Slayers - Volume 5 - Chapter 4

4: The Silver Beast Reborn

“Za...” We were struck dumb again. D-Did he just say the anti-magic armor Zanaffar?! “Hey, Zel! This isn’t what you told us!”

“Like I’m some expert!”

Well, fair enough. But if, as Duclis was claiming, “Zanaffar” was simply armor that could repel magic attacks, then that was great news for us. There were plenty of tricks for getting around armor. But either way, for now, we had to do our best with the fight at hand! If we couldn’t beat Duclis, we could at least defeat the other werebeasts and bust our way outta here. Granted, that would be a heck of a lot easier if Xellos would pull his weight...

That’s not to say he wasn’t serving a purpose, however. Ever since the battle began, he’d been mockingly shouting things like “Whoops!” and “Almost got me!” and “Oh, you’re so strong!” while lithely dodging every blow the werebeasts could throw at him. He was doing it all with that same cheerful grin on his face, which had to be getting under a few of the werebeasts’ skin.

“Shut up! Quit messing around!” and “Stand still and let us kill you!” they jeered while chopping at Xellos in annoyance. There were probably over ten guys going at him, which meant he was keeping over half of our attackers occupied all by himself. That was nothing to sneeze at, of course, but I wished he’d do a little more. Still, it wasn’t like I could call out and say, “Just finish this, would you?” There was no telling what he’d get up to. He might blow the town away right along with the werebeasts.

Okay, man, just keep dodging for a while... The ease with which he was evading all their attacks was honestly impressive. Nevertheless, I didn’t have time to sit back and watch Xellos dance. I was in better shape than he was, but I was still contending with a three-on-one myself. And one of the three I was up against was Duclis in his apparently anti-magic armor...

“Hah!” a werebeast with a bug-like face clamored as he swung his sword down at me.

“What?!” I exclaimed, blocking his sword with mine.

These guys were indeed inferior to Vedul in terms of swordplay... They were each maybe as good as me in a one-on-one fight, but this buggy guy leaned into me hard when we locked swords. I wanted to duck away and leap back, but every time I tried, he kept pressing me. And then...

Whoosh! Another hand suddenly protruded from the werebeast’s torso—holding a small blade!

“Ack!”

I kicked a foot into his solar plexus and used the recoil to spring backward. As I did, though, the knife cut lightly into my right leg. It wasn’t a mortal wound or anything, but it sure did smart! While dodging a blow from another charging werebeast, I began chanting a spell.

“Not so fast!” shouted yet another, slashing at me.

These guys are so annoying! Someone gimme a break!

Just as I thought that—Ker-wham!—my assailant slammed into the ground with an oh-so satisfying thud. Amelia! She’d caught the werebeast in the head with a kick. I shot her a friendly thumbs-up, then managed to unleash the spell I’d been working on chanting...

“Vu Vrima!”

Vrumm! The ground rumbled, swelled, and formed a humanoid figure—a golem. The spell I’d cast called upon earth spirits to shape clay into a bipedal automaton that served my command. It stood about twice as tall as the werebeasts.

“Wugh?!” they gulped when they saw it.

“Go, go, golem!” I cried.

“Krrsh...”

With a sound like the scraping of rock, it brought a fist down on the nearest werebeast. Slam! Not even a werebeast could shake off a blow like that! Poor guy was out like a light.

One down!

“Hah! It’s powerful enough!” Duclis shouted, charging the golem at full speed.

“Get ’im, golem!”

“Krrsh...” Responding to my order(?), the golem raised its fist at Duclis.

“But,” he continued, “it’s too slow!”

Crash! One strike from his battleaxe shattered my makeshift fighter.

Jeez, just how strong is this guy?!

Zelgadis was now charging straight at Duclis. Talk about reckless! But instead of slashing at him, he leaped to the side, slipped past Duclis, and went for the half-demon behind him. Was the charge at Duclis just a feint, then?

“Saw you coming leagues away!” the half-demon cried with a cackle as he swung his sword at Zel. But...

“Ra Tilt!” Zel cried out, engulfing the half-demon in blue flame. He then ran right past the collapsing half-demon and took a swing at the werebeast behind him.

“Wuh?!”

This double-feint took the unsuspecting werebeast by complete surprise. He still managed to parry Zelgadis’s first swing, but his second strike cut the beast clean through.

Three down!

I’d already started chanting my next spell when the bugman came flying at me once more. This frickin’ guy! I blocked with my sword again, integrating a trip maneuver into my footwork and quickly retreating backward while the bugman tried to regain his balance.

Before he could, however, Amelia landed a Ra Tilt. Vwoosh! That made four of ’em down, but a few of the werebeasts Xellos was toying with had finally realized how badly the fight was going. They were now peeling off of him and heading our way.

Okay, yeah, this was gonna be rough. Meanwhile...

