was gonna complain? You know what I always say—no rights for the wicked!

However, if you’re thinking of taking up the hobby yourself, hold that thought, buddy. I can only do it because I’m the mighty Lina Inverse, warrior-slash-sorcerer extraordinaire. Your average adventurer attempting to follow in my footsteps would be a goner within ten days for sure. Don’t try this at home, kids. Got that?

Now, out of all the myriad appeals that lie in the sport of bandit bullying, my very favorite was counting up their treasure. But my second favorite was this banter before the real show began. Most brigands fell back on the same corny old lines, but you’d get your regional variations. You’d occasionally run into someone with some really off-the-wall material, too. And they frequently reacted in different ways to my zingers.

Granted... things always ended the same way, regardless.

Now, what’s this guy gonna serve up for me?

“The point is that we don’t have a single copper for you jerks.”

“Wh-What?! I offer you mercy and you slap it away?”

Offer me mercy? When?

“Argh, fine! Then we’ll be taking it by force!”

“Gimme a break,” I whispered, throwing back my cape as Gourry reached for the hilt of his sword.

“Uh...” one of the masked bandits said in a rather dumb-sounding voice. “What in the world is that girl doing?”

“Huh?” I looked in the direction the man was pointing to see my other traveling companion, Amelia. I then responded calmly, “Just what it looks like.”

“It looks like... she’s climbing a tree?”

“Sure is.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see soon enough. But never you mind her; let’s get back to it.”

“Well... if you insist. A-As I was saying, we’ll be taking it by force!”

Just then...

“Your evil deeds end today, villains!” Amelia’s voice thundered around us.

“Whaaat?!”

“Where’d that come from?!” the bandits clamored, looking around in panic.

Boy, what a bunch of suckers! Or maybe they just knew how to stick to a script?

“Up there!” one of them exclaimed.

Of course, he was pointing at Amelia, who was standing atop a branch of the tree she’d just climbed. And right on cue, she began her speech...

“Wherever life dwells, just as there is shadow and evil... so too is there light and goodness! You’ve let darkness into your hearts, and you’ve let it lead you astray!” There, she pointed dramatically at the bandits. “The heavens have anointed me judge, and judge you I shall! Prepare to be punished!”

She was couching it in a lot of florid language, but the gist of it was, “I’m gonna kick your asses in the name of justice!”

“Now, have at you! Hup!”

With that bold cry, Amelia leaped from the tree and—Splat!—landed in the bushes below. Jeez, that one sounded like it hurt...

“Hey, you okay?” Gourry asked, concerned.

“Fear not!” she declared as she popped up out of the brush.

“Wait, Amelia, why is your neck bent like that?!” I asked, equally concerned.

“Oh, don’t worry! It’ll take more than this to break my spirit!” she reassured me with a cheery wave.

Yeah... It’s not really your spirit I’m worried about.

“I’m starting to think we shouldn’t have messed with these guys,” another masked bandit muttered. He was entirely correct, but the realization came far too late to save them.

“Prepare for justice, servants of evil!” Amelia declared before moving into a chant.

And so the battle began...

And ended just as quickly.

If I may be so blunt, there was no way these punks were gonna last even ten seconds against a one-two combo from me and Amelia.

“Um...” Gourry whispered pitifully behind us as we struck our victory pose. “Do I not get a turn this time?”

“Nope,” I responded casually but firmly.

Look, I didn’t have time to coddle Gourry right now! I had an important task to take care of: bullying the twitching bandits on the ground into revealing the location of their loot stash!

“Now, let’s see...”

I grabbed a guy lying nearby and removed his mask, which was really just a bag with eyeholes torn into it. The face underneath was... well, I wouldn’t exactly call it handsome, but he looked pretty normal. Not especially bandit-y. Like any old dude you might run into on a village street.

“Hey, hey! Wake up already!” I called, shaking him a few times before he blearily opened his eyes.

“Huh...? Wagh!” He desperately tried to scramble away, but my spell had done a real number on him. All the poor guy could really do was moan and flail. “W-Wait! Wait! Spare me!”

“Heh heh heh... your money or your life!” I demanded, echoing his earlier line in a brilliant show of irony.

“You... You can’t do this! You’re a monster!”

Wait, you’re gonna pull that line now? Of course, nonchalance toward one’s own hypocrisy was part and parcel of being a bad guy, so...

“I don’t have to take that from you! Now, spill! Where’s your hideout?”

“Could you kindly unhand him?” came a sudden voice from another direction.

“Who’s there?!” Amelia said before I could.

We both whipped around to see a woman standing quietly in the grove.

“L-Lady Mazenda!” groaned the man whose collar I’d seized.

She looked about twenty years old, give or take, dressed in loose-fitting white clothing with skin so pale it was almost translucent. Long, shining hair and lustrous lips, both a bright crimson... Some might have said she was a striking beauty, but the primary impression I got was those sherbet dishes they serve at snowy mountain retreats.

“I told them not to do anything too reckless... Though it seems they didn’t listen to me,” she sighed.

“I-It’s just... Bey said...” the bandit groaned.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Mazenda calmly interrupted, then looked to me before continuing. “I know these men are quite hopeless, but they’re still my comrades. I ask that you let them off with a warning.”

“You really think I’ll agree to that?”

“No,” she responded readily. “So... how about this? I’ll perform a little trick for you, and if it amuses you, you let them go.”

With that, she took a small step forward. Whoosh! Amelia jumped way back, and Gourry put his hand on his sword. I even found myself letting go of the guy I was holding to start an incantation.

Who is this woman? I wondered, but just as I was thinking that...

Rustle!

The leaves in the trees overhead shook in a violent cacophony, then rained down on us en masse, obscuring our vision.

“Bwuh?!”

Sensing a presence behind me, I spun around... And there was Mazenda. I saw her crimson lips curled into a slight smile, then something streak from her right hand. Projectiles? She threw some small objects not at me, but around me. A barrier spell?! I immediately jumped to the side, but...

Crack!

“Ngh!” A numbness ran through me like a mild electric shock. It only lasted a fraction of a second. I had no idea what this trick was, but I wasn’t gonna let it stop me from doing my thing! “Elemekia Lance!”

I unleashed my spell, and for a moment—Huh?—my mind went blank.

“You do appear to be the leader, so... that should cover it,” Mazenda said in a teasing tone before vanishing back into the dancing leaves. “I’m a bit bored, so I’ll play a little game with you. You have to kill me in order to return to normal. If you care to try your hand, come to the village of Mayin.”

The second she was done, there was another massive rustle as all the leaves dropped to the ground at once... leaving me, Amelia, and Gourry standing there dumbfounded. I wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but she’d apparently taken the collapsed bandits with her.

But more importantly... Ahhh! She actually managed to rattle me! I couldn’t believe it!

“They’re gone,” Amelia whispered.

“Are you all right, Lina?!” Gourry called, sheathing his sword before running toward me. His foot hit something on the way. “What’s this?”

He leaned over, staring at whatever-it-was sticking out of the ground. It looked like a red needle, about as long and fine as a piece of thread. He artlessly grabbed it between his fingers and plucked it up. When he did... the stiff needle suddenly turned pliant, indeed, just like thread.

“It’s hair. Probably from that Mazenda lady,” Amelia said.

I looked around again and found four more “needles” staked nearby. That meant, including the one Gourry had just pulled up, she’d planted five of them all told—a pentagram with me at the center.

Damn. Whatever she’d actually thrown had just been a feint. In dodging those, I let my guard down for a split second, allowing her to create the real barrier with her hair... which left me with an important question now.

“What’s wrong, Lina?” Gourry asked.

But I didn’t respond. I simply started chanting a spell. And then...

“Lighting!”

...

“H-Hey! Lina!” Amelia cried, turning completely pale.

“Wha-Wha-What?” Gourry stammered, clearly unsure of what was going on.

Creeeak... I slowly craned my neck toward him and guilelessly confessed the truth.

“I can’t... use magic anymore...”

Aaaaaaaaaaah... In the moment, that was the only sound my mind could produce.

We were now at a small restaurant in some village nearby. We’d dropped in after the whole mess on the road earlier so we could talk things out over a meal, but I was more confused now than ever. I was so beside myself that I only managed to down two dinner specials.

“So... you really can’t use magic?” Gourry asked.

“Seems that way,” Amelia responded on my behalf (I was still too rattled). “Nothing we can do about it now, I guess. The question is what we do next.”

“Well, true... Lina without her magic is...”

“Just a pain in the rear.”

Grr!

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but she is pretty bossy for being so useless now...”

Grr, grr!

“Yeah, she’s got maximum attitude with minimal bustline...”

“Flatline sex appeal, too.”

“Shut up!” I exploded. “How can you say all that crap while I’m suffering over here?!”

“Well... c’mon,” Gourry said, scratching at his head while he exchanged looks with Amelia.

“Don’t get mad, Lina. Master Gourry and I were just trying to cheer you up a little.”

“...Really?” I asked with a sidelong glance at the two of them.

Amelia then waved her hand placatingly and laughed, “Nah!”

“Rrragh!”

“W-Wait! Hold on, Lina! Strangling Amelia won’t solve anything! More importantly, is there a way to get you your magic back?”

“Taking out that Mazenda woman will probably do it... at least, that’s what she implied,” I explained, removing my hands from Amelia’s throat and calmly taking my seat again.

“Then that settles it,” Amelia said, rubbing her neck. “We just go kill her like she said, right? I mean, no need to hold back. She clearly works with bad guys, which makes her a bad guy too.”

Well... at the very least, Mazenda certainly didn’t look like one of the “good guys.”