“Whew!” Amelia spryly dodged a roundhouse kick from Duclis. But then... Crack! She still went flying into the ground.

A tail?!

The same moment she’d dodged the kick, a tail—I don’t know if it belonged to Duclis or “Zanaffar”—had hit her square in the chest. She immediately sprang back to her feet, but the blow seemed to have done a number on her. Duclis raised his battleaxe high as Zelgadis silently approached from behind.

“Heh!” Duclis scoffed as his axe cut a smooth flash of an arc through the air.

Zing! A hard, metallic sound rang out... and Zel’s broadsword snapped in half.

This wasn’t good. The tide seemed to be turning against us.

Maybe... should I use that on Duclis while his guard’s down?!

The talismans’ power meant it was within my reach now, but it still came with a number of problems. Moreover, it wouldn’t do us any good if I couldn’t land the hit...

“Tch!”

While I was hesitating, Zel let out a short cry and took off in a dash toward the half-demon he’d taken out with Ra Tilt earlier. I imagined he was going for the guy’s sword, but...

“Not a chance!”

A lupine beastman leaped in his way with a flash of his blade. Zelgadis just barely managed to block it with what was left of his broken broadsword. Amelia and I wanted badly to help him, but we both had our hands full with other werebeasts.

Worse yet, Duclis was now charging Zel from behind!

“Zel!”

He seemed to realize the attack was coming, but he still couldn’t get out of the way. Not good! The battleaxe sliced through the air, and...

Zing!

“Huh?!”

For the first time, Duclis was the one forced to retreat. His battleaxe was now bisected just below the head, reducing the haft in his hands to nothing more than a staff.

“What—?!” he called out in surprise as the werewolf Zel was tangling with fell lifelessly to the ground, cut in two by a beam of light.

“You sure took your sweet time getting here, eh?” Zelgadis said with an awkward smile.

“I like to make a flashy entrance now and then,” responded Gourry with perfect confidence. “Let’s go!”

Gourry jumped straight at Duclis with the Sword of Light already drawn and glowing.

“Geh!” With a panicked cry, Duclis withdrew even further.

Gourry didn’t pursue. Instead, he changed course and began slicing his way toward a few other nearby werebeasts.

The situation turned on a dime. Gourry’s skill was nothing to sneeze at, but the biggest boon of all was the Sword of Light. Any sword that tried to parry it ended up in pieces. It was like he was tapping all his pent-up energy from being out of the fight for so long as he eagerly cut through one after another.

“You think you have this now, do you?!” Duclis howled, tossing aside his battleaxe-turned-staff.

He then raised his right hand high and—Vrum!—a streak of light exploded from his clenched fist! I-It couldn’t be! The Sword of Light?! That was certainly what it looked like as it manifested in Duclis’s hand...

“Think again!” he cried, taking off after Gourry.

The werebeast’s Sword of Light tore through the air, and their brilliant blades clashed! Vwoosh!

“What?!”

In the end... Duclis’s shattered and Gourry’s went on to slice through the werebeast’s arm and torso.

We really did have this clinched now. With Duclis off the board, the other werebeasts didn’t have much holding them together. We took out a few more, then the remaining handful fled for the hills. The only ones left were scattered about, and not many were still breathing.

One of them was Duclis. He’d lost his right arm and there was a gash halfway through his stomach, but he was—just barely—alive.

Understandably kneeling, he looked at me and asked, “What is... that weapon?”

“The legendary Sword of Light,” I answered.

The werebeast smiled faintly.

“I see... If Zanaffar is real... of course the Sword of Light is too. But what a weapon it is... It can even cut through light itself. That’s not really fair, is it?” With that, he coughed up a gob of blood. “You’re... after Master Klotz, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“You fell for their trap. The new base is to the south of Mayin... past the lake. There’s a shortcut... but we made you take the long way.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I don’t know... but I think... maybe I like you.” There, Duclis coughed up another gob of blood. The light was fading from his eyes. “Just... be careful. Grouz’s Zanaffar... is even more...”

He then fell to the ground with a heavy thud, and Duclis the werebeast was no more.

“So you knew that guy?” Amelia asked.

“Well...”

I wasn’t quite sure what to say. But Duclis’s final words troubled me. “Grouz’s Zanaffar”? Was he saying there was another Zanaffar out there?! And that it was even more what? While I was thinking all that over...

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Gourry exclaimed, plopping a hand on my head.

Wham! I tossed an uppercut straight into his jaw.

“Wha... What was that for?!”

“What do you think?! Darn it... Where the heck have you been?!”

“Huh, where else? Looking for you and Amelia.”

“Ohhhhh reeeally... Then let me ask you a question.” I siiidled up next to Gourry. “It would be one thing for you to show up where we got separated, or even in Mayin where the enemy base was... so what the heck are you doing showing up here in this total red herring of a place?!”