“But how do we know where she is?” Gourry asked.

“She said it herself: the village of Mayin,” I said with a sigh. “Of course, knowing you, I’m sure you weren’t listening...”

“I was too listening. I just forgot.”

Oh, yeah, because that’s so much better...

“Anyway, it’s not like we have much of a choice,” Amelia interjected. “We’re headed in that direction anyway.”

Gourry and I nodded in unison in response.

“Whaaaaaaaat?!” Amelia shouted, silencing the whole tavern.

We were currently off an old back road that went from Saillune to the Kingdom of Dills by way of Kalmart. We were only two villages away from Mayin now, but the hardest stretch of the journey still lay ahead. Mayin was Mazenda and her gang’s home turf, so we were likely in for a beatdown if we charged in unprepared. We decided, then, to spend the night in this village and gather what information we could about Mayin here at the tavern.

That was when what looked like an old peddler had whispered to us, “You’d better avoid that place.” Amelia had gone over to ask for details, leading to her exclamatory cry when she heard them.

“Hey, watch it! Keep your voice down!” the old man hissed, looking around hurriedly.

“I most certainly shall not! You know that evildoers abound two towns over, yet you haven’t even tried to inform your local lord... Have you no love of justice in your heart?!”

“J-Justice has nothing to do with it! They’re just rumors! If I took baseless hearsay to the authorities, I’d be the one in hot water!”

That was a perfectly rational stance to take, but Amelia wasn’t the type to be swayed by rationality.

“Make no mistake!” she declared as she planted one foot atop a chair, her right hand clenched into a fist. “There’s a mighty evil festering out there!”

“She’s on that tear again, huh?” Gourry muttered coldly as he poked at his roast chicken.

“But I guess some really nutty stuff’s going down in Mayin, huh?”

“I’d put money on it, yeah.”

“Mazenda did invite us there, after all...”

“Hmm, that’s not really what I was thinking.”

“What were you thinking, then?”

“Well...” Gourry paused, scratching his head. “Just that nothing you’ve ever been involved in has been anything less than nutty.”

“Oh, put a sock in it!”

It was just then that Amelia returned with an unusually grim expression on her face.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

“Not here... I’ll explain once we get back to the room,” she replied before silently shoveling down the rest of her meal.

“Okay, Amelia, here we are. Start talking.”

It was now after dinner. Amelia, Gourry, and I had gotten three adjoining rooms at the inn, and we’d gathered in the center one for our tête-à-tête. Here, we could be reasonably assured that no one could listen in, even if we got to talking in our outdoor voices.

“He said it was all just rumors, but...” It was rare to see Amelia falter like this. “The village of Mayin has supposedly become home to... a certain organization.”

“That woman’s bandit gang, right?” Gourry asked, offering up the obvious conclusion.

A mere bandit hideout, however, wouldn’t have Amelia so shaken.

Thus she shook her head and said, “No, a cult... One that Mazenda woman and the bandits are probably members of.”

“A cult?” I whispered, narrowing my eyes.

Amelia groaned a little. “Yeah. According to that guy at the tavern... they worship Shabranigdu.”

“Sh-Shabranigdu?!” I found myself crying out.

Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu, the king of demons said to control all the darkness in our world... and...

“Hush! Keep it down!” Amelia scolded me.

“R-Right, sorry. But are you super sure that’s what he said?”

“Well, like I said, it’s all just rumor. But I dunno who’d come up with a story about a Shabranigdu cult out of whole cloth.”

She had a point there...

“What else you got?”

“That’s it,” she said, simply enough. “All he knew was that word on the street is that Mayin has become a base for worshipers of Shabranigdu, who are up to all kinds of secret, wicked things. He said he didn’t know any more than that. That he didn’t want to.”

“Hmm...” Seemed like we were up to our necks in it again.

“Say, Lina,” Gourry, who had been quiet thus far, finally said. “There’s something I’ve been wondering.”

“What is it?”

“Who’s this ‘Shabrigoo’ guy?”

Hey...

“Shabranigdu, Master Gourry,” Amelia corrected him.

“I mean, it sounds familiar,” he said, abashedly rubbing the back of his head. “But I have a really hard time with long names like that.”

“Gourryyy...”

“Wh-What, Lina? You look unhappy about something...”

“You bet I am! Are you seriously telling me you don’t remember Shabranigdu?!”

“Well, uh...”

“Well what?! Remember? The Ruby-Eye? The Dark Lord? Shabranigdu, man!”

After a long pause, Gourry clapped his hands together and exclaimed, “Oh, oh. Yeah, yeah. I totally remember him.”

Liar!

I ignored him and turned back to Amelia.

“What does Shabranigdu-worship actually entail, though? It’s not like they can call up the Dark Lord and have a symposium with him as a guest or anything...”

“Nobody knows,” she replied. “People are just saying it’s your standard evil cult that promises the Dark Lord will fulfill your deepest desires in exchange for your service. There’s sacrifices, violence, the whole deal.”

“Hmm... That checks out, I guess. Explains why we’ve got otherwise normal villagers dressing up as masked bandits: they’re trying to scrape up funds for their cult. If that’s what’s really going on here though, it means we’re up against an entire organization.”

“Bring it on!” Amelia said, clenching her fists. “Fiends who sell their souls to darkness and forsake the ways of light... I do not fear the hundreds or thousands their legions may number! So long as we carry goodness in our hearts, victory shall be ours!”

“Except... Lina can’t use magic right now, which is a problem.”

“Oh, speaking of,” I said and began chanting a spell. “Lighting!”

I held up my palm, in which a faint ball of light appeared... then abruptly went out.

“Was that...?” Amelia whispered.

I nodded in response: “It seems like the seal on my magic is weakening over time. But that’s the best I can manage for now, even for a Lighting spell. I couldn’t even conjure a breeze as far as attack magic goes.”

“But doesn’t that mean it’ll just come back on its own?” Gourry asked, earning a sigh from me.

“Come on... You know how many years that’d take? Besides, there’s no guarantee it’d ever completely get back to normal.”

“Oh. So, basically, you still can’t do squat.”

Yeah, “basically,” but jeez...

“A-Anyway, we need to do some recon. We’ll set up a home base in the next village or somewhere else nearby and gather as much intel as we can in the area around Mayin. Thanks in advance, Gourry. Boy, you’re really taking one for the team this time.”

“Wait, why am I the one doing it?!”

“Silly. They already know what we look like, so we’ll have to work under the cover of night.”

“And?”

“Everyone knows lovely ladies need their beauty rest,” I explained as Amelia nodded emphatically.

“...Hey...”

“So thanks for being our designated scout!”

“Wait a minute! You want me to scour the mountains alone, at night, for who-knows-how-long?!”

“Oho! How astute of you, Gourry.”

“Don’t ‘oho’ me! I’d be dead within a week! You can’t stick this on me without my say-so! It’s not fair!” Gourry continued to complain.

“All right, all right,” I said, scratching my head thoughtfully. “If you insist, we’ll give you a say. No objections to that, right?”

“No... I guess not,” he said with a reluctant shake of his head.

Heh. Sucker.

“Okay, let’s vote! Who thinks it’s a good idea to send Gourry? Raise your hand!” My hand shot up, quickly followed by Amelia’s. “Then it’s decided! Good luck, my man!”

“You guyyys!”

“C’mon, no whining. We voted on it fair and square.”

“But...”

“Master Gourry.” Amelia, with a solemn expression, patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, but that’s how democracy works.”

In fact, this was just the tyranny of the majority. Gourry tearfully swallowed back his objections, but then suddenly...

“Ha... bwaha... hahahahaha!” He snapped out of his despair into a mad fit of laughter. “Lina, you fool! You’ve overlooked a fatal flaw in your plan!”

“Wh-What?!”

“If you send me alone, I won’t be able to tell what’s suspicious from what isn’t! You think I can do a proper recon job on my own?!”

“C-Curses! T-To think you were so self-aware... You’re a fearsome foe indeed, Gourry! You’ve grown since I met you!”

“Too bad your chest hasn’t!”

“You little...”

I was about to put up a fight when—Bam!—our door burst open.

“Excuse me, ladies and gentleman... could you please keep it down?” the rather exasperated innkeeper asked.

After apologizing, we ended up deciding a scouting rotation via rock, paper, scissors.

Torches flickered in the dark, illuminating several hundred masked figures in assembly.

“This is a little more than I was expecting...” I observed in a whisper.

We were currently in the mountains not too far from Mayin. The ruins here were secreted away amongst the trees. The place was dilapidated with age, but it had probably been quite a venue in its heyday. A round building lined with spectator seats fanned out around a central arena. The upper rows were mostly caved in, so the masked group was sticking to the lower sections.

Gourry, Amelia, and I were perched high in the crumbling cheap seats along the structure’s outer edge. It would’ve been impossible to get up to them without a Levitation spell, which explained why there were no lookouts in this section. No one would ever spot us over here in the dark, hidden amid the rubble.

Amelia had found this place last night, and we’d all come back together to find this mysterious assembly gathering.

“It doesn’t look like that many to me...” Gourry whispered from next to me.

“In terms of sheer numbers, no. But as far as population density is concerned, it’s a pretty serious gathering for a remote area like this.”

“It flies in the face of goodness!” Amelia whispered on Gourry’s other side. “To think an evil cult has drawn so many followers... Is there no justice in these lands?!”

While she was rambling on, the energy among the masked attendees changed. A cheer rose up among them.

“Someone’s come out!” Gourry said, reporting the obvious.