“Oh! That’s it!” Gourry clapped his hands in sudden realization.

“What’s it?”

“Mayin! See, after we got separated, I managed to give those werebeast guys the slip. Then I searched the area but couldn’t find anyone. I was gonna head back to the village where their base was... But, heck of a thing... I ended up forgetting what it was called and where it was! So after wandering awhile, I just sorta ended up here...”

Whap! I swatted Gourry in the head with a slipper.

“How’d you manage to get lost on a simple straight road?! Do you realize what your goo-for-brains antics have put me through?!”

“H-Hey! Wait a minute!”

“Don’t even try to make excuses!”

“No, not that! I just wanna know where you got the slipper!”

“My pocket!”

“Why do you have a slipper in your pocket?!”

“I thought something like this might happen, so I swiped it from an inn a while back!”

“You thought... what might happen?”

There was a moment’s silence, and then Amelia chimed in: “Hey, Lina! We don’t have time for couple’s therapy right now!”

“Couple’s therapy?!”

“Didn’t that werebeast say that their base was outside of Mayin?”

“Yeah... I think he said south, past the lake...”

“I see. So that’s where it was,” Xellos said, chiming in next. He then turned and gave us a short bow. “I suppose it’s time we went our separate ways.”

“What? Why?!” I asked.

With his trademark smile, he replied, “I pray you won’t get the wrong idea. You and Master Zelgadis may be comrades in arms, but the extent of my relationship with the two of you is no more than ‘not enemies.’ Before now, Klotz had quite a force on his side and I didn’t know where his new base was... But I’m afraid Master Zelgadis and I are ultimately after the same thing—the manuscript. I have no intention of letting him have it, and I do believe the feeling is mutual, no?”

“Depends on what’s in it, actually,” Zelgadis responded sulkily.

Hearing that, Xellos nodded as if in satisfaction.

“Which means that we are now in competition for it, and it would behoove us all to call off this pointless charade of pretending to be the dearest of friends.” Perhaps taking our silence as passive assent, he added, “Now, I really must be going.”

There, he turned and disappeared around a corner, indifferent to all our stares.

“H-Hey!” I ran after him and... came to a stop at the corner. The black-clad priest was already gone.

“Is it just me,” Zel whispered from behind me, “or is he going to be the hardest part of all this?”

It was two more days before we made it back to Mayin after that, so six days total since Klotz and his gang started this wild goose chase. But we’d at least collected Gourry, who possessed the Sword of Light.

“The question now is how we go at this...”

We were currently having a strategy meeting in the underbrush in front of the enemy’s new base. Duclis’s dying confession had turned out to be spot on, as we found more partly-buried ruins beside a large lake to the south of Mayin. Probably also from Letidius’s heyday.

There was no sign of lookouts outside. Was it a trap, or had they simply let their guard down?

“Surely Klotz’s forces must be greatly diminished, but...” Zelgadis said in a low voice.

“All the more reason to expect a trap,” I concluded. “I don’t trust the fact that there’s no one standing watch.”

“But we just gotta do it, right?” Gourry said bluntly.

“Well, true enough, but... Oh, I know! What about this?! We have Gourry charge his buns in there, and if he doesn’t come right back out, I pound the place with Dragon Slaves!”

“Hey, sounds good to me.”

“No objections.”

“You guys... I’m crying here...”

Chill, man. I’m joking... mostly.

“Still, we can’t use any of our big attack spells indoors...” I said, but stopped short. The next instant...

Roarrr! A Fireball came ripping out of nowhere! Naturally, the four of us scattered.

I looked in the direction the Fireball had come from and saw five men in red robes standing there. Four of them were werebeasts, and the fifth...

“Sorry, but it’s high time I be rid of you lot.”

“He’s finally here! The evil vice cult leader!” Amelia thundered.

“Humanity is beyond good and evil... All that matters is strength and weakness. Though simpletons like you wouldn’t understand that!” Balgumon said, breaking into a run.

He was making a beeline for... Gourry?! Was this old guy crazy or something?!

Whoosh! The silver of blades glinted through the air—three of them at once. And incredibly...

“Huh?!” Gourry was the one who cried out and leaped away.

It seemed unbelievable. But in fact, Balgumon and his two swords had pushed Gourry back. Hang on... was this guy not a sorcerer?! Now that I thought about it, that made a lot of sense...

“I recently received word of Duclis’s defeat!” he shouted, still slicing at Gourry. “I was told all about how he revealed our location to you, and all about your annoying sword as well! But it won’t do you any good if you don’t live long enough to draw it!”

Balgumon’s skill was genuinely incredible. To be honest, I could barely follow the back-and-forth between the two fighters... Gourry’s swordsmanship was near superhuman, but this guy was hardly giving him any room to breathe.

I wanted to help out, but the rest of us were already engaged with the four werebeasts. And even if we weren’t, it would’ve been pretty awkward to cut in the kind of badass battle that had even Gourry struggling.

No, wait! I know!

“Zel! Amelia!” I called, repelling a strike from a charging werebeast with my shortsword. “Buy me some time! I’m gonna blow up their base with a Dragon Slave!”

“Wait, what?!” Balgumon was shaken by that one (understandably).

Gourry took the opportunity to leap back while he was distracted, and as he did—Roarrr!—the unmistakable sound of an explosion resonated from deep inside the ruins.

“Wh-What’s going on here?!” Balgumon quickly got his distance from Gourry. He then took a good look around at all of us, perhaps for the first time. “Where is he? Where’s that monk?! Dammit... I knew it!”

Seeming to realize the identity of the culprit, he bolted back into the base.

“L-Lord Balgumon?!” the werebeasts clamored in hurried pursuit.

Cowards. Though, well, hooray for cowards in this case...

“Let’s go!”

At Zel’s call, we chased after Balgumon and his goons ourselves.

“Must be Xellos,” Zelgadis spat as we charged through the entrance to find a single werebeast corpse at our feet. Probably a lookout.

His head had been blown clean off his body. It would’ve taken something pretty insane to put down one of Klotz’s werebeasts that easily. If it really was Xellos’s doing, then...

“Just how strong is that guy?” Amelia asked.

“I don’t know. Never seen him in action myself,” Zel responded lightly.

All I’d ever seen him use was an amplified Blast Bomb and that wind he’d blown the cultists away with.

“Well... no choice but to press on,” I urged everyone.

We were in what looked like an antechamber with a single door leading deeper inside. We opened it to find a long hallway ahead. There were magical lights here and there, just bright enough to read by. At a glance, it seemed like a pretty extensive underground facility.

We kept our wits about us as we continued forward. It looked like Xellos—or whoever the intruder was—had had themselves quite a time in here. Every so often, we heard distant footsteps occasionally punctuated by an unceremonious explosion. Heat radiated from several of the rooms we passed by, their walls and ceilings scorched black. Clearly the aftermath of a few Fireballs.

“What in the world is he thinking?!” Zel clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Xellos might have been trying to panic Klotz and his men, but if the manuscript were in any of these rooms, it wasn’t more than a pile of ash by now.

Roarrr! Another explosion came from down the hall, but this one was close!

“That way!”

The four of us took off running. Someone suddenly cut past us—Balgumon?! We all stopped instinctively. Balgumon cast a glance our way, but...

“Tch,” was all he said before he took off again.

No time to spare for little ol’ us, huh?

“Get him!” I shouted, immediately giving chase.

We pursued to see Balgumon retreat through a door. We ran up to it... but it wouldn’t open.

“No use. It’s locked,” Gourry said, but Amelia was already chanting.

“Clear the way!” I shouted, pushing Gourry and Zel away from the door.

“Dam Blas!”

Crash! Amelia’s spell blew the lock right off.

Through it was a small chapel, probably modified from something else. There was a miniature altar in the back with a statue of Shabranigdu (though I can’t say much for the likeness). And opposite us... was another door, which Balgumon was currently reaching for.

Aha!

“Is this where you hid the manuscript?” I asked.

Balgumon turned back, a small smile on his lips. He then turned the knob and pulled... to reveal a figure standing just on the other side.

“You—?!”

Before he could even react... Pop! With an almost comical sound, Balgumon’s head went flying from his trunk. The blood spray splattered red over the Dark Lord’s statue. The rest of Balgumon’s body slumped helplessly to the ground.

As for the person who stepped out of the door... Do I even need to say it? Yeah, it was Mr. Mysterious Priest himself, Xellos. I didn’t know when he’d taken it from Balgumon, but he was holding a sheaf of papers in his hand.

“Hmm.” He gazed at it intently, then nodded in satisfaction. “This is definitely a manuscript. Thank you ever so much for aiding me in my diversion.”

Of course. He’d been chucking Fireballs around to send the cultists scrambling to retrieve the manuscript. That was a dangerous gamble, though... One wrong move and he’d have incinerated the thing.

“Give that to me,” Zel said quietly.

Xellos, however, slowly shook his head.

“Now, now. I certainly couldn’t give this incomplete little thing to anyone... Ah, Miss Lina. You were quite concerned about how I intended to use it, correct?” he said to me, and I nodded in response.

No one attempted to approach Xellos. We’d all seen it with our own eyes, yet none of us were sure exactly how he’d killed Balgumon.

“I suppose I can show you now. I mean to do precisely this.”

With that, he balled up the papers in his hand, and... Poof! In an instant, it burned to ash. I suddenly recalled that the manuscript in the Kingdom of Dils had also been burned...