Five figures had appeared in the arena from what was probably the fighters’ entrance. They were dressed in vermilion capes and robes, carrying ceremonial longswords with crimson-stained blades. Only one of them had their face visible. The remaining four wore masks the same color as their robes, which looked professionally made rather than the makeshift ones their followers were wearing.

The bare-faced man walked out into the center of the arena, while the others stayed five or six paces away. Each one took up a position at the four cardinal directions around him—north, south, east, and west.

“The five lieutenants,” Amelia whispered like the words left a bad taste in her mouth.

Ah, of course...

“The five whats?” Gourry asked me, for some reason.

“The five high-rank demons that Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu created.” Granted, I don’t know if that’s fact or fiction, I added internally.

“Okay, so, the four in a circle correspond to the directions associated with Chaos Dragon, Deep Sea, Dynast, and Greater Beast. That makes the one at the center Hellmaster,” Amelia explained helpfully.

Hellmaster Fibrizo, who could freely manipulate the astral plane, was the strongest of the five. So... did that mean that man was the cult leader? He looked like a pretty scrawny third-rate evil sorcerer to me. Not an ounce of charisma.

“Gentlemen!” he bellowed with a fairly deep, surprisingly penetrating voice. “We’ve received good tidings this day. Lord Klotz shall soon return!”

Another cheer rang out through the arena. This “Klotz” figure was probably the cult leader, and the guy giving the speech was just his stand-in.

“I’ve also received word that he’s found what he was looking for!” the man continued with passion as the buzz in the crowd increased. “No one can stop us now! Be warned, hypocrites who worship Flare Dragon Ceipheed! True power—true human desire—lies with us!”

Hey, hey, hey now! I found myself peering at Amelia. Thankfully, she was hanging her head sulkily. She hadn’t lost her temper.

The man continued still, “The natural state of existence is chaos! In other words, evil! Those fools who refuse to acknowledge this—”

There, Amelia suddenly stood up.

Wait a minute...

“Burst Rondo!” she incanted, sending a dozen or so balls of light raining down on the gathering all at once.

Bwoom!

“Gwaaah!”

“Hyeeeee!”

“Yaaaaargh!”

Tongues of flame rose into the air with the screams. I cradled my head in my hands. Darn it! Amelia hadn’t been sulking... she’d been quietly reciting an attack spell! Jeez, girl! If you’re gonna go all rampage-y, at least gimme a warning!

Nevertheless, while the spell she’d used had the appearance of multiple Fireballs going off at once, each one was relatively weak. (I mean, if one hit you dead-on, you could still expect a full-body fry, I’m sure.) This impressive-looking but low-powered spell was Amelia’s open declaration of war.

“Ah... over there!”

“Someone’s here! What were the lookouts doing?!”

When the cultists noticed us—“Lighting!”—Amelia tossed a magical light up over her head.

“Heed me, servants of darkness!” Amelia began as if reciting poetry. “No matter what falsehoods you string together, there is but one truth! If even a shred of light remains in your heart, you must reconsider the path you tread! Choose righteousness, and choose it of your own free will!”

Noble words, but they weren’t gonna work on anyone here...

“Get her!”

See?

On the sickly-looking ringleader’s orders, his disciples charged us. They’d never make it up here on their own, but there was still no point in standing around waiting for them to come.

“Amelia, Gourry! It’s time to split!”

“Why? We should take them on—”

“Terrain disadvantage,” I said, interrupting her. “If just one of them can use attack magic, they could knock this structure out from under us! While you’re chanting a spell of your own, no less!”

“But, but... to turn my back on evil...”

“Retreat, regroup, and retaliate when we’re ready! That’s how heroes roll, right?”

“Yes, you’re quite right!” Amelia replied before quickly beginning a chant. “Levitation!”

Good thing she was easy to manipulate! Her spell carried the three of us up into the air.

“Magic?!”

“Curses! Don’t let them escape! Outside!” the masked men rabbled.

“Hurry, Amelia!”

“I’m trying!”

Gourry rushing her wasn’t helping. Levitation had good mobility, but it was fairly slow. It wasn’t exactly sluggish, but its top speed wasn’t much faster than a brisk walk. By the time we landed, our pursuers were already in view some distance behind us.

“Get into the forest!” Amelia shouted.

She then made a break for it without waiting for a response. Gourry and I followed after her. The masked men pursued, shouting such classics as “There they are!” and “Get them!” (Not that they were obligated to come up with fresh new lines in a situation like this.) Amelia left the path, darting between trees.

“Hands, guys!” she called.

Gourry and I willingly took her outstretched hands. She then launched into an incantation. Wait, I knew this one—

“Dark Mist!” she cried.

As the name suggested, the spell shrouded us in a shadowy haze. Visibility was virtually zero. You couldn’t see outside from within it, nor inside from without. It was the signature move of a certain assassin who’d targeted me once...

“When did you learn that, Amelia?!”