“Damn you!” Zelgadis shouted in a fluster.

But Xellos was unfazed.

“Knowledge above one’s station only brings misfortune,” he said, then turned around lightly and vanished back through the door.

“That bastard!” Zel took a step in pursuit, but stopped himself.

New figures came from the door Xellos had just disappeared through. This time, it was three of them, all clad in red—Klotz and two werebeast bodyguards. Their gazes were focused on the body on the ground.

“Ba...” Klotz fell to his knees. “Balgumon!”

Even with the head gone, he could apparently identify his cohort from his build and clothing. Klotz looked up at us, suddenly, hatred stewing in his eyes.

“You... You killed Balgumon...”

“Did not!” I said, shaking my head rapidly. “Didn’t you see a guy leave here just now? It was him!”

“Don’t you lie to me...” He rose swiftly to his feet and growled, “I didn’t see a soul leave this room. And where is the manuscript?!”

Here, I shrugged. I could tell him the same guy who killed his friend had burned it, but was he gonna believe me? Bet not!

“Very well...” he whispered, a strange smile creeping across his face.

Oh, this dude was mad. Real mad.

“Vaileus! Ludia!” he called to the werebeasts on either side of him.

“Sir!” they answered in unison, stepping to attention.

Are they gonna charge?!

“Wake up Grouz!”

Hearing that, the werebeasts froze up.

“W-We mustn’t, Lord Klotz!” one argued, suddenly defiant.

“That’s not Grouz anymore! If something goes wrong...” the other protested in kind.

What the...

Klotz cast a glance at them, the scorn obvious on his face, and said, “Then hold them off here! I’ll awaken Grouz myself!”

He turned away from us and exited back through the door. The werebeasts seemed genuinely uncertain.

“Lord Klotz!” they called.

“Hey, you guys! What the heck’s going on here?” I asked.

“Shut up! We don’t have to tell you—” one started yelling.

But the other interrupted him: “You’re the ones who slew Duclis, right?”

“Yeah,” Gourry nodded slightly.

“Come with us,” the second werebeast offered.

“H-Hey!” the first objected.

Ignoring him, Gourry turned back to us and asked, “What do we do? Go with them? Or not?”

“I’m in. Let’s go. They can explain on the way,” I said, heading over to the werebeasts.

“Hey! Lina!” Amelia called after me.

But I just kept walking.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” the werebeast said, his back to us as we went. “We want you to put down Grouz... well, Zanaffar, I guess.”

“What the heck is going on here?” I asked the two werebeasts as we continued down the passage. My three companions were following along without much choice in the matter. “Isn’t Zanaffar just anti-magic armor?”

“I don’t know all the details,” the same one replied, moving at a good clip. “But Grouz has been acting strangely ever since he put that thing on.”

That must’ve been the night we infiltrated the headquarters.

“Lord Klotz said that armor fuses with whoever puts it on, and grows with them. He said their mind just becomes a little unstable in the process.”

“It grows?!” I found myself marveling. “Then... the Zanaffar armor is alive?!”

“Seems like it,” the werebeast nodded indifferently. “Lord Klotz said he would put Grouz to sleep until he stabilized, just to be safe... but I don’t think it’s really Grouz in there. Before all this, he sometimes said stuff about not being sure who he was anymore... and one time he lost control and killed a few guys.”

“But maybe, as Lord Klotz said, he was just a little unstable...” the other werebeast hedged.

The more talkative werebeast cast a glance at him and demanded, “Then let me ask you something. Yesterday, Lord Klotz said that Zanaffar was complete. If that’s true, why didn’t he wake Grouz up then?”

“W-Well...”

“And another thing. If Zanaffar is alive and growing, the question I keep wondering is... what exactly does it eat?”

“Huh?!” I abruptly stopped in place. “You think... Zanaffar consumes... its wearer?!”

“Ah!” Everyone (except Gourry) exclaimed in realization.

“Sorry to be the odd man out... but I’m not following,” Gourry said lightly.

You’d better be sorry. Seriously, man...

“In short, what we call ‘Zanaffar’ is a kind of parasite. It starts out as armor that protects its wearer, but eats away at them little by little without them even noticing. And once the armor has devoured its host, body and mind, ‘Zanaffar’ is complete.”

“I still don’t get it...”

Arrrgh! What was wrong with this guy?!

“Like some big gigolo jerk who tells a girl he’ll always protect her, but then gets what he wants out of her and abandons her after driving her into financial ruin!”

“Ooh, okay. I think I get it...”

Good.

“But all that aside, we just beat it and it’s over, right?”

Jeez, if you’re just gonna dismiss it, don’t bother asking! Boy, if we’d had more time on our hands, I totally would’ve beaten the crap outta him with my slipper... (I’d held on to it, of course).

“I have a question,” I said to the leading werebeast as it popped into my head. “Did Duclis know about this?”

“Yeah,” he replied, nodding gravely. “I think so. They say he chose to don the second Zanaffar of his own volition... Though I don’t know if that’s actually true or not.”

“I see...” I whispered.

“Also, while we want you to finish Zanaffar off, please don’t hurt Lord Klotz,” said the other werebeast.

“Oh, come on!” Amelia whined.

“What?!”

“It is a pretty unreasonable request. I doubt Klotz is gonna be cool with the whole Zanaffar-slaying plan,” I interjected.

Just then...

Vrumm. The ground shook a little. The werebeasts stopped cold in their tracks.

“We’re too late...” they whispered in despair.

All was quiet at first. We’d escaped back outside as the werebeasts had asked, but...

“Nothing’s happening...” Amelia whispered after a few minutes, almost sounding bored.

If, as the werebeasts had said, Zanaffar really had awakened, there should have been some sign of something going on, but...

“Maybe it slept itself to death...” Gourry mused uselessly. Obviously, no one dignified that with a response.

“Hey, wait a minute...” Zelgadis said, pointing his sword at the werebeasts. “Was this all an act to give Klotz time to escape?!”

But the werebeasts kept staring straight at the entrance to the base.

“I wish it was, but...” one said. “Listen, don’t get cocky about the awakened version just because you beat Duclis.”

“Is he strong?”

“More like... he’s invincible.”

No sooner had those words left the werebeast’s mouth—Vwoosh!—a beam of light cut across my vision. That laser breath! This was the same thing they’d unleashed on me, Zel, and Amelia when we were fleeing their original headquarters that night... A stronger version of it, in fact.

The light burst out from below ground, tearing through the surface and into the lake. Massive quantities of water were vaporized, the steam roiling through the air.

Vrrrm... A low rumble rattled everything around us. The earth overtop the base bulged upward, and a gaping hole opened up. Soon, a bestial howl shook the very air over the lake.

“It’s coming,” someone whispered. Maybe it was me...

First came the claws: silver, like polished swords. Then, in one burst, it appeared from the hole... the silver beast, Zanaffar. It stood there, calmly surveying its surroundings for a time.

But... it really had grown, hadn’t it? It was now the size of a dragon. It had the general shape of a quadruped, but there were all kinds of animals mixed in. If I had to liken it to one in particular...

It was a wolf made of steel, with a mane. But silver whips sprouted from its body here and there as well. Probably tentacles.

“Lord Klotz...” one of the werebeasts whispered. “Where’s Lord Klotz? Is he all right?!”

Obviously, nobody had an answer for him. No one had the time to find out either, for the magical beast turned its head toward us—Vwoosh!—and fired more laser breath!

“Waaah!”

As we dove out of the way, the light tore through a swath of ground. The beast then charged straight at me with another blast of laser breath. But...

Shink!

Zanaffar simply stood there, stunned, upon seeing its killer move deflected. Now realizing it was faced with something dangerous, it let out a low warning growl as it fixed its eyes on Gourry, who was standing there between me and the beast with the Sword of Light hoisted.

Just then... Something moved to the beast’s right. I wasn’t sure when he’d gotten around it, but one of the werebeasts was slowly approaching Zanaffar from its flank.

Don’t do it, man! I wanted to call to him, but that would make it all the more likely that Zanaffar would notice the guy. He took a bold swing of his sword, and... Clink! The blade bounced back with a peal, as if striking metal.

I thought I saw a thin smile appear on the monster’s face. The werebeast quickly moved back ruefully. But...

Splurt! One of Zanaffar’s tentacles, zooming in from a blind spot, speared the werebeast through the back! His body twitched a few times, and then his sword fell from his hands.

Zanaffar’s eyes were locked on Gourry the whole time. With one step, it now closed the distance between the two of them as it flicked the werebeast’s body off its tentacle. As if in response, Gourry charged the creature!

“Stay back!” the surviving werebeast bellowed, but Gourry ignored him.

He used the Sword of Light to deflect an incoming blast of laser breath as he ran, closing the distance to Zanaffar in the blink of an eye.

“Hahh!”

He struck at a foreleg, but only caught air. Zanaffar had leaped straight up... And it was now descending on Gourry, firing a volley of laser breath as it fell.

Gourry was rooted to the spot, his hands full just deflecting the beams. The beast was gonna crush him!

“Fireball!”

Bwoosh! The explosion from Amelia’s spell changed the course of the magical beast’s fall. Thwoom! Despite the heavy sound, it landed neatly on the ground. As expected, the Fireball didn’t seem to have done any damage.

Zanaffar didn’t forget to shoot another blast of laser breath at Gourry the moment it landed to keep him at bay, however. But when it did...