“It seemed pretty useful, so I’ve been working on it in secret.”

“D’aww... You make me wanna cry. What initiative! Gourry, you could learn from her.”

“Oh, c’mon. That’s—”

“Thataway! I can hear them!” came the voice of a pursuer, interrupting whatever Gourry was going to say. That shut us all up.

“Over here! I’m sure I heard voices from this direction!”

“What’s going on? What’s that giant black thing?!”

All the Dark Mist spell did was create a zone of darkness... but from the outside, in torchlight, I bet it did look like a massive black monster. It was frankly pretty suspicious!

“Inside... No, it’s too dark to see! It’s some kind of spell!”

“Ugh! Someone call Lady Mazenda!”

“She should be at the temple...”

Thus, while our pursuers fretted over the Dark Mist decoy, we made our escape in earnest.

“Hey, Lina, just how far do we have to flee?” Gourry asked about the time we passed the second village after Mayin.

“Yeah, it’s almost noon... We’d better take a break somewhere...” Amelia whimpered, sounding exhausted. There were huge bags under her eyes.

“All right... we’ll take a load off in the next town.”

Of course, I was pretty tired myself. We’d walked through the night and then some to make our escape. Gourry was the only one of us who still looked alive on his feet. I wanted to put as much distance between us and the enemy as we could. Obviously, hiding out in the forest would have made it the hardest for our enemy to track us. But neither me or Amelia wanted to camp, so that was off the table.

“All that aside, Lina. Retreating and regrouping is fine, but how exactly are we supposed to retaliate now?” the spent Amelia asked.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to just plow on through and finish ’em off there?” Gourry offered.

Amelia nodded in agreement. The lack of sleep was clearly affecting her judgment.

“What good would crushing one little cultist gathering do? Their leader wasn’t even there.”

“That wasn’t their main base?!”

“Oh, please... Gourry, what kind of secret organization would make an obvious place like that their hideout? Even if it was secreted away in the trees, anyone who took a casual stroll through the mountains would’ve stumbled across that thing. Besides, someone even said Mazenda was ‘at the temple,’ remember?”

“D-Did someone say that?”

“Yes! And Mazenda didn’t come after us when Amelia attacked, meaning she wasn’t there at the time. Meaning their so-called temple is somewhere else. Meaning...”

“That wasn’t their home base after all...”

“Bingo. Now, as for our plans moving forward, step one is defeating Mazenda and getting my magic back. You listening, Gourry?”

“Er...”

Yep, totally not listening.

“Come on, dude.”

“Wait, Lina, Amelia’s...”

“Amelia’s what?”

I turned to look, and... she was staggered some way behind us at a dead stop. Gourry ran back for her quickly.

“She’s okay!” he called. “She just fell asleep on her feet.”

Hey, now...

“Seems like she was really beat. Let’s just leave her be for a bit.”

“Hold your horses! We can’t ‘leave her be’ in a place like this! C’mon! Amelia! Wake up, Amelia!”

I walked over and shook her a few times before she finally opened her eyes.

“Ah... Lina?”

“Not good at all-nighters, huh, Amelia?”

“Yeah... I just can’t... really take the... zzz...”

I figured.

“Welp, looks like you’re carrying her, Gourry.”

“Zzz... Zzz...”

“Hey! Don’t you pretend to be asleep on me, big guy! Darn it... we don’t have time for this now!”

“No... we really don’t,” Gourry said, suddenly snapping into serious mode. He’d even drawn his sword.

I sensed the presence a moment after he did... I must have been more tired than I thought.

“An enemy?” Amelia asked, waking as she noticed it too.

Then came a rustling from amongst the trees nearby.

“Lina, listen closely,” Gourry said in a quiet voice. “Take Amelia and get out of here. I’ll hold them off.”

“Wait! Hang on, Gourry! Where’s this coming from?”

“They seem to be an exceptional opponent. You can’t use magic and Amelia is exhausted. I can probably make it out alive on my own, at least, but...”

“My, what fine instincts you have,” called a reedy male voice from between the trees. I looked in that direction, but saw nothing.

“A good villain would show himself!” Amelia shouted, but the voice ignored her.

“Picking a fight with our organization, even while we were away, was indeed rather bold... Too bad for you we returned shortly after you ruined the rally. Of course, you’d have died either way... Heh heh heh.”

“Gilfa, don’t tell them all that,” said another voice, its speaker stepping forward.

It was a werebeast. He looked a little like a lizardman, but there were some subtle differences. There was a rather large hump on his back, suggesting he was a fusion of human and black whorl snake. He stood about a head taller than Gourry and was carrying a naked greatsword in one hand.

“Heh heh heh. Don’t be rude, Vedul. I want them to know who it is that’s about to kill them,” the still unseen voice of Gilfa chuckled.

“Why bother? We were merely ordered to track down and kill them. That’s all we need to do,” Vedul replied as he slowly approached.