“Blast Bomb!” I unleashed a spell of my own.

Vwsssh!

None of the sorcerers in the erstwhile Magic City of Sairaag could’ve pulled that one off. The heat it produced alone might be enough to overpower Zanaffar’s defensive hide.

But when the beast emerged from the swirling smoke of the blast, it was unharmed. There wasn’t a single scratch on its mirror-like coat.

Dang, that thing’s tough... If fire wouldn’t work on it, I assumed cold was out too. That tough hide complicated things. I wanted to try shooting a Fireball straight down its gullet, but its laser breath made that impossible...

The beast’s disdain for my attack was so great that it didn’t even spare me a glance.

“Tch!” Gourry tried to get beside it. But Zanaffar twisted, keeping itself locked head-on with Gourry.

Zel, standing next to me, clicked his tongue. “It won’t even look at us,” he remarked.

“Yeah,” Amelia whispered. “It knows the sword is the only thing that can beat it...”

“No...” I whispered, shaking my head.

“What? What is it, Lina?” Zel asked, but I didn’t answer.

One of the spells that was now within my grasp thanks to the aid of the talismans could do the trick. A spell to summon darkness and channel it into a blade... I’d tested it a few days back, and its destructive power was truly incredible. Obviously I hadn’t pitted them against each other, but it seemed more than equal to the Sword of Light in terms of power.

There were, however, a few complications. The blade it produced was only about the length of a shortsword. It also seemed to actively drain magic while it was in use, so even with capacity like mine, it wouldn’t last long.

Needless to say, just using it tapped me pretty bad. The day I tried it out, I was exhausted before I could reach fifty practice swings. Incidentally, it was considered a forbidden spell too. Yup... it drew upon the same source of power as my ace-in-the-hole Giga Slave—the Lord of Nightmares.

I mean, this puppy was way easier to control than a Giga Slave, so there was (probably) no chance of things going totally haywire... But the bigger question here was if it would do what I needed it to against Zanaffar.

Not even Gourry could land a clean hit on the giant magical beast. I had no idea if I’d fare any better, particularly swinging around something the size of a shortsword. Maybe if I caught the beast off guard... But would one hit do it? That was probably all I’d be able to manage, but I had my doubts about whether that would be enough against the enormous beast.

I wished I could wait until Gourry lopped off a leg and slowed the thing down some, but...

“Urgh!” Gourry, seeming unusually impatient for him, charged straight at the monster.

Zanaffar responded by snapping its tentacles at him.

“Out of my way!” Gourry shouted, but as he swept his sword at the tentacles, light appeared from their tips—more laser breath!

“What?!” There was no way for him to dodge the blasts entirely. He managed to avoid a few and repel others with the Sword of Light, but one of them burned right through his thigh! “Geh!”

He quickly leaped away, but the damage must have been severe, because he ended up on his knees.

Wait, that’s right! We’d seen Duclis-Zanaffar produce a beam of light from his hand too! If that was an application of Zanaffar’s laser breath, then it was no wonder this one could shoot it from its tentacles...

“Heh heh heh...” Zanaffar laughed in a low growl. “You thought I was a mere beast and underestimated me... Warrior of Light...”

“What?!” I exclaimed, flabbergasted.

“You... You speak our language?!” the remaining werebeast shrieked.

“I devoured all the knowledge and experience of my host, Grouz... Why wouldn’t I be able to speak? But you believing I was a mere beast made things much easier, so I held my tongue.” Zanaffar’s eyes remained locked on the kneeling Gourry. “Now... lay down your sword and go. If you do, I’ll spare your life. I see little point in eating any of you... As an exchange for my defenses against magic, I have lost the ability to use it myself.”

Of course... If his astral form was segregated from the rest of the astral plane, then there was no way he could interact with it in order to cast spells. That was the price he paid for his defenses. But... how could he have known that? Was Grouz particularly knowledgeable on the subject or something? No, wait—

“You... What are you after?” Zelgadis asked. “Just indiscriminate destruction?”

The beast seemed unfazed by the question, answering calmly, “No... I simply wish to live and create more of my kind. The sword that can damage my physical form threatens that goal.”

“You want to make more of your kind? How do you plan on doing that yourself?” I asked this time.

“When I demonstrate my power, humans will inevitably come to serve me. There are humans who worship the Dark Lord already, after all. I will order them to create more Zanaffars. It’s not difficult. I know how they’re made now.”

“What... in the world?” The remaining werebeast let out a moan. “D-Did you... did you kill Lord Klotz?!”

“Yes,” the beast said with a grin. “I ate him.”

Yeah, figured...

“Damn you!” the werebeast hollered, charging with his sword held high.

“Don’t be stupid! Get back here!” I yelled.

But it was too late. Vwoosh! One of the tentacles spat out light... and the werebeast’s body fell to the ground in two pieces.

“Let that be a warning... I don’t hesitate to kill those who defy me.”

You big jerk...

“Now drop the sword and leave this place alive... or die.”

Okay. I get it. I didn’t really want to do this, but you forced my hand...

“Amelia. Zel. Listen up...”

“Oh? Choosing to run, are you?” Zanaffar asked when he caught sight of Amelia Levitating me in his peripheral vision. “Good to hear it. Now, about the sword—”

“Gourry! Pass!” Zel shouted, interrupting the beast.

Gourry caught on immediately, and promptly tossed the Sword of Light at Zel!

“What?!” Zanaffar exclaimed in sudden panic. It was the Sword of Light he feared, after all. Not Gourry.

“Run!”

At Zel’s urging, Gourry dragged himself away as fast as he could.

“Pathetic humans!”

With a howl, Zanaffar fired a volley of laser breath at Zel. He managed to dodge and deflect each incoming beam, and by then, Amelia and I were hovering over the beast. I’d just finished reciting my amplification chant...

Now... let’s get this started!

Zel dodged another blast of laser breath, then slammed his right hand into the ground.

“Dug Haute!” he cried, causing the earth below to tremble.

“Fool! What do you think you—” Zanaffar began, but the ground gave way under it. “What?!”

Bwssh! Dust plumed up around the beast. Zel’s spell had caved in the ground beneath its feet—right overtop Klotz’s base. Obviously, that alone didn’t harm it, but it was now struggling amid the rubble at the bottom of the hole, firing more laser breath up at Zel on the edge.

Blade forged of the freezing black void,

Be released under heaven’s seal

Become mine, become part of me

Let us mete destruction as one

Smash even the souls of the gods...

“Ragna Blade!” I shouted, and an ebony blade of darkness manifested in my outstretched hands.

A feeling of exhaustion seized my body. As expected, I wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

I gave her a nod, and Amelia released me. Without her Levitation holding me up, I plummeted head first... straight toward the back of the beast Zanaffar!

Fwsh! My dark blade easily pierced its hide, digging deep into its body. My arms plunged into the wound all the way up to my elbows.

“Graaaaaaaah!” The beast’s howl shook the very air around me, but that wasn’t a death knell. The creature continued to writhe, as if it didn’t understand what had happened. Only then did it finally realize I was on its back. “What... What did you do?!”

But by that time, I’d already dismissed my Ragna Blade and was chanting my next spell. It was a race against time now! I didn’t have time to amplify it!

“You... a mere sorcerer... so dare...?!”

A tentacle lashed out at me. But it was too late! This is what you get for writing me off as a mere sorcerer, Zanaffar!

“Fireball!”

Fwooooom! In that instant, flames exploded inside Zanaffar’s body.

“Hmmm...” I held out my hands in front of me, clenched them and opened them again.

Amelia’s Resurrection spell had sure done the trick. She was now casting Recovery on the wound in Gourry’s thigh, too.

“By the way, Lina...” he asked, legs splayed out on the floor. “How’d you beat that thing? I just don’t get it...”

“Oh, that? Simple. I had a spell that could open a hole in its hide, so I used that. Then I stuck my hands inside and cast a Fireball. Burned the beast up from the inside out.”

“Huh...” Gourry nodded along, not sounding particularly impressed. “Wait a minute. Wasn’t that kinda dangerous?”

“Oh, super,” responded Amelia as she finished up her Recovery spell. “Both of Lina’s hands were—”

“Ugh! Don’t say it! I don’t wanna remember!” I interrupted her, quickly.

The guts inside Zanaffar’s midsection provided a lot of cushioning, but I’d still set off a Fireball between my hands. You can probably guess how that turned out. And, yeah, that was why I was averse to using that plan in the first place...

Incidentally, the talismans on my wrists came out completely unharmed. The magical beast at the bottom of the pit, however, took a big, black hole in the back and expired.

“Too bad we didn’t manage to get the manuscript,” I said to Zel, who was standing a little ways away. I knew he had to be pretty disappointed...

“Ah, that’s all right,” he said rather cheerily, to my surprise.

“You’re not just... telling yourself that?”

“No... Think about it. If manuscripts really exist, that means the original’s out there too.”

Ah!

“I’m going to find it. No matter what.”

“At least it seems we’ve wrapped up this case,” Amelia said, sounding relieved.

“For now, yeah... Though things have only gotten more complicated,” I added.

Hearing that, the group fell silent.

Xellos and the Claire Bible... We’d resolved the immediate situation, sure, but I had a feeling we’d yet to get into the thick of it.

Still, stressing out about it wouldn’t get us anywhere. Bring it on, I say! Yours truly, Lina Inverse, welcomes any challenge! Making that pledge in my heart, I flipped the bird to no one in particular.