At that, Gourry swiftly sheathed his sword and withdrew a pin from his pocket.

He’s going straight for the Sword of Light?!

The Sword of Light was the legendary weapon that had slain Zanaffar, the beast that had destroyed Sairaag, once known as the City of Magic. The sword magically formed a blade by channeling the will of its wielder—a blade powerful enough to cut down even demons. Unbelievable as it might seem, Gourry was the proud heir to this fabled weapon. The fact that he was resorting to it right off the bat suggested these two foes weren’t to be trifled with.

“Be careful, Lina! Amelia!” Gourry called without taking his eyes off Vedul. “There’s three of them! Don’t let your guard down!”

Huh?!

“Oho! Incredible. You hear that, Vedul? He was able to sense Grouz in hiding there,” Gilfa said, his voice calm as could be...

Except it sounded like it was coming from where Vedul was standing. I squinted in the midday sun, but all I could see was the lizardman there. It didn’t look like ventriloquism either, so where in the world was Gilfa?

Vedul’s body pulsed, filling with power. Just then...

“Flare Arrow!” Amelia suddenly struck, apparently having been chanting a spell all this time.

Vrrroosh! Seemingly caught off guard, Vedul took several of the arrows. But the moment he did, he charged straight for Gourry!

“Light, come forth!” the blond swordsman roared, drawing his brilliant blade in one smooth motion.

He then slashed through both Vedul’s greatsword and Vedul himself... or... he should have.

“Tch!” Instead, he drew back with a large gash across his iron serpent scale breastplate.

“Hah! Look, Vedul! The Sword of Light! I don’t know how skilled he is with it, but it’s superior to any sword you might carry. It could even cut through my shadows!” Gilfa’s voice rang out, so cheerfully it was uncanny.

It seemed the moment Gourry drew the Sword of Light, multiple blades of darkness had lashed out from Vedul’s shadow on the ground. As he drew back, Gourry had used the Sword of Light to bat them away... and Vedul’s greatsword had grazed him in the process.

“They seemed to be surprised too, however... I’m sorry to say you’ll need better spells than that to harm Vedul here. He’s just built that tough.”

Did he have natural magic resistance on par with a lesser demon? I’d fought a werebeast like that before...

“Shut up,” the lizardman said, scolding Gilfa again for his loquaciousness.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Vedul. If I hadn’t used my shadows just now, you’d be missing your sword. It may not have been the only casualty, either...”

Wait... Was Gilfa a shadowmaster?!

“Even if you’re right, I have no way to repay the favor.”

“Well, that much is true...”

As the two bickered, Vedul again rushed Gourry. But Gilfa... even if he was a shadowmaster, was it really possible to talk through someone’s shadow like that?

“His shadow, Master Gourry!” Amelia called out.

“Got it!” Gourry responded without missing a beat.

He then charged forward, thrusting the Sword of Light at Vedul’s shadow on the ground. No, Gourry! He had it back up a second later, catching a descending strike from Vedul on the backswing. He sliced the greatsword right in half, but the second he did... the werebeast buried his left fist in Gourry’s gut!

“Gah!”

“Gourry!”

Gourry flew back with Vedul in hot pursuit. He managed to right himself and ready the Sword of Light almost instantly. This time, he was the one driving Vedul back. Dude’s sword was useless now, after all.

“Goodness... Watch yourself, Vedul. We’ll have to ask Grouz for help at this rate.”

“I think we must,” the werebeast said with a grim nod.

“Was I wrong?!” Amelia gasped. She’d apparently thought that Gilfa was literally hiding in Vedul’s shadow...

“Lina! Amelia! Get going already! I can sort this out on my own!” Gourry shouted, blood trickling from his mouth.

“But—”

“It’s just a cut on my lip! I’m fine! Now go!”

“All right...” I managed to eke out.

“Lina?!” Amelia shouted.

“We’re not doing any good here! Your support spells aren’t working, and I... I’m just a burden!”

That was the cold truth. With my magic sealed away, I was dead weight.

“Lina...” she echoed.

“Gourry! We’re going!”

“Good! Be safe and I’ll see you soon! Amelia, watch out for Lina!” Gourry said, then smiled confidently at Vedul. “Now, let’s continue. And you might as well call him out... this third member of your team.”

“Very well! Come out, Grouz!”

At Vedul’s cry, something came flying out of the forest... but Amelia and I never saw what.

“Lina...”

“...”

Amelia and I were making our way through the woods. We’d left Gourry behind and followed the main road for a while before entering this forest along the way.

“Lina?”

“Oh... sorry, I’m just feeling kind of muddled,” I responded, my voice hushed. “I just... need to figure out what to do.”

I needed to find a way to beat Mazenda and get my magic back. She seemed too tough for me to beat in any mundane fashion. And if I sent Amelia after her, she’d just end up like me. We needed Gourry for any plausible anti-Mazenda strategies.

“Anyway... Anyway, let’s hide out awhile and wait for our chance to find Gourry. I’m sure he’s fine. We just need to regroup.”

“Sorry, but I won’t give you the time,” called a familiar voice from in front of us.

“Ugh!” I bit my lip.

A red robe and matching cape... It was the guy who’d led the assembly last night. His face was unassuming, but I couldn’t get a read on his skill.

“Despite how I look, I, Balgumon, am the organization’s number two... You humiliated me by pulling that stunt on my watch, so I’ll prove myself by destroying you personally.”

“The organization’s number two,” huh? So they didn’t think of themselves as a cult...

“Thanks but no thanks,” I said, drawing my shortsword.

Despite appearances, I’m pretty decent with a blade. I could take four or five normal guys without even busting out the old spellbook. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but if this guy was just your average sorcerer, I figured I stood a pretty good chance against him.

Okay! Let’s make it happen!

“Amelia! Support me!” I shouted as I ran at the guy. I could hear her chanting behind me—chanting a spell I knew quite well.

Ah, so that’s what she’s up to...

“Heh! Try me!” Balgumon cried, beginning a chant of his own.

Amelia finished first, releasing her spell at my back.

“Die!” I screamed as I jumped at Balgumon.

An instant later, the area was swallowed in a searing flash of light.

“Ugh!” Balgumon wailed as his retinas were scorched.

Amelia had let loose a maximum-brightness, zero-duration Lighting spell behind me. I’d anticipated her move, and ducked to the side just as I reached Balgumon. Nice one! The moment the light receded, I closed the rest of the distance. Got him! I swung my shortsword with perfect timing (if I do say so myself)... but only caught air.

“What?!” Balgumon, despite the fact that he should’ve been blinded, dodged me effortlessly.

Flustered, I moved to pursue. He pulled back, as if he really could see me, and began another chant. Maybe he was just pretending to have lost his sight? But if that were the case, why didn’t he take advantage of it and fight back?

“Lina!”

The moment I heard Amelia’s voice, I felt an approaching threat overhead...

“Ngh!”

I jumped to the side just as a flash of something silver whizzed straight down to the right of my face. If I’d been a single second later, my head would’ve been split like a watermelon.

“There’s another one of you?!” I shouted, getting some distance in a panic.

“Tch. Didn’t finish her.”

My attacker was a werebeast brandishing a longsword. He resembled a werewolf, but there were some slight differences. Probably a mix of a few different species.

“Feltis, eh? Don’t interfere,” Balgumon boasted, interrupting his own spell again.

“Are your eyes all right?”

“Yeah. I can make out shapes now.”

As they spoke, the werebeast gradually closed in on me while Balgumon drew back.

“Ugh! Amelia! Now’s not the time to be shy!” I called.

“Understood!” she called back, starting another chant.

All right, it was time to bring out the big guns! But now... Balgumon was dashing full-speed at Amelia. Was he really only pretending to be blinded?!

“Amelia!”

The werebeast had me checked, so I couldn’t move to help her. She was just gonna have to tough this one out on her own! She aborted the spell she was chanting, struck a fighting pose...

“Don’t worry, Lina! I can handle a common villain or two! I’ll show him the power of justice— Urgh!”

...And promptly lost consciousness as she took a knee to the gut from Balgumon. So much for toughing it out! Damn!

“Don’t move!” Balgumon threatened, grabbing her from behind.

Okay, what now? C’mon, Lina, think...

“How naive,” I said, opting for the bluff. “I know, even if I listen to you, you’re still gonna kill me in the end anyway... so do you really think I’m just gonna do what you say?”

At my words, a smile appeared on Balgumon’s face. “Hold on, now. I have another option for you. But first, let me ask you this. Are you the sorcerer whose magic Mazenda sealed?”

“That’s right,” I answered, still keeping my sword up.

“One other thing, then. This girl called you Lina... Would you be Lina Inverse?”

“Most likely,” I said casually enough.

Not to brag, but my reputation precedes me. I get this kind of thing all the time. As a beautiful first-rate swordsman and virtuoso sorcerer who crushes evil and saves the weak, you bet I’m famous! (Whoops! I ended up bragging!)

“In that case... I’ll spare your life. I’ll also talk to Mazenda and have the seal removed. In exchange, you’re going to help us out.”

Ah. I knew this was coming...

“Hmm...” I mumbled.

I’d personally rather die than work with these jerks, but I couldn’t just let them kill Amelia. Moreover, getting myself killed here with her wouldn’t benefit anyone... That left me no other option. I took a breath, opened my mouth, and—

“Ah, I finally caught you. I’ve been looking everywhere, Master Feltis,” called a lilting voice from behind me.

“It’s you! That damned monk! I can’t believe you chased me down this far!” Feltis roared.

Whoa, he sounded big mad. Just who was he talking to?